The first of the 2024 presidential debates just got done, and ouch. I'm not going to analyse the thing because like most of you I couldn't bear to watch more than a few minutes. Trump was exactly how we expected; a torrent of off topic "falsehoods" (it's okay, legacy media, you can say "lies"). There's nothing to be done there. The big worry is Joe Biden. He seemed markedly aged even in the last few months; confused, rambling, frail. It's the sort of decline that happens in the latter years of life, sometimes very quickly. But it's not great for a commander in chief; I'm not even sure he'd be safe to drive if driving was something presidents ever did. I don't see how the Democrats can deny that Biden has to go. It's Joever.
Getting the disability pension is much harder (and more ridiculous) than you think
20 May 2024
Albanese Government,
Australian Labor Party,
Campaigns,
Disability,
Social Justice
| Share
.jpg)
We like to think Australia has a semi-functional welfare system, which most people assume includes that those with disability are supported if they can't work. But it's so much harder than people think, with Kafkaesque twists and turns even the strongest of us are barely able to navigate.
How anti-trans BS gets its wings
13 May 2024
LGBTQ,
LGBTQ Rights,
Media,
Moral Panic
| Share
Anti trans groups cloak their bigotry in pseudo science, and rely on mainstream media too lazy or underfunded to fact check to get their word out. In truth they've adopted the SOP of Qanon, and deserve about as much credibility.
Terror of Modern Policing
08 April 2024
NSW police,
Social Justice
| Share
You could almost feel sorry for NSW Police. Like their brother cops in the U.S., they've been granted all this military grade equipment, but our thin blue line lacks even the excuse of an armed citizenry to use it against.
What God would want 12 year old priests?
 |
| Gnocchi Nico I prepared earlier |
Last night, after Mr G and I finished another sublime dinner (I know - I cooked it) he rose to take the plates into the kitchen, and I said while you're in there, after you rinse and stack can you wipe the benches.
He emerged a few minutes later and wiped down the table where we'd just eaten. I said thanks, the table needed that, but can you also wipe the benches. I think he nodded.
Some time later I went into the kitchen and saw the benches were wilfully, obstinately unwiped; the jars of salt, pepper, thyme, cayenne, and the 83 other herbs and spices I put into every meal were still out, and there was a glob of olive oil, a couple of bits of broken spaghetti, an unwashed knife, and various other detritus one would expect from an enthusiastic but imprecise cook still on the bench. I try to clean up as I go, but I also like listening to podcasts and loud music while I cook and sometimes things get away from me. And in any case, I had delegated final cleaning duties for this evening. Seeking to ascertain where was the weak link in the chain of command, I grilled my subordinate. "I thought I told you to wipe the benches."
"I did."
Sort of book review - The Death of a President and the pre-history of childhood
20 March 2024
Book Reviews,
history,
US Politics
| Share
Where the NRL failed (apart from in Las Vegas)
If aim of the NRL hosting the 2024 rugby league season opener in Las Vegas was to impress the Australian journalists they treated to lavish hospitality on a free trip to the States to watch the spectacle, they succeeded admirably. But if the NRL actually wanted to entice sports loving Americans to develop a passion for league, the endeavour was always doomed to failure. But there's a simple solution to get Americans to love rugby league.
