Rosco The Grouch
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roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Rosco The Grouch
@roscothegrouch.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1K following 2.7K posts
Retired secondary school teacher. #Aikido student. Lover of Australian #wildlife. Born 310ppm CO₂. Life science student. Had a gutful of hyperpartisanship threatening democracy and climate action. Canadian expat Living on #Bundjalung country. Voted YES.
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roscothegrouch.bsky.social
…says it all, really. @albomp.bsky.social is weak as water. And his @australianlabor.bsky.social party is a reflection of that.
There is no doubt the environmental protection laws that Plibersek and Murray Watt inherited are out of date and unambitious. They were, after all, introduced by the Howard Government. But weak as they are, those laws were strong enough to protect the endangered Maugean Skate from the worst of the salmon farms. Indeed, it was the supposedly excessive strength of those Howard-era laws that led Labor and the Coalition to weaken them to ensure salmon farms, rather than the critically endangered skate, would thrive. To be clear, when it came time to protecting a vulnerable species, even John Howard’s environmental laws were too strong for Tanya Plibersek. Howard’s laws were also strong enough to let Labor block Woodside’s enormous North West Shelf gas expansion if Plibersek or Watt had wanted to. It wasn’t the laws that were too weak to stop those projects, it was the ministers.
November 4, 2025 at 9:57 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Poster reading: ANTIFA HEADQUARTERS ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY 400,000+ MEMBERS
October 20, 2025 at 4:53 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
No reason whatsoever. (though there must be something - hmm, checking…) It is why there is a "debate" about an Australian republic with a president instead of a Governor General.

Google's AI summary tells me this. Though it doesn't actually answer the question.
How the monarchy works in Australia: Head of State vs. Head of Government: Australia is a constitutional monarchy, meaning the King is the head of state, but the head of government is the Prime Minister. Governor-General's Role: The Governor-General is the King's representative in Australia and exercises the King's powers, including giving Royal Assent to laws passed by Parliament. Advisory Principle: The King appoints the Governor-General based on the advice of the Australian Prime Minister, and the Governor-General must act according to constitutional conventions and the advice of Australian ministers. Ceremonial Functions: The monarch's role in Australia is mostly symbolic and doesn't involve the day-to-day governance of the country. Power is Delegated: The King's powers in Australia are delegated to his representative, the Governor-General, who performs the functions of the head of state.
October 14, 2025 at 8:06 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Good idea.
October 13, 2025 at 2:20 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Larson, Farside Cartoon showing 2 apes conversing, saying, "Don't shush me — and I don't care if she *is* writing in her little notebook; just tell me where you were last night!" In the background is a lady in khaki uniform and hat taking notes under a tree.
October 2, 2025 at 8:25 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Bronze: Urban Birds.

Have a look at the other photos. There are some stunning pictures in this gallery.

#Nature #Wildlife #Photography
Sainte Trinité. ‘This disused French chapel was occupied by barn owls who had no flat surfaces on which they could nest. So I installed a nest box inside and was surprised and delighted when, a year-and-a-half later, a pair settled in and bred successfully. The photo was taken from my hide tent at dusk, the light coming from the street lamps that had just been turned on.’
September 30, 2025 at 9:20 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
I don't remember who originally posted this, but it gave me a much needed laugh.
Map of North America. The USA, including Alaska, coloured orange and renamed DUMBFUCKISTAN. The Gulf of Mexico has retained its name.
September 23, 2025 at 8:54 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Shelley got it. This is what awaits Trump's legacy.
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desart.[d] Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" No thing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away. — Percy Shelley, "Ozymandias", 1819 edition[16]
September 19, 2025 at 9:30 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Hmmm.. Looks like the fossil fuel industry has knowingly, deliberately, recklessly decided to damage the global life support system that we all rely on for stability, prosperity and peace.

Funny, that.
In 2015, investigative journalists discovered internal company memos indicating that Exxon oil company has known since the late 1970s that its fossil fuel products could lead to global warming with “dramatic environmental effects before the year 2050.” Additional documents then emerged showing that the US oil and gas industry’s largest trade association had likewise known since at least the 1950s, as had the coal industry since at least the 1960s, and electric utilities, Total oil company, and GM and Ford motor companies since at least the 1970s. Scholars and journalists have analyzed the texts contained in these documents, providing qualitative accounts of fossil fuel interests’ knowledge of climate science and its implications. In 2017, for instance, we demonstrated that Exxon’s internal documents, as well as peer-reviewed studies published by Exxon and ExxonMobil Corp scientists, overwhelmingly acknowledged that climate change is real and human-caused. By contrast, the majority of Mobil and ExxonMobil Corp’s public communications promoted doubt on the matter.
September 9, 2025 at 9:32 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
OMG, they'll have to ban Google! 🤦‍♂️
Screenshot of X post from Martina Navratilova: Can't make it up Next they'll ban reading. Florida bannning disctioaries is the most on-brand move ever. Nothing scares Republicans more than kids who can define words like "racism", "fascism", and "dictatorship".
September 8, 2025 at 4:23 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Looks like an interesting read.
Photo of a leather bound book entitled, "How to avoid Vaccines and Die like a Medieval Peasant."
August 30, 2025 at 6:16 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
My daughter just asked me, "Wonder what building Hamas is hiding in now? Or maybe they're hiding under the rubble."
image showing devastated landscape in Gaza.
August 20, 2025 at 1:43 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Yeah @fionakatauskas.bsky.social ! More of this! 👍
The whole apocalypse thing was getting too depressing so we've reinvented ourselves as The Four Horsemen of Working Together to get us all out of the mess we're in. The 4 horsemen are Hope, Justice, Empathy and Just basically not being a dick.
August 16, 2025 at 9:56 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
This is a good one! 😂🤣

#FionaKatauskas #TheGuardian
Bunch of MAGAts flailing about shouting at each other. Group on left screaming, "Release the files!" while group on right yelling, "It's all a hoax!"
July 20, 2025 at 12:34 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Excellent Essay. From the Canberra Times. Unfortunately paywalled. Recommended reading for anyone who understands that the recent frenzy around what is and what isn't antisemitic actually makes antisemitism more likely.

Have a read.
Jenna Price "My Marital Advice for New Envoy" Jews experience antisemitism every single day in this country and that's what needs to be urgently addressed. Conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism you make it worse. You make anti-semitism far more likely.
July 18, 2025 at 6:23 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
I have a question. What on earth is so terrifying about this?

I think it's not about "socialism". Nor "communism" or "antisemitism" or any other "…ism'.

It's about power.
July 1, 2025 at 9:33 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
A professional lookalike of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Cagdas Halicilar, soaks up the excitement. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP

This world is a sick, sad case. You can actually earn money looking like Jeff!
A professional lookalike of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Cagdas Halicilar, soaks up the excitement. Photograph: Luca Bruno/AP
June 26, 2025 at 9:27 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
#StreetArt I don't know who the artist is, though I suspect the woman in the picture did the work.
Street Art. A woman stands on the street with pots of paint and a folding chair. She is in front in front of a wall which has a painting of a large hole through which you can see a cobbled lane that runs straight ahead towards an arched bridge between two walls built of cobbled stone. There are doors and windows in the two walls on either side of the lane. The picture looks like it invites you to step into the lane and walk towards the arch.
April 30, 2025 at 10:06 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Acceptance will come with the recognition that the US is no longer part of our economic and geopolitical future. This creates an opportunity to finally engage fully with our region and become, politically and economically as well as geographically, an Asian nation. The crucial steps here are to seek membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and to find a balance between the would-be hegemons of our region, the US and China. This can’t be done until we abandon both the idea that the US is a friend, and the alliances inherited from the era when this was true. Breaking with the US will be painful in all sorts of ways. But the break is coming whether we like it or not. Rather than pretending that the return of US democracy is just around the corner, we should welcome the opportunities of becoming a full participant in the most dynamic region in the global economy.
April 7, 2025 at 11:34 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Part of this story is the impact of climate instability caused by CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel burning. Paying attention @albomp.bsky.social ? We now have overlapping climate/weather disasters. Millions of cattle died because of this one.

#climate #auspol

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Map showing a very large hunk of Australia covered in floodwater from recent rain.
April 5, 2025 at 9:11 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
I predict that the Tesla logo, that stylised "T" will become a symbol of a despised Trump presidency.
Image of protesters at a Tesla dealership.
April 1, 2025 at 9:27 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
This sort of thing is just cheap and nasty. This is the look and flavour of Donold's gold plated presidency.

#uspol
Over 90 countries provided assistance to the USA after 9/11. None of them asked fo a refund or for the USA's natural resources in payment.
March 31, 2025 at 9:47 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Poster reading: Where do bad rainbows go? To prism. It's a light sentence but it gives them time to reflect.
March 31, 2025 at 1:42 AM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Red sign reading: If anyone gts a message from me about canned meat, don't open it. It's Spam.
March 30, 2025 at 10:59 PM
roscothegrouch.bsky.social
Interest rates were much higher when Labor came to power. They've worked successfully to reduce interest rates. LNP IPA also habitually claims to be better economic managers which is demonstrably false.

www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politic...
Interest rate graph showing cash rates from 1990 to 2025.
March 19, 2025 at 8:40 PM