You guys turn up to vote in Local Gov elections? I think most of ours are postal. I wonder if that means NSW turnout is better?

Khan Academy

Hey Quokka i don’t know when you sent this message, but i made this comment 2 months ago, and i’ve only just received your comment. You weren’t ignored, on my end i simply never saw both your comments, i noticed another one on another thread, until just now.

Possibly a time lag in federation? Aussie Zone has that issue with another server, maybe with some mastodon instances as well.

I think the random shelf stocker was behind a milk crate desk, so all very official. :P

https://aussie.zone/u/philip this is my favourite post of the week, please update as details emerge. I want to know how the saga unfolds. Will the ACCC get involved, will Head Office respond, will https://aussie.zone/u/philip go nuclear contacting their local Parliamentary Representative.

Thanks for tldr. I really didn’t want to read that.

Its so bad over east. I remember visiting family when i’s young, seeing these huge cavernous ‘clubs’ half filled with pokies, other half a buffet style dinner hall. I thought where is the RSL bit of this place?

Democracy dies in the dark; Redactions cast long shadows.

The interviewer seemed to have a line she was trying to follow, and Max Chandler-Mather wasn’t having a bar of it.

Max Chandler-Mather’s CFMEU rally antics have given Labor a political weapon to wield against the Greens By David Speers

This article from David Spears, i think, explains Ferguson’s line of questioning. Basically the ABC have drawn an optics comparison between that and Tony Abbott’s ditch the witch protest speech. And yeah there is similarity.

In both cases though, was it worth the media being distracted over the signs and forgetting the issues at hand?

This should be it on iview as well, https://iview.abc.net.au/show/7-30/series/0/video/SEGS2024104277434

Also noticed this one from Adam Bandt, i haven’t watched it, but it might add context,

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/7-30/series/0/video/SEGS2024104288422

Its actually a snip from the ‘7:30’ interview the ABC embedded in the article page linked. I missed it the first time i read through it.

Yep, true, they’re good points.

Don’t disagree. But Max-Chandler’s comparison with banking, and religious institutions kind of makes that a hard argument to make.

Why are we suddenly seeing such hard and fast political reaction against the unions when theft, collusion, and some of the worst criminal behaviour imagineable, has been committed and Governments have taken a slow approach, and in other cases not seemed to pull their finger out at all.

I think its the comparison and rhetoric that really smells here, because lets be honest, administration isn’t shutting down the union, some people will lose their jobs, but the representation of workers will probably be maintained… in this present case.

To a degree the right to disconnect is like working from home, those policies affect white collar far more than blue collar, or min wage service workers, etc.

So in my mind it makes sense that, that reform went through without much issue. Everybody is on the side of the middle clas white collar worker it seems.

Its noticeable how much media time work from home has got since COVID over just about every other issue impacting workers. Maybe its because journalists identify more with it, maybe other classes of workers haven’t the power to effect change, and influence national conversations.

“The government is not for turning and nor is the Australian public — they want to see this industry cleaned up,” he said. (Aparently Albanese said this)

Do we have a Labor government or Thatcher?? Not sure whether putting the Construction part of the CFMEU into administration or not is the right decision. But aligning yourself with historic union busting figures? Albanese is insane to think this is good politics.

Good to here Max Chandler Mather out there again showing some solidarity.

Pick, place looks good, cheers.

Ooh! The Kākā looks good. Shall be checking out.

I enjoy a podcast or two, and i only see a few here i know, so heres a few favourites that i didn’t see yet,

Battleground: Ukraine, podcast that was being started about historical battles at the same time as the march on Kyiv happened. They pivoted and have kept abrest of events weekly since then. Its been very valuable during times the rest of the media aren’t covering it.

Age of Napoleon, an all time favourite, Everett Rummage is a well researched unassuming host. His excursion into the history of Haiti and its ties to the Napoleonic era is some of the best podcast hours i’ve ever spent.

Philosophize This, Stephen West is the happiest podcaster in a state that most philosophers would refer to as alive. He has gone through so many philosophers from all ages and gives them all a fair go.

Capitalisn’t, Bethany Mclean and Luigi Zingales take an issue with the capital system today, interview an expert, and discuss.

Debunking Economics, Welcome to the mind of economist Steve Keen. The most heterodox economist kicking goals today. Slightly MMT but has some disagreements, and shines a new lense over the field of economics.

Dot Social, Interview Podcast for the fediverse curious. Don’t know if anybody here would be interested in that kind of thing though…

Rest is Politics UK/US, both UK and US ones are great. These political current affairs podcasts are hosted by former political insiders. Their insights are valuable, even if you disagree with them. The podcasts motto is “disagree agreeably”. Rory Stewart and Allastair Campbell’s discussion on the Iraq War was an extremely poignant and honest moment and is well worth listening.

Climate Deniers Playbook, Same guy from Climate Town on YouTube, but even more annoying because he’s right there in your ear holes telling you about all the ways Big Oil is going out of its way to fuck you, and specifically you, over.

The Tally Room, Ben Raue interviews a guest or two on Australasian elections. He analyses and discusses the electoral possibilities in upcoming elections, and historical electoral practices. This is not a politics podcast, its an election analysis podcast. Therefore he generally only strays into the policies of a certain party as it impacts on the electoral outcomes of the government area in question.

I hope theres some podcasts in there that interest people.

He bought it because he was going to be forced to https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-did-elon-musk-agree-080448660.html

I really dislike how this fact is being forgotten. There is no ‘big brain’ conspiracy going on here he got caught out making an offer that he didn’t actually mean to be taken seriously. The rest has been making the best, for himself, of a bad situation.

Also this article only gets to the really interesting question in the last twenty words or so. ‘Why are people still on there?’ Thats the analyses good journalists could be focusing on.

I had to recheck what month it was when i saw this headline. This sounded like it had April fools written all over it.

When asked whether he thought the Australian Olympic team had lied to organisers about their nuclear powered choice of transport down the Seine, Macron responded, “I don’t think, I know!”