I see the left is losing its collective mind over Trumps CNN town hall!! hahahahhahahaa :)

What surprised me was the warm reception OMB received from the crowd...surprised because I would have expected CNN to stack the crowd with your average Democrat, ie. foaming at the mouth rabid mental health case lunatic liberal.

Now compare and contrast that to China Joe. Anyone seen him in public recently? I suspect Democrats are going to have a much harder time keeping him in his basement this Presidential election season???

More Spiked material today: Brendan O'Neill interviewing Michael Lind. Worthwhile, though somewhat depressing as they contrast the "heartless" Thatcher years (where many people fell into poverty through unemployment) with today's world where many people are working full-time, but remain stuck in poverty. They also covered the business of using immigration to provide a suitable slave-class (especially illegal immigrants). And visits to over-education and credentialism along the way.

On the whole, stand back and see that the enlightenment is giving way to the endarkenment. As usual, no remedy is offered. That's a lament, not a criticism.

Ross Lea,

Spiked article was pretty good. Not a big fan of this part:

Pollution from coal power plants has cost the lives of thousands.

A more interesting thing to point out about coal power is that it emits more radiation in ordinary running than a nuclear plant.

As I theorised here recently, perhaps the Germans choosing to shut down nuclear early is a strategic decision. Now, when they go on to shut down coal stations, when things eventually go pear-shaped, they'll be able to fire up the nuclear again and get back some substantial power.

This article from "Spiked" exposes the lunacy of German energy policy with the shut down of its last 3 nuclear plants.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/05/09/we-need-to-end-the-war-on-nuclear-power/

tomo,

Working on GIS software in the '80s and '90s gave me a general idea of the geoid/datum — I remember WGS84 was the state of the art at the time — but it was pretty clear that some very smart geodesists had been giving their little grey cells a good workout. No doubt there are still very smart people involved, but I bet they're heavily outnumbered by lesser lights sitting at their computers and hunting for relevance in a warming world...

It would be an interesting field; probably more interesting at a localised scale than worldwide.

That snippet of Irish law is pretty woolly. Not highlighted were what I thought were the key phrases:

with a view to...
with intent to...

On woolly laws, a recent ABC Radio Health Report included a nice example. Lately there have been some problems with bad outcomes from cosmetic surgery performed by less than brilliantly qualified pracitioners.

With the customary urge to do something and the reflex answer of write some new rules, the AHPRA (Aus. Health Practictioner Regulatory Authority) have stipulated that you can't just lob up to a cosmetic surgeon, but have to get a referral from your GP.

The thing is that a GP referral is a formality required *only* for Medicare funding. I'm free to see (say) a cardiologist off my own bat and just pay full price. Medicare doesn't fund elective cosmetic surgery, so a referral has no standing.

Evidently the experts at AHPRA don't understand the system they regulate.

My dad had a story of a Belfast jeweller being sued over an ear-piercing that went badly. The magistrate said there was no case to answer: "You have chosen to consult a jeweller in a matter of surgery". Hear hear. Less AHPRA, more caveat emptor.

May 9, 2023 at 10:47 AM | tomo

I think they've left a get-out-of-jail card in the wording. Subclause 1 applies to those who identify as 'himself' or 'herself'. So all you need to do is identify as non-binary and you're off the hook...

There's a worrying pattern of governments emboldened by the "success" of lockdown measures getting a taste for authoritarianism.