politicalowl

A strange kind of decline that Andrew Bolt claims to have seen. In South Australia: Election ALP Lib Others 2018 33.9% 37.4% 28.7% 2014 35.8% 44.8% 19.4% 2010 37.5% 41.7% 20.8% The minor party vote up from 19.4% of the total to 28.7%. In Batman the position not so clear given that the Liberals were too broke and/or scared to take part but the Green vote admittedly down a tad.

The Owl is not a psychiatrist though over the years he has had a few dealings with them.  They have helped me overcome a personal crisis or three. And their miracles of modern medicine and a little therapy have helped overcome some extraordinary irrational behaviour. Which makes me look at Barnaby Joyce with a sympathetic eye. To me, and I might be quite wrong because I have never met the man, our Deputy Prime Minister needs help just like I did. I hope he gets it. And in the mean time here's an update on the media reports and links to some other news and views. Pressure mounts on Barnaby Joyce over involvement with staffer  - Sydney Morning Herald Labor has ramped up pressure on the government over allegations surrounding Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce's affair, demanding Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull explain the creation of a series of well-paid jobs for Mr Joyce's partner. ... Politicians on all sides have declined to cast judgment on the Deputy Prime Min...

The quote of the day "You know, young man swaggers into Canberra, attention seeking, saying outrageous things and appeasing the far right, and getting some media coverage. Sounds like the coalition party room."     - Liberal Senator Jane Hume bemused about the fuss surrounding a visit by controversial right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos to Parliament House But Andrew Bolt does not approve. "For a Liberal not to get the fuss about Milo - and the 14,000 tickets sold to libertarians and conservatives around the country - explains perfectly why the Liberals are losing members and donations." She's a Liberal?  item on the Bolt blog

Andrew Bolt has not done anything wrong. He reported what was reality at the time. Circumstances changed. That's not Bolt's fault. Those challenging his integrity are motivated by revenge and ideology. — George Christensen (@GChristensenMP) December 4, 2017 An endorsement from this man: George Christensen slammed as ‘weak’ after backing down from penalty rates threat - The New Daily Nationals MP George Christensen has been criticised as “weak” and “all talk” after backing down from his threat to cross the floor to protect penalty rates. Mr Christensen revealed on Monday he would not back a bill amended by Labor that would reinstate penalty rates cut by the Fair Work Commission earlier in the year, despite his frequent threats to do so.  See also: It is the word of Andrew Bolt that we cannot trust

So you have a mischievous little fib to spread. Well, first of all find a gullible journalist or, even better, one who is prepared to peddle nonsense as long as it suits his political prejudices. And so this came to pass: GEORGE CHRISTENSEN WIMPS IT Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun December 3, 2017 10:46am Nationals MP George Christensen privately told me, Peta Credlin and Cory Bernardi that he would quit the Turnbull Government if Malcolm Turnbull was still Prime Minister this week. He authorised me and Peta to spread the word, without using his name, hoping to create maximum pressure on Turnbull. Twice more he urged me on, even after lying to Samantha Maiden of Sky News, telling her he was not the MP I'd referred to. He told me that he meant his threat and explicitly told me I should report it without fear that he'd back down and make me look like a party to mischief. Now he's piked, and I must say he has behaved very badly. I cannot now trust his word. He also damaged t...

I'm not a Foxtel man. The pension does not stretch far enough for that and I'm clearly not Robinson Crusoe. The ratings agencies tell me that. Shows like that of Andrew Bolt have a low thousands of viewers not the hundreds of thousands of something like the ABC's 7.30 . Yet, I am slowly realising, that is irrelevant when it comes to measuring influence. Every morning when I do my Facebook and Twitter checks on the news of the day one of the most frequent words I come across are those of Andrew. The extracts of the highlights of his nightly The Bolt Report normally are repeated several times. The postings by those on the list of people I follow might be accompanied by acerbic comments but Andrew Bolt still has the opportunity of getting his message across. Not nearly as often am I greeted by an extract from a Leigh Sales interview. LIVE NOW: The identity politics of Yassmin Abdel-Magied is the worst we have seen. Live on @SkyNewsAust pic.twitter.com/KUpaQxp5TJ — The Bo...

My quick piece of googling research this morning throws this up as the last reference by Andrew Bolt to global temperatures being stable: the biggest controversy right now is the one  even the latest IPCC report had to address: why the world hasn’t warmed  as the climate models predicted. Atmospheric temperatures have remained flat for at least 15 years. Perhaps it is time for him to give us an update.  To my eyes there does not seem to be anything "flat" about this graph.

Whatever we might think we read him. Andrew Bolt sucks readers in. That makes him influential in the peripheral game of political debate. And on no subject more so than in his claim that global warming has not increased for a decade or more. So I’m disappointed he’s holidaying in Holland now that 2014 is announced as the warmest since records have been kept. I want to read his explanation why the figures don’t mean anything. In the mean time I’ll just have to look at the graphs released this week by the US NOAA and do the best I can tp understand them. Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge