Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

We still have time to mess this up!

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Bleg / Australia is Still Burning: An Update From The Mighty Trowel

Australia is Still Burning: An Update From The Mighty Trowel

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Australia Is Burning: A Guest Post from The Mighty Trowel

The Mighty Trowel sent me the following update for you all:

While there’s still lots of bad news coming out about the impact of the new years fires, here’s some good news updates from a country on fire. All of the missing people from Victoria have been accounted for and are alive. Also the Bureau of meteorology long term forecast suggests that the worst of the heat has passed (https://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/signs-heat-may-have-peaked-as-outlook-shifts-to-milder-wetter-weather-20200107-p53pk0.html)  as we have more moisture (though still below average) and lower temperatures (though about average) in store for us. In other words, the fires are expected to keep burning, but there may be fewer catastrophic fire days and hopefully we’ll have more than 5 days between them. Friday, for what it’s worth, is predicted to be really bad so positive thoughts and donations welcome (prayers too, but only when they’re attached to money or genuine help in the form of mobilised resources and expertise).

Speaking of donations, she sent along this specific GoFundMe:

Emily is a brilliant former student of mine and her very rural community has been hit hard by the present fires. They’re trying to raise funds for a fire truck for their volunteer firies (ALS: I think that’s Aussie for fire fighter)

https://twitter.com/Emily_M_Arch/status/1213595181674426368?s=19

And here’s the list of donations that The Mighty Trowel sent me for her guest post on the fires last week.

Donations can be made to:

Red Cross bushfire disaster relieve and recovery fund: https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-new-years-eve?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialorganic&utm_campaign=201913_drr_disaster-relief-and-recovery_don_transient_bushfires_none

Rural Fire Service: https://quickweb.westpac.com.au/OnlinePaymentServlet?cd_community=NSWRFS&cd_currency=AUD&cd_supplier_business=DONATIONS&action=EnterDetails

Country Fire Authority: https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/about/supporting-cfa

South Australian Country Fire Service: https://cfsfoundation.org.au/donate

Community support org Givit, active nationally: http://www.givit.org.au/donate-funds

Emergency Management Victoria community relief fund: https://www.emv.vic.gov.au/news/community-relief-fund-launched-to-support-fire-affected-communities

Some affected community members have launched GoFundMe’s for their towns – this is one the Australian Broadcasting Corporation posted, so I assume it’s legit: https://www.gofundme.com/f/xycjem-cudgewa-has-burnt?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

Here’s another legit gofundme to put on the list, this one for First Nations communities affected by the fires:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-relief-fund-for-first-nations-communities
Open thread!

Reader Interactions

10Comments

  2. 2.

    DaveInOz

    Certainly good news on the weather front. Let’s hope the tropical depressions in the Top End feed moisture down to the rest of the country for the remains of the summer.

    I’ve been getting lots of messages from friends and family in Europe asking if I’m safe. It’s difficult to imagine the scale here. Victoria looks small on the map but is a similar size to England. To get to the region near the fires is a good three hour drive from here in Melbourne.

    The worst we’ve had here is smoke cover which was pretty bad over the weekend but I’m sure nothing like they’ve had it near the fire fronts.

    Our worst problem is Rupert Murdoch. He runs about 70% of the press here and the flagship ‘Australian’ newspaper has hardly been covering the fires. I can’t imagine a man who has had a more malign impact on the Western World (certainly the States, UK and Australia) than Murdoch.

  5. 5.

    feebog

    Been following this closely as we are flying to Sydney on the 19th.  Looks like some rain northwest of Sydney now.  Hoping the temperatures moderate and the rain continues.

  6. 6.

    TS (the original)

    There has been an amazing outpouring of financial support, from within and without of Australia. The biggest hope is that help doesn’t get tied up in red tape. In some areas those who haven’t lost their homes have often lost their livelihoods & are without power and services so for everyone in the fire areas living is not easy.  I feel quite guilty to be living in a part of the country where our only fire impact has been air quality.

  7. 7.

    grammypat

    With the understandable focus on human needs, this Guardian Australia article tells about another way to help – pouches for orphaned marsupials and mittens for injured koalas.

    Plus, Cher is donating to and promoting WIRES, a New South Wales wildlife organization.  I’m not aware of (but sure hope that they exist) similar organizations in other affected states.

    Estimates are that, so far, there are a billion dead animals, wild and domestic.  Many of the survivors are injured or will suffer from lack of food and water.  More than a few species are expected to go extinct.

    Staggering.

  9. 9.

    The Pale Scot

    @JPL:

    @JPL:

    For Murdoch, it’s all about the money.

    It’s more than that, he aspired to being a Bond level villain and has pretty much achieved it.

  10. 10.

    arrieve

    I walked past Fox headquarters in Midtown Manhattan yesterday and the news crawl gave the latest casualty counts for the fires then claimed that 85% were started by humans and 13% were arson. I was enraged but not surprised.

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