One of the most interesting aspects of contemporary media discourse is the way that massive popular displays of support for pro-Palestinian and pacifist positions are just ignored by mainstream media. The Gathering for Gaza gig in Melbourne was huge

The Guardian is reporting the Greens will vote for the government's amended hate speech bill, including giving the immigration minister more god powers and the scheme to designate new "hate" groups. No one else is reporting this, so unclear if it's accurate. Very odd development if so.

Do you like wine? I daresay you do. Do you like winemakers? On the whole, they are very nice people. If you'd like to help out some of the wineries most affected by the recent bushfires in central Victoria, order a case or two from the places in this article winecompanion.com.au/articles/new...

How did that work out

If only I had some friends who might be interested in free accommodation, there may be ways I could help with that.

I need to sell my book so I can afford to see a good psychologist, probably. Actually I’m enjoying the fact I’m only a few weeks from completing the first draft.

I have now written about the first of the two life-altering split-second decisions I made in 2001 involving two people who ironically shared a birthday.

So many things I can’t do because people I’d like to know, help, or work with don’t want to talk to me.

Somehow, though, the most repulsive politician alive, to me, is still Tony Blair.

It’d be all fun and games until the Danes try to impose their anti-migrant policies.

1.2 The Netherlands formally extends to New Yorkers the chance to come back home. Rejoin the Dutch Empire. We offer free healthcare, a gun-safe environment, and immediate freedom from the orange dictator. Because if he can just take Greenland, we can certainly reclaim Manhattan. The tulips are on us

The only way to deal with the US now is through international solidarity. All nations that reject fascism need to work together, before it’s too late.

I am going to be honest that if you aren’t sure whether or not it would be good if the fascists kill a prominent anti-fascist activist with whom you have developed an inscrutable parasocial antagonism, I really doubt the sincerity of your commitment to leftism or anti-fascism

Is it egotistical to brag that at a party in February 2001 we were trying to answer the million dollar questions in the Who Wants to be a Millionaire board game and I was the first person to get one right?

I’d forgotten how horrible a day January 22 2001 was for me. At least I had a list of friends to call to cry to. These days I can just post on social media because no one gives a fuck. Anyway, writing is still progressing. Finished filling in Olympics part, and back into 2001.

It's not hate to oppose systematic mass murder. Even if it was, a felt emotion is not worse than the literal killing fields sustained by the West’s murder colony in occupied Palestine. It is insane that this needs to be said. How about, if you do not like being 'vilified' maybe stop being villains?

Rare to find such a detailed study of useful idiocy told by one of said idiots

TIL the Sydney Olympics will always be officially regarded as the ‘best ever’ because after Sydney the IOC decided to stop using that description.

White people never believed they could experience the bad effects of US imperialism because of their shared lack of melanin but here we are!

The Sydney Olympics closing ceremony was so woke it would spark a civil war today.

Coming up this week on ABC News Breakfast: Could this be the solution to the housing crisis…

We leave so many things unfinished in our lives.

All 6 Branches Of Armed Forces Present At Arrest Of Undocumented Nanny https://theonion.com/all-6-branches-of-armed-forces-present-at-arrest-of-undocumented-nanny/

One really annoying thing is that if the NDIS had been around in 2001, it would have worked very well for me. All the opportunities I don’t have now, existed then.

One wonders if this view is even remotely shared by the hotels with cancelled bookings, the cafes and restaurants and pubs anticipating fewer patrons, the booksellers stuck with more books than local buyers, the taxi drivers who know they’ll get fewer fares, all the suppliers with unwanted supplies…

Oh jeez the word count comes in at 250,000 so far. I guess I can cut out a lot.

NEW: 1 in 10 teens going to headspace say the teen social media ban was a factor in their decision to seek mental health support. This very preliminary data, supporting concerns about negative impacts of the ban, shows why more online reform is needed, headspace said.

One could argue that a bill to penalise hate speech against racial minorities that would prohibit promoting apartheid or ANY other supremacist ideas based on race, ethnicity, or religion was very well drafted.

Not so much hilarious as right on the point.

This puts those taking advantage of the exemptions in an ethically compromised position.

I can see why it would be tempting to drink the hand sanitiser if you were staying at a budget motel on the Gold Coast, but probably best not, even if it didn't have meths in it www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

I had no idea that Ian Betteridge was not only still alive but on bluesky. I had assumed he was from the early to mid twentieth century and we'd had the law for decades.

This completely cheapens the award. I am glad Henry Kissinger is no longer alive to see this.

Well, I'm still needing to meet more people, and find somewhere to move to. I seem to have run out of good options to advance that.

sobs in Melburnian

I’ve been looking at local media coverage of the 2000 Olympic torch relay. Nearly the entire populations of the towns the relay passed through turned out to see it. Imagine a community event on that scale today. Brisbane 2032 organisers are going to face a tough task to replicate it.

Extraordinary scenes from the Otway Coast. Sort of thing we've been seeing around the world more and more frequently in recent years.

While I’m ambivalent about demolishing the Bondi footbridge, that kind of out of the box thinking could have really helped us with Hoddle Street.

Greens now say they're opposing Albo's legislation. Very embarrassing situation for the government.

Minnesota would make a good Canadian province I’d guess.

Walz: "What's happening in MN defies belief. News reports simply don't do justice to the level of chaos & disruption & trauma the federal govt is raining down... This long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. Instead, it's a campaign of organized brutality against the people of MN"

Maybe they can declare Newscorp and talkback radio as hate groups.

The lead story on the ABC website is about Iran, it based on an interview with only one anonymous source, who is begging Trump to bomb their country. Very weird sourcing this thin, with such specific and contentious demands, is able to be published www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

Every civil liberties group, lawyers, the pro-Palestine movement, the Socialists: Please don’t vote for this bill, it’s very bad. The Greens: What if we expanded it so the most contentious parts were even worse?

It’s very noticeable that there is not left/progressive debate about these laws. Labor is bringing them in at the behest of the Israel lobby. Anne Twomey has written an op-ed saying they are bad. That’s it. There’s no civic society left it seems.

Checking in on the Australian Open NFT balls a year since I last did, and they're selling for about $20 each now www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/j...

Hardly anyone at Southbank today except the Iranians protesting outside the ABC studios.

Where it all began #Osaka

Today is a great reminder that we can never be too ready.