nutbean

This is all that needs to be said...... ( you added the sin of avarice to lust but you forgot to mention envy, pride, gluttony, sloth and wrath). No side of politics is immune from the 7 deadly sins.

The only thing that is clear to me is all sides of politics are ruled by self preservation with few exceptions and corruption is rife from the far right to the far left and all points in between. Nothing is ever clear and we, the great unwashed, only get to see the veneer. I am not convinced that Trump is any more or less corrupt or inept than any past administration. The difference from me is he and his administration are either not smart enough or don't care enough ( or both) to try and disguise it. It has been a game for me of trying to "uncover" when pollies are contradicting past stances, shifting positions or outright lying. I want my pollies to at least it a little difficult - a sport. Trump doesn't care enough to do this.

There is such blood lust in American politics both internally and in reporting that I take the view that most issues either Republican or Democrat - read everything from both sides of the political divide and the truth probably lies somewhere in between.

“With regard to the House Intelligence Committee’s memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it,” the statement said. “As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” You have also got to ask yourself the question - a Republican "opinion piece" is released however the Democrat rebuttal was not allowed to be released. I don't have a clue as to the accuracy of the memo but it gives you pause to think that a heavily politicised committee allows a Republican majority opinion to be released by won't allow a Democrat rebuttal ? Neither should be released if there is not consensus or both. I just am amused when Wrecker writes with authority that "it is clear". What is clear is nothing is clear.

So much hyperbole, exaggeration and just plain inaccuracy in two little sentences. And no, I won't bite to your next reply - "tell me where I am wrong" - I'd rather go with "Fact checking - zero".

Saily McSailface ?

I think James Cook was leader of the Greens after Bob Brown but before Christine Milne.

It will be my next read. What i found very eye opening was a quote from James Cook on observation of the Indigenous people during his exploration of the east coast "They live in a tranquillity which is not disturbed by the inequality of condition. The earth and sea of their own accord furnishes them with all things necessary for life. They covet neither magnificent houses or household stuff. They live in a warm and fine climate and enjoy wholesome air". Looks like no one took much notice of Jimmy's observations !

I blame Jack Watts

To me this is his Presidency in a nutshell. He is behaving the same way as he would business without the understanding that the rules ( for better or for worse) are very different. I would extend it further that it is not only separation of powers problematic but also his lack of understanding about the different standard of propriety between private business and elected public officials. I can't get over that he spends every second week at Mar-Lago and the Gov't is being charged for it for both his guests and all the admin and secret service he takes with him. If that is not a conflict of interest i don't know what is. In sense, he is not the first to do this as President's have traditionally taken themselves and guests to their second homes. And I am sure that there were added expenses for this however -hotel rack rates ???

i was talking generically. Hillary won't go to jail - not sure why Wrecker thinks she will. ( my comment on strong enough evidence - was more a reflection on the Whitewater saga going back some years) I can absolutely see Trump being indicted for obstruction. I was always iffy about anyone in the administration being indicted for collusion. The administration and campaign wasn't functional enough to tie their own shoelaces let alone collude.

As an aside to this topic.... I took a South African visitor to a game. He had never seen a game before. He asked who "that guy was" - i said a runner. Then he asked who "that girl was" - i said a watergirl. I then noticed how many periphery, non combatants were on the field. Is it just me or does anyone else's mind just block them out - I cant say that I have ever noticed the extraordinary number of non players on the field until it was pointed out to me.

The first question big question for me is how to find 2.5 hours to listen to a podcast. As a precursor I will state that the only certainty that I can cling on to is my uncertainty about everything.

It is not a matter of whether they are all crooks - I think that's a given it is a matter of whether there is strong enough evidence to get convictions.

All - this is not meant to start a political discourse but I have just finished "Aboriginal Australians - A history since 1788" by Richard Broome - well researched and not a difficult read. Highly recommend it. I also finished Fire and Fury - inside the Trump Administration by Michael Wolff. His writing style reminded me a lot of Caroline Wilson. He cleverly mixes quotes with words attributed to others that may be quotes but you are really not sure. He mixes a whole lot of quotes with opinion or what he thinks "may" have been said. It becomes so intertwined it leaves the reader none the wiser as to what actually was said and what wasn't said, what is fact ( quotes) and what is fiction ( pure opinion). Having said that - for the life of me, it must have been the biggest snowjob of all time that anyone connected with Trump allowed him one minute of access as he has zero good words to say about anyone in the Administration.

Don't disagree with you but for every billionaire there will be people who, through no fault of their own, be crushed by the system. Unfortunately there is no perfect system or to be completely accurate, good system that doesn't have inherent flaws when trying to balance competing needs.

okay - ill put it out there. The Poms really do make better television than the US. There. I said it.

I've been watching The Crown. Whilst I am hardly a fan of the royal family it is a very interesting watch and you can see why it costs sooooo much money to produce.

I think it is purely a numbers game. There are only so many places on an AFL list. If you are selecting midfielders and there is a contested beast at a 187cm available that is considered equal in talent to a 171 cm alternative I know who recruiters will be picking. However as always - if you are talented then you are talented and should get picked before players of lesser talent - example Caleb Daniels and hopefully Spargo.

absolutely agree. Footballers with certain physical attributes are given time to develop. Ruckman and Key position players who look to have limited ability are given time for the skills to surface. Even skinny footballers who may show some talent are given time to hopefully fill out. But if you are the size of Spargo you either have to possess electric speed and/or be a ball magnet as certain other skills are off the table specifically due to size. OD - I, like you, have no idea whether he will make it or not but there is a reason why there are so few footballers running around in the AFL at his height.

I understand equalisation through the salary cap and i understand that you have to offer competitive contracts to keep a player. What irked me was that you had to pay 90% of the salary cap when it was obvious that our during our dark times the difference in talent between our players and the "Hawthorns" was not a 10% differential. Our players were well and truly overpaid because we had to.

well that's just plain selfish !

i saw two guys going hard at the ball ending in a very ugly injury.

As long as he is not in charge of pre-season.

yes and no. The Caravan Club is no more ( don't get me started on the committee that runs the venue - grrrr) The owner is opening a new venue at the South Oakleigh Club called "The Phoenix Lounge" - Due to open April.