Open Thread – Tuesday 26 April 2022


The Incredulity of Thomas, Caravaggio, 1601-02

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

1.7K Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 8:11 am

Ben Garrison on Twitter

The 44 billion (like China City Shutdowns) does not make sense.

Tucker Carlson Gives His Perspective on Musk Successfully Purchasing Twitter Platform

There is an angle to this move which looms. If the doomsday predictions of Twitter’s Thursday anticipated first quarter financial earnings are correct, it is entirely possible that Musk is about to take a massive financial hit.

Some, including myself, who understand the financial black hole that Twitter’s business model represents, have suspicions that Twitter may be hung around Musk’s neck like a millstone as he’s thrown into the deep state sea of social media. It will be interesting to see how quickly Musk responds to those Q1 financials. [NOTE: I foresee be a small user fee in the future]

132andBush
132andBush
April 27, 2022 8:14 am

Tintarella di Luna says:
April 27, 2022 at 5:37 am

Sorry Tinta, didn’t mean to sound abrupt.

“Other projects” would be a more apt term.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 8:16 am

BREAKING: Vice President Harris Tests Positive for COVID

In its tweet announcing the news, CNN notes that Harris is “fully vaccinated and boosted twice.”

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 8:17 am

Musk didn’t do due diligence on twitter earnings.
Seems likely.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 27, 2022 8:17 am

From the Oz. Well said!

Katherine
1 hour ago
I would be very surprised if anyone was surprised by Turnbull’s actions. Like a lot of people with money, they lose sight of the plight of average Aussies. Turnbull represents that group of people who believe the ‘elite’ know better than the rest of us what is good for our country. They are the ‘Pigs’ of our Animal Farm.

duncanm
duncanm
April 27, 2022 8:28 am

Aboriginal descendent of generations of Aussie diggers is reduced to tears as a member of the RSL REFUSES to let her lay an Indigenous flag at an Anzac Day service

.. but of course she didn’t think to have a quiet chat with the RSL to clear it before the ceremony, did she?

Activist, what?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 27, 2022 8:31 am

The Andrews Government – dealing with the relevant issues …

‘I was whitewashed’: Uncle Jack Charles first elder to share his story at Yoorrook
Jack Latimore
By Jack Latimore
April 26, 2022 — 7.52pm

Uncle Jack Charles wasn’t even told he was Aboriginal.

The actor and Indigenous rights activist on Tuesday told the nation’s first truth and justice commission to hear the impacts of colonisation and racist government policy on First Nations people of his removal from his family as a baby.

Charles said he was placed in the Box Hill Boys’ Home, where he experienced “cruel and callous punishments” in the 1950s, and spoke of the cycles of incarceration, homelessness, familial dislocation and drug addiction he experienced for decades as a result of that treatment.

“I wasn’t even told I was Aboriginal. I had to discover that for myself. I knew nothing, was told nothing, and had to assimilate … I was whitewashed by the system,” Charles told the Yoorrook Justice Commission on its first day of public hearings.

Elders were invited to make submissions at the commission’s hearings, or wurrek tyerrang, that opened at the former site of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service building on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, a symbolic landmark of self-determination to First Peoples in the state since the community organisation was founded in the early 1970s.

Submissions to the commission, also referred to as nuther-mooyoop (a Boon Wurrung word for truth), were designed to provide an opportunity for First Nations elders in the state to share their experiences of the impacts of colonisation, including their experiences of resilience and survival of languages and little-known histories and traditions.

Nuther-mooyoop made to Yoorrook may take the form of writing, artwork, cultural artefact, photo, performance, or audio and video recording.

Yoorrook commission chair Eleanor Bourke said “all ways of telling the truth are of equal importance. A nuther-mooyoop can include anything about a past or current experiences of systemic injustice for an elder, in addition to that of their family or community”.

Bourke assured elders intending to make submissions that their stories would be protected and that the process would be conducted in a culturally safe way.

The initial period of the wurrek tyerrang process will run until May 6 at the Fitzroy site, with a second round of sittings commencing later in May.

The commission will open the hearings to all First Nation people and other Victorians later in the year.

The hearings will culminate in the publication of Yoorrook’s interim report in June 2022 and is considered a crucial component on the path towards achieving an historic treaty with Indigenous residents of Victoria.

duncanm
duncanm
April 27, 2022 8:32 am

minsays:
April 27, 2022 at 5:34 am
Haven’t read all the replies as yet , just woken up but re Turnbull and why he is still in the Liberal Party , 1 million dollars .
Party was broke and he ‘gave’ the million bucks when he was il capo but don’t know what stringsv were attached . They certainly can’t afford to give it back.

I’ll throw in a buck to pay him back if that’s what it takes.

Anyone else in?

lotocoti
lotocoti
April 27, 2022 8:33 am

Trans men’s eggs have been matured in the lab—and could help them have children

A hateful transphobe might deduce those “trans men” preserving
the very core of being female know deep down they are engaging
in cosmetic mutilation because it’s the current thing.

duncanm
duncanm
April 27, 2022 8:35 am

*Automatic voter registration by state DMVs upon issuing a driver’s license, revealing the true intent behind the Democrats’ push for licenses for illegal immigrants
*No nationwide voter ID. Somehow, Democrats are fine with everyone having a Covid vaccination card, but not a voter ID.

a) register voter with issue of ID (driver’s license)
b) never ask for said ID when voting.

You know it makes sense.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 8:39 am

BREAKING: Project Veritas Releases Leaked Audio of Twitter Meeting Following Elon Musk’s Purchase

The audio is only about a minute long, but Project Veritas Founder James O’Keefe has promised that there is more to come.

According to a report from Politico, Twitter’s top lawyer Vijaya Gadde cried during the meeting “as she expressed concerns about how the company could change.”

“Gadde, who has worked at Twitter since 2011, is the key executive charged with overseeing Twitter’s trust and safety, legal and public policy functions. She is seen internally as Twitter’s ‘authority’ and the executive tasked with handling sensitive issues like harassment and dangerous speech,” the report explained.

calli
calli
April 27, 2022 8:43 am

They talk about ‘bad’ ideas and ‘wrong’ ideas being allowed to be proliferated – they assume their own ideas are virtuous and right. Oh, and hatred.

It isn’t just “the Left”, I’m afraid. Happens with any divisive issue where people love their own ideas more than freedom for others.

I did wonder at that cartoon. Was it putting a “bad bird” in a cage? Other cartoonists appear to think Twitter is benign and should be “set free”.

Going to be an interesting few weeks as things find their level.

H B Bear
H B Bear
April 27, 2022 8:43 am

Has Leunig left the reservation or just have the usual absence of irony? (Yes that is not the correct use of irony but the commonly used use of the word). Echoes of Leak Snr if he has.

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
April 27, 2022 8:44 am
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 8:47 am

Musk didn’t do due diligence on twitter earnings.
Seems likely.

I read somewhere that Twitter brings about $5B in from advertising each year. If true that suggests it could be pretty profitable – fewer moderators being paid Silicon Valley rates plus a potentially larger audience if righties stop getting banned. Musk wouldn’t be the first guy to take a moribund lefty company and make it a profitable business.

CNN seems to be getting this treatment from newly merged Warner Bros/Discovery according to Surber yesterday.

“At 8 a.m. ET on April 11 — the first day Warner Bros. Discovery began trading as a combined company — Licht and Perrette told Morse and his team that CNN+’s marketing budget was immediately going to zero. It was Licht’s first meeting at CNN.”

“Zaslav’s swift ax to CNN+, in combination with Warner Bros. Discovery board member John Malone’s comments to CNBC about returning CNN to hard news, signal a more active corporate hand over the organization’s future.”

Cleaning out the ideology and getting back to business can do wonders to the bottom line. CNN is probably past redemption though, and Warner/Discovery are establishment, unlike Elon. We’ll see.

Only 3% of its subscribers actually watched CNN+ (Surber, 25 Apr)

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 8:50 am

Meanwhile – Reports: Netflix Employee Morale Plummets as Stock Sinks and Subscribers Flee

Netflix is experiencing a crisis in employee morale following the steamer’s report last week that it lost 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter and expects to lose a stunning 2 million more in the months ahead.

The gloomy financial outlook has sent Netflix shares in a downward spiral, further alienating employees who receive compensation in the form of stock options.

Shares of Netflix have dropped 43 percent since the company reported first quarter earnings last week and are down more than 66 percent so far this year.

Netflix’s financial outlook is so grim that billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman recently dumped his fund’s 3.1 million Netflix shares at a loss estimated at more than $400 million.

calli
calli
April 27, 2022 8:52 am

I presume the trans “men” will be renting someone’s uterus to incubate their fertilised egg?

Seems cancelled women are good for something after all.

Indolent
Indolent
April 27, 2022 8:52 am

This is exactly how they work.

a pattern of patterns

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 8:53 am

Has Leunig left the reservation or just have the usual absence of irony?

He got thwacked by a lefty censorship baseball bat, which seems to’ve opened his eyes a little bit.

Cartoonist Michael Leunig axed over controversial vaccine cartoon (21 Oct)

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 8:55 am

Mercedes face ‘hierarchy changes’ amid Lewis Hamilton struggles as Marko joke shot down

Ralf Schumacher has warned Mercedes that a shift in power within the team could soon be on the horizon if George Russell continues to outperform Lewis Hamilton over the course of this season. The latter has endured his worst ever start to a Formula One campaign and was recently told by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko that he would have avoided the embarrassment that he currently faces if he had retired from the sport over the winter.

“We also have to talk about Lewis Hamilton, of course,” wrote Schumacher in his latest F1 column for Sky Germany. “He has to ask himself why George Russell is so much faster than him.

From the Comments

As I said, he very wisely ? did choose the 2nd driver yellow camera.

Bluey
Bluey
April 27, 2022 9:00 am

OldOzziesays:
April 27, 2022 at 8:50 am
Meanwhile – Reports: Netflix Employee Morale Plummets as Stock Sinks and Subscribers Flee

Netflix is experiencing a crisis in employee morale following the steamer’s report last week that it lost 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter and expects to lose a stunning 2 million more in the months ahead.

The gloomy financial outlook has sent Netflix shares in a downward spiral, further alienating employees who receive compensation in the form of stock options.

Shares of Netflix have dropped 43 percent since the company reported first quarter earnings last week and are down more than 66 percent so far this year.

Netflix’s financial outlook is so grim that billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman recently dumped his fund’s 3.1 million Netflix shares at a loss estimated at more than $400 million.

Get woke go broke. Not at all surprised.

Indolent
Indolent
April 27, 2022 9:03 am

Believe it or not, this serving of utter tripe is from the Centre for Disease Control. Because, of course, climate change is the biggest health risk we all face.

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Climate Adaptation Planning

shatterzzz
April 27, 2022 9:12 am

Watching the Netflix mini-series, DOPESICK, about how “big pharma” , namely PERDUE PHARMA managed to control the US opioid market with the most addictive pain-killer ever known, OXYCONTIN .. coupla interesting points (among dozens) that stood out ..
After a meeting with the FDA and high level Perdue folk the DEA agents were stunned that with the amount of, damning, evidence they provided all the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) came thru with was a reprimand (wrist slap) and a lecture on using ambiguous wording on the drug label ..

One agent turned to the other and sez, “How can the FDA be so blind as to what is in plain sight?” ..
The other DEA bloke looks at him .. “this is what happens when your dealing with a company’s future employees” ..
“These FDA are making decisions whilst knowing about the salary(s) that Perdue are already paying to ex-colleagues and thinking about their own futures” ..

The second and something I wasn’t aware of, having always thought this bloke was the genuine article when it came to the “battler” ..
the involvement of RUDI GUILIANI with Perdue .. Post 9-11 when Guiliani was surfing on the wave of public popularity Perdue saw an opportunity and snared him (with appropriate recompense) as their, main, lobbyist expounding the non addictive joys of OXYCONTIN in the Washington corridors of gummint .. Yessssss folks! .. that “popular voice of the people” and a political “influencer”, ex mayor of New York and friend of the DON (all hail!) was the foremost vocal shill for OXYCONTIN the most addictive narcotic, freely & legally, available to the general public in history ..
not so much of a revered reputuation to remember but just another in the conga line of troughers with snouts in the trough ..!

Quite an eye-opener on the get-rich-at-any-cost schemes that “big pharma” get away with .. cos it ain’t about helping folk in need .. it’s about making money, lotza money regardless of the consequences ……..!

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 9:13 am

Filmmaker: Documentary Proves Rampant Illegal Vote Trafficking in 2020

“Through the movie ‘2000 Mules,’ we are taking on the ultimate taboo in American politics today—saying that the 2020 election was stolen by systematic, organized fraud committed by the Democrats and the left,” D’Souza told The Epoch Times.

Mindful of the power of cancel culture, D’Souza said great care has been taken to release the film on what he calls “un-cancellable platforms.”

“It’s hard to believe we have reached that point in America, but alas, we have,” he said.

“While I was a writer or a figure in a think-tank, I wasn’t bothered much. It was when I began to reach a wider audience that I became a political target.”

When asked why he’s willing to subject himself to possible cancellation, D’Souza said, “I am defending the system which made it possible for an immigrant from India, a boy at the bottom, to make my way up—a system that makes this kind of upward economic and social mobility possible.”

duncanm
duncanm
April 27, 2022 9:13 am

Bruce of Newcastlesays:
April 27, 2022 at 8:53 am
Has Leunig left the reservation or just have the usual absence of irony?

He got thwacked by a lefty censorship baseball bat, which seems to’ve opened his eyes a little bit.

Indeed it did – from your link.

Leunig said the Tiananmen Square image is often used in cartoons around the world as “Charlie Chaplin-like metaphor for overwhelming force meeting the innocent powerless individual”.

“In my view, it is a fair enough issue to raise in the most locked-down city in the world,” he told the Australian.

“If what [editor] Gay says is right, I don’t much want to work for the sorts of readers who are so censorious.

“It seems that at The Age in particular, you can’t go near the Covid story except in a way that’s supportive of the Victorian government’s handling of it. And if you’re not supportive, that’s reason enough for you to be cancelled.”

rickw
rickw
April 27, 2022 9:16 am

“Trans men’s eggs have been matured in the lab—and could help them have children”

John MacArthur said he used to wonder at what Roman’s 1:28 would look like.

Now he reckons he knows.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
April 27, 2022 9:18 am

Musk didn’t do due diligence on twitter earnings.
Seems likely.

He may not have himself.
But Morgan Stanley is a significant shareholder in Twitter and likely will have had the calculator out for a quick rattle.

MS is also being paid the Russian GDP equivalent in advisory and arrangement fees.

So, if not, there will be a circular firing squad, involving MS, Goldman, Barclays, BNP, Nomura…

(Having said all that, there’s no guarantee that the smartest humans on Earth don’t turn out to be chimps.)

lotocoti
lotocoti
April 27, 2022 9:19 am

Ryan George on Netflix.

If you play roulette and you bet on everything, you can’t lose.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 9:21 am

shatterzzz says:
April 27, 2022 at 9:12 am
Watching the Netflix mini-series, DOPESICK, about how “big pharma” , namely PERDUE PHARMA managed to control the US opioid market with the most addictive pain-killer ever known, OXYCONTIN .. coupla interesting points (among dozens) that stood out ..

Listen to the Dollop Report

The Dollop #280 – Opium in the US – Part 1

The Dollop #281 – Opium in the US – Part 2

Incredible history – The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds: Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds picks a subject from history and examine it.

They must have excellent researchers

rickw
rickw
April 27, 2022 9:25 am

JC,

This is where the figures on exports come from:

https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/exports-by-country

They are quite different to DFAT’s figures, but whilst this link says it’s 2021 data the charts titles say 2020.

https://www.dfat.gov.au/publications/trade-and-investment/trade-and-investment-glance-2021

P
P
April 27, 2022 9:27 am

Gospel Reading today at Mass – John 3:16-21.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
April 27, 2022 9:28 am

I have seen advertising on the sides of buses advertising some series about past Presidents’ wives. The ad features images of the actors playing Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, and Michelle Obama (doubtless why they need to advertise on the side of a bus).

My first take was that it was going to be panegyrics to Democrat Presidents’ wives, but having had a look at the reviews on IMDB it seems that the complaints are all about shonky performances, not political bias.

Perhaps Paramount+ is being more careful and inclined to being even handed. If so, good luck to them.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
April 27, 2022 9:30 am

Could crisis-hit Netflix demand Prince Harry and Meghan Markle offer up MORE royal secrets? Experts warn producers will be looking for better value for money as bosses try to lure back more than 200,000 subscribers who left this year

Personally I care as much about the vacuous Sussex Circus as I do about Johnny Depp and his ex.

But there’s a huge pointer, right there, about the quality of the Netflix corporate brain processes.
A Sell Signal, if you will.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 9:33 am

Twitter lawyer who censored Biden Laptop story cries during Musk takeover meeting

Gadde holds one of the most controversial positions at Twitter: Her teams decide how to moderate content. That’s made her a target of right-wing criticism, particularly when Twitter blocked the distribution of a New York Post article about President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, in 2020. She faced a renewed wave of criticism after multiple reports confirmed she was behind the decision to ban Trump from Twitter.

Monday was an emotional day at Twitter — even for its executives.

Shortly after billionaire Elon Musk bought the powerful social media platform, top Twitter lawyer Vijaya Gadde called a virtual meeting with the policy and legal teams she oversees to discuss what the new ownership could mean for them.

Gadde cried during the meeting as she expressed concerns about how the company could change, according to three people familiar with the meeting. She acknowledged that there are significant uncertainties about what the company will look like under Musk’s leadership.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
April 27, 2022 9:34 am

Could crisis-hit Netflix demand Prince Harry and Meghan Markle offer up MORE royal secrets?

That’s right. They were also supposed to be a brilliant investment on the part of Netflix.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 9:37 am
Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 9:41 am

Gadde cried during the meeting as she expressed concerns about how the company could change, according to three people familiar with the meeting

suck it up princess

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
April 27, 2022 9:44 am

That’s right. They were also supposed to be a brilliant investment on the part of Netflix.

In line with Netflix’s investment in Cuties — brilliant — not wonder Netflix considered investing in two dumb-as-a-bag-of-rocks, ahistorical ignoramuses was a brilliant coup until it’s not.

Percy Blakeney
April 27, 2022 9:46 am

Knuckle Dragger said at 6:05 am
“they might realise governments are nearly always , , , , incompetent and ill equipped to solve many problems we trust them to solve”

I will take it further:-
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn addressed the reason for the Russian Revolution that resulted in the slaughter of 60 million people. After spending fifty years studying this question,
Solzhenitsyn summarized his conclusion in the words of elders that he heard in his childhood:
“Men have forgotten God;
that’s why all this has happened.”

And in my opinion that includes most in Australian politics!

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
April 27, 2022 9:48 am

A lot of the people saying that they are going to leave Twitter because it will become less of an echo/star chamber with Musk at the helm I think will not.

They have nowhere else to go, and they desperately want to spray the world with their opinions. If they don’t projectile tweet regularly they will burst. And they will insert themselves into any and all conversation because one of the things they are always certain of is that they are right. They profoundly believe that ultimately they will win. In effect this means they swiftly shift to falsehood and abuse because like a person in a desperate struggle their field of vision contracts to a small circle and everything inside them is trained on that.

They will flounce a lot, but they can flounce off to any other part of Twitter they like. Twitter has no ‘centre’ so everywhere is as good as everywhere else.

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 9:56 am

I watched my quota of Netflix through various lockdowns but the last few months have rarely made it though an episode of any if the more recent offerings.
Switched to Prime for Bosch watched that til halfway through the final episode. Not convinced I’m going to watch the spin off series.
Then watched series 10 to 14 of original Law and Order on Prime, now watching seasons 1 to 10 on DVD again.
Not as if L&O didn’t have the occasional political message but not always shoved right down your throat.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
April 27, 2022 9:58 am

Biden Family Values

Bizarre photo at the top of that page. It looks like Hunter has gashes in his back. (Hunter became the hunted?) I assume that is why he took the photo in the first place.

And there is also a band (5cm) of lighter skin across his back below the gashes. Doubtless it is just a result of the ambient light reflected off the edge of the mirror – which can happen when the edges are bevelled. But I swear it looks like he was wearing a sports bra or something outside and he got tan lines.

With Hunter you can never really rule stuff like that out.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 10:00 am

Fraud is the Only Issue

From a straight political standpoint, things are not going well for the Democrats. It’s difficult to cite a time in post-World War II America when so many things on so many fronts went this badly this quickly, and the voting public knows it’s their fault:

These Democrat policies have tangibly and dramatically degraded the quality of daily life in America, to the point where many people are starting to doubt that things will ever return to normal.

The Democrats are giving it their best shot to divert attention from their failures and gin up feigned outrage over nonexistent Trump-caused national transgressions, but the public isn’t buying it. No January 6th investigation, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion (“DEI”) efforts by schools and woke companies, Green initiatives, etc. are resonating with the voting public.

American voters are most concerned with traditional kitchen table issues — the job market, runaway inflation, crime/safety, energy availability and affordability, schools/education, and illegal immigration and the strain it puts on the affected communities. This is what voters care about.

The degree to which the current Democrat administration has botched all of this up is really stunning, especially since under President Trump all of these issues were essentially the best they’d ever been post-World War II.

With no actual accomplishments to point to, having ruined everything that was running so well for the American people, Democrats are turning to what has become their most effective electoral tool in recent years: Fraud.

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 10:00 am

There was no plan A or B. And the RUS losses reported by UKR are exaggerated.

Putin has told Guterres he is open to peace negotiations.

Perhaps Plan B isn’t going as well as expected either.

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 10:00 am

There is another Netflix documentary series, very good, about the pharmacist who went after Purdue pill mills after his son was murdered during a drug buy.
The Purdues are still fighting law suits over their ill gotten gains.
Trump went after them iirc.

Struth
April 27, 2022 10:03 am

Indolentsays:
April 26, 2022 at 9:26 pm
The more COVID shots people have, the more they guaranteed to die from AIDS.

Nuts.

Hint.
While at Dover’s cat, please don’t acknowledge truth Bombs.
Especially with such a steadfast and well argued response.

You are supposed to dig your ostrich hole even deeper and keep muttering about anything else, like the Ukraine war, ww2, Pell, ANYTHING ELSE than why the most jabbed nation on earth has had a massive spike in deaths……….and why out of sheer coincidence it just happens to be those hated so much by the socialists doing this to us……the Jooooooooooooos.

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 10:04 am

Plibersek and Shorten reportedly “frozen out” of Labor’s media appearance schedule.

Is their presence a negative or were they the ones backgrounding against Elbow in week 1?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 10:04 am

FOOD SHORTAGES, By design?

“How many US Presidents in modern history have announced ‘food shortages’ before they occurred? The answer is only President Biden.”

At one point I would have dismissed this sort of thing as conspiracy theory. But the conspiracy theorists’ track record isn’t bad, these days . . .

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 10:05 am

Trans men are different iirc calli.
The operations, not surprisingly, rarely end with useful appendages (how could they?) so they seem to stick with flat chests, fake abs, Adam’s apples and testosterone beards with intact uterii.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
April 27, 2022 10:06 am

freedom of speech, transparency in rules, obligations to comply with our own rules for hate speech,

Anyone see a potential discrepancy here?

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 10:06 am

Some people can’t recognise incoherent nonsense, ever.

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 10:07 am

Also.
Nuts.

Struth
April 27, 2022 10:08 am

At one point I would have dismissed this sort of thing as conspiracy theory. But the conspiracy theorists’ track record isn’t bad, these days . . .

Them’s fighting words around here sport!

Rabz
April 27, 2022 10:09 am

Wolf Alice – Big Top Luna Park Sydney 26 April 2022

An amazing show from a band who knows how to please their audience. Given how many live shows they play, it wasn’t surprising they were in top form last night and it was a perfect opportunity to showcase their now extensive and broad ranging catalogue of classics.

As for Miss Ellie, she was absolutely luminous. Knee high leather boots, black micro mini, black jacket (which came off two songs into the set) white long sleeved shirt and black boob tube. Hair suitably long and sufficiently tousled. Best legs in the business, bar none. Both Freddie and Liza would be green with envy.

Her voice is better suited to their slower songs where she’s able to superbly mine the intimacy of the subject matter, but their rockers were also delivered with great passion and energy. She’s also picked up a Strat recently (tobacco sunburst, played for only one song).

The light show was fantastic, Joff and Theo were in top form and the keyboardist has a more prominent role than I realised in some of their more recent songs. Three song encore, wrapped up with the legendary “Don’t delete the kisses”, which is my favourite song of theirs. Not a lot of banter with the audience between songs (mainly during them) and Theo’s observation that they’d “travelled half way round the world to be here, so we want to make sure you enjoy the show” was a nice touch.

9/10, the only gripe being that they played for just less than an hour and half. Strongly recommended for any Cats who may be interested in catching their other shows while they’re here.

Cassie of Sydney
April 27, 2022 10:10 am

“top Twitter lawyer Vijaya Gadde”

Gadde is a far-left progressive liar and she should be the first person to be shown the door and I hope she hits her head on the way out. I remember about three years ago when she appeared on Rogan with Dorsey. Both she and Dorsey blatantly lied about Twitter’s moderation policies and they were both called out for it by Tim Pool, who was also on the show. Twitter’s censoring ramped up many notches under her counsel. I look forward to Gadde starting up her own social media company, after all that’s what we on the non-left been told to do over the last few years, speaking of which I have no doubt that Gadde was instrumental in the destruction of Parler back in January 2021 and I have no doubt she was also instrumental in the shutting down of the Post’s Twitter account in October and November 2020.

In the light of Musk’s purchase, I’ve been thinking about the big tech companies. I strongly suspect that the problem in these companies is scum like Gadde, it isn’t with the algorithm programmers, most of whom remain “geeks’. They just do what they’re told and they get paid very well for it. No, the problem has been sanctimonious far-left progressive management who’ve used the platforms to push, spruik, promulgate and lecture the non-left……even to the point of influencing elections.

Struth
April 27, 2022 10:12 am

I note Choo choo is miffed because he was FORCED to have three injections just to keep his union bludgefest of a job, now the borders are sort of open…but only for the rich with time on their hands getting back in unjabbed.
Forcing is being physically held down and penetrated three times.
He was forced in the same manner thousands of other Western Australians were forced, but didn’t get penetrated by their government, because they stood up, they didn’t submit,…. they didn’t drop to their knees like a whore to McGowan.

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 10:12 am

It seems pretty reasonable that if I choose to follow someone I should see their tweets without having to go hunting for them.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 10:13 am

And the RUS losses reported by UKR are exaggerated.

True. Although the Pommy defense minister announced to the Commons yesterday some figures. A very big number compared to Aussie experience in WW2 for example.

Ukraine’s losses will be even larger I suspect, but they have less of a problem getting warm bodies than Russia does, since they can call up previous national service personnel. Ukraine has had compulsory national service for the last 8 years, whereas Russia’s conscription program has been much more limited.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
April 27, 2022 10:16 am

WL Baillieu, Hudson Fysh, Jack Welch and Lee Iacocca were unavailable for comment.

Shortly after billionaire Elon Musk bought the powerful social media platform, top Twitter lawyer Vijaya Gadde called a virtual meeting with the policy and legal teams she oversees to discuss what the new ownership could mean for them.

Gadde cried during the meeting

Well, at least they only said she “oversees” the teams – they didn’t claim she “leads” the teams.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 10:22 am

Nazis In Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given American elites some white supremacists they can embrace.

When Vladimir Putin declared that a primary objective of Russia’s invasion was to “de-nazify” Ukraine, the political elites and their media went ballistic. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, said flatly, “There are no neo-Nazis in Ukraine.” The truth? The CIA has been organizing, funding, and training Nazis and developing fascist assets inside Ukraine for 75 years. Nazis are a powerful and growing presence.

In 2014, the CIA and U.S. State Department engineered a coup that overthrew Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine’s democratically elected pro-Russian president. The United States replaced him with a pro-American, anti-Russian president—and the Nazification of Ukraine kicked into high gear. Well-funded, highly trained, and heavily armed neo-Nazi militias that had appeared almost overnight to stage the coup unleashed terror upon ethnic Russians and political opponents of the new regime.

Since then, Democrats and Republicans have empowered and enabled neo-Nazis to infest all levels of Ukrainian government and society. Nazi influence has only grown stronger during the presidency of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian Nazism has deep historical roots. While 4.5 million Ukrainians fought in the Red Army to defeat the Nazis, many Ukrainian fascists and anti-Semites collaborated with the Germans in World War II. One in every four Jewish victims of the Holocaust—some 1.5 million people—was murdered in Ukraine.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
April 27, 2022 10:25 am

The Roy Morgan poll shows pretty much the same trend as other polls taken during the election period.

L-NP closes gap on ALP for second straight week after the first Leaders’ Debate: ALP 54.5% cf. L-NP 45.5%

ALP and Coalition level pegging 35% of the primary vote. Thus making the election turn on minor preferences.

Unfortunately the Greens are still the major force (12%) amongst the ‘parties of no government’, with PHON the only significant show (4.5%) amongst the rats and mice parties – although evidence of a move towards independents, who now hold 8% of the poll.

Way too uncertain to predict a 55:45 win to Labor on national poll numbers. Even though taken off a small sample, the swing is clearly not uniform amongst the States – with Coalition gaining ground in WA and ahead in Queensland.

And that’s before trying to guess at the impact of the Teals.

Takeaway: Springtime for indies and Craig Kelly. Both major parties should be puckering…

C.L.
C.L.
April 27, 2022 10:26 am

As the newly macho intelligentsia of Australia lusts after war with China and cultivates an embarrassing man-crush with CIA step ‘n fetchit Volodymyr Zelensky, a commando is on trial for killing terrorists in a war.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 10:26 am

Recapping the war in Ukraine to date

Comment: The following analysis is a compilation of tweets by independent reporter Gonzalo Lira

Which means:

The Russians intend to conquer and permanently annex all the south and east of Ukraine. This is why their strategy on the battlefield has dramatically shifted: Now they are carrying out a slow, methodical grinding down and destruction of the AFU.

The war in the first 30 days was speed, feints, nominally capturing vast swathes of Ukraine territory, with the aim of pressuring the Zelensky regime into a negotiated settlement. But the West’s total financial and political break with Russia means they have nothing to lose. And they have a lot to gain: The Donbas is mineral rich, the really productive farmlands of Ukraine are in the east and south, Kharkov is a major industrial city, the Sea of Azov has untold natural gas reserves.

And they *have* won – make no mistake. Ask any military man who is not a system pig, he’ll tell you:
There is no way for the AFU to retake their country. They have no armor, no air defense, no fuel, no comms – it’s over.

The great tragedy is that so many THOUSANDS of young men will die, and die NEEDLESSLY!!, in order to postpone the inevitable. These brave boys will have fought so valiantly – and died so young, so cruelly -because of the evil of the Zelensky regime.

That’s the hard truth.

And in the end, this will be the map that will remain — a bitter image of Ukraine’s future. Russia will pour billions into their newly acquired territory. It will prosper and flourish. But the rump-state of Ukraine will be left poor, destroyed, forgotten.

H B Bear
H B Bear
April 27, 2022 10:27 am

… to discuss what the new ownership could mean for them …

Unemployment.

Take note Lieborals. For next time.

H B Bear
H B Bear
April 27, 2022 10:31 am

I presume the trans “men” will be renting someone’s uterus to incubate their fertilised egg?

Ukrainia off the shopping list for the immediate future.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 10:32 am

No jab, no job! Dan Andrews is due to stand down THOUSANDS of teachers tomorrow for failing to get a Covid-19 booster shot

– Thousands of teachers due to be stood down for not getting third Covid-19 jab
Victoria and Northern Territory the only states to mandate booster for teachers
– Loss of thousands of teachers due to vaccine mandate causing staff shortages

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 27, 2022 10:34 am

Bruce of Newcastlesays:
April 27, 2022 at 10:13 am
And the RUS losses reported by UKR are exaggerated.

True. Although the Pommy defense minister announced to the Commons yesterday some figures. A very big number compared to Aussie experience in WW2 for example.

Australia’s worst period of battle losses would have been Fromelles/Pozieres/Mouquet Farm, between 19 July 1916 and early September 1916.

In a period of around seven weeks casualties totaled almost 29,000, of whom around 6,000 to 7,000 died. This was from a force totaling 48 infantry battalions, four machine gun battalions and four pioneer battalions, about half of the number of BTGs committed to Ukraine by Russia in a similar period.

If the estimate of around 15,000 Russian dead is accurate, they are losing men at a rate comparable to one of the worst periods of World War I. However, British casualties in the Hundred Days of August to November 1918 were higher than for the Somme, but eased by the fact of final victory.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
April 27, 2022 10:34 am

Sometimes the Bee doesn’t even bother being satirical.

Eccentric Billionaire Accomplishes More For Free Speech In One Afternoon Than Republicans Have In Decades

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 10:35 am

ALP and Coalition level pegging 35% of the primary vote. Thus making the election turn on minor preferences.

Enthusiasm is off the scale!

Most people ‘are not talking about election at all’ (27 Apr)

Sky News host Cory Bernardi says most people are not politically engaged.

“Most of the people I spoke to over Easter … they’re not talking about the election at all yet. They’re focused on enjoying school holidays or enjoying the long weekends,” he told Sky News host Paul Murray.

“They will turn on … I think they’ve just checked out themselves and the pointy end of it will come in the next three weeks or so.

“They’re going to start to switch on now.”

No Cory I don’t think so. I think the people are pretty much fed up with nagging pollies and are not at all attracted by the mouldy lot on offer. They’ll do their duty and vote, but don’t ask them to be interested in this chore.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 10:36 am

Struth says:
April 27, 2022 at 10:12 am

At least I never went full Bird…

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 10:37 am

Victoria and Northern Territory the only states to mandate booster for teachers

Evidently the DM doesn’t employ sub-editors anymore.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 10:39 am

2018-2020 Mercedes-Benz line-up recalled in Australia with software fault

The fault could cause an emergency call system to fail, according to the manufacturer.

Mercedes-Benz Australia has recalled 8378 vehicles across nearly 100 model variants, citing a software fault.

The affected vehicles are stamped Model Years 2018 to 2020, with the full spate of cars listed below.

The recall notice, lodged with the Department of Infrastructure, says: “Due to a manufacturing issue, the side airbags inflatable curtain inflators may rupture without warning.

“In the event of an airbag inflator rupture, compressed gas and metal fragments may be propelled through the airbag cushion towards the vehicle occupants causing serious injury or death.”

H B Bear
H B Bear
April 27, 2022 10:41 am

Mother Lode at 9:48 – arguably these platforms are not without risk. MySpace anyone? Not sure how Snapchat is travelling. You might think Facebook and Twitter have a sufficiently sticky user base to prevent this. I’m not so sure. It might be there is a threshold that once crossed prevents failure. In essence they all rely on human behaviour and habit.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
April 27, 2022 10:44 am

Putin has told Guterres he is open to peace negotiations.

Perhaps Plan B isn’t going as well as expected either.

Perhaps not.
But unless the Poot’s 4D strategy includes selling Russia’s arse to China, he was hardly going to tell Guterres that peace negotiations were off the table.

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 10:44 am

The Russians are always open to negotiations as they continue fighting. If war is the pursuit of politics by other means then the former doesn’t forestall negotiations.

The problem I’m highlighting is that negotiations are based on territory gained.

Sign a deal now and they won’t get their southern corridor or deprive Ukraine of a Black Sea port.

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 10:48 am

But unless the Poot’s 4D strategy includes selling Russia’s arse to China…

That may turn out to be a strategy of necessity.

But it would be a sad denoument to the centuries old debate in Russia about their relatioship with W. Europe.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 10:49 am

BJ – Long says in WW2 we had 8,904 killed in action and another 1,790 who died of wounds. That’s out of 396,661 who served overseas. Those are the Army figures. Casualties are roughly double when you add in the RAN and RAF. So we had about as many guys serving as both sides current are fielding, and in six years lost a comparable number to what Russia alone has suffered in two months. Says a lot about the incredible lethality of weapons today. You can see why there’s such a push for drones and robotic systems.

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 10:52 am

Twitter’s biggest assets, as far as I’m concerned is the speed at which you get breaking news and, when it works as it should, getting easy access to pundits who’s opinions you value.

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 10:53 am

You can be open to negotiations without restricting yourselves to present gains if you have the upper hand.

Not in this instance.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 10:55 am

Elon Musk slams Twitter’s top lawyer who sobbed after he bought social media network and blasts her for ‘incredibly inappropriate’ censorship of Hunter Biden laptop story

– Vijaya Gadde, the 48-year-old chief legal officer and general counsel of Twitter, called a virtual meeting with the policy and legal teams she oversees on Monday
– Gadde wanted to update her team on the implications of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the company, and ended up breaking down in tears, Politico said
– Gadde ‘expressed concerns about how the company could change,’ Politico reported, under Musk’s leadership, in which free speech is championed
– Having joined Twitter in 2011, she has been central in crafting the company’s positions on banning hate speech versus allowing free debate
– Gadde was instrumental in the decision to ban Donald Trump from the platform in January 2020 on charges of inciting violence

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 10:56 am

RUS has over three times the population. The idea that UKR can defeat RUS in a war of attrition is simply beyond words.

You can’t reduce discussion of this subject to raw numbers in any theatre of war.

The quality and morale of troops and their ability to be supplied has to be taken into account, as well as morale at home. Plus the defender’s advantage in modern warfare needs to be reckoned with.

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 27, 2022 10:59 am

Bruce of Newcastlesays:
April 27, 2022 at 10:49 am
BJ – Long says in WW2 we had 8,904 killed in action and another 1,790 who died of wounds. That’s out of 396,661 who served overseas. Those are the Army figures. Casualties are roughly double when you add in the RAN and RAF. So we had about as many guys serving as both sides current are fielding, and in six years lost a comparable number to what Russia alone has suffered in two months.

You need to add in those who died as PoW, and in accidents (training can be a lethal business, particularly for flyers), and of disease. There are a lot more names on the WW II side of the Reflecting Pool in the AWM than 15,000.

Have too go out now, I will look up the numbers later.

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 11:00 am

The problem I’m highlighting is that negotiations are based on territory gained.

Sign a deal now and they won’t get their southern corridor or deprive Ukraine of a Black Sea port.

they will never get the south back. they may keep oddessa if they negotiate now, but blinken won’t let them off while teenage uke can still carry a rifle.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 11:02 am

The UK defense apparatus is almost as fantastical as the Kyiv Independent.

Dover – That too is true, but the Defense Minister has to have some basis for figures officially tabled in the Commons or he’d be in contempt. A subsequent inquiry would reveal if the the UK general staff were lying to the Minister, and that would have very bad consequences for the UK defense and intel communities.

The UK number is also in line with the apparent accidental release of RGS internal numbers through Komsomolskaya Pravda about a month ago, which I mentioned here.

Cassie of Sydney
April 27, 2022 11:03 am

“– Having joined Twitter in 2011, she has been central in crafting the company’s positions on banning hate speech versus allowing free debate”

Yes and Gadde’s definition of hate speech means anything non-progressive. The noose of censorship really started strangling people when she was promoted. And you know there’s something sinister and Orwellian going on when someone like Gadde is described as Twitter’s “moral authority”.

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 11:04 am

Another shot in the foot:

Russia will cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria this week because they won’t pay in rubles.

Both countries maintain that they have abided by their contractual terms.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
April 27, 2022 11:09 am

Twitter’s biggest assets, as far as I’m concerned is the speed at which you get breaking news and, when it works as it should, getting easy access to pundits who’s opinions you value.

For years the MSM has been using Twitter as a news source for years.

Now they will go to Twitter and be faced with discrepancies of information which will demand research.

Nah, just kidding. They will just print the stuff that fits their prejudices.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 11:11 am

You need to add in those who died as PoW, and in accidents (training can be a lethal business, particularly for flyers), and of disease.

BJ – I was comparing apples with apples. Most of the PoW deaths were due to the Japanese, and the deaths due to illness were primarily due to tropical jungle diseases in an age where antibiotics were only just becoming available. I had those numbers in front of me on the same summary page (appendix 7 of volume 7 of Long et al) and elected not to include them because they aren’t comparable for this stage of the current conflict.

We’ll see more when in future years we start to get reports of how either side has been treating prisoners. So far I’m not getting the impression that either of them put much emphasis on the Geneva Conventions.

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 11:14 am

mRNA Vaccines Show No Mortality Benefit – Danish Study
The mRNA vaccines have been endlessly billed as “Safe & Effective.” But are they?

A lot depends on what one means by “safe” (which is always a relative term, as nothing is ever perfectly safe) and what the definition of “effective” is.

By effective, I think we can all agree that a vaccine designed to be mass adopted in the midst of a pandemic ought to reduce deaths from the pandemic disease. That means it ought to reduce overall mortality.

Hopefully, we can agree that’s the right metric, because if a vaccine reduces some deaths in this part of the equation, but induces a similar amount of deaths over in some other part of the health equation, then it’s not actually being “effective” in terms of reducing mortality.

A new Danish study (pre-printed in The Lancet) shows that mRNA vaccines offer no all-cause mortality benefits. Zero. Nada. So, let’s list what the vaccines don’t do: they don’t stop infection or transmission and they don’t reduce deaths. Using only RCT trial data from the pharma companies themselves, the pooled results from the mRNA vaccines show no discernible mortality benefit.

Alternatively, and quite happily, the adenovirus vector vaccines – that’s J&J and Astra-Zeneca – do show a VERY positive mortality benefit from Covid and, intriguingly, even from non-Covid deaths. How can this be? I don’t know, but it’s the sort of data that begs for more inquiry and understanding.

One does not need a PhD in public health policy to understand that the only appropriate response to this data would be to promote the adenovirus vaccines over the mRNA vaccines.

But the exact opposite happened and that’s quite a scientific, medical and public health mystery. Certainly, we could make allowances for that to happen in the first early months of the pandemic. But now? A full 16 months after the launch of the vaccines? It’s very difficult to explain what the CDC, NIH and FDA were up to with their collective tens of billions of dollars of budgetary funding.

These are legitimate questions and concerns to address and the only question I have is “will the Big Tech censors allow us to ask them, or will this be taken down too?”

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 11:15 am

Of course, which is why the UKR position is worse than that of RUS.

We shall see.

dopey
dopey
April 27, 2022 11:17 am

According to SMH. Coalition Spending…. $275 million for hydrogen energy and carbon capture in Queensland.
That will build a nice big tank for the water.

P
P
April 27, 2022 11:18 am

Matt Canavan told to ‘pull his head in’ by government colleagues over net zero by 2050 comments

National Press Club Address Bridget McKenzie –
Emergency Management Minister and Nationals Senate Leader
12:30PM – 1:41PM today.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
April 27, 2022 11:19 am

Canavan told to stop saving the LNP’s election chances:

Matt Canavan told to ‘pull his head in’ by government colleagues over net zero by 2050 comments

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 11:22 am

blinken won’t let them off while teenage uke can still carry a rifle.

Let’s hope the sentiment of the Ukrainian people will eventually count for more than what Blinken wants.

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 11:25 am
Bar Beach Swimmer
April 27, 2022 11:26 am

I saw David Littleproud on Sky with Laura Jayes this morning. He was asked about the ructions in the Nats starting with Matt Canavan over the Government’s nett zero emissions policy by 2050 Morrison took to Glasgow.

(If I’m repeating him correctly), he said that if the government hadn’t signed up to it interest rates would have increased by up to 3% because the rest of the world wouldn’t have accepted our position, and this would make our exports dearer and be ignored by our customers. wtf?

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 11:27 am

Let’s hope the sentiment of the Ukrainian people will eventually count for more than what Blinken wants.

I don’t think you have a handle on the life and expectations of eastern europeans

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 11:30 am

What have been the serious consequences following the erroneous WMD claims in Iraq? General Staff will just say they gave too much weight to UKR or US report and move on.

Unlikely in this case Dover. Corbyn appears to favour Russia, and that suggests the left faction of the Labour Party does also. They’re likely to push for such inquiries, to hound the Tories. Recall that the Left is who gets away with stuff (like a certain Mr Tony Blair perhaps), the Right has to resign if they drink a single bottle of wine given as a gift.

‘Why would he take Putin’s side?’ Corbyn’s constituents furious at ‘mad’ NATO comments (26 Apr)

areff
areff
April 27, 2022 11:36 am

774 beating up ‘long COVID’, line being that it is all the doing of the unvaccinated.

Apparently the ABCers don’t subscribe to Science.

https://www.science.org/content/article/rare-cases-coronavirus-vaccines-may-cause-long-covid-symptoms

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 11:39 am

SecDef Austin redefines Ukraine conflict goal

I am horrified at the statement of Defense secretary Lloyd Austin at his press conference in Poland following a secret visit to Kyiv. Via The New York Times:

“We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a news conference in Poland, following his secretive trip to Kyiv with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “It had already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops, quite frankly, and we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability.”

The way Russia is weakened, of course, is by being ground up in a prolonged war that is destroying Ukraine. That beleaguered nation is being used as an abrasive to dull Russia’s war-making capacity. That’s a job that destroys Ukraine in the process of harming Russia.

There is no room for negotiations that could halt the destruction of Ukraine in this goal. The longer the brutal war drains Russia’s resources, the better in terms of Austin’s goal.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
April 27, 2022 11:41 am

Russia will cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria this week because they won’t pay in rubles.

A shot across the bows for Germany, Italy, and France – and the EC generally.

Germany Rejects Putin’s Demand for Gas Payments in Rubles

In terms of proportional damage: Poland is a comparatively small offtaker of Russian gas by volume – but heavily dependent on it in its energy mix. So maximum demonstration effect, minimum Russian short-term $cost.

It’s a very big strategic lever for the Poot to pull, with many, many poorly understood consequences.

Watch this space.
In the next few days everyone in the MSM commentariat is going to suddenly become an expert petroleum engineer and gas trader.

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 11:43 am

Tucker: This will happen unless conservatives get their act together

Fox News host gives his take on government officials opposing transparency following Elon Musk buying Twitter on ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight.’ #FoxNews #Tucker

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 11:43 am

DeSantis Signs Bill into Law Creating Election Police Force

As reported by Politico, the bill implements an idea that was first suggested by DeSantis himself, in the aftermath of widespread voter fraud in numerous key swing states during the 2020 election, which may have been enough to swing the results away from President Donald Trump and in favor of Joe Biden.

“I don’t think there’s any other place in the country that you should have more confidence that your vote counts than in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said at the signing of the bill, which took place at a sports bar outside Tampa Bay.

The law will see the creation of a new “Office of Election Crimes and Security” within the Florida Department of State, which is authorized to use additional investigators in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The bill allocates $2.6 million for the creation of the task force, and sets aside 25 new positions within the two agencies for this purpose. In addition, the bill makes ballot-harvesting – the process of third parties collecting and returning someone else’s ballot – a felony. It also mandates that election supervisors screen voter rolls on an annual basis in order to continuously remove voters who are ineligible or who have moved to another location.

The bill was proposed even despite the fact that Florida was a rare example of a major swing state where little to no fraud took place in 2020, thus leading to Trump winning the state by a sizable margin of nearly 4 percent. Democrats cited this as an excuse to oppose the bill, with State Representative Yvonne Hinson (D-Fla.) claiming that “this new election crime task force has been developed to solve a problem that does not exist.”

Voter fraud in 2020 remains one of the dominant concerns for Republican voters across the country, with numerous states implementing laws to crack down on fraudulent practices such as mail-in ballots, ballot drop boxes, ballot-harvesting, and private funding of election procedures, among others. States that have passed such laws include Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Iowa.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 11:47 am

The way Russia is weakened, of course, is by being ground up in a prolonged war that is destroying Ukraine. That beleaguered nation is being used as an abrasive to dull Russia’s war-making capacity. That’s a job that destroys Ukraine in the process of harming Russia.

While everyone is rushing to blame evilbad Western Men Bad for being evilbad and Western and Men and Bad, remember that Vlad Bae didn’t have to invade. He never had any obligation to any [insert name of ethnic Russian group his forces have been fomenting insurgency amongst here] in any territory that once was claimed by previous iterations of Russian empire. He never had to set about regaining old territories by force, nor was he compelled to engage in economic or diplomatic jostling with any of his neighbours.

He chose this course of action. As much as the US Dems and Deep State chose to inveigle their way into Ukranian politics and commerce. And Vlad Bae chose to stay his hand between 2016 and 2020.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
April 27, 2022 11:48 am

What have been the serious consequences following the erroneous WMD claims in Iraq?

Thousands of lives lost, or ruined, a couple of trillion US$ – plus further destabilisation of shitistan politics.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
April 27, 2022 11:50 am

It’s insane the amount of people here in WA who think that they’re out of the harness because- and I quote- “The winter panto can now sell tickets for 100% capacity!” and “Come on down the pub for Chase The Ace Friday Wal, buy a drink and let bygones be bygone!” and “yay only one more week of masks for kids!”
No you effing turkeys, unless and until the Sate of Emergency is let go, we’re still all MaoGowan’s bitches. Even if there’s a miraculous breakthrough, even a la NZ where a lone high judge has found that jab commands are a gross breach of fundamental human rights, we should not breathe easy until there are some heads on pikes… (*figuratively speaking).
And the powers that be are still wielding “modelling” as their oracle. I’m stunned that there are no journalists, anywhere here, that can win thirty seconds on the mic in front of the premier, or his box-fresh ministerette, and ask
“You’ve based two years of population directives on “pandemic modelling” and “projected vaccine efficacy” and “COVID overwhelming the health system” and “new emerging variants”, and for two years those models, projections and variations have been proven wildly innaccurate.
“Even if you posit that it’s only your population directives which have led to those apocalyptic predictions fizzing out flat, you’d have to admit that the disruption and destruction to the economy and society has been horrific, and there’s inevitably a lot more pain to come in the recovery, if you ever allow us to go back to Old Normal.
“My question is: when will you drop the “pandemic modelling” as your Holy Writ, and start looking towards the horrific decay that your government has wreaked upon the state, which is now painfully apparent in economic modelling, childhood development modelling, and mental health projections- and indeed in economic destruction, childhood development decay, and a mental health epidemic?”

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 11:54 am

Dissecting the stage-managed French elections

Macron’s second presidency was as calculatingly managed by France’s liberal elite as his first. As the country’s economic and geographic schisms widen further, yesterday’s Yellow Vest protests will seem like a tea party by comparison.

The numbers tell the story: There are 48,803,175 French citizens registered to vote. Macron got 18,779,809 votes. Marine Le Pen got 13,297,728 votes. Yet the most eyebrow-raising performance was by the Abstention/Nullified/Blank candidate: 16,674,963 votes.

So the president of France was re-elected by 38.5 percent of voters while the real second place, Absention/Nullified/Blank got 34.2 percent.

That implies that roughly 42 percent of registered French voters bothered to hit the polls basically to bar Le Pen: a brand that remains toxic in vast swathes of urban France – yet hardly as much as before – and even with the whole weight of oligarchic mainstream media engaged in Two Minute Hate campaign mode. The five oligarchies who run the so-called ‘audiovisual landscape’ (PAF, according to the French acronym) of campaign messaging are all Macronists.

Madam Guillotine meets the working classes

“Not necessarily the whole of France” in fact means the majority of France, if one bothers to leave a few tony Paris arrondissements to talk to people in Pas-de-Calais, Bourgogne or the Var. This ‘real’ France identifies the “social market economy” extolled by Attali and promoted by Macron as a gigantic fake.

It would be too easy to paint the current national divide between, on one side, the elderly and the very young carrying a diploma, living in comfort; and on the other side, the 25 to 60 year olds, without higher education and barely making ends meet. That is, the working class masses.

It is more nuanced than that. Still, the two most important factors in this election are that close to one third of voters didn’t even bother to show up – or nullified their vote (even here in Paris). And that the gullible Melenchon horde handed it over to Le Petit Roi, assuming their leader will become a de facto ‘prime minister.’

The working classes will be literally exterminated throughout another five years of hardcore neoliberalism. France’s until recently stellar social welfare system will be decimated. Retirement age will be extended to 65 years old. Smaller pensions will be barely enough to live on. The super-wealthy will pay much lower taxes while the common worker will pay much higher ones. Education and healthcare will be privatized.

France will merrily catch up with the fast decaying casino capitalism of the US and UK. And don’t forget further travel restrictions and food and fuel shortages.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 11:58 am

I’m stunned that there are no journalists, anywhere here, that can win thirty seconds on the mic in front of the premier, or his box-fresh ministerette, and ask

Have you got a fedora?

My Sharpie skills are pretty okay (I can draw a passable ABC logo to stick in the hatband), a selection of reasonably-sized hammers and a soy latte.

All we have to do is ambush the ABC spokesmong at the door of the press conference, knock them out and steal their microphone. Then you skull the soy latte just before you go in, so you adopt the right kind of revulsive sneer to make you look like you fit in.

It’ll be foolproof! 😀

(Okay- Fits of whimsy aside, plus eleventy to your comment… 🙂 )

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 11:59 am

The Nats commit suicide again.

‘The world has moved past Matt Canavan’, says Nationals MP (27 Apr)

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud says it’s “time to move on” from Nationals Sentator Matt Canavan’s comments that net zero is “dead”. … “The National Party made the position very clear that we were going to support net zero by 2050 and Matt’s position was contrary to that,” he said.

The last base voter to leave doesn’t have to turn out the lights because there won’t be any electricity.

Tom
Tom
April 27, 2022 12:07 pm

Stalinism, the method of rule, or policies, of Joseph Stalin, Soviet Communist Party and state leader from 1929 until his death in 1953. Stalinism is associated with a regime of terror and totalitarian rule.

Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction.

Believe it or not, Stalinism is everywhere is America – home of free market capitalism and land of the free. The entire American ruling class, including the Republican party, is a hive of Stalinism that, miraculously, is being thwarted following Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter.

Almost all of Silicon Valley’s billionaires are HTML coders who can barely conceal their hatred of freedom and the human race. They made their billions talking to computers.

That’s why the Stalinist establishment is now trying to destroy Elon Musk. He dared to buy one of Silicon Valley’s social media monopolies and remove its secret algorithms for censoring content.

Tucker Carlson Tonight.

PS: The Silicon Valley tech revolution would not have been possible without free thought and lack of censorship. Lefties are the dumbest people ever born.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 27, 2022 12:16 pm

Totally O/T.

Woman rescued after falling head-first down long drop toilet trying to reach phone
Headshot of Peta Rasdien
Peta Rasdien

A woman has had to be rescued after falling head first down a long drop toilet while trying to retrieve her phone.

The unnamed woman had been using her phone when it suddenly fell into the toilet at the top of Mount Walker in Washington state, according to reports from the Kitsap Sun newspaper.

A long drop toilet is a non-flush loo that is constructed with a vault or sealed container that is buried deep in the ground.

Brinnon Fire Department Chief Tim Manly explained that the woman, who is in her 40s, managed to take the toilet seat off and used dog leads in an attempt to reach the device.

When this failed, she used the leads to tie herself to the toilet as she reached for it but ended up falling in headfirst.

Manly said: “They didn’t work very well and in she went.”

The woman spent 15 minutes attempting to get out but called the emergency services after being reunited with her phone down the toilet.

The rescue crews made a makeshift platform by passing them down to the patient.

After making it tall enough for her to stand on, they managed to pull her to victim to safety.

The Brinnon Fire Department confirmed that she was uninjured but had been “strongly encouraged to seek medical attention after being exposed to human waste”.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 12:24 pm

So Putin is just like any other statesmen.

Not sure what manner of claim you are making there.

I am not subscribed to the idea that Vlad Bae is Evil Incarnate. Just as I do not subscribe to the seemingly popular ideal amongst some right-leaning folk that Vlad Bae is the One True Saviour of Western Civilisation and his invading the Ukraine is a Holy War against the Globalists that will free us all.

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 12:26 pm

How you know you’re being lied to:

Britain said it believes 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began — far above the 1,351 deaths acknowledged by Moscow.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said 25 per cent of the Russian combat units sent to Ukraine “have been rendered not combat effective”.

Ukrainian officials have said about 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed as of mid-April.

The ABC doubts official Russian claims of its losses but reports the official Ukrainian claims of its losses without question. Why?

Vladimir Putin agrees ‘in principle’ to evacuation of civilians from besieged steelworks in Mariupol, denies war crimes

The Russians have sought to evacuate civilians from wherever they’ve commenced operations. You can be cynical about this and perhaps you’re right, but the main question in this instance is why the hell are there thousands of civilians holed up in this “besieged steelworks”?

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
April 27, 2022 12:26 pm

WE still have brilliant disability support workers unable to work because of the vaccine mandates, some have worked in the sector for more than two decades, to say nothing of the effect on people with disability who lose trusted support workers who’ve been part of their lives for years — great work bureaucratic scum

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 12:27 pm

Vlad Bae

Volod Bae more to your liking?

Or Olod Bae, as ‘v’ has been banned.

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 12:31 pm

Or Olod Bae, as ‘v’ has been banned.

never!
$$\ $$\
$$ | $$ |
$$ | $$ |
\$$\ $$ |
. \$$\$$ /
…\$$$ /
….\$ /
…..\_/

rickw
rickw
April 27, 2022 12:36 pm

Putin has told Guterres he is open to peace negotiations.

Perhaps Plan B isn’t going as well as expected either.

I’m not really following this, but why wouldn’t peace negotiations have always been part of the plan?

If you negotiate and sign a peace agreement, then you draw a line under the conflict as best you can. If you don’t then the conflict might sputter on for years in one form or another.

Most conflicts are ended with an agreement, if not negotiations and an agreement.

It’s a normal part of the process/closure.

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 12:36 pm

For many of those here bleating over the plight of Ukraine – you do realise you’re on the exact same page with virtually all of the people you condemn for lying shamelessly about Russiagate?

Something to think about. I mean, if my views vis a vis Russia were suddenly in lock-step with Alexander Vindman’s, that would give me pause.

But that’s just me.

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 27, 2022 12:40 pm

Bruce of N

Total Australian fatalities in operational theatres, 1939-45: 27,073.

Army non-battle fatalities in operational theatres: 1165.

Army fatalities in non-operational area: 2051.

To those must also be added the Navy and Air Force non-battle casualties in operational and non-operational areas. There would have been many Air Force (training) deaths in non-operational areas.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 12:41 pm

For many of those here bleating over the plight of Ukraine – you do realise you’re on the exact same page with virtually all of the people you condemn for lying shamelessly about Russiagate?

Something to think about. I mean, if my views vis a vis Russia were suddenly in lock-step with Alexander Vindman’s, that would give me pause.

I was waiting for that.

There are far too many people championing Vlad Bae because they think it’s a big old FUCK YOU to the US Establishment. And Globalists.

Vlad Bae does not and has never cared for US internal politics, beyond what it allows him to achieve in his own realpolitik.

Oddly enough, said Establishmentarians and Globalists tend to think the same way, too.

I can deplore a the bastardry of a left-captured Military-Industrial-Political Complex in America, AND deplore an unrelated foreign power taking the sovereignty of a smaller nation by force because it felt like doing so.

I am not an ideologue.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 12:44 pm

Rex Angersays:
April 27, 2022 at 12:41 pm

TLDR version-

You lot swallow Russian propaganda uncritically because you are throughly (and I absolutely agree with you on this) heartsick of the propaganda you are fed daily by our own Establishments here.

How about less Cope and more Clarity by everyone?

We are Cats, after all.

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 27, 2022 12:44 pm

Bruce of N

Says a lot about the incredible lethality of weapons today. You can see why there’s such a push for drones and robotic systems.

Compare with the Australian casualties at Fromelles/Pozieres/Mouquet Farm in just seven weeks (from probably around 80,000 to 90,000 total committed). Old weapons could also cause a lot of casualties in a short period.

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 12:52 pm

I really don’t understand the Russia last bastion of Christianity meme.
Ukrainian are also majority Orthodox with significant minorities of Latin and Eastern rite Catholics and at estimated 30% practising against Russia’s 8% not exactly in need of a Christian ‘crusade’.

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 27, 2022 12:54 pm

dover0beachsays:
April 27, 2022 at 12:10 pm
Thousands of lives lost, or ruined, a couple of trillion US$ – plus further destabilisation of shitistan politics.

This same crowd then thought regime change in Libya, Egypt and Syria was a smashing idea.

Certainly was. Everywhere regime change was tried ended up completely smashed.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 12:55 pm

Coalition holds ground in Queensland amid coal fight, poll shows

The Coalition’s belief it will hold all or most of its seats in Queensland has been buttressed by the latest poll which shows it is the best-performing state for the Morrison government at this stage.

The Australian Financial Review/Ipsos poll conducted from Wednesday night to Saturday last week shows the two major parties tied at 50 per cent of the two-party preferred vote in the crunch state.

If the 9 per cent of undecided voters are included, Labor just leads by 46 per cent to 45 per cent.

The result, which carries a margin of error of 4.9 per cent due to the relatively small sample size, represents a tightening towards the Coalition since the last poll three weeks ago and is consistent with the views within the major parties, based on their own research, that Queensland could remain static when voters go to the polls on May 21.

However, the Coalition won 58 per cent of the two-party vote in 2019.

Victoria, however appears troublesome for the Coalition with Labor leading by 58 per cent to 42 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis, a result which carries a 4.3 per cent margin of error.

NSW, which has a 3.7 per cent margin of error, is more encouraging for the government with Labor having a slight lead of 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

While Labor is at a high watermark in Victoria, the Coalition has a similar stronghold on Queensland, currently holding 23 of the state’s 30 seats. Labor has six seats and independent Bob Katter the other.

At the last election in 2019, Queensland saved the Morrison government, due largely to concerns about the future of the coal industry under a Labor government that was ambivalent towards the then-proposed Adani coal mine.

Campaigning in Townsville on Tuesday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison focused on the safeguard mechanism in Labor’s climate change policy which would require the nation’s 215 heaviest emitters – coal mines included – to reduce aggregate emissions by 5 million tonnes a year to collectively achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

They would have to do so by either reducing emissions or buying carbon credits. After several days of confusion, including a claim all Australian coal mines would be exempt, Labor clarified that coal mines would not be exempt.

miltonf
miltonf
April 27, 2022 12:56 pm

Party was broke and he ‘gave’ the million bucks when he was il capo but don’t know what stringsv were attached . They certainly can’t afford to give it back.

I thought a million bucks would be pocket money to people like Photios and Greiner- surely they could pitch in?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 27, 2022 12:56 pm

The ABC doubts official Russian claims of its losses but reports the official Ukrainian claims of its losses without question.

The UN reckons Ukraine has had 14,000 guys KIA. I would think it would be more than that, but on the other hand territorials are probably harder to spot and get than guys in tracks in this new age of effective AT missiles. Russia doesn’t seem to have widely available IR headsets for night infantry patrolling.

rosie
rosie
April 27, 2022 12:59 pm

Speaking of Victorian teachers, what happened to that Catholic Education Office class action?
Just drove down Irving St Foostcray where there is a pop up booster clinic at the station for the keen rail traveller.
And you can still see the signage for Pat Cash’s father’s legal office on the other side of the road.

calli
calli
April 27, 2022 1:00 pm

Well, he did it. He bought me my first ever opal. A lovely asymmetric blue with golden flashes. Will have it set when we get back home.

Off on a tour out to the derg fence and the Breakaways and the underground Serbian church.

The people here are friendly and interesting and they love the place. It’s the antithesis of suburbia.

Bar Beach Swimmer
April 27, 2022 1:00 pm

From The Newcastle Herald 27/4:
The Nationals are working to head off a preference deal with minor parties which could eliminate the junior Coalition partner from the race to steal the Hunter electorate off Labor.

Independent candidate Stuart Bonds, who garnered a hefty 21.6 per cent of the primary vote in 2019 under the One Nation flag, said on Tuesday that the Nationals had been “begging me to put One Nation behind the Nats” on his how-to-vote cards.

A deal between Mr Bonds, One Nation, United Australia Party and the Informed Medical Options Party has an outside chance of delivering one of them enough votes to eliminate the Nationals’ James Thomson during the allocation of preferences…

Each of the four parties has been promoting themes challenging vaccine mandates, lockdowns, climate action and government overreach.

“There’s an enormous push to put the major parties last so that by the time it gets to the Nats they are below us,” Mr Bonds said…

A Nationals campaign spokesperson said the party was examining “all these scenarios” and holding discussions with “everyone.”

For one of their candidates to eliminate the Nationals, the minor parties would need to gather enough volunteers to main Hunter’s 57 polling booths on election day…”Preferences only matter if you man the booths,” the Nationals spokesperson said.

In 2019, 30 per cent of One Nation and UAP voters preferenced Labor above the Nationals in Hunter. One in four Greens voters put the Nationals above Labor. The National primary vote was 23.5 per cent in 2019, compared with Mr Bonds’ 21.6 per cent and Labor’s 37.6 per cent…

Top Ender
Top Ender
April 27, 2022 1:01 pm

There would have been many Air Force (training) deaths in non-operational areas.

To add further to what BJ said here, and to others above…I think I have posted before about the figure the USAAF kept very quiet in WWII. They had six deaths in training and due to non-combat factors – eg: getting lost and ditching – for every death in combat throughout the war.

One bloke whose autobiography I read – names escapes me at the moment – catalogued his time in carrier fighter training. It was a very depressing read as his mates ones by one succumbed to some problem or the other. From memory it was much more pilot error than aircraft failure that took them out.

WWI on the Western Front was even worse. One “ferry” flight, IIRR, from Britain to the UK of four fighter aircraft saw four new pilots fail to make it in one way or the other. Three disappeared, crashing en route due to separation; poor nav etc, and the fourth crash landed on arrival.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 1:05 pm

Like the Malcolm of old, Turnbull tirade fails to stir the pot

Phillip Coorey Political editor

Voters these days already factor in former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and his views, to the point he has minimal impact, Liberals say.

To the surprise of nobody, Malcolm Turnbull made his first foray into the election campaign on Tuesday with the goal of torpedoing the slender prospects of the Coalition securing a fourth term.

In a fireside chat on ABC Radio National, the former Liberal prime minister criticised his old foe Peter Dutton as a belligerent and bombastic blowhard who was more interested in a tabloid headline, than doing the hard yakka needed to keep China at bay.

Speaking from his New York bolthole, Turnbull accused Scott Morrison of cocking up the whole China business with his “bully boy language”, even rekindling Labor’s “I don’t hold a hose mate” theme to reinforce Anthony Albanese’s claim the government dropped the ball in the region.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne, a former factional ally who went to the wall for Turnbull during the leadership coup, was not spared. She was taken to task for not visiting Honiara since before the pandemic.

And perhaps the cruellest blow. Turnbull damned with faint praise the man he once pushed to succeed him in the seat of Wentworth, saying while Dave Sharma is “a very talented guy”, his independent rival Allegra Spender “is an outstanding candidate”.

Both would be “very fine” representatives of Wentworth and Turnbull would not say who he would vote for.

It was not what he said, but that he chose to say it.

As usual, there was a complete lack of self-awareness.

What really stood out on the back of his spray was that no one really cared.

Otherwise, no one batted an eyelid. Senior Labor members didn’t mention it and Morrison was not asked about it during his press conference.

A Liberal source said voters nowadays already factored in Turnbull who, in terms of minuscule impact, he likened to another former Liberal prime minister called Malcolm.

Malcolm Fraser so turned on the Howard government that he ended up spruiking for the Greens.

The key difference is Fraser took 20 years to turn bitter.

duncanm
duncanm
April 27, 2022 1:07 pm

Zipstersays:
April 27, 2022 at 11:16 am
Twitter Insider Leaks Audio Recording of Internal All-Hands Meeting Following Elon Musk Takeover
Project Veritas

wow.

Twitter CMO / moderator. Presumably questions from the employees:
– Musk is a person of “questionable ethics”.
– with no board, who will keep Elon accountable, and how?
– Is there an updated understanding on what free speech means?

Fire them, with prejudice!

I’m looking forward to the upcoming Musk/Employee Q&A

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 1:30 pm

Global Supply Chain Crisis Flares Up Again Where It All Began
Ports are already snarled, with the $22 trillion trade in global goods facing months of severe disruption.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
April 27, 2022 1:30 pm

Party was broke and he ‘gave’ the million bucks when he was il capo but don’t know what stringsv were attached . They certainly can’t afford to give it back.

IIRC, appointing Turnbull leader coincided with donations reducing to a trickle. This totally inexplicable & mysterious coincidence, if publicised, may have marred the narrative of “coz magnificence” surrounding The Great Unifier, so to avoid getting red cheeks in public he kicked in the difference.

John H.
John H.
April 27, 2022 1:31 pm

Oh come onsays:
April 27, 2022 at 12:36 pm
For many of those here bleating over the plight of Ukraine – you do realise you’re on the exact same page with virtually all of the people you condemn for lying shamelessly about Russiagate?

Something to think about. I mean, if my views vis a vis Russia were suddenly in lock-step with Alexander Vindman’s, that would give me pause.

But that’s just me.

Straw man. Deciding to not to adopt a position because certain people hold the same position is tribalism. Sure it might give you pause for thought but so do many other factors.

Bar Beach Swimmer
April 27, 2022 1:32 pm

Zip, though a good skit, the problem with AJ’s take on the twitter brain explosion from Musk taking over is that it’s too close to the truth. Comedy only works when behaviours/attitudes/relationships are exaggerated way beyond the real. But those characters are clearly based on real twitter people -people who, despite or because of their mental health problems, are actually the “higher-ups” in these companies. It is enough to make everyone shudder.

I saw Sophie Elsworth – The Australian’s media writer – on PML last night. She said Musk’s take-over of Twitter could almost make her go out and buy a Tesla. Fingers crossed he can really clean up this sewer.

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 27, 2022 1:32 pm

Bruce of N

Re PoW and disease deaths.

The 15,000 seems to be a broad estimate of total deaths, and probably includes PoW and disease deaths.

Until we have good information that either or both sides are treating Ps oW with something other that a random mixture of callous indifference and random brutality, the prospect of significant numbers of PoW deaths cannot be ignored.

On disease, while scrub typhus might not be a big killer there, gastro diseases (depending on the strength of Russian and Ukrainian filed latrine discipline) are likely. Also, fighting in mud brings the prospect of charming problems like tetanus and gangrene.

Keep an open mind, and remember when discussing the effectiveness of modern weapons, around 140,000 British soldiers who went “over the bags”” on 1 July 1916 were reduced by around 19,000 deaths and around 38,000 woundings (and some prisoners) in 24 hours.

Vicki
April 27, 2022 1:33 pm

Calli, the Breakaways are interesting , but if you could get to The Painted Desert (which used to be on private property) – it is truly amazing.

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 1:45 pm

I can deplore a the bastardry of a left-captured Military-Industrial-Political Complex in America, AND deplore an unrelated foreign power taking the sovereignty of a smaller nation by force because it felt like doing so.

I am not an ideologue.

What you think you are, or whatever values you believe you’re bringing to some metaphorical table, is of no importance. What’s going down in Ukraine ought not be our business. The fact you think it is is exactly the problem. We made it our business – we should not have done so. We’ve made this same mistake before in the Middle East.

It is time to stop.

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 1:50 pm

Straw man. Deciding to not to adopt a position because certain people hold the same position is tribalism.

No. If you’ve determined that certain people are bad actors in certain circumstances, that should hold in other circumstances. In fact, Vindman’s position is consistent. Yours is not. You should take a look at that and stop crapping on about strawmen.

Morsie
Morsie
April 27, 2022 1:51 pm

Why is it that Liberal leaders such as Fraser , Hewson and Turnbull turn on the party when I cannot think of a Labor leader who has done a similar pivot.
I am sure that the Labor leaders are just as egotistical and venal but they hold fast.

John H.
John H.
April 27, 2022 1:53 pm

Oh come onsays:
April 27, 2022 at 1:50 pm
Straw man. Deciding to not to adopt a position because certain people hold the same position is tribalism.

No. If you’ve determined that certain people are bad actors in certain circumstances, that should hold in other circumstances. In fact, Vindman’s position is consistent. Yours is not. You should take a look at that and stop crapping on about strawmen.

Vlad is a bad actor. He’s no better than our lot.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
April 27, 2022 1:53 pm

Hi Graeme!

Bar Beach Swimmer
April 27, 2022 1:55 pm

BoN @ 11;59am.

Thanks, Bruce. He refers to Treasury doing the modelling – there’s the beginning of his problem – they always get it wrong. It also makes me wonder about Barnaby: he said back in Nov? that he had no power to stop the government from signing up to Glasgow. Now, Littleproud is saying that it was because of the modelling from Treasury. So they were scared sh1tless by the big boys in the government. Says a lot.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 1:59 pm

What you think you are, or whatever values you believe you’re bringing to some metaphorical table, is of no importance.

Really? This sounds like the beginning of the same type of “‘SHUT UP!’ He explained,” act we’ve been dropping into here on everything from the Coof’s origins to lockdowns and mandates to jabs to what the WEF allegedly really wants to do with us and exactly what happened to the 2020 Elections.

It is time to stop.

It was. That’s unfortunate. 🙁

John H.
John H.
April 27, 2022 2:01 pm
Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 2:01 pm

Vlad is a bad actor. He’s no better than our lot.

That is a significant concession. Thank you. I agree with you on that. Our leaders are as bad as – and possibly worse than – what you consider Putin to be.

Please comment on the wisdom of our leaders’s policies with regard to Russia in light of your concession.

Winston Smith
April 27, 2022 2:01 pm

Feelthebern:

Trans men’s eggs have been matured in the lab—and could help them have children

Is there anyone speaking for these potential humans whose genetic code is being abused by these freaks?

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 2:02 pm

Really? This sounds like the beginning of the same type of “‘SHUT UP!’ He explained,” act we’ve been dropping into here on everything from the Coof’s

Pathetic.

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 2:03 pm

repost with menu, very good interview
China’s Secret Playbook For War – General Robert Spalding | Modern Wisdom Podcast 463
00:25 What’s Happening in Shanghai?
12:54 The West’s Double Standards
22:13 Unrestricted Warfare
33:14 Why Dictatorships are so Efficient
37:43 China’s Disinformation Process
47:57 Chinese Military Strategy
56:56 The Fentanyl Crisis
1:04:06 Weakening Enemies by Deception

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 2:04 pm
Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 2:05 pm

Seriously. You need to do better than Instapundit circa 2012.

Rabz
April 27, 2022 2:05 pm

I cannot think of a Labor leader who has done a similar pivot

Mark Latham.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
April 27, 2022 2:06 pm

Rex-
Have you been following Avi Yemeni and his battle for press access to Dan Andrews in Vic? I’ve got absolutely no doubt that MaoGowan is using the same strictures to winnow out critics from his pressers, and would use his staff and our money to drag it through the courts if that’s what it came to.
Oh if I had the time. The bloke who recently hoiked over the fence and into the MaoGowan-AnAl lawn service was bang on the cutting edge- though like I would probably end up, too wordy and not firm enough asking for an immediate response- and that episode sunk without a trace.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 2:07 pm

Pathetic

Why?

You did just accuse me of being a sympathiser of the Deep Staters upthread because I think Russia invading Ukraine is not a good thing. And got a lot of upticks over it.

If that wasn’t supposed to be an attempt beat me over the head with the zeitgeist, I don’t know what you were saying…

Winston Smith
April 27, 2022 2:07 pm

Anchor What:

*Voter drop boxes that can be tampered with and the votes changed

I’d suggest a rumour being circulated that the drop boxes are going to be the receptacles of incendiary devices in the rogue states, but I won’t. Because deliberately burning Democrat votes is illegal. Or something.
Just don’t use the drop boxes.

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 2:08 pm

Blinken and Austin meet Zelensky. Conflict in Moldova gets green light

The obama…. er I mean biden administration is trying to destabilise the entire eastern euro region

P
P
April 27, 2022 2:09 pm

Christians top charts

Just before Christmas 2021, giant televised advertising billboards measuring several storeys tall went up in New York’s Times Square, the iconic centre of one of the world’s most iconic cities.

The billboards were not advertising the latest Chanel fragrance or the must-have fashion from one of the world’s leading designer labels. Instead, they advertised a podcast hosted by an American Catholic priest who, for the second year running, was promising to take listeners through the entire Bible in 365 days.

Many may assume that the Catholic and other Christian churches have nothing of significance to share with them about life’s big issues, but the success of small-scale Christian podcasters is putting that assumption to rest in new and exciting ways.

For all Christian denominations this is surely encouraging.

John H.
John H.
April 27, 2022 2:09 pm

How An “Ocean” in Your Brain Helps Transmit Information

I hope this is true because it opens up an entirely new way of thinking about how brains work and we desperately need something new under the skull to advance our understanding.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
April 27, 2022 2:10 pm

The Biden Administration Is Openly Pursuing A Policy Of Escalation In Ukraine

As the war in Ukraine drags on, the United States is making a clash with Russia more likely with each passing week.

What are we to make of a comment Monday from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that the Biden administration’s goal in Ukraine is “to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine”?

Austin made the remark in a press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken after the pair met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, in what was the highest level visit by U.S. officials since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

One obvious conclusion we can draw from Austin’s comment is that the Biden administration has now committed openly to a policy of escalation in Ukraine. The White House intends to keep the war in Ukraine alive, with the stated goal of weakening Moscow by continuing to pour new and more advanced weaponry into the war-ravaged country.

Indeed, Austin and Blinken announced a new round of military aid to Ukraine, bringing the total amount of U.S. assistance to about $3.7 billion since the invasion began. After resisting pressure early in the conflict to supply Ukraine with advanced weapons systems, the Biden administration has changed course. It is now preparing to send heavy artillery, helicopters, armored personnel carriers, antiaircraft radar systems, advanced attack drones and other weapons.

These weapons and munitions are getting into Ukraine for the most part via railway, which is probably why Russia carried out missile strikes on least five railway stations across central and western Ukraine early Monday, just hours after Austin and Blinken met with Zelensky.

How did Austin and Blinken get to that meeting? By railway. Politico reported that “Austin and Blinken traveled to and from Kyiv by train and crossed into Poland shortly before Russian missiles struck several railway lines — including one in the city of Lviv in western Ukraine, near the Polish border.”

If you’re wondering what is the significance of this deepening U.S. involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian war, or how it might lead to a direct military confrontation between the United States and Russia, consider that the U.S. secretaries of defense and state might have just narrowly missed being struck by a Russian missile as they traveled to and from Kyiv by rail on Monday.

But history, especially the unique history of Russo-Ukrainian relations, suggests otherwise. Indeed it suggests that Moscow will never allow for the kind of Ukrainian victory that Blinken and the White House are working towards. To the extent U.S. policymakers are relying on, say, historical comparisons to the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan as a guide for the creation of U.S. policy in Ukraine, then we’re in trouble.

Put another way, this is not a peripheral conflict for Russia. As far as the Kremlin is concerned, the fate of Ukraine is inextricably tied to Russia’s core strategic national interests. The chances that Putin will accept total defeat in Ukraine without escalation that involves the use of nuclear weapons, or that involves widening the war, are probably lower than most Americans are comfortable with.

To bring it back to Defense Secretary Austin’s remark about the U.S. wanting to see Russia “weakened” to the point it cannot field a military capable of invading a much smaller country, one has to ask: how does Russia, a country with the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, get weakened to that point? Do Austin and his generals really think that a U.S.-backed Ukraine is going to be able to do that? Or do they have something else in mind? The evidence suggests they have something else in mind, and that something else is direct U.S. and NATO involvement.

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 2:12 pm

Why?

See above. I was there at that time. Don’t trot those tropes out. I’m at least as familiar with them as you are. They had purchase in that context. Here…not so much. Not so clever.

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 2:15 pm

upticks

You notice such things? Noted.

Oh come on
Oh come on
April 27, 2022 2:20 pm

our leaders’s

-s

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
April 27, 2022 2:21 pm

Just looking up The Critical Drinker on Goolag – I notice that his Twitter results show up ahead of his YouTube result.

I wonder why?

Quite threw me off because YouTube has always previously come up first and Twitter below that.

miltonf
miltonf
April 27, 2022 2:22 pm

I despise the US now with its critical race theory, gender fluidity, ‘sex changes’ for minors, detention of dissenters without trial and banana republic ‘elections’. Not to mention the treatment of Trump and his supporters. And now they’re trying to amp up a major war.

Zipster
Zipster
April 27, 2022 2:23 pm

Vlad is a bad actor.

I’m not sure that is the case. His allies have found him dependable.

most russians like putin, he pulled them out of the post soviet anarchy. the corruption they just learn to live with and navigate through. it’s the price of relative stability and moderate prosperity compared to the hard times russians have suffered through. the hardship and struggle of russian life and history is deeply ingrained in the russian psyche.

the le pen infomercial is perfect zeitgeist of the russian mood, however self contradictory it might be. perfect distillation of russian pathos, toil and sacrifice and rejection of western “liberalism”.

miltonf
miltonf
April 27, 2022 2:24 pm

A filthy x dresser an admiral- fuck me dead.

Dot
Dot
April 27, 2022 2:25 pm

You know, when I had a gander at the Wiki account of this operation, and it was reported that the UKR was mauling the RUS so convincingly

Russia failed several tactical objectives and has suffered many losses.

Who believes it was the plan to feign losing control of a major airfield and the capital was just part of a diversion for a sweep through the east and south?

Surely if they can plan that well, they could have just planned a rapid and low casualty sweep from Donbass to the last inch of Crimea.

Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
April 27, 2022 2:25 pm

In the Oz just now. Executing a search warrant?

Ex-SAS soldier and Ben Roberts-Smith witness arrested

BEN PACKHAM
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT

26 MINUTES AGO APRIL 27, 2022

A former SAS soldier who gave evidence for Ben Roberts-Smith in his defamation trial against Nine Entertainment has been arrested by Australian Federal Police officers.

The Australian understands the man, referred to as “Person 5” in the defamation case, was arrested late last night on charges of assaulting a police officer.

It’s understood the AFP went to the man’s hotel room last night to execute a search warrant.

He was charged with two alleged offences – obstructing, hindering, intimidating or resisting a Commonwealth official; and causing harm to a Commonwealth law officer.

Person 5 is a key witness for Mr Roberts-Smith in his defence against reports by Nine newspapers that the Victoria Cross winner committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

Person 5 last week denied Sydney’s Federal Court that he colluded with Mr Roberts-Smith on their evidence.

READ MORE:Tunnel rat’s tale key to SAS case|‘Not a real Australian’: bold claim in BRS case|BRS link to three more war murders, court told

The denial came as it was revealed that his legal fees – amounting to at least $65,000 so far – were covered by Mr Roberts-Smith’s employer, the Seven Network.

He was due to appear in Sydney’s Central Local Court today.

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 2:27 pm

Who believes it was the plan to feign losing control of a major airfield and the capital was just part of a diversion for a sweep through the east and south?

A few here.

Roger
Roger
April 27, 2022 2:27 pm

Rest easy, Australia:

Elbow has declared there’ll be no carbon tax under a government he leads.

Cassie of Sydney
April 27, 2022 2:30 pm

“A Liberal source said voters nowadays already factored in Turnbull who, in terms of minuscule impact, he likened to another former Liberal prime minister called Malcolm.

Malcolm Fraser so turned on the Howard government that he ended up spruiking for the Greens.”

There’s a big difference between Malcolm Fraser and the miserable shit who resides in a mansion in Point Piper. Fraser at least started his political life as a conservative and I’m also pretty sure he never crossed the floor when in politics. Sure, as PM he was pretty useless but his animosity towards the Liberals took a few years go cultivate after his defeat back in 1983.

Malcolm Turdbull was never ever a Liberal in any shape or form. Turdbull was always a leftist and was only in politics for himself, he used the Liberal Party as a conduit to achieve his goals. He is a man completely lacking in any principle. The Liberal Party knew this from the beginning and yet, despite all of Turdbull’s backstabbing, leaking, maligning and sulking, the Liberals foolishly and recklessly rewarded him in September 2015 by handing him the keys to the Lodge, in the process knifing a PM who’d won a landslide two years earlier. Turdbull was always a disgrace, a complete and utter scum bag.

I watched Sky News last night and Senator Holly Hughes, a lightweight if there ever was one, put Campbell Newman in the same boat as Turdbull. Boy I laughed out loud. No, no, no Senator Hughes. There are big differences. Newman doesn’t defecate on the Liberal Party the way Turdbull does. Newman doesn’t side with far-left progressive Greens. Newman isn’t spruiking net zero emissions. Newman isn’t driven by spite or malice towards members of the LNP and if he is, he has the decency to keep a lid on it. There’s zero comparison between Newman and Turdbull. Newman was and remains a Liberal, it’s just that he’s now joined a party that actually adheres to real Liberal values unlike the Liberal Party that you, Senator Hughes belongs to, a party that’s trashed the Liberal brand.

duncanm
duncanm
April 27, 2022 2:42 pm

Musk is definitely a force of evil in the world.

I mean, look at this (stranded travellers in William Creek).

“We desperately need to get these microcells that Telstra have cleaned up so that you can actually have data on them,” he said.

“People are trying to pay bills and organise airfares and everything and they’re just timing out on them. So, [they’re] very frustrated.

“Luckily we’ve got one of the Starlink [communication satellites] from Elon Musk, so we’re giving everyone access to it for free.

Struth
April 27, 2022 2:43 pm

Honestly, if the government told you to watch re-runs of Gilligan’s Island you’d now do it and have arguments over who is prettier, Marie -Anne or Ginger.

We actually had troops in Afghanistan and other wars barely discussed here when they were happening.
I’m sorry….but they own you.
You want Ukraine war.
You need Ukraine war.
God help you if you had to look at your own nation and predicament.
The insanity of the jabbed.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 27, 2022 2:46 pm

You want Ukraine war.
You need Ukraine war.

And you want attention.

Hi Struth.

How’s the boat?

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 27, 2022 2:56 pm

Morsiesays:
April 27, 2022 at 1:51 pm
Why is it that Liberal leaders such as Fraser , Hewson and Turnbull turn on the party when I cannot think of a Labor leader who has done a similar pivot.
I am sure that the Labor leaders are just as egotistical and venal but they hold fast.

Labor is ruthless in its treatment of “rats”. See Billy Hughes and Mark Latham, both now hated by their former colleagues.

Struth
April 27, 2022 2:56 pm

I need attention Choo choo?!
Check out this word wall letting everyone know you have no opinion on anything.
Why not just not comment?
And what is it about your fascination with upticks?
Would you change your position to gain more upticks?
But first you have to have one.
Just coming on here to troll is not having an opinion is it now, Comrade McGowan’s bitch?

No one would ever accuse you of being an ideologue that’s for sure.
No problems there.

I was waiting for that.

There are far too many people championing Vlad Bae because they think it’s a big old FUCK YOU to the US Establishment. And Globalists.

Vlad Bae does not and has never cared for US internal politics, beyond what it allows him to achieve in his own realpolitik.

Oddly enough, said Establishmentarians and Globalists tend to think the same way, too.

I can deplore a the bastardry of a left-captured Military-Industrial-Political Complex in America, AND deplore an unrelated foreign power taking the sovereignty of a smaller nation by force because it felt like doing so.

I am not an ideologue.

“I am not an animal”

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 27, 2022 2:59 pm

Bar Beach Swimmersays:
April 27, 2022 at 1:55 pm
BoN @ 11;59am.

Thanks, Bruce. He refers to Treasury doing the modelling – there’s the beginning of his problem – they always get it wrong. It also makes me wonder about Barnaby: he said back in Nov? that he had no power to stop the government from signing up to Glasgow. Now, Littleproud is saying that it was because of the modelling from Treasury. So they were scared sh1tless by the big boys in the government. Says a lot.

BBS

Two ponts.

The bureaucracy is not the government. They are there to support the government.

Second, that any reasonably informed person still shows respect for “modeling” demonstrates the ignorance and cowardice of that person.

1.7K
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x