geographies: Cocklebiddy

 

ménage à trois

 

wednesday newstrip

Public libraries in Tennessee have begun to shut down as they carry out an order from state officials to remove children’s books containing LGBTQ+ themes or characters · T.®ump’s golf trips have cost taxpayers $71m since January & could eventually top staggering $300m across his full term, report says · climate activists stop three ships from entering world’s largest coal port in Newcastle, Australia · Israeli PM BeenJammin' Notjustanyahoo formally asks to be pardoned from corruption charges · Sydney police charge four men over alleged ‘international satanic child sex abuse material ring’ · death toll in Hong Kong blaze rises to 146 after more bodies found · a two-tiered cake & a groom-bride playlist for Australian Prime Minister's wedding.

[untitled]

Sound travels at. So the
        plane is almost
level with you before
the engines are heard.
        What else travels
like that? Only death.

A line from Herman Melville (2)

Metathesiophobia, the fear of change,
is a common experience. Many people
suffer from it; stops them from moving
to a new city, buying a different make

of car, replacing their love of jazz with
a sudden passion for country music, or 
chasing after leviathans other than white 
whales. & once they resist moving their

center of action, then comes a slightly new
fear — of being confronted by a wide-eyed
porpoise raising its head from the water &
mockingly asking "afraid of doing things?"

Directions

I am using an astrolabe to
try to find out where I am.
There's no doubt it, by itself, is
unlikely to be of help, but it's 
a great conversation starter. 
People ask what it is, & I can 
say to them: "It's a key to the 
cosmos." Or: "Just a little some-

thing I found in a Marrakech 
antique shop." We'll chat for a 
while, then I add: "This is great 
as a star map, but down here . . . 
I'm looking to get to XYZ." & they
happily offer to take me there.

±

It is as if I am walking underwater, or, rather, not walking, since the tide I am pushing against is not strong enough to drive me back but too strong to allow me to progress. My lungs ache, my head beats, my heart does nothing — the other two appurtenances have subsumed its activities. I am swathed in water. They are lining up terracotta poems in channels on both sides of me.

geographies: Broome

 

wednesday newstrip

New Zealanders are leaving the country in record numbers, mainly to Australia, but the country still recorded a net migration gain in the 12 months to September 2025 · T.®ump calls Marjorie Taylor Greene resignation 'great news for the country' · Ukraine faces losing dignity or key partner under US plan, Zelensky says · U.S. senators say Marco Rubio told them Trump's Ukraine peace plan is Russia's 'wish list' · US drug dealer branded a killer by AI sues Google · at least 38 million tonnes of rubbish is disposed of illegally in England every year according to a UK parliamentary committee investigating "waste crime" · Virgin & Qantas to ban use of portable power banks after string of fires · a haunting 1940 self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold Thursday for USD $54.7 million & became the top-selling work by any female artist at an auction · a Gustav Klimt portrait has sold for $236.4m, a record for a modern art piece.

recently at Series Magritte

Dialogue Revealed by the Wind



A wind, a cold wind has come
  Arthur Miller: The Crucible
"Nakedness has a way of showing
itself," she said. "If not the wind, then
some other act of nature. Though is it
natural that we should be standing
here, headless, legless, words that
usually describe some condition of
drunkeness? & is standing the right
word to use when we have nothing
left to really let us stand?" The other
two might have nodded in agree-
ment, had they not been beheaded 
& now had nothing left to nod with.

vanity fair

 

geographies: Hawker

 

wednesday newstrip

AC/DC concert in Melbourne registered on earthquake detection equipment as the rock icons played their first concert in Australia in a decade · private emails written by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein claim US President DoNuts T.®ump knew about "the girls" & "spent hours" with a victim at his house · Sydney 'fortune-teller' allegedly ran $70m fraud by telling clients she saw a billionaire in their future · ratepayers in two regional councils will foot a $2 million bill to dispose of thousands of tonnes of contaminated organic waste in Western Australia's South West region · 'chaos situation' as potential asbestos exposure in colored sand closes Canberra schools · DNA proves Adolf Hitler may have had micropenis, one testicle · a free concert in Melbourne CBD by Amyl and the Sniffers, who are currently touring as the opening act on AC/DC's world tour. was canceled after overcrowding & safety concerns.

wednesday newstrip

Mexico’s president presses charges after street groping incident · feral pigs devour 99 out of every 100 lambs on a Central West NSW farm · lawmakers outraged that president is gilding White House as Snap food stamps in jeopardy amid longest US shutdown. Pity it wasn't the President who was gelded · a UPS cargo plane's left wing caught fire & its engine fell off moments before the aircraft crashed & exploded after take-off in Louisville, Kentucky · Typhoon Kalmaegi leaves 114 dead & 127 missing in Philippines · a bill that will allow the government to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation has passed the Australian parliament · Microsoft has began contacting more than 2.7 million Microsoft 365 Personal & Family subscribers in Australia to apologize & offer refunds after tech giant failed to communicate all subscription options & that subscribers could opt out of the AI option · American music star Jelly Roll accuses Sydney’s Louis Vuitton store of treating him 'like a criminal.'

Now out from Sandy Press

Just released from Sandy Press.

Mark Young
From the Cave's jukebox [Some more Tom Beckett Titles]
Sandy Press
ISBN: 979-8-9924582-6-8
Prices: $US 10.00 (paperback); $US6.00 (Kindle)
URL: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FZ2486MH

Rediscovered during Mark Young's trawling through past posts & pages while putting together an introduction to his 2024 compilation, 100 Titles From Tom Beckett, was another list of Beckett titles, this time a blog post containing sixteen titles that were later augmented by a further twelve to become a 'fragment' in his 2015 APPEARANCES; A NOVEL IN FRAGMENTS. Tom described them as "… titles of imaginary songs that appear on an imaginary jukebox in an imaginary bar called the Cave, a very special club house for the legendary performance art group Vaudeville without Organs."

A comment from Young on the blog post indicates that he had seen them; but, unlike earlier instances from 2003 onwards, had not acted on them. That just might have turned out to be a good thing; because instead of sixteen titles being dispersed amongst various collections, it is now possible to present all the poems derived from those songs on that imaginary jukebox in a single volume, From the Cave’s jukebox.

wednesday newstrip

Wealthy homeowners in the US are paying big bucks to install wasp nests as decor, according to the New York Times · T.®ump first warns Putain 'we have a nuclear submarine off your shore' after Russian cruise missile test, then makes 'immediate' nuclear weapons testing order two days later · Earth has reached its hottest temperature of the past 125,000 years, & its "vital signs" are being pushed to the brink, the 2025 State of the Climate Report has warned · Elongated Muskrat wants a trillion dollars or he'll leave Tesla · Australian Opposition Leader has defended her criticism of the prime minister, claiming a Joy Division T-shirt he wore when arriving back in Australia has antisemitic connotations · Dictionary.com reveals 6-7 as Word of the Year, capturing the chaos of 2025 internet culture · attracted to 'shiny' objects, children in Gaza mistake unexploded bombs for toys.

wednesday newstrip

Man challenges arrest for mocking DC troops with Darth Vader's theme song · T.®ump terminates trade talks with Canada claiming it ‘fraudulently’ used ad featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs · MAGA lawmaker's lawsuit targeting Gavin Newsom hit with rejection by T.®ump's own appointee · billionaire Peter Thiel claims Greta Thunberg could be the Antichrist · popular podcasters are calling out T.®ump — will young men follow suit? · 80 per cent of Halloween toys in Australia fail safety tests, prompting warning to parents · satellite images show White House's East Wing has been demolished for Donald Trump's ballroom · AI models may be developing their own 'survival drive', researchers say.

My latest pdf

B A L A N C E
_____________
▲

is now available for downloading as the latest entry/output in/from Pat Nolan's marvelous Neo-Mimeo Editions. The URL is https://nuallainhousepublishers.com/2025/10/19/b-a-l-a-n-c-e/.

The full catalog, which is updated roughly once a week, can be found here.

the Woden's day sT.®umpet

Taco T.®ump cools on 'incredible' weapons for Zelensky in wake of Putain call · T.®ump commutes former Republican Congressman George Santos's federal fraud jail sentence · 'Arc de Trump': T.®ump unveils plans for new Washington, D.C. monument · T.®ump called for Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, to pardon Prime Minister Been Jammin' Notjustanyahoo, who has faced a years-long corruption case · T.®ump threatens to 'go in & kill' Hamas if killings in Gaza don't stop · T.®ump 'furious' over controversial Time magazine cover photo that’s sparked huge debate online · T.®ump insists 'I’m no King' with his fingers crossed behind his back as thousands of ‘No Kings’ protests set to take place across the country.

wednesday newstrip

'What a disgrace': T.®ump roasted for getting COVID jab while admin fans anti-vax flames · Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democratic rights in the country · ahead of the announcement, experts on the award had said DoNuts T.®ump would not win it as he is dismantling the international world order the Nobel committee cherishes · the Pope has condemned clickbait as a "degrading" part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires · Neil Young has announced he is pulling his music from Amazon while condemning Jeff Bezos’ support of DoNuts T.®ump · Republican candidate for Virginia Governor says banning same-sex marriage isn’t discrimination · T.®ump announces AstraZeneca will offer discount drugs on ‘TrumpRx’ website · UNICEF recently estimated that, since the war began two years ago, on average 28 children a day have been killed in Gaza. That's the equivalent of a classroom of children a day killed · Israel carried out intense airstrikes on southern Lebanon early Saturday, killing one person, wounding seven & briefly cutting a highway that links Beirut with parts of south Lebanon, the Health Ministry said.

recently, at Series Magritte

La Clef de Songes






We dance. Either by
moon- or candlelight.

We dance, The snow be-
gins to fall. I put on my

bowler hat, you make sure
your shoes are on tight.

We dance, on the ceiling,
treat the snow as if it were

the sands of the desert &
we under acacia trees.

We dance until a thunder-
storm comes hammering

along. I eat an egg. You
drink a glass of water.

We dream.

wednesday newstrip

Endangered numbats stressed by over-eager nature photographers, authorities say · Australian investors asked: cash out, or hold gold, after fund hits 50% returns · one of two victims in Manchester synagogue attack may have been killed by a bullet fired by police · a senior T.®ump administration official has declared that suspected drug traffickers & their "deadly drugs have been turned into stardust" following the latest US military strike off Venezuela’s coast · responding to this latest lethal bombing, Amnesty International USA declared: "this is murder. The US government must be held accountable" · the proprietors of a popular Wellington cafe say they are devastated after being told their landlord, Sir Peter Jackson, has decided to close the business · Hamas agrees to some of T.®ump's plan but seeks negotiations · Pete Hogsbreath fires US Navy Chief of Staff.

wednesday newstrip

If you haven't heard of the Armenian-Cambodian conflict, that's okay, because neither has anyone else — other than President DoNuts T.®ump, who claims to have ended the supposedly brewing clash between two countries 4150 miles apart · White House replaces Biden portrait with photo of an autopen · University of South Dakota professor can’t be fired for calling Charlie Kirk a 'Nazi,' judge rules · the Secret Service is investigating what DoNuts T.®ump branded "triple sabotage" of his United Nations appearance after an escalator stopped working while he was on it, his teleprompter didn't work, & Melania said she couldn't hear his speech due to technical difficulties · first new Qantas Airbus jets come with one toilet for every 90 economy passengers · T.®ump said Jimmy Kimmel had 'no ratings.' A record number of viewers disagreed.

wednesday newstrip

T.®ump's own words: about 300 million Americans died from drug overdose deaths just last year. Population of the Untied States last year: 340.1 million. Estimated 2025 population: 347 million · Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, says UN commission of inquiry · a doctor in the UK who left a patient midway through an operation to have sex with a nurse is at "very low risk" of repeating his serious misconduct, a medical tribunal has ruled · the First Lady of France will have to prove she was born a woman in a U.S. court · Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he will meet DoNuts T.®ump this week as Russia intensifies attacks · 'it’s slowly killing him:' Australian father-of-three battles extremely rare cadmium poisoning · US senator Ted Cruising for a Bruising, the Republican who leads oversight of the Federal Communications Commission, joined Democrats in criticizing FCC chair Brendan Carr’s recent threats against Disney & local broadcasters for airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! · T.®ump unveils $1,000,000 gold card for US residency.

wednesday newstrip

Groypers, Helldivers 2, Furries: what do the messages left by Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer actually mean? If the shell casings can be said to show an ideology of any kind, it is an ideology of “being terminally online” · conflict on Australian university campuses between staff & management as thousands are sacked & courses cut · DoNuts T.®ump says he is ready to impose sanctions on Russia — but only if NATO members agree do the same — as well as set massive tariffs on Russia's main ally, China · 'Celebrating murder': far-right protest in London turns violent as Elongated Muskrat blames the left for Charlie Kirk’s death · Australian Government makes $12bn downpayment on WA shipyard to help prepare it for Aukus nuclear submarine era · 'I waited years for a married man to leave his wife until I heard the famous three words' · Turning Point USA announces massive public memorial service for Charlie Kirk at Arizona football stadium. Seems like MAGA has decided it's found its first martyred saint.

wednesday newstrip

Anti-immigration protesters say Australia’s migration is at record highs — but the figures tell a different story · Jan. 6 rioters make demand for cash compensation after being emboldened by T.®ump pardons · leading world scholars claim Israel is committing genocide in Gaza · protesters keep getting arrested & released over rainbow chalk art at the Pulse shooting memorial crosswalk · Xi, Modi, & Putin meet in Beijing ahead of massive military parade in China. Kim Jong Un arrives to join them a day later in his bullet-proof train · a 'threat to lives & health:' nine ex-CDC heads gang up on RFK Jr. with a brutal op-ed in the New York Times · Epstein accusers urge T.®ump to release all case files after document dump reveals tens of thousands of pages already made public · Google confirms Gmail data breach warning is fake news · T.®ump has signed an executive order renaming the Defense Department, the Department of War.

wednesday newstrip

Federal appeals court rules that most of T.®ump's tariffs are illegal · RFK Jr. complains kids can't 'bring their guns' to school amid 'over-medicated nation' · 'Privacy Act violation?' T.®ump 'lapdog' Tinselly Gabbag ripped for exposing undercover agent · DOJ official tells right-wing host that gender-affirming care 'led to' mass shooting · T.®ump has canceled Kamala Harris's Secret Service protection, White House confirms · 'traumatic' wave of active-shooter hoaxes on campuses linked to right-wing extremist group · two firefighters battling Washington state’s biggest wildfire arrested by Border Patrol agents · Stephen Miller calls RFK Jr. a 'crown jewel' of T.®ump administration · two dead in Louisiana from flesh-eating bacteria after eating raw oysters.

wednesday newstrip

Five journalists among 20 dead in Israeli strike on Gaza hospital · UK police arrest protester over a ‘Plasticine Action’ T-shirt · there is concern immigrants in Australia could become "targets" of discrimination & hate over the weekend with nationwide rallies planned calling for an end to "mass immigration" · Australia Post has taken the extraordinary step of immediately suspending many forms of postage to the United States, as a T.®ump administration tariff on low-value parcels is due to come into effect within days · YouTube confirms AI alterations to Shorts, raising concerns among creators · judge unseals bombshell 'smear campaign' texts & emails in Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni case · 11-year-old New South Wales student crowned Little Miss Universe after pageant in Manila. She has been competing in beauty pageants since she was six · Texas Attorney General on Monday said that the vast majority of schools in the Lone Star State should still plan on displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms even after a federal judge ruled against it last week.

Another out-of-nowhere space filler

while I work on other things.

Seventy-six Trump boners
led the rigged charade.

How / wrong can / one man be?

 

wednesday newstrip

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Beach suggested the "deep state" was to blame after a man was caught on video throwing a Subway sandwich at a federal officer · Australia's meth, cocaine, MDMA, & heroin consumption up by 34 per cent · Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich vows to resume illegal E1 development in occupied West Bank which would split the West Bank in two · T.®ump cold-called Norwegian minister to ask about Nobel Peace Prize · pro-MAGA host Gina Loudon accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being "just as evil" as Russian President Vladimir Putain because he did not wear a suit during a visit to the White House earlier this year · Chris Hemsworth's fitness app lays off staff, closes Australian office in shift to US · JD Vance sparked outrage when his huge security convoy took up all of the disabled parking spaces at a posh Cotswolds farm shop.

wednesday newstrip

'Great friends' Australia, NZ vow closer defense ties · a 46-year-old decided to run bare-chested in the annual Sydney City2Surf, displaying the scars of her double mastectomy to break the stigma around choosing not to get breast reconstruction & to live without breasts · T.®ump secretly authorizes military action against Latin American cartels, NYT reports · Deputy Australian Prime Minister Marles insists Australia 'not supplying weapons to Israel' but critics argue 'parts of weapons are weapons' · tens of thousands protest in Israel over plan to escalate war on Gaza · London police arrest 466 people as pro-Palestinian protesters defy new law · DoNuts T.®ump has ordered the official White House portrait of former President Barack Obama to be relocated once again — this time to a "hidden" staircase out of view of visitors.

recently, at Series Magritte

L'éternité (2)

Dante, Christ, &
a wheel of butter
in the middle. I
doubt that any of
these would keep
me happy for
eternity, not unless
there was something 
else to go with them.

Though I must admit
I sense something 
miraculous in the
line-up. Given that
the two busts are
somewhat crusty
with age, how does
the butter manage
to stay so fresh?

wednesday newstrip

The Lamborghini Temerario revs to 10,000 and loves to slide · "this proves we’ve been lied to:" alien-like world discovered beneath Antarctica fuels explosive rift between scientists & truth-seekers · Koenigsegg Jesko attack drags supercharged Hayabusa, bike pops 140-mph wheelie for the win · radioactive wasp nest found at site where US once made nuclear bombs · an outraged Aussie has lashed out at the expensive prices at op shops, with many claiming they have ditched the charity stores for good & gone to Kmart or Target · Australia will recognize a Palestinian state, it is only a matter of when & how · New York mass shooter was targeting NFL offices — but took the wrong elevator · a world class website documenting New Zealand's history could be allowed to wither & die with cuts confirmed at the Ministry for Culture & Heritage.

from the archives

I am feeling my age, I am feeling / of an age. Watched I am curious – Yellow on public tv last night, Zabriskie Point on cable this morning. Saw them both on their first release, a couple of years apart, thirty five years ago. I am curious – Yellow in an "art cinema," Zabriskie Point, thanks to the success of Antonioni’s earlier Blowup, in general release.

Both polemics. Both so dated now. Strange fashion statements. Suits & talkfests in one, afros & action in the other. Yellow seems so stilted, redeemed only by the interview with Olof Palme (later assassinated), the brief clip of the always emotion-provoking Martin Luther King Jr. (also assassinated later) & a snippet of Yevtushenko reading "Babi Yar." Zabriskie Point is corny, saved only by its eclectic score & the beauty of Death Valley.

& yet both are illustrations of how we, at the time, thought we could change the world. That we didn’t succeed is painfully obvious as you read the papers, watch the news. Sometimes I think we didn’t go far enough, became content with having pushed the boundaries a little to provide a comfort zone. Pliable enough for a while, but now growing brittle, & under more threat than ever before.

11/29/2004

What part

of
     NO
don’t you
under-
stand? 

N?

No,
O.

fandangle

that’s
when he
ended up





     dancing
     with the
     gypsy girl.

wednesday newstrip

Breaks forbidden, food instead of pay: one-third of young Australian workers exploited by employers, study shows · Sesame Street’s Elmo X account overrun with offensive messages, hacker claims West Australian connection · DoNuts T.®ump says he has Club World Cup trophy & Chelsea was awarded replica · utilities urge people not to tip fats, oils or grease down drains — Sydney Water is making clear that includes milk · Queensland cotton farmer John Norman has been sentenced to 9.5 years in prison, with a three-year non-parole period, for his role in an $8.7 million water fraud · 'an insult:' Malaysians slam nomination of 'alpha-male' Nick Adams as US ambassador · the big, beautiful, orange one looks to be in solid shape. & we ain’t talking about the blow-hard in the White House. Bitcoin smashes to new high.

wednesday newstrip

According to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research, just 7 per cent of reported cases of sexual assault in the state in 2018, the most recent data set available, resulted in a conviction. Just 15 per cent of reported cases to police resulted in a criminal charge, meaning the vast majority of reports resulted in no charges · in deadly Texas floods, one town, Comfort, had what some didn't: a wailing warning siren. No one died in Comfort · Australian government & NotJustAnyahoo incite hysteria over murky "antisemitic" incident · Matt Cameron departs Pearl Jam after 27 years as drummer · US lobby groups urge tariff retaliation against Australia’s 'socialized medicine' · Russian courts issue 101 convictions of LGBTQ+ extremism · after eight weeks of trial & a week of deliberation, a supreme court jury found Victorian woman Erin Patterson guilty of three counts of murder & one of attempted murder after three guests died & one almost died after eating her homemade beef wellington lunch containing death cap mushrooms · 'brought terror to the community': Federal agents stormed MacArthur Park while kids were playing. Jimmy Webb was not amused.

wednesday fake newstrip

U.S. President DoNuts T.®ump said he would bomb Norway if he is not awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize · former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said, "If we elect T.®ump, we will be at war within six months" · at least twice in June, the president has wrongly claimed that the U.S. "brought in $88 billion" from tariffs in "two months" when the correct figure was closer to $40 billion · former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama has received a monthly payment of $122,000 from the General Services Administration since 2009 · mysterious sinkholes appeared in Lake Superior in June 2025 · authorities in Dayton, Ohio, fined & put on house arrest a 17-year-old high school student named Kameron Price for hacking into the city's traffic control system to make the stoplights sync up · Niagara Falls turned blood red for 10 minutes on the morning of June 22, 2025, the same day that the U.S. dropped "buster bombs" on Iran nuclear facilities · Dolly Parton announced her refusal to celebrate Pride Month.

the unrewarded followers

 

wednesday newstrip

NATO chief calls T.®ump 'daddy' · Sean 'Diddy' Combs' attorneys end their defense case after only 20 minutes · RFK Jr.'s vaccine panel to review long-approved jabs for children · T.®ump says Iranian nuclear capabilites 'obliterated' despite comments to the contrary from UN watchdog · former Austalian P.M. ToeKnee AssBit tells rightwing Advance supporters that bequeathing money to group will 'protect' Australian values · Mississippi man who spent nearly 50 years on death row executed · Zohran Mamdani declares historic victory in New York City mayoral primary after Cuomo concedes · wealth of top 1% surges by over $52.4tn in the past 10 years – enough to end poverty 22 times over, Oxfam finds · 'Witch-hunt': T.®ump calls for cancellation of Notjustanyahoo’s corruption trial · Wagyu embryos, semen, & cattle recovered after alleged fraud in NSW · Venice protesters (& their inflatable crocodiles) claim victory as Jeff Bezos changes wedding venue.

After listening to the head of NATO fawning over Trump hay(na)ku

It's
time to
move to Mars.

wednesday newstrip

Pakistan to nominate DoNuts T.®ump for Nobel peace prize · the US has struck three Iranian nuclear facilities, joining Israel's air campaign · tech tycoon’s superyacht Bayesian hauled up from the seabed after last year's tragedy which is still puzzling experts · former Israeli negotiator says Beenjammin' Notjustanyahoo is leading DoNuts T.®ump 'by the nose' · Australian man left with $130,000 hospital bill after suffering stroke in Japan · at least eight people have been killed when a hot-air balloon carrying 21 passengers caught fire & plummeted to the ground in southern Brazil · Australian Health authority hands down lifetime ban for testosterone salesman whose conduct operating three online testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) clinics had "posed a risk to public safety" · chaos, violence, & war become the norm as the US empire collapses. The US is now the main agent of global chaos. How should Australia’s policymakers respond?

Middle East hay(na)ku

Remember
those "weapons
of mass destruction?"

wednesday newstrip

Bromance over: Muskrat accuses T.®ump of being in Epstein files. Tesla loses $152 billion in market cap · the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a public health alert for a widely sold ground beef product due to possible contamination with E. coli · on June 5, at a Deutsche Bank conference in Paris, Procter & Gamble Chief Financial Officer Andre Schulten announced that it will be laying off up to 7000 employees within the next two years · 'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart railed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt over her emblematic cross, which Stewart said "The more she lies, the bigger her cross gets. … It’s like some sort weird Pinocchio cross." The next day, the cross was gone · the US Supreme Court unanimously blocked a lawsuit filed by Mexico against American gun manufacturers · CNN doubles down that Israel did open fire at aid site despite denial of previous claims · 30 Hooters restaurants abruptly closed amid bankruptcy struggle.

wednesday newstrip

Did RFK Jr.’s crew use AI to write error-filled MAHA — Make America Healthy Again — report? · Police have recovered 365 pieces of stolen pounamu after intercepting a vehicle on the Jackson River in South Westland on Wednesday, following a tip-off from the public. Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio chairman Paul Madgwick thanked police, saying the theft of greenstone had been an ongoing issue in remote areas · Pete Hogsbreath calls on Asia to boost military spending in face of 'imminent' threat from China · Australia’s trade minister says T.®ump plan to double steel & aluminium tariffs to 50% 'not the act of a friend' · people hit by cars, run over, 7 cops hurt at 'incredibly reckless' street racer meet attended by 1000 people in Levin, New Zealand on the anniversary of an illegal gathering that turned violent a year ago & there had been rumors a crowd would return · Elongated Muskrat's farewell at the White House has been overshadowed by a black eye, problems at Tesla, & allegations of drug use · New Zealand Cabinet minister Chris Bishop says he should have kept his comments to himself after saying "what a load of crap" during a performance at Thursday night's Aotearoa Music Awards in Auckland.

wednesday newstrip

Disney dumps Venezuelan cast members as the 'House of Mouse' aligns with T.®ump · Australian OnlyFans star Annie Knight hospitalized after sleeping with 583 men in six hours · T.®ump falsely claims Australia being 'inundated' by white South Africans fleeing 'genocide' · court to decide if Tasmanian supermarket discriminated by not allowing alpaca service animal into store · played by Vladimir Putain, a 'weary' DoNuts T.®ump could walk away from Ukraine · Nine Perfect Strangers season two review – not even Nicole Kidman’s new wig makes this worth watching · pro-doping Enhanced Games to debut in Las Vegas with T.®ump Jr. backing · Kim Jong-un furious as North Korea warship partly 'crushed' in launch gone wrong.

Gut Plastic

plastic from a shearwater's stomach
photo: Neal Haddaway. Australian Broadcasting Corporation

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-15/birds-crunch-full-plastic-losing-war-waste/105221266

wednesday newstrip

Cannes bans red carpet nudity over celebrity craze for ‘the naked dress’ · stars frock up for exclusive party at Justin Hemmes’ Sydney harborside mansion with host's pregnant partner Madeline Holtznagel showing off her growing baby bump in a daring sheer dress complete with a thigh-high split · Charli XCX's hooded black naked dress totally frees the nip at the 2025 BRIT Awards · in a world of naked dresses, did Bianca Censori & Kanye West's 2025 Grammys stunt take it too far? · on Oscar's night, more celebrities tried the nearly naked look · Zoë Kravitz bares her butt cheeks in NSFW dress at Vanity Fair party · fashionistas bare all in 'cheeky' new trend: 'cracks as accessories' · there was no shortage of naked & barely-there dresses at the 2025 Met Gala · models bare butt cracks at Milan Fashion Week & style gurus are outraged: 'I do not want to live in that world.'

wednesday newstrip

Children may have been doused in petrol by their mother before triple fatal house fire in Toowoomba, Queensland · Denmark summons US diplomat over reports of increased intelligence gathering in Greenland · grandmother charged after two young grandsons found 'suffocated to death' in Coonabarabran, NSW · DoNuts T.®ump sparked widespread outrage Thursday by abruptly firing Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden with a two-sentence email sent by the White House's deputy director of presidential personnel. "The current #LibrarianOfCongress Carla Hayden is woke, anti-Trump, and promotes trans-ing kids," the conservative advocacy group, the American Accountability Foundation, said on its X account earlier on Thursday, just hours before the firing was made public. · police have seized what they say is more than half a billion dollars' worth of cocaine on a boat off the New South Wales Mid North Coast. Officers allege they found more than 1,000 bricks of cocaine, weighing just over a tonne in total · Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as brutal aid blockade threatens mass starvation reports the United Nations; The United States defended Israel on Wednesday at the International Court of Justice.

wednesday newstrip

A young Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer, who has yet to obtain his undergraduate degree, has been tasked with using artificial intelligence to rewrite the entire Department of Housing & Urban Development’s rules & regulations · Marjorie Taylor Greene claims Catholic Bishops are 'controlled by Satan' during social media meltdown · a video clip shows former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, just two days before being fired, being left standing on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews as DoNuts T.®ump left for an event in Michigan · T.®ump has signed an executive order to open both US & international waters to deep-sea mining, ignoring a global treaty that controls the high seas · Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has reprised his misleading claims about vaccines, including that the measles jab contains cells from aborted foetuses, at the same time that the country is battling one of its worst outbreaks of the infection in 25 years.

wednesday newstrip

A man is expected to be charged for offensive behaviour after a group including an alleged neo-Nazi booed & heckled a welcome to country at Melbourne’s main Anzac Day dawn ceremony · a Sydney radio station has been using an AI-generated host for about six months without disclosing it — & was not legally obliged to · the Western Australian premier, Roger Cook, has condemned a heckler who interrupted an Anzac Day service in Perth this morning. The person disrupted a welcome to country at the Kings Park dawn service, shouting obscenities · possum comes off second best as snake enjoys long weekend lunch · water in a central Auckland fountain was dyed red early this morning in what appeared to be a protest coinciding with Anzac Day · a group of Australian Ford car salesmen had timed vehicle races & did "donuts" on a pristine Otago, N.Z. beach, believing they were allowed to · two struck by lightning as storms disrupt Brisbane Anzac Day ceremony.

wenesday newstrip

T.®ump administration is working to end habitat protections for endangered animals, environmental groups say · a whistleblower accuses Elongated Muskrat & DOGE of being at the origin of a major security breach · Israel's investigation into Hamas' Nova festival massacre leaves families of victims with more questions than answers · Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) says T.®ump administration paid El Salvador $15 million to detain prisoners · 'he's a fake': T.®ump hits back at US Senator Van Hollen for visit with Abrego Garcia · speaking to reporters at Dulles airport in Washington on Friday afternoon, the senator Chris Van Hollen just accused the government of El Salvador of creating the hoax he called “Margarita-gate”, by placing a pair of cocktail glasses on the table between himself & Kilmar Ábrego García as they met the night before, to make it look as though they were enjoying drinks · US will abandon Russia-Ukraine peace efforts if no progress soon, T.®ump & Rubberio say · Elongated Muskrat’s unofficial “department of government efficiency” & the T.®ump administration have spared the jobs of US Department of Transportation employees who provide support services for spacecraft launches by Musk’s companies, SpaceX & Starlink – a revelation that raises a new round of conflict-of-interest questions around Doge · thousands of records on the assassination of Robert F Kennedy released · https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/.

wednesday newstrip

'The penguins won': critics roast T.®ump over latest trade-war reversal · Pam Bondi Beach demands Supreme Court 'swiftly constrain' judges’ power to overrule T.®ump admin · homeless residents living in Moreton Bay park in Brisbane have tents, belongings bulldozed & dumped by council rangers · Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 155 Chinese nationals fighting with Russia in Ukraine · 'Breaks promises': T.®ump Education pick accused of 'overextending' her federal authority · Florida teacher is fired after calling student by their preferred name · Trans pilot launches lawsuit against right-wing influencer over false claim regarding DC plane crash · US Naval Academy library yanks Maya Angelou's memoir — & keeps Mein Kampf.

wednesday newstrip

‘Nowhere on Earth is safe’: T.®ump imposes tariffs on uninhabited — apart from penguins —islands near Antarctica · DoNuts T.®ump's big denial as markets continue to bleed: 'Oil Prices Are Down, There Is NO INFLATION' · T.®ump has Australia’s generic medicines in his sights. & no-one’s talking about it · US admiral at NATO fired as part of what appears to be an expanding national security purge of top officials by the T.®ump administration · Interior Secretary Dog Bumrug & his senior staff have reportedly used his position leading the agency to make a series of bizarre demands on his aides to use the agency’s industrial ovens to cook him chocolate chip cookies, instructed political appointees to work as servers for a multi-course meal, & ordered a U.S. Park Police helicopter for personal transport · Democrats in Congress demanded answers from the Pentagon on reported book bans at the service’s elite academies, a new policy that is meant to remove “woke” ideology from the elite colleges.

wednesday newstrip

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO, was sent questions from T.®ump administration asking if it is taking ‘appropriate measures’ against gender ideology · Interior Secretary Dog Bumrug told Fox News host that he "certainly" believes there’s room on Mount Rushmore for President T.®ump’s face, in an interview that aired on Saturday · despite being prohibited by the Constitution under the 22nd Amendment from standing for election again, President T.®ump did not rule out the possibility of seeking a third term in the White House during an interview with NBC News · quake disaster has exposed a T.®ump-sized void on the world stage. China is stepping in · a Paris court has convicted French far-right leader Marine Le Pen of embezzling money from the European parliament · Iran has reacted with outrage after DoNuts T.®ump said the country will be bombed if it does not accept US demands to constrain its nuclear program.

wednesday newstrip

One of Elongated Muskrat’s own AI chatbots has identified him as being one of the largest spreaders of misinformation on X · T.®ump orders the "most lethal machine ever built," the Boeing F-47 fighter jet · the Australian Opposition Coalition's top economic spokesperson is unable to confirm the size of the opposition's planned public service & migration cuts, the taxpayer cost of building nuclear power plants, or how it would limit government spending · as trust in the US collapses, leaders in Australia & around the world are frantically recalibrating · Israel orders troops to 'seize more territory' in Gaza & threatens to annex land · Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky, one of the world’s fastest growing social media platforms, made a bold & widely applauded statement when she took to the stage at SXSW wearing a simple, black T-shirt with the phrase: "Mundus sine caesaribus," Latin for "a world without Caesars," clearly a dig at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who wore a shirt of the same color & typeface while delivering his keynote at the Meta Connect conference last September – only his shirt said: "aut Zuck aut nihil," a play on the ancient Latin phrase, "aut Caesar aut nihil" which translates to "either Caesar or nothing" · "Courageous, angry, passionate: "rallies around Australia honor the memory of women killed by male violence & demand urgent action.

wednesday newstrip aka bring on the T.®umpenproletariat

Following T.®ump's mass pardon of Jan. 6 insurrectionists, there is a new team in the White House whose job it is to "focus on clemency grants that underscore the president’s own grievances about what he sees as the political weaponization of the justice system" · T.®ump's CDC plans major study relitigating vaccination-autism conspiracy theory: report · possibility of T.®ump nominating a Fox host for Supreme Court is 'not a lunatic thought' · T.®ump signed a day-one executive order titled, "Restoring Freedom of Speech & Ending Federal Censorship," that stated, "Government censorship of speech is intolerable in a free society." Now a purge of so-called woke initiatives revealed by the N.Y. Times includes a list of banned words that came with that order – from phrases like "sense of belonging," "all-inclusive" & "at risk" – to more innocuous terms like "women," "institutional," & "systemic" · T.®ump pick for Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia would be 'crazy' if Taiwan tensions flare · Yes, T.®ump paid for a full-page newspaper ad criticizing US foreign policy in 1987. "Let's not let our great country be laughed at anymore," reads an open letter penned by T.®ump.

from The Pope's Easter message

"Now that postmodernism’s been (with a wink) flushed, can we, for a moment, glance back wistfully to that cinema of more naïve possibilities, before the insular film school homilies of 'queer cinema' swamped us, when post-new wave sex & politics anarchically mixed in ignorance of our contemporary Sundance straightjackets of liberal visibility politics, body image conventionalism, festival entertainment, & jury-prize prostitution? Such films were made not by technofetishistically schooled 'filmmakers' but by renaissance theater artists like Terayama & Arrabal, who would deride with a magnanimous grin all foisted philistine pigeonholes. But prepare for disillusionment, too, for these artists were blissfully ignorant of more than just the watery liberalism we now cringingly sip like gelid, day-old, decaf."

wednesday newstrip

Elongated Muskrat’s SpaceX Starship explodes, debris streaks through Florida skies · Ukraine war briefing: US-Ukraine talks to take place in Saudi Arabia in the next week, Zelenskyy says · Muskrat can’t fire employees, T.®ump reportedly tells cabinet secretaries · "Small & weak countries will get burnt first, & the international order & rules will be under severe shock," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. "Major countries should undertake their international obligations … & not seek to profit from & bully the weak" · rattled markets, negative polls: some say T.®ump’s honeymoon is over · 'shadowy, unelected figures': analyst says DOGE is the very thing 'it claims to fear most' · a century-old shipwreck has resurfaced on the east coast of Australia, unearthed by Cyclone Alfred's wild weather over 130 years after it was first swallowed by the sea in another cyclone in the 1800s.

Some recent books

Mark Young
The Hit List
52 pages
b&w free downloadable pdf
Scud Editions
url: https://scudlit.blogspot.com/p/editions.html

A collection of around 55 recent poems.

*

harry k stammer, Mark Cunningham, & Mark Young
Gravel
66 pages
poetry & visuals
full color
paperback ($US15.00)& Kindle($US5.00)
Sandy Press
url: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DY56DHV7

Gravel. Might have been called that because it was like walking over it in bare feet to get three grumpy old men to agree on how this book should be put together — identifiers or anonymous; interspersed small offerings or a three-tiered cake; with or without an intro?

Or? Call it that because it's a word with other, quite divergent, words built in & easily accessed — rave, ave, grave, Ravel — & that's before discarding the original order.

Or? Each of the pieces, as denoted by the poet's name, being inserted into the document in a random way, like gravel on a path. The point here is to cross each author's approach in a way that does or doesn’t affect the how of how the pieces relate to each other. Does this matter in terms of how a reader understands each alone & at the same time how a reader may understand the whole & the poetry within the total work?

Or? What is there to introduce? The Pisan Cantos and Zukofsky's A made do without introductions, if I recall. Maybe when you’re famous—or post-famous, so that people need to be told how important you are. Were. Is that “you” plural? Or, as with Aram Saroyan’s Complete Minimal Poems, you can have a blurb with more words in it than most of the books included. Then you can get somebody to write an introduction to tell us who the blurb writer, Vito Acconci, is. Was. Who will introduce the introducer?

Or? The only true blurb would be along the lines of: "If you read this book and get irritated as hell & say to yourself, 'Anybody could do that,' then you're got the real spirit of the book."

Take all of the above, & it's no wonder they invited me in to compose the introduction. All suggestions will be welcomed. Keep watching this space.

— Kasimir Malevich, February 1915 2025, Red Square

*

Mark Young
Some Unrecorded Voyages of Vasco da Gama
88 pages
poetry & visuals
full color
paperback ($US24.75)
Otoliths
url: https://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-young/some-unrecorded-voyages-of-vasco-da-gama/paperback/product-e748z2j.html?page=1&pageSize=4

My first poem in the geographies series appeared on my gamma ways blog at the beginning of 2009. I feel that the best description of my intent comes from Sam Lohmann who published some in an issue of the journal Peaches & Bats that he was editing at the time: "These pieces by Mark Young have a disturbing and comic speed, and seem, as a group, to get at some essential weirdness of the 'global' info-capitalist culture we're all trying to survive and live in."

I began the visual geographies just under a couple of years later. At first they tended to be poems on a background, but gradually transformed into digital manipulations of images from places I looked up on the web. As time went on, I refined those locations to Australia & New Zealand, sometimes with a word or two added; but the intent was the same for the visuals as for the poems — the world is something different to what it's claimed to be.

There have been five standalone collections of geographies over the years, mainly in chapbook or pdf format, plus a significant tranche in the wide-ranging 600-page collection, The Codicils, that came out from Otoliths in 2013. This new collection, Some Unrecorded Voyages of Vasco da Gama, contains a number of visuals &, probably, the final geographies poems.

— Mark Young

*

Mark Young
Closed Environment
24 pages
b&w free & downloadable
Neo-Mimeo Editions, from Nualláin House
url: https://nuallainhousepublishers.com/2025/03/03/closed-environment/

"Neo-Mimeo endeavors to return to the fast and cheap no frills esthetic of mimeo in a non-scrolling digital slideshow left to right reading format. The texts are replicated in the limited typewriter font styles then available, generally Courier or Prestige, but in a larger point size (16 vs.12) to accommodate readability on the small screen. The bold text presentation alludes to the often over inked stencils in mimeo production. Each Neo-Mimeo poetry selection, like many original mimeo books, is limited to approximately 20 pages. A pdf file of Neo-Mimeo titles is available for those who wish to produce their own hard copy; staples not included."

— Pat Nolan

*

Mark Young
The Complete Post Person Poems
138 pages
b&w (paperback), full color (Kindle)
(paperback) $US12.50 (Kindle) $US6.25
Sandy Press
url: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZHXYYH7

One never knows what's going to turn up in Mark's mail. I've even turned up — all 6'7" of me — in the postbag. Every page holds a surprise. Mark delivers! —Tom Beckett

In The Complete Post Person Poems, Mark Young delivers “the can” or rather, cans "of worms/ I’d always/ wanted to open.” Master builder/decorator of “a room to put/ the elephant in,” Young helps us achieve some measure of “Gunk Control” through an ironic, fiercely punny wit that is replete with cogent historical and current allusions and accounts of wild misprisions. His “melodious thunks” provide superb rejoinders to the “polemic/ pandemic” that assails the globe. —Thomas Fink

In The Complete Post Person Poems intellectual Tom-Foolery via the official postal system has at it at full speed! — Cathy M. Bennett

All writers have a fraught relationship with the postal service. Mark Young’s remedy is The Complete Post Person Poems, a uniquely multifaceted otherworldly disco ball showering kaleidoscopic colors down onto poetry’s dance floor. Shake that thang. —Pat Nolan

The Complete Post Person Poems does nothing less than bring the world to you. How lucky we are to receive Mark Young's mail. —Brad Liening

After reading this book, I will never think of aubergines in the same way again. Now I must realize: I don't even know what an aubergine is. And the author makes me feel funny about my subscription to the Conspiracy Theory Quarterly. I think he did this on purpose. He is dangerous and no one should read this book. —Mark Cunningham

Mark Young picks a thread in a ball of golden wool and gives it a pull and it never ends. Magic everywhere. —John Geraets

Chance and its output, notably infinite shades of humor, when examined and relished, teach even beyond experience, offering as a bonus “a room to put the elephant in.” —Sheila E. Murphy

Mark Young has given the meaning of a postman's "meaning" in meaning a delivery god. Send and ye shall receive. — harry k stammer

Mark Young IS the Complete Post Person, delivering to us all the news we need to read, to reread, to remember. For these poems we will remember. Here he's given us back so much of our world – the terrible and the terrific – and for that we need to say: thank you, Mark. —Michael Gottlieb

Don’t
call me
biased for concluding

the Hay(na)ku created
its best
poem

because its postman
delivered with
sensitivity
—Eileen R. Tabios

*

& a note for those of you who have a Kindle Unlimited membership. The Magritte Poems, which was released late last year, is now available for no charge as part of that membership.

wenesday newstrip

More than 100 Russian officials, lawmakers, & law enforcement officers accused of corruption & serious crimes have avoided prison sentences by joining the war in Ukraine, according to a new investigation by the BBC Russian Service · a restaurant owner in Japan did not take kindly to being given a bad review by two diners — putting a bounty on their heads · DoNuts T.®ump has proposed what he seemed to consider a new idea: a program to let wealthy foreigners pay $5 million for citizenship. "We're gonna be selling a gold card," he said. "You have a green card, this is a gold card" · influencer brothers Andrew & Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, have left for the US after authorities lifted travel restrictions imposed as part of the case, an official says · almost one in five trans & non-binary New Zealanders were threatened with physical violence because of their gender identity in the past four years · The White House says it will now decide which media organizations will participate in the press pool that covers Prissygent DoNuts T.®ump.

wednesday newstrip

An April 2023 train derailment in rural Maine that spilt hundreds of gallons of fuel & left three workers in hospital was caused by beavers, state officials said · humpback whale swallows & then spits out kayaker off Chile coast · goat bitten by red-bellied black snake given $3k worth of antivenom · US sends Israel 2,000-pound bombs that can 'pancake' buildings · despite DOGE budget cut crusade, T.®ump has already spent $10.7 million of taxpayer money on golf trips · 'good luck with that': CNN made FOIA request about DOGE only to learn FOIA staff was fired · Chinese warships sail within 150 nautical miles of Sydney, issue a live fire drill warning & forcing commercial flights to be diverted in the Tasman Sea without informing the Australian military · contempt for this national disinformation campaign notwithstanding, if the polls are correct – &, as usual, reporters have their doubts – then enough voters are buying it & Australia may well end up with Opposition Leader Putrid Dustbinn as its next prime minister.

Annie Lennox singing Joni Mitchell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2NfgLlJ6zQ"

What more

is there

to say?

wednesday newstrip

Israeli police have raided a Palestinian-owned bookstore in East Jerusalem, detaining its owners & confiscating books about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict · fans were left outraged amid "poor communication" after a sold-out Bryan Adams concert in Perth was canceled hours after it was scheduled to start due to a build up of fat, grease, & rags in the sewerage system, known as a fatberg · T.®ump orders DOJ to pause prosecutions of Americans who bribe foreign officials: report · Georgia Republican Rep. introduces bill to rename Greenland Red White & Blue Land · 'An act of betrayal': Japan to maximise nuclear power 14 years after Fukushima disaster · Sydney nurses stood down after claiming they would kill Israeli patients in social media video · DoNuts T.®ump trade adviser says Australia 'killing aluminium market' in blow to tariff exemption hopes.

More unsavory news noise from the T.®ump pits

AI-generated T.®ump and Muskrat video dupes MAGA faithful into buying fake Golden Eagles coins · T.®ump is the second most unpopular new president in decades. Who was the most unpopular? Why T.®ump of course, in 2017 · 'Delay, whine, lie, blather, wince, repeat': T.®ump question time stuns onlookers · DoNuts T.®ump & Been Jammin' Notjustanyahoo held a joint press conference during the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to the White House. By working together, Notjustanyahoo said, the two leaders could "strengthen security, broaden the circle of peace, achieve a remarkable era of peace through strength, & let the U.S. take over the Gaza Strip & get rid of the Palestinians to somewhere else" · T.®ump's administration is preparing an executive order to begin dismantling the Education Department – while acknowledging the president lacks the authority to kill the agency entirely. T.®ump vowed during the election campaign to end what he called 'wokeness' & 'indoctrination' at the agency · in late night Truth Social rant, DoNuts T.®ump has accused Senate Democrats of deliberately delaying the confirmation of his nominees to top cabinet positions, angrily insisting, without evidence, that his political rivals are intentionally sabotaging his new administration & laughing about doing so behind the scenes · some of the 8,000 migrants arrested under the T.®ump administration's deportation crackdown have already been released back into the U.S., according to a report.

A poem from the Bureau of Meteorology

Significant rainfall may develop over 
the weekend about the Herbert & 
Lower Burdekin & the Cassowary Coast, 
with a monsoon trough in place, rich 

tropical moisture & onshore flow ex-
pected to strengthen. Enhanced rainfall 
due to widespread showers & isolated 
embedded thunderstorms is possible 

from tonight & throughout the week-
end, with extremely wet soils & river 
catchments leading to a higher than 
normal vulnerability to flash flooding.

Source:

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST

Severe Weather Warning
for HEAVY RAINFALL
6.05 p.m., 2/7/2025

recently, at Series Magritte

Le Regard Mental


Look at 
the build-
                 ing. Think. How do I
                 reach the roof? & which 
                                                         roof should
                                                         I aim for? & 
                  if I do 
                  reach a
               roof, will the entire 
               structure remain up-
               right or will it tumble 
                                                      over
                                                      once 
                                my weight threatens 
                                to send it off balance? 
                                Houses upon houses
                                in this one spot. How 
     is the rest of the street likely to look?

wednesday newstrip

T.®ump moves to stop Bush-era AIDS relief program that saved millions of lives · Britons are being put off buying Tesla cars because of Elongated Muskrat’s behavior, new research has revealed · social media influencer manufactured symptoms that caused one-year-old to need brain surgery, Brisbane court hears. The woman, 34, is accused of torturing an infant & posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following & solicit donations · Grace Tame, former Australian of the Year, makes statement at PM’s Australian of the Year function with 'Fuck Murdoch' T-shirt · T.®ump offers public servants seven months pay to resign · Caroline Kennedy warns senators that her cousin RFK Jr is a 'predator' · Google Maps will rename Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America in US · China's chatbot juggernaut DeepSeek could mark the end of US supremacy in AI.

wednesday newstrip

Taranaki Maunga, a mountain in New Zealand, will now have the rights of a human being under legislation to be passed by parliament · DoNuts T.®ump ends security deal for Anthony Fauci, says he'd feel no responsibility if harm befell him · Australian eSafety organization 'saddened' to learn UK teen who killed three girls at dance class searched for an Australian stabbing video it unsuccessfully fought Elongated Muskrat to remove from X · T.®ump describes North Korea leader Kim Jong Un as a "smart guy" in an interview on Fox News · Bonnie Blue sex event erupts as Mum pulls son out of queue: ‘put your clothes on’ · Potent Hogsbreath, the former Fox News personality & rightwing commentator who has said women should not serve in combat roles, recommended the military purge generals, & faced allegations of sexual assault & alcoholism, has been confirmed as secretary of defense in the Senate by a tie-breaking vote from Vice-insistent JD Vance · Sky News presenter calls for Opposition leader Putrid Dustbin to ‘Make Australia Great Again’ · woman in Sydney intensive care with suspected botulism linked to unregulated anti-wrinkle injection.

Australia Invasion Day

Always was, always will be

Aboriginal land

wednesday newstrip

The UN says Australia violated human rights law, but it’s unlikely to change the way refugees are treated · 2024 is declared Earth’s hottest on record · Meta ends diversity & inclusion programs, Suckerbug blasts Biden · Kiwi couple were duped after the Australian hotel booking they made through Agoda led them to a shopping center devoid of accomodation · drug-eating rats raid police evidence room in Houston filled with mushrooms, cocaine, & marijuana · DoNuts T.®ump has appointed Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, Jon Voight as special Hollywood ambassadors · the midair explosion of SpaceX’s Starship rocket took over social media with space watchers ridiculing the Elongated Muskrat-owned company’s rebranding of the incident as "a rapid unscheduled disassembly" · Jaffa Bejesus' Blue Origin successfully launches New Glenn rocket for the first time · China vowed on Tuesday to continue participating in two cornerstone multinational arrangements — the World Health Organisation & Paris climate accord — after newly sworn-in US President DoNuts T.®ump ordered withdrawals from them.

Otoliths at an exorbitant price

which I have nothing to do with.

https://bookswholesale.myshopify.com/products/otoliths-issue-sixty-six-part-two?srsltid=AfmBOoqZVIiL-X1HzEv7hZBbX07i7sq6VE-Nkc9QYoHhWcexpdPHruix

The T.®ump pits: newstrip 15 1 25

President-elect Elongated Muskrat seeks to install himself as global dictator – & 'so far it's working': expert · T.®ump says he's going to rename Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America': Mexico's president tells T.®ump it's the U.S. that should be renamed · DoNuts T.®ump was reportedly planning to dodge a televised town hall hosted by Fox News last year, until an insider at the network fed him questions ahead of time · Justin Trudeau shuts down T.®ump 's idea of Canada joining the U.S. · the progressive advocacy group Public Citizen on Tuesday launched a new project aimed at tracking the incoming T.®ump / Muskrat administration's approach to corporate crime, an effort the watchdog said is particularly urgent given that many of the companies currently under federal investigation have connections to the presidents-elect · DoNuts T.®ump jnr goes window-shopping for his dad in Greenland · Danish king changes coat of arms amid row with T.®ump over Greenland.

wednesday newstrip

President-elect Elongated Muskrat has changed his name to "Kekius Maximus" on X, the social media platform he owns, signaling support for a type of cryptocurrency · Kremlin supporters tout T.®ump takeover threats on Canada, Greenland, & the Panama Canal as aiding Putin’s expansionist goals · without providing evidence, DoNuts T.®ump linked the truck driven into a New Orleans New Year crowd fatal attack to illegal immigration. The FBI, however, said the suspect was an American citizen from Texas · Tesla Cybertruck fire outside T.®ump hotel in Las Vegas leaves one dead, others injured · FBI says it has made 'largest seizure of explosives' in its history after raid on US farm · two men who went hunting for Bigfoot found dead in forest.

Today the post-
woman brought
me some ephemera—

at least that's
what the customs
declaration on the

now empty box
said was sup-
posed to be in it.

wednesday newstrip

Man accused of attacking TV reporter & yelling ‘This is Trump’s America now’ · festival-goer overdoses on first day of Victorian pill-testing trial · T.®ump sides with Elongated Muskrat in MAGA immigration feud over H-1B visas. Muskrat had vowed to go to "war" on the issue & told one critic on X to go "fuck yourself in the face" · scientists are hoping to grow plants on the moon to feed astronauts · Professor Geoffrey Hinton, the 'Godfather of AI,' shortens odds new tech will wipe out human race · Putain apologizes for Azerbaijani plane crash, but won't say if it was shot down · Aussie construction giant collapses leaving 1,300 apartments worth an eye-watering $1.5billion unfinished · hui, protests, kotahitanga, and a new Kuini — a historic year for Māoridom.