Trump Watch:

Paul Manafort has been found guilty on 5 charges, mis-trial on the rest so he'll have to go through them again... that's if The Prosecution wants to trial them seeing as they've already got him for 25 years or so.

That's very interesting.

More interesting, Michael Cohen has plead guilty to eight criminal counts including tax fraud, false statements to a bank and campaign finance violations. In a statement by Michael Cohen he says he committed campaign finance violations "in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office"..... whoever that is?

Even more interesting still, Michael Flynn has been awaiting sentencing for some time on the charges he plead guilty to and in a "Joint Status Report" to the sentencing judge from Mueller and co they state "Due to the status of it's investigation, the Special Counsel's Office does not believe this matter is ready to be scheduled for a sentencing hearing at this time."

All this happened TODAY, while Trump was flying to somewhere, probably to Maralago... again.

Would love to be a fly on the wall of Air Force One.

EDIT: Quick correction I just read - Paul Manafort has been found guilty on 8 counts not 5 and faces 80 YEARS in prison not just 25. I wonder if The Special Counsel's Office does not believe this matter is ready to be scheduled for a sentencing hearing at this time too? Your move Pauly boy.

I'm so glad the director has walked out on the producers because of the direction Bond movies are heading towards.

I'm a big bond fan, and feel the franchise has gone downhill - mainly due to Craig and the politically correct flavour that is so rife in the latest films.

Black bond is also not the answer. Hard edged combatant yet confident womanizer is. The franchise should make a decision. Either return bond to what he was, or stop making films altogether. 

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/danny-boyle-out-as-next-james-bond-director-over-creative-differences-20180822-p4zyx8.html

RIP Robbie Rotten, I for one was always hoping you'd take down Sporticus in the end

I agree PC doesn't work for Bond, and Bond has lost it's way.

In some ways the world is more sophisticated these days, so the original Bond formula looks comical at times.

But the only sensible option is to stick to the formula.

If you've seen one Bond film haven't you seen them all?

I admit I've seen just about every one of them, they come out on DVD and I'll take the couple of hours of popcorn. But I reckon I couldn't give you the plot of any of them apart from Bond kicks @rse, Bond wins, roll credits.

Did I miss anything?

He could be black, brown, white, brindle, lesbian and it wouldn't change a thing.

Yes, Bond gets the girls.

That might work for a Lesbian Bond but has limited appeal :)

This part of the formula must be for blokes to imagine they are Bond, and could similarly get the girls.

The problem with the PC Bond is, he doesn't get the girls in the same way.

Similarly a Black Bond might not work for a majority white male audience,but it might for some female viewers.,

The ultimate Bond is an "adaptive reality" move that works out what you want, and gives you that move.

If will be funny discussing it with the wife afterwards, if her version was different, and particularly if it involved a Lesbian :)

Second Trump Watch of the day, why not.

First, let's take stock.

Guilty of federal felonies potentially facing prison sentences (combined) of 125 years:

Paul Manafort - Trump Campaign Chairman, Rick Gates - Deputy Campaign Chairman, Michael Flynn - National Security Advisor, George Papadopolous - Foreign Policy Advisor, Michael Cohen - Trump Attorney.

But of course Trump knew nothing about any of it right? I mean, he's too honest. Pass the kool-aid.

Anyway, further on the real second Trump Watch of the day.

From the mouth of Lenny Davis - Michael Cohen's attorney. (BTW a REAL attorney, not umm a.... Giuliano type attorney).

“Mr. Cohen has knowledge on certain subjects that should be of interest to the special counsel (Mueller) and is more than happy to tell the special counsel all that he knows. Not just about the obvious possibility of a conspiracy to collude and corrupt the American democracy system in the 2016 election, which the Trump Tower meeting was all about, but also knowledge about the computer crime of hacking and whether or not Mr. Trump knew ahead of time about that crime and even cheered it on.”

There was something co-ordinated about the plea of Cohen and the "Joint Status Report" of Flynn's sentencing today me thinks, considering they both came within hours of Manafort being convicted. I think there was a message from Mueller to Manafort that Cohen has flipped, Flynn has flipped, you're next or 80 years.

And he wanted Trump to hear it all too.

If Trump gets into any trouble he can just say "Marki said it was fine"..

Actually considering Marki's reputation as "the Mock", anything less than being publicly hung, drawn and quartered, is a win for Trump.

Marki's half right but he doesn't know why, all the "powerful people" stuff and all that.

It will be very hard to get Trump. Not because of powerful people but because of the law and constitution of The U.S.

Firstly, there's no criminal indictments against a sitting President. There can be a sealed indictment to be opened once he leaves, and that's likely. But also Mueller reports to the AG who reports to The House. I got no doubt The House will bring Impeachment charges against Trump, but The Senate will clear him as 2/3rds are needed for impeachment and even if a "Blue Wave" hits in Nov, it's only a half-senate election and The Repubs start about 20 odd seats in front, most put a best case Blue Wave result giving the Dems a majority of ONE. And even then there's chickensh.t Dems that won't impeach a Pres.

And then The Supreme Court, with two Trump appointees aboard an already Conservative bench, will decide if the sealed indictment can be pursued because there's argument about double jeopardy because The Pres has effectively already faced a trial before his peers (the Impeachment trial, his peers being the Senate).

So the law may in effect protect him. Maybe it would be smart of The Dems NOT to go for impeachment so it takes double jeopardy off the table for a sealed indictment.

BUT!!! It's not really the main game anyway. The main game is destroying Trump's empire and web. He mightn't go to jail... though hopefully he still might... but we'll just see a continuing conga line of Trump associates and partners jailed until it hits mother load - his dumb sons and girlfriend... I mean daughter... and everything will come out and be public knowledge and there'll be no doubt whatsoever President 45 will be forever remembered as Agent Orange, Putin's b.tch.

HD you're disgusting!
What kind of virtual glasses do you own, and where can I get some?

Half right? Which part is the half?
How many country leaders do you know of who were burnt at the stake for not committing a crime on humanity?

We need to (or the LNP at least) needs to change their constitution....

You get 1 leadership challenge. One per term.
And the stakes for losing are kicked out of parliament. No backbench no coshy position till you mount your next challenge. It's the price you pay. The incumbent PM if he loses can stay, as he/she was elected by the people.

Enough of this circus.

Well I though I made that clear. Half right as in it's very hard to remove a U.S President from office let alone have him jailed. Very hard, but not impossible, and here's hoping Trump sets a new benchmark on that. But you haven't got a clue as to why you're half right which is why I detailed it above, Nothing to do with "power" as you'll note.

And I don't know any leaders who were burnt at the stake since the... 1600's maybe, and even then I'd be struggling to name them.

But world leaders removed from office for corruption or criminal activities? Well the list is too long but in the last two years odd:

Iceland’s prime minister, with a name I can't even pronounce let alone spell - bounced by revelations in the "Panama Papers", concealing investments etc that raised a massive conflict of interest .

Brazilian President Rousseff was impeached and removed from office for fiddling the budget books to cover-up bad political decisions.

Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president, impeached and removed for a bribery scandal.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, dismissed by Pakistans Supreme Court for hiding money in his childrens offshore bank accounts.

South African President Jacob Zuma, he actually resigned before they could sack him, but it was coming - bribery.

There's more, that you could find with the simplest Google search like I did, but I'm getting tired of typing stuff you won't read anyway so I'll just add in no particular order Italy, Romania, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Lithuania, Montenegro, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Venezuela, Uruguay. All with leaders impeached and/or removed OR currently under investigation for indictable crimes.

Just in the last two years.

And of course The U.S has already had a President who would've been impeached if he didn't resign first.

So......................

..................... what was the point you were trying to make anyway?

Marki, not all the people vote for a particular leader or even one of the two major parties, which is why I intesely dislike the two party preferred system. We will only ever see a Lib/LNP or a Labor govt in power and to me this is wrong. It appears that neither party have the peoples interests at heart and neither party have the honour to put the people who voted them into power above their own self indulgent agendas. While I am on my soapbox I also do not think that there is any need to have as many levels of government that we have. This country could easily get rid of State government and perform much more efficiently.

Is that one person per challenge? 
I'm actually enjoying aussie politics the last few years. Keeps us peasants entertained. The country can run itself whether we have a government or not.

One thing I will agree with you on Marki....... it IS a circus and it's sad that while they are fighting and bullying each other, the real job of looking after this country is being ignored.

Dutton is an "interesting choice" - he is going to win back some QLD votes and "one nation" votes, but he is going the bleed votes in other areas.

At best it is beak-even IMO even ignoring the chaotic transition and any baggage from that process.

IMO Julie Bishop would have been the choice that worried the ALP, Shorten is probably doing cartwheels around the office,

But then it comes down to ability to perform in the role, I've got a lot of doubts about him performing in Parliament and in the Media.

Any attempts to soften/broaden his image are almost doom to fail.

So I wonder if the LNP did any polling in the electorates before making this choice, IMO at best it is break-even at worst it is a train-wreck.

But I'll admit I don't like the guy, perhaps one of his fans can present the alternative point of view.

HD, no comments from me, I dislike the whole lot of them. There is not one politician that impresses me as they all appear to be in it for themselves.

As i said the other day, i think people are mis-reading this thinking The Libs... correction the conservatives in The Libs... are doing all this to give themselves the best chance of winning the next election.

I think plenty of them don't care about that, at least the ones with safe seats.

They're doing this to win The Liberal Party.

The best Lib is in The Senate, but probably un-electable as PM even if he moved to The House because of his accent - Cormann. Though who knows, perhaps people wouldn't care about a PM who sounds Dutch. The best Lib in The House is Fydenberg.

And it's reflected in The Labor Party. The best of Labor's in The Senate - Wong. But maybe she's got the same problem as Corman, you know... how do i be delicate about this... the lesbian thing and maybe even being an Asian PM thing. I'll say I got no problem with either or a even Dutchy in Cormann but the Australian people? The best of Labor in the house is, who else but Albo of course.

Now people on either side of politics might have a problem with one or all of the four I just named, but whether you disagree with their politics or not, i don't think too many could dispute that if any of them were PM and/or Opposition Leader at the same time, at least politics would at last be a contest of BELIEF'S, instead of personal politics and ambition.

No one has blamed Des yet.

Malcolm has :)

Spoke too soon, Julie is in the mix, in fact they are all running for leader.

What is the bet they all get one vote?  :)

The liberals are united.
https://twitter.com/danilic/status/1032413901860696064

I just watched the no confidence motion debate in the senate. Any one who thinks that Pauline Hanson has any semblance of intelligence is kidding themselves.
You really should have to pass a literacy test before being able to stand for Parliament.

On another point you should have to pass a test showing that you understand the political system and what candidates stand for before you are able to vote.

Compulsory voting has too many flaws.

The alternative is America.

I'll take the flaws.

Yep.
The last thing we need is to have 60% of the population not vote, yet somehow find a voice to stick it to the elected leader once they are in power.

Zef we are already heading down the track of populism.

I have conducted a number of state elections and it concerns me the number of people who vote who are totally unaware of what or who they are voting for.

Look at our mate Marki he thinks he knows what he’s talking about

Albo is a shot duck as well IMO..too much baggage Libs can use. They need a near clean skin...possibly Dreyfuss or Clare?

Well if there's one way to get there in a hurry it's to make it so party's only have to win the votes of their base. With non compulsary voting it's not the party with the most votes who wins, it's the party who can get the most people to vote. Zealots are the most likely to vote, so they try to win the zealots - the base. It's the indifferent middle who keep us away from far right and left  populism.