Serrath posted:

This is rubbish, Trump is the least popular of all candidates running (democrat or republican) and may be the most unpopular candidate ever to run in history. His success is far better explained by the failure of his opponents to drop out as they would have at this point in earlier election cycles. All predictions about his success have generally been wrong because people didn't anticipate the election cycle would have <this> many candidates this far in but early predictions about his "ceiling" of potential votes have remained pretty consistent, in spite of all the primary states he's won. Don't confuse his winning 30-40% of republican voters as any indication of his overall popularity; he's popular among <40% of registered republicans in a handful of states>.

His only path to victory would be to pick up all states that Romney won in 2012 and add 2-5 additional states on top of that. Even if Trump wasn't the nominee, it's unlikely for any republican to win the presidential election this year because the electoral college favors a democrat candidate no matter who it is. Trump would have even more of an uphill battle than most republicans would due to his unpopularity but it's very unlikely that any repub has a shot this year.

gay picnic defence posted:

I'm still not convinced he won't win it, people have spent the last year underestimating just how much anger there is at the political establishment (the GOP in particular) and Clinton is not well liked. Of course the flipside is that the GOP apparently were so certain Trump was going to flame out and didn't try and dig for any dirt on him until now so it'll be interesting what happens when a well oiled Democrat campaign opens fire.

Recoome posted:

This man is an adult, who lied on departure from Australia, and knowingly crossed into Syria, fully knowing the risks.

No one in the Australian Government can actually know if he has been brainwashed into launching terrorism attacks here.

Do not return his passport.

If you willingly cross into enemy territory then you are an enemy sympathiser.

He fully knew the consequences so let him rot in hell in Islamic State.

If the Australian Government allows him to return they will establish a revolving door of radicalised terrorists returning here to murder Australians at will.

This guy is a traitor to Australia.

No sympathy.

Anidav posted:

Imagine.

Recoome posted:

Honestly I don't really care about discussing USPol poo poo but rather talking about scary and actual bad things happening in Australia

Trapezium Dave posted:

I haven't been following the double dissolution news, is there a reason why this is seriously an option? I didn't think we were at that stage of last resort yet.

Trapezium Dave posted:

I'm the opposite, I'm following the US election because Australian politics is too depressing.

I haven't been following the double dissolution news, is there a reason why this is seriously an option? I didn't think we were at that stage of last resort yet.

Trapezium Dave posted:

I'm the opposite, I'm following the US election because Australian politics is too depressing.

I haven't been following the double dissolution news, is there a reason why this is seriously an option? I didn't think we were at that stage of last resort yet.

Trapezium Dave posted:

I haven't been following the double dissolution news, is there a reason why this is seriously an option? I didn't think we were at that stage of last resort yet.

Trapezium Dave posted:

I thought the conventional wisdom was that a PM needed a really good excuse for a double dissolution or they would get hammered in the polls and I didn't think we had one.

quote:

We're going to have 300 people running each state aren't we? Senate ballots two metres long.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Isn't the DD trigger the ABCC? Wouldn't it be pretty easy to hammer Turnbull on returning us to the Howard years?

Doctor Spaceman posted:

The DD trigger is just the trigger, it doesn't have to be the focus on the campaign.

BBJoey posted:

Don't they have multiple triggers available, though

BBJoey posted:

Don't they have multiple triggers available, though

Zenithe posted:

Can we not say dumb poo poo like this please.

Recoome posted:

lmao get a load of this nerd

Goffer posted:

Saw this, it's pretty good

quote:

Former prime minister believes billionaire’s success is emblematic of voters’ frustration with ‘political correctness’

gay picnic defence posted:

ewe2 posted:

It's called wit, google it. I can't believe you're that dense.

Ian Winthorpe III posted:

Fair point; people are tired of not being able to openly debate important issues such as immigration and multiculturalism without the conversation being shouted down by accusations of racism - Trump has taken that message past the media gatekeepers.

Kommando posted:

Brisbane Goonmeet
Sunday 28th 6pm
Little Singapore, Market Square
Sunnybank

Not the city. This is in the suburbs.
non piking Brisgoons suggested it last month.
Jizzmaster will be up.

quote:

RIP Channel [V]: It’s all about the music
Jason "Jabba" Davis
In this guest post, Jason ‘Jabba’ Davis reflects on the launch of Channel [V] in Australia 22 years ago, the evolution of subscription TV and his thoughts on today’s announcement of the channel’s closure.
In that prehistoric era before the internet, before mobile phones, before ‘ice’ meant anything other than a helpful addition to cool a beverage, subscription TV was born in Australia. And I was there. Possibly by mistake.

It was late in 1994 and having applied unsuccessfully to be a security guard for IBM (where my mother worked), a co-worker at The Reasonably Good Café where I had some casual shifts washing dishes, mentioned his flatmate was having trouble finding a fourth talking head for a soon-to-be launched 24/7 music channel, to be called Red, on Galaxy Pay TV – “with No Ads!”
I fluked that fourth spot in my audition by answering honestly when asked why I wanted this job – “because I’m about to be evicted for not paying my rent”– and, thanks in large part to a woman named Julie Bennett, who became my scriptwriter/producer/buddy, I landed a contract commencing March 1st 1995, where for the princely sum of $750 per week I went on to be (quite briefly) the face of youth culture in Australia.

But first came the hate mail.
Well, it wasn’t technically mail, more like printed reports from the Galaxy call centre where viewers were complaining in their dozens about “this idiot who knows nothing about metal” introducing Nordic Black Metal videos with poor pronunciation: “And now here’s the new one from Thyrfing, hang ten guys…”
Filmed entirely on a blue screen at the Global Television Centre (their capitals, not mine) at North Ryde under the keen direction of Paul Fenech (yes, that Paul Fenech) I learned how to be a TV presenter.
“Show me the dancing eyes!” he’d cry. “Perfect!” One more!” he’d inevitably say, until I’d read my autocue 30 times to introduce a Madonna video.
Because that’s what “Red – The Music Channel” was – a burgeoning youth station with no commercials and access to the music video catalogue of three record companies, playing wall-to-wall music videos, with about every third or fourth one introduced by myself, Toni Pearen, Leah Purcell, or “Andy, from Horsehead” (who left shortly after launch to pursue his music career and was never heard from again).
It was not an original format but it was a successful one and playing music videos all day every day became the backbone of the channel, with occasional band interviews, with questions written not by Googling anything but by pouring over the press releases in the office filing cabinets or subscribing to fanzines.

In the early days of the station being on air, we couldn’t even get the Pay TV service connected to the office, so nobody working for Red knew what it looked like.
After a couple of years, media deals brokered in boardrooms meant it was time to say “Goodbye Galaxy” and “Hello Foxtel”, (and “Oh sorry Optus Vision, didn’t notice you there…”) Red – The Music Channel (always a mouthful) became Channel [V].Channel V logo
[V] for videos I guess, (no idea what the brackets were for), and the original presenters made way for a shiny new bunch of misfits including Maynard, Nathan Harvey, Leah McLeod, Mike Kerry and later Andrew G, Paula McGrath, Andrew Mercado, James Mathison and Yumi Stynes.

Slowly the channel’s parameters drifted towards the middle.
After the first year of being compulsorily ad-free, we started to take on any and all brands keen to influence a fickle and notoriously hard-to-reach youth market, all the while maintaining an edgy playlist and credible affiliations.
We covered the Big Day Out continuously throughout it’s heyday, similarly going behind the scenes at every respectable music festival from Homebake and Livid, to Splendour in the Grass, and also enjoyed a high profile affiliation with the Aria Awards – which actually used to draw an audience of a million plus on FTA TV (come back Rove!), and let us cover the red carpet and back stage.
Since the news came through Wednesday morning about the end of [V], the Facebook feed of Channel [V] luminaries past & present, (I guess all ‘past’, come Saturday), I’m reminded of all the brands we spruiked across the years.

From breakfast cereals to soft drink to technology, lollies and cars, Channel [V] somehow managed to bridge the divide between being commercial and being real in a really successful and unique way.
Despite our audience numbers being in the low thousands, there was significance in brand [V], and when we took our jam to the masses they turned out in their throngs to join in the fun.
The brainchild of a media maverick, Mr Barry Chapman, (who famously put a jumbo under the Sydney Harbour Bridge – an elephant on a barge, to launch Rock of the 80s 2SM,) the Channel [V] Music Bus is my most treasured experience from my decade as a VJ. A VJ? Seriously? What a useless feather in one’s LinkedIn cap.Channel V Music bus CD
Partnering with surf/leisurewear behemoth Billabong, we jumped onboard a luxury coach with a convoy of stages, sound systems, skaters, surfers and snowboarders up and down the east coast from Cairns and Mareeba to the tip of Tasmania, putting on free mini music festivals and extreme sports performances broadcast live across the country, day after day, for weeks on end.
It was the closest I ever came to being in a band and touring the land.

I’ll cherish the hours meeting our far-flung fans and “signing til midnight” the assorted merchandise – the highlight of which has to be the ‘Andrew G-String’. A pair of knickers emblazoned with the good man’s face that the rest of us urged his legion of teenage, and not so teenage fans to “wear inside out”.
Those days of taking our show on the road could not last, as advertisers became wise to the reality of our small TV audiences and the dawn of a new age of technology put music (and eventually pretty much every conceivable kind of content), firstly at our fingertips, and then in our pockets, leaving a 24-hour music channel ultimately redundant.
In the in-demand universe we now inhabit, who amongst us would wait in turn for our favourite song and pay for the privilege?
The internet has brought us so many positive things but it has also helped to dismantle bricks and mortar retail business.
Right now it is cutting a swathe through the media landscape and what the future of broadcasting may be is anyone’s guess.
From this Saturday, that landscape will be missing one small piece of uniquely Australian youth culture. A small piece I am proud to be a part of.
Much love to all the Channel [V] fans out there and all the amazing people who made it what it was.
“It’s All About The Music”!
Jason ‘Jabba’ Davis is a broadcaster, performer and writer based in Sydney.

Anidav posted:

I enjoyed your Queensland Rail war stories, brisgoon lurker.

Jumpingmanjim posted:

http://mumbrella.com.au/rip-channel-v-its-all-about-the-music-jabba-348885

Anidav posted:

I enjoyed your Queensland Rail war stories, brisgoon lurker.