Ipsos and Essential Research closed their accounts for 2018 this week, and their combined effect has been to reduce Labor’s lead to 54.3-45.7 after a blowout to 54.9-45.1 last week. This is good for one Coalition gain on the seat projection, that being in Queensland. Full results through the link below.
We’re unlikely to see any more poll results until mid-January, although Newspoll should be unloading its quarterly state breakdowns in a week or so, and hopefully a few state voting intention results as well. Nonetheless, things should be pretty active around here over the silly season, as there’s a backlog preselection analysis to attend to, and I should finally get time to attend to my long-promised Morrison-era overhaul of BludgerTrack.
ABC news story; Oliver North says he is ready to play in Boxing Day Test for Australia.
Has the Trump administration now descended into the positively dangerous phase?
Thank goodness the Young Idiot faction of the Dems didn’t succeed in throwing over Nancy Pelosi for the job of Speaker. She has gravitas, which none of them do, when going up against Trump and the Repugs.
@ Mavis Smith
All good. When you live Upnorth you gotta know where the Crocodiles are!! Also Herbert is North of the Unmasked MP’s Electorate. Of course no names mentioned!!
BK,
Yep. Though I would add the codicil, ‘more’. =￣ω￣=
Well second attempt! Flight was canceled at midnight out of Sydney after 5 hours at the airport. I feel sorry for the Qantas staff. Some abusive so and so’s.
Tokyo tonight hopefully!!!
“The red, green & blue alert signs are all flashing! What the smeg’s happening?”
“Well either we’re under attack sir or we’re having a disco!”
(Red Dwarf)
BK,
Pelosi and Schumer made precisely that point about the dangerous tantrums that Trump’s been throwing this week.
Again, muchas gracias for your cogent and illuminating Dawn Patrol commentaries.
Simon² Katich® @ #156 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 11:06 am
Rimmer:
Step up to red alert.
Kryten:
Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb.
…as is often observed, better you catch your flight 30 minutes late than it finishes 30 minutes sooner…
As long as we’re talking Trump, how does the President threatening a “government shutdown” even work? The legislature should just be saying “Hey, you’re the head of the Executive – it’s your Government, you want a shutdown you can just tell all your employees not to come into work any time you want, you don’t need to veto any bills to do it. Knock yourself out champ.”.
@ zoomster agree. Them’s the breaks when flying.
Up north
I was truly grateful that in my working life I rarely had dealings with members of the general public. They can be rude and nasty.
The only time my travel was disrupted by weather, in Sydney many years ago as it happened, the bloke in front of me the queue gave the person at the desk a spray.
As if she could do anything about a storm.
I had flown in from Perth and the captain said the worst of the weather had passed and we would land on time.
On late final approach I was thinking a half hour delay while things maybe improved a bit more would have been fine with me.
zoomster @ #158 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 7:09 am
I don’t know, an unexpected tail wind is nice when flying long haul! 🙂
Heard Buckingham being interviewed on RN this morning, saying the Greens are too focused on overthrowing capitalism. Says that’s fine, but need to tackle climate change within the present parameters, as the need for action is too urgent to wait until after the Glorious Revolution…
C@tmomma, aren’t those ‘young idiot Dems’ the same ones pushing for a Green New Deal, which polls indicate is popular even with Republican voters? I don’t think you’d see Pelosi spearheading an idea like that
Here’s your Christmas card. The height of good taste.
BK:
[‘Has the Trump administration now descended into the positively dangerous phase?’]
It has, but the options to fix the matter are limited:
1. If Trump has criminally transgressed he can’t be touched as the D of J guidelines don’t allow a sitting president to be charged;
2. The 25th Amendment could be invoked, but it’s doubtful; and
3. He could be impeached, but it takes 67 senators to convict him.
I think we’ll be stuck with Trump until 2020, unless the GOP grows a pair.
I love the way the Guardian thinks a UK Labour politician getting a speeding fine in the UK is a big story, but ignores the stuff breaking about coalition MPs here.
@Rossmcg
Last night one guy who obviously had a few too many unde his belt started to give the poor staff a tongue lashing. His young daughter was crying and he made a complete fool of himself. I suggested he might want to take a seat so hotel rooms could be booked (at midnight).
Most of my fellow travellers were pretty understanding. There were a few Japanese travelers who were bewildered so my “pigeon” Nihingo came in handy.
All’s good that ends well.
Hmm that will be the way I think when the Morrison Government comes a crashing to the ground (not like my flight)
zoomster @ #163 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 7:16 am
Pragmatism!
That explains some of his falling out with the Greens. 🙂
z,
I do wish that Labor supporters could have made that point in the past.
lizzie,
like many decorations, it can seem a good idea to begin with! 🙂
My brother is a Qantas flight baggage attendant. Send him your thoughts and internet hugs.
⊂(￣(ｴ)￣)⊃
Pelosi rocks!
zoomster @ #164 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 11:16 am
Why is it that an ex-Green is the only one that seems to make any sense? Can you not say things like this within the ‘narrow church’ that is the Green party without getting crash tackled by the Green Ideology Hall Monitors?
Gosh and golly!
If Morrison and McCormack chuck the whole of Christendom out with the Friday’s garbage you would not want to be inside the splatter zone.
@ C@tmomma
Send him not only thoughts and hugs but gratitude. Was bloody dangerous on that tarmac last night.
Mavis Smith @ #138 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 9:45 am
Ummm, Leichhardt might disagree. Even Herbert.
P1,
Adani is the new Ohm for the Greens!
Mavis Smith @ #167 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 11:18 am
Trump may last that long. I’m not sure the USA will 🙁
zoomster says:
A couple of weeks back JTI summed the NSW Greens’ conflict up as basically uber Trots vs Tree Huggers. Listening to that interview it sounds like it was on the mark, with the Trots winning. All over red rover RIP Greens if that is the case.
Bonza,
Wrt to Nancy Pelosi, my comment was within the context of dealing with Trump and the Repugs. Or did you not read to the end of the sentence before you got outraged?
🙂
Boerwar
A bit like the end of the Mr Creosote scene ?
Nothing became Mad Dog’s service like the manner of his leaving it.
Mattis’s resignation letter is a classic of its kind.
It is a pity that it is wasted on a Trump.
For those of you with an interested in the human condition, that leaves Bolton as the last man standing, not counting Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGcf28JmJMo
No outrage here C@t, this is the broad church in fine force
p
Eeeuwww!
Happy Gravy Day y’all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FozoWgvh-m4
The Liberal Party does not have a problem with women!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1075898419007283200
Re garbage, today is effectively the last working day of the year. I think a bit of garbage might be put out tonight after the deadline for the evening news.
Re Trump, I agree he’s not going anywhere before 2020. One third of Republican Senators won’t vote to impeach him even if the House does. Section 25? That would be a huge step, which I don’t think will be attempted unless the President becomes obviously of unsound mind. He won’t resign.
It’s Time:
[‘Ummm, Leichhardt might disagree. Even Herbert.’]
Yes, I stuffed that one up, acknowledged earlier to Upnorth.
Photo test. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
Having had a close look at the Reds in the Greens policies, it became increasingly clear to me that the policies were well-hidden genuine Reds stuff. Make no mistake here – the words are carefully designed to hide the realities. Here are a few tasters:
Citizen’s committees to run local farming.
Getting rid of credible defence capabilities. Nothing ‘big’. ‘Light mobile force’.
Closing down the cotton industry – not because of water issues but because of the need to fight capitalism.
Forced ‘equitable sharing’ of paid work.
Closing down Olympic Dam Mine.
Closing down Pine Gap and North-west Cape. Comrade Xi would be delighted with that one!
A zealous focus on all the International Red Faves: Aung Sung Suu Kyi, the Palestinians, a couple of hundred people on Nauru combined with history-free kumbaya maunderings about how humanitarian assistance is going to prevent Indonesia from ever threatening Australia militarily.
Fiscal measures designed to destroy the savings of Mums and Dads.
On top of that, the politicking of the Reds was so obvious: their pressing need is to destroy not the Coaliton but Labor and Shorten. They know they have to destroy the middle.
At least Rhiannon was upfront and had guts. She was a Reds in the Greens. But the Environmentalists in the Greens like Buckingham sucked up the jam but were prepared to help hide the Reds in the Greens. I hope this trashy ideological political camouflage gets trashed in the coming election.
Do the rational thing: Vote 1 Labor.
Prof. Higgins @ #190 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 7:42 am
And sometimes it isn’t! 🙂
looks like Emma Husar had a bit of an early win.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/salacious-judge-rebukes-buzzfeed-in-emma-husar-defamation-case-20181221-p50nm4.html
Prof. Higgins @ #190 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 11:42 am
Where is the picture located ❓
Thinking about The Big C, how is Morrison’s Grandiose $30 million statue of Cook coming along.
Prof. Higgins @ #191 Friday, December 21st, 2018 – 11:42 am
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand characters.
Sometimes you have to picture it for yourself.
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Asher Moses says the worst details are still to come on the ‘anon’ MP being cited today as a sex tourist. Not hard to figure out what that means, given the story.