The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

So it's party time in Mainland China tomorrow. I cannot begin to imagine the gloating over Hong Kong and Apple Daily and how the CCP government knows they can do whatever they damned well like because no other country can or will stand up to them.

"There is no good and evil. There is only POWER and those too weak to seek it" has turned out to be a saying for the ages. Lord Voldemort really does get all the best lines.

Bonewall UK is losing its power and that truly is a sight to behold. Schadenfreude on steroids.


It has taken me a whole month to finally post a little squiggle. Camp Nanowrimo starts tomorrow as does Plastic Free July so I may finally manage to get back in the habit of squiggling after several month's absence.

Also the New Financial Year starts tomorrow in Oz. Due to the lockdown, there has not been the usual ritual of Officeworks and assorted tech toy shops opening until midnight for stragglers grabbing some very last minute tax deductions.

( some serpent snippets )

I wanted to squiggle a proper catch up post but I have been too busy slinking around the cauldron doing devilish deeds

I'm so wishing that I could apparate to the Brocken which is one of the most magical places in Germany.
With the rapid rate of climate change, soon they will no longer need the witches to sweep the snow away on Walpurgisnacht.

In the meantime, a cute cartoon stolen from Ozfille.
I must admit it's a lot lot better than a milkshake

Yes. It would be interesting to imagine the scenario if the Inquisition met modern national security bureaucracy

Stolen from Ozfile

Oz politics is complicated. But chocolate making isn't. Especially when you just spend all day talking about that chocolate but never get around to making the damned stuff.

The Liar from the Shire - also known as the OZ prime minister - just keeps coming up with the same old fibs in brand new wrappers. The joke has long worn off now.

I bet he's glad for a bit of Royal distraction. It's an ill wind that blows no good.

So while Scomo did snatch victory from the jaws of defeat - well at least according to the pollsters back in May 2019, since then, the magic and the miracles have long worn off

Scomo has now squandered the huge advantage Australia had with keeping the Coronavirus under control. Not that he had anything to do with it. He like trump and Bojo was all for herd immunity and letting it rip because it's all about the Economy, stupid.
It was the states that dragged him kicking and screaming to follow health and science guidelines

The federal government dragged their feet on the vaccines thinking that they had all the time in the world. Never stopping to think that rolling out the vaccine faster means less need for large lockdowns when the odd community case occurs

Now that all the government Covid subsidies are over, each new lockdown is more likely to mean a death sentence for tourism and hospitality businesses
We have gotten away very lightly in the wild west but knowing that the government can pull a lockdown out of the hat with only a few hours notice leaves everyone just a bit on edge.

I think I can be pretty sure of one thing. With travel restrictions and 30,000 Australians still stranded overseas but trying to get home, it might be time to convert my Emirates open ticket to cold hard cash because I will not be going anywhere overseas any time soon.

The weather is slowly cooling down here in the Wild West of Oz so I may finally get back to the odd squiggle or two

Aside from the usual Dementor problem, it looks like some of them have flown over to Canberra to keep slimy Scomo company, it has also been a month of many distrsctions

February began with an unexpected 5 day lockdown but then it got back to business as usual. Both the Fringe World and the yuppie art festivals were on during the month.

So when I wasn't going to shows (to make up for that lost week) I was watching the drama over in Washington.
I caught snippets of the impeachment proceedings which was badly timed not to be on during the first week of February. But then I went for a YUUUUGE binge on the final stretch. I went to bed early on the evening of Saturday 13th February and set my alarm clock for 11pm, 2am, 3am and 4am (to wake me up just in case I fell asleep during the shit show)
The proceedings started at 11pm local time. Most of the time I wasn't actually watching the screen but just had the phone near the pillow and listened to the lawyers.

I did eventually fall asleep when the crazy Philadelphia cheese cracker was carrying on but woke up just in time for the final count. Of course the acquittal was a forgone conclusion but I was there for the theatre of it all.

I most definitely thought I was hallucinating when just after the vote, Mitch McTurtle delivered an astonishing rant about trump provoking but not inciting the riots followed by the big BUT... he did it but is no longer President so case dismissed. In spite of the fact that they started with a discussion and a vote about whether impeaching an ex president is constitutional. If the vote had failed, then the whole proceedings would have been terminated.
But more importantly, in spite of the fact that it was Mr Mitch himself who deliberately delayed proceedings so that trump would in fact no longer be president when the case got to the Senate

I thought I was hallucinating listening to him tearing strips off trump while having most definitely voted to acquit.
Probably the most blatant bit of gaslighting that I have ever witnessed


Lucky I could sleep in late on Sunday but still suspected that losing so much sleep would make me a zombie for most of the week.

But just when I thought that politics was about to get boring again, the shit hit the fan closer to home.

It's a long and sordid story. Disgusting and despicable actually. The simplest way to describe it is that the current Cabinet are a creepy bunch of Brett Kavanaughs. Quite literally.

Adding fire to the flames was the recent first anniversary of the murder of Hannah Clarke and her 3 children at the hands of her ex. A nasty control freak who stalked her to her parents' place where he set her and her children on fire in their car as she was about to do the morning school run

( A Cabinet of Creeps )

Today was the day I finally managed to visit the zoo after an absence of at least a year. The highlight of the day was feeding time in the sneke pit where the pretty little pythons were offered little mouse and rat snacks.
Personally, I would have preferred to see some of the squealing kids on the menu instead.

I guess no one's ever told him that the best way out of a hole is to stop digging

I wonder what is the cricket equivalent of a Monday morning quarterback?
Because the orange jerk will be at it forever unless they take his tweet stone away


Meanwhile, while on the subject of trash talking


Next week I'm giving a speech at the local Toastmasters club

The title is
"Taking out the Trash"

I intend to mention some of the memorable moments of the trump era

I'm looking for simple symbolic things
Like Puerto Rico paper towels and Hurricane Sharpie

The main thing is finding incidents that illustrate the true nature of his malevolent nihilistic narcissistic nature which do not require previous knowledge of politics at all

Here is one example

In April 2017 when assorted Easter events were taking place on the lawns of the White House, the trump went for a meet and greet with fans. One of these was a boy - maybe 8 years old. He was proudly wearing his red MAGA hat and then gave it to his hero to sign his name

Dodgy Don took the hat, got out his sharpie, signed the jagged scrawl that passes for his name and then THREW THE HAT INTO THE AIR!

The poor kid looked devastated. I am not sure if he ever got his hat back but just imagine, if that is how trump openly treats his most devoted and loyal supporters, what on earth would he do behind closed doors to his enemies?

I probably will not include this anecdote as it is definitely not well known. However it is a perfect example of his petty cruelty


Other ideas?

One more sleep to go before the real HELLoween party gets started

Of course, it's going to take a little longer in Oz to find out what the hell is happening. I suspect that unlike the last run of this particular shit show - it will not be decided by 3pm local Oz time on Wednesday.
Both Hillary Clinton and Al Gore learnt the hard way - it's a game of Chickenhawk. First to blink loses.

I guess the lawyers have been warning Biden not to concede under any circumstances. Because we just know that the Orange King has his own version of the Red Queen's "Off with their heads"
"Lock 'em up" and "See you in court!"

At least this time I will not be relying on a CNN television screen in McDonalds to get my fix. If I have learnt nothing else in the last 4 years, I have discovered C-Span and The Washington Post

I am still getting my annual subscription for USD 19. Most definitely bargain basement rates.

Just heard that the journalist Robert Fisk died on the weekend. He was one of my favorite journalists. He always called out cruelty and crap without regard for which big wigs he pissed off
Living the life he did visiting so many war hot spots over so many decades, it is a miracle that he managed to die of old age


Unlike so many journalists of recent years, no one could ever accuse Robert Fisk of being a court stenographer
It did help that he was working in the time before Murdoch took over everything and Google and Facebook nuked their rivers of gold advertising revenue
There are fewer and fewer journalists expected to do more and more in less time so it is little wonder that they rely so much on the spin doctors from Wall Street

Today began like any other day.


Being Friday - it’s weeds day when I volunteer with a native plant nursery and then spend the afternoon on a coffee crawl.
Today’s plans were going to be a little different due to the full moon
I love moon watching and had planned a little picnic on the south shore looking over to the city. I had some bread, cheese, dips and things and the only item missing was the bottle of wine
But it had been raining in the morning so there was still a question of the weather clearing up in time to even see the big fat yellow critter

While pottering around in the nursery I was listening to podcasts as usual. I make a list of them specially for Fridays. First cab off the rank was the 4th episode of “America. If you’re listening” Normally I grab this one when it comes out on Mondays but figured that since it was about the special relationship with Saudi Arabia, today would be the most appropriate day to listen
I thought the murder of Khashoggi was bad enough and was only too familiar with the appalling excuses offered by the White House after the event. I also knew that Mohammed Bone Saw had creepy Kushner in his pocket. But the time line of how trump turned from endless bitching about KSA to being best friends for ever was truly nauseating

Then I had lined up a couple episodes of Gaslit Nation - the commentary on this week’s shit show along with “Donald Trump is a Ponzi Scheme”
But ten minutes in, the broadcast kept stopping and after restarting it every few minutes, I finally got pissed off and gave up listening. It was just too frustrating.

So that was when I paid more attention to the radio that was on in the background. Around 12.30 or so on a commercial music radio station aimed at 30 somethings ( I think) I caught some mention of the White House and Coronavirus. My ears pricked up and I asked some of the other people if they heard what was said. No luck there
So I made a point of paying special attention at 1pm for the official news bulletin

( The Audacity of Hope )

Proud Boys, if you're listening




Last week I rearranged my work schedule for the afternoon so that I could watch the first Presidential Debate live. I screwed up a bit in that I had the starting time as 9pm Eastern Time (USA) and this bit of Oz is 13 hours ahead or is it behind?
But then I heard talk of an 8pm start and then it was 9pm. I wish those buggers would make up their minds
I should have been my usual cautious self and turned on the show at 8.30 local time. Just in case
Instead I went for 9.30 and turns out I had missed the beginning. Not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things because I can watch endless reruns online

Still, it was a different kettle of fish from 2016 when I had not yet discovered C Span or The Washington Post and was listening on the ABC News radio channel
Radio is so very different. While it makes it much easier to concentrate on the content, it meant missing out on all that creepy chair humping and Hillary stalking

( Unpresidented )

I wonder if the USPS will deliver Donnie's invitation to his brother's funeral.


For several weeks now, I have been busy battling with hordes of pesky Dementors. All that time that I would usually spend squiggling I have been snoozing instead. SAD

Some of it has to do with the abandonment of the grand plans to visit Amsterdam next month and also an assortment of miserable memories from August 2018 and 2012. I thought I was long long over all the nasty drama of Toad Hall but all the stuff that is happening in Melbourne concerning the nursing homes has dragged it all up again.
Bad things happen to folks who try to get between a (Macquarie) Goblin and its Gold
And those folks are absolute angels compared to their cronies at Deutsche Bank

( Creepy Creatures and wicked weeds )