some more couple of things

 Mushroom murders

Two things that have never been resolved. under cross examination the murder showed she was quite intelligent. however the murders were done by a complete moron. It di not take a lot of investigation.

The actual crime led to very painful deaths so the murder would have hated the victims with a passion but it appears the complete opposite was the case.

something is not computing

Senator Price

I have always thought she was vastly over-rated. If Sky after dark think you are a superstar then head for the hills! James Massola puts some meat on the bone that Price is hopeless. She won't apologise and she blames the ABC

US Supreme court

Just when you think they cannot get any worse towards Trump they allow racial profiling. Usually you would think an offices would need a reason for you to provide proof of citizenship in any country. Not in the USA!!

France

This country is in a mess. Admittedly Macron created this by have early parliamentary elections. POssibly do it again eh!

Ukraine

Why are some people sooo stupid. Russia has very much upped the ante in their war. Increasing sanctions won't do anything. Giving Ukraine  the weapons to do damage to russia so much that it completely change the cost/benefit analysis is the only thing Putin understands. If the war ends badly for Putin then his tenure as President looks shaky!

Trump

Whoopsy I almost forgot this. The birthday card Trump said he never sent exists. Fancy that.the latest excuse is it is fake because it is obvious Trump did not draw it. Err but he wrote it and signed it.

This merely confirms Trump believes MAGA are all morons who will believe anything he saays.

A couple of things

 China

A lot of people are worried that China may start a war particularly since the invasion of Ukraine. I am not.

China id now highly integrated in the world economy. It would be very costly to start a war to say invade Taiwan. Any sanctions would hurt China bigtime not to talk about the massive disinvestment by firms there now. It could even lead to the CCP losing power!!

Okay people might point to WW1 where similar conditions in play yet war started. Xi is not as stupid as Trump. He would see all of the original countries were a lot worse off after WW1 finished and he wants to stay in power ( until he dies?)

dictator Dan

Heaps of criticism levelled at former Premier Dan Andrews for attending the ceremony in China. Yeah it was a bit silly BUT what countries were represented and remember Dan di not represent any country.

India, Indonesia, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania etc

Blowing up vessels

The US government decided to blow up a vessel in international waters because they alleged a venezuelan crime gang ( they have renamed a terrorist gang) was attempting to export illegal drugs into the USA.

A few problems

1. no evidence
2. the crime gang is not invo9lved in illegal narcotics
3. there were 11 people on the boat thus reducing the space by a lot of loading any drugs on the boat

Football

We only just beat the Kiwis. It could be Poppa needs more time to develop the youngsters into a team. I hope so however the potential is there. Alas he needs overseas coaches to develop that potential

Harry Nilsson

The late Harry Nilsson made one of the great albums of all time.

Here is  lime in the coconut

Jump into the fire

Around the Traps 5/9/25

 It is time for Around the Traps again.

Aussie,Aussei,Aussie,Oy,Oy,Oy

• Mike Keating and Jon Stanford on ditch-aukus-pillar-one-it-involves-australia-too-much-in-us-strategy Thanks Nick
• Josh Roose on the-sovereign-citizen-movement-is-growing-so-is-the-risk-of-more-violence
• Ross Gittins on if-you-think-you-had-it-harder-back-in-the-day-think-again , the-one-big-reform-no-one-discussed-at-labors-roundtable , if-albanese-has-lost-his-bottle-he-should-retire
• Patrick Commins on australia-well-served-by-rba-inflation-band-but-monetary-policy-impact-may-now-be-exhausted-ex-governors-say
• Jane McAdam on politicians-have-scapegoated-immigration-for-decades-its-time-to-flip-the-script
• Peter Varghese on fallout-australia-us-india-tension
• croaking cassandra on oh-what-a-tangled-web , yes-he-has-given-a-sufficient-explanation , one-more-bit-in-the-timeline , willis-and-the-reserve-bank-board-and-governor , willis-and-the-reserve-bank-board-and-governor , six-months-today
• Dennis Muller on neo-nazis-and-racist-rallies-why-its-important-the-australian-media-call-them-for-what-they-are
• Stella Huangfu on australias-economy-shows-best-result-in-two-years-as-consumer-spending-picks-up
• Daniel Flitton on daniel-andrews-private-statesman-grubby-diplomacy
• Nicki Hutley on australia-scores-a-b--on-its-latest-economic-report-card-its-an-improvement-but-theres-still-a-long-way-to-go
• Sussanah Patton on does-australia-s-us-alliance-doom-our-asian-relationships-fail 
• Ian Millhiser on supreme-court-trump-tariffs-vos-selections

OZ Climate

• sunshine-state-enjoys-highest-ever-rooftop-solar-output-and-record-levels-of-renewable-curtailment
  
• no-new-wind-slow-transmission-and-a-buyers-strike-why-australia-may-miss-its-renewable-energy-target
  
• act-of-bastardry-queensland-lnp-government-kills-another-giant-wind-project 
  
• this-is-not-inner-city-latte-sipping-lefties-bowen-hails-regions-as-battery-rebate-numbers-surge 
  
• the-rooftop-solar-rabbit-chris-bowen-could-pull-out-of-his-hat 
  
• another-three-big-batteries-and-a-new-solar-farm-enter-grid-management-system
  
• single-queensland-gas-bore-emits-as-much-methane-as-10000-cars-new-study-shows 
  
• long-distance-objectors-force-review-of-giant-battery-project-sited-close-to-sewerage-plant
  
• regulator-says-major-gentailer-inflated-wholesale-electricity-prices-by-66-million-over-nine-months
  
• wind-and-solar-up-coal-down-and-some-notable-battery-records-in-august
  
• exponential-growth-in-big-batteries-soaks-up-excess-solar-eats-into-negative-prices
  
• half-of-all-homes-in-australias-most-advanced-renewable-grid-now-have-rooftop-solar
  

Northern America

• institutional economics on p/the-fed-is-cooked 
• the weekly dish on the-permanent-stain Thanks Nick
• Dylan Scott on trump-cdc-director-monarez-robert-kennedy-jr
• Mike Fox on dc-sandwich-thrower-grand-jury-not-indicted-trump
• Drezners world on donald-trumps-biggest-dumbest-personalist-foreign-policy-flop-yet Thanks Brad
• Menzie Chinn on guest-contribution-turning-medical-science-back-to-1900
• the conversable economist on why-do-americans-work-so-many-hours
• Tyler Cowen on what-are-the-markets-telling-us
• Kruggers on the-bonfire-of-trumps-vanities , yes-america-has-a-housing-emergency, cooking-the-federal-reserves-credibility , why-does-the-right-reject-progress
• Desmog on 85-climate-experts-condemn-trump-climate-report-as-junk-science
• Osita Nwanevu on conservatisms-baton-twirler-william-f-buckley
• Mark Lilla on father-knows-best-william-f-buckley
• Deborah Fuller on how-rfk-jr-s-misguided-science-on-mrna-vaccines-is-shaping-policy-a-vaccine-expert-examines-the-false-claims
• Tom Bartlett on rfk-jr-measles-cdc-victory-lap
• one first on 176-illinois-v-texas
• Elie Mystal on military-lawyers-immigration-judges
• Brad De Long on employment-growth-stalled
• Esther Choo on west-coast-health-alliance-noble-effort-offset-rfk-jrs-damage-cdc
• Ian Millhiser on supreme-court-republican-partisan-hacks-donald-trump
• Fred Kaplan on department-of-war-trump-hegseth-defense-renaming

Europe

• Roger Farmer on uk-evidence-for-the-laffer-curve
• Mark Pierce on postcard-france-political-system-decline
• Monique Taylor on finland-s-distinctive-credibility-peace-efforts-ukraine
• Joshua Keating on ukraine-war-without-end 
• Fred Kaplan on trump-putin-russian-asset-portugal-president

Asia

• Jean-Loup Samaan on bigger-story-behind-modi-s-china-trip-it-s-not-india-s-tensions-trump
• Simon Leverett on local-journalists-and-fixers-are-dying-at-unprecedented-rates-in-gaza-can-anyone-protect-them
• Annie Kelly on israel-gaza-war-media-palestinian-journalists-killed-cpj
• Neta Crawford on gaza-civilian-death-toll-outpaces-other-modern-wars
• Sanchari Ghose on four-legs-bad-three-legs-better-rescuing-quad-india-japan-australia-grouping
• RN Prasher on nothing-new-india-us-spat-or-delhi-beijing-bonhomie
• Alex Tabarrok on could-china-have-gone-christian
• Tim Lindsay on whats-behind-the-rioting-in-indonesia-and-will-the-much-loathed-political-elite-back-down
• Fred Kaplan on trump-news-palestine-israel-gaza-un-marco-rubio
• Stefan Wolf on what-xi-jinping-hosting-modi-and-putin-reveals-about-chinas-plans-for-a-new-world-order
• Sam Roggeveen on world-dominated-china-it-s-distraction-real-contest

Wonk

• Tomislav Kardum on skewing-the-overton-window-communism-fascism Thanks Nick
• after babel on metas-ai-companion-policy-is-outrageous Thanks Nick
• Alex Duffy on to-improve-llms-coach-them-like-athletes-in-an-arena thanks Nick
• Kruggers on the-economics-of-stagflation-part-3
• Shameek Godara on age-alliances-ending-hedging-rule-order
• Stephen Grenville on world-without-economic-hegemon
• the conversable economist on crypto-stablecoins-and-the-rise-of-tokenization , icymi-journal-of-economic-perspectives-summer-issue-free-online
• Michael Shoebridge on incredible-shrinking-quad
• Tyler Cowen on it-would-take-more-than-one-paper-to-establish-these-claims

General

• Tim Harford on how-a-well-timed-kind-word-can-change-everything
• noahopinion on why-i-left-bloomberg
• Serena Lowe on curious-kids-in-ancient-egypt-did-pyramids-really-have-booby-traps-why-was-treasure-hidden-inside
• Benji Jones on animals-species-unknown-dark-taxa

Climate

• and Then Theres Physics on climate-sensitivity
• renew economy on china-giant-installs-worlds-biggest-offshore-wind-turbine-for-testing
• no hesitations on one-of-two-arctic-sea-ice-trilogies , the-second-of-two-sea-ice-trilogies
• Magali Nehemy on new-study-shows-how-amazon-trees-use-recent-rainfall-in-the-dry-season-and-support-the-production-of-their-own-rain
• skeptical science on climate-sensitivity-attp , ClimateAdam-the-dumbest-climate-denial-ever , new_research
• David Appell on updates-on-sea-ice-extent-at-both-poles
• real climate on climate-scientists-response-to-doe-report
• essays concerning on loading-the-climate-dice-why-chaos-does-not-prevent-climate-change-predictability
• desmog on understanding-albertas-expensive-ideological-war-on-renewable-energy

Andrew Gelman ( mainly stats)

• thank-you-perspectives-on-psychological-science-for-finally-getting-your-act-together
  
• survey-statistics-connections-to-experimental-design 
  
• assembling-an-unbiased-jury
  
• bloggings-a-great-way-to-express-your-ideas
  
• generate-but-verify-reconciling-the-evidence-utility-of-chatbots-in-many-settings-with-chatbots-evident-lack-of-understanding
  
• freakometrics on classify compare insure

Dianne Coyle ( quirky + book reviews)

• from-toffs-to-asset-strippers-via-buccaneers-and-fat-cats
  
• Brad De Long on the-sledgehammer-and-the-gavel , from-william-bolts-to-jeff-bezos
• Andrew Gelman on its-orwellian , the-story-paradox
• econjeff on book-nine-nasty-words-english-in-gutter , tomorrow-sex-will-be-good-again

Vox Wonk

• aftermath-tariffs
  
•  chinas-electronics-export-juggernaut-and-lessons-us 
• future-jobs-ai-robots-and-jobs-developing-countries 
  
• masculinity-norms-and-their-economic-consequences
  
• public-policy-can-encourage-physicians-practice-underserved-areas
  
• detecting-potentially-harmful-workplace-practice
  
• tariffs-and-us-dollar-depreciations-not-so-surprising-after-all
  
• europes-trade-surplus-international-relative-prices-and-productivity-growth-gap
  
• strategic-autonomy-europe-requires-economic-growth
  

GDP

 Australia's GDP figures were released yesterday. They were okay. consumer spending shot up. housing investment is strong, productivity rose however business investment was weak.

Given GDP has been tepid at best for a while because of higher interest rates this is to be expected. We can only hope investment grows as consumer spending gets stronger.

Two things can be gleaned.

1. We are past the worst of weak growth figures
2. interest rates wil lnot fall as much because of this.

Stephen Grenville on fire

 Stephen Grenville is a former deputy governor of the RBA and he writes semi-regularly for the Lowy Institute.

His latest column is world-without-economic-hegemon.

It won't take long but will be worth it!

some advice for Sussan Ley

 Okay the LNP are really in a funk. They lost bigtime last election and some people like Barnaby Joyce want to stay there by denying climate change.

Last time Dutton tried to portray Albo as a bad liar. It didn't work.  Albo is no Howard!

Portraying Albo as timid or weak would work BUT only if you are not!!

Thus the question is how to make inroads into the Labor government because their majority is too large and bad for democracy.

I really do not have time to reason why but how about targeting these ministers.

• Catherine King
• Amanda Rishworth
• Michele Rowland
• Clare O'Neil
• Anika Wells
• Andrew Giles

It is much easier to attack Albo if some of his key ministers are not performing. He has low standards, he is weak, he is not decisive etc.   

Over time small victories eventually lead to significant swings. ( This is assuming the coalition eventually have a sane climate policy).

at present the coalition has no idea how to attack the government and they are all over the place. In some ways this is understandable and it will take time to develop policies and a strategy but in the short terms attacking weak ministers id=s a good strategy. However it assumes the shadow ministers are up to the job and that is one mighty big assumption!!