Good stuff. NO injuries or deaths.

LANDING GEAR COLLAPSE + FIRE | Emergency Evacuation on Runway!

Elon Musk changes his tune on H1-B visas as he tries to cool raging MAGA civil war over skilled immigration

Elon Musk’s op ed in yesterday’s Welt am Sonntag (World on Sunday; think Germany’s Weekend Australian), presently causing conniptions among Germany’s political class:

Germany is at a critical juncture. Its future teeters on the brink of economic and cultural collapse. As someone who has made significant investments in German industry and technology, I believe I have the right to speak candidly about its political direction. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country.

Here are the reasons:

Economic renewal: The German economy, once the engine of Europe, is now mired in bureaucracy and stifling regulations. The AfD understands that economic freedom is not only desirable but also necessary. Their approach to restricting government overreach, lowering taxes and deregulating the marketplace reflects the principles that have made Tesla and SpaceX successful. If Germany wants to regain its industrial strength, it needs a party that not only talks about growth but also takes political action to create an environment in which companies can flourish without heavy government intervention.

Immigration and national identity: Germany has opened its borders to a very large number of migrants. While this was done with humanitarian intent, it has created significant cultural and social tensions. The AfD advocates a controlled immigration policy that prioritises integration and the preservation of German culture and security. This is not about xenophobia, but about ensuring that Germany does not lose its identity in the pursuit of globalisation. A nation must preserve its core values and cultural heritage to remain strong and united.

Energy and independence: The energy policy pursued by the current coalition is not only economically costly, but also geopolitically naive. Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy and instead rely heavily on coal and imported gas, as well as volatile wind and solar power, without the battery storage necessary to maintain a stable power supply, has left the country vulnerable, especially to power outages. The AfD has a pragmatic approach to energy and is advocating a balanced approach. I hope they will consider the expansion of safe nuclear energy combined with battery storage to cushion major fluctuations in electricity consumption, because that is the obvious solution.

Political realism: The traditional parties have failed in Germany. Their policies have led to economic stagnation, social unrest and the erosion of national identity. The AfD, even if it is labelled as far-right, represents a political realism that resonates with many Germans who feel their concerns are ignored by the establishment. It addresses current issues without the political correctness that often obscures the truth. The description of the AfD as far-right is clearly wrong when you consider that Alice Weidel, the leader of the party, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!

Innovation and the future: I have built businesses on the principle that innovation requires liberation from unnecessary constraints. The AfD’s vision is consistent with that ethos. It advocates educational reforms that promote critical thinking instead of indoctrination and supports the technology industries that represent the future of global economic leadership.

To those who condemn the AfD as extremist, I say: Don’t be fooled by the label. Look at its policies, economic plans and efforts to preserve culture. Germany needs a party that is not afraid to challenge the status quo and that is not mired in the politics of the past.

The AfD can save Germany from becoming a shadow of its former self. It can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just pipe dreams, but reality. Germany has become too comfortable in mediocrity – it is time for bold change, and the AfD is the only party that opens up this path.

Germans go to the polls on 23rd February following the recent collapse of the coalition government.

Jimmy Carter has died.

I thought he was going to outlive all the current and currently former presidents.

Seriously, this is a photo-op?

How can it not?

There are only so many taking ‘advantage’ of the scheme.

There’s a lot of new houses being built in SEQ and I suspect many of them will have their air-con connected to Energex.

The rationing in this instance was reportedly concentrated in one district. Another district will presumably be next in the queue. Anyone who remembers Brisbane in the 1970s will recall that’s the way load shedding was done.

West Ham 0-5 Liverpool.
Exactly the result that was required. For too long this would have been a loss particularly when on top of the table by 8 points. Up the mighty Reds

The U.K. gestapo.
Neighbors: Police killed man after serving warrant to wrong home

National parks are the problem not fire danger. There’s been no significant fires in regional areas except for parks and tree plantations. No call outs for our brigade except for strike teams for the Grampians fire.

Yep. This fire, as the last biggie, started in the adjacent NPWS mountains. The NPWS bring in the water bombers, but the local RFS does the dangerous work on the ground. There is considerable bitterness, still, from the last fires when the NPWS knocks off at 5pm and the locals have the night watch. The Covid vaccine mandates only aggravated the ill will when some of our members (including my husband) were banned because they refused to be vaccinated.

Ford’s European Exit: The Bold Move No One Saw Coming! Electric Car Market Meltdown in Europe!

Wally Dalí

 December 30, 2024 8:17 am

Is it just me, or does it seem that most eastern states bushfires really only happen in December?

It’s just you.

The NPWS bring in the water bombers, but the local RFS does the dangerous work on the ground. There is considerable bitterness, still, from the last fires when the NPWS knocks off at 5pm and the locals have the night watch.

Well, maybe things are a-changing. I have just heard that NPWS are today going to bring in a NPWS unit to reestablish the containment lines of the last big fires.

Jim Chalmers has a piece in the Courier Mail:

On an especially muggy early morning this month, my seven-year-old daughter and I were walking the big hills near our Logan home in Queensland.

She was puffing and chatting away, and in her characteristically inquisitive way she asked me what my favourite year was. I said I couldn’t decide; we spoke about some of the good ones.

I asked her what her favourite year was and without hesitation she said “next year”.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that optimism.

I thought about it again watching Sam Konstas bat in the first session on Boxing Day, with the freedom and fearlessness of a teenager. Bringing joy to Australians at the end of what was an especially tough year in 2024.

Inflation has come down a lot but people are still struggling with cost-of-living pressures. Higher interest rates have hit household budgets hard.

There’s been a lot of uncertainty and conflict in the world that’s weighed on our economy here.

As a government, our focus has been fighting inflation and rolling out cost-of-living help.

After a difficult couple of years we shouldn’t forget the progress we’ve made together as Australians.

Our economy has continued to grow while other countries like the UK and New Zealand went into recession.

Inflation has more than halved since we came to office, it’s now at its lowest in almost four years and within the Reserve Bank’s target band.

The RBA’s latest minutes describe their increasing confidence that inflation is sustainably headed where we want it.

Real wages are growing and more than a million jobs have now been created on our watch, a record for any government in a single term.

The combination of tax relief, falling inflation, and wages and jobs growth means real disposable household incomes are also growing again in the latest numbers. They were going backwards when we came to office.

Our policies have helped ease some of the pressure on people.

We delivered a tax cut for every taxpayer and took a slice off electricity bills, with energy bill relief for every household.

We made childcare and medicines cheaper; strengthened Medicare; delivered more rent assistance; provided student debt relief; cracked down on the supermarkets to get a fairer go for farmers and families.

And we’ve done all this in a responsible way, while getting the Budget into surplus twice, shrinking the deficit this year, and pushing debt down by $177bn.

Even as we’ve made progress together in the aggregate numbers, we know it doesn’t always translate to how people are feeling and faring.

We see that in consumer surveys where confidence is still below where it’s been historically.

But since mid-year, those consumer confidence numbers have come up, with our income tax cuts playing a part.

We spent last summer working on these tax cuts, to ensure they delivered benefits to every taxpayer – not just some. It was one of the most important decisions we made as a government, the one I’m proudest of, but it didn’t come without political risk. Peter Dutton even called for an election over the tax cuts. So Australians would be worse off if Mr Dutton had his way on tax.

It’s another important reminder that the biggest risk to household budgets in 2025 would be a Coalition government that would come after Medicare again, push electricity prices up and wages down.

We can’t jeopardise the progress we’ve made together as Australians, in our economy.

There will still be challenges to meet in 2025, still people under pressure who need help. The outlook for China remains uncertain, and conflict and trade tensions are likely to weigh on the global economy next year.

Inflation has bounced up and down in the US, Euro area and the UK.

Despite all this, when we look at the direction of our economy now, we can be more optimistic about the year ahead. The worst of the inflation challenge is behind us, better days are ahead of us. 2024 was difficult but 2025 will be better.

We’ve been planning and preparing for a soft landing in our economy, and that’s what economists are now expecting. They expect inflationary pressures to ease further, growth to improve and unemployment to remain at or near historically low levels.

There are lots of reasons to be cautious and not complacent, but also lots of reasons to be confident and optimistic about the coming year.

Translated:
Yeah we are really bad but forget about the last 3 years, we’ll be right.

Jim Chalmers has a piece in the Courier Mail

He’s utterly delusional and should be committed to an institution before he does more damage.

For 1790s-1850s, here.

Interesting, you’re using wiki, while a yesterday or the day before you were derisive because I used Google search.

Anyways. a few points.

The slow period in immigration was up to the 1830s, according to the link: not to the 1850 as your reference with the link implies. It abruptly ended in the 1840s.

Between 1841 and 1850, immigration nearly tripled again and totaled 1,713,000 immigrants, including at least 781,000 Irish, 435,000 Germans, 267,000 British, and 77,000 French. The Irish, driven by the Great Famine (1845–1849), emigrated directly from their homeland to escape poverty and death. The failed revolutions of 1848 brought many intellectuals and activists to exile in the U.S. Bad times and poor conditions in Europe drove people out, and land, relatives, freedom, opportunity, and jobs in the U.S. lured them in.

Up to the 1830s, the US was essentially a sleepy hollow agrarian society, so your assertion that it experienced stable growth is crap. The US began to industrialize from the 1850s onward.

Your link also mentions the nativism you’re now espousing, which is as I said as old as the Republic.

Nativism took the form of political anti-Catholicism directed mostly at the Irish, as well as Germans. It became important briefly in the mid-1850s in the guise of the Know Nothing party. Most of the Catholics and German Lutherans became Democrats, and most of the other Protestants joined the new Republican Party.

Because it’s a distraction. They were first removed from the economy and then returned to the economy. There is no similar removal and then return re immigrants and the economy.

Yep, it’s that easy to resettle 10.5 million men back into civilian life. This is 15% of the US population you’re talking about that you’re calling a distraction.
Firms had to reorient from a war footing to a consumer society and you call it a distraction. You really have no idea, do you.

.

Does that mean that every instance of ‘nativism’ is wrong?

You tell us champ. Historically, which ethnic group do you consider a failure leaving aside the slaves as they weren’t there willingly?

The sentiments expressed over the last few days, which Pool and co, thinks was a psyop have been central to MAGA movement since 2015.

Pool is referring to the attacks on Musk and Vivek. Nice dodge as usual.

Miltonf

December 30, 2024 11:56 am

Charmers has a string of useless degrees including a doctorate from the ANU. A Beatie, Swan, Beaseley, Ieamma staffer. An apparatchik.

Politics major with a PhD in Paul Keating. He’s a doctor in Paul Keating. This big-eared, ignorant QLD galoot told us he was going to reinvent a new, updated version of capitalism, which turned out to be high inflation and government spending in hyperdrive.

We’ve been planning and preparing for a soft landing in our economy, and that’s what economists are now expecting. They expect inflationary pressures to ease further, growth to improve…

I don’t know which economists these would be, but Chalmers’s own myefo downgraded economic growth in 2025 by .25%.

And that would be an optimistic figure.