Wishing everyone all the best for the new year.
Sadly due to new anti free speech laws some topics are going to be difficult to discuss here. I will get legal advice but on the meantime please assume that some topics are radioactive. Sorry.
Moderation may be heavy and slow. Past unthreadeds have been temporarily made private until more information makes the policy clear.
All the best for 2026!
And let’s hope it’s the year we get rid of Anthony AlbaNazi.
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One for the sheeple then:
https://imgbox.com/7avWZzGX
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10 out of 10 rating. Spot on ….. and looks like I’m the first footer, all 6’6″ of me and I’m a ( from Nigg in Er Ross where the Oil rig yard WAS) dark horse ! 🙂 Happy new year to y’all! Slàinte Mhath
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A happy new year to jo and all those who comment on this blog.
In the meantime it’s another 8 hours to new year in the UK during which time I will be looking frequently at my watch wishing that time would speed up, so I can go to bed.
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I said good night to 2025 at about 11:15pm and now I am waking up in 2026.
The world is looking a little better this morning. Yesterday was overcast and very cool.
The sun is going to come out today. It is going to be a nice day.
And at least some of my fellow Australians are waking up to the realities of the madness which has sent us into a tailspin over the past 4-5 years.
So there is a reason to feel slightly positive about the year ahead,
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I am with you Peter C. I have a good feeling that 2026 will be a year of great change, change for the better. Albosleasy is under pressure and it will not go away. The people want answers and there are many questions, whether they are about Jew hatred or climate and energy policy, Albo will find himself on the wrong side of the popular vote. Cronulla will be a turning point.
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Ruckman? Asking for a friend 🙂
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I guess it might be a good time to invest in a tattoo removal business. Given that a bloke just got arrested for having a tattoo that could be described as being in poor taste. Police when looking for people to arrest to make their quota can look through their arrest records where tattoos are normally recorded I believe and find non compliant tattoos and go and pay a visit for an inspection of the limbs with hurtful tattoos on them!
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having a tattoo that could be described as being in poor taste.
According to some people all tattoos are in poor taste…
I suppose they did not grow up in NZ….
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Happy New Year Jo!
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Happy New Years to the whole team down under!
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And to those standing right side up as well. Here’s to a fun new year.
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Happy New Year from Blighty, thanks Jo for keeping us informed through 2025.
Meanwhile start the new year with a bit of fun, name the Trashed Racoon of social media fame…
https://www.ashlandvirginia.com/news/downtown-ashland-seeks-a-name-for-its-most-infamous-neighbor
If they pick your entry you can win a 50 dollar voucher to spend in their local store 🙂
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Elmer Fudd would certainly say he is wascawwy waccoon.
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The ABC trying to prove Sydney and Australia is a back wood country again with their celebration of Play School to bring in the New Year. And, headliner Mel B gets a Guernsey.
Bring in Skippy for 2027!
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Or was that Mel C? Whatever it was not worth watching. Was watching CNN as I was “surfing” and they were switching/following the midnight fireworks around the globe, however when Midnight in Sydney went off so did the CNN with a notice that it was temporarily unavailable in Australia. Seems the ABC must have had the license. But I appreciated the CNN move. Thought the Shanghai show was better than Sydney.
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I watched the 9.00 show because I had the grand kids here. I thought the fireworks were a bit Ho-Hum and the entertainment pathetic. I was sure that my 12.00 dream would be more exciting so I went to bed.
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Ditto! I dreamt of Melania Trump, in that silver dress – more scintillating than the fireworks.
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Best wishes from frozen Germany for the new, upcoming year 2026
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Jo, are there any topics you know are ok to discuss or can we take it that anything interesting or remotely adult in content, may be off the agenda
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” remotely adult in content,”
Not only uncensored as far as I know, but encouraged if it includes more than two sexes these days! Govt will push deviant sex in all its forms as a distraction from real politics.
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Happy Nre Year everyone and to Jo and the Team.
It’s the New Year here already.
Onwards and Upwards for 2026.
Here’s to Free Speech for ever.
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Happy New Year it should read. Whoops!
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You are not allowed to say that Johnny. Free Speech? Such an outdated concept.
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“Free” Speech?
Don’t “actions” speak louder than words?
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Here is someone who I don’t wish a happy new year to and he is the UK’s version of Australia’s Blackout Bowen who I also don’t wish a happy new year to –
Miliband Claims High Energy Bills Due To Fossil Fuels
From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
Ed Miliband has been caught telling porkies again:
This excerpt came on Ian Collins Talk TV show this morning:
Miliband’s exact words:
“The truth is our country remains in the grip of fossil fuels markets, controlled by petro states and dictators. That’s why your energy bills are so high.”
Mr Ed is lying to you.
Your energy bills are high because of the billions added on for subsidising renewables.
Even before the year has ended, CfD subsidies have already exceeded £2.5 billion for 2025:
From JR –
The data and graphs are all at the link below and some interesting You Choob videos as well –
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/12/30/miliband-claims-high-energy-bills-due-to-fossil-fuels/
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Questioning a comment like that could in future be banned under Australian censorship laws.
Questioning the Official Narrative would be dangerous. They already regularly tell us that wind and solar are the cheapest form of electricity generation. That’s a statement of fact according to the Australian Government and CSIRO so any statement to the contrary must be mis- or disinformation.
We already know what they want because they have already tried and narrowly failed to be pass mis and disinformation laws.
They will keep trying to get such laws through.
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If the proposed laws were enforced no matter who you were – (politicians not exempt)…it would mean that no politician would be seen or heard from again.
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I notice that Ed, like our Labor liars, hasten to the BBC, and our ABC equivalent, to promote their propaganda. It should be the highest priority of incoming conservative governments to defund our public broadcasters. They are the greatest purveyors of untruths and they often leave out important information that may change opinions. There is no reason to have public broadcasting in this day of surround sound information.
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As this topic is central to Jo’s blog it seems the EU intends to try to censor discussion on the topic
https://notrickszone.com/2025/12/31/welcome-to-2026-europe-laying-groundwork-for-climate-science-censorship/
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Are we allowed to talk about the conspiracy theory that the conspiracy theory that we would be censored from talking about certain things turned out to be true?
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I had no idea that Australian courts, and particularly the High Court of Australia, have been making decisions that negatively affect free speech in this country. There is an interesting article in The Australian today on this very issue.
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When judicial gods make law, mere mortals are the losers – Janet Albrechtsen
Whether the policy responses are sensible or not, at least citizens know their governments are accountable for their actions.
We can have robust debates about whether hate speech laws go too far, whether the crackdown on protests goes far enough; we can usefully critique government actions; we can lobby for change; and ultimately we can choose a government we believe is better equipped to govern us and keep us safe.
And so we can, with relative ease and relatively quickly, change bad laws.
Not so with judges who, next year, will also likely deliver a sharp lesson about power. When judges get it wrong, when they step in and presume to second-guess the decisions of government, or when they make law, we are stuck with the judges’ decisions – at least until enough judges in an appropriately superior court later recognise the earlier judicial folly.
And just like the numbers on the floor of Parliament House, on our High Court it’s a numbers game too. As currently composed, the High Court has a majority of judges who verily believe that their invention of an implied freedom of political communication is a good thing for the country.
Given that freedom to engage in political communications is such an important feature of a democracy, does it really matter that judges decided to make it up?
It does very much matter who makes the laws. In that vein, the High Court needs a refresher course before the 2026 legal year begins on why they need to keep their sizeable legal egos in check.
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Josh Lees from the Palestine Action Group and other like-minded organisations are planning to challenge even the cautious legal changes introduced by the Minns government in response to the Bondi Beach massacre to restrict authorised assemblies in specific areas for 14 days following a terrorism declaration.
This means a handful of unelected judges will again presume to second-guess the policy responses from our elected politicians to the Bondi terrorist attack. They won’t be deferring to the words of the Constitution when doing so. They will be relying solely on a series of ever more ambiguous inventions by the court because the judge-made implied right to freedom of communication relies on even more judge-made tests to determine whether a law enacted by parliament is valid.
As clever as judges are, or think they are, their value judgments are no better than the ones our politicians make on our behalf. Judges have no real expertise about policymaking, let alone the skills or experience to make the right call about public policy.
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” why they need to keep their sizeable legal egos in check.”
Yes, when I see the lamestream media refer to someone as a “top silk” I know the naked emperor is nearby.
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The term “Hate Speech” was coined by the then Soviet Union to suppress free speech from the non Left 🙂
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O-O
Working hard to make “Samizdat” a popular word again?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samizdat
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Also:
When the “enforcement agencies” make the laws, you have a POLICE STATE.
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I’d post something interesting but I don’t want to break the Geiger meter.
I guess that leaves the weather. Cold on the South Coast of the UK today, only got to +1C for 2 hours despite unbroken sun, frost persisted all day in the shade. Very rare event for recent years. An odd day, it was warmer Midlands to Scotland.
I suspect the last few colder days have stopped it being the undisputed warmest year in the Central England Series, it’ll be a statistical tie, down to hundredths of a degree either way.
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Did you mean Somaliland?
Happy New 2026 Year to everyone !
(Just wanted to practice writing 2026…)
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For the maths inclined – “2025 + 1”
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No, that’s Minnesota.
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Have no fear Mr GrimNasty, the Met Office will still claim 2026 as the warmest year in the UK thanks to its network of 80% junk weather stations reading anything from 2 to 5 degrees wrong.
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Happy New Year Jo and everyone.
Australia’s war on free speech is terrible and supported by all Uniparty factions.
Also remember that the e Safety Kommissar was a Liberal Party (fake conservative) invention.
The open competition of ideas, good, bad and horrible, brought about by free and unhindered speech to discover truth is a vital element of freedom and democracy which Australia is losing or more correctly has already lost.
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Something to do with this woman?
“Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant is being threatened with contempt charges by US Congress if she fails to testify in the next fortnight about online safety laws, as she is accused of harassing American companies following the Albanese government’s world-first under-16 social media ban…US Supreme Court has recognised that Congress has the power to compel US citizens living abroad to testify..“Those, such as yourself, who enjoy the advantages associated with such citizenship should be willing to shoulder the responsibilities as well, including co-operating with congressional investigations,” “
She might get schooled in the subjects of free speech individual responsibility. Of course with Trump as President the lamestream here will be cheering Grant on endlessly.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/us-congress-threatens-esafety-commissioner-with-contempt-charges-20251231-p5nqyo.html
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Also from the same source:
” Republican Congressman Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote for the second time in months to Inman Grant, a dual national who also has US citizenship, on December 30 and accused her of an attempt “to design and implement a global censorship regime”. ”
US cavalry coming to our rescue?
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And what if she just sits on her hands here in Aus ?
Will she be then arrested if ever she returns to the US ?
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Again drom the same source:
” Jordan’s letter said the US Supreme Court has recognised that Congress has the power to compel US citizens living abroad to testify, and to be found in contempt of court for failing to comply. Contempt of court can be punished with fines or jail time. ”
Do we have an extradition agreement with the US?
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OOOPs, my mistake,
Sorry for the duplicate.
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Speaking in generalities, not referring to that case in particular:
Gulag AI responds to the question:
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Gulag AI responds to the question:
If someone who is a US citizen is held in contempt of Congress and they are outside the US and refuse to return what happens?
Would someone who is more willing to ask their favorite AI chat
What does it now cost to revoke your USA citizenship:
1- As a native born (in USA to USA citizen parents)
2- Accidental born in USA to non-USA citizen parents
3- Native born outside the USA to USA citizen parents never residing in the USA
Note: It is NOT free….
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From the prophetic work Nineteen Eighty Four.
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“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
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This is what it leads to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG8KR9edp9Q
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Excellent!
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Brilliant!
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” I will get legal advice ”
A sad state of a country when you can’t write laws that ordinary people can understand and interpret. Why do we pay expensive lawyers to write the laws instead of politicians, and in such a way that people need to hire a lawyer to find out what they mean?
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The Alan Sokal Hoax…
keep the serfs bemused.
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Happy New Year to you and David, Jo.
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Thankfully we have Elon Musk, a great warrior for the cause of free speech. He even risked his fortune to buy Twitter in support of free speech, even though it was a marginal if not bad proposition from an economic point of view.
I trust he’ll do what he can to support Australians’ Right to free speech, as he already has in various court cases.
Also, free speech doesn’t mean a right NOT to be offended. Everyone is offended by something, including myself.
I am also offended that other people can tell me what opinions I am or am not permitted to read. Especially as the censors themselves get to see them. What makes them better than me that they can see these opinions and I can’t?
https://www.9news.com.au/national/elon-musk-victory-in-war-on-strict-australian-web-laws/2c6a7cd5-a78e-43c5-8e7d-7db30564e42d
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“Especially as the censors themselves get to see them.”
Ah, yes… the most terrible things that people can imagine and produce, those vile, debilitating, corrupting parts of sex and violence that Govt workers have to view as part of their jobs, banning us from seeing them to protect us, but somehow working for the Govt makes them immune..
Of course they are there to protect the weak-minded amongst us, the lower end of the thinking scale, those who are easily persuaded and form mobs with pitchforks, and that’s why Govt only ever employs the top part of society, the strong-minded deep thinkers that you find in every snivel servant.
The magic of Govt is amazing indeed!
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I hope the topic of free speech itself doesn’t become a topic that Australians are not allowed to discuss.
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Intriguing point. Let us discuss it. If it doesn’t exist, shall it be made to exist? I like questions – you can say, as a 2 year old does, I was only asking…
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It’s 500 years since Tyndale’s banned 1526 translation of the New Testament – please find a copy and be inspired. We don’t have the death penalty, what can speaking do more than get us harassment, free Government lodging and food? Though, we might die by terrorism…
When Tyndale fled to Wittenberg to work on his translation, he didn’t take much more than faith. It was never going to earn him money.
Here is a .pdf that may be downloaded of his own-death-causing work.
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Happy new year Jo – I’m not a bot but I do read your work most days. Thankyou. Keep on speaking up. I’m sure you will find a way to ask questions…
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I wish everyone at Jo’s blog a happy and more prosperous New Year. Although our stupid far left govt will be trying their best to make us look over our shoulder more often.
Interest in this blog will suffer if we can’t tell the truth and their CC lunacy will continue to be a burden and a further waste of billions of $ that we can’t afford.
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As I post I have a mental image of Jo wearing a WW2 style RAF silk scarf to minimise chafing of the neck from constant swivelling while looking over both shoulders
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I think we all knew about the Australian Government’s war on free speech.
Seeing Jo write that we may be restricted on this blog to only Government-approved topics (my words) really hit it home to me.
I’m obviously not blaming Jo of course, it’s the law.
I never thought access to information would stop just at the under 16’s. That was merely the start.
A very sad start to the year for Australia.
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A Happy New Year to all from the south coast of NSW.
Cool and cloudy start to 2026.
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To you Jo & all the Jo Bloggers, a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year in 2026
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The Left already want laws prohibiting of questioning of the Climate Change narrative. If eventually implemented, and once censorship starts, there is no end to it, that is an existential threat to this blog.
The Climate Clowncil has said:
They say “bots, trolls and inauthentic social media accounts” but they will claim Thinking People such as of this blog are of that category, or the scope will expand as it always does with totalitarian legislation.
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There is virtually no topic that the Thinking Community might wish to discuss that will not be subject to the present or future legislation against free speech.
This leaves few options for the Thinking Community.
But Australia long ago decided that Thinkers were not a priority in this country.
What we see today is the culmination of the German communist Rudi Dutschke’s 1967 plan of der lange Marsch durch die Institutionen, the long march through the institutions, because he knew that violent communist revolution in the West would be impossible because people had it too good. He therefore devised a plan to slowly infiltrate Leftists into all institutions, public and private. It has obviously worked in Australia and most Western countries. It may not be fixable. At least the US has a fair chance under TRUMP.
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I have noticed that since TRUMP was elected and he warned social media companies they must stop censoring conservatives or else they would be subject of enforcement of Section 230, it has been much better for things on Farcebook. For example, people can now freely state scientific facts such as there are “only” two genders without being subject to bans.
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Donald Trump enters 2026 as the real leader of Europe
Forget Friedrich Merz, Emmanuel Macron, or Ursula von der Leyen. Donald Trump emerged in 2025 as the real leader of Europe, and 2026 is only likely to cement his position.
In just the first year of his second term, Trump’s administration has shaken Europe’s foundations to the core, with a far more assertive and effective approach towards transatlantic relations compared to the previous Biden administration.
The impact is being felt at every level, not least by European voters.
A striking recent story in Politico (“Trump dominates democracy in Europe”) highlighted the results of a 10,000-person poll, showing that he was viewed as “strong and decisive” compared to their own leaders by 74 per cent of Germans, 73 per cent of Frenchmen, and 69 per cent of Britons.
The corresponding figures for the leaders of Germany, France and the UK were 26 per cent, 27 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.
Trump may not be loved in Europe, but he is increasingly respected as a force to be reckoned with. Europeans evidently view him as a towering presence in shaping their destiny.
Trump is often erroneously accused of being an isolationist. The truth is he has taken a far keener interest in Europe than his predecessors and has been actively involved in helping shape the continent’s future.
He is the most transatlanticist American president since Ronald Reagan, and views rescuing Europe as a vital national interest for the United States. His approach toward Europe is nothing short of revolutionary.
He is the first US president to challenge the European Project, and his end goal is momentous: saving Western civilisation itself.
There are four core pillars to the Trump approach to Europe, all aimed at increasing the strength of the West: building military capacity and reviving Nato; ending mass migration and securing Europe’s borders; preserving freedom of speech, thought and expression across the Atlantic; and defending national sovereignty in Europe.
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That is an opinion piece, Politico is a better source.
https://www.politico.eu/article/politico-poll-international-populism-donald-trump/
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Unless you dispute the numbers, there is factual evidence to support Trump being regarded as the greatest world leader of all recorded history.
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I don’t dispute the numbers.
Speaking of numbers, Politico surveyed 10,000 individuals across Germany, the UK and France – total population about 220 million.
As a percentage, they surveyed 10,000/220 million = 0.0045% of the total population to draw their conclusions.
I don’t think that’s quantitatively significant to Europe’s opinions of President Trump, just like the increased CO2 concentrations are not significant to climate.
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Clearly your opinion – you have not made any attempt to determine significance. All opinion polls are done on very small samples relative to population and are rarely out by more than a few percent when elections occur.
A sample size of 10,000 from a population of 220M would have an error margin under 2%.
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‘ … greatest world leader of all recorded history.’
Highly unlikely.
Politico maybe biased, so here is another source.
https://yougov.co.uk/international/articles/53806-how-popular-is-donald-trump-in-europe-december-2025
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So “strong and decisive” President Trump vs “favorable/unfavorable opinion” of President Trump.
OK – so he is decisive but his decisions are mostly unpopular to Europeans, especially the Danes!
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Less than 20% popularity, its fair to say he isn’t too popular in Europe.
Its probably the same in Australia.
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Leadership is primarily unwavering values, decisiveness and consistency. Imagine if Australia had a strong and decisive leader rather than Sleezy. But his popularity is now wearing thin as Australia’s de-industrialisation gets into full gear under the social equity banner.
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Remembering that other opinions would express that as
“That is an opinion piece, Politico is a better source “of bias” “
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FWIW
“WE HAVE AN EPIDEMIC OF OVER-DIAGNOSING:”
“I win again!
This newly-released CDC data shows us that the rise in autism in the United States between 2000 and 2016 was (drumroll)…
ENTIRELY (98.25%, not significantly different from 100%) DRIVEN BY A SHIFT IN DIAGNOSTIC STANDARDS.
The autism epidemic is incredibly fake.”
https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/2006301324355551642
Via https://instapundit.com/765866/#disqus_thread
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FWIW – an observation on migration versus mass migration
“WELL, IN FACT THE POWERS THAT BE BROUGHT THEM HERE TO STEAL, AND ARRANGED THINGS SO AS TO MAKE IT EASY: Somalis gonna Somali. They’re a deeply tribal people, but all the people who say they didn’t adapt to America are wrong. Governments left the vault doors wide open and practically begged them to steal. Of course they did. “When individual families from tribal societies come to Western countries, they have little choice but to adopt Western stacking mechanisms — to accept the rule of law and the authority of independent political jurisdictions. Plenty of individual Somalis have done just that. But when they come en masse, as the Somali immigrants of Minnesota did, they may try to keep their tribal structures at least partly intact. In November, the independent newspaper County Highway ran an extraordinary piece about the Somali fraud in Minnesota explaining how easily the community had reestablished itself along clan lines. ‘The community is the result not of a voluntary movement of ambitious people seeking a new life in America, but of the US-government’s mass resettlement of entire families at once.’ ”
https://instapundit.com/765754/#disqus_thread
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An elaboration on this –
“However, most countries and most cultures are so choked with fraud they achieve nothing. To an extent, for a shining moment the US was not so stopped up by fraud and that allowed us to push humanity forward a massive amount. Fraud was still there, from the party machines to the federal contractors, but it wasn’t so pervasive that nothing else happened.
And then–
Well, it was baked into the centralization of power, wasn’t it? The more money there is somewhere — and there’s a ton of money in our federal government. Really a sh*tton of money — the more the fraud will grow.
But then all of this was incrementalized by…. mass migration.
I pointed out on twitter the other day that while I don’t think we should totally shut of immigration, except temporarily, I DO think we should UTTERLY stop chain migration and “family migration”. Yes, because I’m cruel. Why else?
No, on the serious side, because those two are a gateway to mass migration and mass migration means never having to assimilate. As much as I wanted to assimilate, if instead of being pitchforked into the country with my American born and raised (whose family had been here since the 1600s (and a branch before)) husband I’d come with my entire extended family, I probably would never have acculturated. There would be mom’s judgement and dad’s judgment, and what the cousins would say, and it would rapidly turn into “us against how the Americans do it.” And acculturating meant breaking with your family. (It does mean that anyway, to a great extent, as much as I still love them. I’m not of them and they fail to get me.) Something most people don’t want to EVER do.”
And more at
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2025/12/30/for-this/
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Virtually every opinion a conservative might have would be considered unacceptable to the Left and would therefore be subject to censorship in future.
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Were on a highway to hell folks, the journey to calamity for 2026 continues apace. Will this be the year our “controllers” decide to step up the instigation of the Grand New World Order, or will they wait until President Trump is out of office, for he is the only “fly in their ointment” with meaningful resistance.
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Some numbers from the NEM for 2025 compared with 2024.
Rooftops continue their strong upward trend increasing from 26.2TWh in 2024 to 29.3TWh in 2025.
Grid solar also had strong upward output from 15.9TWh to 18.1TWh but their collapsing price caused a reduction in income from $869M down to $629M. The grid solar market has passed peak income. No point building more and existing will go broke unless they have locked in long term contracts.
Likewise wind did well on volume going from 28.2TWh to 34.6TWh but the income was not commensurate with only a slight increase from $2169M to $2238M.
If coal depended solely on the wholesale energy market then it would be in strife. Black coal income dropped from $12.2bn to $9.4bn on 3% reduction in volume and 20% drop in price. Similarly lignite dropped from $3bn to $2.7bn on 6% drop in volume and 3% drop in price.
Overall, there was a slight increase in wholesale volume from 187.8TWh to 188.5TWh. However that remains well below the 2010 peak of 208.6TWh.
Australia can only hope the semi-scheduled classification of generation is binned in 2026. Without that, the de-industrialisation will gather pace.
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I asked Gulag AI:
It answered:
So there’s your “safe” topic list. In fact, I think even some of those would be questionable in Australia (e.g. traditional family values).
These must be the sort of things they discuss in North Korea and China.
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The Kremlin Lies
‘US finds Ukraine didn’t target Putin in drone strike.
‘National security officials’ conclusion is supported by a CIA assessment that found no attempted attack against Vladimir Putin had occurred.’ (Oz)
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We’re in the post-truth era where empirical evidence is worth less than an ostensibly authoritative statement from the establishment.
So you reject the video evidence of the downed kamikaze drones and the map of their attack routes?
Instead the word of a US Intel agency with a long record of lying to the public is treated as gospel?
Lee Harvey Oswald; Weapons of mass destruction; what laptops?; Operation Northwoods; 51 intelligence agents testify; etc etc…
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‘So you reject the video evidence of the downed drone …’
Totally, its a fabrication.
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Left side of the US mouth or right side?
“Russia Displays Oreshnik, Plans 2026 Odessa Operation; NYT Confirms US Was Behind Kiev Drone Strikes”
https://rumble.com/v73p48w-russia-displays-oreshnik-plans-2026-odessa-operation-nyt-confirms-us-was-be.html?e9s=src_v1_ucp_a
Seasoned watchers can tell “the likely anonymous source” by where the tip surfaces
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“‘US finds Ukraine didn’t target Putin in drone strike.”
Haha! So the only question is- when the tame poodle got off his lead and targeted Putin’s house, was he directed and helped by the Pentagon without The Donald’s knowledge? I don’t think Z wipes his butt without American help, so this is just more in the Deep State versus Trump war. You can be quite sure Trump wouldn’t want Putin killed, but that outcome would be heaven for the Anti-Trumpers, they could expect an Oreshnik over the White House anytime afterwards.
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Putin told Donald this unconvincing yarn and he seemed to half believe it.
Vlad was a top notch KGB man, the POTUS is putty in his hands.
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The remarkably rapid decline in Australian wealth and freedom ought to be a lesson, albeit too late, of what happens when people are apathetic or in the case of conservatives are too busy with work and family life, to speak out when they see bad things happening.
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So, you can’t create a login to Substack, that great whirlpool of teen angst, without age verification now.
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I don’t have a substack account and yet I could once read articles of interest without being logged in or having an account. This will stop many adults casually accessing that source of alternative information.
We are getting locked down tighter and tighter such that only “official” government-sanctioned sources of information will be accessible.
I am not overreacting. It is obvious where all this is heading.
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Get a VPN.
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That can also be blocked by Government. It’s not the ultimate answer.
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Yes I have worked around it fine, but my point really was that Substack is really an weird choice for censorship if you intent was child protection. Its a clear signal that the intent is anything but.
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I think that is still OK, but you need to login now to comment/discuss it seems.
30
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Probably not of much interest, but you all know how I love my music.
In 1975, i was on a waiting list with my ‘record guy’ to pre order Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’ (WYWH) album. I was already a big fan, as ‘Meddle’ (1971) was my first album from the band.
Recently, I went onto a wait list to pre order the ….. ‘Fiftieth Anniversary’ boxed set. Huh! Amazing how old we get, eh!
It’s still my favourite album from this wonderful band.
Of interest is that this time around they have included a lot of extra ‘stuff’ as well. (umm, probably for marketing purposes)
They even joined up all the ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ parts into one extended ‘piece’. (in much the same manner as the ‘Steel Breeze’ remix did) Being originally recorded to vinyl, there were four parts on side a, and five parts on side b, now all mixed together into one, at a bit more than 26 minutes.
Syd Barratt actually turned up during the recording sessions at Abbey Road, for three days, and at first was unrecognised by the other four members, until Richard recognised him, and the others were shocked at the sight of him, Roger even reduced to tears at the sight. While he may have been there, he umm, wasn’t really ‘there’, and didn’t have much recognition that ‘Shine On’ was really about ‘him’.
Also of interest on the album, (including a ‘credit’), was Venetta Fields, later having many years work here in Australia in theatre and TV. She was an Abbey Road session backing vocalist on WYWH.
WYWH is still my favourite album from the band, and I never tire of listening to anything from it.
Floyd went into the studio to record 15 studio albums, (three of them ‘post’ Roger) I have all of them ….. on vinyl.
Truly one of the World’s greatest bands.
Tony.
120
Mmmmm time passing. I saw a news item that the US was launching into 250 year celebration. It made me remember my first trip to the US during 1976 the bicentennial year. The displays of patriotism were quite mind boggling to 1970s me from Oz, an era where flag waving was not the norm at home.
70
And more on Pink Floyd after getting sidetracked. Totally agree , unmatched in my opinion. Spent many a night stargazing with friends with Pink Floyd playing on one of the car stereos. When an album finished, the question was usually “more PF?” Nobody argued.
50
Having spent many years on the road commuting 600km to and from work stints, I needed to play some music that either didn’t raise the agression/speed levels, or put me to sleep. I drifted towards American “newgrass”, like Alison Kraus and Union Station. This morphed into discovering the “Transatlantic Sessions” – acoustic folk mixes of US and UK players getting together in Scotland over the years.
On this quiet New Years day, “I have a need for solitude” sounds about right.
30
I watched a Ken Burns doco on County Music, and don’t br mislead by the word ….. Country, as it’s basically a history of American Music.
It gave me a completely different appreciation of music in general.
I thoroughly recommend the documentary.
In 8 parts and 17 hours in all.
An amazing piece of history really.
Tony.
40
Transatlantic Sessions are all played live, sometimes with totally disparate performers from both sides of the Atlantic who have never performed together. This track, May You Never, puts together UK artists John Martyn (almost a subdued Joe Cocker) and base player Danny Thompson with US based Kathy Mattea and dobro player Jerry Douglas.
What is priceless is the look of joy on them all at the end of the recording of a great song.
10
“Country” music has been in “flux” for a long time.
Check out Jennifer Nettles / “Sugarland” and “Tonight”, from 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlqo_SmqcOU
See also: Toby Keith.
And, there is also “Blackgrass”.
00
Tony,
Pink Floyd doing the dark side…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHb5V1MqtrQ&list=RDEMMuNo_ya96ky4y2AzB2-mHg&index=11
10
Pretty ordinary NY celebration for us. We booked a table for Mrs Wife and me, at a local restaurant we’ve used before. There was going to be dancers, music and fireworks. When we got there, despite booking three months ago, they had plonked us on the fringe of the outdoor area, in the rain with no cover.
Nope.
Much shuffling of tables produced a table under cover but so jammed in among large groups there was barely room to sit down.
Nope.
So we were relegated to a couple of bar stools in the waiting area, where we would be eating at a bar, chest height. We put on a brave face, unwilling to spoil the evening. Then a couple of walk-ins arrived and another table was created, under cover and with plenty of room.
Last straw. This was our first time having dinner in a restaurant for two and a half years, since my wife was diagnosed with cancer and we needed it to be a good night, but we’d just be shoveling the food in as fast as we could, wearing grumpy faces. Told manager I’d be requesting a refund of our tickets and we left.
Things can only get better. Maybe? Hopefully?
150
I predict it will be 2035 before we get any accurate information of the events of 2025.
It will be 3019 before we know what really transpired in 2019 … if ever.
Probably never if AI-wickedpedia has anything to do with it.
I hope there are some cloistered monks somewhere saving paper books and hand scribing daily events so some future Indiana Jones can search it out.
150
Speaking of our only clear vision being in the rear view mirror.
Here’s a fun interview.
Viva Frei
Live with former CIA Analyst Larry Johnson – from the CIA to Russia and Beyond.
https://rumble.com/v73npeq-live-with-former-cia-analyst-larry-johnson-from-the-cia-to-russia-and-beyon.html?e9s=src_v1_cmd%2Csrc_v1_upp_a
Hi-lites …
Christians in Action are not James Bond or Jack Ryan … but Dilbert.
How do you spell Viet Nam in Spanish … Venezuela.
100
Happy New Year to all. Here’s hoping that 2026 is a year in which the modern concept of climate change is recognised as a farcical construct by a broader audience. May the narrative be undermined by real science and the emergence of more critical thinkers. May the censors fail to achieve the level of restriction on information they desire.
110
Just think how much speech will be suppressed in Australia, not because it is illegal speech, but because people are not sure whether or not they may be prosecuted for stating an opinion.
It is no way for a thinking person to live. It’s oppression.
Meanwhile the NSW Premier mocks the US First Amendment.
120
So proud of our elected political leaders. Daniel Andrew’s quote , Sept 2020.
“In fact you’d be surprised how much can be avoided if people stop insisting on personal freedoms. Because insisting on human rights is not only selfish, it’s stupid”.
They get to be premiers and the power just goes straight to the head. Looks like Minns is no different to the Dictator.
70
So what should we expect in 2026 and I’ll just stick to weather/ climate?
Can we link to PR studies like ———-
All of the co2 Coalition Scientist’s links?
The latest 2025 PR SLR study from Dutch engineers showing 1.5 mm a year since the 1850s and no acceleration?
Polar bear numbers much higher since the 1950s?
A 98% drop in Human CC death rates since 1920s?
The fact that we now live in the safest period in Human history?
Life expectancy is now the highest in 2025? That’s just the last 0.1% of our existence.
Eemian temps 8 C higher than our Holocene and SLs 6 metres higher then than now in 2026?
Aussie CAT 3 to 5 cyclones were nearly 5 times more prevalent over the last 6,000 years? see Dr Nott JC Uni QLD study 2023.
SLs 1.5 metres higher along our east Aussie coast just 4,000 years ago? See Catalyst their ABC.
Most Coral islands are either growing or unchanged over the last 40 years? See Dr Kench’s PR studies and even their ABC now agrees.
Just a few question marks to THINK about as we start 2026, but I can list many more.
151
I think even questioning the Official Narrative on climate could be problematic as per my posts above.
80
There were no new maximum temperature records that made it into the top 10 in 2025.
If you know anywhere in Australia that recorded a new daily high maximum can you please advise?
We in for global cooling till 2031. The next peak will be in 2037. Not sure I will be around to see that.
70
“There were no new maximum temperature records that made it into the top 10 in 2025. ”
I’m sure there were stacks in the SMH about Sydney’s hottest earliest day after winter and record-breaking blah blah, but my eyes just glaze over at the time and I never remember them. There are ALWAYS global warming records being broken.
40
The records are not temperature. They are temperature anomalies. Show me a new maximum temperature record.
20
‘ … global cooling till 2031.’
Do you have a start date for global cooling and the cause?
13
The last peak in solar intensity during the Heating season in both hemispheres was 2024/25. For 2032 relative to 2025, the NH heating season gets 0.93W/m^2 less and the SH 1.22W/m^2 less.
There are there factors causing the reduction in solar intensity during the respective hHeating season.:
Solar activity is past the SC25 peak and will be at its minimum in 2031.
The northern excursion of the Sun is still north of Earth’s elliptic but lower than in 2024/25.
The Sun is orbiting closer to the SBC during 1931 to 1932 in the July to September quadrant. That is why SH is down more than NH.
50
“The Sun is orbiting closer to the SBC during 1931 to 1932 ”
Too late to proof-read now…
10
Thanks, I’ll follow up on some of those points, particularly the solar cycle in relation to world temperature.
There is something happening in the South Pacific, marine heatwaves are strengthening and I don’t know the cause.
https://climateimpactcompany.com/ag-market-early-alert-explaining-the-extremely-wet-northern-australia-dec-25-climate-while-despite-la-nina-the-east-coast-was-dry-2/
11
Marine heat waves! What are they?
10
130
I am very leery of 50% + 1.
50
unbridled majorities
Will the current WA government be used as an example for future political analyses?
20
FWIW – Canada and native title
“Bruce Pardy: Property rights fallout from Aboriginal title rulings extends beyond B.C.”
“http://RebelNewsPlus.com | ‘The foundational problem is this idea that if you have a certain kind of descent, then you are a different legal category than everybody else,’ said Dr. Pardy. ‘And that is the idea that, in this country, we have to do away with.’ ”
https://rumble.com/v73nops-bruce-pardy-property-rights-fallout-from-aboriginal-title-rulings-extends-b.html
Via SDA
60
Grid collapse is getting very close. The price in both SA and VIC is high negative as they try to force generators off and build some demand.
Market notices for low demand:
Actual Minimum System Load MSL2 condition in the SA Region on 01/01/2026
AEMO ELECTRICITY MARKET NOTICE
Actual Minimum System Load MSL2 condition in the SA Region on 01/01/2026
AEMO has detected that there is an elevated risk of insufficient demand to maintain a secure operating state in the SA on 01/01/2026.
Minimum demand is forecast to be -230 MW at 1330 hrs, and the advisory threshold is:
– MSL1 34 MW
– MSL2 -117 MW
– MSL3 -468 MW
Actual Minimum System Load MSL1 condition in the VIC Region on 01/01/2026
AEMO ELECTRICITY MARKET NOTICE
Actual Minimum System Load MSL1 condition in the VIC Region on 01/01/2026
Update to Market Notice 132340 – AEMO has detected that there is an elevated risk of insufficient demand to maintain a secure operating state in the VIC on 01/01/2026.
Minimum demand is forecast to be 1620 MW at 1130 hrs, and the advisory threshold is:
MSL1 1760MW
MSL2 1260 MW
MSL3 760 MW
The demand is below the MSL1 threshold. The actual MSL1 condition is forecast to exist until 1530 hrs.
If only more people had batteries to soak up energy the NEM could avoid a low demand collapse. The smelters will be pushing up current to the max to get paid too take the power. This is when Snowy 2 could be used to get paid big sums to push water uphill. Who needs efficiency when you get paid to absorb power.
Wholesale prices in Victoria have been negative since 0545hrs.
SA rooftops currently supplying 103.7% of the regional demand.
120
I know this co2 annual emissions data is very boring to most people but we should show everyone the data at least once.
The World and non OECD have been on a very steep trajectory since 1945, but the OECD now emits less annual co2 emissions than we did in 1988.
Trust me most people just look blank when you try to explain the co2 graphs to them.
And China, India and the non OECD etc are not reducing their co2 emissions for many decades.
I hope I don’t cause Jo any grief by linking to this data. SARC.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country?country=OWID_WRL~Non-OECD+%28GCP%29~OECD+%28GCP%29
50
“And China, India and the non OECD etc are not reducing their co2 emissions for many decades.”
many many decades.. ! China will find somewhere even more 3rd-world with even cheaper labour and off-shore their dirty industries there, maybe Pakistan. Then just like us they can stand up at the UN and do a little victory dance because their CO2 has gone down, while some other country is excused their CO2 output because they are underdeveloped..
20
Anyone interested in political history might find this useful.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/01/cabinet-papers-reveal-alexander-downer-warned-of-dire-climate-change-outcomes-in-2005
33
That the Howard regime absorbed that pseudo-scientific nonsense was one of the most destructive decisions ever made in Australia, if not the most destructive.
110
Here we are 20 years on and SFA has happened. Downer is another mediocre intellect pretending to be competent.
90
Who is leading the field in the de-industrialisation ranks? This is Yanis’s case for Europe being out in front:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfkMKnx1SEo
In 1990. I was buying industrial scale electricity from ELCOM in NSW for $60/MWh but was offered $40/MWh from SECV. We were unable to use our powerlines from Wentworth to Broken Hill without paying NSW a $20/MWh wheeling charge. Keating’s productivity Commissioner ran with that one and in a couple of years. State monopolies on power transmission was gone. We got out lignite furled power from Victoria and saved a bundle.
Australia’s lignite is the lowest cost fuel source in the world that has no export market to force up the price. It was the lifeblood of industry in Southern Australia. Now burning it is criminalised. Rooftop solar and battery are now Australia’s only source of generation with growth potential. That is my case that Australia is de-industrialising faster then Europe.
160
1984.hosting in Iceland looks good, and the name couldn’t be more appropriate! 😆
Dying societies accumulate laws like dying men accumulate remedies.
– Nicolas Davila
90
And I think Australia really is a dying society with little hope of recovery and a one party state as there is no effective opposition party.
70
Ahhh…but that’s the cycle of destruction and rebirth isn’t it, just like a forest fire except this is political and economic.
Looking at the 2025 global search data the masses are still wasting their time with trivia and rubbish like Labubu toys.
Voting for more clueless clowns won’t fix anything because they’ve caused the problems in the first place.
It’s unavoidable but the prepared will be the ones mostly unscathed on the other side…
30
FWIW
“Canberra’s Latest Can’ts List” brought to mind some lines from Leonard Cohen –
“That’s right, it’s come to this,
yes it’s come to this,
and wasn’t it a long way down,
wasn’t it a strange way down?”
From https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/leonardcohen/dressrehearsalrag.html
30
>“Canberra’s Latest Can’ts List”
I was thinking I’d never heard of that list before, but then I remembered I overheard someone yesterday saying the politicians in Canberra are, “a pack of can’ts”.
30
And still they come –
“Call for resignation of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese”
Just now – 367,928
40
I know many are hopeful about Trump as knight errant in trial by comb … I mean non-violent only slightly censored for fee fees and safety political debate, against the Global Blob.
I don’t know if The Blob Brain is in DC, or whether it is a multi-brain anti-life carbonless organism.
One of the belle weathers for me is the Jan6 Pipe Bomber narrative.
I think a few here might like learing about it.
It’s not going well.
Trump, God bless him, has been heroic.
But I fear further divine intervention is all we can hope for.
Viva Frei
Live with Ivan Raiklin – Jan. 6 Pipe Bomber Preliminary Hearing Leave MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS!
Both are lawyers.
Viva’s guest actually attended the recent hearings for the pats … I mean accused.
https://rumble.com/v73p3b6-live-with-ivan-raiklin-jan.-6-pipe-bomber-preliminary-hearing-leave-many-un.html?e9s=src_v1_sa%2Csrc_v3_sa_o%2Csrc_v1_upp_a
Sorry to say, The Blob is either so detached, are so confident (I guess the latter), that they barely bother to fake it.
Easy I guess if it’s made so convoluted that no normie can follow it.
20
It is bell wether. This is a castrated male sheep trained to leader the other sheep to their demise. That is the slaughter house 🙂
10
Did the daily comment links from December disappear on purpose?
Historical links like the one below no longer work (correctly):
https://joannenova.com.au/2025/12/wednesday-138/#comment-2888869
20