Primary vote numbers will have to wait until the full report is published later today, but The Guardian reports that the latest fortnight rolling average from Essential Research has Labor maintaining the 54-46 two-party lead it opened after a one-point gain last week.
Among the other findings:
• Seventy-one per cent agreed both sides of politics should meet in some place called “the middle” more often; 45% said they would consider voting for a party that sat in it; and another 45% (or perhaps the same one) agreed that Australian parties were “too ideological”, compared with 37% who perceived no substantial difference between them (I assume these two were separate options to the same question, although this is unclear).
• Yet another question on same-sex marriage finds 61% supportive and 26% opposed, and 50% supporting a binding plebiscite compared with 23% for a vote by parliament and 9% for a non-binding plebiscite followed by a parliamentary conscience vote.
• Questions on foreign leaders found 51% had a favourable view of Justin Trudeau, which would be an impressive result for a Canadian Prime Minister on name recognition, never mind approval. Angela Merkel on 43% and Emmanuel Macron on 41% both rated higher than Theresa May on 33%. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin both rated 16%, and 6% had somehow formed a favourable view of Kim Jong-un. All of these numbers will become more meaningful when we see the full report, which will hopefully also include results for unfavourable.
NSW
The nothing statement at the end is the cruncher.
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2017/07/illegal-logging-destroying-koala-populations,-report-says
The NBN is copping another hiding in today’s dead tree edition of the West, with Skymuster being targeted today in a couple of articles and an OpEd.
Awwww!
(Warning. Soppy animal pic)
Looks like the attempt at creating a One World Order by Putin, Trump, Xi, the Saudis and Erdogan is not going quite to plan.
I do note the thoroughness of it though. Putin even enlisted the candidate for President for the Green Party, Jill Stein, to his cause it looks like, if the Senate subpoenas of conversations between Trump Jr and Stein are to be taken seriously as fact, in order to mop up the Far Left and steer them down the Anti Vaxxer etc., path with the pixies so as to keep them distracted while the rest of them got on with the job.
Phew!
But I think Putin stumbled badly when he couldn’t bring Marine Le Pen on board with his project. It seems to have started falling apart from there. Not, I think, with the election of Trump. Trump seems up to the task of being the snake in the Garden of Democracy, for mine.
Emmanual Macron is playing an interesting game now that he is French President. Inviting Trump to France to get to know him more intimately. I just hope that Macron doesn’t go down the Napoleonic path too much but rather the Gaullist one.
The national anthem of #McManusstan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h45WnW0ASFY
Sobering and sad news about Sen John McCain, who was the butt of an insult by the gangster draft dodging Trump (ankle spurs or some bullshit which got better later, yeah, sure) as not true blue because he was shot down and captured. McCain’s prisoner-of-war history is here in his wiki.
Earlier in the year we visited the Hanoi prison where McCain was first interred. It was built by the French to hold political prisoners (freedom fighters), and then called Hoa Lo – fiery furnace, or hell hole. No hyperbole there.
There is a guillotine there in a large silent room with adjacent death row cells. The silence was deafening. People just stood. It is the most gruesome thing I have ever seen I think, difficult to look at except in short takes. Black steel, with a steel funnel where the heads rolled away. I somehow imagined them as wood, movies I guess. And it was introduced as a humane form of execution, which compared to being pulled apart by wild horses it was I suppose.
Vic,
Some of team patriot on Twitter are suggesting that perhaps Jared Kushner has flipped and is co operating with DOJ.
I’m trying to figure out what Steve Bannon has been up to since Trump told him to get to the back of the bus, Trump was in the driver’s seat!?!
Or a Prime Minister who keeps his substantial fortune tucked away in a tax have in the Caymen Islands.
Have = haven
joshgnosis: Sky News reporting that Greens Qld candidate Andrew Bartlett might be ineligible under s44 because he held a contract with ANU.
don @ #1105 Thursday, July 20th, 2017 – 9:48 am
Yes, they have been. And yes, one does wonder.
Once I was biking home at night with no helmet and passed a police car traveling in the opposite direction. As a previous officer had remarked that he could tell I was a foreigner by the fact that I didn’t ditch my bike and hide when I saw him coming (daytime riding, no helmet), I decided to try and assimilate and ditched my bike (in some bushes) and moved far enough back from the road that I wouldn’t be seen, and continued for a bit on foot.
The cops turned around, drove right past me, kept going, and eventually turned off on a side street. Thinking it safe, I start heading back to recover my bike and it doesn’t take long before the cops pull up behind me. They had been clever, and only turned down the side road to make me think they were leaving.
They wanted to ask some questions. Apparently they were in the area because a number of break-ins/robberies had been reported from the nearby apartment complex (whose bushes now held my bike). They boasted about how clever they had been in doubling back to catch me (fair point), wanted to know why I tried to avoid them (so I showed them the bike), and asked what was in my backpack (tennis stuff and a camera). Then they sent me on my way.
All fine, although I did notice at least one of the two officers moving their hand towards their club as they approached, and keeping it there (even though there were two of them against one of me, and I’m none of big, threatening, or armed). I suppose that’s better than having them move their hand towards their gun. Would it have been the same had I been non-white in that scenario?
Sky News reporting that Greens Qld candidate Andrew Bartlett might be ineligible under s44 because he held a contract with ANU.
Soldiers (trained to kill) vs Police (trained not to kill, exceptions apply) is increasingly relevant here with Turnbull’s new plans to use the Armed Forces in domestic situations.
c@t
Word is that Bannon has been working with Putin for years and that they have him on espionage. Make of it what you will.
Anyhow how is your son?
The Murdoch shills are already sharpening their attack lines for the impending appointment of Andrew Bartlett as the Greens Qld Senator by dredging up the time he had to resign as Democrats leader for a drunken attack on a Liberal Senator. Here’s Chris Kenny.
https://www.facebook.com/SkyNewsHeadsUp/videos/1899837303602146/?hc_ref=ARSrW8pN0Fs65OOKBLICP2rUZB_p4lyGkV5uqcsmgevmpBd3owZlvV1nEVtT2W9qs0s
It would be funny if Bartlett wasn’t able to accept the position because he was ineligible.
Good, but the first in line should be Turnbull and the Government for their vandalism, resulting in the NBN under delivering on what was promised.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-20/accc-warns-big-four-telcos-over-failure-to-deliver-on-nbn-speeds/8726268
This GOP operative on Trump’s latest rantings……….
Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson
·
47m
His attacks on Mueller tell me a lot. He KNOWS how bad it is. His “warning” to Mueller tells me finally understands how bad it is.
Trump appears to accuse fired FBI director Comey of using Russian dossier to blackmail him
In a wide-ranging Oval Office interview with the New York Times, President Donald Trump
Trump also appeared to allege that then-FBI Director James Comey sought to blackmail him.
“In my opinion, he shared [the British spy dossier] so that I would think he had it out there,” Mr. Trump told The Times.
“As leverage?” reporters Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” Mr. Trump said. “In retrospect.”
Trump also denied Comey’s sworn testimony about the one-on-one meeting when Comey claimed the President cleared the room.
“Look, you look at his testimony,” Trump suggested. “His testimony is loaded up with lies, O.K.?”
Trump further claimed Comey, “illegally leaked” and had a “conflict of interest.”
Twitter has been shocked by the admissions and accusations in Trump’s interview.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/trump-appears-to-accuse-fired-fbi-director-comey-of-using-russian-dossier-to-blackmail-him/
Investigators probing complex web of investments between Trump and Deutsche Bank for Russia proof
According to the New York Times, investigators are looking into President Donald Trump’s relationship to Germany’s Deutsche Bank over huge loans the bank gave to Trump throughout their two decade-long relationship.
According to the Times, sources close to the bank also say they intend to cooperate with Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller in his Russian collusion investigation as well.
Below the surface of the bank’s official relationship with Trump, the report noted, is an even more complicated web of institutional ties with both Vnesheconombank, the Russian state bank implicated earlier this year in the investigation into Trump’s possible collusion with Russia, and VTB bank, an even larger bank that’s come under similar scrutiny. Deutsche Bank has a “cooperation agreement” with Vnesheconombank and murkier ties to VTB.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/investigators-probing-complex-web-of-investments-between-trump-and-deutsche-bank-for-russia-proof/
Victoria, PhoenixRed:
Things seem to be getting hotter and hotter, esp with all that’s being published in the mainstream press, not blogs or social media.
Hi Vic,
Thanks for the heads up on Bannon. He seems to me like a New World Order kind of guy. No allegiance to a country, just to the powerful.
As far as my son is going, well he’s feeling sore and sorry for himself today. Nothing like cutting 3 holes in your abdomen and going in for a look around and to take bits away to make that a reality! 😀
What can he do but wait to get over it. At least the tv in hospital is free these days!
victoria Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 11:48 am
This GOP operative on Trump’s latest rantings……….
Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson ·
His attacks on Mueller tell me a lot. He KNOWS how bad it is. His “warning” to Mueller tells me finally understands how bad it is.
****************************************
Rick Wilsons view is supported by Laurence Tribe , professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School
Laurence TribeVerified account @tribelaw
Threatening to fire Mueller if M looks into Junior’s or Kushner’s finances is a dead giveaway that the jig is up:
“the media reform package”
Where are the documents that lay out the justification for reforms, the goal of the reforms, the expected outcomes, etc etc?
There must be some bureaucrats tearing their hair out at the incompetence of the government.
C@t
Not in our neck of the woods!
Lizzie:
‘Where are the documents that lay out the justification for reforms, the goal of the reforms, the expected outcomes, etc etc?’
They are so arrogant that they think that they can get away with anything, and distract a sullen and disillusioned electorate with PR stunt after PR stunt.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2017/jul/20/archibald-prize-2017-gillian-triggs-robert-forster-and-lisa-wilkinson-in-pictures?CMP=soc_568
Lizzie,
Not in our neck of the woods!
As THE bellweather seat now, our hospital is lavished with a lot of attention!
“Trump …warned that if the investigation veered into the personal finances of the Trump family, it will cross a line.”
Aha. Mr Trump reveals what has long been suspected: the tax returns will be telling. This is a line of inquiry that will have a good paper trail.
adrian @ #1175 Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 12:22 pm
I would imagine much of the announcement would reside in the “TBA” column.
Just like Barnaby’s brain fart with the APVMA, make the announcement, then work out the details later.
We can all see how well that approach is going.
Turnbull being questioned on Super Ministry (3AW) consultations and objections, answers mumble, stammer, mumble – then his brain kicks in, a light dawns: “I am the prime minister and I make the decisions”.
Tell that to the marines.
The US Senate Commitee directive to Donald Trump Jr to front up, in 2 parts
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFIlKNgXUAAzpBa?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFIlKNhWsAIsC8E?format=jpg&name=large
Barack Obama Reminds America How Classy He Is With Touching Tweet To John McCain
The former president reminded us of that, sometimes, we should put politics aside. In doing so, Obama made the country miss him even more than we already did.
Barack Obama ✔ @BarackObama
John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/07/19/barack-obama-reminds-america-classy-tweet-john-mccain.html
Can the Greens replace their senators with anyone or does the person have to have been on the ballot?
A R
I suppose that’s better than having them move their hand towards their gun
Is that a gun in your pocket, or ….
Segue into a gun and pocket story. Scared of the subway, I was walking back from Arlington Cemetery along Memorial Drive in a cold twilight, coat, cap, scarf, hand in pocket with shoulder bag strap secured under arm. There are no public toilets, and of necessity I skipped into Lady Bird Gardens for a quick no 1 behind a tree, very conscious of the risk, but the alternative was worse.
Just after I was back on the footpath, a large black car drove slowly past, two men looking out the rear window, looking closely at me. David Lynch moment. I even checked my fly was zipped up. The car stayed in front of me but slowed to my walking speed. Some instinct made me look behind, where I saw about four large black cars paralleling 5 men coming along the footpath in my direction. Getting closer, it was none other than Bill Clinton jogging, with four huge dudes, two in front, two behind.
I instantly thought, don’t do anything unusual and keep your hand in your pocket, or they’ll shoot you. At the end of that thought, the guy nearest me (6′, white) had reached me. He was black as night and about 6’4, and this huge hand slapped down where my hand was in my pocket, clamping it where it would stay, as he edged me off the footpath onto the grass, by which time Clinton was alongside, and I heard myself say, to my continuing embarrassment – G’Day* – and only when they were some 10 metres down the road did the big black hand withdraw, its owner caught up with the others, the cars moved on, and I was left to carry on. Not one word spoken.
* I had shaken his hand at a rally in New Orleans, and been at the Democratic Party party at the Boston Park Plaza the night he got elected, and so he was like my new bestie. Not.
‘We’re on resignation watch’: Maddow explains why ‘in normal times’ Sessions would be out after Trump’s criticism
Maddow explained the relationship between Trump and Sessions, noting the president “ended up taking on a lot of Jeff Sessions’ policy positions” once he brought him on as AG. “Jeff Sessions was the first announcement [Trump] made for his cabinet … tonight it feels like that might not last,” Maddow said.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/were-on-resignation-watch-maddow-explains-why-in-normal-times-sessions-would-be-out-after-trumps-criticism/
diogenes @ #1183 Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 12:59 pm
If it’s accepted that they were ineligible to stand then a recount would be ordered excluding the relevant Greens and so the next Green on the ticket would likely be elected.
A Party only nominates a replacement in the case of a casual vacancy which this isn’t.
The HC has ruled that this is to treated the same as someone who dies after nominations and before being elected and so still appears on the ballot.
latest Louise Mensch post – what can I say …. if true ?????
Fox News Under FBI Counterintelligence Investigation
Sources with links to the justice department report that Fox News is under an FBI counterintelligence investigation for co-ordinating with the Kremlin in broadcasting propaganda.
Specifically, Sean Hannity is on signals intelligence co-ordinating his pro-Trump message with organs of the Russian state, such as RT, Sputnik, Wikileaks and Julian Assange.
While the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and journalistic freedom, sources say that signals intelligence gathered from so-called ‘incidental collection,’ such as NSA collection on Sputnik and Russia Today, which is ongoing.
https://patribotics.blog/2017/07/20/fox-news-under-fbi-investigation-fcc-broadcasting-license-under-threat/
Is the Trump “crisis” just a unicorn to distract from Turnbull’ s disastrous PM-ship? 😉
Malcolm’s financial advice to Australians;
Live within your means.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jul/20/turnbull-says-interest-rates-likely-to-rise-and-buyers-must-live-within-their-means
“Malcolm’s financial advice to Australians;
Live within your means.’
Where do you start?
What an unmitigated moron…
Louise Mensch is an attention seeker – I wouldn’t put much store in what she claims.
Citizen
I am also Canberra based and wantted to have decent international news available to me 24 a day.
Free to air won’t ever do it.
Other than ‘rupert’ the other option is ‘Fetch’. A streaming over the internet ‘news’ package is available from them. BBC, CNN, AJ, France24 and some others in that package.
Not that expensive.
Mensch has been ahead of the pack so many times – and basically gets it right.
Zoomster
This is a late reply, but GetUp did polling recently showing Dutton was up in his seat . Might have been an outlier or maybe it was 2PP and the PHON vote is breaking for Dutton strongly ?
Malcolm advises Australians to live within their means. Does this mean we’ll all have to cut back on our $2000 per/kilo truffles?
Shorter Trumble;
No harbourside mansions for plebs.
A contract with ANU is probably fine since the ANU isn’t operated by the government. This will almost certainly end up going through the Court now though, since even if Bartlett resigned it would need to be determined if it was a casual vacancy or an ineligibility.
What can you say – the LNP have Abbott and the ALP have Rudd …
Don’t you wish both of them would just accept they lost and disappear once and for all?
elaugaufein @ #1197 Thursday, July 20, 2017 at 1:57 pm
But that was the problem with Phil Cleary’s initial election, he was on unpaid leave as a teacher.
“What can you say – the LNP have Abbott and the ALP have Rudd”
I’ll miss Tony, but not Kevin.