Jerry_Atrick

I don't disagree with this. Of course Iran is a threat to Israeli interests (i.e. survival) and US Interests. But what are US interests? Israel? Only to the extent Israel supports the US and contributes technology to US military. What other interest does the US have of the Middle East? Is it protecting it out of the goodness of its heart; or because of the extraction of oil from the Arab states there? As well as the profits that flow from services supporting their construction and oil industries. So, if the US is protecting its interests, it is really protecting oil, right? But what other interests does the US have? Well, it has an interest on containing China's industrial might, because, as we saw in WWII, indistrial might helps win world wars. It can't stop China getting hold of solar panels and rare earth minerals unless it invades China, which I think even Chumpo would work out isn't a great idea. Also, I would suspect there owuld be one or two other gulf states that would also be happy if the Iranian regime toppled. Who is to say they didn't lend their voices to this? I din't say it was a good idea. Let's face it; Chump's belligerent ideas are rarely any good. I was just proferring up a theory that isn't mainstream - but one that I thought may have some weight even at the beginning of this conflict - although I hadn't really thought about the China angle. But, I can think of one case where poking the bear good and proper would likely have solved at least one conflict.

Well, life on the CBF1000 continues. It is actually a very good all round bike.. I feel like I can tour on it all day, yet it has a little lean forward, and you can throw it nicely around - it won;t win any races, but is a smooth and responsive in line 4, with reasonably well matched suspension. It is a bit of a winter hack in places and now the weather is better, I will attack some of the rust spots. The stator still seems OK.. but I have narrowed the electrical issue I have with it. I have finally sorted out the heated grips, and they have a led that flashes green when it detects a drop below about 12.8volts or some such number, indicating the system is not charging and the ignition is switched off. And, whenever the high beam goes on or the brakes are applied, the light immediately starts flashing. As soon as they are released (or the high bean goes off), the led goes back to normal operating mode (red light for high). I have a USB connection and when it is drawing a current, it doesn't affect the heated grips, so I am thinking there is an issue with the wiring around the lighting. The switchgear is hard to get the high beam to stick on - but not a problem with the flash switch. Should be fun to trace.

This has been in development for some time: https://aptera.us/

Maybe I am giving Chump too much credit - but I seriously doubt if there was enough internal opposition, he would have pursued. He as chickened out well before it got to implementation (of tariffs) before. Maybe Net gave him the oil idea; maybe there was some other US internal people driving it. I juyst don't think Chump would have gone in purely with Israel's interests at heart.

I disagree. I think he is using Netanyahu and the Israel conflict as a means to an end. The way I see it is that he wants to be able to control the oil from Iran in the same way as Venzuela.. and control the supply to China.. Israel, to me, is a smokescreen to his objectives.

I like to drive and ride fast.. It is something that is tolerated here where it is relatively safe; i.e. motoways or dual carriage motorways where the traffic isn;'t too bad. The limit on both is 70mph (c. 110kph), but when I leave for London at 3:30am, I hover around the 80mph (c. 130kph) mark and pass the same police in the same spot with the same gun and they never come after me. However, drive dangerously, even when under the limit, and they guve you extremely short shrift. But, I do know when I drive or ride faster, the increase in fuel usage is noticeable. It is usied mostly to push the air out of the way, and the square rule kicks in. Amazoing how many people have slowed down since fuel prices have gone up.

One of the disadvantages of global trade and movement. While it is bad news, forewarned is forearmed; and the more people that know about it and its potential conseuences (think $12 lettuces), the more pressure that can be put on government to put resources intol finding a way to solve the problem. It only becomes depressing when no-one oof who we entrust and pay handsomely to look after this tries to do anything about it when they should.

How did you draw that conclusion?

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.

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?

Some people think we are alread in WW3... and that rationing will come.

Well, that wasn't too bad a result.. Because of my pick against Hawthorn - 1 point win (round 4 we are talking), I think I would have just broken even or be slightly ahead. However, I was surprised to learn a shop assistant at the local servo/convenience store I go to is an avid fan if Aussie rules; Sadly a Collingwood supporter. He bets regularly on it, and although Gather Round was not a great week for him, he claims to still be up about £100 from the start of the season. He has not one bit of Aussie about him., but apparenlty on a familyu holiday in Aus when he was about 10 (he is about 20 now, I would guess), his uncle took him to a game and he was hooked. He knows all the games, players, a lot of the stats and the like. I could never have kept up with him. He is studying some wine course hoping to get to Aus and try his hand at winemaking... He knows the industry is in a slump and likely will remain there for some time. I think he wants an excuse to watch another game or three live.

Once Howard started running down the reserves, neither party has grabbed the problem and fixed it.

A cynic may say this is going to script - albeit a bit slower and with a bit more resistance. US takes control of the largest oil reserves in the world - Venezuela; one that supplies a lot to China at favourable terms to the Chinese. Who else sells oil cheap to China? Russia and Iran; both because of embargoes and sanctions. China is a key economic competitor to the USA.. and is able to do so with the help of cheap oil. And, although it is weaning itself off oil, it is still the second largest consumer of oil at 16.4 million barrells a day according to Google AI. Notice how even the rest of the world has unoffically cooled from embargoes and sanctions of Russian oil? Yes, Russia will continue to sell China its oil, but as there is now more demand for it, the price will rise. China will have to pay more. That will cause a rise of input costs to Chinese industry and inflation at home. Not a great outcome, for China, but it will put the brakes on its economy and level up the playing field in global trade. According to Google AI, China has about 28bn barrells of oil in proven domestic reserves. That would give it around 1,800 days of oil at current consumption if it exhausted its current proven reserves. Of course, there will be more, but it will want to keep as much as possible for national security. Israel is increasingly looking like a side show in this - a distraction from what is the real intention. Anyway, they are now off in Lebanon, apparently targeting Hezbollah. Interesting how they are not involved in the peace talks with Iran nor featuring in any news with respect to at least tabling with the US what would be necessary for peace with Iran. As, Roosevelt said, "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way." Sincerely, Cynic and Conspiracy Theorist

I was out of Australia when he was PM, thankfully. Although a mate of mine back in Australia was spitting chips over his performance. I asked who he voted for.. Was the Libs.. He knew what Abbott and his motley crew were like, yet he still voted for them. I told him he couldn't complain - he got exactly what he voted for. Apparently, the press for Labor was worse and Rudd probably didn't do himeself any favours, either.

As I said in my post, you will find some examples that buck the trend - or the exceptions. But even in that vid, the current PV solar panels are an Aussie invention, which to paraphrase the fella in the vid, was given away to the rest of the world. We are inventive, but need to get entrepreneurial. The company in the above vid are, at the end of the day a niche provider - that could engage similar markets such as the Middle Eash, and African climates as the longevity is their uniue selling point. But form the vid, their focus seems solely Australia.

Me neither. but the first movers in highe tech industries often get an advantage and retain it. Nethlerlands still leads windill manufacture even though China is in on the act. Tesla still retains a decent share of the market in the wake of massive Chinese investment and number of entrants to the market. Despite Europe and Japan this time being the laggard, they too are able to have an EV market that, thanks to Chump, s growing. Australia seems to sell its IP off and not willing to invest for the long term gains. China produces things cheaper - US and European manufacturers set up there and own the IP and the profits, at least. Even the vid says the good profressor was about dissemination of information - i.e. give away the IP? One of the reasons was there was little reception outside of advanced scientific (e.g satellite) use. We just don't embrace the future that well. A lot of people fall into the "Ok, renewables" or whatever the technology is expensive to deploy. When has capital intensive industries been cheap to deploy?: But these developments often displace the industry that was cheap to run... we never seem to learn the lesson. Returns are based on innovation investment, not operational costs. That is what I meant by another lost opportunity - we develop the future, but we don't embrace it and capitalise on it - systemically (yes, there are a few examples where we buck the trend). I see it being the same in the UK.. And now, oddly, which Chump making America grate again, his desire to roll back the ages is putting the US farther back, quicker than it has been going.

Sadly, it looks like yet another commerical opportunity missed by Australia, but at least we are starting to realise the benefits, even in the face of stiff propaganda provided courtesy of the fossil fuel industry through both social and mainstream media, soaked up by a largely but decreasingly gullible public

@Grumpy Old Nasho - you really need to stay away from TV.. It is mainly American fed BS that doesn't even apply in their legal systems. War crimes are covered under the Crimes Act (Commonwwealth), making it a federal office; not a state offence. It is an indictable (serious) offence. However, there is no federal criminal court, the court of the first instance will be the supreme court of whichever state he is in, which is NSW. Under NSW law, all indictable offences require a trial by jury, except where, in the court's opinion, there is so much publicity that would impact almost anyone from being unbiased and potentially predisposed to a guilty verdict. But, this does not apply to federal offences thanks to s.80 (I think) of the Aussie constitrution, that requires all commonwealth (fedral) indictable offences to be tried by jury. The Bondi gunmen are also to be tried in the NSW Supreme Court in the first instance. In both cased, the defence may (and will likely) petition the court that a trial by jury would be prejudicial to the defence. If both succeed, then the outcome will be different for both defendants. Roberts-Smith will walk free. As the court will deem he cannot be granted a fair trial by jury, and the Aussie constitution requires those charged with a federal indictable offence are tied by jury, the court has no choice. It's as simple as that. Of course, the prosecution will appeal it, but if the decision is upheld, Robert Smith is a free man. In the case of the Bondi Gunman, there are 59 offences including murder, attempted murder, terrorism, firearms, etc. For the NSW state offences (murder, attempted murder , some of the firearms offences, some of the terrorism offences), he will still be tried - but by a judge only or a number of judges. He does not automatically walk free. If the defence do not agree, he will still be tried by jury. Unlike Roberts-Smith, he has no "get out of jail" card, if you will excuse the pun. But there's more.. the procedure is slightly different, especially where the judge has to give reasons for finding of fact (where a jury doesn't), It is hard to quantify, but because it holds the judge to a higher level of scrutiny, is is argued tha ut us harder to get a convuiction because they judge requires more to eliminate reasonable doubt (standard of proof the prosecution must provide) and less to introduce doubt on the balance of probabilities (standard of proof required by the defence). Every new editor (TV, magazine, radio, etc) in the country knows this. So, your theory that all the hype with Roberts Smith and the relatively low coverage of the Bondi Gunman is to lynch Roberts-Smith is so far from reality, it beggars belief. It is in Roberts-Smith best interests that there is as much bombastic coverage showing him as guilty as possible. With every press story that can predispose people to an opinion, the defence case stengthens that he can walk away a free man. Similarly for the Bondi Gunman, as if the defence will have less to do to introduce reasonable doubt (not that that will happen) or intorduce a defence (e.g. mental impairment - still slim but probably he only one he has got form what I saw as provication has to be proximate). By the press not covering it obsessively, they are prroviding less than they could to the defence to give them their best short at walking away. But, if you want to reverse the situation and have all the coverage on the Bondi person and none or less on Roberts-Smith, then you are virtually guaranteeing he will be tried, and possibly allowing enough of a sliver of hope the Bonid gunman can rely of some defence (though I doubt it, because criminal mental impariment is a much narrower definition than clincial definitions).

Winding path (to the find the missing letters, above)

This is the first time I have tried an AFR artivle for eons and I am sure my IP address has changed since I last accessed as I recently changed ISP. My guess is they allowed free use for a short period.

A prodigee of Abbott? Be careful what you ask for.

Indeed.. It looks like the "other alliance" is a bit stronger than ours: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-supplies-iran-with-cyber-support-spy-imagery-hone-attacks-ukraine-says-2026-04-07/ That't thank thanks Chump gets from Putin.. Of course, Chump won't see it that way.

The original article I saw was either on the ABC or The Age website (when I go tot he Guardian, it usually only feeds me British based or, for global news, what it considers important or interesting for Brits. There was no mention of CGT for the primary residence, but there was mention on negative grearing being removed from all but a private investor's first investment property; It must have been The Age, as I doubt very much the ABC wouls pull an article for a reason other than it iwas plainly inaccurate. But here is what I found from teh ABC: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-04/capital-gains-tax-changes-among-options-as-labor-weighs-housing/106306738 And it only mentions CGT discountsd being removed from investment properties. Which, IMHO, is the correct thing to do. Inherited properties that are then used by the beneficiaries to rent out (i.e. become an investment propety) should be required to have a surveyor's valuation at the commencement of them being advertised for rent so that the CGT clock starts tickign with an accurate assesment.. Or maybe ion this case, because of the emotional ties, maybe wait 12 - 24 months and if they sell in that period, then it is CGT free; after that the valuation has to be obtained and CGT has to be paid on a subsequent sale. Of course, this creates a perverse outcome on an intergenerational basis. Keep the original home in the family and pass it on to subsequent generations = no tax. Convert it to cash to invest in some other form of asset/wealth building investment, and you pat tax, and have less to invest and pass on. Would have to look into the stats of how many homes are passed onto multiple generations to work out the real impact. Be that as it may, it would be incredibly uunfair to CGT the primary property anyway. Not because of the fact it was already paid for by post tax dollars and insn;t an investment per se, but a place to live; but also, the deduction being inflation rate is not representative of the true inflation rate of a house. Unless you are moving into a care home of some sort, you are likely to be purchasing another property to live in. As house price inflation often skyrockets past the normal inflation rate and the price increase of houses is excluded from the inflation calculation, if you sold your house and had to pay CGT on it, you could not afford at least a similar standard of house - you would be going backward. And this would probably stall the housing market (except for those thast had to sell) and foprce prices up even further - no supply but a demand still will tend to do that. Labor, or Albo is not stupid.

Once again you sling mud with no substance and show your bias against Israel,.. IHaven't heard you reliably debunk much, if anything with fact Who's biased? Pot calling kettle, etc etc