Jerry_Atrick

Sadly, I can't edit my post now. I try not to visualise Pauline or Gina, I guess. But yes, either would be more appropriate.

Imagine being genuinely excited about receiving an award that's not yours? Wow. Seen it all. I guess Susan Ley will be sifting through the spare room to find that u/13 most improved netball player to bestow on el Chumpo in return for some platitude of some sort. [edit] that's a bit harsh on Ley, I admit.

Hopefully, in a general sense, the majority - and the majoirity of Australians. I get people are aghast at some of the brutality at the moment, but why do you not ask many Aussie Palestinians are ardent supporters of what Hamas does? After all, it is Hamas who targeted civilians well demarcated from the military and then went on hiding behind their own when they knew they would be attacked. Take a look at the videos that are readily available as to their acts, and think about what must have happened to withhold other videos from all but the darker corners of the internet. And they would have no problem doing it again, and will do it again and agian until all the Jews are killed. I haven't heard nor seen the Israeli government constantly bombarding Gaza before October 7 and afterwards there has been infractions, but not on a scale to sipe out an entire population. Has it stopped, yet? Lots of anti-semetism since then through how many centuries, and is still about because of this belief. I can't speak to the Moors as I don't know about them.. but that is someething else I will have research. Of course not. As to the amount radicalised? Who knows? But how many sympathise, which is thhe gist of the subequent questions you ask? I would guess quite a lot.

There goes my next flight to Apollo Bay airfield (one needed to be approved to fly into there).

I agree that with Nev and Onetrack - We criticise the condemn the right-wing nut jobs - no excuses - and rightly so. The problem is there doesn't seem to be the no excuses approach when Muslims/Islamists do it. Oh, they are only in a minority of Muslims/Islamists, etc etc. I am not saying we don’t condemn nor criticise - that is not my point, but there always seems to be some downplaying of it. Or that's how it comes across. For the record, radicals are radicals no matter what ideology or race or religion they come from. They equally have no logic, are usually consumed with control, and no tolerance of others. I am not saying Islamists are better, worse, or different than the right wing nutjobs; the only difference is that of ideology and the superior race (let's face it, if you kill infidels and apostasies just for being them, you are sort of saying your race, religion, ideology is the supreme one). And my point - as I have made in other posts - is this apparent toning down and accommodating for Islamist extremism is fanning the flames of right wing shite supremacy hate. They see it as they are getting a raw deal, I guess. I will give you an example in the UK. The Rotheram grooming gangs were gangs of Pakistani Muslims that groomed infidel mainly white and mainly teenage girls for sex - both under and over the legal age. When news broke about this, it turned out the police knew about it and did nothing - not even investigate the claims. They denied it initially, but finally indirectly admitted it was because of the fear of being seen as racist - by investigating a crime that was alleged to have been committed by Pakistani Muslim gangs. Guess who stepped in to fill the void? Tommy Robinson. Look him up, but a leader, if not founder of one of the right wing nutjob anti-Islamist groups, but his relentless pursuit of this has put him in the spotlight as a defender of the rights of British - and of course Farage has bought into it as well. The last right wing anti-islam immigration protest in the UK attracted well over 150,000 people. The problem is, it has moved the more pernicious elements of racism into the norm - normal people who probably wouldn't care too much are now behind him.. and you only have to see the rise of Reform UK to see the effects. And, of course, the right-wing media have picked up on it and run with it, too. Adding more fuel to the fire is the government has also accepted the whole thing warrants a parliamentary inquiry - sort of a judicial review - and they still can't settle on a Chair for it.. when they are appointed, they almost immediately resign citing threats and political pressure. And the vicious circle continues. I certainly don't oppose immigration, from any country or religion. But the issue is that there is a perception that immigrants from certain countries or religions refuse to integrate and want to impose their culture on the host country. And the above is an illustration of why we can have problems if there is a perception on group is being unfairly given a pass. Let's not forget - it is likely most of the population don't want immigration from non-western/non-white countries anyway, if at all.

True, but I can't ever recall it ever resulting in cars being washed out to sea before..

Although I agree with OME, the issue with Chump is what Nev says. Chump has shown disdain to anyone that is not a sycophant to him. And even when one does, nothing is guaranteed.

Making light of things is how humans deal with things. I wouldn't begrudge anyone for making light of a discussion or as long as it's not done maliciously.

Average weekly earnings... Ok back to chump.. or TACO Chump Was encouraging Iranians to protest and stating he would come to their assistance. This comes out: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-15/from-inside-iran-protester-asks-donald-trump-to-help/106228502?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other Yet roughly at the same time Chump says the violence has stopped because Iran told him so: Donald Trump says he has received assurances ‘killing in Iran is stopping’ - https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/01ea28e0-f36c-40e3-9c8a-7d91b520b3d2 Though admittedly, he has not ruled out military action

The Otways have gone from being on fire to intense flooding all within a week: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/car-swept-out-to-sea-in-wye-river-flash-flooding-20260115-p5nucc.html

I thought I pointed to that buy asking how many people earn the AWE in my original post

I got Chat GPT to compare the same, but also added percentage of men in the workforce. This is what it returned, which had ranges, but was reasonably consistent with the above: So, some things to note: For the EU, the figires seem to tbe the lowest and highest rates for individual countries in the EU Women in the workforce is way off the image above I added percent of men in the workforce, as I think the percentage women in the workforce is meaningless without the corresponding percentage of men in the workforce, and even then, there are various factors that impact it which does not scream discrimination. Australia does better in a lot oft he categories.. Good stuff. As expected, the homocide (note, that is not murder/manslaughter per se) rate is much higher in the US. It's a vitual war zone. You cannot, using these stats, blame them on Chump. We would need to see the change in rates since he came to power, and even then, one has to allow for economic lag, etc. Give it another year, and we will see what the stats say thennn Here is the unemployment rate comparison: Eek.. EU not looking so good. Here is the average income pe week in USD (note, the cost of living differs between each region, but a rough and ready and the US is probably one of the lower excluding the old Eastern bloc countries in the EU). USA doesn't do too badly - of course, how many people earn the average weekly earnings...

Bridge at the end of its useful life? Now I have heard everything. Over here we have had bridges stand for many centuries. As they are of histortical importance (heritage listed for Aus), they are refurbished. Yes it is more expensive, but what is the point of heritage listing if you don't preserve it? Anyway, Minns says he doesn't want it to be a ghoulish reminder of the massacre. Fair enough, but I say preserve it as a monument to those who died and acted out of bravery. Maybe add a plaue to it as a reminder.

None taken; I forgot the laughing emoji to your post, which I have corrected...

I did ponder its weight when I purchased it. But I figured if I lost 50% strength from my peak, I was leg pressing slightly over 420kgs as a young adult - which was pretty good for a 5'7" frame and someone who didn't habitually go to the gym - then I should still OK. The seat heignt is not bad, and around that of my son's 125CC bike - which is road bike, not a trail/adventure bike. But, yes, on and off the honda is a more appropro title 😉

Thanks.. There is a little bruising, but not too bad and cerrtainly not black, thanlfully. I was in two minds of where to post, but this one seemed more fitting.

It s really no surprise. Ardent critic of Chump, progressive rather than conservative. I am amazed at how long he lasted and what he achieved. At some stage, though, especially as Chump is more entrenched, it would have not always gone Rudd's way. Better to get out now and have someone without a history ith regard to Chump who can also achieve.

Well, today was a bit of a ship day. I took a couple of hours off work to ride with my son for his first ride on his bike. After a short while, he pulled in for something so I came along side him to see what was the matter. I guess I was a little cavalier because I leant towards him, the bike leant the other way I tried to stop it by putting my right leg down, but my fott slipped on the wet and some stones on the road and the bike edged further down. That 250kgs and my leg were in a war, and eventually the 250kgs won. I finally succumbed and let it down gently enough - technically a drop, but no damage - not even the storm guards or the top box was damaged. But, I now have a torn right hamstring. They didn't scan it, but after some prodding, they think it wil take two weeks before I can get physio, and 4 weeks before it will heal. Thankfully the builder was not too far away and rode mine home, got his van and gave me a lift. All I can say is it was self inflicted by a plonker. Rang the GP, told me to go to A&E/Casualty. Got ther, and bloody hell, it was busy. The little TV screen was saying 1/2 hour to see a triage nurse (which is a total waste of time), an hour to see another nurse, and then 6 hours to see a clinician. While I was waiting there was a lady about 75 - 80 years old, and doubled over in pain. Another member of the public was talking to her and when he was called away, I went over to see if she was OK and if she wanted me to fetch someone. She was in obvious pain. She said she was on morphine but it wasn't doing too much good. I got her a cup of coffee (she had cash and no card, and I wasn't going to worry about £2) and we got talking. She asked what was wrong and how I did it. I explained that it was quite embareesing and told her how I fell off a stationary bike. She laughed a bit and told me off for making her laugh as it hurt, and said "yes, that is embaressing.. I used to be a biker. What bike do you have?" We had a great conversation and recalled some of the stuff she did and accidents she had. It made the time go quicker. It was already 7pm and she had been there since midday, but she did explain she had been seen a few times, had tests, and was waiting for results. The physio called me in, got me to drop my dacks and lay on the bed as she prodded the hammie. A prod here and there was no prblem, then excruciating pain, and there more excruciating pain. "OK, I can see what you have done." She did some lateral and vertical movements, and decided without a scan that it hadn't detached from the bone, arranged for a painkiller injection and told me to come back in 2 weeks - to the physio outpatients - not A&E, thankfully. Before I took off I said goodbyes to the lady and wished her the best. She had told be she bought a used Transit van and had converted it herself to a camper - with only the solar and electrics being done by a pro. Kudos to her, I thought.

Hasn't he given up on Ukraine and is now going for Greenland? Don't tell him Australia has rare eath minerals.

Being blamed still? Or are reparations being made (have been)? I don't recall anyone in my generation feeling like they were blamed for it.

I heard (from admittedly not necessarily a scholarly source) that they were blamed for it, but didn't actually carry it out.. and I got the impression from OME's post above, it was alluding to that. Of course, I have very little knowledge in this area so likely to be wrong. But even so, how many hundreds of years ago was it? Do we still blame today's Germans for the transgressions of two world wars? Er.. not quite. Zionism started in the mid 1800s with the Jews legally buying up the land withg the intention of starting a country because of constant persecution in Europe, the Middle Wast and I think Northern Africa - but I have to check the latter. They accelerated their plans after WW2. Note, they started buying up the land.. of a non state (learned that on this forum - previously I thought Palestine was a state.. And I have since learned there is no "P" in teh Arabic language, which is kinda interesting).. not a simple colonisation - but there was some colonisation no doubt. BTW, other countries have been created fromm conflict since WWII, even in Europe, thjrough ejection of peoples.. but nary get a mention and at the time there wan't too much of a protest. So other people were living in these countries, as well. And of course, the Zionists today claim that Judea - the original name of part of the area is the home of the Jews they were forcibly ejected from. We have forcibly ejected Aboriginals from their traditional lands, but we aren't in a hurry to give it back lock stock and barrel. BTW, I have serious doubts this is a territorialk conflict. We talk about international lawm, but the 1947 UN security resolution - you know - international law - was rejected by the Arabs - 5 states in fact. They lost, and lost land, They colntinued to fight - and lost - and as a result lost more land. In I think it was 1996, Israel offered Gaza and 96% of the West Bank. Arafat played along until the last minute and then rejected it. It is not about territory.. This seems more like a religious thing. Check sectiuon 7 of the Hamas Charter or whatever it was called. All will be revealed.

I don't jump into bed with any woman just because they have a pulse and they may be good in bed. I still have to live with myself afterwards. Power may be an aphordisiac - but not to all. I was working with a, what would be a sterotypically very attractive, yet in corporate circles, powerful woman. Too much testosterone like traits for me - turned me right off her.

That is accurate for Chump, but Putin is far more calculating and less insecure than Chump - he is playing along. No accounting for taste.

I had no idea of this.. Thanks, OME.

I am not sure where this comes from.. Did I mention Jews in Australia? This is the telling bit. If Albo suddenly went off the rails and invaded, I dunno, New Zealand on theological or ideological grounds, would that imperil Australians of have people around the world think less Australians? Has Chump's actions to take a sovereign state imperiled/resulted in people thinking less of Americans around the world? Has Russian's actions, which target civilians including hosptials resulted in Russians imperiled or thought less of around the globeacross the globe? Add Syrians, Yemenis and the like, who are far more brutal the Netanyahi, and ask the same question? No is the answer. In fact, in was it last year's or 2024's Australian open, there was open support Putin. But why is it, that when Netanyahi "goes ballistic", despite the protests in Israel itself, are the Jews globally in peril and thought less of? I am sure there are Jews that haven't even been to Israel. Yes I am, with facts, but the above so far reinforces things, don't you think?