TRAPPED

They didn't call it The Age of Loneliness for nothing. Trapped within four walls, trapped on desolate streets and in dark dens, trapped under camera eyes and clouds of derision, searching for things that were never there. Peak Experiences Anonymous, he sometimes thought, as his skin crawled and he tried to forget everything, to stop thinking, to be someone else. He never knew where it would end. He was back in Sydney, and he didn't know why.

There was no plan, no easily laid out course. He wanted to be comfortable in his own skin, but instead he tried to embrace a familiar melancholy which no longer made sense. Old men and their regrets. Instant mistakes. A creeping dread; as if calamity was perpetually just around the corner. Nothing was as bad as he thought it was; there was hope; his soul could be rehabilitated, his behaviour modified, a calm could embrace him, perhaps for the first time. Or for a very long time.

But he could not adjust, to his age, his difficult temperament, his longing for he knew not what. He remained at sea, the infinite sea. Many of the people he had known had already gone. Other people had taken over. You could not embrace everything. Take care of yourself happily, went the Buddhist mantra, which he wished he could embrace, practice. Other lives, other ways. 

In the end there was no way out. Trapped. Optimism would return on the morrow. Poor old thing.

THE BIGGER STORY: 

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/10/25/watch-500-sunni-islamists-march-for-jihad-in-copenhagen-shots-fired-at-shia-march-24-hours-later/

Roughly 500 members of the Islamist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) gathered in Denmark’s capital city of Copenhagen on Friday, calling for Shariah law for European countries, as well as “jihad” to “free” the Palestinian territories. The march, which took place on Friday, appears to have garnered little media attention, as has the shooting which took place in the same location just 24-hours later at a Shia Muslim ceremony.

Around 500 black Islamist-flag waving Sunni HT members began their prayers on Friday outside the Nørrebro train station, which was followed by a march through the local area. A day later, Shia Muslims found themselves attacked at the tail end of their own march in the same part of the city, leading to shots being fired from a gun and a police attempt to control the group.
“Muslim armies, do your duty. We have had enough of failure,” the HT crowds chanted on Friday afternoon, according to journalist Marie Jensen who was present at the scene.
TV2 reports that men and women were segregated at the event, and “infants” were also there, helping to wave the black flag of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is similar, though not identical, to the black flag of ISIS.
And just 24-hours later, there were clashes at a memorial march for Imam Hussein, a descendent of prophet Muhammed whose life is mourned every year by Shia Muslims around the world.

A HALL OF WHISPERS

In the enveloping pressure of Hanoi, someone mentioned that Sapa was like Tibet, and that was all it took, he was off. Hanoi, he just couldn't get his head around the language and it sounded to him like he was surrounded by a million scratching crickets, all concerned with their own insect lives, their own concerns. It would be weeks before the language around him softened and he would ever begin to make much sense of the city.  He was a terrible tourist, and wasted what should have been an opportunity. Instead, he hopped the bus to Sapa.

He had never heard of it; had no idea what it was, and expected to emerge in some remote location with a few trailing old facilities reminiscent of some ancient hippy trail, and that was it. Instead Sapa is a well built up, established town and the tourist industry itself runs like clockwork, with numerous hotels, hostels, touts, stocky determined women from the local villages dogging your every turn; and it was not the obscure, out of the way place that he imagined, even if it was in some of the most glorious mountain landscape imaginable.

He fell off a rented bike, $US4 a day, on his second or third day there, and that promptly put a stop to exploring the magnificent beauties of the surrounding valleys. Instead he hobbled around the hotel like a crippled ancient, barely able to climb the stairs, stared at the cloud wreathed valley walls opposite, and wondered what the heck he was doing there.

Everybody had their own life but him. He had finished the last book and was bereft and unformed, wandering, or in his case hobbling, in an even more aimless manner than usual. He smoked the tobacco bongs of the locals, a Vietnamese custom from one end of the country to the other, anything to kill the pain, his head spinning as nicotine flooded his system. The locals think it's a great joke to see a foreigner gagging on the local tobacco. They all know it makes your head spin. They like it. He just didn't want to think anymore.

He stayed there long enough to watch the tourist machinery at work, the hikers and backpackers and bikers who came for a day or two or three and were gone. 

The locals who went about their lives as if tourism hadn't made them part of a world wide zoo. 

And he didn't know, anymore, what would happen next. There was no precognition.

And so when he returned to Australia, and the watchers had graciously, wonderfully disappeared, and he tried to relax back into himself, he pushed the envelope; and then could hear them.

"He's humiliated himself, again. That's the trouble with the internet. It's just as well he doesn't know the full scale of it."

He could run fluid through a thousand times. These forms were brief. He could stare them down or turn them off. Sometimes he even listened to their advice; "common sense would tell you", but there was so much advice, and it all came from a different place, a more rigorous rectitude; and so he just went back to the only thing he really knew how to do, work. And work he did. 

THE BIGGER STORY:

When Hillary Clinton took the stage before 3,500 energized supporters in a historic district of northern Virginia on Friday, the scene glowed with the sense of a presidential campaign on an upward trajectory.

Benghazi hearing: Hillary Clinton shows yoga poise through 11-hour stretch

The sun shone brightly on an uncharacteristically warm afternoon in late October as Terry McAuliffe, the state’s Democratic governor and a longtime friend of Clinton, fired up the crowd with an impassioned introduction.
McAuliffe was only midway through his remarks when the audience broke into chants of “Hillary, Hillary, Hillary”. Their excitement was compounded when he invoked a marathon hearing a day before, in which the former secretary of state maintained her composure as Republicans grilled her in the most dramatic fashion regarding the September 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
“You want to talk about a fighter – how about those 11 hours of testimony yesterday?” McAuliffe said. “I almost want to thank [the Republicans], because you saw in that 11 hours of testimony, this is why she needs to be our commander-in-chief.”
The crowd roared in agreement.
While Clinton has appeared before countless crowds of supporters since launching her second presidential campaign, there was a palpable buoyancy to this audience –the kind of grassroots enthusiasm political observers have wondered if Clinton is capable of generating.
But a lot has changed since the soft launch of her campaign in April, and many believe the month of October has solidified her standing as the presumptive Democratic nominee.
     
http://www.timesofisrael.com/watch-islamic-state-threatens-israel-in-new-hebrew-video/

In its first-ever Hebrew-language video, which was posted online this week, the Islamic State terror group addressed an Israeli audience, warning that “no Jew will be left [alive]” once its fighters conquer Jordan and arrive at Israel’s borders.

“This is a message to all the Jews, who are the Muslims’ No. 1 enemy,” says a masked man in green fatigues in fluent, if slightly Arabic- and French-accented Hebrew.

“The real war has not even begun and everything you have experienced so far has been child’s play — [it is] nothing compared to what will happen to you soon enough, inshallah [God willing],” he warns.

“We promise you that soon, not one Jew will be left [alive] in Jerusalem or across Israel and we will continue until we eradicate this disease [Judaism?] from the world,” he goes on.

“Look at what has happened to you in a few vehicular and stabbing attacks from our brothers in Palestine,” he mocked, in reference to the spate of recent attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces in Israel and the West Bank, in which at least 10 Israelis have been killed.

“You lost your minds and started fearing every driver that sped up. You were even scared of every person carrying something in their hand. What will happen to you when tens of thousands [of Muslim fighters] arrive from across the world to slaughter you?” he asks.

STOP RIGHT THERE

"Stop right there," came the instruction; and again they were forced to replay his dreams, his mutterings, his occasional words. As if it all meant something, as if it could all go away. As if these re-run dreams were something worth fighting for; or observing.

"We tried to connect him with others, but he wouldn't have a bar of them," someone said; and if everything went flashing away, if everything was caught in The Places In Between, then so be it, there would be no tomorrows, and a million tomorrows.

"There aren't many people like us," he said to the old man on the island, when it seemed like everything was predestined, he had been sent there by fate and fortune and the spirits, and it had become the only place he could finish what he had started.

"You are under my protection," the old man had said; and then everything came into force, and he could do what he had to do, "finish the task at hand". 

But it was after that he became disoriented, distrustful, as suspicious as ever, and refused to communicate. 

"You would be foolish to think there was not cooperation," he said to one inquiring officer as he walked down a mountain path, thereby in an instant betraying those who had fed him so much.

But these were all secret, invisible things. They could not be proved. No one would ever really know, or believe. When the possible was ruled out, the impossible became plausible.

"You were abducted by aliens and I've been trapped on this planet for a hundred million years," he told the old man with a kind of homely laugh, as they settled in to play chess for the afternoon, after he had finished work.

They were kind to each other, and he missed him still. 

"You will make a fortune, you will be very successful," the old man predicted. "I can see it." 

He shrugged. Life had already been very long. The time for regret was over.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://theconversation.com/the-security-benefits-of-warrantless-surveillance-are-as-clear-as-mud-

Based on bipartisan laws passed in March 2015, Australian government agencies were given access to the data of millions of citizens without a warrant. Last week, this regime came into effect.

It has been implemented despite ongoing confusions about costs, what metadata actually is, and whether the telecommunications sector is ready to retain and encrypt this data.

At the heart of justifications for the data retention laws is the claim that these will protect us from terrorism. For advocates, mandatory data retention is integral in preventing a 9/11-type attack. But long-standing questions remain as to whether such programs are actually an effective counter-terrorism tool.

In the wake of National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations, it can be argued that mass metadata surveillance has proven to have little to no unique value in thwarting terrorism. And while the US and others are being forced to revise and restrict their surveillance laws, Australia is moving unreservedly in the opposite direction.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-21/joe-hockey-reflects-on-political-career-in-farewell-speech/6872268

Joe Hockey has used his final speech in Federal Parliament to defend his legacy and flag a suite of tax changes the Government should pursue.

Mr Hockey has ended his 19-year career in the House of Representatives after being dumped as treasurer last month when Malcolm Turnbull took over as prime minister.

During his 25-minute valedictory speech, Mr Hockey became emotional at times, telling colleagues he believed he was leaving Canberra having made a contribution to the future of the country.

"Most people leave this Parliament as a result of defeat, death, disillusionment or disgrace," he said.

"We all have to work hard to leave with dignity."

​​

THE AWAKENING

There would have to be an adjustment in lifestyle, someone said, and he just sighed. Good enough would never be good enough. There was no use trying to please anyone anymore, jumping at shadows. He had forgotten, or had it beaten out of him, that he had the capacity to turn things around. Like many humans, their abilities were leached from them, battered into some kind of conformity. 

But in Australia a funny thing had happened on the way to the Apocalypse.

The change of Prime Minister from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull had switched the mood remarkably quickly; and a tone of optimism, or acceptance, was back. No longer groaning under the lash of rigorous rectitude, people were no longer ashamed to be who they were. They weren't the most sophisticated creatures on Earth. They weren't the best informed, or the best looking. But they could laugh with a certain ease that had been lacking; and so it was, led from the top, a simple change in terminology, emphasis, personality, and the country changed with it. 

Labor had been having a good old go at Turnbull's wealth, which was ridiculous, because all he had done was achieve what many Australians would like to achieve, a harbour view, sweeping lawns, a stable family, position, wealth. 

And those pointing the finger, the Labor politicians, were in the top 1% of income earners in the country. It was truly ridiculous, and backfired as it should. 

"I look forward to the day when you're Prime Minister," he had once said to Malcolm, at a function in Woollahra for John Olsen, regarded by some as Australia's best artist. Olsen's son owned a swanky gallery in the upmarket Sydney suburb. Queen Street, Woollahra.

"Not much chance of that, John," had come the reply.

Well none of it mattered. Malcolm had finally achieved his destiny. And what many viewed as a ghastly trio, Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey, Kevin Andrews, had been promptly relegated to history. 

Largely, it would have to be said, unlamented.

It had all, in retrospect, happened very quickly.

He could hear them high up, the elated passenger, the excitement, and even the pilot, seasoned as he was, was in a buoyant mood. Everything is flowing in the right direction; you are where you're meant to be; would you stop thinking about things that should never be public? Knock him from his perch, someone thought, but the tide had turned.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2015/10/16/wile-e-coyote-moment/

Nevertheless, Labor clearly hoped the nation’s millionaire PM would be the most prospective sitting duck this week, as it tried for the third time in recent political history to use the politics of envy to its advantage.

Class warfare didn’t work for either former Labor leader Mark Latham or Treasurer Wayne Swan, yet this didn’t deter former Sussex Street bovver-boy Sam Dastyari who tried the tactic again this week.

Senator Dastyari led a smear campaign against the PM, ostensibly about Mr Turnbull’s investments having a connection to the Cayman Islands tax haven, but actually hoping to foment voter resentment over the PM’s wealth.

The PM finally belled this cat after Labor insisted on devoting much of the week’s question time to the matter, suggesting if Mr Shorten wished to wear a sandwich board telling voters that “Mr Turnbull has a lot of money”, he should feel free to do so, although “I think people know that”.

BLACK SWANS

The impact of the Highly Improbable seemed about right.

"You are under my protection," the old man said, author of Abduction to the Ninth Planet.

And that was when he relaxed; and did the work he had to do.

But it was after that, after he had finished, that nothing made sense and he was more lost than ever.

There should have been a direction, an easy path, but instead he just regretted the loss of a base, the confusion he felt at so many things, the torment that would not let go. But most of all the loss of a base; a home.

"They were the military, we're here to clean up their mess," said one. 

But they always reported back, and he didn't trust anyone, and so he just went into hiding; being something he was not, someone who was not, and walked the beach.

In Vietnam he broke into a heat prickling rash. 

In Australia they had gone quiet, there was no more pursuit, or minimal pursuit. A problem shared is a problem halved, a problem recognised is a problem resolved. He didn't know about that. But he knew there were swirling days of discontent.

And everything would come out reaching. And the quiet walks churned inside him. And the black swans, protective spirits of old, were barely present. And the ache had set in all over again. And there was no solution. It was impossible to clean up the past, and he could not reorient to the future. 

And so he just kept going. Follow the path, persevere, they said, but he couldn't see the path and his heart sank further with every passing day. It was a ridiculous torment. As if bright cheer was not just around the corner; as if a myriad of solutions did not present themselves at every turn.

He would pick up the phone. And do what had to be done.

THE BIGGER STORY:


http://www.afr.com/news/politics/fairfax-ipsos-poll-malcolm-turnbull-puts-coalition-ahead-20151017-gkbt8y

The Coalition has surged to a commanding lead over Labor under the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull whose own personal ratings have soared to heights not seen since Kevin Rudd was at his zenith. 

In a crushing poll for the Labor opposition, Mr Turnbull also beats Bill Shorten in every one of 10 positive character attributes, trouncing him in terms of trust, competency, strength and vision, and even taking away the Labor leader's long-held lead on social issues.

The Prime Minister is the first leader to best his rival lead in all 10 attributes since they were first tested 20 years ago.

The latest Fairfax/Ipsos poll, the first taken since Mr Turnbull ousted Tony Abbott a month ago, shows the Coalition leading Labor on a two-party-preferred basis by 53 per cent to 47 per cent. This is the largest lead the Coalition has held in the poll since it won the September 2013 election by the same margin.

TO THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION

He hadn't made the most of his time in Hanoi. But something was telling him to start up the blog again, and so here it was. Once the book Terror in Australia was finished, he hadn't known what to do with himself, or quite why he was in Vietnam. Part of him had never expected to return; that he would fall promptly on his feet, find some job, a glorious house by the river; and never return.

But he was no networker, and so instead of making himself known, he had done everything he could to be invisible, contained within a single square block, abandoning even walks to the park; just going around and around, sleeping, despite his natural claustrophobia, in crowded dorms to avoid the marauding empaths, doing everything he could to suppress his natural abilities, to avoid detection. His kind had been hunted to the edge of extinction, not only on this planet, and he wasn't going to be found by anyone, no professional, military trained operatives, no one. He didn't care how mad such thoughts might make him appear.

"He would have been welcome," a voice said; and he promptly replied: "I didn't know who to trust."

The only image, the only shout out loud statement he had wanted to make at the time, was that before this species was even born, in a world of dinosaurs, they had survived as the tiniest of mammals; and that had required a high degree of avoidance.

They could laugh at him now. He didn't care.

And so instead of doing what was expected of him, what, perhaps, he should have done, he just became invisible. Glanced across rooftops; and could not take in what was happening inside the houses. It was the language for a start. Vietnamese bore little relationship to other languages that he either knew or had some familiarity with; and their way of thinking, at least in the North, was very different to what he was accustomed to.

And so he did what many people did in their own lives; found little snail tracks through a city, familiar pool tables, familiar situations. He didn't eat for several days; and the loss of his own place in the world, the loss of his home or what had passed for a home, despite the over-surveillance, meant that once again he was on the roam, disheveled, upset, angry at the fact that he had been so closely tail-gaited it amounted to bullying. Nothing was going to stop him. And nothing did. He did not respond well to bullying. He had not acquired the resistance he should have.

But there was no use crying about it not being fair, because it would never be fair. None of it mattered now. Everything was an evasion. There would be a new recourse, or no recourse, and that was simply that. Time passed all too quickly in such frail frames; and the next one was not yet ready.

THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-18/typhoon-koppu-makes-landfall-in-the-philippines/6863662

Typhoon Koppu has slammed into the main Philippines island of Luzon, killing at least one person and displacing more than 23,000 people, disaster agency officials say.

Key points

• Typhoon Koppu strikes the Philippines killing at least one person and displacing 23,000 people
• At least eight people have been reported missing as several villages are flooded
• Koppu is moving slowly and is expected to linger over the island for three days

The category-four typhoon made landfall around 1:00am (4:00am AEDT) on Sunday near the town of Casiguran in Aurora province, where it remained near-stationary for seven hours and whipped the area with gusts of up to 210 kilometres per hour.

A teenager was crushed to death as the powerful typhoon tore down trees and houses and unleashed landslides and floods across a wide area of the Philippines, injuring at least four others.

At least eight people have been reported missing and rescue operations are underway in the rice-farming province of Nueva Ecija where rivers burst their banks and flooded several villages, regional authorities said.

Picture of the Day: Fishing on Sydney Harbour

Fishing on Sydney Harbour