Monthly Archives: February 2017

Say if Abbott had stayed PM

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This is Faye Busch on Malcolm Turnbull in a Catallaxy thread.

Say if Abbott had stayed PM and Turnbull was still digging holes for the NBN.
None of this would have happened.
No near-death election.
No Photios’ toxic spread.
No splintering of the party.
No need for new party.
No rise and rise and rise of Shorten.
No wasted valuable time.
No ignoring Brexit and Trump.
No endless advice to the Prime Minister on how to run the country.
No hollow pretense.
No blaming the Conservatives for the mess.
Ad infinitum.

There is no doubt Tony would have won the last election with more than a one-seat majority. And beyond all that, what has Malcolm done that Tony would not have been able to, or what would Tony have done that Malcolm is pleased to have prevented? Such an egotistical non-entity who will be remembered just as we think of him today. History will never redeem his reputation.

How is it playing out in the US?

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I sent my article “How is it Playing out in Australia?” to Powerline which has reprinted it here with the following text:

Writing from down under, Steve Kates responds to the question “How is it playing out in Australia?” Not surprisingly, Professor Kates provides a perspective that is nowhere to be found in the news up here: “For [Australian Prime Minister] Malcolm [Turnbull] apparently to have tried to push Trump, by telling him that as a fellow businessman that a deal is a deal, must rank as politically incompetent as anything I have ever seen. That Trump now thinks of Malcolm as a flea-weight no-account fool only means he has the same assessment of the PM as the rest of us.” Professor Kates has pulled the top comments from an inaccessible article in The Australian to elaborate.

Professor Kates notes in an email message to us that the comments on his post at Catallaxy Files are all of a piece and adds: “I just think it might be interesting and valuable if the underlying sentiment in Australia was more widely understood, especially in America.” Indeed, and the same may well be true of the underlying sentiment in the United States as well.

PAUL ADDS: It seems that if anyone was “badgering” during this phone call, it was the Australian PM as he tried to get Trump to say he would comply with Obama’s deal.

It was then listed at Lucianne.com and now Sarah Hoyt has put it up at Instapundit. That Malcolm Turnbull leads the conservative party in Australia is a disgrace, but at least there is now a possibility that the White House will have a better understanding of the lay of the land down under. Let me quote BJ from the Instapundit comments thread:

Turnbull is a leftie buffoon and an embarrassment to Australia. Please don’t judge us by the actions of this usurper, who brought down an elected Prime Minister who was a true conservative, and then alienated and drove away the conservative voter base to the point that he barely survived the last election. Most conservatives in Australia can’t stand Turnbull, and he is almost single-handedly responsible for the rise of a number of new conservative parties who are soaking up the real conservative vote. If Turnbull was in the USA he would be a Democrat for certain.

This is universally understood on the right side of politics in Australia. We have our own LINOs, Liberals in Name Only. I tend to think that sitting in Parliament all day long listening to leftist arguments weakens the fibre of those who we send to represent us. Everyone has a sentimentality that will let them down and open themselves up to arguments about hurt and harm, and that is a good thing. But not to be able to go past the first moment and see how this kind of sentimentality plays out in the longer run is a stupidity that may yet be the end of us.

Patriots win

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https://youtu.be/cyakI7qvV8k

The Patriots had the coldest first half and ultimately they were down 3-28 until they then ended up scoring the last 31 points of the game. And because of a missed extra point, they had to score a pair of two-point conversions to tie the score from when they had been 16 points down. The video is of The Patriots last drive to tie the game.

And I know I shouldn’t say it, but it was like watching Trump win an impossible election against all expectations.

UPDATE: But it seems everyone is saying it: Trump supporters see a kindred spirit in Patriots’ come-from-behind victory.

trump-brady

AND FOR THE LONG TERM RECORD: Just so if I want to this is always available. Mot surprisingly, Edelman’s catch of the ages is the frozen moment on both the above vide of the Superbowl itself, and below on the video of the Patriots entire season.

https://youtu.be/uyBtSRms8YU

And now here is a documentary on Brady’s season.

Give Google the flick and switch to DuckDuckGo

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It really is time to stop using Google as your search engine. You can be reminded of just what a disgusting organisation it is in this story: Google Redefines The Word ‘Fascism’ To Smear Conservatives, Protect Liberal Rioters. They have inserted the words “right wing” into the definition even though Mussolini was a communist who then began the Fascist Party in Italy while the words Nazi, I need hardly point out, is a contraction of National Socialists.

And as a recent reminder to myself, I was looking the other day for the post I had done on Margaret Thatcher as The Greatest Woman of the Twentieth Century. No matter what perms and combs I used at Google, nothing would come up. On DuckDuckGo it was instantaneous and in the first ten hits. It was recommended a while back by some commenter and I have slowly been shifting over. This is how DuckDuckGo describes itself:

Real Privacy. We don’t track you. What you search for is your own business and we’d like to keep it that way. That’s why we don’t collect any personal information and therefore, have none to share.

Community. Our Extended Team. Our search engine is more than just servers and an algorithm. Our community directly contributes to DuckDuckGo. Get involved in changing the future of search.

Smarter Search. Get answers quicker. It’s our goal to get you where you want to go in fewer clicks. We do that through instant answers, themes and !bangs. We have everything you’d expect and a whole lot more.

I do not expect this post to show up in a Google Search.

Patriot’s Day

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This is the description of the movie Patriots Day:

An account of the Boston Marathon bombing, PATRIOTS DAY is the powerful story of a community’s courage in the face of terror. In the aftermath of an unspeakable attack, Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) joins courageous survivors, first responders and investigators in a race against the clock to hunt down the bombers before they strike again. Weaving together the stories of Special Agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon), Police Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman), Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons) and nurse Carol Saunders (Michelle Monaghan) this visceral and unflinching chronicle captures the suspense of one of the most sophisticated manhunts in law enforcement history and celebrates the strength of the people of Boston.

Everything you might want to see except some kind of analysis of the motivation of the bombers. Definitely not recommended.

More interesting, however, is the Superbowl which is Sunday night in the US but kicks off at 10:30 on Monday. It has the Boston Patriots v Atlanta Falcons. An unusually political contest since Boston has Tom Brady as its quarterback, the greatest who has ever played the game. But in very left wing Boston he is known for his friendship with Donald Trump and has even been known to wear the MAGA hat. Even more, the owner is Robert Kraft about whom this story is told:

Friendship and loyalty mean a lot to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, which explains why he happens to be such a huge fan of President Donald Trump.

After Kraft’s wife passed away from cancer six years ago, only a very few people were thoughtful enough to stick by the Patriots owner’s side as he struggled with adapting to a life without his partner of 48 years. One of those people was Donald Trump.

“When Myra died, Melania and Donald came up to the funeral in our synagogue — then they came for memorial week to visit with me,” Kraft told the New York Daily News in an interview.

“Then he called me once a week for the whole year — the most depressing year of my life when I was down and out,” Kraft added. “He called me every week to see how I was doing, invited me to things, tried to lift my spirits. He was one of five or six people that were like that. I remember that.”

What an amazing gesture. It is no wonder that Kraft has stuck by Trump’s side through thick and thin, including at Indiana Inaugural Ball on Jan. 19, where the then-president-elect acknowledged their friendship in front of the whole world.

“In the audience we have somebody that’s under no pressure whatsoever because he’s got a great quarterback named Tom Brady and a great coach named Belichick — Bob Kraft,” Trump said at the dinner. “Your friend Tom just called, he feels good. He called to congratulate us, he feels good. Good luck. You’re going to do great things.”

Unlike his enemies, Trump is a man of pure decency. Go Pats!

We are all one election away from a Venezuelan future

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I sent my article “How’s it Playing out in Australia?” to Powerline which has reprinted it here with the following text:

Writing from down under, Steve Kates responds to the question “How is it playing out in Australia?” Not surprisingly, Professor Kates provides a perspective that is nowhere to be found in the news up here: “For [Australian Prime Minister] Malcolm [Turnbull] apparently to have tried to push Trump, by telling him that as a fellow businessman that a deal is a deal, must rank as politically incompetent as anything I have ever seen. That Trump now thinks of Malcolm as a flea-weight no-account fool only means he has the same assessment of the PM as the rest of us.” Professor Kates has pulled the top comments from an inaccessible article in The Australian to elaborate.

Professor Kates notes in an email message to us that the comments on his post at Catallaxy Files are all of a piece and adds: “I just think it might be interesting and valuable if the underlying sentiment in Australia was more widely understood, especially in America.” Indeed, and the same may well be true of the underlying sentiment in the United States as well.

PAUL ADDS: It seems that if anyone was “badgering” during this phone call, it was the Australian PM as he tried to get Trump to say he would comply with Obama’s deal.

All of our countries are one election away from a Venezuelan future. The left is bereft of any idea how things work, and their numbers continue to grow. I was reminded how hard it is to keep things on the productive straight and narrow by these headlines today at Drudge:

BUSH JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN
MIDDLE EAST CITIZENS RUSH IN
IMMIGRATION ORDERS UNRAVEL:
TRUMP SLAMS DECISION…
VOWS FIGHT…
JUDGE USED BROAD POWER…
COURT SHOWDOWN…
AIRLINES RESUME FLIGHTS…
‘HOMELAND’ NOT FLAGGING…
STATE DEPT REVERSES VISA BAN…

One judge and the entire policy of the American government unravels. It’s just time that more refugees were settled in Washington and the ACT.

How’s it playing out in Canada?

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The differences between the Dominion I left and Australia today are, as ever, not that great. We are one election way from a descent from which we will never thereafter ascend. I get stories from home all the time and they are generally how things are moving sharply to the left. Interestingly for me, most of those I hear from are quite OK with this. So here’s an article on the effects of Justin Trudeau on Canada’s fair domain: Is Justin Trudeau ‘Trumpable’?. That is, could someone like Trump become Prime Minister in Canada? Reading this is a reminder how easily someone like Justin could become PM in Australia.

Well, let’s see how Liberal poster boy Justin Trudeau is doing in the Canadian compassion trade, how well he is shepherding Canadians through good times and bad, and how he is caring for the vulnerable:

The budget is no longer balanced. The deficit is approaching the $6 billion mark and, under current fiscal policies, Canada Finance projects a 1.5 trillion dollar debt over the next thirty years. Trudeau is creating a debtor nation in perpetuity. This is a shepherd happy to mortgage his flock to the fiscal butcher.

Trudeau is now under investigation by the federal ethics commissioner for traveling in a private aircraft, a violation of the Conflict of Interest Act and the first-ever investigation into a sitting prime minister for political wrongdoing. He is also on the hook for illegal party fundraising practices and for selling influence to foreign businessmen who donate to his foundation—his cash-for-access version of the Clintonian pay-for-play scheme. How this will benefit Canadians, as Trudeau claims, is a mystery.

Trudeau is set to impose a carbon tax on those provinces that have not yet done so, raising gasoline prices, heating costs, transportation and delivery expenses, food prices and more. These are significant hikes for most consumers, especially as the GST (value-added tax) sits atop the carbon tax, piling layer upon layer of mulct on hard-pressed people. Some I know are cutting back on driving their children to sports events and fitness centers. A weeping Ontario woman complained at a Trudeau Town Hall forum that her hydro bill was now higher than her mortgage. Others are being forced to choose groceries over utilities. Of course, the cap-and-trade policy is just another tax grab, justified by Trudeau’s desire to “phase out” fossil fuels, the mainstay of the Canadian economy. Adding injury to injury, he has pledged 2.65 billion of taxpayer dollars to developing countries as part of his “Global Climate Change Action.” Yet there has been no global warming for 21 years; indeed, APG is the greatest scam of the modern era.

Liberal cabinet ministers have been scandalously billing the public for their personal and whimsical expenses, some outrageous—private limousine service, office redecorating, staff relocation totalling more than $1 million, and so on. Trudeau has taken ten vacations during his first year as PM, partied with rock stars, and enjoyed down time with family and friends on the Aga Khan’s private island known as the “Hamptons of the Bahamas”—the Aga Khan’s helicopter was the “private aircraft” in question. During the last parliamentary session, he skipped 58 per cent of parliamentary question periods. He has clearly learned much from his mentor, Barack Obama.
Trudeau’s Liberals want to bring back the per-vote subsidy, cancelled by the Conservatives, which forces taxpayers to underwrite the partisan activities of political parties.

The economy is seriously ailing. Over 30,000 jobs have been lost in July 2016 alone, a severe drop for a small country.

Trudeau has signed an extradition treaty with China, among the world’s worst human rights abusers, whose “basic dictatorship” Trudeau has publicly admired. He has sympathized with the Boston bombers and mourned the death of Fidel Castro, a “remarkable leader.” This is the trendy millennial Canadians have elected to lead them to tomorrow.

Trudeau has made a habit of ostentatiously visiting mosques around the country, one in particular known as a “terror mosque.” Islamic immigration vigorously promoted by Trudeau, to the tune of 300,000 immigrants, mainly “Syrians,” in 2016, will strain the country’s failing resources and promise cultural dissolution in the coming years.

Malcolm is easily the equivalent of Justin but is held in check by the party he is the nominal head of. There is plenty of political stupidity out there. We remain the lucky country for the while, but how long our luck will hold out is anyone’s guess. They have five year Parliaments in Canada as well so Justin’s going to be there for a very long time. It’s become a sinkhole of bad economics built on political correctness gone mad and is only able to sustain itself because of it’s huge capital inheritance and resource base. But these are being run through at a startling rate and when the country finally wakes up to the wreck it has become, much too late it will be.

Donald Trump and the Middle East

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Trump may end up being even better than I ever imagined he might be. This is from Caroline Glick and titled, The Trump way of winning the war. “Winning the war” here means bringing a lasting peace to the Middle East.

The PLO is disoriented, panicked and hysterical. Speaking to Newsweek this week, Saeb Erekat, PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas’s chief conduit to Israel and the Americans, complained that since President Donald Trump was sworn into office, no administration official had spoken to them.

“I don’t know any of them [Trump’s advisers]. We have sent them letters, written messages. They don’t even bother to respond to us.”

The Trump administration’s shunning of the PLO is a marked departure from the policies of its predecessor. For former president Barack Obama, together with Iran, the Palestinians were viewed as the key players in the Middle East. Abbas was the first foreign leader Obama called after taking office.

Erekat’s statement reveals something that is generally obscured. Despite its deep support in Europe, the UN and the international Left, without US support, the PLO is irrelevant.

Irrelevancy may yet lead to accommodation. Trump is on the right side in the great ideological war of our time, and he may even have the strategy to win it. I have always believed that The Great Man theory of history was where the balance of the truth lay, and we are seeing it again. Trump is indispensable.

“How is it playing out in Australia?”

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That one’s from Canada, and this is from an old mate in the US: “What does the Australian press have to say about this?” These were their entire messages.

What “it” and “this” are no one needed to tell me. But truly how stupid do you have to be to have made an arrangement with Obama after the election to send boat people from Nauru and Manus to the US? If Malcolm believed he was going to get points for having stood up to the US against Trump, as clueless as I have always thought him, he has plumbed levels of stupidity and political incompetence until now unimaginable. From The Australian:

Australia’s alliance with the US has hit its lowest point in decades, in a clash over a divisive refugee deal that led Donald Trump to ­berate Malcolm Turnbull in priv­ate before staging a public retreat from the agreement.

This morning the President has said he loves Australia and will “respect” the deal, but that nations are taking advantage of the US. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said his boss was “unbelievably disappointed” about the “horrible deal” and that refugees will only be allowed in the US if they pass extreme vetting. But Mr Trump’s top officials have tried to smooth over the rift, holding a meeting with ambassador Joe Hockey.

For Malcolm apparently to have tried to push Trump, by telling him that as a fellow businessman that a deal is a deal, must rank as politically incompetent as anything I have ever seen. That Trump now thinks of Malcolm as a flea-weight no-account fool only means he has the same assessment of the PM as the rest of us.

UPDATE WITH COMMENTS ON THE ARTICLE FROM THE OZ: There are now 830 comments on the linked article, and these are the top 22 in order from the list ordered according to “Top Comments” and there was no need to stop there.

1) Chronology is important here.

1. 10 months out from US presidential election, Turnbull visits US. He meets Hillary and snubs Trump.
2. In the weeks leading up to US presidential election, Turnbull does a deal with a dead duck President.
3. Turnbull and Obama agree to not announce it (hide the deal) until the US presedential election is over. They both want Hillary to get up, and the deal would be excellent ammunition for Trump in a campaign dominated by illegal immigration.
4. Trump wins. Turnbull panics.
5. Turnbull has to call Greg Norman to find out how to get in touch with Trump.
6. Turnbull announces deal publicly 5 days later, and before he has spoken to Trump about it.
7. Trump understandably gives him a smack down on the phone.
8. Turnbull spins the phone call, and in desperation to announce something good in his otherwise failing Prime Ministership, announces the deal as done.
9. Trump is annoyed that Turnbull couldn’t keep quiet. Trump has been placed in a contradictory position that could damage him politically.
10. Trump gives Turnbull a smack down on Twitter, and leaks the phone call to return the favour.

The problem exists because of Turnbull, and Turnbull alone.
– At no point has Turnbulll invested in a personal relationship with Trump. Mostly because he exists in the same elitist bubble as people who predicted a thumping Hillary win.
– He did a sneaky deal with left wingers and helped hide it from voters in the US.
– He then tried to pump his own political fortunes up and didn’t care about the damage it might do to Trump.

Turnbull has to go. He is damaging the Liberal party and the nation.

2) I feel sympathy for Trump. Why should he in the American interest accept these illegal boat people who came to this country largely for economic opportunism, they have rampaged, trashed Manus island, we won’t take them, so why should Trump call on the American taxpayer to live in America?

3) Greg Sheridan in his column today notes, Trump’s reluctance to commit to actual numbers to be resettled in the US from Manus Island or Nauru is no different from Obama’s. The Obama administration gave Turnbull an “announceable”, a media event, a virtual solution to the resettlement issue which itself did not guarantee that the US would take a single person unless it was satisfied through its own vetting procedures.

Trump is right to ask “why”? What’s in it for America? He should take all the time he needs to scrutinise this “virtual solution”.

4) Australia just keeps creating more problems for itself, by not enforcing its border laws on illegal immigrants. If they have been vetted and found to be unsuitable they should be deported.

5) This was a deal cooked up by Turnbull and Obama in the interim period between Trump winning the US election and actually taking up Office. It was very similar to Gillard’s NDIS policy, made just before she went out the door, a little bomblet if you like, to tickle up the new lot when they get in. Gillard was never going to have to take responsibility for the NDIS much like Obama with the refugee deal. What Turnbull didn’t reckon on was how Trump was going to react to what he knew was a stitch up. You are the one who blew it Malcolm, you knew Obama was gone, why did you make this deal with a bloke who was literally gone? Also, where the hell us Bishop in all this? Attending gala functions???? That will help!

6) Aubsolutely. Why Turnbull would do a deal with a outgoing President, knowing full well the incoming President’s attitude to illegal immigration, is anybodies guess. You don’t have to be real smart to work out Obama left it as a time bomb, why didn’t Turnbull recognise that? So the new President gets a call from a PM who arrogantly ignored him, as a Clinton Supporter, and on Trump’s win, asks Australia to ” stay calm” and then expects Trump to be jolly and happy about piling a bunch of economic refugees Australia does not want, into the US? Turnbull once more has shown his inability to judge the scene, and his arrogance in not being able to get it. How embarrassing for our country.

7) Of course this is a super Dumb deal. If Trump takes refugees then its a Green light to refugees to flee to Australia in hope of to getting to USA . If Trump vets and refuses to take them then nobody else in the world will take. Turnbull actions during President Elect period, fully knowing Trump stance on refugees showed no respect to incoming new President Trump and has turned a good relation to a shaky relationship. It is Turnbull who is sneaky and tricky , his Obama deal during President Elect period was poor timing, disrespectful to an incoming President and whatever the outcome not in the interest of Australia in any way.

8) This agreement was made after Trump was elected. Obama signed off on it to cause trouble for Trump. For such a highly intelligent person, couldn’t Turnbull see how this would affect Australia once Trump took charge.

9) I think Obama agreeing to the deal was a practical joke aimed at his successor, and it has worked. Turnbull thinks he was clever to get it through but he was a stooge in a practical joke.

10) I’m embarrassed as an Australian because it seems to me that Turnbull took an opportunity to offload the costly and potentially dangerous fallout from the ALP/Greens’ huge mistake onto a friendly neighbour by cynically enabling Obama’s typically unpatriotic, petulant lefty ploy to leave a landline for Trump. Like any good neighbour, Trump has to accept the steaming bucket of poop because it would be rude not to. Too clever by half, Turnbull. Did I mention that I feel embarrassed? Ashamed might be a more apt description.

11) Smart move now is for Turnbull to ring Trump and unilaterally revoke the deal. Why should we call on the US to bail us out of a relatively simple problem just because Turnbull can’t face up to The Greens and the rest of the open border mob? He’s putting the civil rights of 1250 detainees ahead of the security of the electorate. These are illegal immigrants, not refugees. If they don’t pass our security clearances, ship them back to their countries of origin. If the country of origin won’t take them, send them to the first country that gave them residency before they travelled onwards to Australia.

12) Just deport them. They flew into Indonesia then ditched their documentation before setting sail for Australia. They are criminals. What about the genuine refugees sitting in tents all over the world with no food or air conditioning.

13) Of course it’s a dumb deal for America. You have to wonder why Obama did it? What advantage is it to America?

14) This is not the first time Obama threw Australia under the bus for his own domestic political agenda. Remember his speech at University of QLD in 2014 with its thinly veiled castigation of the Abbott government for it’s stance on global warming while comparing it to the US’ achievements in carbon abatement? All conveniently neglecting to mention that a significant reason for the US’ carbon reduction was the use of coal seam gas obtained through hydraulic fracturing.

The goal was to use Australia as a whipping boy (wanting his daughters to be able to visit the barrier reef in the future) so he could prove his climate change credentials back home. But at the same time, he ruled out any show of political support for the efforts of the democratically elected government of his closest ally to do exactly what the US was doing…fracking!

15) It IS a stupid deal. It shows the Liberal Government caving in to the refugee industry. People on Nauru and Manus can go home or stay where they are.

16) Obama set this up as timebomb, and Turnbull walked into it. There is no point in blaming Trump, for the arrogance and stupidity of Obama and Turnbull, two men who knew well the attitude Trump has towards illegal refugees. Once more poor judgement from Turnbull, as Obama has the last laugh. We don’t want a bunch of economic refugees dumped on us, nor surprisingly does the US. Yet because of this deal by these two fools, they have to take them. Angry? Trump has every right to be outraged.

17) I would keep out of it Bill. Trump would make mincemeat of you. Even your Union thugs would look like choir girls, up against this bloke. Just sit back and watch the fun.

18) This is not about Trump. It is about Turnbull and Bishop with the connivence of Obama trying to pull a swifty after Trump was elected, and to leave a behind a hand grenade to embarrass him into accepting the refugees. Their arrogance is astounding.

Well, it back fired and will sound the end of Turnbull. He was less than honest with the people on reporting his conversation with Trump. This will force Corey Bernadi’s hand as the liberal/national coalition is domed. Pauling Hanson is now likely to win a majority in both Queensland and WA. People have had enough, one nation may not be the complete answer, but it is an answer. I feel extremly sorry for Peter Dutton in all this, the unsung hero of the government.

Its telling that Bishop has gone into hiding.

19) Never going to be easy in the first few months when you have to clean up Barack Obamas mess.Who would take 1250 people without passports…I agree with Trump it is a Bum deal. Turnbull is fortunate Trump has said he is prepared to proceed.

We should not forget Turnbull on his first visit to America laughed at the thought of Trump becoming President. Malcom met with Clinton and Rubio.

20) Oh get over it ! If we are so touchy that we can’t take a robust phone call from a new and besieged President over what is not an inconsiderable number of illegals, then it is we who need to toughen up. Political correctness is out and straight talking is in, and about time. At least Trump didn’t call Turnbull, barking mad, as Shorten called Trump. I would say that Turnbull was used by Obama to get one in on Trump, and Turnbull believed him.

21) Its all an act .
Donald Trump will Honour it as he knows a deal is a deal .
He doesn’t want to upset Australia so he is pretending to be outrage so it will look good domestically for him.
He has to look tough on refugees no matter where they come from

22) While the media choose to write negative articles about Trump, the real story in all of this is that Turnbull is so thoroughly out of his depth he is in danger of drowning. It was Turnbull who went to the US cozying up to Obama and Clinton (not even understanding the Trump just might win the election); it was Turnbull who did this deal with a President who was packing up to leave!

Who is the incompetent politician in this debacle – his name is Turnbull.