Jerry_Atrick

I think this is an appropriate place to post this. A major power outage has swept across Spain and Portugal, knocking out transport, mobile networks, and other infrastructure. I am thinking there could be nerfarious play.. another reason to go off grid... (ps didn't link it as it is on the guardian's live feed and by the time you clicked on the link, it is probable thee would be something different showing)

Haven't they already done that at the higher courts?

Vid not available in my country 😞 Will have to load up a VPN

The question is not who, but what.. and the answer is the constitution that they swore to uphold. So, as they swore to uphold the constitution, they gave the justices a right to judge them.

I thought I would start a thread of social media content and providers that is not political that are worth promoting. First cab off the rank from me is Road Trucking Adventures. Great vids of a road train trucker and his travels. He is getting popular and now sadly does members only vids, but these are gems: And he is obviously very respectful because he doesn't hold back the great Aussie salute.

If its cheap, it will sell regardless. The world lately has taught me principles are exceedingly cheap.

It would not surprise me. I had a car accident in Dallas way back in the late '90s. The policeman and I were talking and I explained that the show, Cops, had not long been running in Australia, and asked if it were an over-dramatisation of what it was like in the USA. His response, in a southern drawl was, "No sir. It's very accurate... Just today, the state legislature passed a law allowing people to carry concealed handguns in shopping centres." I asked him what he thought about it, and he was clear the police hated it.. and could not understand why anyone would need to carry guns in that situation. He also said most police are all for proper gun control. So, yeah, I would not be surprised if it were legit in Texas. Although I don't think it is.

I would proffer that so did Macron and other world leaders - and it was the same subject. Thanks OT.. I am taking a break from catching up on some study I have to do. However, it is pretty clear that the 5th Amendment prohibits denial of liberty without due process and this has been upheld for a lot less than what Chump is currently getting away with. At the moment, a complicity executive (because the president can arbitrarily appoint the executive - a flaw in their system) and congress means the courts are the only check and balance on the other two organs of government. Even though they can appoint a special counsel to prosecute contempt, who would enforce it? As I have always said to my kids, many of the autocratic countries in the world have constitutions that would be aspirational to most democracies, but the propaganda machines and the keys to the military and other executive agencies - and the general culture of the country - determine whether or not the constitution is effective or just a propaganda piece. This article, if accurate is a cause of deep concern: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-27/how-us-voters-feel-about-donald-trump-100-days/105215796 Chump's supporters are defending thei continued support basically because he is implementing his promises at breakneck speed. There is no discussion on whether those promises are the right thing to do, or whether the execution of those promises are lawful. We have cases where people who are documented or have lawful abode in the USA being rounded up and. upon a court order not being brought back. Why? And we have many situations where there hasn't been due process, as required by the 5th amendment where the courts have ruled against the government being flagrantly ignored. Also, we have someone saying Grandpa Joe worked at a glacial pace. Yeah, I agree with that criticism. But in terms of domestic affairs, he managed to turn an incredibly large ship around in a very tight circle of time without causing extra undue duress to his people. Chump is simply wiggling the rudder backwards and forwards, and the bolts holing it on seem to be wobbling loose. Yet, because he is implementing his promises at breakneck speed, all is OK, apparently. Farmers are losing their farms, unemployment is rising, civil unrest is spreading.. flagrant breaches of the law are continuing, and the real economy - not just the stock markets is starting to tank.. But that is OK, as long as he implements his policies at break neck speed, when a more measured approach will probably reach the outcomes, some of which are fair, with less disruption and faster. But worryingly, this is looking more and more like the 1930s. The dangerous rhetoric being whipped up, the governments attempts and controlling academic political discourse. Not only the weakening, but attacks on the judiciary that are upholding the rule of law even when it doesn't meet the government's agenda. A Wisconsin (I think) judge has been arrested so far without representation for abetting an illegal immigrant - whom, after hearing the case said there was none and told the immigrant where the door was. The arbitrary detainment of visitors - allegedly because they may have some messages on their phones criticising Chump. And who on earth would have thought in our lifetime, western European countries would be issuing travel advisories urging care when visiting the USA due to such flagrant violations of human rights because those visitors could be subject to them? Unless someone straightens up this ship, this has the potential to have much longer term negative ramifications than are evident. Of course, the possibility of an outright autocracy is very high as the American people have, and seem happy to allow the executive to gram more and more power than they are allowed to. And why would they want to do that? However, despite America's current economic strength, the volatility that is being introduced and the lack of respect of the rule of law makes conducting business with the USA precarious. And most business people will have consistency, even if they don't give a poop about human rights.. Because without consistency, they can't plan confidently to make profits year on year. If the US$ keeps falling, the international value of the US economy will fall with it, and that may open doors to places like China or Europe, although admittedly the latter has other structural economic and political issues to deal with.

I would trust them less than Huwaei equipment.

Hmm.. so there are advantages to Musk's plans? 😉

This is even more worrying:

Is there any hope?

This captures the essence of the shift in direction of the USA, but also highlights the dependency of the rest of the world on it.

One can only imagine the hell sufferers of this abuse go through.. As I recall, the Queen ended up paying her £12m to stop a civil case from going to court to protect her son. Although this was hailed as a victory to Giuffre, it probably shows any of these compensatory vcitories, which includes a tacit admssion from the Queen that her alleged favourtie sone was more likely than not to have lost the case, are very hollow to the victims. May she rest in peace.

Great 4 corners report on the lead up to Bathurst and touring car racing

I'd be really surprised if there were that many undecided voters who were really not forming an opinion at this stage, except for apathy or intentionally not casting a ballot for anyone. But, I have been surprised before. If I were polled on who would get my primary, secondary, and tertiary vote, what would I say? I could say which parties (or independents) I intend to, or I could say undecided. That's because, I am fairly sure which way I would vote, but I am still amenable to changing it, based on anything matrertial coming up, which could happen. I would probably lean to say the way I intend at this stage, but that understates my undecidedness. Or I could say I am undecided, and that understates they way I vote. Politics has traditionally been rusted on, crusties, or whatever being the majority of voters. Sure, they will never change their mind so they should just vote whe in convenient to them in the voting window. Then there are those that will swing their votes - some with difficulty, and some with ease.

That tells us all you certainly are not a sausage man 🙂 I obviously can't vote in this election (Son was disappointed not to be there to vote), but I would like to leave it to polling day unless impossible. The reason is because, sort of like the QLD election, it would give me time for some crap to be uncovered, which may sway my vote. Although, there are elections wherer my mind woudl be made up well in advance (this is one of them) and it would take an awful lot of crap to come out before I would change my vote.

This popped up in my YT feed. He admits he is biased to Labor, but if you want a summary of all the policies thus far of ALP, LNP, and GRN, then it seems pretty unbiased, and take your own opinion on them.

Things are starting to unnravel, I would suggest https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/23/trump-administration-news-updates-today

I think for the vast majority of the electorate, their mind is rarely changed - takes someone like SFM to repulse people from their normal picks, and even then, many still hang on regardless. If people removed their conditioning and looked at the track records of each of the parties, you could be forgiven for thinking that the parties are not quite the stereotype they portray themselves to be. There was a write up in the FT today where an Egyptian billionaire is quitting the UK because of the removal of non-domiciled status which allows them to avoid paying taxes in the country they earned their income in, and then avoid paying taxes here. However, while the Labour treasurer, Rachel Reeves, is copping the blame for it, it was actually the conservatives that put in place the removal, and it was a vote carried forward by Labour. This billionaire attributed Britain's decline to the conservatives incompetence at handling the economy - which is the opposite of what they are stereotyped as.

Quite learned:

Has Chump inadvertently increased Aussie beef exports:

According to Google, Russia is 17.1m sq kms; Australia is 7.688m sq km.

I am not sure about the law in Australia, but in the UK, if you order something and it doesn't arrive, you are scammed, or the vendir doesn't properly deal with initial quality problems (i.e. refund or replace a faulty thing), then the credit card issuer is responsible for refunding your money. I had an issue where a bath supplier agreed they would send a bath by a certain date and I needed it so I could install it in time for guests. They delivered late, so I rejected it. The credit card company didn't want to pay up but when I pointed out they violated their own Ts & Cs, and they admitted they did, the card company refunded me the money. It is darned handy for buying airline tickets if the airlines bump you or they cancel a flight. The CC company have to refund if the airline doesn't.