Open Thread – Weekend 26 Feb 2022


Vicinity of Kiev. Over the Dnieper, Volodymyr Orlovsky, 1884

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Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 26, 2022 12:20 am

BAM!

Two weeks running!

Cop that Vlad!

rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 12:22 am

Good for you KD

rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 12:27 am

I’m somewhat inclined to be sympathetic to the Russian view here.
The comments about Libya and Syria in particular struck a chord.
And I do remember the atrocities being inflicted on Russian by muslim terrorists.
I guess we’ll find out in the next few days if it’s a pack of lies.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 26, 2022 12:31 am

Trouble at The Furniture Shop, and trouble at DashCat.

Oh well. No trouble here. No trouble of note, anyway.

Aside from all the kids in tunnels.

Obviously.

Zyconoclast
Zyconoclast
February 26, 2022 12:35 am

Listen to this. Great singing

Apollo5: A Spotless Rose

rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 12:35 am

We will always have the tunnels.

Miss Anthropist
Miss Anthropist
February 26, 2022 12:36 am

Having quite graciously given up podium to what would otherwise be also runs I would like to return to the topic of field hygiene.
I found on excercise if you were stuck with a subaltern who annoyed you if you found his gear unattended, and it was one of those times you had helmets, the best place to do a Pooh was in his helmet after you removed the liner.
Replacing the liner hid the evidence. Kept the flies off the guys.
Only do this if you are an utter cvnt. As I still am.
Now how goes the War?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 26, 2022 12:37 am

Jeepers criminy cutlets.

Brisvegas has had 162mm since 9.00 a.m. yesterday morning, and it’s not slowing up.

Ordinarily this would be known as a ‘March weather event’, but all I’m saying is – don’t rule out popery.

Zyconoclast
Zyconoclast
February 26, 2022 12:43 am

Is this glory hole accreditation?
George Michal … gone too soon

https://www.lcrpride.co.uk/

THE GREAT LIVERPOOL CITY REGION LOO REVIEW
The Great Liverpool City Region Loo Review is a survey that has been launched to find out what makes toilet facilities good for everybody. We want to find out what people from across the region want and need from public toilet facilities at work, at leisure and when they’re out and about.

We’d also love to hear about public toilets that are already meeting the mark. If you can spare two minutes, drop us their details so we can include them.

If you have a great loo that you want to tell us about, or you’d like to find out what your employees think of your facilities, email us

Beertruk
Beertruk
February 26, 2022 12:46 am

Top XX

Beertruk
Beertruk
February 26, 2022 12:48 am

Im seeing double I think.

Rabz
February 26, 2022 12:48 am

KD – Sydney is experiencing biblical downpours.

Normally, this would not be even remotely remarkable – until it is.

The current downpours have been unrelenting and there is no end in sight. The backyard is *#@ed and the cottage is starting to experience wonderful things like rusted gutters experimenting (very badly) with erosion.

That’s when my beloved trees aren’t depositing massive branches on the grass, which looks like it’s been dosed with some of Rog Ramjet’s super secret stash pills.

Can’t go outside to try and rectify any of this, because the drowned rat factor comes into play. Times eleventy. 🙁

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 12:49 am

“Aftermath footage of The Ukraine…
Nah just kidding. This is Minneapolis after BLM & Antifa Rioted”

https://t.me/The_Library_II/71431

Blocks & blocks of burning, exploding tumbling rubble, that Dems & Rinos praised, and even encouraged.

Brings Samson back to mind –
The Sixth Sense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNdVVLqC3mI

Nelson_Kidd-Players
February 26, 2022 12:50 am

Or top XXXX, Beertruk?

Nelson_Kidd-Players
February 26, 2022 12:51 am

Dry in Mongistan now, weather just sufficient for a beachside weekend, at least that’s the plan…

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 12:53 am

Razey says:
February 26, 2022 at 12:03 am
Vlad continues:

Properly speaking, the attempts to use us in their own interests never ceased until quite recently: they sought to destroy our traditional values and force on us their false values that would erode us, our people from within, the attitudes they have been aggressively imposing on their countries, attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to human nature.

Gee, sounds like Ex-KBB Putin quoting Ex-KGB Yuri Bezmenov –

Yuri Bezmenov: Psychological Warfare Subversion & Control of Western Society (Complete)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gnpCqsXE8g

Yuri Bezmenov: “Unlike Myself, You’ll Have Nowhere to Defect To!” (rec. 1984)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HWMLrY05Ls

Beertruk
Beertruk
February 26, 2022 12:55 am

XXXX Gold Nelson.
Massed produced beer of choice while in St Palacechook’s Kingdom

rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 12:59 am

I’m at the point in my travels where the itch, for now, has been scratched and I’m sorta looking forward to going home.
There’s a place here I should visit and I know I’d enjoy it but I just can’t be bothered.
I’ve one more town as a waystop before Paris and home.
Hoping the suitcase drag in Angoulême doesn’t involve steep hills and long series of steps, though looking at photos, it might.
It’s getting progressively colder, being this close to the high Pyrenees to be expected.
Yesterday at Lourdes I used hand sanitiser at the entrance to the grotto, absolutely freezing with the help of wind blowing off the snow up higher.

There is a huge plane storage facility between Tarbes and Lourdes, hard to believe that such a small town has an international airport, but it does, and it looked like they were building a new runway.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 1:34 am

The Consequences of Lockdowns are Dire
[These People Can Not Be Forgiven]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LzuzLnL8XI

Feb 25, 2022
The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
February 26, 2022 1:42 am

I know, you’re relying on no one new here knowing of you (like JC), boasting on Sinc’s Cat of your investments in biotech firms, that you swore blind you checked had absolutely no connection to aborted baby parts *insert eye roll*

Faulty 2.0 still hard at it, I see…

#Nuffy

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
February 26, 2022 1:44 am

SRR and the Glowie uncritically supporting Russian propaganda, because it’s not “our side’s”* propaganda…

* If such a thing could actually exist in this instace.

rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 1:53 am
rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 1:55 am

It’s okay Rex, as long as things are done surgically srr is down with the killing.

rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 1:58 am
rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 2:00 am
rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 2:01 am

“I think that’s their retaliation for us yesterday banning Aeroflot from using and landing in the United Kingdom. That’s their tit for tat response.”
The UK defence secretary with the Julie Bishop level incisiveness.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 2:16 am

Biological Threat Reduction Program
Home | Embassy | U.S. Embassy Kyiv | Sections & Offices | Defense Threat Reduction Office | Biological Threat Reduction Program
https://ua.usembassy.gov/embassy/kyiv/sections-offices/defense-threat-reduction-office/biological-threat-reduction-program/

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Biological Threat Reduction Program collaborates with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks (deliberate, accidental, or natural) of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases.? The program accomplishes its bio-threat reduction mission through development of a bio-risk management culture; international research partnerships; and partner capacity for enhanced bio-security, bio-safety, and bio-surveillance measures. The Biological Threat Reduction Program’s priorities in Ukraine are to consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern and to continue to ensure Ukraine can detect and report outbreaks caused by dangerous pathogens before they pose security or stability threats.

Current executive agents of the Biological Threat Reduction Program in Ukraine are the Ministry of Health, the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, and the Ministry of Defense.

Ministry of Defense (MOD) COVID-19 Response Assistance
Sanitary-Epidemiological Department (SED) of the Medical Command of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense received four mobile laboratories from DTRA with the goal of reinforcing the system of epidemiological surveillance in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense received an official Order from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine concerning the deployment of the mobile labs to the regions of Kyiv, Lviv and Eastern Ukraine to help with the COVID-19 response.

On April 11, 2020, President Zelenskyy visited the SED unit in Pokrovskoye City, Donetsk Oblast, and familiarized himself with the capabilities of the mobile laboratories to help military and civilian people during the COVID-19 epidemic. (News article)

Laboratory Construction
BTRP has upgraded many laboratories for the Ministry of Health and the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service of Ukraine, reaching Biosafety Level 2. In 2019, BTRP constructed two laboratories for the latter, one in Kyiv and one in Odesa.

Science Writing Mentorship Program?(www.SWMProgramUA.com)
The Science Writing Mentorship Program (SWMP) was initiated at the beginning of 2016. The overall focus of SWMP is to advance One Health initiatives and disease risk mitigation in Ukraine through effective dissemination of scientific findings at BTRP-supported laboratories. The program seeks to improve the science writing skills of participants to afford them the opportunity for publishing and obtaining grants for projects.

In addition, there is an annual Ukraine Regional One Health Research Symposium that features participants of SWMP and many others. In 2019, the Symposium had a total of 553 participants and 446 presentations.

Active Research Projects
BTRP supports many collaborative research projects through which Ukrainian and American scientists work together.? A few recent examples are:

?“Risk Assessment of Selected Avian EDPs Potentially Carried by Migratory Birds over Ukraine”
“Prevalence of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus and hantaviruses in Ukraine and the potential requirement for differential diagnosis of suspect leptospirosis patients”
? “The Spread of African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) in Domestic Pigs and Wild Boars in Ukraine – Building Capacity for Insight into the Transmission of ASFV through Characterization of Virus Isolates by Genome Sequencing and Phylogenetic Analysis”
“ASF Biosurveillance and ASF Regional Risk Assessment: A Field to Plate Survey”
Conferences
BTRP invites Ukrainian scientists to participate in scientific conferences worldwide where they have the opportunity to present their work and integrate into the international science community.

Biosurveillance Network of the Silk Road (BNSR)
In 2016 the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection signed a memorandum on joining a multi-national working group with the goal to strengthen global health security and create well-functioning disease surveillance networks in the Eastern European region that includes Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine.

African Swine Fever Prevention Awareness (YouTube video)
Defense Threat Reduction Agency Biological Threat Reduction Program: Ukraine, Caucasus and Central Asia (YouTube video)

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
February 26, 2022 2:29 am

Might Faulty 2.0 be suggesting in her wordwall above, that the US and Ukraine are somehow working together to gather up haemorrhagic fever pathogens for the WEF/Cabal/Tunnel-Lizardpeople to use on us again?

Such Nuffy. Very wow…

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 2:39 am

Leaving YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i4V37FRXTo

Feb 25, 2022
Tony Heller
113K subscribers

Because of censorship I no longer can post anything meaningful on YouTube, but you will find my best work moving forwards on other platforms which still support civil rights :

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
February 26, 2022 2:48 am

Magpies have outwitted scientists by helping each other remove tracking devices

I wonder how long until their bank accounts are frozen for the rebellion against The Science? 😉

rosie
rosie
February 26, 2022 3:10 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:07 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:08 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:09 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:10 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:11 am

David Rowe scrapes the bottom of the barrell.

Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:12 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:13 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:15 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:16 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:17 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:18 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:19 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:20 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:21 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:22 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:24 am
Tom
Tom
February 26, 2022 4:25 am
will
will
February 26, 2022 5:23 am
Anchor What
Anchor What
February 26, 2022 6:22 am

American Thinker has one of the best articles to date summarising the cumulative coup. Extract:
“In 1962 JFK said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” In 2016 Trump promised a revolution in governance and the American people voted him into office. For the next four years, the petrified elites threw everything they had at him, yet he persevered. In 2020 they stole his election victory and installed their puppet in the White House.”
link

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 26, 2022 6:31 am

9 out of 10 in the Oz quiz today.
Pity I never watched A Secret Life of Us when it was on a million years ago.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 6:40 am

Ian56a @Ian56a
·36s
BOOM, Trudeau Reversal Motive Surfaces – Canadian Banking Association Was Approved by World Economic Forum To Lead the Digital ID Creation

BOOM, Trudeau Reversal Motive Surfaces – Canadian Banking Association Was Approved by World Economic Forum To Lead the Digital ID Creation – The Last Refuge
https://gettr.com/post/pwtqtd61c5

A video from the Canadian Bankers helps to neatly connect all the dots about why the Canadian government made such a quick reversal in their bank asset seizures in the last 24 hours

theconservativetreehouse.com

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 6:40 am

Fuck the West. They are pack of lying, cheating, smirking, woke pieces of shit

True.

But the war in the Ukraine has more to do with Putin’s fragile self esteem than the truth.

The Emperor had no clean shirts to ride his mount.

People must die so Vlad can feel good about himself.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 6:41 am

Pity I never watched A Secret Life of Us when it was on a million years ago.

It was before it’s times. Pretentious woke bullshit. Offspring was a spiritual successor but ran out of steam, thank christ.

Anchor What
Anchor What
February 26, 2022 6:43 am

The radical left administration gets its dummy to announce his radical left appointment to the Supreme Court. No surprises here, really. It’s a recycled Obama appointment, one of those radical judges that have helped destabilise the US.
Link

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 26, 2022 6:44 am

With the Oz quiz, I’m finding I get stumped with Australian pop culture questions post the early 2000’s.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 6:44 am

Trouble at The Furniture Shop, and trouble at DashCat.

What news on the Rialto?

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 26, 2022 6:45 am

Isn’t there always trouble at the Furniture store?
But the Dashcat, tell us more.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 6:46 am

This new Android update sucks balls.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 6:48 am

Ian56a@Ian56a
· 15m

The Covid #ClotShot Injections Will Go Down As The Worst Medical Disaster In History.
Shocking new data on covid vaccine and booster safety out of Israel and Germany mean the Covid “vaccines” will overtake Vioxx and Thalidomide combined, as the world’s largest ever drug scandal.
https://swprs.org/covid-vaccines-

N.B. Contrary to this otherwise great article there is no credible evidence the #ClotShot injections have saved any lives from Covid.
Recently vaxxed Covid deaths are fraudulently recorded as unvaxxed Covid deaths. The #ClotShot injections suppress your immune system for 2-3 weeks after the first jab making you MORE susceptible to catching and dying of Covid, and the Covid injections wreck your immune system after 6 months.
https://gettr.com/post/pwu4wmd397

Anchor What
Anchor What
February 26, 2022 6:50 am

Gateway Pundit does it again!
“ Media Blackout: Nasal Spray that is 99% Effective Against COVID-19 in its Phase 3 Clinical Trial – Now Approved in India, Israel, Bahrain, Indonesia & Thailand.”
Link
Remember the pile-on against Trump when he suggested there should be a relatively simple remedy?

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 6:52 am

A video from the Canadian Bankers helps to neatly connect all the dots about why the Canadian government made such a quick reversal in their bank asset seizures in the last 24 hours

Someone could have just pointed out to him that a bank run would cripple the economy. He got mugged by reality.

Anchor What
Anchor What
February 26, 2022 6:53 am

Jo Nova is always quick with the good stuff too.
Today’s piece details some interesting similarities in a critical part of the virus that makes it so human-transmissable, and the link to a patent moderna took out in 2016. It’s not a genetic feature found in nature.
https://joannenova.com.au/

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 6:53 am

Laboratory Construction
BTRP has upgraded many laboratories for the Ministry of Health and the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service of Ukraine, reaching Biosafety Level 2. In 2019, BTRP constructed two laboratories for the latter, one in Kyiv and one in Odesa.

Science Writing Mentorship Program?(www.SWMProgramUA.com)
The Science Writing Mentorship Program (SWMP) was initiated at the beginning of 2016. The overall focus of SWMP is to advance One Health initiatives and disease risk mitigation in Ukraine through effective dissemination of scientific findings at BTRP-supported laboratories. The program seeks to improve the science writing skills of participants to afford them the opportunity for publishing and obtaining grants for projects.

Hmmm yes, that’s diabolical you nong.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 26, 2022 6:55 am
Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 6:56 am

It’s not a genetic feature found in nature.

You’re going to have to do better than that.

This is exactly why the left used COVID as a weapon.

The right scared itself half to death with hysterical nonsense.

CoronaChan –> Mail in vote fraud and a new era of medical apartheid.

calli
calli
February 26, 2022 6:58 am

Well the ‘toonists are all agreed – Vlad bad, Ukraine good.

I’m still completely bewildered and have no opinion. Except that the more I’m shrieked at, the closer I want to look.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 7:01 am

calli you are not allowed to form your own opinions.

shatterzzz
February 26, 2022 7:02 am

When the world sez SANCTIONS we meanz real, nasty, SANCTIONS .. take that, VLAD! .. LOL!
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2022/02/25/sanctions-russia-booted-from-eurovision-song-contest/

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 7:03 am

Glad I am not a full time smoker.

$30 ‘tother day for a small CAO cigar.

Outrageous and a cruel tax on the poor and wage earners, otherwise dripping with envy.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 7:05 am

Was General Milley Involved?… Biden Regime Shared Secret Info on Russian Build-Up on Ukrainian Border with Chi-Coms — Who Then Immediately Shared it with Putin
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/general-milley-involved-biden-regime-shared-secret-info-russian-build-ukrainian-border-chi-coms-immediately-shared-putin/

General Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made headlines back in September after the media reported on his secret calls to China. Milley told the CCP he would give them advance notice if the US was ever going to attack.

General Milley later defended his actions before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
It’s not clear why Milley was never arrested for his actions.

Fast forward to today. The Biden regime reportedly met with China over three months to present intelligence showing Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine and to urge Beijing to help avert war. Chinese officials rebuffed the U.S. and shared the information with Moscow instead.

These people are idiots.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 7:05 am

Where’s the evidence that the Novavax, Sputnik or Covaxin vaccines”ruin your immune system” after six months???

calli
calli
February 26, 2022 7:06 am

On DashCat. Not sure what happened if anything. Adam reminded commenters of his “No D*ckheads Policy”. Whether he invoked against someone it is another story.

I lurk there a lot – I enjoy the comments and content. Rich and varied like here and a fair bit sparser, which saves a lot of scrolling. So if there was a birdstrike, or one of another kind I missed it completely.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 7:07 am

Was General Milley Involved?… Biden Regime Shared Secret Info on Russian Build-Up on Ukrainian Border with Chi-Coms — Who Then Immediately Shared it with Putin

Doesn’t that mean that Milley and China are the good guys? Are you for this mostly peaceful invasion or not, srr?

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 7:08 am

Shekinah_MD
@Shekinah_MD

3h
·
Congress is about to pass an emergency aid bill to Ukraine, meanwhile people continue to get fired from their jobs in THIS country for being unvacced, for having wrongthink, for being resistant to the current regime.

Where’s YOUR aid, American?

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 26, 2022 7:10 am

FFS the magpie story just had to end up with the global warming bullshit.

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 26, 2022 7:12 am

I’m sure Vlad is utterly devastated that Russia has been excluded from the Euroweenie Song contest.

shatterzzz
February 26, 2022 7:14 am

Vale John Landy
Australian sporting legend John Landy has died surrounded by his family aged 91.
Landy, the second man to break the four minute mile in athletics, a passionate environmentalist and the Governor of Victoria from 2001 to 2006, passed away at his home in Castlemaine on Thursday with his wife Lynne, son Matthew and daughter Alison by his side.

Vicki
Vicki
February 26, 2022 7:16 am

Re the nasal spray – breakfast TV a couple of weeks ago had representative of Betadine, the antiseptic gargle, saying that their nasal spray Nasodene, would hopefully be approved soon. Like Betadine, it has been shown to be effective against Covid if used as early treatment.

We always use Betadine if in circumstances where maybe exposed to virus. At the moment I also use an antihistamine nasal spray as a protection. Not sure how effective, but can’t do any harm & is effective against hay fever at the moment when grasses full of seed.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 7:18 am

David Kurten
@davidkurten

12h
·
It is nauseating to hear Western leaders pretend to be against ‘authoritarianism’ after 2 years when they have arbitrarily closed businesses, removed ancient freedoms with repugnant laws that violate our constitutions, sent paramilitaries to beat up their opponents & stolen their money, & fired people for not being injected with experimental mRNA.

Gabor
Gabor
February 26, 2022 7:19 am

calli says:
February 26, 2022 at 7:06 am

On DashCat. Not sure what happened if anything. Adam reminded commenters of his “No D*ckheads Policy”. Whether he invoked against someone it is another story.

Mark A got smote or is it smited?

I have no idea why, he hardly ever posts other then his silly pictures, but apparently someone reported him, other than that, as you say it’s a mystery. He is as harmless as they come.

Anchor What
Anchor What
February 26, 2022 7:26 am

You’re going to have to do better than that
OK
“ The exactly 19 letters are CTCCTCGGCGGGCACGTAG, since you asked. The researchers write that this is “very rare in the NCBI BLAST database.“ (That’s the huge US government collection of gene sequences). Indeed, they say, it is absent “from any eukaryotic or viral genome” — Eukaryote being the word that describes any life on Earth more complicated than a bacteria.”

Crossie
Crossie
February 26, 2022 7:35 am

Expelling Russia from Eurovision Song Contest will just encourage Germany to think they can win.

calli
calli
February 26, 2022 7:35 am

Also in the JoNova piece:

But don’t forget that it’s the 12 nucleotides in the middle of the 19 that especially matter, because they are the new nucleotides that weren’t in SARS-1.

CT|CCTCGGCGGGCA|CGTAG

So, what are the odds of these bolded 12 new bases appearing. The paper tries to calculate and the authors estimate the odds of these occurring naturally are one-in-three-trillion. I never get too excited about declarations of that sort. But the paper authors feel this is ” highly unusual and requires further investigations” which is definitely true.
………

Further investigation? Sure.

Most people who bother to think about the virus’ origin would be looking hard at that lab and that it was an escape, rather than a naturally occurring phenomenon.

All that remains is whether it was deliberate or not.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
February 26, 2022 7:37 am

Yikes!
On the the radar the deluge over Brisbane is tracking straight to Toowoomba.
It could get very nasty as the uplift from the higher country triggers big dumps.

Crossie
Crossie
February 26, 2022 7:38 am

The last time Eurovision Song Contest had an actual winner was Abba with Waterloo in 1974.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 26, 2022 7:44 am

Abba are back together again, so maybe they can enter a new song called Borodino.

Crossie
Crossie
February 26, 2022 7:44 am

All that remains is whether it was deliberate or not.

If it was accidental different countries would have had different approaches for dealing with the virus. That everyone but Sweden fell into line is a strong indicator for deliberate.

What’s more, Sweden were the only country to throw out their Confucius Institute.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 7:47 am

David Starkey yesterday on GB News, interviewed by Mark Steyn.

Starkey’s analysis is superb and I would encourage everyone to listen…

“‘Like Thatcher with the miners, Putin prepared for this war’, says David Starkey”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfCj-x5iu3Q

We here in the west have dug our own graves.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
February 26, 2022 7:47 am

Watch out Vlad, Jen Psaki has the serious face on and dramatically dressed in black.
A pronoun attack looms.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 7:49 am

US Says Ukraine Will Fall To Russia In DAYS, Russia Will Win

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0UlMZAlR6s
Feb 26, 2022
Timcast IRL

Razey
Razey
February 26, 2022 7:52 am

Cassie of Sydneysays:
February 26, 2022 at 7:47 am
David Starkey yesterday on GB News, interviewed by Mark Steyn.

Starkey’s analysis is superb and I would encourage everyone to listen…

“‘Like Thatcher with the miners, Putin prepared for this war’, says David Starkey”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfCj-x5iu3Q

We here in the west have dug our own graves.

The old fogy is full of shit. Putin is fighting Globalist tyranny.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
February 26, 2022 7:52 am

Am in Qld.
Please send Ark.

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 26, 2022 7:55 am

On the the radar the deluge over Brisbane is tracking straight to Toowoomba.
Just like yesterday and 2011 but 2011 had huge rain rates.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 7:57 am

“The old fogy is full of shit. Putin is fighting Globalist tyranny.”

Did you listen? Clearly not. Starkey’s analysis on why Putin is doing what he’s doing accords with what many of us say here, a weak, vapid and empty West…a West that’s forgotten how to fight, a West that isn’t interested in strength and force. So when China and Russia flex that force, we’re left bewildered.

Oh and you’re the one that’s full of shit.

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 26, 2022 7:58 am

I’m in Toowoomba, 2100 feet above sea level and the 2011 event had no effect on our place, thankfully. The builders of our place sloped all the concrete surrounds properly. Others up and down the road were not so lucky.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 7:58 am

Russia will definitely win.

However we should have thoughts and prayers for the people of Ukraine.

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 26, 2022 7:59 am

Is Plasticchook going to have to do a Bligh and flood Brissy?

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 26, 2022 7:59 am

Ukrainian billionaire wakes up this morning.
Ah the weather is nice in the south of France is nice this time of year.
Mmmm….nice move in overnight markets.

shatterzzz
February 26, 2022 8:01 am

Mark A got smote or is it smited?
Gotta be kiddin’ .. MarkA puts together some of the best memes & “page 3” pix all in one place .. compulsory port o’ call every morning! .. duuuuuuuuuuh!

rugbyskier
rugbyskier
February 26, 2022 8:03 am

Russia will definitely win.

However we should have thoughts and prayers for the people of Ukraine.

And light up buildings in blue and yellow colours, that will help.

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
February 26, 2022 8:04 am

Russia annexing Ukraine is purely an economic play…

Russia’s main gas export pipeline to Europe runs through Ukraine.
Recently, the Ukrainian government has been increasing it’s ‘tax’ for the use of the line.

My guess would be the Putin attempted to negotiate this peacefully to no avail, leaving annexing and occupying the best economic decision to reduce export costs and increase profits.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
February 26, 2022 8:04 am

Brisbane has had 200mm in 24 hours.

Bushkid
Bushkid
February 26, 2022 8:04 am

Bourne1879 says:
February 26, 2022 at 7:52 am
Am in Qld.
Please send Ark.

Migrate north a bit, we’re still too dry here in CQ. Might get a bit wetter mid-week though, supposed to be some storms coming through from the west then.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 8:06 am

“LOL. Your a fucking MORON.

The old cunt was clearly against Putin.

Putin is a fucking hero.

You piece of shit mother fucker.”

OMG…such mature analysis. And no, you didn’t watch it.

Have you been drinking all night or are you just hungover?

Your use of the word “c-nt” says everything we need to know about you and your limited vocabulary.

And since you seem to revel in being part of Vladimir’s cheer squad, instead of talking about moving to Japan, why don’t you actually move to Russia? In fact, you can travel through to Japan on your way to Russia.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 26, 2022 8:07 am

Imagine if Ukraine had a government that instead of sending their royalty streams into billionaires banks accounts they used the money to provide services to the population.

Megan
Megan
February 26, 2022 8:07 am

Well the ‘toonists are all agreed – Vlad bad, Ukraine good.

My thought scrolling through? These blokes need to better educate themselves on the topic.

Entirely predictable goodies v baddies approach from every single one of them. Lazy with no nuance or contact with the reality of politics at work here. Not scrolling back but the one of the military chap applying lippy at least captured an element of the nonsense that has weakened the west to the point of incapacity.
What else can you conclude when banning Russia from Eurovision is seen as a strategic masterpiece?

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 8:08 am

“And light up buildings in blue and yellow colours, that will help.””

Exactly. This kind of nonsense is what Starkey (and others) talk about…we’ve lost any notion of force, strength etc.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
February 26, 2022 8:09 am

Bourne1879 says:
February 26, 2022 at 7:52 am
Am in Qld.
Please send Ark.

Mardi Gras floats rushed into action.
Please think of the diversity and equality issues raised by flooding.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 8:12 am

“It is nauseating to hear Western leaders pretend to be against ‘authoritarianism’ after 2 years when they have arbitrarily closed businesses, removed ancient freedoms with repugnant laws that violate our constitutions, sent paramilitaries to beat up their opponents & stolen their money, & fired people for not being injected with experimental mRNA.”

Quite so, which is why on Thursday night, watching our Billy Bunter PM give a press conference and ramble on about “freedom”, I laughed out loud. All I could think when watching this fool is….you slimy hypocrite….for two years you’ve stood back and said nothing, absolutely nothing, about the outrageous assaults on our freedoms.

rugbyskier
rugbyskier
February 26, 2022 8:15 am

What’s happening in the West reminds me of the saying “good times create weak leaders, weak leaders create harsh times, harsh times create strong leaders, strong leaders create good times”. Where we are in this cycle is obvious.

calli
calli
February 26, 2022 8:25 am

we’ve lost any notion of force, strength etc.

And…soft creatures that we are…we’ve lost sight of how people in these countries actually live. They are hard places breeding tough people. Sure, the tourist sees shops full of good things for them to buy. But the people lead much different lives.

You don’t go to the grocer to get what you want. You go to buy what’s there. The west is getting a taste of it with supply chain issues and shortages. For others, it’s a fact of life. As is relentless cold and struggle to stay warm.

We just don’t get it. We did once. It was character building, as my granny would say.

calli
calli
February 26, 2022 8:26 am

Rugbyskier said it best. I took too long composing that diatribe! 😀

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 8:28 am

“callisays:
February 26, 2022 at 8:25 am”

Not diatribe…excellent analysis.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 8:30 am

The old fogy is full of shit. Putin is fighting Globalist tyranny.

No champ, I will give you a tip.

Putin doesn’t think Ukraine is a country.

He doesn’t care about the globalists or if the Ukrainian government is corrupt or not.

Figures
Figures
February 26, 2022 8:30 am

Joe Hildebrand with some arse covering here:

https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/proof-covid-antivaxxers-have-totally-missed-the-point/news-story/1a80b32bf49d22fe0cdb7638f2b98b0a

1) Write an article saying if you don’t get vaccinated for this awful disease you’re evil because unless everybody is vaccinated the government can’t open up society because it will kill us all.

2) Write an article saying that the virus was virtually harmless and all the fearmongering people who were petrified were stupid and that he was never one of the people petrified of this harmless virus.

3) Have people point out to you that the two articles are mutually exclusive and that you’re a disgusting piece of shit.

4) Try to gaslight people by writing another article claiming that the one and only reason the virus didn’t kill everybody and allowed us to open up society was because virtually everybody was vaccinated. In the process of writing this article, completely forget about the fact that, according to official Australian data, covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths all skyrocketed *after* the mass vaccination program.

5) Also, completely ignore the fact that if you write an article saying “if we aren’t all 85 times vaxed and boostered then we’re all going to die or starve” it does, in every possible understanding of the word, constitute “fearmongering”.

Megan
Megan
February 26, 2022 8:32 am

I’m ancient enough to remember when newspapers, even the lowly Sun and Herald,would publish pages of well written analysis of events such as this. Presenting the position of both sides, events leading up, historical antecedents and erudite commentary. For a population where less than 10% went to university.
Yesterday, the university educated class who run and write for the Hun, devoted the front few pages to large print WAR headlines, lots of pix focussed on explosions, damage and injuries, accompanying the Mark Knight cartoon of the Make Russia Great Again hat on Putin. Minimal lines of text skimming the surface of what was happening but pointing out ex-KGB man definitely bad and an OP-ed by the excreble Kimberley Kitchng attempting to explain…well something. I failed to detect anything worth reading and junked it at para 2.
Quickly moving on to establishing it’s reason for remaining in existence – 8 pages of wellness nonsense including recipes and mental health advice, 2 pages of puzzles equal to the 2 pages of financial reporting following the comic strips and astrology forecasts and 8 pages of dreary sport nonsense including a mea culpa from Cyclying Australia on the entirely predictable debacle of the $4grand plus handlebar failure in Tokyo, a Harris Scarfe catalogue, and endless pages of Harvey Norman washing machines and fridges.
And the bulk of the ‘well educated” Western democracies simply cannot figure out how this could happen.
The pandemic taught them nothing.

Figures
Figures
February 26, 2022 8:32 am

Oh and 6) make sure you switch comments off for the article because you don’t want people pointing out that you’re a gaslighting ****wit.

calli
calli
February 26, 2022 8:34 am

And I’m not saying that wealth and plenty is a bad thing. It’s a gift.

But like all gifts, we should understand it can be taken away just like that. Something not to be taken for granted, but to protect and be grateful for.

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

We might not be so fortunate. The Angel of Death might come for us instead of Senacherib.

miltonf
miltonf
February 26, 2022 8:34 am

What else can you conclude when banning Russia from Eurovision is seen as a strategic masterpiece?

pretty much sums up the mindset of the eloi- they have no concept that wealth and security is built on hard work and getting dirty

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 8:41 am

feelthebern says:
February 26, 2022 at 8:07 am

Imagine if Ukraine had a government that instead of sending their royalty streams into billionaires banks accounts they used the money to provide services to the population.

I can imagine.

Biden, Clinton, Obama & Co would have to Nuke them and set up their ‘laundries’ elsewhere.

Why are people forgetting that the US has Nukes & Biden?

Biden who threatened the Ukrainians, on International TV, with withholding a billion if they didn’t stop trying to clean up the corruption.

“In this clip from a January 2018 appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations, former Vice President Joe Biden seems to brag about threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine as a pressure tactic to force the firing of a prosecutor he did not like.
clip & more text –
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/09/27/flashback_2018_joe_biden_brags_at_cfr_meeting_about_withholding_aid_to_ukraine_to_force_firing_of_prosecutor.html

They STOLE the US Election.

How much more Crazy Dangerous do Ukrainians now know this den of vipers they’ve curled up with, are.

calli
calli
February 26, 2022 8:42 am

Hildebrand sensed a shifting zephyr of opinion, then reverted to type.

A true diversity commentator. The articles contain traces of truth to satisfy the most discerning.

Crossie
Crossie
February 26, 2022 8:43 am

… a West that’s forgotten how to fight, a West that isn’t interested in strength and force.

Cassie, nothing underlines this more than the court case against Ben Roberts-Smith. It seems to say we can’t stand men who know how to fight, we must punish them.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 8:44 am

Remember when idiots here swore blue that Nations didn’t use drugs to weaken enemy Nations.

O.K. not idiots.

Anyone who’d try to sell that BS is nothing but a propagandist for those who enjoy their cut of that vile form of warfare –

CCP Deadly Fentanyl Invasion in the US | Rudy Giuliani | Guest: Dr. Maria Ryan | February 25th 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODXSJ0CSpNg

H.A. Zafar
1 hour ago
I recently lost my beautiful son to this evil drug. Spoke to the medical examiner in Orange County Florida and have children as young as 12 dying from this. It IS in every street drug and other things you cannot imagine and the majority of those who are murdered from fentanyl, have no idea, until too late, that it’s loaded with fentanyl. This is unbelievable and heartbreaking ?.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 8:44 am

“Russia banned from competing in Eurovision Song Contest 2022 (25 Feb)”

This now encapsulates the west’s idea of force and strength.

I’m sure Putin is shaking in his boots.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 8:48 am

Remember when idiots here swore blue that Nations didn’t use drugs to weaken enemy Nations.

What about nuclear armed superpowers that drink themselves to death?

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 26, 2022 8:49 am

All that remains is whether it was deliberate or not.

Indeed, it was either Pearl Harbour or Chernobyl.

miltonf
miltonf
February 26, 2022 8:51 am

Cassie, nothing underlines this more than the court case against Ben Roberts-Smith. It seems to say we can’t stand men who know how to fight, we must punish them.

yes I’ve thought the same thing- not so much ‘we’ more the political-media class

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 26, 2022 8:52 am

What’s happening in the West reminds me of the saying “good times create weak leaders, weak leaders create harsh times, harsh times create strong leaders, strong leaders create good times”

Actually, its strong MEN etc

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 8:53 am

“Crossiesays:
February 26, 2022 at 8:43 am
… a West that’s forgotten how to fight, a West that isn’t interested in strength and force.

Cassie, nothing underlines this more than the court case against Ben Roberts-Smith. It seems to say we can’t stand men who know how to fight, we must punish them.”

Correct and it also explains why the left hate Israel. They loathe the fact that a country and a people need to use “force” and “strength” to defend itself . And here in Oz, everyday our armed forces and our police are undermined by the progressive left, whether it’s the BRS case or the accusations against our SAS of “war crimes”….an accusation that PM Billy Bunter joined in on.

All of this deliberate undermining by the progressive left erodes the very foundations of our society. And they’ve almost succeeded….because we’re now an empty shell.

I’m not on Twitter but I bet what’s trending is the Ukrainian flag, all that garbage of “we stand with Ukraine”, except they don’t and all that garbage of “Je suis Ukrainian”, except they aren’t because it’s all just piffle, feel good meaningless virtue signalling.

This is our idea of force and strength. No wonder Putin and Xi are laughing.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 26, 2022 8:58 am

Too good to leave lost on the old thread.

Ed Casesays:
February 25, 2022 at 10:21 pm
John Kerry: “I hope Mr Putin will stay on track with what we need to do in respect of the climate.”

It’s a warning.
Yeah, we let you take back the Donbass, don’t go Off Script on all the other bullshit, and we might let you keep it.

I told you earlier Dick Ed, lay off the magic ‘shrooms.

PS, Putin was never “on script on all the other bullshit”. I’m astonished that a Spook like you wasn’t aware of that.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
February 26, 2022 9:02 am

From Hildebrands article.

In the old pre Covid days the number of anti vaxxers would be small. However they weren’t barred from cafes and pubs. Neither were people with HIV.

I am double jabbed but most definitely an anti vaxxer. I believe the definition for anti vaxxers is not just “pure bloods” but anybody who questions any aspect of the Vax and policies etc.

Joes comment below wrongly assumes that all who are vaxxed are pro Vax. Could not be more wrong. Many have only got vaxxed to protect their jobs and plenty are not happy about it.

As pointed out good move not allowing comments on his article.

“The anti-Covid vaxxers are now around the same number — and probably the same people — as the common garden-variety anti-vaxxers who have always been around.”

Indolent
Indolent
February 26, 2022 9:03 am
lotocoti
lotocoti
February 26, 2022 9:04 am

Apparently Stockyard, down from the ‘Woomba is as bad as 2011,
just not as sudden.

Damon
Damon
February 26, 2022 9:09 am

“These people are idiots.”
Well, the populace voted for them. They got what they paid for. Cheap at half the price.

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 26, 2022 9:11 am

… assumes that all who are vaxxed are pro Vax.

Complexity and nuance are the enemies of modern J’isming.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 9:17 am

The “Putin is fighting Nazis!” stuff is literally Antifa PR.

Let’s not forget that Putin has the lunatic LDP-R as controlled opposition and the ideology of Eurasian supremacy.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 9:18 am

Where’s the evidence that the Novavax, Sputnik or Covaxin vaccines”ruin your immune system” after six months???
Look, this is the score.
Receive the Injection or lose your income and be starved to death.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 26, 2022 9:18 am

Dot

Someone could have just pointed out to him that a bank run would cripple the economy. He got mugged by reality.

Yet that insane woman Freeland (Zoolander?) is still babbling about making the banking confiscation actions part of permanent law.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 9:21 am

“Complexity and nuance are the enemies of modern J’isming.”

Truth is also the enemy of modern journalism..

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 9:21 am

Putin just cucked, he called for negotiations with Zelensky.
It’s over, GloboHomo have won.

shatterzzz
February 26, 2022 9:22 am

I blame HUGHIE! .. succulent out in the back garden .. never noticed the stem thru the middle before ..
bloody thing is 6 metres tall! .. LOL!
https://ibb.co/KXrhJFK

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
February 26, 2022 9:22 am

ABC radio delivers symbolism to the Ukrainians.
Prayers and emotive appeals don’t knock out tanks.

Beertruk
Beertruk
February 26, 2022 9:23 am

Eyriesays:
February 26, 2022 at 7:58 am

Our old place had water through it in 2011. Water just poured over the retaining wall from the property behind us, through the garage and through the laundry downstairs. There were other problems with water, but that was the worst of it.
We fixed what drainage problems we could afterwards so I hope the owners now aren’t having too many worries.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 26, 2022 9:24 am

You piece of shit mother fucker.

If you squint your eyes a bit, and repeat this sentence out loud in a Mr Miyagi voice, you will understand that Razey has in fact put his cash where his trap is and moved to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Fooled everyone. The three-card trick. Well played Razey, well played.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 9:25 am

Freeland is likely to replace Fidel, Jnr. real soon, so if she’s saying confiscation will happen then it will happen.
Whattabout that wig Jnr is sporting?

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 26, 2022 9:29 am

bloody thing is 6 metres tall

Hope you call it Audrey.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 26, 2022 9:29 am

Prayers and emotive appeals don’t knock out tanks.

Western Europe are frantically rummaging through the back corner of the shed, looking for that last can of toxic masculinity that the (tranny) missus told them to throw out but they hid because it might be worth something on eBay later on.

Roger
Roger
February 26, 2022 9:34 am

“Vladimir Putin doesn’t want me to be President. He doesn’t want me to be our nominee. If you’re wondering why — it’s because I’m the only person in this field who’s ever gone toe-to-toe with him.”

Joe Biden, February 2020.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 26, 2022 9:34 am

Secret Life of Us?
Offspring?

Horrible.

Might as well have mentioned Cthulu or the Necromicon.

Beertruk
Beertruk
February 26, 2022 9:34 am

ABC radio delivers symbolism to the Ukrainians.
Prayers and emotive appeals don’t knock out tanks.

Thought the ABC was anti-religious and didn’t believe in prayers?

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 26, 2022 9:35 am

pretty much sums up the mindset of the eloi- they have no concept that wealth and security is built on hard work and getting dirty

Many have no clue us Morlocks exist.

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 26, 2022 9:38 am

Just read the Joe Hildebrand article. God he’s a fuckwit and a liar.

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 26, 2022 9:41 am

Putin just cucked, he called for negotiations with Zelensky.

He’s just giving Zelensky a graceful exit instead of having his troops kill him.

WolfmanOz
WolfmanOz
February 26, 2022 9:42 am

Anchor What says:
February 26, 2022 at 6:22 am
American Thinker has one of the best articles to date summarising the cumulative coup. Extract:
“In 1962 JFK said, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” In 2016 Trump promised a revolution in governance and the American people voted him into office. For the next four years, the petrified elites threw everything they had at him, yet he persevered. In 2020 they stole his election victory and installed their puppet in the White House.”
link

Great article !

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 26, 2022 9:43 am

Ed Casesays:
February 26, 2022 at 9:25 am
Freeland is likely to replace Fidel, Jnr. real soon, so if she’s saying confiscation will happen then it will happen.

What do the Spooks say about the prospects of an ongoing run on Canadian banks Dick?

rickw
rickw
February 26, 2022 9:43 am

Defend The West!

Defend the right to have:

Your freedom of movement limited.
Your freedom of association limited.
Your freedom of speech limited.
Your freedom to think limited.
Your freedom to chose medication eliminated.
Your freedom to chose what PPE to wear eliminated.

Of course if you chose to not conform with any of this:

You will be assaulted by police you paid for.
Fired from your job.
Have your bank account frozen.
Be forced gender reassignment surgery.

Go The West!

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 9:47 am

rick – I agree, what is worth defending is more of a memory.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 9:49 am

“rickwsays:
February 26, 2022 at 9:43 am”

Great comment.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 9:54 am

If the rain keeps going Brisbane will be flooded anyway, Wivenhoe or no.
The difference with 2011 is that Stacia has since filled the North Quay reach of the River with all kinds of junk, which is a chance of blocking the flood in the CBD.
The Palaszczuk Dam.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 9:57 am

Catturd
@Catturd

9h
·
We couldn’t win a war against the South Pole with the basement dummy as President.

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 9:59 am

Wendy Rogers
@wendyrogersaz

3h
·
Half of the combat footage of Kiev out there is from a video game. Check your sources. Check your sources. Check your sources.

Roger
Roger
February 26, 2022 10:01 am

Brisbane has had 200mm in 24 hours.

But not yet a record.

313.9mm 26 January 1974

282.4mm 12 June (!), 1967

and the big one

465.1 mm 21 January 1887

Quite a few other instances of around or over 200mm in a day since 1869 too.

P
P
February 26, 2022 10:02 am

Human Events Host and Navy Veteran Jack Posobiec
Interview with RSBN’s Brian Glenn
at CPAC 2022 – rumble – 11 m
https://twitter.com/RSBNetwork/status/1497301050046492683?cxt=HHwWlsC5nefXvccpAAAA

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 26, 2022 10:05 am

A vigilant Commonwealth keeps watchful eyes on the Roberts-Smith case
Deborah Snow
By Deborah Snow
February 26, 2022 — 9.00am

There’s an elephant in the courtroom in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case, rarely alluded to in the media coverage.

It’s the Commonwealth government, which has been keeping a vigilant eye on proceedings from day one.

It has its own team of two, sometimes three barristers, sitting every day behind the front row reserved for Roberts-Smith’s senior counsel and the barristers for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

And every so often, the court is reminded of the elephant’s presence, when the quietly spoken lead barrister for the Commonwealth, Kristina Stern, SC, gets to her feet, asking presiding Justice Anthony Besanko to suppress the accidentally mentioned name of a soldier (whose identities are meant to be kept secret), or to steer the evidence away from sensitive national security information.

There’s a third topic the Commonwealth has declared off-limits: any question to military witnesses about what they might or might not have told the government’s secretive war crimes investigation teams.

Those investigations are being conducted well out of public view, by a little-known body called the Office of the Special Investigator, of which more shortly.

The media outlets have chosen to mount a defence of truth in the case, alleging Roberts-Smith committed or was party to six unlawful killings of Afghan males who were unarmed or “persons under control” (that is, not posing a threat) at the time of their deaths.

Roberts-Smith has strongly denied this, saying the deaths occurred in combat and were lawful under Australian army rules of engagement. Such are the basic dynamics that have led to a defamation case, conducted in a civil court, morphing into what many consider to be a de facto war crimes trial.

It’s an unprecedented spectacle, says Dr Melanie O’Brien, an international law specialist from the University of Western Australia.

“This has made news around the world” she tells this masthead. “It’s absolutely extraordinary to see this playing out in a defamation trial. Those of us in this field in academia are just watching it with our mouths agape because we just can’t believe that so much is being said so openly in this kind of [civil] case.”

There are, of course, other dimensions to the Roberts-Smith trial that have nothing to do with the fate of Afghan detainees. There are the accusations of bullying and intimidation against some other SAS soldiers, and Roberts-Smith’s alleged striking of his former lover, all of which he has forcefully denied.

Another facet of the case was drawn into the light on Wednesday, as the court heard evidence from private investigator, John McLeod, once a trusted gofer for Roberts-Smith, about envelopes he says the Victoria Cross recipient asked him to post. Unbeknown to McLeod (he says), the envelopes contained threatening letters to at least one other SAS member. Roberts-Smith has denied any knowledge of the missives.

But it’s the alleged events in Afghanistan that have generated the most headlines.

Thus far, the court has heard from half-a-dozen soldiers, called as witnesses by the media outlets. There are a dozen more to come. Soldiers giving evidence for Roberts-Smith will start to be heard from mid-March.

There have been vivid descriptions of battles, SAS operating procedures, tactics and feats of endurance, and the laying bare of rivalries and grievances between soldiers.

The federal agencies keeping closest watch are the Defence Department, the Australian Federal Police, the Attorney-General and the new body, the Office of the Special Investigator.

The Office of the Special Investigator had its roots in the report of Justice Paul Brereton, released after a four-and-a-half year inquiry in November 2020 conducted under the auspices of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force.

The Brereton report rocked the country with its conclusion that there was “credible information” of serious war crimes having been committed by up to 25 current or former ADF personnel, though none of the suspects were named.

But because Brereton’s findings were the result of an inquiry conducted as part of the military justice system, not a criminal investigation, there was a limit on how they could be used.

Specifically, some information had been compelled from soldiers who were given protection from self-incrimination, meaning portions of it were never going to be admissible in criminal proceedings.

The Office of the Special Investigator was set up in January last year in part to try to resolve this problem, or, as its Director-General Chris Moraitis put it, to “triage” the work of the Brereton inquiry.

It has since spent 14 months quietly building up some of the most formidable investigation teams in the country, drawing on 54 specialist investigators and analysts — 16 seconded from the AFP and 36 from state police forces — led by two commanders.

If ever there are to be criminal prosecutions of Australian soldiers for misdeeds in Afghanistan, it will be because of the work of the Office of the Special Investigator.

Its leadership team is highly experienced, comprising Moraitis, who is a former head of the Attorney-General’s Department, and Special Investigator Mark Weinberg, QC, a former judge and onetime Commonwealth director of public prosecutions.

Rounding out the leadership team is Ross Barnett, a former deputy commissioner of the Queensland Police Service. Together with 25 support staff, the agency now has a total of 84 people working for it, with a budget of just over $40 million.

O’Brien says the creation of the Office of the Special Investigator makes Australia unique among its allies, and that no other nations which served alongside in Afghanistan have launched similar inquiries.

“We really are a pack leader in terms of probing whether our own soldiers have committed such crimes,” she says.
Office of the Special Investigator Director-General Chris Moraitis says his organisation is operating in a “complex legal landscape”.

Office of the Special Investigator Director-General Chris Moraitis says his organisation is operating in a “complex legal landscape”. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“It’s a highly effective way of doing it, taking it outside the military to ensure that it is independent. The reason the government has created a separate office is because of the complexity of war crimes investigations, the complexity of the situations in which they occur, and also the sheer amount of evidence that is required to prove these kinds of crimes.”

srr
srr
February 26, 2022 10:07 am

@OHMichael
·
20h
REMINDER: Not everything needs to be shared on social media but this video needs to be watched & reposted and liked – thank you.

https://gettr.com/post/pwpe1je870

2dogs
2dogs
February 26, 2022 10:08 am

Good info on the Russian view of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYK4UGS-C0I

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 10:10 am

Where did Roberts-Smith’s Army career begin?
Was he in East Timor?
Any issues there?

Twostix
Twostix
February 26, 2022 10:14 am

But the war in the Ukraine has more to do with Putin’s fragile self esteem than the truth.

The Emperor had no clean shirts to ride his mount.

People must die so Vlad can feel good about himself.

This is low effort even for you dot.

Reminds me of the “jerk store” bit that CL used to post from Seinfeld.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 26, 2022 10:15 am

Where did Roberts-Smith’s Army career begin?

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that his ‘Army career’ began at the recruiting office.

2dogs
2dogs
February 26, 2022 10:17 am

Putin just cucked, he called for negotiations with Zelensky.

Forcing the other side into negotiations was always his goal. He doesn’t want to keep Western Ukraine.

Why would Putin want degenerates such as these as Russian citizens?

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 10:17 am

This is low effort even for you dot.

Because it’s true. Lying is high effort.

Twostix
Twostix
February 26, 2022 10:17 am

Speaking of Hildebrand Latham brings the baseball bat:

Real Mark Latham
@RealMarkLatham
·
34m
Congratulations to Sky News.
They’ve finally found a show worse than Pyne & Marles:
The Blame Game, run by Studio Stupid reject Joe Hildebrand.
It’s as entertaining as a Russian panzer division in Chernobyl.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 10:20 am

I’m going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that his ‘Army career’ began at the recruiting office.

I knew you’d say that.
So, in East Timor or not in East Timor?
Were there “issues” there?

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 10:22 am

“Human Events Host and Navy Veteran Jack Posobiec
Interview with RSBN’s Brian Glenn
at CPAC 2022 – rumble – 11 m”

Posobiec provides a sober and very measured response. Thanks P.

Cassie of Sydney
February 26, 2022 10:23 am

“It’s as entertaining as a Russian panzer division in Chernobyl.”

This is why I love Mark Latham.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 10:25 am

Forcing the other side into negotiations was always his goal. He doesn’t want to keep Western Ukraine.

Um, … 2Dogs [or should I say Sancho?], Zelensky is the leader of an illegal government.
Putin calling for negotiation with an illegal government?
He’s cucked.

Roger
Roger
February 26, 2022 10:25 am

Al Jazeera:

‘China’s Xi speaks to Putin; calls for ‘negotiation’ with Ukraine’

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 10:27 am

“Seinfeld”
“Boomers…”

Come on, man!

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 10:27 am

Were there “issues” in Afghanistan?
Is that why Big Robbo was awarded his VC?
So there was an excuse to bring him back to Australia?

Carpe Jugulum
Carpe Jugulum
February 26, 2022 10:29 am

Dot says:
February 26, 2022 at 6:46 am

This new Android update sucks balls.

The iPhone rocks

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 26, 2022 10:30 am

Your freedom to think limited.
Your freedom to chose medication eliminated.
Your freedom to chose what PPE to wear eliminated.

Hehe, NSW dropped mask requirements yesterday for most places. I’m just back from local IGA; one fat old guy and one very old lady at the bus stop were the only people still wearing one. No one else. I think that says exactly what ordinary people think of them.

P
P
February 26, 2022 10:30 am
flyingduk
flyingduk
February 26, 2022 10:31 am

I knew you’d say that. So, in East Timor or not in East Timor?

A perusal of his medals shows, amongst others, the following Campaign ribbons:
Afghan, Iraq, Interfet/UN for UNAMET and (thats East Timor)

comment image

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 26, 2022 10:34 am

Were there “issues” in Afghanistan?

He may or may not have shot a hole in someone else’s tent.

He may or may not have dressed in women’s clothes in an attempt to be declared insane and thus discharged.

He may or may not have been part of a group of soldiers imprisoned in military jails for heinous crimes, and who was recruited for a top-secret suicide mission vital to the war effort by a maverick officer, and whose motley group bonded in an unlikely manner and then completed that mission, and who was one of the only survivors.

Twostix
Twostix
February 26, 2022 10:34 am

Nah dot you don’t lie you really believe a lot of the nonsense you support like that gay marriage will be the end of it, that open borders is a fine ideology and that violently over throwing an elected president and installing a US puppet government in Ukraine in 2014 then teasing Russia with threats of ethnic cleansing of the ethnically Russian territories, NATO membership and long range missile bases with short flight times to Moscow, wouldn’t lead to a violent Russian response.

Carpe Jugulum
Carpe Jugulum
February 26, 2022 10:34 am

Were there “issues” in Afghanistan?
Is that why Big Robbo was awarded his VC?
So there was an excuse to bring him back to Australia?

1. It was an insurgent warzone populated by goat shaggers who would happily murder you on camera. Apart from that not really.

2. BRS earned his VC for actions against the enemy when he was part of an outnumbered force that had to go building to building to eliminate the enemy

3. Are you drunk or high?

rugbyskier
rugbyskier
February 26, 2022 10:36 am

Hehe, NSW dropped mask requirements yesterday for most places. I’m just back from local IGA; one fat old guy and one very old lady at the bus stop were the only people still wearing one. No one else. I think that says exactly what ordinary people think of them.

I went into the local Aldi this morning to get a few things and over half of the customers still were wearing them. All of the staff had ditched them though.

Morsie
Morsie
February 26, 2022 10:37 am

Just pointing out that the current proceedings are not against Roberts- Smith but are defamation proceedings brought by him.
He may have been better advised just to ignore (.
So much mud is being thrown that some of it will stick.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 26, 2022 10:39 am

KD – You left out stealing a truckload of enemy gold and buying a T-72 off a Taliban.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 26, 2022 10:40 am

Ed Casesays:
February 26, 2022 at 10:20 am
I’m going to go out on a limb here, and suggest that his ‘Army career’ began at the recruiting office.

I knew you’d say that.
So, in East Timor or not in East Timor?
Were there “issues” there?

You’re the Spook, Dick. You tell us.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
February 26, 2022 10:41 am

Rain in Brisbane. Please send some up here in the north of the state ta, been a very crap wet season so far and very sultry especially in the middle of the day.

Dot
Dot
February 26, 2022 10:44 am

The idea that Putin cares about clean elections and nuclear aggression is laughable.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 26, 2022 10:45 am

He may have been better advised just to ignore (.

His problem is that if he wanted to stay on as a Public Figure, he couldn’t just let it go.

So much mud is being thrown that some of it will stick.

If he gets up in Court, then he’s vindicated and all the mud goes down the Memory Hole.
If he loses then he’s finished as a Public Figure so it’s worth the punt.

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