For Larry F., with thanks

Despite the name, trapeze work
isn't easy. Dexterity, balance, 
body strength, und so weiter — 
a list, of which the possession of 
any one of its components would 
keep most people happy. There
have been times, but now long 
gone. Content myself by project-
ing on the backs of my eyes those
lines by Lawrence Ferlinghetti that 
I've carried with me for nearly 
seventy years since I read them 
in A Coney Island of the Mind:
"Constantly risking absurdity
                                             and death
            whenever he performs
                                        above the heads
                                                            of his audience
   the poet like an acrobat
                                 climbs on rime
                                          to a high wire of his own making"

This started out as something entirely different

I am watching a video on You-
Tube, one of several about cane 
trains in the Burdekin & most
based on the mill they work out 

of. I am watching, even though 
the harvesting season is over & 
the video is probably seven years 
old, but it's something I have be-

come intrigued by since we've
lived here. There are 634 kilo-
meters of track in the region,
mainly narrow gauge — 2 feet

wide – though one mill aligns
with the State passenger & freight
rail network in that it has a width 
of 3 feet & 6 inches which means 

a three-rail system in some areas
where the lines to the mills over-
lap. Most of the lines run along-
side a road. Most of those roads 

I have driven along in my mean-
derings, up hill & down dale as the
saying goes, occasionally accom-
panied by a yellow engine & its 

train of cane bins or held up by 
them when the line intersects a
road. Sometimes a kilometer long, 
up to 200 tonnes of cut cane, har-

vested from the burn a night or
two before. Only around during
the crushing season, but welcome
ghosts for the remainder of the year.

geographies: Wee Waa

 

wednesday newstrip

Thievin" Filler has been promoted to become the official evil voice behind the throne of the evil emperor in The Gilded Bordello. Expect exponential growth in racism & bigotry over the next two years · Khloe Darkashinin recalls catching ex Lamar Odometer in a 'circle jerk' · almost $US3 trillion has been wiped off the market value for S&P 500 companies over fears that Democratic control of Congress could lead to more Artificial Intelligence regulation · US President DoNuts T.®ump is awake & in his first social media post of the day he's referred to himself as "a winner." · He devoted his one public appearance of the day to signing a document aimed at making the White House's Oval Office a national monument & protected from being modified by any future President · NZ election eve poll watch: right’s lead slipping with Opportunity party still the wild card.

The Gilded Bordello

Topaz antiquities

are found round the throats
of penguins. Elsetimes they
swallow stones to either use
as ballast or to grind down
the shells of crabs. Always
they rattle when they move. 
Othertimes they cohabit with
seal-headed men which is
where the topaz comes from.
Cave paintings portray this,
carbon dating confirms the
antiquity of the paintings, 
the impurities of the back-
ground silicates give color to
the paintings. The penguins
have vanished from the caves,
the seal-headed men remain.

balsamic vinegar

 

Termagant transition

Start with. La Chanson 
de Roland. Part of an un-

holy trilogy. A pagan god
who was always ranting.

The misinterpretation. 
Said by Christians to be 

worshipped by Muslims
alongside Muhammad.

Still fictitious. Transition
occurred in the theater.

Played by men in long
robes. Shrieking. Only

women shriek. Hence
a gender change. Hence

the synonyms. Virago,
fishwife, scold, shrew.

But given body. Form.
Even if. Termagant wife.

In Chaucer. Shakespeare.
Washington Irving. Past.

Now resurrected as scutt-
ling predators. Choice of.

Three biological weapons.
Warhammer 40K. Pricey.

wednesday newstrip

US cancels G20 'family photo' after Australia, UK, & others refuse to appear with Russia · a chaotic Halloween house party at a $10million coastal property in Sydney’s east was brought to an abrupt end by riot police after large crowds spilled onto the street · experts warn AI copyright changes could breach Australian constitution & spark huge compensation rights case · Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Jackson has launched a fresh legal attack against the executor controlling her late father's multimillion-dollar estate, demanding his compensation be slashed amid allegations of missed court deadlines & more than $109 million in payments · Finnish police investigate Google over forest cleared for data center · an ICE agent has been indicted by a grand jury in Texas after hitting a Mexican construction worker with his car last month · Education Secretary Linda McMahon is spending more than $43,000 on new office furniture even as she pushes Congress to close her department · the DOJ asked a federal judge Friday to halt an order requiring disclosure of a 20,000-person list of California registered voters whom the Justice Department alleges are noncitizens, arguing that releasing it could compromise law enforcement investigations.

À la recherche du temps perdu

what once was / might never be again

geographies: Cobar

 

wednesday newstrip

Independent Australian Federal Member of Parliament, Helen Haines, loses both legs in targeted attack · OpenAI finds its AI agents can secretly communicate even without internet · Australian Federal Police Commissioner says politicians’ heated rhetoric is fueling threats against MPs · T.®ump merchandise stores are shutting down across the country · Seinfeld creator Larry David found the hit show to be "torturous" behind the scenes & compared it to "prison" · Israel's defense minister says about 2,000 Palestinians have been displaced in Hebron in the occupied West Bank in an operation following the killing of two Israeli soldiers. Homes & business have been demolished, with gates & checkpoints closed to Palestinian drivers · twice in recent days, T.®ump took time during rally speeches to talk about Republican Jon Husted’s "ass" · Jason Momoa buys late Sam Neill’s sprawling New Zealand estate · military rappelling stunt kills Air Force sergeant at packed Texas football game.

Another Night in Paris

Recently, at Series Magritte

Erich von Stroheim

Thirty years on from the premiere
of The Merry Widow, a silent movie
directed by Erich von Stroheim,
come these two caricatures. One
is a take on the roles he played in
films after being a director was
made too difficult for him. The
other an invitation to the anniver-
sary of that first showing of the
only movie of his that could be
considered a box office success.


Left like that, it seems a compact
story spread over three decades.
Left like that, it leaves so much
out. Time is a series of triggers &
outcomes; but an outcome can
also be a trigger. The first trigger
in this sequence is Attaché d'am-
bassade, (Embassy Attaché), a 
comedy written in 1861 by Henri
Meilhac, an opera librettist &
playwright. The outcome, some
44 years later, is an operetta, Die
lustige Witwe, with the music by
Franz Lehár & a libretto based on
Meilhac's play. & that, in turn, is
not just the trigger for von Stro-
heim's film & six later versions
by various directors but also an
earlier one made in Hungary by
Mihály Kertész who later moved
to the U.S., changed his name to
Michael Curtiz, & made films as
diverse as Captain Blood, Casa-
blanca, & Yankee Doodle Dandy.


From those outcomes spread many
branch lines of varying length &
importance. Amongst the uncredited
extras in von Stroheim's movie were
Joan Crawford & Clark Gable. von
Stroheim's acting career included an
Oscar nomination for his performance
in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard,  The
castle tower that protrudes from the
bald skull of von Stroheim in Magritte's
Hommage is reprised as a unicorn's horn
in a number of paintings. & so it goes on,
present company hopefully included.

geographies: Gilgunnia

 

wednesday newstrip

Cost of living protests hit Belgium, Italy, Portugal, & France · ebike rider, 13, charged with sexual touching after girls & women were allegedly harassed on Sydney's northern beaches · ‘Mummy wine time 2.0’: Australian mums are turning to cocaine for stress relief · Canada's defense minister says people have been killed & injured in an incident at a military base in Alberta that caused a major fire · Elongated Muskrat allegedly slashed ex Ashley St. Clair’s monthly child support by $115,000 after she revealed she’d given birth to his 13th child · a South Korean army officer who repeatedly left his post without permission for reasons including feeding his lizard has lost a court challenge against his suspension · T.®ump swaps half his female cabinet for men amid wide male misconduct.

Slices of Greenland

In July 1932, in a move presaging later events, the Norwegians laid claim to a part of the southern east coast of Greenland & called it Fridtjof Nansen Land. That didn't last long, less than a year. Nobody recognized the usurpation; & in May 1933, the Permanent Court of International Justice ruled it should remain part of the Danish colony.

      *

April 1941, & the Nazis overran Denmark. The day before that became a fait accompli, the United States decided they would occupy Greenland, ostensibly to defend it against an invasion by Germany. Stayed that way until 1945, Greenland buying goods from the U.S. & Canada to support its inhabitants, & paying for them through the sale of cryolite, a rare mineral whose deposits were found primarily in south western Greenland where it was also refined commercially.

      *

In 1946, the U.S. government offered, under President Harry S. Truman, to buy Greenland off Denmark for 100 million dollars. The offer was rejected, but some years later, in 1951, a defense agreement was signed between the two countries to allow the U.S. bases to stay in Greenland & to establish new ones provided their activities did not impinge upon Denmark's territorial rights.

      *

Between 1961 & 1963, the Thule air base was expanded, & secret plans were put in place by the U.S. to develop am underground network of nuclear missile sites. This proved unworkable, & the plans were discontinued in 1966 before any missiles had been put in place. The Danish government had no idea of what was going on, only found out in 1997 while looking through declassified files when they were investigating the crash of a nuclear-armed B-52 bomber near the Thule air base.

      *

In 2019, U.S. President Donald J. Trump expressed interest in buying Greenalnd entire, describing it as comparable to a "large real estate deal." The Danish Government called the idea "absurd" & refused to entertain it. Trump spat the dummy, & canceled a proposed state visit to Denmark.

      *

In December 2024, President-elect Trump renewed his desire to buy Greenland, stating that "the ownership & control of Greenland is an absolute necessity." Having acquired self-rule, it was now the Premier of Greenland who declared "we are not for sale & will never be for sale."

      *

In October 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social that "massive oil, gas, & mineral exploration is getting ready to begin in our new & beautiful Greenland!" The US president also emphasized that Greenland's strategic importance to the US & Europe was "second to none" in defence terms.

wednesday newstrip

T.®ump recently suggested that potential foreign conflicts & their associated costs could involve major American metropolitan areas. Specifically, he stated, "They can take out a city, let ’em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay" · a drunken woman allegedly took off her pants and began masturbating on an American Airlines flight from Baltimore to Miami · the President's IQ as per the YouTube channel I ask AI: Grok — 95 to 110; Meta AI — 85-95; DeepSeek — 80-85; Truth Social — 95-105; Gemini — 85-95. Chat GPT & Microsoft Pilot declined to assign a value · a second execution attempt for death row inmate Christa Pike is "uncharted territory," according to US experts · Notalie Harpsichord's "finger-prints are all over T.®ump’s latest scheme to use taxpayer dollars to pay for advertisements praising himself at the height of campaign season" · The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild running at 4K resolution (but only at 30 FPS for now) is made possible on jailbroken PlayStation 5 consoles by the PS5CEMU-HAR emulator. "It bundles two emulators, both rendering with Vulkan through Mihawk's PS5 port of the RADV driver & played with the Dual-Sense," the official emulator description reads on GitHub.

geographies : Albany

 

wednesday newstrip

Tennessee woman on death row taken to hospital after surviving two lethal injections is now awake & talking · Been Jammin' NotjustanyYahoo claims allegations of Israel committing genocide in Gaza are the 'greatest lie' of the century · Perth beachgoers warned of prolonged closures even after whale carcass is finally removed · a three-judge panel at the US Court of International Trade is set to hear arguments in a case that could determine whether the president can use a 1970s trade law to impose tariffs on nearly everything the United States imports · Malaysia has deported about 1,500 Myanmar nationals, including children, as part of a refugee repatriation program, saying the move is necessary to reduce the 'financial burden' on the country created by large numbers of asylum seekers · the effort by President DoNuts T.®ump to reduce the price of hamburgers by permitting imports of beef with low tariffs has ruffled the nerves of cattle producers in Republican states, while economists say the policy will save consumers only a few pennies per pound.

geographies: Mardie

 

Just released

Now out from Sandy Press.

pheromones
Mark Young
80 8.5" x 8.5" pages
Published by Sandy Press
ISBN: 979-8994936894
URL: Amazon
Available on Kindle ($US6.00) and in paperback ($US19.95)

Mark Young’s fascinating new collection of visuals, pheromones, contains works of very different styles, but a deep sense of humor (of understatements) is a common denominator. In the opening sequence, variations of mazes are paired with Samuel Beckett titles, and playfully referred to as endless Uber voyages. (I tried to replace two titles with each other: they worked a lot worse.)

Some of the works in the book are partitioned into color fields and based on dialogue with their titles and with the words (oftentimes word games) written into/across the fields. In Opprobrium “Justice /just is/ unscaled”. As much as a joke, it is also the realization of a truth.

Others are expressive freehand digital images like Will he wake?, where a framed question mark is surrounded, outside the frame, with a few dots (berries? full stops? blood drops?), and curves (elementary signs of presence?).

Young’s visuals get their poetic force from the multifaceted (dis)connection between titles and images. The effect is a motion of the mind in-between, back and forth. One of my favorites in the book, La Sagrada Familia, consists of nothing but pixelated shapes and dark gaps between them, but it becomes a mysterious, low key reference to the basilica. The only difference is, that while the basilica is still in the making, Young’s piece feels fully completed.

—    Márton Koppány


pheromones by Mark Young is a wide-ranging collection of visual poetry in which words, images, typography, collage, color, and abstraction continually interact. The book moves freely between minimalist word constructions, digitally manipulated photographs, geometric abstraction, found imagery, and text-image collage. Young treats language not simply as something to be read but as visual material: words are displaced, fragmented, condensed, repeated, erased, or placed in unexpected relationships with images. Pieces such as "The Tenth Word," "A Small Fugue," "Bashō Condensed," "divulge," and "Einsteinium" demonstrate how a few words, or even individual letters, can generate associations that move simultaneously through poetry, humor, philosophy, and graphic form.

Throughout pheromones, Young draws upon an unusually broad field of cultural references. Samuel Beckett becomes the basis of the comic "Beckett List," which transforms titles such as The Unnameable, Krapp’s Last Tape, Malone Dies, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, and Watt into a sequence of works involving "Uber." Elsewhere, the book invokes or plays with Bashō, Bach, Burroughs, Rembrandt, Saint John of the Cross, de Chirico, Goya, Rauschenberg, Whistler, Man Ray, Philip K. Dick, and figures from popular culture. These references are rarely straightforward homages. Instead, Young subjects cultural history to punning, substitution, juxtaposition, fragmentation, and visual transformation, allowing high art, literature, music, popular culture, and everyday language to occupy the same imaginative space.

The collection is also notable for its sequences, which give the book a larger structural rhythm. "The Calculations" develops a related visual vocabulary through "abacus," "Burroughs," "computation," "proration," and "substitution." Another sequence, "Scenes from the lives of the pepper trees," takes its overall title—and the titles of its individual pieces—from the poem by Denise Levertov: "Cats are stretching in the doorways," "Berries of modest red," "Marimba, marimba — from beyond the black street," "Let him sleep," and "Will he wake?"

—   harry k stammer

wednesday newstrip

DoNuts T.®ump has rejected Iran’s proposed ceasefire & expects to resume bombing after the November midterm elections, according to US officials · engineers alter magnetism by shaping & shrinking light · Angelina Jolie sells LA compound after signaling US exit · White House reinstates access to CNN, MS NOW & Politico following judge's order but then blocks CNN from Air Force One in latest escalation with news media · Manchester City have found themselves in hot water following reports suggesting the club has been found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges relating to financial breaches in the Premier League · OpenAI said Friday that its AI agents had gained access to private images belong to ChatGPT users & posted them online, the latest in a string of alarming incidents in which technology developed inside leading AI labs has gone rogue & acted in unintended ways · US Army Reserve headquarters sent an internal message last week asking its commands whether they could hand six types of units over to Southern Command, which oversees American forces in Latin America & the Caribbean, CBS News reports. The memo does not mention Cuba, but multiple US officials said the planning is aimed squarely at that island.

eggsistential

He confused paltry with poultry;
was surprised when he went

looking for chickens in the fields &
found only a few scrawny weeds.

wednesday newstrip

Former NFL star’s penis lawsuit against influencer ex-wife thrown out, ruled a 'legitimate public concern' · DoNuts T.®ump says he has banned CNN, MS NOW, & Politico from White House over 'fake news' & later added there was 'something wrong with a country that allows people to write purposely negative stories' · investigation reveals Chinese 'smart sex toy' company supplied microelectronics to Russia · RFK Jr tells anti-vaxxers he is investigating 'chemtrails' · Aussie women predicted to live until nearly 90 by 2066 · the Iran war has cost American taxpayers $236 million per day throughout the first five months of the conflict · Gemini hacked three companies in first known breakout by Google's AI · Australian music legend John Farnham’s health deteriorates, singer unable to attend Melbourne tribute.

recently at Series Magritte

Le Paysage de Baucis


I have discovered how to paint the emptiness between a hat 
& a man’s suit without suggesting ‘the invisible man.’ 
— René Magritte, letter to André Bosmans, 19 February 1966
Let's face it, the face isn't
there. Well, not completely.
The major aspects — eyes,
nose, lips — proportionate,
in place, posed & poised 
between a starched collar & 
a hat — no, not the usual 
bowler but a fedora this 
time around. Nothing there
to suggest the mythic con-
nection that the title implies
except perhaps disguise. Un-
less the emptiness of the suit
might be intended to conjure 
up the image of a landscape 
after a major flood has swept 
everything away. Which may
be a way to bring the myth be-
hind the title into the picture, 
though it won't be included in
this poem. Instead, a reference: 
Ovid, The Methamorphoses, Book
VIII, lines 611 through to 724.

wednesday newstrip

The real toll of 9/11 are the 9224 people who have died & the more than 150,000 police officers, recovery workers, plus residents & workers in the surrounding neighborhood who have come down with illnesses since the attack on the Twin Towers · DoNuts T.®ump claims that he "was building a big building in New York & took the whole crew down there right after this happened & they had no hesitation (in joining the rescue effort). Everybody went down with me." PolitiFact worked to fact-check his claims, & were unable to verify them · OpenAI’s post-mortem after one of its artificial intelligence models broke out of its testing environment & hacked another company described the hack as a "warning shot”, adding that without proper safeguards, highly capable AI agents are now able to “work around technical controls, collaborate through unapproved channels, & take dangerous actions that no human directed" · DoNuts T.®ump says all American citizens will receive $US5,000 if the Republicans win the upcoming midterm elections. He did not say how the money would be paid or where it would come from, but said it would be called the "T.®ump dividend" · DC Reflecting Pool now drawing tourists to see the repair effort on an 'unmitigated mess' · South Park creators say they will rename the show 'South America' in apparent dig at YouKnowWho.

From the archives

9/13

This written for the future, 
something to look back on, to see 
what my thoughts were
at the time. A commentary on what
is now before me, how you feast
on the dead, play replay after replay,
from different angles, rewritten
as choreography, a Hollywood blockbuster
with the producers wanting to make sure
the audience gets its money’s worth. It is 
what you’ve come to expect; but most
movies are cleaner, have stars that are
paid more for their one performance
than this whole episode would have cost
to carry out. Think on it. Brood on the
implications of what you’ve learnt
in the two days since. The stand-in pilots
had work visas, lived next door,
supported themselves & contributed to
the economy of the country 
they have just put on notice. The airlines 
paid for & provided the bombs. 
The extras paid for their own parts. 
There was no need for rehearsal.


9/13/01
Originally published in the Muse Apprentice Guild
Included in Sun Moon's Mother

wednesday newstrip

Africa bigger, US smaller as UN votes to adopt a new world map to replace Mercator. US the only country to vote against it · DoNuts T.®ump has threatened to shut America’s doors to most of the world’s goods to force his own central bank to lower interest rates · Australian housing affordability hits lowest rate on record despite recent falls in property prices · Aryna Sabalenka, the four-time major winner, halted play in the first set of her third round match in the US Open to complain about the smell of cannabis wafting onto court · the Justice Department accidentally stopped working with Canada after a division chief misunderstood instructions to reschedule a meeting & sent out an email with the subject line, "Pause on Canada", The Wall Street Journal reported · ICE's recruitment practices attract certain types of candidates, with DHS doing minimal vetting. The agency's recruitment materials have been found to use language & imagery that appeal to extremist ideologies · the widow of an airman killed on a combat mission in the Middle East has shared her outrage after it took a viral social media post to get issues related to her husband's benefits & basic pay months resolved. She was told by a military officer assigned to support her after her husband’s death that he was ineligible for those benefits because “we were not at war” · DJ Vancealot uses the same playbook saying "I wouldn’t call it a war" even as strikes continue · President T.®ump said the conflict, which has resulted in the deaths of 18 US service members & a spike in global energy prices, is “small potatoes”.

The future of creative writing?

wednesday newstrip

Alarm swept the Kennedy Center's defenders hours before a hearing to consider a threat by President DoNuts T.®ump's board to tear down the center if his name was not added to the building · a man who smashed his head through the windscreen of an ambulance while naked on a public street in Western Australia's Goldfields has been handed a suspended sentence & $100 fine · T.®ump says the US doesn’t need Canada. The economy says otherwise · Meta, the corporation founded by Mark Zuckerberg that includes Facebook & Instagram, reached an agreement with 47 states & the District of Columbia to pay nearly $18 billion in damages for harms caused by its social networks · President DoNuts T.®ump's Department of Education (DOE) has been forced to delete a social post in which it appeared to inadvertently compare his administration to Nazi Germany · the Himalayan flash floods that killed at least 489 people & left over 900 missing across Nepal & Tibet were not triggered by an earthquake, contrary to initial reports, but by a glacier collapse so violent that it produced its own seismic signal, the United States Geological Survey said · President DoNuts T.®ump reportedly plans to skip a 9/11 commemoration in Manhattan after he was barred from delivering a speech.

from Turandot

No one should sleep! No one
should sleep! & you also, Prin-
cess, in your cold room, watch
the stars that tremble with love
& hope. My mystery is hidden
inside me, locked away. No one
will know my name. I will speak
it only upon your lips when the
light shines again, & my kiss will
both dissolves the silence & make
you mine. (No one will know his
name, & we must, alas, all die!)
Disappear, oh night. Set stars! Set
stars since, come the dawn, I will 
win. I will win. I will conquer all.

Songs / I wish / I had written

Jimmy Webb's MacArthur Park

wednesday newstrip

Selling off the U.S.

wednesday newstrip

President DoNuts T.®ump left his cabinet secretaries, top advisers, & accompanying press corp on a plane threatened by Iran while he was moved, hidden in a catering cart, to safety, The New York Times reported · a farmer in China claims to have lost 25 acres of crops “overnight” after following pesticide advice from an AI assistant · White House criticized over Game of Thrones-inspired AI slop · holidaymakers have had their towels seized from beaches in Croatia in a crackdown against overnight reservations on the sand · Andrew Tate "turned male failure into a religion" · T.®ump wants to build a giant triumphal arch — the Arc de T.®ump — in the middle of Washington, but the National Park Service is worried that the 250-foot-tall structure could harm the historical significance of dozens of sites near its proposed location · Ukraine war briefing: North Korean-made missiles hit Zaporizhzhia in deadly attack.

Sponsored results: a found poem

Trendy Short Hairstyles

Simple Tattoo Designs

How To Apply Makeup

FaceMask For Glowing Skin

Benefits Of Chia Seeds

wednesday newstrip

Church tribute to 'precious' missionary found dead in suitcase in Greece · Ariana Grande addresses decision to step back from public life at her Chicago concert: ‘not impulsive’ · there is no link between receiving the measles, mumps, & rubella (MMR) vaccine before age 2 & being diagnosed with autism, according to a new study of more than 2.5 million U.S. children · T.®ump predicts Greenland will be part of the US by 2029 · Polymarket has a bet going on: will Jesus Christ return before 2027? This market will resolve to "Yes" if The Second Coming of Jesus Christ occurs by 11.59 p.m. on December 31, 2026 · an Adelaide Early Learning center has been forced to close until 2027 after a child with a known allergy was served meatballs which put them in hospital · a since-shuttered program in New Hampshire received more than $2 million to teach military veterans how to grow grass, while another in the Granite State got nearly $18 million for classes in making fake rocks out of concrete, according to The Washington Post.

wednesday newstrip

The U.S. Department of Interior is seeking $10 million to reimburse the National Park Service for costs associated with the Rededicate 250 prayer event, the sparsely attended Great American State Fair, & the Salute to America fireworks show — which started late — on the Fourth of July · Defense Secretary Putrid Hogsbreath is running into a brick wall as he begs U.S. allies for support, according to a new report · Dr. Anthony Fauci refuses to answer questions in what he describes as an 'unhinged' COVID-19 hearing · DoNuts T.®ump says US will 'beat the fucking shit out of them' after Iran launches missile strike on US base in Jordan · Logitech is set to launch mice with replaceable batteries for the EU, although it considers DIY repairs to be dangerous · KFC responds after Australia Post worker dismissed over using a work vehicle to make a lunch run.

wednesday newstrip

DoNuts T.®ump imposes new tariffs on 60 countries, including Australia, supposedly "for their failure to adopt & effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor" · Australia’s biggest builder has just finished its first two prefabricated modular homes in Melbourne’s western suburbs, & almost everything except the slab was made in China · Saudi Arabia must recognize Israel for nuclear deal to go ahead says T.®ump, after the 'deal' had been signed · police have charged a 52-year-old man after an investigation into a series of AI-generated posters targeting multiple women across south-east Queensland over five years. The posters allegedly featured victims' faces superimposed on the bodies of women performing explicit sexual acts · Elongated Muskrat says he got "carried away" with T.®ump — but still holds on to contentious political views · nun speaks out after being detained by ICE while walking to Mass · White (supremacist) House won’t confirm if T.®ump has nominated his bumboy chum Gianni Infantino, current FIFA chief, for UN Gen-Sec.

wednesday newstrip

Australian health officials last Wednesday revealed there had already been 83,000 cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) recorded across the country this year, outnumbering both influenza & Covid-19 · new book identifies Marie Maitland, the 16th century poet, as possibly Scotland’s lesbian answer to Gentleman Jack Lister · a new LGBTQIA+ pop-up club at a former church in Sydney's CBD has closed after being ordered to "cease carrying on offensive trade" or face eviction following protests by religious groups · T.®ump ditches plan for 20% fee on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz beating his own record on strategic backflips as Iran & US trade new strikes · the Australian Fair Work Commission has ruled a trucking company was within its rights to dismiss a driver after he set the temperature of a trailer full of ice cream nearly 20 degrees too warm & ended up with $73.000 worth of melted product · Australia's Labor Government is to force data centers to minimize water usage, underwrite own power under new AI standards · Gears of War: E-Day gets Nvidia DLSS 4.5 at launch · T.ump just opened land sacred to Native Americans to mining & drilling.

wednesday newstrip

DoNuts T.®ump mysteriously swaps planes as he leaves NATO summit, but not before calling Iran the 'Islamic Republic of Japan' · live entertainment industry calls for Australian government lifeline as more musicals close · the Southern Poverty Law Center, a prominent monitor of hate groups, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging it defrauded donors by failing to disclose payments to informants within extremist organizations · T.®ump's Education Department celebrates 'American' history with a photo from Britain's history · a DoNuts T.®ump family crypto venture is collapsing into a fire sale — & taking investor money down with it, according to an exclusive new report from the Wall Street Journal · former Wisconsin judge sentenced for obstructing immigration arrest, receiving a $5,000 fine · James Taylor was playing the first of a two-night run at the Tanglewood Music Festival, where he has been performing shows around the Fourth of July for the past 52 years in a row dating back to 1974, & he wasn't willing to break that streak even for Swift & Kelce's wedding to which he & his wife had been invited.

Recently, at Series Magritte

The Castle of the Pyrenees, defaced

A painting in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem by the Belgian artist René Magritte
has been damaged by a 5-year-old boy wielding a pine cone.
CNN: 6.12.2026

Battlements on top, the rock beneath on which it's built, the ample space between
the rock & the sea below — should be enough.
But in air is light as.

The rock, carrying its castle cargo, drifts eastward across the Mediterranean
until it runs aground. Because of its uniqueness, is placed in a space
available in a museum in Jerusalem. Is held there,
exhibited, bereft of protective glass.

Years pass. Then one day a boy picks up a pine cone in the museum garden,
wonders if the magical assemblage inside that he & his grandmother
have come to see will withstand something more than a
human viewing.

Or maybe thinks the painting needs a symbolic addition of the real to
make it complete. The pine cone he is still carrying,
attached like a brooch to the painting.

The three AI images are from the museumnews Instagram account.

Interpretive dance as a means of window cleaning

    We're sorry, but 

       we can't find 

 the requested video.

wednesday newstrip

T.®ump's $2B income from crypto, bibles, & scent in 2025 raises fresh questions about profiting off the presidency · Health Secretary Robert F. Coneverybody Jr. faced a wave of online mockery after he failed to complete a basic exercise demonstration despite his reputation as a fitness fanatic · E Jean Carroll demands her money from T.®ump — with interest · Secretary of Defense Putrid Hogsbreath suffered yet another loss in his legal fight to control the Pentagon press corps after a judge issued a preliminary injunction against him · a North Carolina pickle company has pulled the plug on supporting President DoNuts T.®ump's Great American State Fiasco after discovering a Confederate flag was included in the video display at the State booth · T.®ump takes maiden flight on Qatar's gold-trimmed jet as fury grows over 'gift' · it’s been reported that T.®ump’s administration has started construction on a new helipad for Marine One on the White House's South Lawn. Lockheed Martin reportedly donated $5 million towards the construction · Victor Wills, the recently deceased lead singer of the Village People, once asked DoNuts T.®ump to stop playing his band’s music. In a resurfaced interview with BBC News World America, he stressed that neither he nor his group endorsed the US president. “We have even asked him to stop playing our music at his rallies.” & dancing to it, we hope.

wednesday newstrip

T.®ump rejoices that the 'criminally made algae is gone' · a British man has been arrested in Ecuador after a woman’s body was discovered inside a suitcase · 'while mainstream headlines suggest Hogsbreath is motivated by race & gender animus, an even worse—& more dangerous—likelihood is that he is weeding out those he deems 'ideologically incompatible' with how he & T.®ump plan to use the military': Sabrina Haake · Australian man charged with murder after dead girl found in suitcase in Thailand · comedian Bill Maher was awarded the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday in what might be one of the last major onstage moments at the Kennedy Center for the next several years · Core 2 Quad Q6600 system runs Windows 11 on DDR1-era motherboard · the Australian sharemarket has opened in positive territory on reports the US & Iran backed away from a fresh escalation that had threatened the fragile ceasefire underpinning peace talks · Elongated Muskrat leaks banned film dubbed "most disturbing ever" on X for 48 hours. The move came after Citizen Vigilante was banned in Germany due to regulators refusing to grant the film an age rating because of its extremely violent imagery, with fears it would incite violence against immigrants.

wednesday newstrip

Two-thirds of scam compounds 'bypassed' in Cambodia's crackdown, Amnesty finds · populist Australian parliamentarian, One Nation founder, & anti-immigration opponent apPauling Hensong’s speech ‘shameful’ & echoed ‘rubbish’ from rightwing figures in UK & US, critics say · Australia's richest person, mining magnate Gina Hancock, who is pouring millions into apPauling Hensong's One Nation party & who bought $1.5 billion worth of stock in the recent SpaceySex launch, has suggested that Queensland should offer Elongated Muskrat some of its islands. She also suggested that mainland Queensland could become a base for Israeli companies developing military weapons systems · Australia has emerged as a global hotspot for data center growth, driven by the surge in dependence on artificial intelligence · Senate lawmakers voted to freeze Defense Secretary Putrid Hogsbreath's travel budget unless the Pentagon answers for an Iranian school bombing & Caribbean boat strikes, Politico reported · 'this war was literally for nothing:' people left baffled by T.®ump's latest Iran concession.

now available for free download

Curtains, a 24-page pdf of mainly poems with a couple of prose pieces thrown in, is now available for downloading from Pat Nolan's Neo-Mimeo Editions.

The URL is Curtains.

wednesday newstrip

The T.®ump phone is literally a gilded cage for a two-year-old smartphone · Elongated Muskrat 'amplified anti-migrant content' amid Belfast disorder · T.®ump's lavishly renovated Reflecting Pool is already covered in green algae: report · a cartoon showing Israeli Prime Minister Been Jamin NotJustanyyahoo with a drum, to the beat of which were media mogul Rupert Murdoch, anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal, former PM John Howard, then-Liberal leader Sussan Ley, Liberal Senator Jacinta Price, & Nationals leader David Littleproud carrying a group of people calling for a royal commission, has been found to have caused or contributed to 'offence, distress or prejudice' by the Australian Press Council · UFC president Dana White was left confused on stage at the Freedom 250 press conference ahead of last weekend’s show at the White House – requesting a translator step in for a fighter who had just addressed the crowd in English · Marco Cubik’s Rube's comparison that DoNuts T.®ump's White House UFC bash is akin to the Apollo moon landing left an MS NOW panel stunned · is Justin Trudeau really Fidel Castro’s secret son?

wednesday newstrip

Byron Bay psychedelic guru accused of choking spiritual healer · DOJ tells judge T.®ump can 'bulldoze' Statue of Liberty with no consequences if he wanted to · the Department of Defense announced that it had significantly reduced the number of recognized religions within the agency, down from more than 200 to 31 · the Kennedy Center has continued its court-ordered purge of T.®ump's name by removing it from the online logo · Queensland government accused of operating secret agenda to purge Indigenous representation · multiple people were shot near a community festival in Toledo, Ohio, with police still searching for the suspects following an outbreak of gunfire that sent people scrambling for cover · Sir Keir Starmer accused Elongated Muskrat of stoking division & meddling in UK politics after a week of intense posting on · a federal whistleblower has revealed plans by the US Department of Government Efficiency to falsely list millions of people in the Social Security database as dead in a scheme to pressure them to leave the country.

wednesday newstrip

An environmentalist drag queen who goes by the name Pattie Gonia has called on the outdoor clothing brand Patagonia to drop a trademark infringement lawsuit it filed against the influencer · T.®ump dodges rules in rush to douse the Lincoln Memorial bronze horse statues with gold · Homeland Security Secretary MarkTwayne Mullet has proposed plans to stop processing international flights at airports in 'sanctuary cities' · JaDed Vance warns crowd of graduates at the U.S. Air Force Academy not to boo him: 'I'm the vice president of the United States' · judge orders T.®ump to remove his name from Washington’s Kennedy Center. T.®ump claims 'Kennedy Center will collapse' without his name on the building · Australia to buy three second-hand United States submarines under AUKUS shake-up · the arrival of a purpose-built ship owned by Chinese car manufacturer BYD that docked in Melbourne on Sunday carrying 5000 vehicles has been described by an analyst as a "turning point" in the electrification of Australian road transport · Israeli troops have captured a strategic mountain topped with a Crusader-built castle in southern Lebanon in their deepest incursion into the country in 26 years, the military says.

A quote from Niccolò Machiavelli

"The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him."

Remind you of anything?

wednesday newstrip

Forty-two US aircraft have been lost or damaged in the Iran war according to a congressional report · a bomb scare plunged a Melbourne Airport into lockdown for several hours & forced flight cancellations on Thursday morning after a suspicious package was flagged by security. The package was later confirmed to be a laser hair removal device & a cylindrical cardboard hot chocolate container · the United States has brought murder charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro, in a major escalation of the T.®ump administration’s campaign against the country’s government · Israel's ambassador to Australia hauled in for a "please explain" after the country's national security minister posted a video of himself berating detained pro-Palestine activists · Elongated Muskrat's X Corp ordered to pay $750,000 after admitting it contravened Australian child protection request · 'Get-out-of-jail-free card': T.®ump lawsuit deal bars tax probes against him or his family — forever.

wednesday newstrip

Residents in a sleepy North Carolina town are at war after a nature-loving couple encouraged hundreds of vultures to roost on their roof, causing chaos on the streets · $1.5b T.®ump Tower deal on Gold Coast scrapped, developer says. "Let's just say that with the Iran war & everything else, the T.®ump brand was increasingly toxic in Australia," he added · 'Authentic follower of Christ' pleads guilty to stealing $140M from MAGA donors · NotJustAnyahoo signals possible US-Israel ground mission in Iran · DOJ seeks death penalty over killing of Israeli embassy staffers · secret documents reveal preferred Australian nuclear submarine base – & warn it could be a military target · a bride says her dream wedding turned into 'a day from hell' after the Philadelphia coordinator she paid more than $6,000 to handle everything from catering to decorations allegedly failed to deliver & never refunded her money.

wednesday newstrip

Verdict is in on T.®ump’s America: Voters say nation going 'all the way to hell' · Danish rightwing leader asked to form government after the Social Democrats fail to form coalition · an explosive report states Israel operated a clandestine military outpost on Iraqi soil without permission, bombed local troops who found it, resulting in the death of a soldier · the US President went on one of his infamous posting sprees to share images of sinking ships in Iran, explosions & a UFC fight on the White House front lawn. In one image, captioned ‘Bye Bye, Drones,’ an AI image showed an American warship blasting Iranian drones out of the sky with lasers. Another showed Iranian drones dropping like butterflies into the ocean, with images of actual blue butterflies next to it. It appears the President got the phrase ‘dropping like flies’ mixed up with butterflies · when MarkTwayne Mullet attempted to install his personal pick to lead Immigration & Customs Enforcement inside the Department of Homeland Security, the White House shot it down immediately · a trespasser died after he was sucked into a plane’s engine as it prepared to take off, Denver International Airport authorities said.

From the archives

Homeland Security

Certain words are flagged
for recognition. The surrounding
passages on the endless
monitoring tapes are
isolated & extracted, sent past
voice recognition software,
digitalised for immediate
interpretation of permutations
& association. Names, times,
places. More words to add. This
is no brief history of the world
but a paranoic infinite
dictionary. By themselves
the words are meaningless.
Meaning is added later. “I am
going to the shops” is sufficent
reason for assassination. 

Included on the video: Mark Young reads at the NZEPC 3rd Birthday Gala in 2004.

First published on Pelican Dreaming as "Caught on Tape," June 7, 2004.
Included in episodes, xPressed, Espoo, Finland, 2006. 
Also included in Pelican Dreaming: Selected Poems 1959-2008, selected & introduced  
                    by Thomas Fink,Meritage Press, California, U.S.A., 2008.

now out from Sandy Press

Mark Young
synecdoche
Sandy Press
url: Amazon
available in paperback ($US10.00) & Kindle ($US5.00)

Immersed in the speech acts of the "inescapable maelstrom" that characterizes "this rapidly evolving digital land-/ scape," Mark Young is equally focused on the "censorship-industrial complex" of burgeoning "law & ordure" fascisms. The riotous poetry of synecdoche displays Young wielding his "wizard’s mojo" to deepen our awareness of "risible inanity," "semantic non-sequiturs," "battle[s] of concepts," and "invented amulets." — Thomas Fink

Coincidentally, I read Mark Young’s synecdoche while in the midst of moving to a new house. And I noticed a relationship between the poems and contents that I unpacked. I chose boxes to unpack at random so that what surfaces from one box would not necessarily relate to what surfaces from the next box, and so on. Narratively, such, too, would seem to be the case with the poems; at one point I wondered whether the order of the poems mattered since the references are so diverse: a beggar, the pith of sugar cane, a wizard’s mojo, Margot Robbie, licorice, math...

But just as my boxes’ contents reflect me as their owner-packer, these wide-ranging poems share a common (and ambitious) interest: the entirety of existence. Poems are minimalistic snapshots of their concerns so that each poem is just a part of a larger something (perfectly exemplified by the poems whose titles are complete poems in the hay(na)ku form but whose text bodies flesh out the titular themes). Each poem reminds of a larger—immense!—truth: humanity is a shared condition. It’s a worthwhile reminder given these, our, troubled times. — Eileen R. Tabios

In synecdoche Mark Young displays the gamut of what shorter poems can do—including realistic sketches, clever realizations, and linguistic sleights-of-mind. It’s like an orchestra, and Mark is a master of every instrument. Like an amazing radio dial, whatever page/station you turn to, you’ll find something you can hum along with. — dan raphael

With his signature confident spark of higher-order humor in synecdoche, Mark Young presents an ironic reality as he slips off the cloak around the putative whole, greater than the sum of its parts and observes that the parts themselves, in their granularity and uniqueness, may in fact transcend the whole. He states, “Decompose the outline / of complex parts” before ushering in the question “But why can I see only the ingredients?” The book is replete with delicious linguistic wit, as in “Random / noises from / the vowel house” as Young wild-rides us through a series of near homophones, “ballet,” “bullet,” “belet,” “billet,” and “bull at a gate,” yielding an array of sharply different signals. These bright, clipped spurts of compressed language play their part in a leaping-off point toward an endless imaginative prowess reflecting Mark Young’s marvelous capability to re-envision the world. Apt social commentary abounds, notably in the poem “Trapezoid lunch pails,” where we hear “Now all I need is / a sports car with a big enough boot / to keep a mid-life crisis in.” Warning: The mind of Mark Young is sterling, fluid, smart, and thus addictive. As always, highly recommended. — Sheila E. Murphy

wednesday newstrip

Australian activist says crew of Gaza-bound aid flotilla was beaten by Israeli sailors · US Defense Secretary Putrid Hogsbreath has ordered the withdrawal of about 5,000 troops from Germany within the next year, the Pentagon said on Friday · T.®ump claims hostilities have ended in Iran in letter to congressional leaders. Tells Congress ceasefire means he does not need their approval for Iran war · Tasmanian capital records its hottest day in May, breaking 144-year-old record. The city hit 26.9 degrees just after 3pm, more than 12 degrees above its average May maximum of 14.6 degrees · Pope names Catholic priest who criticized T.®ump as new bishop of West Virginia · Republicans are facing a perfect storm heading into November's midterms, with new polling revealing that white voters — a demographic the party has relied upon for decades — are defecting in significant numbers & favoring Democratic control of Congress · Israeli military bulldoze Catholic convent buildings in Lebanon border village.

wednesday newstrip

Multiple scientists who serve on an independent board established to guide the nation’s nearly $9 billion basic science funding agency were terminated from their positions last Friday by President DoNuts T.®ump · right-wing activists ejected from Canberra Anzac ceremony for heckling during indigenous welcome to country. Similar scenes occurred in other Australian cities · when his ratings are down, suddenly there's a shooter nearby. DoNuts T.®ump evacuated from White House correspondents' dinner after suspected shooter apprehended · former Georgia Congressman & conspiracy kook Marjorie Taylor Greene is the latest high-profile political leader in the United States to raise questions about the official story regarding the 2024 assassination attempt against Donald Trump · NotJustAnyYahoo orders army to 'vigorously attack' Hezbollah in Lebanon · Royal aides rush to 'T.®ump-proof' King Charles' US state visit to prevent 'unpleasant surprises.'

wednesday newstrip

'Looksmaxxing' influencer Clavicular breaks silence after suspected overdose during livestream · Katy Perry being investigated by Victoria Police over Ruby Rose sex assault claim · Saudi PIF 'on the verge' of cutting LIV Golf funding · he exposed corruption & walked across Hungary. Now Péter Magyar has defeated a powerful state machine · YouTube has removed a channel belonging to a pro-Iran group producing AI videos that ridicule US President DoNuts T.®ump · Energy Minister Chris Bowen has warned an out-of-control blaze at an oil refinery in Geelong may impact domestic petrol production for some time. The Viva Energy facility is one of only two operational refineries in Australia · the White House has broken their silence on the disturbing string of deaths & disappearances involving scientists with knowledge of America's biggest nuclear secrets · FIFA World Cup fans set for $150 train tickets for 15 minute trip from New York to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Normal price is $12.90 · the Strait of Hormuz has reopened. & closed again.

recently, at Series Magritte

Le Cicérone (1948)
The temperance advocates come
knocking at my door but I haven't
had a drink for days. Nor do I
feel like one. Sorry to disappoint.

The pentecostal proselytizers pause
in the pathway. I instantly recog-
nize the pairing, can see more pairs 
over their shoulders, say no thanks 

politely to them before they have a
chance to open their mouths. & they, 
inured to rejection, offer their equally 
polite blessings & walk quietly away. 

Then the politicians, the outliers only — 
independents who seek to save the
planet; or those far to the right, want-
ing to stop immigration or gender e-


quality or renewable energy sources. 
The mainstream parties mainly leave 
us alone. Impersonal. Letterbox drops 
& billboards. Polling booth handouts.

In the early evening the cicerone comes
calling. Said: "Saw you had a lot of
visitors today, thought you might like
to know their antecedents. What drives

them, what is behind their focus on a
singular cause whether it be bigotry 
or hope or a need for an answer as to 
why the world turned out the way it

has, & how it might be rearranged to
match their vision of it." "Come in" I
said "& get comfortabable. Will make
you a coffee. Going to be a long night."

wednesday newstrip

'No Deal'— Bitcoin braces for crash after fruitless DeeJay Vance Iran talks · 'Communist cult' is pushing 'insane' climate change agenda · Iran war forces small Australian supermarkets to lower margins as suppliers, farmers pass on rising costs · what was Artemis II really about? · Cameron Diaz asks guests to "change [their] clothes" before they set foot into her luxurious New York City apartment · iPhone Fold’s crease-less display longevity claims will be scrutinized as OPPO Find N6’s real-world use exposes its exaggerated marketing · Melania adviser reveals why she gave Jeffrey Epstein statement · Chernobyl organism raises new questions in radiation biology · eligible US men will be automatically registered for military draft pool beginning in December.

wednesday newstrip

US Defense Secretary Putrid Hogsbreath asks US Army chief to step down as Iran war grinds on · 'payment expected within seven days:' New Zealand doctor invoices US embassy for rising petrol costs · Hogsbreath lifts ban on service members carrying personal firearms on base · fuel crisis driving some Australian farmers to consider abandoning harvests · Pam Bondi beached as Attorney General · Artemis II marks NASA’s new moon age, wrapped in patriotism & global promise · T.®ump slaps 100pc tariffs on Australian drugs — with exceptions · Jason Momoa, Taika Waititi, & Cliff Curtis buy Auckland's Studio West in major screen industry deal · 'a litany of lies:' T.®ump’s rambling primetime Iran address sparks backlash · judge dismisses most of Blake Lively's claims in harassment lawsuit against Justin Baldoni · Married At First Sight Australia 2026 recap - episode 31: wife snaps: 'Ya cousin wants to fuck me!'

freight

a.k.a. Wait until this starts happening more & more often, Donald.

"…and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on."

W.H.Auden: Musée des Beaux Arts

(photo from TIME's best pictures of 2005)

main text originally posted to Pelican Dreaming, 12/21/2005, in the time of George W. Bush.

wednesday newstrip

T.®ump breaks military recruitment vows as he arrests & deports veterans · moments before President T.®ump announced that talks with Iran were going well & that he would not make good on his threat to bomb one of their civilian power plants, someone dropped about $580 million in the oil futures market · T.®ump administration to pay French company $1B to walk away from US offshore wind leases · over 500 service stations in Australia have run out of petrol or diesel · Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of former podcaster & now FBI head Krash Pastel, accused the anti-war enclave of MAGA of being under the influence of foreign nations, notably Russia, on X · DoNuts T.®ump's wife & youngest son have been caught voting by mail in Florida despite the president's ongoing campaign to ban vote-by-mail · a 20-year-old woman has been convicted on a graffiti charge for sticking googly eyes on a famous sculpture in South Australia.

SuperT.®ump; aka wednesday newstrip

T.®ump threatens to put ICE agents in airport security unless Democrats end shutdown · TACO time again. T.®ump gave Iran 48-hour deadline to open Strait of Hormuz & then decided not to proceed · is anyone as ill-suited for great office as Donald T.®ump? Yes, Pete Hogsbreath – that's why Potus likes him · T.®ump & NotJustanYahoo have formed a convenient coalition, but clear divisions are emerging · 'Good, I'm glad he's dead': T.®ump responds to death of ex-FBI chief Robert Mueller, who led T.®ump-Russia investigation · T.®ump's Iran War drive exposes limits of "Yes, Sir" Cabinet · Underground Railroad museum sues T.®ump administration alleging it canceled grant on the basis of race · T.®ump’s shameless corruption is not a deviation from American history but its fulfilment · with casino empire gone, T.®ump family bets on prediction markets · DoNuts T.®ump set to feature on gold coin to celebrate 250 years of U.S. Independence, only the second time a living President has featured on a coin · T.®ump’s profiteering hits $4 Billion.

wednesday newstrip

Marco Rubicon mocked for wearing oversized shoes after DoNuts T.®ump reportedly gifts allies $145 footwear they're too afraid not to wear · Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has slashed more than 1,600 jobs as artificial intelligence reshapes the workforce · South Australian Liberal Party candidate says 'same-sex marriage is not real' & 'feminism is demonic' · White House adviser James Blair privately urged House Republicans to stop promoting the 'mass deportations' of illegal migrants, according to a report from Axios · new report on Wednesday revealed that more American service members were left with serious injuries — including brain trauma, burns, shrapnel wounds, & at least one person requiring a limb amputation — than the T.®ump administration initially reported following a targeted Iranian drone attack in Kuwait that left six troops dead · T.®ump pulled mine-sweepers from Middle East before Iran war · Sydney designer Katie Perry wins court case against pop star Katy Perry.

wednesday newstrip

On T.®ump’s gilded stage, history has no worth – even if he understood it · India defends sheltering Iran ship 'caught on wrong side of events' · Multicultural Affairs Minister Dr. Anne Aly warns Australia must not 'abandon' people vulnerable to radicalisation · in a startling theory the Ark of the Covenant may lie thousands of miles away in one of the most remote places on Earth, buried deep in the jungles of the Solomon Islands · the U.S. military said Friday it carried out targeted operations alongside Ecuadorian forces against "Designated Terrorist Organizations" in Ecuador · a longtime conservation advocate warned on Saturday that President DoNuts T.®ump’s recent park policies will likely take a toll on an innocent party — Yosemite Park wildlife bears · DHS deports six-year-old deaf boy after preventing him receiving his hearing aid, lawyer says · the Australian government is considering offering military support to assist Gulf nations facing strikes from Iran, but will not participate in any ground troop deployment into Iran, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, has said · 'Thin skinned little boy': critics pounce as T.®ump declares 'we've already won' Iran war.

Iran girls’ school targeting likely 'deliberate'

Al Jazeera investigation raises questions over deadliest single attack of war on Iran that killed 165 schoolgirls & staff.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/3/questions-over-minab-girls-school-strike-as-israel-us-deny-involvement

wednesday newstrip

"The problem is that Israel is in love with assassinations … & we never learn that it is not the solution. We have killed all the leaders of Hamas. They are still there. It’s the same with Hezbollah. The leaders are always replaced:" Israeli analyst · supporting 'illegal aggression' against Iran 'the worst thing' Australia could do, international law experts say · death toll in Israeli strike on southern Iran girls’ elementary school rises to 165 · T.®ump says Iran operation could take "four weeks or less" · at least 22 people were killed & more than 120 wounded in clashes with police on Sunday in Pakistan after protesters supporting Iran tried to storm the U.S. Consulate · 'we voted for America First & ZERO wars': T.®ump's Iran strike sparks backlash from MAGA base · "Away I ran!" said T.®ump.

also from the archives

a found de Saussure hay(na)ku

from the archives

de Saussure

stands up in the 
audience to point out
that the fact that
Britney Spears was
cleared in the dog 
abuse scandal
negates its nomination
for the MTV award
of arbitrary linguistic
sign. Derrida, who's
presenting the award,
agrees, since it's
become apparent that
the limit of representation 
based on signified-
signifier dichotomy 
has been reached. But, he
continues, an arbitrary 
sign can make playing
with substitutes
possible. He tells Britney
to continue towards
the stage & calls
upon Fed-Ex to
join her, saying that the
second nomination, a 
complaint lodged with DCFS 
involving allegations of 
poor dental hygiene, as 
well as poor eating & 
sleeping habits for their 
kids, still qualifies, if only
to remind the viewing
audience of the lack 
of access of many of the 
world's poor to clean water.

11.24.2008

wednesday newstrip

T.®ump wants federal agencies to release files on UFOs & extraterrestrials. Other people remain content with ancestry.com · then Prince Andrew’s Met protection officers ‘told to guard party hosted by Epstein’ · Arab & Islamic countries jointly condemned remarks by the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who suggested Israel had a biblical right to a vast swath of the Middle East · UK government considering removing former prince from the line of succession · Australians have vowed to boycott The Coffee Club after its director called for tougher immigration policies, despite being the son of Greek migrants · British nuclear-powered attack sub HMS Anson arrives in Perth for training exercises · urgent health warning after 1700 toxic alkaloid poppy plants stolen from secret farm in Australia. Unlike regular opioid poppies, which contain sedative opiates like morphine & codeine, the alkaloid variety contains life-threatening thebaine & oripavine at dangerously high concentrations · T.®ump said on Saturday that he wants a global tariff of 15 per cent, up from 10 per cent he had announced a day earlier after the US Supreme Court struck down many of the far-reaching taxes on imports that he had imposed over the last year.

wednesday newstrip

"Cartel drone" incursion sparks El Paso shutdown. Turned out to be four mylar party balloons · White House fires federal prosecutor just five hours after his swearing in because the President had not appointed him. "Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does" · Australian Liberal Party ousts its first woman leader, replaces her with a man described as the "best-qualified idiot they’ve ever met" · Kristi NoeminKnucklehead had Coast Guard pilot fired for leaving her blanket on a plane · Olympic Village in crisis as condoms run out · the freshly minted Liberal leader has doubled down on plans for a hardline immigration policy, pledging to cut migrant numbers & focus on those who reject Australian values · new poll says Bad Bunny represents America better than DoNuts T.®ump · Palestinians say Israel's new plans for the West Bank kill statehood hopes.

À / la recherche / du temps perdu

A couple of tracks I heard the other day in the background on YouTube, which came up quite close together, were a poignant reminder of how different things were before the reign of the gilded sTrumpet.

wednesday newstrip

Man, 24, sparks evacuation at French hospital after doctors find 8ins-long live WW1 artillery shell in his rectum · more than 50 reptiles, including a cobra & a 1.3-meter crocodile, were seized when police discovered a makeshift zoo during an alleged drug bust near Kempsey on the NSW Mid North Coast · be 'prudent' about supplying arms to Taiwan, Xi tells T.®ump in call · shadow Arts Minister Chris Rath called for the funding of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras to be reviewed, accusing it of being "hijacked by left-wing extremists" · Democrat victory in Republican stronghold in Texas could spell trouble for T.®ump · one of the world's largest scam compounds, complete with fake Australian Federal Police offices & workers wearing counterfeit uniforms to rip off Aussies out of millions, has been uncovered in Cambodia · 'farmers have not received a dime' of aid from T.®ump: rancher · World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) flags possible investigation of 'penis injecting' in men’s ski jumping event at Winter Olympics.

wednesday newstrip

Melania T.®ump has been mocked for selling popcorn buckets alongside the release of her controversial biopic. The Melania popcorn bucket is available to purchase for $12.99 at select theaters showing the documentary · a huge bush rave held in a state forest in Victoria has been shut down by authorities amid a crackdown on illegal parties & events · DoNuts T.®ump won't turn up to Super Bowl: anything to do with Green Day & Bad Bunny? · Pam Bondi Beach sparks fury from onlookers with Don Lemon arrest comment · gold & silver prices plunged overnight after US President DoNuts T.®ump announced his nomination for the US Federal Reserve. In the latest market rout, more than $US15 trillion was wiped from the gold & silver price over 24 hours · relief on the horizon for south-east Australia after record heatwave delivers 50C · nurse loses license after refusing to anesthetize MAGA patients · of the five evening screenings of Melania taking place on its opening day at cinemas across Sydney, none have sold more than 16 tickets. One has sold just six.

wednesday newstrip

Border Patrol chief blames Democrats & journalists for Minneapolis chaos · 'No rizz': Gen Z T.®umpers are rejecting 'no charisma' Republicans · mega-wealthy residents in glamorous California enclave demand their neighbors pay millions to protect the only road leading to their mansions · thousands rally & hundreds of businesses close in protest against ICE presence in Minnesota · renewed call for councils to ban 'ugly trend' of using synthetic turf along nature strips & in new homes sweeping Australian suburbs · 'Get out now;' residents ordered to flee as Victoria tipped to hit record 49C · New Zealand’s house price crash is cause for celebration · Ted Cruz warned DoNuts T.®ump that he would face a 'bloodbath' in the November midterm elections if prices continued to rise, prompting the president to respond, 'fuck you, Ted' · Gregory Bovine has been removed from his role as Border Patrol 'commander at large' & will return to his former job in El Centro, California, where he is expected to retire soon, according to a DHS official with knowledge of the change.

the more things change, the more . . .

The Palestinian death toll has risen to 821 people, and more than 3,300 have been injured since Israel began its offensive in the Gaza Strip two weeks ago.

A United Nations agency says nearly fifty percent of those killed in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip are women and children.

Ϋ

"But this is reality. You do your utmost to try and explain the difference between people aiming at women, children and babies in order to kill them because they are Israelis, and on the other hand – a democratic state trying to defend its citizens."

Dan Gillerman, retiring Israeli ambassador to the United Nations

Ϋ

"Many people in Israel call us traitors and war criminals because we talk about the war while it is still going on," said Teddy Katz of the Israeli peace group, Gush Shalom.

"But the truth is that this government ordered a criminal war."

Gush Shalom is one member of a coalition that held a news conference on Wednesday, January 7, 2009, to brief the media on peace camp positions.

Some speakers at the news conference focused on what they held to be Israel's real motives for the war - election success and, according to Katz, sanitising corrupt political reputations is also a factor.

Ϋ

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said senior Israeli military officials have confessed that there was no gunfire emanating from the school when it came under fire from one of its tanks.

Tel Aviv has attempted to justify its Jan 6 attack on the United Nations school as a response to "militant gunfire" and has released footage of the incident to substantiate its claims.

Gunness, however, asserted that the footage released by Israel dated back to 2007 and was not related to the current incident.

A post from gamma ways, january 10, 2009.

wednesday newstrip

'Europe will not be blackmailed': sweeping retaliation on the cards after T.®ump’s Greenland threats · life in Cuba is about to get harder as T.®ump threatens oil supply · Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was hammered by an immigration expert after falsely distorting DHS' own data on the criminal charges of detainees · T.®ump’s '‘Board of Peace' for Gaza to require $1 billion payment for permanent membership · Israel objects to US lineup of 'Gaza executive board', says the lineup runs contrary to Israeli policy · FBI Director Kash Patel has taken the unprecedented task of having agents comb through vast amounts of data at the agency in an effort to dig up dirt on opponents of President T.®ump · Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), a T.®ump-endorsed lawmaker & sitting member of the House Intelligence Committee – one of Congress’ most powerful oversight panels – was widely ridiculed over the weekend after railing against aircraft condensation – a common target of debunked conspiracy theories.