TandemTrainRider

Trump’s cronyism involves insider trading/conflicts of interests now enriching his loyalists, funders/family. This is corruption… all apparently blind-eyed by the Republican Party. Other dirty tricks indicate Trump is trying to rig the mid-terms to mitigate the backlash.

Israel just passed a law mandating death by hanging for Palestinians in rigged military trials voting 62-48 in the Knesset. Netanyahu turned up in person to vote yes. Ben-Gvir wore a metal noose pin on his lapel while the chamber erupted in cheers at the prospect of more killing.

As counting winds up for the South Australian election, it looks like fourth placed Independent candidate Lou Nicholson will win the seat of Finniss. I explain why it happened in this post. But it won't be a win from the lowest primary vote. antonygreen.com.au/sa2026-finniss…

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"Underage girls testing positive for pregnancy at detention centers." Let me fix that for you. "Children being raped at detention centers." There you go.

@Randall87454048 > oil, fertilizer and food? No, yes, yes.

Okay smart tweeps. Can Australia become self sufficient in terms of oil, fertilizer and food? Do we have the natural resources to pivot to self sufficiency?

So, just to sum up what we have so far: This war was started by Israel, over Trump’s objections. But it’s also part of a Plan, you see. The fact that the military makes plans and has them on file somewhere means the top decision makers have a Plan. You should trust the Plan. You should trust it even when Trump improvises, because he does that. You should especially trust it when people say it exists, even though no one can say what it is. Except when they can. The Plan was to bring regime change to help the oppressed Iranian people, and also to leave the regime in place and make it our puppet. The Plan was also to send the Kurds in, and the Plan was not to send them in. Since then, the Plan has been to use a phased air campaign to reduce Iranian capability, and has therefore attached high priority to Iranian ships in the Caspian. Iranian air defenses have been destroyed according to the Plan, but also can’t hit our F-35s, except maybe when they can - in any case, this is why we’re still using standoff munitions. We are desperate to reopen the Strait and wish other nations would join in the Plan and help with that, but also there will be no more firing on ships in a few days as the Plan progresses. But the Plan is actually to keep oil prices high, because this benefits US shale - this is why we don’t care if the Gulf explodes. The Plan is also to keep oil prices low by reducing Russia sanctions and not bombing Kharg Island, among other things. Instead the Plan is to send a Marine Expeditionary Unit to Kharg Island where it and its logistics tail will be subject to considerable concentrated Iranian fire, to which it will be unable to effectively respond. This is so that we can take the island hostage and hold it as part of a negotiating strategy to reopen the Strait. We do not, however, want to reopen the Strait, because leaving it closed hurts Europe. The Plan is therefore to reopen and not reopen the Strait. Furthermore, the Plan is to cut off China’s oil by allowing China-bound Iranian oil tankers through. This is because shooting at them would raise oil prices, which is both part of the Plan and also not (see above). The Plan is for the war to be over in a few weeks though, well in time for the midterms, by which time oil will be lower (despite refineries having been shot to hell), which is part of the Plan, except when it isn’t. However, the Plan may require an invasion in the coming weeks…

@RichardfromSyd1 @YouAreLobbyLud > At some point you are going to have to negotiate. Only if "you" want the war to end.

@YouAreLobbyLud At some point you are going to have to negotiate. The US / Israel, with their current campaign of assassination / decapitation, is making choices as to the pool of people who will negotiate for Iran.

The BBC's most senior foreign correspondent...

@Mark_Butler_MP @TGAgovau @healthgovau But I think, you must know all this. I am saying things you already know. 😕

Thread: Each week I run a simulation of Australia’s main electricity grid using rescaled generation data to show that it can get very close to 100% renewable electricity with 24GW/120GWh of storage (5 hrs at av demand) Results: Last week: 99.6% RE Last 237 weeks: 98.7% RE (1/5)

@MNisselle @RealAnitaWhite @LyndaFrench19 @watinthe_ @AlboMP > I’d argue it wasn’t even a commercial decision, Perhaps. I suspect/fear Pfizer negotiated themselves exclusivity deals. But also the Novavax agreement might mean if we take one dose, we have to take all 30mil. Too many closed door deals made during the panic IMHO :-(.

@RealAnitaWhite @LyndaFrench19 @watinthe_ @AlboMP I’d argue it wasn’t even a commercial decision, but a political decision based on lobbying. Taxpayers have already payed >$50mill for Nova we’ve never received. After the debacle that was its approval process, we now have a ‘credit’.

Happy International Women's Day, Australia.

You can now be jailed for 2 years in Queensland for saying ‘from the river to the sea’. Words ‘implicated in the Bondi Beach terrorist attack’ apparently. In case, based on publicly available information, you thought ISIS may have been implicated.

@sidherian @noplaceforsheep @blanketcrap > I began ... when COVID precautions were dropped +1 The instant people start ignoring facts and instead make up crap to to justify their position - we're all in trouble :-(.

@noplaceforsheep @blanketcrap I began shouting when COVID precautions were dropped. Knowing endless COVID circulation will damage immune systems, possibly irreparably, they cut NDIA & accelerated asset stripping of aged care. Taxpayers $$$ wasted on AUKUS, hate speech laws designed to protect 1 minority.

When we were cursed with Morrison I used to reach a state of frustration in which I wanted to bellow: STOP LYING TO US. Am very close to that same state with Albanese & Wong. Who knew 🥴

COVlD research is close to blacklisted at this point. We've had grant applications triaged (hundreds of hours of work flushed down the toilet), and others get just absolutely ludicrous reviews because you have to convince unmasked Covid-uninformed people to take Covid research seriously. NIH has Covid on their "banned word" list. A lot of people have 2019 pre-pandemic projects now coming to an end (self included). Others are gaining non-Covid research funding to keep staff from being laid off, often with the hope of adding a Covid component to the work, or getting additional funding to add on to it substantially or run separate Covid studies. Anyway, I am aggravated by the situation too, but know a lot of researchers would like to be doing more research-wise than they are able to. It's the funders / general societal views blocking everything. Just sharing my perspective. Can't speak for others. Open to feedback.

@kprather88 6 years of active air filtration in a busy MD's office as well as the use of N95+ respirators has managed to keep a highly vulnerable group of patients infection free so far. To my knowledge - thank you, Professor Prather.:))

@PeteUK7 My late husband had terminal cancer and been given months to live. He struggled to breathe and used a walking stick. The Job centre wrote to him with an appointment in order to discuss ways to get him back to work.

Mum died on Monday. Today she received a £50 civil penalty for not letting DWP know soon enough she was in hospital & had been overpaid £73.90 in allowances. The traumatic experience of hospitalisation & loss of mental capacity was deemed 'not a reasonable excuse'. F this world.

Finland permanently now has more covid during lulls between covid waves than they ever did at the peak of the “covid pandemic”

In a world where artificial intelligence can replicate a person’s voice or face in seconds, Denmark is stepping forward with a groundbreaking proposal: a copyright law that grants every citizen ownership of their own likeness. If passed, this law would mean no one — not even AI companies — could legally use your face, voice, or body data without consent. The move comes amid growing global concerns about deepfakes, where digital replicas of real people are used in scams, misinformation, and even political manipulation.

@julie_bush @PacificGirl2021 My father very likely got COVID at a neurologist appointment. The doctor told my elderly parents they didn’t need to wear their masks in the exam room. They believed him. My dad died 3 weeks later. My mom got C19 the same day and now has pulmonary hypertension. It disabled her.