Thursday, 28 May 2026

Around the Traps 29/5/26

 It is time for Around the Traps.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

OZ Climate

Northern America

Europe

Asia

Wonk

General

Climate

Andrew Gelman (mainly stats)

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

Vox Wonk

Wednesday, 27 May 2026

Gerard Henderson update

 Our mate Gerry is up to more news.

He does not like people referring to Trump as authoritarian because he was elected. Hmm Germany between the wars or hungary under Orban anyone.

He still hates people being interviewed on the ABC being interrupted despite them either not answering the question or answering another question. Even when they interrupt albo it shows bias. It is different you know!

We got to know one nation's rise in the polls was due to the bondi massacre. Naturally no evidence was produced.

He did not like Sarah Ferguson having a go at Tim Wilson for looking at his notes. Now our Gerry was chief of staff to john howard so he knows looking at notes is the sign of a poorly prepared politician. ( howard was famous for having no notes at an interview!) so he clearly knows better.

He does not see a problem in one nation banning the ABC from news conferences.

He does like people at the ABC and is forever saying they are sneering or condescending. This from a man who calls any ABC journalist comrade! glasshouses anyone!

We should also add our Gerry has no problem in banning holocaust deniers  ( like David Irving) from visiting Australia but is silent on those who deny the armenian genocide.

Whoopsy I should ad two more bewdys.

He didn't like some of the women coming here from Syria. He claimed they were members of ISIS. Actually they are alleged members  since it has not been proven in court Gerry and sine you have a law degree you know that as well.

He also thinks people are either left wing or right wing. None of this on the scentre got our Gerry and of course he defines them often 'ahem' controversially!

Tuesday, 26 May 2026

Ukraine

One interesting development in this war is how Ukraine has completely tied up crimea. Ukraine drones have made roadkill of trucks transporting ammunition, oil, food etc on the M14. All the ferries are unusable and the Kerch bridge is standing but no truck can drive over it because of the damage. It is interesting Ukraine has not destroyed the bridge because they can.

Ukraine has destroyed most of the radar system in  crimea. This means it is much easier to destroy airfields, planes, tanks etc in crimea as well as allowing ukraine to have drone sorties into russia through this area.

Russia has a strong heartfelt feeling towards crimea. This is why they have not given up any territory there. They are transferring valuable resources to crimea from other areas which ukraine note and then attacks.

In normal times russia would sue for peace to keep crimea and well before people start getting out of there. Like Trump with Iran, Putin will not be able to explain such a peace deal and he cannot afford to have people from crimea fleeing the place.

I suspect without any expertise that Putin has to continue the war in the hope he will eventually win. He will not get accurate information only information his subordinates thinks he wants to hear. This is the problem a dictator has. Putin's background is in intelligence not the military hence his numerable mistakes in the war.

How will it all end? I suspect Putin will be replaced at some time. Perhaps his successor will bring tol ight how much he has stolen from his people. How does a former KGB officer end up a billionaire with multiple country estates?

We shall see

Monday, 25 May 2026

Noah on the ball

 Not much time today so I will highlight Noah Smith's latest article at noahpinion ( get it!).

I am sick of the rain. Is it King Charles reign?

Sunday, 24 May 2026

A number of things

 One Nation.

 It seems they continue to surge. It also seems I was right. Both the Liberals and Nationals in particular would be decimated.It is still a long time until the next election and thus far one nation has been treated as a giggle party in that they have no sensible policies. They do not appear thus far to be hit by any scandals. Hanson can employ a convicted and unrepentant rapist yet nothing happens. Perhaps because in softball interviews which she favours she is not asked about it! Will this continue? I must admit I do not know.

Clearly she has no idea about immigration even when the questioner is confused. Ah yes Kenny interviewing Hanson.

Just a little bit more on this after talking to some friends. One Nation only talks to friendly journos where no hard questions are given, They bar the ABC from any press conferences. This is untenable in the long term. for example their immigration policy if you can call it that is horrible for regional cities. David farley acknowledged this in the Farrer by-election but then retreated. One Nation is hopeless at doing any due diligence on staff or candidates. Hanson is ugly, looks in her 80s when she is in her 70s and is stupid. This will eventually come through. In a campaign it will be either a lot of gaffes or a person who is anything but natural. In addition plenty of people such as Joyce or Farley wil think they should be leader rather than her BUT she has a lot of authoritarian tendencies. 

2PP

Kevin Bonham skews yet another attempt to discredit 2PP. Who would have thunk the IPA does not know what it talking about!

Ukraine

I thought I would make a small point. Ukraine only targets military targets. russia doesn't because they are both lazy and cruel and do not care about war crimes. Ukraine has made crimea almost undefendable because of this. ( check out Ben hodges on youtube he is the best on the war.) They won't invade crimea but they doo not have to; Ukraine is winning the war and Putin wil ldemand belarus help him.

Personal stuff

I recently had cataracts out. It is costly. I only need glasses for reading now and need new ones!. It is expensive for anyone thinking about it. I also had cancer taken out of my right ear. You need to look very closely to see the difference.

Thursday, 21 May 2026

Around the Traps 22/5/26

 It is time again  for Around the Traps.

Aussie,Aussie,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

OZ Climate

Northern America

Europe

Asia

Wonk

General

Climate

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

vox wonk

Wednesday, 20 May 2026

Defining anti-semitism

 It isn't hard to define anti-semitism however too many people want to have a definition which makes criticism of israel anti-semitic.

Jillian Segal came up with exactly that. This was not unexpected given she is a member of the jewish lobby ( they support the government of israel.) The government unfortunately gave in and supported this definition. Timid politicians do not like nuance! Both the ABC and SBS have rightly rejected the defiction. the Royal Commision has not.

what I find curious is that they adopt a controversial definition then sorta have a debate about the topic.

One of the problems of the definition is it aligns all jews anywhere with the government of Israel. Hence some people will criticize jews for supporting Israel committing genocide and war crimes against palestinians in Gaza when a lot do not. It also exacerbates the trope that jews serve two masters and Israel is the major one!

The rise in anti-semitism world wide is related to this. Iran's hand cannot be ruled out either as we know so well here.

It is not fair to ask every jew whether they support every action of the Israeli government just like it isn't fair to ask any muslim  whether they support the actions of any islamic terrorist.

If you wrongly define a  problem then you will not come up with a solution.