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NTRabbit posted:This is exactly what it is, because the US ramped up shale oil production, and kept the price low, in order to blow up the oil export-dependent Russian economy, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Except the infrastructure needed for the increased production was being built long before the Ukraine invasion took place. The quick and dirty summary of the analysis I've seen is that the US is increasing it's domestic production to reduce the influence of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East generally. Saudi Arabia wants to screw over Iran (because of the Sunni v Shia thing), and drive the US producers to the wall by lowering the oil price and hopefully a bit of short term pain will result in long term profit once they are among the last ones standing. Trouble is the US producers have been able to keep their costs down enough to remain profitable or have the resources to ride it out so the Saudis have been throwing away mountains of cash without much to show for it. That Russia is a victim seems to be a fortunate coincidence for the US, or at least I haven't seen anything to indicate that the low oil price is being engineered to gently caress them over in particular.
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Dec 7, 2015 08:10
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Vladimir Poutine posted:I don't like Howard but he came across as caring about something, it might have been his idea of what Australia should be, or his legacy or something as trivial as what people thought about him. But this was the key difference between him and Abbott. Abbott didn't give a gently caress about the outcomes of any of his policies He had a vision for the country. It might have been a lovely neo liberal one, but at least it was there. Abbott just lurched from brain fart to brain fart without any coherent plan for the future. I never thought I'd see the day where I almost looked back on the Howard years fondly, but I guess someone like Abbott will do that. Speaking of lovely leaders, has there been any update on Shorten's job security? Will the ALP dump him before the election or send him down with his sinking ship?
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Dec 7, 2015 11:07
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Sometimes I wonder if his eyes are pushing back into his brain causing a bit of damage back there. I guess we should be grateful for his unfortunate disease because he'd be a hell of a lot more dangerous if he had a face people would take seriously.
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Dec 8, 2015 08:24
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Abbott doesn't seem like the type to have a 'plan' as such and will probably just flail around a bit with the odd media interview and attempts to win back former supporters, and kind of hope it all just falls into place for him. edit: Apparently Shorten has fallen one point to 14% as preferred PM. Not sure how anyone can look at those kinds of results and somehow justify staying in their position as opposition leader. gay picnic defence fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Dec 8, 2015 |
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Dec 8, 2015 19:44
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Anidav posted:Meanwhile copper is rotting in the ground, mining is destroying communities and drought conditions continue without adequate government assistance. Death is certain
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Dec 9, 2015 07:57
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open24hours posted:More Santorum than Trump. Yeah. I can't think of an Australian similar to Trump, unless one of those Reclaim fuckwits is a libertarian billionaire property developer.
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Dec 10, 2015 08:04
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Which goon was that again? poo poo like that doesn't seem to happen here anymore which is kinda sad.
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Dec 10, 2015 08:05
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Romeo Charlie posted:Just a friendly reminder that Transfield Services have changed their name to Broadspectrum Limited. There might be something slightly Freudian with their new name, having worked on farms 'broad spectrum' always reminds me of chemical sprays that kills loving everything in their path. Broad spectrum herbicide, insecticide, genocide etc 
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Dec 10, 2015 08:27
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NTRabbit posted:I put my next study period worth into Centrelink in early November for Austudy, I put the evidence in when requested on the 20th of November, and now today, the 10th of December, my 'update is still pending verification', and there's only a few days left for it to get processed so that I actually have money before Xmas. I went into the large Centrelink office nearby, and apparently they don't handle anything to do with students, the best they could do was look at my account details, to get anything done I have to phone in and sit in a queue for a few hours. Last time I called them it was a couple of days after those articles poo poo canning their response times and numbers of calls answered. Got through to someone within a minute, they put me through to a guy who specialised in Austudy who pulled a few strings for me to get my application sorted out and I was done in about 5 minutes 
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Dec 10, 2015 08:32
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Digiwizzard posted:That was melbgoon Gutter Monkey. And yeah, it doesen't Nah, he was the one who posted all those cool urban exploration pictures I think.
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Dec 10, 2015 19:43
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The Victorian ALP's branch-stacking scandal has escalated into a bitter legal row, with party headquarters taking Supreme Court action against a veteran whistleblower who has pursued factional chieftains over widespread membership rorting. In an unprecedented move, the party through lawyers Slater and Gordon is seeking an injunction against pensioner and Labor volunteer Eric Dearricott, in relation to membership information he has used to pursue his concerns about branch stacking. lol
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Dec 10, 2015 19:47
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freebooter posted:I knew Trump was leading in the polls but it's actually horrifying to see by just how much: It wouldn't surprise me if he got the Republican nomination at this stage. Sounds like people are suspicious of the mainstream candidates after decades of the establishment republicans loving them over in the name of big business but are too conservative, uneducated or afraid of breaking the family voting tradition to make the switch to the dems. He'd have to be an outside chance at best of becoming president, but at the same time it seems risky to bet against the stupidity of Americans. At any rate, he'd be a laugh for a few weeks until we all remember that he controls the worlds largest nuclear arsenal.
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Dec 11, 2015 22:36
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QUACKTASTIC posted:Cross posting from USPol because Imagine the poll bounce when Trump starts throwing a bit more money at advertising.
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Dec 14, 2015 01:39
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Recoome posted:Although Monis was influenced by extreme Islam, I wouldn't call him a terrorist or anything like that. Why not? Wasn't he trying to make a political or religious statement?
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Dec 15, 2015 05:08
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Recoome posted:Eh maybe, thats what it appeared to be. People will use all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify their behaviour. Yeah but then you start making guesses at to whether or not they really mean it, is it just the psychosis and all that sort of stuff. Recoome posted:Also I just gotta say, and this is probably a super unpopular opinion, I don't agree with the placement of a memorial or a shrine commemorating the Lindt cafe siege. I feel like at this time it'll just be a shrine to Islamaphobia or whatever and further used as justification for discrimination against Muslims in Australia. Depends. If it is something small and tasteful like a plaque then it would be fine, but some grandiose monument would send the wrong message.
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Dec 15, 2015 07:08
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hyperbowl posted:It's not small, but it'll just look like flowers on the ground. That'd be cool. It's hard to see the neo nazis rallying around a heap of little flowers on the ground.
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Dec 15, 2015 08:00
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Birb Katter posted:Violent, mentally disturbed, known to police woman basher gets terrorist status because :reasons:. Those reasons were not because he was part of Daesh because he sure as gently caress wasn't, it seems to be he used media perceptions of it as an excuse, a crutch, to continue being a violent toss pot. I really didn't think that was such a hard thing to see but obviously I overestimated you. quote:On his website, Monis had pledged allegiance to "the caliph of the Muslims", believed to be referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and denounced moderate Islam. Seems to me that nearly every definition of terrorism involves promoting a political or religious line, and Monis certainly did that. Whether or not it was caused/contributed to some mental illness doesn't seem to matter, he was using acts of violence to achieve those political or religious goals.
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Dec 15, 2015 11:19
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freebooter posted:Can someone give me a rundown of why the economy is going into so much debt? I'm assuming it's a bit more complicated than the trifecta of a squandered mining boom, unwillingness to cut middle class/Western Sydney welfare, and the overpriced housing market? Lower iron ore prices means less tax taken from mining companies and lower wages means less tax taken as income tax. The Abbott government's policy of not diversifying the economy (although to be fair this was a trend started under Howard and continued under the ALP) has left us exposed to fluctuations in the Digging poo poo Out Of The Ground And Flogging It To China industry, and their policy of reducing wage inflation (i.e. making people earn less to keep labor costs down) has had the obvious predictable results.
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Dec 15, 2015 19:54
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Seems like Monis is being used as a bit of a political football to justify preconceptions about muslims or something, with the left adamant that his mental health problems disqualifies him from being a terrorist and the right happy to milk it to add fuel to their brown panic fire.
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Dec 15, 2015 20:16
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meteor9 posted:What the crap is RTPDS and how do they only pay 0.0004% tax? When welfare cheats start funding election campaigns and offering golden parachute deals to politicians we might see some action against the corporations.
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Dec 17, 2015 05:35
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Wasn't someone proposing that we bypass all the corporate tax avoidance structures entirely and just tax the gently caress out of shareholder earnings through dividends and capital gains? Probably would be a lot easier to monitor.
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Dec 17, 2015 07:33
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Is it legalised over there now? I hadn't heard. The taxi industry must be making GBS threads itself. I heard on the news today a taxi refused to pick up a veteran with PTSD because he had an assistance dog with him. The sooner they're driven into the ground or forced to make significant changes to the way they operate the better.
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Dec 17, 2015 07:43
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I wonder whether a lot of drivers will jump ship instead of renewing their taxi registration.
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Dec 17, 2015 07:54
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Birb Katter posted:Looks like Abetz isn't happy with the QANDA review I'm genuinely interested in what the world looks like through people like Abetz's eyes. Like, how does someone go through life so completely oblivious to so much blindingly obvious stuff? I can't really get my head around it.
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Dec 17, 2015 08:02
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Gorilla Salad posted:I've noticed for years that all the crappy jobs I did when I was young/at uni now seem to be staffed mainly by people in their forties and fifties. I've noticed this too, heaps of checkout operators are really old. Probably a couple of reasons, one would be the lack of better jobs around so they're forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel and do the crappy jobs formerly reserved for young people, and the other is that maybe the support services like the pension aren't sufficient any more for people to live on alone.
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Dec 22, 2015 02:58
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my stepdads beer posted:Why is it up to random bloggers to unearth astroturfing organisations like the Amy Gillett Foundation instead of professionals working in our media? Because the media are complicit in it?
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Dec 22, 2015 07:12
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It was 2015’s most controversial piece of marijuana-themed headwear and graced a dozen front pages — now it could cost eBay thousands of dollars. The Sydney activist Zaky Mallah is suing the online auction group for $30,000 for delisting the “weed hat” he wore during his appearance on ABC’s Q&A program, according to documents lodged with the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (Ncat). http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/dec/24/zaky-mallah-sues-ebay-for-delisting-his-weed-hat-with-magical-powers?CMP=soc_567
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Dec 25, 2015 22:25
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norp posted:Is it a holiday area? Because principal homes mean you live there most of the time, someone with a house they rent out most of the year doesn't get poo poo I find it hard to feel for people who have lost a holiday home when I can't even afford a normal one.
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Dec 26, 2015 09:21
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If they're baby boomers they're more or less the same thing
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Dec 26, 2015 09:32
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open24hours posted:The small business line is just so obviously bullshit I can't believe they get away with it. I can. People have strange attitudes towards businesses and the people that own/run them. Businessmen are seen as the very pinnacle of sensibility and rationality, while businesses are treated as though they have some sort of 'right' to succeed regardless of how poorly thought out the business plan is. Not sure how we've arrived at this point, I guess it is wormed it's way into the collective consciousness over time or something.
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Dec 28, 2015 22:33
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Someone should just tell them to stay shut if they can't run profitably, or to add a surcharge for weekends so they are profitable.
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Dec 28, 2015 23:00
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adamantium|wang posted:Abetz jumped on the radio this morning to say that Turnbull's new ministry should include Abbott. Is there some sort of formal agreement between the hard right and the not quite so hard right in the LNP over how many from each faction should be given ministries?
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Dec 30, 2015 01:33
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Anyone know what the new 'anti union corruption' laws to come out of the royal commission are? It'd be funny if the ALP passed them with amendments so they apply to businesses and lobby groups too but they'll probably just roll over and wave them through unchanged.
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Dec 30, 2015 18:54
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You Am I posted:The 1990/91 cabinet papers have been released. It'll be interesting to the the cabinet papers from the Abbott years
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Jan 1, 2016 01:59
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