old man emu

Is it really Trump's idea? The idea just came to me that the USA has been planning moves to control oil producing nations for a long time. Can you remember the old riddle: Q: Why doesn't the USA invade (insert name of country)? A: Because it doesn't have any oil. I reckon the US military has been planning these actions for decades, however previous Presidents have been relatively reluctant to implement those plans. I think that we can all agree the Trump is unlike any previous President. Theodre Roosevelt once said, "Speak softly, but carry a big stick". Trump's versoion is, "Yell loudly and thump with your big strick".

A land of droughts and flooding rains. If it's not one thing it's another impacting on agriculture. While we are well aware of the problem of fuel supply coming into sowing season, there is a biological problem that is impacting the pollination of our food crops. In June 2022, varroa mite was detected in sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, New South Wales. The mite is a parasite of European bees which kills them. When it was detected, thousands of bee hives were destroyed in an attempt to control its spread. That didn't work too well. The upshot is that commercial bee-keepers were not able to place their hives amongst the plants that need bees for pollination. As a result many crops, such as apples, pears and nuts failed to produce. Worse still, while 'domesticated' hives were reduced in numbers, escapee broods headed off into the native forests, taking the mite with them. Control or eradication of the mite in Australia is now impossible using current methods.

Talking of wasting taxpayer dollars, how does the government justify spending $20M on an advertising campaign to tell us to drive sedately to conserve fuel. $20M is enough to give every licenced driver near on $1m each. How many people are curtailing unecessary travel due to the price of fuel? At least 91 Octane is only $2.15 at the servo I go to.

If he was fixing a worn balt, it was probably becasue it a had a fault.

GON, I was talking about the conduct of the trial - the presentation of evidence to prove the allegation, or the rebuttal to disprove it. Also the judge can rule on the admissability of evidence. These things take place before the jury has made its decision. Once it has, the jurors are dismissed and play no further part in the trial. Thereafter comes the sentencing process if the accused has been found guilty. The judge has a number of sentencing options which can be used, ranging from no penalty to the maximum prescribed by the particular law. There are other intermediate sentences, usually called diversionary sentences which aim at rehabilitation.

This is an interesting telling of the story of Iran post-WWII.

Just a bit of history about Iran in the 20th Century.

Guess you are not a member of a Southern Baptist Church. Theres Scopes of room for discussion of your statement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_trial

Perhaps the reason that teh Bondi Gunman has slipped from the front page is due to a lot of other stuff for the front pages. Things like Iran, fuel, cyclones, and Roberts-Smith are the short term attention grabbers now. Also the Bondi Bomber is awaitng the actual start of the Court appearances. He is currently On Remand.

It's the jury which will have the hard job. The judge is simply there to see that the game is played by the rules. So, Nev, are you thinking abour replying to my friendly challenge?

I think that those were fair comments, not likely to affect any juror. I was just saying that in my opinion, being on that jury is going to be a hard job.

While an Australian trial would be conducted according to the accepted rules, the assessment of the evidence is in the mind of the jurors, who are going to be selected from "the person in the street'. Nex, I make a friendly challenge to you, with out wanting to raise you hackles. Take a bit of time today and think what your decision would be, based on what information you have at the moment. I know that you have great analytical skills. Put them to use in answering my challenge. I look forward, without bias, to hearing your answer.

That is probably the fear - that he goes in, becomes a regular grunt and gets killed so that the Trump dynasty dies.

One of the causes of a major sea level rise was the release of unimaginable amound of water caused by the collapse of the North American (Laurentide) Ice Sheet which caused a catastrophic rise in global sea level led to the flooding of the Black Sea and drove dramatic social change across Europe. The collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet released a deluge of water that increased global sea levels by up to 1.4 metres. This increase in sea level and associated coastal flooding resulted in the submerging Doggerland. Doggerland was a large area of land in Northern Europe in the southern North Sea. We know the area as the Dogger Bank. Ther are many otehr places identified in oral histories that relate to this global rise in sea level. The flooding of the land bridges between Tasmania and the continent, and in the area of the Timor Sea. Speaking of Sydney, the harbour is the result of rising sea levels flooding old valleys. The same applies to Botany Bay. Local area Aboriginal stories carry nuggets of truth about the effects of rising sea levels.

Apparently Barron is too tall according to the physical standards. I can see how height would be a disadvantage in fitting into some equipment, like a tank, but there are many other occupations in the military where tallness would not matter. Maybe he could be trained to be a drone operator, or a communications operator.

Therin lies the rub for the criminal trail. "Highly likely" is not "beyond a reasonable doubt". I've been thinking what I would do if I was selected as a jury member for this trial. I've been influenced by the reporting of the evidence in the Civil trial. I've been influenced by my experience in investigating alleged crimes, which I hope I always did completely fairly. This trial is all going to depend on how the jury deals with the evidence of witnesses. I fear a lot of evidence might be hearsay, but are there witnesses who can say that they saw him do things that immediately resulted in the prisoners being shot? There doesn't seem to be any physical evidence, so any decision will seem to be based on circumstantial evidence. In other words, how will the evidence deal with any doubts in the minds of the jurers?

Trial by Media. Here is an interesting video which raises some worrying points about post-arrest media sessions.

Here's why we only have a month's worth of fuel stored here.

We don't realise how much stuff we have launched into orbit around the Earth. I often wonder how they manage to get through the active and inactive satelites that are there without colliding with something. Perhaps a furture space business will be to go around collecting the junk and returning it to Earth for recycling.

Police Procedure: In NSW there is no need to handcuff an arrested person during transport if there is no clear chance that the arrested person will attempt to flee. If a person submits to arrest why bother possibly injuring them by cuffing? Your idea that the cuffs always go on after arrest is based on what you see depicted in American crime programmes.

Who didn't know the amount of GST in the price of a birthday cake? How many politicians didn't know the price of a packet of butter? It's easy to trip up someone on a minor detail, which is what any political opponent of another politician will do for a headline.

Long disrtance road travel was indeed down this Easter if accomodation and event cancellations are any indication. A friend has a B&B and is starting to get cancellations for later in the month. A big Easter annual event at Lightning Ridge has many fewere attendees than usual. Dubbo City Speedway cancelled their race meting due to withdrawal of entrants. I'm noticing a big drop in caravaners passing my place. I suspect that those of you living in rural areas can report similar reductions in travelling activity.

Amongst others, Trump has taken a shot at Australia for not getting involved in his folly. You'd have to agree that in this instance, Albo done good.

Actually, the swing to One Nation is probbly the best thing that could happen to the traditional governing Parties. They only have to ask Why?, and do a bit of soul-searching. Why is the electorate doing this? Why have we lost their support? Answering those questions should lead to a reassessment of their platforms and with reformed platforms they can hope to win back lost support. We would end up with our traditional parliamentary system - Labor -v- Conservatives.

You've just described GON's favourite country - the USA