Jerry_Atrick

We had a decent inversion about 2 years ago.. Spooked the markets for about a day and all returned to normal. You can be your bottom dollar a recession is coming.. and maybe a depression.. just can't work out when.

One of the many flaws of my character

I heard on Triple M early morning AESuT, from an Aussie correspondent in the US, that the likly offer to Zelensky will be for the Eastern 20% of Ukraine (inc Crimea) to be given to Russia, and a DMZ to be set up as well as Ukraine become a nuetral country (i,.e. can't join any military alliance). I am guessing Triple-M will release the Luke Bono show on a podcast so you may be able to find it. If it is the case, then Biden should say here's the cash/weapons - go hell for leather for 2 months and see how you go.

Whicever way you cut it, this is a big win for Trump: He polled a little under 4m more votes than Harris in the popular vote. While it isn't as big a margin as Biden had over Trump, it is significant that Harris lost the popular vote. No doubt the media didn't help, and therre were reports of bomb scares in democrat leaning polling centres, and of course the Russian interference. But, I think they are suffering what Labour here were to some extent - out of touch clique.. My guess is that, like Trump's last administration, he will do some things that are positve, but largely screw it up. However, it is a different world now, and the challenges he had in terms of the economy, foreign policy, etc, are more volatile and fragile then when he left office. He may well find he, like his Aussie and UK counterparts, will end up on the nose.

If it isn't being asked for and it isn't going to happen, why do you need an answer? There are Koori courts in most states (though the names may differ) they still apply the law of the land

It's all about money, spacey. Make it cheaper to replace than repair https://youtu.be/Vk8x0iRr2ek?si=bprTeyDuNGeiVO06

The UK is full..

It's a hypotehtical question as only a tiny minority of Aboriginal activists are demanding severignty. Most are after a treat that accomodates self-determination (see link above) via a treaty. Whey you boil down Lydia Thorpe's hyperbole, it is about a treaty and not sovereignty (of course, they wouldn't say no to sovereignty). Maybe if they are talking traty but we seem to have a record stuck on them wanting sovereignty, they understand the practical limitations and we just want to find a way of harking on about something they are not asking for which they know they realistically won't get to deprive them the debate of what a treaty may be? "fter all it was not what this country enticed us to come here originally. " If referring to the original settlers, at least you admit it was an invasion. If referring rto yourself, maybe not, but what you did come to is a country which has in its own common law legal system admitted the original settlement was illegal. Like it or not, your adopted country should fess up and make amends. You take your adopted country warts and all. I have with the UK and I am absolutely certain it wasn't quite the country it was when I came here.

Paper

1 just repeated

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I think this is where people get genuinely confused. There is a small group of Aboriginals, and I cannot remember the name, that want genuine sovereignty in terms of a nation state. Generally, though, Aboriginals, have asserted they never gave up their sovereignty, but that does not mean they want a separate nation state to co-exist. They generally want self-determination. This may give more of an insight: https://aigi.org.au/toolkit/self-determination-for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples#:~:text=For many First Nations%2C self,want to live their lives. Particularly, "For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, self-determination means having genuine decision-making power and responsibility about what happens: on their lands and waters in their affairs in their governing systems in their development strategies." This does not mean operating outside the legal framework of Australia and not does it mean sovereignty. Today, we give these rights to other religious groups, bot officially and culturally. The rather poor conduct of some institutional religions still benefit from coverups except for the more heinous conduct. They are exempt from taxes, equal opportunity legislation and the like to accommodate their cultural sensitivities. Aboriginals have definitely been granted a lot, too, but they have had a lot more of their cultural lifestyle removed than most, particularly those of Abrahamic religions, of which at least Christianity based faith culture has been mostly imported to Australia since colonisation. In addition, people who have willingly immigrated to Australia should expect to conform with the laws of the country; the Aboriginals didn't immigrate to Australia - so their culture was (attempted to be) taken away from them. I agree, the wheat from the chaff has to be sorted in terms of pursuit of Aboriginal rights - as with any group, you will find the charlatans, opportunists, rabble rousers, etc. But just like with the vegans, the trans, the conservationists, etc, the press will hone in on the more extreme participants/protagonists as the mainstream are boring and won't attract eyeballs. The problem is, this reflects to the population that consumes this information without doing their own background research, that the more extreme is the norm for these groups. I don't blame people of course; we are all too busy to research most things. But the press and the pollies, and the corporations, etc. know this, and it is sort of how one ends up with an increasingly broken political system and fragmented society we have today..

A

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This seems well thought out, well mostly, anyway:

I shouldn't have laughed, but it did make me giggle.. I haven't followed these cases, but I would suggest you read the court reports if you want the facts. There is a well established rule that when one has paid the price for their crime, they generally can't be locked up anymore. That applies equally to Aussies as the refugees/asylum seekers. The press forget to report these facts. How many times have you read in the news the courts, usually on appeal, have thrown out some case because of a point of law. The press whip it up into a frenzy especially, when in the usually rare occurrence, the accused repeats the offence. And how may times have you read that an ex-crim that has been released (the are ex-crims at that point) go on to reoffend? There was a famous case in NSW that I can't recall the name of and google just gives me the recent immigration cases, where the state government passed an act to indefinitely detain someone (a born and bred Aussie) because they were likely to commit the crime again. It went to the High Court, and the high court ruled that it was invalid legislation because it was too vague and they couldn't specify the offence that was likely to be committed (or some such thing). However, QLD and SA passed legislation that tightened the requirements and the High Court ruled it was OK (which was actually anathema to the general legal principle, but as Australia doesn't have a human rights charter, it was deemed lawful). So, my guess is, they fell foul of the NSW approach and of they tightened it up, it would have been legal. The press don't report all of the facts, not the context, nor the law... Don't get overworked. The High Court are normally as conservative as Justice Clarence.

Hmm.. I guess over here we are spoilt..or they are incentivising us to save.. We have these things called individual savings accounts (ISAs).. Can invest up to £20K and all returns are tax fre. The can be cash, or shares (I think UK bourses only), Our company contributions to our pensions (super) is tax free up to 10%, but for every 1% we put in up to 5%, the company can match that 1% tax free (of input tax). We can contribute up to £25K of personal contributions free of input tax from our gross earnings.. Anf of course, that means reducing our grossable earnings by 25K, so there is a tax benefit to that, too. There is no withdrawal tax either. The capital gains (inc reinvested dividends) is tax free.. when you start drawing an income, for example through an annuity, you pay mormal tax rates. However, the state pension is not means tested, because it is based on teh national insurance contributions made - effectively a payroll tax + personal tax - it is not elective. Over the above, you are taxed at the nominal rate. I would argue, even in higher interest rates, $3m is not huge amount. The killer for Aussies is the 15% input tax. When I was in Aus, as I recall but am happy to be corrected, it didn't matter what your annual contributions were (employer or personal), they were all subject to a 15% tax. Depending interest rates, that couls easily shave 30% off your longer term investment.. In financial regulations here, under MiFID II, we have to declare "costs and charges", which for retail investors is a comparative projection of the free from fees vs. fees returns on their investment.. and fees are typically about 1%.. The 30 year difference in the curves is often around a 15% impact on the returns of the investment. CGT on a super fund during its life is another fee that will inhibit growth. By all means tax it at the end over a threshold, but leave it alone until then.

I had a similar experience. My in laws live in the Foest of Dean, which is the first left off the M4 past Bristol when heading out of London. I lived in Richmond, which was handly for the first entrance to the M4. Our first Christmas with our newborn son, and we drove down on Christmas eve, only to realise, after I had consumed a few reds, that we left the video camera at home. Not to worry, I will get up at 4am on Christmas day, saunter down the M4, retrieve it and I will be back by 8am. The step-father-in-law (who I lent my Commodore to, and was clocked ding 140kph on the Hume from Sydney back to Melb), scoffed and said I wouldn't be back until around 9. I was back around 8. I did about the same speed (around 95mph) all the way on the M4. On the way back to the Forest of Dean, just outside Swindon, I was the only car around and I noticed on the left of the motorway emergency stopping lane was a mound, and on it was a police car with his radar trained on me. I thought about slowing down but decided that would be admitting guilt so I kept on going expecting a chase (after which, of course I would pull over) or a summons in the mail. Got neither. These days between London and Reading it is "smart motorway" with variable (not average) speed limit cameras scattered about. You speed up in between and slow down as you pass the cameras. More dangerous that it was before.

The speed limit on motorways here is 70mph (c. 110kph). Except in busy times, it is ordinary to do 80mph and even the police won't do anything if you pass them. I usually set the cruise control to 79. And it is not unusual that people will pass me by about 10mph. Anything over 80 and you are taking a chance; over 90 and they will nab you. Although we have mobile speed cameras now. They are operated by civil (public) servants and there is no tolerance. I got done doing 33mph in a 20 zone at about midnight. Pure revenue raising. I elected to take a speed awareness course (no points on the licence and no need to tell the insurers you were done speeding), and almost everyone there was for a similar reason - minor infringements.

Lucy? Oh had to read that a second time

Here's how: https://images.app.goo.gl/FqQXpNgrdLAffe5m6 And a long range tank. No need to stop

Indeed.. I am surprised Arnott's haven't lodged a court action.. They did against Dick Smith's brand, Temp-tins, or somethign like it. They lost that one, but that was really never going to win.. While the packaging was similar coloured, shaped and sized, the name was too easy to distinguish from Tim Tams.. That looks a lot closer to Tim Tams.. I am not sure the basis of the Temp-tins' ruling though.

No photos today, but here is the progress update: The kitchen floor hasn't moved as the builder has had emergency call outs non-stop. I have the back of a piano still in the kitchen area, and am making my own dolly to wheel it out. Once done, we will clean the floor, I will go over it with fine grain (240 ggrade) sandpaper and we will apply the stain outselves. There are some decent gaps between the boards, and we have got this filler tape that looks like it will do the trick. I have been sugar soaping walls today - what fun. My hands have never been so clean. Three tip runs in the XC90 yesterday and there is about 10 more to go, and we will still need to get an 8 yard skip. Washing machine gave up the ghost, as did the original wall oven and, in the Meeting House (separate cottage), so did the bathroom exhaust fan. Turns out the last peopel who stayed (family) decided to switch off the breaker and partner hadn't worked it out. As I was in London, I arranged for the sparky to check it out.. Literally flicked the switch and voilla! After spending literally enough to buy a very nice car on the plumbing, the boiler decides to chuck a hissy fit and the impellor fan beaing ate itself up. Can only get the sealed unit replaced for £300, or as part of a new burner, £500.. Getting the latter. I should have just sold as is.

Way to go, Elon:

A very interesting admission: How the media is failing us - https://on.ft.com/3Cb61pv via @FT