Spring Festival Gala Robot Burros

I miss the old door.

Israel-firsters at @australian such as Mitchell, Sheridan, Stewart, Henderson, Kenny and Kelly never expected that they would have to choose between their two modern heroes - Trump and Netanyahu. Despite self-describing as patriots, they were happy to support both of them in any disagreement the US or Israel had with @AlboMP @SenatorWong and the Australian Government. Both leaders have now let them down badly with their corruption, incompetence, venality, criminality and extreme violence. And it was entirely predictable to all but the most stupid of observers: them. To make matters worse and thanks entirely to Iran, Trump and Netanyahu appear to have turned on each other, making the choice for Murdoch's minions even more invidious. The paper's editorials and Op Ed pages are now an incoherent mess. Earlier embarrassing odes to their favorite leaders of Western civilisation are best forgotten and passed over in silence. Murdoch is probably too old to offer leadership anymore and Lachlan has no gravitas and even less influence. As a spectacle for those who watched the degeneration of journalism by News Corporation over decades, it truly is a thing of beauty. Two measures of the conglomerate's fading influence are its inability to determine election results and its desperate, failing efforts to shaft @AlboMP and silence critics of Israel's genocide via the Royal Commission. And now for the domestic analogue. Do they back @PaulineHansonOz and @OneNationAus at the expense of @AngusTaylorMP @HonTonyAbbott and @LiberalAus knowing a division amongst conservatives is a magnificent, if undeserved gift to @AustralianLabor ? They literally have no idea what to do. Pass the popcorn.

@RupertLowe10 The violence, the hate running red hot here is in you and @TRobinsonNewEra and the legions of so-called ‘patriots’ who think they’re immune from the law.

Vile attempts by Zack Polanski, Humza Yousaf and many others to demonise me following the release of our rape gang inquiry report will not work. For decades the mass rape of vulnerable white girls by gangs of Pakistani Muslims was covered up exactly because of efforts like this. It will not work anymore. There is a clear link between religion and these abhorrent crimes that have stained on our nation for so very long. That religion is Islam, and other politicians must finally find the courage to say so. Threats, abuse and intimidation will not work. We have held our hearings, the report has been published and now we move onto the private prosecution phase. Our aim is to put rapists and their enablers in prison. That is now our objective.

Imagine calling humans the problem while your data centers drink more water than some towns.

@oneplanetmikey And a signal to warmer days ahead.

I like the longest night of the year. It is time to be thankful that I have a roof over my head and I can rug up against the cold.

@misskylie77 @sheebadigeebies The most random thing I learned in Canada of all places was that the first ever international cricket match was between Canada and the USA in New York, 1844.

@sheebadigeebies Oh god this is like when they say “if Americans started playing rugby” or “if Americans started playing cricket” and yeah nah

“If black people start playing soccer” is the most Americabrained statement I’ve ever seen

Truely the most baffling Aussie chant to the USA fans at the World Cup would have been, “You’re going home in the back of a divvy van!”

@Oldtimers365 Parties in the neighbourhood ending in screams due to glassings.

@themetresgained My experience of Germany all round is much of it is variant of this image. Shops, restaurants etc feel they are stuck in the past - and that’s not the former east I’m talking about.

It's a scene from Good Bye Lenin!

Am I the only one that finds it confusing and fascinating that this important complex, like a Tora Bora of Hezbollah or something, was not mentioned (at all? much?) in 980 days of war but now there’s a lot of talk about it as we enter day 987? If it was important one might think it would be an objective for fast maneuver earlier? Like the Liege Forts or Vicksburg or something It seems confusing to leave a key complex like this until late in the game. Also, why not just obliterate it with bombs or something? I’m sure I’m missing something. Maybe it’s not that important it’s just being made out that way? Or?

@abierkhatib I’m sceptical of the 250K claim which is an extrapolation now being cited as fact. Rates of assault are unacceptable across the board, mostly committed by white men due to pure demographics. Rupert Lowe’s report ignores that & jumps to the conclusion immigration is the problem.

So, they want us to believe 240K women got raped by some Pakistani grooming groups, but everybody, victims, families,the whole damn town just stayed quiet in a free Western country! The same country that blew up the Middle East left & right for basically no reason! Yeah, ok… gotcha

One Nation plans to put an end to foreigners buying up Australian land by giving it to them for free.

But, but we’re only just protecting women’s sport. 🙄

Seriously starting to think if One Nation is so contemptuous of the ABC and SBS perhaps they should stop giving One Nation airtime altogether?

Gina’s got free land to host weapons industries in the midst of housing crisis?

@karolineleavitt @RitaPanahi The pool was the only thing Trump really wanted to talk about amidst the Iran debacle. Next.

So true, and so sad. The liberal media is truly deranged.

Trump for two weeks straight: why are you asking me about Iran and not the reflecting pool. The media won’t tell you what a good job I’m doing on the reflecting pool.

Trump working hard on the affairs of state. Thank you Mr President!

The Sanewashing of Hanson Is at Its Peak. This is how Trump came to power: platform the lies, skip the follow-up, let the headlines call it “proving her critics wrong.” We are all watching it happen in real time. At the National Press Club, Pauline Hanson said the following. Not one claim was challenged by the so called journalists in attendance and she continues to be unchallenged on the facts in every interview she sits. -1. Unlike the Prime Minister, I welcome scrutiny.” Hypocritical. In the same speech she announced she refuses ABC interviews, will scrap the SBS, & will make the ABC subscription-only. The event allowed 2 hours; standard format gives 25–30 mins for the address. She spoke for 50-halving the time left for questions. When Guardian journalist Sarah Martin used that remaining time to ask about her daughter's $150,000 taxpayer-funded advisor role, Hanson called her “a trashy journalist” and banned her from all future press conferences. • “Babies are aborted the day before birth.” Fabricated. Late-term abortion is highly restricted, requires medical approval, and occurs only in genuine medical emergencies. • “Interest rates are heading towards 10%.” False. RBA cash rate: 4.35%. Forecast to fall, not rise. • “There’s no gender pay gap — just women taking time off.” False. WGEA confirms the gap exists at equal hours, equal roles, regardless of career breaks. • “$30B a year on Indigenous programs.” False. Only 18% (~$5.6B) is Indigenous-specific. The rest is the Indigenous share of mainstream services every Australian uses. • Transgender people were compared to “militant Islam.” False and dangerous. ABS data: transgender and gender-diverse Australians make up 1% of the pop’n. There’s no body of research showing transgender ppl commit crime at elevated rates-in fact it shows transgender people are dramatically more likely to be victims of violence— assault, sexual violence, and homicide rates against trans people are well above general population rates in most studies (US, UK, and Aust data all show this pattern) • “23% of Australians can’t speak English.” False. That 23% speak another language at home — most are bilingual. Limited English proficiency: just 3.2%. • “The CEFC has had $200 billion.” False by a factor of six. Actual legislated capacity: $33 billion. • “I care about the homeless and hungry.” Hypocritical. In the same speech, she backed cuts to Indigenous-specific funding — despite Aboriginal homelessness running up to 10 times higher than the non-Indigenous rate. • $90 billion in cuts, no plan. ~$35 billion of it remains unaccounted for. No modelling. • “I support worker rights.” False. Voted against minimum wage increases, penalty rates, criminalising wage theft, casual conversion rights, same job same pay, and the right to disconnect. Took a $100,000 pay rise while voting against a tax break for low-paid workers • Called Australian workers “lazy.” She has attended just 12% of Senate estimates since 2016 & 53% of parliamentary votes. Paid over $200k a year • Labor have let immigration get out of control.” False. Net overseas migration has fallen every year since the post-COVID peak in 2022-23 — 538,000 → 446,000 → 306,000 in 2024-25. She also recycled a 26-year-old ABS pop’n projection as a fresh “next 50 years” forecast Said: This beautiful country belongs to all Australians born here and those who have joined us”- in her opening line; then spent the next 50 minutes demanding a monocultural society, comparing transgender Australians to militant Islam, inflating migration and language figures, denying the gender pay gap, and repeating the debunked $30 billion Indigenous funding myth. Welcomed everyone in the first sentence. Spent the rest of the speech defining most of them out — and offered no plan to fix anything she raised, only $90 billion in cuts. Not one follow-up question. No source data on a single figure in the entire speech. This is what unchallenged looks like. /2 sources