The Holy Roman Catholic Church founded by our Lord Jesus Christ. Or take your pick of some 40k+ protestant sects…
Open Thread – Tuesday 26 April 2022
- Open Thread – Weekend 27 April 2024
- Nuclear power and the foundational lie
- Open Thread – Anzac Day 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 22 April 2024
- Open Thread – Weekend 21 April 2024
NYC Reaches $2.1 Million Settlement in “Toxic Whiteness” Discrimination Case After Replacing 3 White Women With Less Qualified People of…
Anyone who can’t recite their army number is a fake. I ask the spouse to say his, just to check…
Haha – thanks Tom for the uncle Bosie version of WIP
Week In Pictures.
And now a few words from Kim Jong Un.
Wonderful.
Victoria’s ex-Covid Commander, Jerome Weimar has been gifted a job ‘organising things’ for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
On $500,000 a year.
It’s in the online Hun, from which I can’t link on this device.
I was just going to say…
One of life’s experience reality bites is that the Howard government was as good as it gets
Depressing thought, isn’t it?
Idle thought on Parliament and jail.
Maybe once elected, all parliamentarians are jailed. They can run their Parliament in jail. After all, they’re mostly crooks who haven’t been caught yet.
YEP, THAT’S BIDEN’S STAGFLATION THAT JUST ARRIVED
That 1.4 percent contraction in the economy in the first quarter of 2022 represents the first statistical evidence that we’re entering a period of roaring inflation and stagnate growth.
“The trade deficit ballooned massively, due to mushrooming imports. American exports fell by 9.6 percent, while imports went up by 17.7 percent. Economists had predicted a 1 percent economic growth rate, rather than the decline in the economy that actually occurred,” reports Liberty Unyielding’s Hans Bader.
And the cause is clear, according to Bader, who says “the economy is being held back by Biden administration policies that discourage work, reward idleness, and make it harder for companies to attract employees. Biden enacted policies that reduced the size of America’s private-sector workforce and made America less economically competitive.”
That $3000 is absolutely certain to convince tradies to buy $70,000 electric microcars instead of cheerful Haval utes for $35,000.
From Walk Dali last night:
Exactly what has happened to me. I am unsure whether it was the contents of the vaxx or the delivery. Whatever it is, good luck having it diagnosed.
The seat of the pain sits smack bang in the deltoid and runs down to the fingers, numbing them and across the shoulder blade. The elbow feels like you’ve hit the funny bone on an anvil.
How long will it last? Who knows. It has been five months so far and no abatement. I’m not putting this on the blog for sympathy (I’ll get precious little 😀 ) but just in case others here or those they know are experiencing the same thing. You are not imagining it.
Elon Musk on his politics
Excitable Mediterranean Types News:
Italian bloke sees another bloke dumping rubbish on his worksite in Ravenhall, in western Melbourne.
The two blokes are said to have long-standing disagreements.
Italian bloke shoots the other bloke, after hobbling out to confront him with a walking stick in one hand and a .22 handgun in the other. The Italian bloke is 90.
Italian bloke is let off by the court. Excellent.
(The Hun)
Can Mrs Snowcone do a Lateline on 7:30?
Over the next couple of months, Sarah Ferguson is packing up and heading home from Washington.
She’ll be in the 7.30 host’s chair from July 4.
ABC
Sarah Ferguson: Hard Chat
Dec 19, 2018
Hmm, Jack may be in for a world of hurt.
Twitter Earnings Fall Short as Company Admits Overstating User Numbers (28 Apr)
Despite Mueller not finding anything in two years of intense investigation, Trump is currently being pursued by the NY AG creature for supposedly overstating the value of his assets years ago. So if it is consistent it should now also go after Dorsey for forcing Elon to pay many billions too much to buy the company, because of fake inflated user numbers.
Of course the NY AG isn’t going to do that but the Florida and Texas AGs just might.
I am very sorry to hear that, Calli. These problems seem to puzzle the medical profession – since most that I have heard about remain unresolved.
All the best.
Not Walk. Wali.
And I can’t even blame my left hand for the typo.
Here comes the new toss, same as the old toss.
On Russian combat deaths:
The Russians have made it a state secret (as has Ukraine), but there’s lots of numbers floating around, and people here seem to have strong views on what the numbers are not – which presumably requires them to have an alternative ‘correct’ number in mind.
All of which suggests an error bar so big that it means ‘nobody knows, but potentially big enough so everyone can have a red hot opinion’.
Serious (but possibly stupid) question: how do militaries estimate enemy casualties/deaths? Is there some tried and tested rule of thumb?
..
Don’t jump to conclusions.
My elbow has seized up. Around the same time as everyone else was vaxximg.
Now, if I had vaxxed along with every other idiot, I would be going “The vaxx caused my elbow pain”. But I haven’t vaxxed.
Given the sheer numbers of pains, aches, sprains and general deterioration living critters experience, there will be more cases where it is simply co-incidence.
Which is not to say that the vaxxes don’t have horrible side effects.
give it time…
Vicki, I’m old but physically tough. High pain threshold. The kids take after me too.
This thing is a real bugger. The reactions have been so varied that they conveniently be pinned down to a narrow range. And, of course, many haven’t had any problems at all.
Safe and effective my eye. They are neither.
Next fortnight will stretch reserves of copium.
callisays:
April 29, 2022 at 8:14 am
“Where I grew up there was a much better chance of going to jail than going to parliament,” Albanese says, after a lengthy discussion about his childhood with a single mother in public housing.
Garbage. I said Camperdown in the 60s was run down, not infested with criminals.
Although, rare as it may be, Albo might be able to achieve both if he tries hard enough. Such a thing is not altogether unknown.
calli,
I was at John’s 62/64 and agree re Camperdown – purchased semi mid 70s egan street Newtown, was slum with external bathroom, found uni student squatters one weekend when we went over to do some work and they became tenants – area then no problems
I am slowly coming to the conclusion that the mRNA jabs only cause an muddled allergic reaction, while the virus vector jabs may actually provide some sort of longer term immunity.
the immune system seems to know the difference between a toxin and a virus.
‘there will be more cases where it is simply co-incidence.’
Well, yes.
I expect this simple and accurate statement to provoke the latest Wordwall of Outrage, though.
The rest of the world burns coal, Australia follows the looney greens to extinction.
The big picture: Global coal-fired power rebounded last year to record levels amid high natural gas prices and economic revival from the pandemic, per the International Energy Agency and data-tracking green group Ember.
And now the crisis in Europe is pushing in the same direction, even as EU leaders hope to speed their clean energy transition.
“Russia’s invasion…turbocharged the coal market, setting off a domino effect that’s leaving power producers scrambling for supply and pushing prices to record levels,” Bloomberg reports.
https://www.axios.com/coal-lots-staying-power-5afe575c-77fc-45bf-988b-10afdbb3d690.html?mc_cid=5f11fc2f25&mc_eid=30fe4a4429
Also: being compelled to get something injected into you that you didn’t want causes stress. Stress causes tension. Tension in muscles. Going around tensed up ready for action all the time causes injuries.
Another reason why compulsion is wrong, the more so over medical treatments.
Do Russians think they live in democracy?
1420
Lol, Arky.
The only answer is amputation.
Call me Stumpy. I can pretend it’s a gardening wound. 😀
Brett Baier, filling the space left by Chris Wallace’s departure, has a woman from NPR on his comments panel, and puts it to the panel that the treatment of Mayorkas by some congressmen was more hostile than it should have been!
The Roberts-Smith defamation trial seems to be being conducted simultaneously in the courtroom, in the AFP/NSW briefing room, and on the front page of the dailies.
What sort of SAS are we aiming for?
“… acted in a belligerent, unreasonable and aggressive manner”.
The answer is to relax Calli, and be at peace with the decision you made.
I want 7 Billion Dollars a Month – Ya Don’t have to twist my arm
meanwhile
Biden’s Brain Breaks Yet Again, but What He Managed to Say About Ukraine Is Concerning
Joe Biden seems to be acting like we have a bottomless pit of money to just throw out there for Ukraine. According to the New York Times, in March, Congress approved $13.6 billion to help Ukraine, including $3.5 billion for military aid, $6.9 billion for other aid, and $3 billion for the deployment of our soldiers to the various NATO-allied countries.
Now, Biden is asking for $33 billion more, claiming that what was asked for last month has already been spent. This is out of control.
If you can’t get into NIDA the Sydney Courts complex is a good substitute. Keep an eye out for Richo.
The GAE really hold the US citizen in contempt.
Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain, Episode 24 “Please Explain Voter Fraud”
Wally, that’s just terrible. I don’t know how people can cope with the deliberate destruction wrought by governments. However, as regards your daughter’s masking, there are a couple of things you could try. She sounds like a very bright child. If she’s terrified of the invisible virus, you could point out all the other invisible things she is ingesting from the mask itself, day in and day out. There are any number of papers out proving the negative effects of masks. Apart from the fact that they don’t actually block the virus, they are utterly unhygienic, a trap for germs and a risk for any number of illnesses up to and including bacterial pneumonia from her warm breath interacting with the accumulated germs on the mask. And that’s not even taking into account the reduced oxygen supply.
Then, if she’s still listening, you could start on the philosophical aspects, such as freedom of choice, personal decision making, bodily autonomy, informed consent, propaganda as a weapon of control etc. There’s plenty of information around and perhaps some of it could open her eyes to the fact that governments do not always act in our best interests and a bit of critical thinking is required before swallowing what they dish out.
Stiff upper lip calli.
Only 12-42 months to go.
‘Call me Stumpy.’
You’ll have to fight Delta for that one.
Some memes. Not bad
Story that reached my ears was that there had been a few drinks , to celebrate a good day in court..
Oh. Okay.
Off to Curtin Springs today. I might actually get to see a red Rock. Last time it was pouring.
There was an article I bookmarked on uselessness of masks a couple days ago.
More Evidence That Masks Don’t Work | Power Line (29 Apr)
Hinderaker gives credit to the author who admitted the data showed exactly opposite of what he expected. Not only masks didn’t work but there was a weak correlation with making covid infection more likely. Whether that is due to complacency or a wharehousing effect or something I don’t know. But pretty much it’s sufficient to say they do basically nothing against the virus.
CDC Releases Figures on the Total Number of Americans Who Contracted COVID
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a rough count of how many Americans have contracted COVID so far. The most deadly and vicious pandemic, according to liberals and mask N@zis, has infected 60 percent of the US population. That also means we’re all dead too. Not really, but after months of liberal COVID hysterics—you’d think the Andromeda Strain had struck the country. Wear 10 masks at a time, stay inside, stay 1456 feet apart, and get 45600 shots. Also, if you’re bank account holds a particular balance, the virus won’t infect you. We’ve seen that with the multiple rich, fat cat Democrats who have been caught maskless eating out with their liberal friends. With regards to children, 75 percent have contracted the virus. Yet, we’re still pushing vaccination as a national security priority.
Look, I’ve been vaccinated and boosted, but the CDC’s own figures show that the horse has long left the barn here regarding preventing infection. Also, the shot doesn’t do that. If you want it, take it. If not, go about your business. This is America; you can roll the dice (via People):
Re the sand crisis: there’s always Western Australia around Perth.
overplaying the same hand
if even 30% of this actually ends up being used as required rather than being soaked up by the kleptocracies it will be a miracle
Love it!
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2022/04/musk-and-the-looney-left.html
how can anyone who lost their job in hospitality because of Covid now not get another?
Anchor Whatsays:
April 29, 2022 at 9:01 am
What sort of SAS are we aiming for?
“… acted in a belligerent, unreasonable and aggressive manner”.
You could argue that he acted with great restraint, even under the influence. There could have been severely injured AFP, or worse.
In Swanonomics news:
Power prices a ‘consequence of Coalition’s war against renewables’: Swan
Not quite what AEMO is saying.
Decoding AEMO; the biggest culprits:
1) unplanned outages at coal fired power stations, which resulted in less $60/MWh electricity being bid into a $150/MWh summer market; and
2) more high-priced gas being used in inefficient open-cycle turbines to back up non-performing renewables.
Swan Stupidity is hardly newsworthy.
But the open mouthed acceptance of his election dribble is a neon-lit signpost on Australia’s road to ruin.
The Bandt-Abronese Government will be spinning the ‘Morrison’s Fault’ line when east coast Australia goes brown in 2024.
Biden blasted for policing free speech with ‘dystopian’ disinformation bureau
Stagflation is staring Biden in the face — but he refuses to change course
First we were told inflation was imaginary. Then we were told it was “transitory,” the result of COVID-inflicted supply-chain problems. Then we were told it was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fault.
Now people are starting to admit the massive runaway spending of the Biden era has something to do with it. But we’re also facing stagflation, a mixture of inflation and slow growth, and the government also plays a role in turning inflation into stagflation.
We’re seeing it everywhere, from soaring food and gasoline costs to a housing “bubble” that looks more like inflationary pricing to increases in rents and automobile prices and just about everything else. The latest figures, meanwhile, show that the economy shrank 1.4% last quarter, making it the worst since the pandemic’s start; economists had expected 1.1% growth.
“We do not advise to continue trying our patience” – Statement by Maria Zakharova
Biden’s Brain Malfunctions…No One Has Any Clue What He’s Trying To Say
“Where I grew up there was a much better chance of going to jail than going to parliament,” Albanese says, after a lengthy discussion about his childhood with a single mother in public housing.
The one good thing to come out of this statement is .. Thank God it was Camperdown! .. if he’d grown up, houso, where I raised 4 kids that’s just be the preface with 542 pages to go .. LOL!
It’s amusing that Swan thinks wind and solar reduce the cost of electricity when in every country where they’ve been employed widely the cost has gone up not down. Maybe he thinks renewables haven’t been tried correctly yet, like socialism.
They gave Penny wong a conspicuous bulge in the pants the sick bastards.
rosiesays:
April 29, 2022 at 9:27 am
how can anyone who lost their job in hospitality because of Covid now not get another?
Annette Formosa (right) says not being able to give her daughter Hannah what she wants hurts
Annette Formosa never thought she would need to rely on her local community in Sydney’s western suburbs to ensure there was enough food on the table.
But now, she can’t think of a world where that help doesn’t exist.
“We’ll starve. There will be no food,” Ms Formosa told the ABC.
The cost of living crisis being experienced by many Australians isn’t lost on Ms Formosa; it’s her every day.
She lost her job in hospitality last year due to Sydney’s COVID-19 Delta outbreak.
Neither of those 2 look like they are starving?
White House Refuses to Define Success in Ukraine, But Want U.S. Taxpayers to Donate $33 Billion More Toward it
Yes, this actually happened today. During her press briefing Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House doesn’t want to “define what success in Ukraine looks like,” but demands U.S. taxpayers to give them another $33 billion toward it.
A few moments later Psaki admits the money will be spent subsidizing not only Ukraine, but NATO allies who are suffering the results of inflation.
Psaki stated the Biden demand for more money “is not all for Ukraine, it’s also for some of our Eastern European partners and others to help support them during this time as well.” Wait, now we are paying to subsidize the economy of EU countries while our own economy is contracting?
Seriously, the scale of this hubris is blood boiling. First, they cannot tell us what success consists of, but give us money anyway.
The first segment to watch happens at 18:15 of the video, WATCH (prompted):
At 42:15 of the video, Psaki is asked directly why should the U.S. taxpayer be stuck paying for the pensions of Ukraine politicians? Psaki responds by saying ‘that’s who we are.” WATCH (prompted)
Former Brisbane restaurateur and sometime geurilla commander in the Vietnam war, US Colonel David Hackworth, maintained that enemy weapons recovered after action was the most reliable indicator of casualites. The CIA came to agree. Easier to do in small scale operations than large scale, though.
Madness, Joe Biden Asks Congress for $33 Billion More for Ukraine to Fund Their Government Salaries, Pensions and Budget Obligations
White House NSA Organizes Security Summit With 50 Nation Peers to Discuss Future of the Internet
What could possibly go wrong when the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, organizes a “minister level launch of the Declaration for the Future of the Internet.” Put more succinctly, that would be 50 nation intelligence ministers getting together to decide what they will permit on the internet.
Apparently, a collective partner rule book is forthcoming. Big Tech will be given specific instructions on how to comply.
The global rulebook on how to handle, define and eliminate ‘disinformation’, ‘misinformation’ and ‘malinformation’ on the world-wide internet.
Sounds like satire, but it’s totally legit.
Is President Biden OK?
Presented with no comment…
guerilla
“…a passionate attachment of one nation [to] another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists…betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification.”
President George Washington, Farewell Address
The US has drifted a long way from its foundational moorings.
Chermany to the rescue.
Looks like they think it’s going to be a long war if they believe the Ukies will have time to train up on the Gepard.
Maybe they should’ve dug up some Furniture Vans.
The Halderman McGuffin Money-shot
Res ipso loquitor. “The thing speaks for itself.”
Behold the “Halderman Initial Declaration” of J. Alex Halderman, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Michigan. Submitted in a federal court in Georgia on August 7, 2018 in the Curling v. Raffensberger election case, and thereafter sealed there by Federal Judge Amy Totenberg (yet recently supplied to me {83 Pages)} explicitly in my capacity as a journalist at and publisher of DeepCapture.com, this website, whose journalistic excellence won numerous awards voted on by the public at large in 2008-2009).
Patrick Byrne: Curling v. Raffensperger and the Halderman MacGuffin
Dr. Alex Halderman is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Center for Computer Security and Society at the University of Michigan. He is, in short, a Professor of Dolphin-Speech, with focus on hacking. Halderman is no fan of Donald Trump, and from his public statements I would surmise that his politics are normal academic Lefty, but intellectually honest normal academic Lefty.
Halderman’s report shows that hacking these machines is easy, so “Georgia voters face an extreme risk that [ballot marking device]-based attacks could manipulate their individual votes and alter election outcomes.” And Georgia will not catch it if it happens. The same is true of 16 other states using these systems. That is highly concerning. Unless a Republican says the same thing, in which case it is a conspiracy theory. So when the judge suppresses the best information our country has about an issue of national self-determination, it is not actually suppression, it is “stopping a conspiracy theory”. Because a Republican said it. And the real problem with letting citizens know that votes can be manipulated and election outcomes altered… is that conservatives might use that knowledge to “undermine the validity of elections in the minds of conservatives” (though why an election in which votes are manipulated and outcomes altered has “validity” is considered something so obvious the Daily Beast need not address it).
Is this starting to seem strange to anyone else?
Indolentsays:
April 29, 2022 at 9:29 am
Biden blasted for policing free speech with ‘dystopian’ disinformation bureau
Bongino begins his program addressing this; if it was not so serious it would be comical: the fact is the would be tyrants of the planet are fucking idiots:
I could use a communication device to talk to people but have chosen to use my own voice instead.
I have been communicating by using “Nell Talk” for over 25 years.
People can learn to understand me through time spent listening to how I say the words. I also spell out words when people can’t understand.
crocs meet pigs
ZK2A:
One day, those criminals who are Australia’s mafia, will be telling their stories in front of a Court that has a fleet of helicopters to hand for sentencing.
Leftists never seem to get it, but after every Revolution comes the purge, and not every revolution goes to the left side of politics. Sometimes when Loranorder breaks down, it breaks to the right.
What do Russians think about NATO?
1420
Levity courtesy of Westprint Maps.
lot of vloggers are talking about japan yen
The latest, desperate act of the loony American left, its puppet presidency and its de facto Democratic Party bureaucracy is to invent an armed ministry of truth inside the Department of Homeland Security. The good news is that it’s staffed by buffoons. Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Mac Siccar, we’ve all been there. Then there is my wife who can break anything indestructible. Something only ever works the way she wants it to or it never works again. Learnt of her mum. She came to visit for a couple of weeks, 3 irons with broken handles later. I thought they survived the drop from the ironing board to the floor, but no it seems I was wrong.
But but but renewables are cheaper and prices will fall, and yes I believe in Santa and the Tooth fairy.
Wholesale power prices soared 141 per cent, year on year, and households should brace for more
Mayorkis head of ministry of truth
I’ll never know if this is false or true.
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles tests positive to COVID-19 as Anthony Albanese emerges from isolation
On average, things just got slightly less worse for Labor.
By my algebra, the Labor desperately needs to pick up 3 seats in WA to form government in its own right.
One less complete fuck-head at the formal ALP campaign launch is probably a good thing for Team Albo.
Is the end of Western Australia’s mask mandate reason to celebrate or cause for anxiety?
Neither – it should be the impetus to make those who imposed it swing from lamp-posts so their successors never dare try this shit again.
Of course, we will fervently thank our overlords for loosening the shackles a bit, and nod earnestly while they inform us that the shackles are subject to tightening again at their sole discretion. Also, we should probably think about what they want us to do and just do it without being told. Then they won’t have to correct us. It hurts them more than it hurts us, remember.
Everything we’re seeing globally – galloping inflation and looming recession – is a direct result of the 2020 US presidential election. People didn’t vote for what is happening now. The US is now run vindictive hyper-moralists who haven’t a clue about the real world, including economics. Rigged elections have consequences.
As US credibility sinks under the weight of political corruption, China nuzzles up to its other BFF:
Chinese Defense Minister’s Iran trip to help lift military ties to ‘unprecedented’ level
Enough bullshit to choke a brown dog. But, nonetheless, Team Xi is setting the pieces up.
Nobody needs to pretend any more.
Vicki:
And yet, the answer is obvious to many of us…
Perhaps their minds are too highly trained?
Keep an eye on suicide figures. Mrs Snowcone sucks my will to live through the screen. Having Snowcone opposite me over the breakfast cereal would be the final straw.
ZK2A:
Anyone who doubts we are living in a thugocracy is fooling themselves.
Very hard to get someone to see something if, by seeing it, they lose their highly paid job.
If this bloke lives in the US & flew in just to give evidence in court, then flew home again….
… what was the search warrant pretending to be looking for?
They cornered the in the hotel lift, after he got a skinful, & demanded* he hand over his phone. He objected & got arrested.
The pretext for the search warrant won’t have actually been: To find out what is in his mobile phone/laptop and to provoke him into getting himself arrested.
*The demand for his phone will have been simultaneously physical & provocative, in addition to verbal. Deliberately so.
China to drop coal import tariffs
Translation: the Chinese economy rooted by soaring input energy prices, teetering on the edge of zero growth – just before Helmsman Xi puts in his bid for a third term.
Watch this space.
Old Ozzie:
The pair of them are OBESE FFS.
Another sign
Home-made
‘Save our future vote liberals out’
What? 2050 we’ll all be dead?
Outside the two million plus replacement architectural flat roof mansion in a leafy.
I hope the Party for the Upper Middle aka Greens push through an annual property tax and remove the cgt exemption for the over 2 million home demo.
Turn
The
Page
JONATHAN TURLEY – Res ipsa loquitur – The thing itself speaks
Garland Stonewalls Questions about a Special Counsel Despite New Evidence Tied to President Biden
Attorney General Merrick Garland continued to refuse to address questions over his refusal to appoint a Special Counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation despite new evidence tying President Joe Biden to the controversial business deals. The New York Post is reporting that President Biden agreed to cover more than $800,000 in bills of Hunter, including legal fees tied to the foreign deals. While President Biden’s denial of knowledge of Hunter’s deals has been repeatedly contradicted (including by Hunter himself), White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki declared that President Biden stands by his denials. However, she declined to explain new information showing that a key business partner in these deals visited the White House over a dozen times, including at least one meeting with then Vice President Biden.
The New York Post shows that on Jan. 17, 2019, Hunter Biden’s then-personal assistant, Katie Dodge told accountant Linda Shapero that Joe Biden was covering the legal costs. The email states “I spoke with Hunter today regarding his bills. It is my understanding that Hunt’s dad will cover these bills in the short-term as Hunter transitions in his career.”
What may be even more damaging is the the new disclosure that Hunter Biden’s business partner, Eric Schwerin, made at least 19 visits to the White House and other official locations between 2009 and 2015. Schwerin was the president of Rosemont Seneca, one of the key firms involved in the alleged influence peddling schemes.
We have previously discussed the various references to the President in these emails. Indeed, it is impossible to look into these allegations of influence peddling without repeatedly running into references to the President.
Given this mounting evidence, the position of Attorney General Garland has gone from dubious to ridiculous in evading the issue of a special counsel appointment. He continues to refuse to acknowledge these conflicts with the President. In a hearing yesterday, Garland again refused to address the issue, even discussing what it would take to warrant the appointment of a special counsel. There is no reason why he cannot answer such legal questions without getting into the evidence produced in Delaware.
“Albo’s log cabin
A council house on an invalid pension.
We was poor but we was happy.”
Which only goes to show that “You will own nothing and you’ll be happy” might work, right? Right?
Makes serfect pense.
We woz so poor we koodn’t afford a fire – dad would suck a peppermint and we’d all sit around his tongue.
Our neighbours are Ukrainian. They’ve suddenly become very patriotic (not that I blame them for this). There’s now a proliferation of Ukraine flags, bumper stickers, blue and yellow ribbons etc around their place and on their stuff. They even painted their kid’s scooter blue and yellow.
I’m tempted to plant a few Russian flags around the place, just to be a prick. Or maybe paint some things red, white and blue. If they complain, I’ll tell em I’m a Francophile and I’m celebrating the recent election. Just to be absolutely clear, maybe I’ll put this nice photo up somewhere prominent, too. And this one as well. Vive la France!
Why Russia’s economy is holding on, despite sanctions
With oil exports strong in April, Russian President Vladimir Putin manages to avoid economic ruin while hammering Ukraine.
Despite predictions of doom for the heavily sanctioned Russian economy, nearly two months into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine his country’s oil exports to Europe and nations such as India and Turkey have actually risen, and its financial sector has so far avoided a serious liquidity crisis.
Sanctions may work in the long run, experts say, but for now many of the same countries that are sanctioning Russia are still seriously undercutting their efforts by buying energy from it – in some cases in even larger amounts during April than in March.
“Putin is continuing to make at least a billion dollars a day selling oil and gas, and the lion’s share is from Europe,” says Edward Fishman, a former Europe specialist at the US State Department. “Individual European countries are sending military assistance to Ukraine but it’s dwarfed by payments they’re making to Russia for oil and gas.”
Despite Western restrictions on Russia’s financial sector, oil exports are up to 3.6 million barrels a day in April, compared with 3.3 million barrels a day the month before, says Matt Smith of Kpler, a firm that tracks oil cargo ships. “The big takeaway is that Russian crude oil exports are actually higher so far this month than they were last month,” Smith says. “It’s surprising.”
– ‘Record pace’ for Russian oil shipments
– Gas continues to flow
– Economic crisis
In a recent interview with Der Spiegel, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested that Berlin couldn’t afford to cut off Russian supplies anytime soon, saying an embargo on Russian gas not only wouldn’t end the Ukraine war but could lead to “a dramatic economic crisis, the loss of millions of jobs and of factories that would never open again”.
He added: “This would have major consequences for our country, for all of Europe, and it would also severely affect the financing of Ukraine’s reconstruction. As such, it is my responsibility to say: we cannot allow that to happen.”
– Contracting economy
– Divided international response
– Economic distress in the West
As JPMorgan analyst Natasha Kaneva said this week, eliminating Russian oil is going to cause every bit of the economic pain that Germany and other EU nations fear, possibly driving up prices by about 65 per cent from about $US110 to $US185 a barrel.
That could be devastating to economies such as Germany’s, which gets 25 per cent of its oil and 40 per cent of its gas from Russia. Not surprisingly, Berlin has led the fence-sitting over the energy issue.
– Long-term isolation
Michael Sussmann Evidentiary Hearing: The Transcript
And – more info on the investigation into Rodney Joffe
Yesterday, April 27, there was a pre-trial hearing in the Michael Sussmann case relating to various evidentiary issues. For the uninitiated, Sussmann a former Perkins Coie partner, and former attorney for the DNC/Clinton Campaign (and Rodney Joffe), has been charged by Special Counsel John Durham with providing false statements to then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in the fall of 2016. Here is more background on his indictment.
We have the full transcript of yesterday’s hearing (link at the bottom).
Here are some of the most notable disclosures:
The Special Counsel’s “ongoing investigation” into Rodney Joff
Mounting U.S. Debt and Misguided Foreign Policy Risk a Dollar Doomsday
The U.S. dollar is getting perilously close to losing its status as the world’s reserve currency, and there is less room than ever for error on the international stage. Blunders in U.S. foreign policy are likely to have more harmful effects on both our allies and our enemies than in the past given the sorry record of the Biden administration. Should the U.S. dollar be knocked out of its position as the reserve currency, hell would break lose across global markets.
With recent memories of Biden’s humiliating and bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan, there is less confidence in the reliability of the United States from our allies, and far less respect and fear of the United States from our enemies. It’s self-evident that the powers behind Biden favor prolonging the Russia-Ukraine war, rather than promoting an expedient end to hostilities, because the ongoing conflict dominates U.S. media and diverts Americans’ attention away from disastrous domestic policies and breaking high-stakes scandals and prosecutions of Democrats and their deep state operatives.
The blame for the Russian-Ukraine war lies with both Russia and the United States and NATO countries. When the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 and Ukraine gained its independence and agreed to dismantle the nuclear arsenal that the USSR had deployed there in the Cold War years, it was understood that Ukraine would remain a neutral country, and that was formalized in the Budapest Agreement of 1994.
Ukrainian instability over the last eight years has had three major causes:
SBS ‘World Watch’ coming on 23 May.
Perfectly timed to permit Australia’s newly elected CCP owners a preconfigured tax payer funded communist news channel.
Well planned SBS. Now get rid of the token whitey stuff. CCP Watch, NITV and he Upper Volta Third Division Soccer Championship is all that’s needed in former Australia.
Caught a bit of some quizling/ lickspittle/ girly man/ newhalf on their ABCcess this morning mewling and puking its progressive credentials (yes it claimed to be a proud progressive) and getting all hurty feelings when it was accused of not being progressive enough.
The name of this Greens/Teal/ALP member?
Josh Friedchickenburger.
But hey, by all means hold your nose and vote for this chap who claimed the Canberra poo punchers party legislation was a great moment in politics.
At least hes not Labour!
Matt Kean won’t wait for Canberra
As his federal Coalition colleagues threaten to splinter over the path to net zero emissions, NSW Liberal Treasurer and Energy Minister Matt Kean is clear: the state is going there anyway, and consumers will benefit.
It’s a view that has brought friction with Canberra, and which threatens to drive a bigger wedge into the fracturing National Electricity Market.
Kean goes so far as to assert that for NSW’s journey in the energy transition, it makes little difference which party wins the May 21 election.
“From our perspective it doesn’t matter who’s in government, because we’ve got very clear plans and policies here in New South Wales that are in the interests of New South Wales taxpayers, and the families and businesses that operate here,” he says.
“We’ll work with whoever sits in the federal parliament to make sure we get the best outcome for the public.”
“This is not just a play for our environment, this is a major strategic economic play to underwrite the future prosperity of our state and our nation,” he says.
Preparing for reality
“Today, half of the world’s wealth is being created in jurisdictions that have committed to net zero, so those markets that have previously underwritten our state’s prosperity are changing, and we want to make sure we’re well-placed to take advantage of those global megatrends in a way that will create jobs, drive investment into New South Wales and underwrite prosperity like the state’s never seen before.”
On coal power in NSW, Kean has been sanguine about the early closure of Origin Energy’s huge Eraring generator on the Central Coast, in contrast to his sharply critical federal colleague Angus Taylor, who voiced “bitter disappointment” and blasted Kean as “delusional” in his plan to rely heavily on a 700 MW battery to replace it.
‘We have a plan’
Raising pulses across the sector, however, is the surge in wholesale power prices this year, which has worsened since late March as AGL Energy went ahead with the long-scheduled closure of the first of four units at its Liddell coal station in the Hunter Valley, just as Victorian generation was disrupted by technical problems.
‘We can’t sit and wait’
But it’s coming at the cost of the National Electricity Market, which is struggling with proposed reforms and with the impact of the rapidly changing energy mix on the grid.
Kean says he “believes in” the NEM but acknowledges “it’s certainly very hard” to make it work as the states push forward faster on the transition.
He is more ebullient about the future for green hydrogen, and for other technologies such as green steel that should set up the state and its major industries for the future. NSW’s work in that area is being advised by a Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board, announced in December and chaired by former Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott.
“Great to see some of those on the right such as Shapiro and James Woods suddenly picking up big numbers of new Twitter subscribers.”
As well as the large number of leftists like Obama losing followers.
Seems odd, dunnit? Almost like they are furiously taking down the shadow bans, removing bots etc and destroying the evidence of it so Elon won’t disclose what they did.
Oops – people already noticed.
Seems like the CODE is frozen, but the PARAMETERS files are not. Hopefully Elon took a snap-shot of that too, and hid it away.If so, that might be somewhat embarrassing later on…
Has anyone ever taken their ABC to task over their employment procedures?
They’re always just shape shifting (I mean seat shifting) from one abc role to another? Do they actually advertise? Do they have to? You would think* any public sector organisation would have to follow some pretty stringent hiring practices???
(*think not always being the case for Anyone But Conservatives)
Russia has been preparing for sanctions for years. It also helps if the countries sanctioning you need what you’re selling much more than you need them as buyers. This was all eminently foreseeable and many commentators have been making these very points since things started kicking off again in the Donbass last year, and the US started issuing threats of sanctions if Russia didn’t do what it was told.
Electricity bills on the rise in Queensland, NSW
Power users in Queensland and NSW are staring down the barrel of sharply higher wholesale electricity prices than their neighbours in the south will pay after retail prices are reset mid-year.
The latest quarterly report from the country’s energy market operator shows that a lack of transmission meant the big states that are more dependent on black coal power were unable to take advantage of cheaper power from renewable sources in the south.
This means power users in those states are facing higher electricity bills because black coal prices have soared amid a global energy crunch, a scenario which threatens to add to rising inflation and stoke concern about cost-of-living struggles.
The extent to which the mid-year price increases for retail and small business customers reflect the huge spike in wholesale prices in Queensland and NSW will depend partly on the level of hedging each retailer has in place. Very large power users whose prices more closely follow the wholesale market may already be paying more.
Labor’s Rewiring the Nation policy centres on a $20 billion low-cost loan scheme, which it estimates would unlock $58 billion of private co-financing in assets to help deliver net zero emissions by 2050.
Increasing transmission lines would bring soaring amounts of renewable energy generation onto the country’s National Electricity Market, most likely reducing wholesale prices. But customers would endure the costs of building the infrastructure through taxes and components of their bills.
The way I think of “Net Zero” being a Greens’ invention, and given how much they hate humanity, is that “net zero” means “we want you to stop breathing?” We are carbon based beings and we expel that deadly planet-killing CO2 with every breath!
yup – it ‘aint going to work with musk.
He’s a vertical integrator – just look at what he’s had to do with Tesla and the gigafactories.
Pop it on F-droid, chuck them some money, and he’s done.
To anticipate the weekend, a bit of light relief from BBC Scotland (which is obviously free of the political correctness of ‘our’ ABC) taking aim at the apology industry:
Sorry, link didn’t work
https://fb.watch/cyez5ZHpQQ/
I am indulging in a serious toddler sulk session.
I still have the coof and I am pissed off.
Nothing like being sick in another country staying in someone else’s house.
My incredibly generous and cheerful landlord has returned from the rigs for his six off. He just informed me that my two visits to the local NHS Clinic will bankrupt me. He was actually amazed that they saw me and allowed me to sniff their O2.
He is still promising a couple of days trail ride up to the high lochs. I can’t see that happening but it is a nice thought.
Priority one in the short term is convince Daughter, who is also bugged, that she has not murdered the old man. Well, not yet anyway.
Travel expands the ……….
NSW’s work in that area is being advised by a Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board, announced in December and chaired by former Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott.
THis Kerry Schott? Clearly has a deep understanding of electrical engineering. //sarc
Schott graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with first class Honours from the University of New England, undertook a Masters of Arts at the University of British Columbia, and a doctorate in pure mathematics at Nuffield College, Oxford.[1][3]
Career
Her early career included investment banking for Deutsche Bank and Whitlam Turnbull.[4]
RUS SU-25 at tree-top flight.
Didn’t see this statement coming!!!
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-says-integration-immigrants-has-failed-fueled-gang-crime-2022-04-28/
Albo will be very pleased!!! 😛
https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2022/04/Works-commence-on-safe-haven-for-tugs.aspx
Having a chat with an unnamed health professional in Filth (formerly Perth), he had a good laugh at my ‘bodies lying in the streets today” line.
Also is the ABC secretly taking the piss with its photos?
As a result of COVID-19, more people are experiencing food insecurity — and community services are stepping in to help
“We’ll starve. There will be no food,” Ms Formosa told the ABC.
Then check the picture they have in the story…
FM, I don’t “frequent” their ABC as I do not give them the gratitude of getting a “hit” from my visit but I’m guessing obesity?
Lysandersays:
April 29, 2022 at 1:14 pm
Some large bones, the size seldom seen since the comet hit.
I linked that ABC story on the previous page.
No doubt at all the ABC is being deadly serious.
LOL!!!! FMD they’re idiots.
Chubsters with bingo wings
The latest quarterly report from the country’s energy market operator shows that a lack of transmission meant the big states that are more dependent on black coal power were unable to take advantage of cheaper power from renewable sources in the south.
Inverting: its not just for air conditioners anymore.
The subsidies however flow south at a great rate, while the carbon penalties flow upstream without hinderance.
Two possibilities – someone at the ALPBC actually possesses a sense of humour, or, they’re such tin eared tone deaf z-grade idiots that it never even occurred to them how ridiculous using that photo would appear.
My money’s on the latter.
this guy is a Chinese patsy
https://www.watoday.com.au/politics/federal/solomon-islands-prime-minister-lashes-australia-over-aukus-security-pact-20220429-p5ah7x.html
“Then check the picture they have in the story…”
Yep – western nations, where even the homeless are obese.
A bit of starvation might make it easier to get into shape.
Hey, isn’t “round” a shape? 🙂
As is mine, Squire.
Following on from this article:
Is the end of Western Australia’s mask mandate reason to celebrate or cause for anxiety?
‘k bye. Catchya round. Or maybe not. If I remember, I’ll wave at you if I see you staring out your window as I pass by.
You’re still here? Go lock yourself away from the world, already. Annoying!
FYI, ‘let rip teh Covid’ = return to some semblance of sanity.
Incidentally, two of my closest family relatives died in aged care facilities – both would have been considered disabled – one for the last year of her life, the other was legally blind and thus ‘disabled’ her entire life*. Neither of these people would have accepted this ridiculous woman as their advocate.
You guess right. And please go fuck off and die with your passive-aggressive guilt trip. Literally. Just go somewhere and drown in your irrational fear, and let the rest of us get on with our lives.
*as a sidebar, this relative was a genuinely remarkable individual who spent the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s smashing through all kinds of ‘structural barriers’ before retiring in the mid-1980s as a professor of psychology. She never marched in the streets – despite literally being in UC Berkeley on a scholarship during the sit-ins – or burnt bras for change, because (and I know it’s a cliche) she was the change. Her sheer strength of will was never going to let an insignificant matter like her being a woman get in the way of what she wanted to achieve. She never considered herself disabled, and was surprised and somewhat put out when, in her late 70s, her doctor suggested she get an ACROD pass so that the people driving her about could use disabled parking bays when they took her out. She also despised feminists and leftists. It’s probably a good thing she’s no longer alive to see what her beloved academy has become.
Australia and the UK have a reciprocal health agreement and your Medicare card should give you access to the NHS without charge. My father fell ill at the end of a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam and he and my stepmother were flying to Heathrow to connect to the flight home, he made it to Heathrow before being unable to continue and was treated at the local NHS clinic without charge. The only expenses were the airport hotel and the rebooking fee from the airline, which were covered by travel insurance.
RE: What machine tools actually do-
I thought if you didn’t set fire to the grease in the wheel bearing you were trying to expand the bearing out of, you weren’t trying hard enough?
Plenty of time to lie around watching movies.
Travel to the other side of the world to watch streamed movies, FFS.
Just watched ‘Resistance’ a story about Marcel Maceau’s time in the Jewish underground.
The show has its moments but the acting and directing of Matthias Schweighoffer as Klaus Barbie makes it well worth the time. For someone who likes to sneer at actors I have to admit that his characterisation of the psychopath was outstanding; truly terrifying.
As reported by The College Fix, “Reject White Supremecy” was delivered virtually on Mar. 3 by Iliff School of Theology social ethics and Latinx studies professor Miguel De La Torre. It was sponsored by Carlow’s Atkins Center for Ethics.
In the speech, De La Torre criticized evangelicals who voted for President Donald Trump.
“When eight out of ten white evangelicals voted for a person who is completely against everything Christianity stands for, I don’t know what Christianity they are practicing,” he said.
Additionally, he argued that the word white doesn’t always reference skin color, but rather is an “ontological concept.”
“Those of us who are colored, some of us can also be white,” he said. “But the good news is there is salvation.”
De La Torre noted that he is not a theologian, and is more concerned about focusing on “dealing with what’s going on than trying to figure out theology.”
Carlow University is a private Catholic institution in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and was founded by the Sisters of Mercy.
But hey, you should vote for him because hes not Labour.
Liberal party MP Trent Zimmerman says he and fellow moderate MPs “prevailed” over the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, in securing a net zero climate target, saying the Nationals leader was opposed to the policy.
Zimmerman, a key Liberal party moderate facing a serious challenge to hang on to the North Sydney electorate from the independent Kylea Tink, told a Sky News debate on Thursday that he would push for “stronger” emissions targets if the Coalition was re-elected.
“Soon we will be putting forward our targets for 2035 and I’m going to be pushing for them to be even stronger still, as I’m sure they will be,” he said.
…..
During the debate Zimmerman said he did not support controversial comments about trans people made by Liberal party candidate Katherine Deves, but stopped short of publicly calling for her to be disendorsed.
“I’ve made it very clear I don’t support Katherine Deves’ comments at all,” he said.
“Anyone who knows me and my record in parliament knows I’m someone who for six years stood up for LGBTI community. That has been important to me and who I am and so I find comments [that are] transphobic and homophobic particularly difficult.
Just Another Race- and now Christian-baiting activist with a credential.
Part of a longer article from the “Oz.”
How much of this will end up a “commissions” ?
Biden asks Congress for $33 billion to support Ukraine through September
President Joe Biden has formally asked Congress for $33 billion to fund both humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine through September of this year.
“It’s not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly,” Biden said Thursday.
Biden also sent Congress a proposal to change current laws to make it a crime to possess proceeds directly obtained from corrupt dealings with the Russian government. This change is key to giving U.S. officials the legal basis to sell the seized assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
will be telling their stories in front of a Court that has a fleet of helicopters to hand for sentencing.
While loading them up we’ll give silent thanks to Saint Augusto.
“White”, if we’re referring to colour, isn’t a single colour at all. It’s a mixture of all of them.
Which means it’s the most diverse and inclusive of all.
I’ve just got an email from Austarlia Post telling me I have a delivery but need to pay 7,5 AUD to release it from the warehouse. Seriously, do people really fall for that?
Two possibilities – someone at the ALPBC actually possesses a sense of humour, or, they’re such tin eared tone deaf z-grade idiots that it never even occurred to them how ridiculous using that photo would appear.
My money’s on the latter.
I’m old enough to remember close to 20 years ago when David Marr made at least two dozen appearances on the ABC in the space of about two months, and in every single one of those appearances he claimed John Howard was “silencing” him.
On every single one the ABC host was fawning and sympathising and expressing outrage over the silencing.
As best I recall only Tim Blair and Andrew Bolt pointed out the problem with the way Marr was going about demonstrating that he’d been silenced.
Bigots and urgers always have very set ideas on what Christians are supposed to believe.
Shame they don’t believe any of it themselves.
I kind of hope the Teals knock out all of the Liberal ‘moderates’. However, you know for a fact that Liberal strategists will learn all of the wrong lessons from this. Those ‘moderates’ weren’t moderate enough! We must be even more moderate! Here’s an incredible idea that has never been tried before (except by every losing conservative political party ever); how about we try and outflank the left from the left? It will surely work this time.
Sitting under a verandah at Curtin Springs.
The place is swarming with finches. They gather on the twigs and branches for all the world like a strange, calloused growth. With a “peep peep” repeated a thousand times they descend to the ground to select a few seeds or a drop of water, only to rise again in a flurrying cloud. Rinse and repeat.
AFTER THE PANDEMIC, IS FAMINE NEXT?
Daniel Andrews was asked today about all the Victorian teachers who suddenly found themselves out of work because they haven’t taken their third dose of poison. This is how he reacted:
“I’m just about sick and tired of this constant negativity when it comes to schools….”
Nobody normal responds like that. Only psychopaths do that. The kind of psychopath who would introduce an innocuous sounding bill to parliament which is designed to destroy any crops people try to grow in their backyard during a period of food shortages. This was seen on the internet:
Andrews government will be coming after agriculture next. The Agriculture Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 has had it’s second reading in parliament. Biosecurity being the stated reason for changes. Increased enforcement powers, searching of property and persons without warrant, Increased fines, what was $1800 now $10.000 for providing false or misleading info. Landholder consent no longer required for Authorised Officers to take samples, stock (animals), documents. Authorised Officers no longer required to present identification. Heavy penalties for obstructing entry to the property. Sounds like they are getting their ducks lined up, ready to be deployed to shut down farms.
Sounds crazy right? It’s true, it’s all true. Here are just a few examples from The Agriculture Legislation Amendment Bill 2022,
Explanatory Memorandum:
– Authorised Officers no longer required to present identification:
– Heavy penalties for obstructing entry to the property:
– Increased fines, what was $1800 now $10.000 for providing false or misleading info:
Most concerning, they are putting in place laws which would allow them to charge you the money it cost them to destroy your own food supply:
You can also view the entire bill here.
This bill from Andrews however is extremely suspicious. It should be viewed in the context of the express intention of some of the world’s most powerful billionaires and international institutions to convert the world’s meat and dairy industry to derive its protein from plants, synthetic material and bugs.
Well he got that right, at least.
Terrible blow.
That means everyone browsing the app stores looking for a microblogging and networking app will never get to hear about Twitter.
Musk undone.
callisays:
April 29, 2022 at 2:00 pm
“White”, if we’re referring to colour, isn’t a single colour at all. It’s a mixture of all of them.
Which means it’s the most diverse and inclusive of all.
52 Types of White Color – Simplicable
What Are The 7 Colors of The Rainbow in Order?
The white light that emits from the sun can be broken down into the 7 colors of the rainbow in order:
Violet
Indigo
Blue
Green
Yellow
Orange
Red
mole at 1:13
Mmmyes.
None of them looked like Bobby Sands.
In an election season interview with The Australian, the Greens foreign policy spokesman said that China did not pose a threat to Australia, said concern about the Solomons-China agreement was “paternalistic and actually racist”, and said the future of Taiwan was not a direct concern for Australia.
link: Picture of “i cant believe I fell into a position for life ” John in the days his flippers worked.
link: Not a racist.
Link: Yup, not a concern….
Kneel:
Nah. They be Preppers – They still not starving after month of no tucker, bloke.
Unless we eat ’em first.
“Old traditions are good traditions.”
rugbyskier at 1:47 -Yep. Did 6 weeks as a guest of the NHS in Manchester circa 1990 with Guillain Barre syndrome and walked out without seeing a single invoice for payment.
Why RBA may wait until June
The more time the RBA gives households to adjust to higher rates, the more time wages growth has to offset the impact of the reduced purchasing power.
The smartest Reserve Bank of Australia watchers I know think the bank will either raise rates by 15 basis points in May or go 40 basis points in June. Both are torn on the probabilities, with the historically more accurate of the two leaning slightly towards June. Rates will rise, it is now just a timing question.
Ahead of its June meeting, the RBA will receive two significant data releases on wages and labour costs, which will furnish important new insights on the sustainability of the current inflation pulse.
The RBA will receive the first-quarter wage price index in mid-May and then the GDP measures of wages and labour unit costs immediately before its June meeting. With this in mind, Lowe explicitly referenced the need to wait multiple “months” for the arrival of this data in his statement after the April meeting: “Over coming months, important additional evidence will be available to the board on both inflation and the evolution of labour costs,” Lowe advised. “The board will assess this and other incoming information as its sets policy to support full employment in Australia and inflation outcomes consistent with the target.”
The RBA has received one tranche of data (the inflation results) but nothing yet on wages or labour costs. And while the core inflation data was strong, it was not necessarily black and white.
The RBA’s preferred measure, the trimmed mean, printed at 1.4 per cent in the March quarter, besting consensus expectations of a 1.2 per cent outcome. Yet another significant metric, the weighted median, was weaker at only 1 per cent, underperforming consensus.
Recent inflation prints have clearly been boosted by supply-side factors, government policy changes and, more generally, increases in the cost of imported items. As Goldman Sachs noted, domestic market services inflation, which correlates more with wages, was relatively benign, rising only 0.5 per cent in the quarter and 2.5 per cent over the past 12 months.
Already on the up
A final piece of this puzzle is that actual real-world interest rates have already begun climbing sharply. Three-year fixed-rate borrowing costs have increased enormously from less than 2 per cent only 12 months ago to 4.5 per cent.
House price falls will accelerate as the RBA raises rates. And banks will continue to pass on their own independent hikes – as they have done with fixed-rate loans recently and will not hesitate to do with their variable rate products as profits are pressed.
Housing market
To be clear, the RBA has no desire to aggressively jack up rates only to push the economy into recession. For the first time in a decade, it has sighted decent inflation and wage growth, and its entire mission is focused on ensuring that prices and incomes expand sustainably.
The RBA also knows that with the household debt-to-income ratio at record highs, Australians have never been more sensitive to rate changes. It has historically got housing market reactions to its policy changes horribly wrong (being consistently surprised on the upside and downside).
There is little chance of the RBA raising rates aggressively if house prices are falling sharply. The RBA will further account for the banks’ independent rate hikes when setting its cash rate: the more the banks do, the less the RBA will do.
Having rewatched Zulu (1964) Full Movie – English last night
Fascinating to read
Rorke’s Drift – Private Hitch’s Story
by Richard Rhys Jones
Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded for the defence of Rorke’s Drift in the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, the most VCs for any action in the history of the British Army. Private Frederick Hitch was one of the 11 defenders rewarded for his bravery. Richard Rhys Jones’ account of the engagement is told in the form of a memoir by Private Hitch…
Old Ozzie:
Remember the Emergency Powers legislation? Supposed to enable a government to continue during an emergency? Then it turned out the emergency could be defined as Nuclear Armageddon, or even a flu season. And the bastards went to town on it.
Now have a look at the new Victorian Biosecurity Laws which are about to be passed:
Sounds like they are getting their ducks lined up, ready to be deployed to shut down farms.”
Looks to me like an inspector will be able to walk onto your property with a copper in tow, start shooting your cattle and burning your crops, while setting fire to your machinery and hay sheds. And the copper will arrest you if you complain.
You watch – there will be an outbreak of Hoof & Mouth Disease in Victoria within 12 months to justify the destruction of your farm, and it will be backed up by ‘evidence’ supplied by a government body.
Solved, the riddle of the Rorke’s Drift medal: Researchers confirm Victoria Cross bought by Sir Stanley Baker after he played its recipient in film Zulu IS genuine – after it was dismissed as fake
Sir Stanley Baker wore Lieutenant Chard’s medals while filming the movie Zulu
He bought the medals at auction for £2,700 only to be told they were ‘cast copy’
New research confirms the 1990s evaluation that the medal was the real deal
Rorke’s Drift – VC Winners
“duncanmsays:
April 29, 2022 at 1:02 pm
Cassie of Sydneysays:
April 28, 2022 at 9:51 pm
“I am told this morning that Apple and Google will remove Twitter from the App Store if it does not moderate and remove hate speech under @ElonMusk.”
This reeks of desperation. They did this with Parler. But Musk is a different kettle of fish and I don’t think he’ll take any of these threats from progressive scum lying down.
yup – it ‘aint going to work with musk.
He’s a vertical integrator – just look at what he’s had to do with Tesla and the gigafactories.
Pop it on F-droid, chuck them some money, and he’s done.”
I suspect the activists know that they’ve been and are being outwitted, hence the threats to shut Twitter down. I find such a thought highly amusing because of the left’s dependence on Twitter. What will they do in the interim? Will they move to Gab or Gettr or heaven forbid…Trump’s new site “Truth”, all sites that they’ve smeared as “far-right” etc.. Oh I’m laughing. They love to talk about “inclusiveness” but they never practice it and they’re now well and truly exposed for being the totalitarian thugs that they are.
Given Twitter’s market share and Musk’s profile, I doubt that Apple and Google will do what they did with Parler. I might be wrong but I have a feeling that the tide is turning and it took a tidal wave by Musk to do it.
If PM Soggybottom heard about AUKUS he would’ve been straight on the phone to Beijing!!
The DVD on pre order 2000 Mules.
$25 for the DVD $65 for delivery from the US!
Piss off – I don’t pay gouge money any more.
very funny tweet of a pic of a poster stuck to fence…
VOTE RICK ASTLEY
HE WILL NEVER
-give you up,
-let you down,
-run around,
-desert you,
-make you cry,
-say goodbye,
-tell a lie, or,
-hurt you
😛 😛 😛
Authorised Officers no longer required to present identification.
No possibility of this being misused.
None at all.
Visiting Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift was one of those experiences – the niece of the King of Zululand worked in the gift shop at Rorke’s Drift.
Winston Smithsays:
April 29, 2022 at 3:08 pm
The DVD on pre order 2000 Mules.
$25 for the DVD $65 for delivery from the US!
Piss off – I don’t pay gouge money any more.
Amazon has 2,000 Mules Hardcover – October 4, 2022 by Dinesh D’Souza (Author)
AUD 39.06
List Price: AUD 43.40
Save: AUD 4.34 (10%)
No Import Fees Deposit & AUD 17.13 Shipping to Australia Details
Sales taxes may apply at checkout
AUD 17.13 delivery
Pre-order Price Guarantee. Details
At last, bestselling author Dinesh D’Souza exposes the powerful evidence of voting fraud that you were told didn’t exist. Also, a major motion picture documentary.
I would assume they will have DVD when it becomes available
Elon on the political spectrum.
The Musk Meister wants to buy Coca Cola to put the cocaine back in it.
Damn.
It’s not for realz!
Cancel Culture’s anti-white crusade risks canceling Western civilization altogether
Rather than belabor America’s turbulent history, while vilifying just one race, the United States needs to find a way to turn the corner on this cancel culture madness that exists as a malignant cancer on the body politic.
Liberal indoctrination in the United States has gotten so out of control that math textbooks, based on the work of some dead white men, among others, are no longer safe from the virtue-signaling Inquisition. Let’s be clear: no society can survive such insanity for long.
As difficult as it is to fathom, in the span of a single generation the patron saints of Western civilization – towering historic figures like Shakespeare, Washington, Voltaire and Copernicus – have been systematically dispatched to the local garbage dump primarily due to their hideous whiteness.
Indeed, the pale-faced tribe of ‘Caucasians’, to employ a more outdated racial categorization, has become so offensive to liberal sensitivities that with each passing year the mainstream media reports, with thinly disguised delight, the latest precipitous decline among the White population.
The replies to Musk’s tweet are hilarious.
A window into leftie obsessions.
fascism on steroids
fascism with chinese characteristics is the best governance system ever devised
upward of 80%
They will if the don’t want to get smacked in the chops.
Chronic shortages of a few items now will evolve into chronic shortages of hundreds of products later in 2022
The next time you go to the pet store don’t be surprised to see some empty shelves.
Many pet stores are facing a shortage on canned pet food.
Right now, there just aren’t enough cheap sources of chicken and turkey due to the bird flu pandemic, there is an ongoing shortage of aluminum, and there is a shortage of factory workers.
So the canned pet food shortage is not likely to be fixed any time soon.
Another shortage that is going to affect much of the country as we head into the summer months is the growing chlorine shortage.
I find it ironic that the nationwide chlorine shortage could be extended thanks to the nationwide construction material shortage.
But at least we can be glad that things are not as bad here as they are in Europe.
Over there, widespread rationing of certain products has already begun. For example, it was just announced that Tesco is now limiting each customer to three bottles of cooking oil…
When U.S. Senator Roger Marshall was recently asked about this, he openly admitted that a “worldwide famine” is definitely going to happen…
Prior to 2022, can you ever remember a time when a sitting member of the U.S. Senate publicly warned us that a “worldwide famine” was coming?
Meanwhile in Australia
Construction chaos as tradies go broke dealing with the soaring cost of building materials – amid warning that Australia could run out of timber in EIGHT weeks
I certainly don’t trust the Victorian government not to abuse it.
Terrible so so terrible too that there soon would be a Twitter Ads server and a Twitter App Store.
Interesting
Twitter was just telling me Americans have more pet dogs than they do children.
current bird flu outbreak in the US 33 million culled. 2014 outbreak 50 million culled.
Lady was walking her dog, pitbull comes out attacks the dog and her. She reports it the cops who will not do anything because they are lazy shits and the attack dog owners denied it. The cops had the temerity to ask the lady if she videoed it on her phone. I know the dog is going to get baited and the owners car is being targeted.
Zipster:
ZK2A:
TheFrollickingMoll:
Eyrie:
I was sorta joking but not really, when I wrote this this morning. But looking back on the history of what happened in Chile, this was the sort of rot that had settled into the nation and had required drastic sorting out.
The problem is – like the two year old sticking knives into power sockets – they won’t be told there are consequences to their stupidity.
It’s a bit late to reconsider when you’re 8,000 meters above the South Pacific with no visible means of support.
Sorry if this article from the Oz has already been posted and discussed.
Be interesting if Elon sets up a Twitter internet search engine. At the moment big infrastructure companies like Cloudflare refuse web spiders from anyone other than Bing and Goolag. But Twitter backed by the might of SpaceX/Starlink could force open that duopoly.
At the moment both Bing and Goolag censor sites they don’t like and Brave Search which piggybacks on Bing doesn’t show those results. Not much they can do about it while the big boys are in charge.
‘An oasis in the desert’: Why the NDIS is a mess
It’s touted as a world-leading reform but exploding costs and limited evidence it is achieving key employment and early intervention goals, raises questions about the sustainability of the NDIS.
Tom Burton
Government editor
The one thing that advocates and critics of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) have in common is they agree it is a mess. A mess awaiting whichever major party wins government on May 21.
It was probably always going to be a difficult transition to establish a national support program for the half a million people in Australia with significant disabilities.
Before the scheme won historic bi-partisan support in 2013, disabled people and their carers faced a system the Productivity Commission had described in 2011 as “underfunded, unfair, fragmented, and inefficient”.
The system was heavily reliant on informal care by families. Multiple programs were spread across federal, state and local governments and community groups, which the Commission said gave people with a disability “little choice and no certainty of access to appropriate supports”.
Noting that most families and individuals could not adequately prepare for the risk and financial impact of significant disability, all major political parties accepted the Commission’s core recommendation that the costs of lifetime care are so substantial that the risks and costs needed to be pooled into a national insurance scheme.
Intense lobbying from the politically powerful disability sector saw bipartisan support emerge for a universal scheme of uncapped, individually designed support plans, based on what is considered “reasonable and necessary” needs.
Despite the scheme being open-ended and demand driven, both major parties endorsed the Productivity Commission’s “bottom line finding” that the “benefits of the NDIS would significantly exceed the additional costs of the scheme”.
The Commission said these benefits arose from many sources: “wellbeing gains to people with disabilities and informal carers; efficiency gains in the disability sector; savings to other government services; increased participation, and the resulting fiscal gains.”
“The NDIS would only have to produce an annual gain of $3800 per participant to meet a cost-benefit test,“the Commission predicted in its landmark 2011 report.
“Given the scope of the benefits, that test would be passed easily.”
The National Disability Insurance Scheme was born, co-funded by federal and state governments with an estimated gross cost of $22 billion a year, covering 481,000 people once fully operational and adjusted for population growth. The size of the scheme was based on a 2009 Australian Bureau of Statistics analysis of the number of people with significant disabilities.
The Commission concluded the net cost when fully matured in 2050 would be a modest $4.4 billion.
Over 10pc of all federal payments
Things have not turned out as predicted.
There are now over 500,000 in the scheme, but with the latest NDIS actuarial forecast for the scheme predicting there will be around 860,000 participants by 2030. The scheme currently is costing $31 billion but with the NDIS now predicting the scheme to rise to an eye-watering $59.3 billion per annum by the end of the decade.
Coupled with disability pension, financial support for carers and payments to the states, federal assistance to people with disabilities is predicted to be $68 billion this coming budget year, more than 10 per cent of all federal payments.
The oasis in the desert
“What was envisaged was that the last person to get into the NDIS would only get a little bit more than the first person that misses out. This would have been equitable and also provided a stable foundation for the NDIS.”
“Who wouldn’t fight to get in? Which parent with a child who is experiencing developmental delay or has some autistic tendencies, who wouldn’t try and get their kid in?
“What you see … is that if you get in, the chances are you’ll get something like $15,000, but if you miss out, you get nothing.
“One is in the oasis and the other, desert.”
‘A big bus full of money’
Disability lottery
Of the half a million participants, Bonyhady said nearly 290,000 are receiving benefits for the first time.
“So that tells you a lot about how underfunded and how much of a lottery, the pre-NDIS system was. So, the need for the scheme is indisputable.”
Early intervention not working
A key premise of the NDIS is that early intervention and investment would lead to a reduction in a participants future disability need for support.
But Taylor Fry found there is no data to show this is occurring.
Work participation stalled
But for older people in the scheme, participation has gone backwards with the percentage in work for participants aged 25 and over having decreased for most durations in the program by 1 to 3 percentage points.
Anger as NDIS begins to cut
The strident push back from the voluble sector saw the government drop the idea, leaving relations between the sector and the National Disability Insurance Agency (the operators of the scheme) at a low.
Quasi-market failure
“One of the things that’s really missing from the NDIS currently is that lack of transparent, clear quality indicators that people can use to determine who’s good and who’s not.”
Children a key driver of costs
It is the surging costs of support for children that is the key driver of the costs of the insurance scheme up.
Two thirds of the new costs from the predicted 60,000 new annual entrants are coming from children with autism or developmental delays, according to the annual sustainability report produced by the scheme actuary.
Maybe the AEC can explain what they’ve done to stop those 18,000 people voting multiple times in this election. Can I call them the 18,000 Mules or would that infringe copyright?
Thinking about trolling?
I wonder if Ron DeSantis would revoke the copyright terms for the Disney/Warner characters in Florida?
Or is it a nationwide issue?
I thought a culture was something that belonged to a culture not a corporation?
No one owns Bach or Beethoven, so how about a reasonable time limit for these creations?
Doesn’t sound much.
But if that naughty 0.03% votes, say, 8-10 times – suddenly you’re talking about the margin of the seat of Macquarie.
But, hey, whatevs.
Near enough is good enough for government work.
They really can’t help themselves. Sour Ferguson the new host of what is an unwatchable program.
Two thirds of the new costs from the predicted 60,000 new annual entrants are coming from children with autism or developmental delays, according to the annual sustainability report produced by the scheme actuary.
Why is autism ( other than extremely severe cases) & whatever “developmental delays” embraces covered by NDIS? .. my understanding of the original scheme was financial/home assistance for folk with permanent, incapacitating disabilities requiring lotza paid care/specialized equipment ect! .. not kids who for whatever reason aren’t keeping up with their peers …
Getting like the rorters just applying is close to getting aboard .. I do a fair bit of swimming at the local pool(s) and the Council (which charges OAPs) lets rorters in free 7 days a week .. quite amazing to see folk who, apparently, are incapable of any kind of work having no problems swimming 50 metre lengths .. reality is if you can swim 50 mts unaided you shouldn’t be qualified for the rorters … FFS!
Sour Ferguson was the scumbag who ran two segments on Trump’s Wussian collusion and since then no apology.
At last! Finally, the first indigenous female wins a national award for Poetry.
https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/f048f91a735979030ebb7c7fd6462dcb
Sounds like Pauline is right over the target.
Very interesting tactical question:
What the Hell is Going On in Russia? (Vodkapundit, 28 Apr)
The chemical plant is particularly interesting since I read elsewhere that it produced a range of specialty solvents and additives that are used in military applications for which there’s no other Russian supplier. Which suggests it might be a particularly high value target. But if it’s the Ukrainians doing this stuff…how are they doing it? Somehow they’ve developed a capability to hit targets like this quite deep in Russia. Sabotage SAS style? Long range drones? I have no idea.
In Belarus there was a widely reported campaign of sabotaging the railway signals system to slow and disrupt the transport of Russian Army units, but that seemed to be a Belarus opposition effort. The sabotage in Russia is much more that taking a sledgehammer to a box of railway signals electronics.
Poland Pushing the World toward World War III
QUESTION: I don’t get it, Poland won’t pay for gas in rubles, when I buy something from the US I have to pay in US dollars not Canadian, so what am I missing?
ANSWER:
Politics! Minister of Climate and Environment, Anna Moskwa clearly has zero comprehension of geopolitics. She has come out and said that the European Union should penalize countries that use roubles to pay for Russian gas. In response to Moscow’s decision to cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria over their refusal to do so. Moskwa has come out and said: “Poland holds necessary gas reserves and sources of supply which protect our security because for years we have been becoming effectively independent of Russia. Our storage facilities are full at 76%. Polish households will not run short of gas.” This is what she said during a press conference held on April 26th, 2022 at the Ministry of Climate and Environment.
The absurdity of her statements is beyond belief. To think that refusing to buy Russian energy will bring Putin to his knees pleading for mercy is just absurd.
She makes no criticism of Ukraine and its notorious corruption of the fact that it is being reported that Zelensky has stashed over $800 million in offshore accounts while demanding $7 billion per month in aid. Even the IMF cut off Ukraine because it is so corrupt. You cannot do business in Ukraine – period! There is NOTHING that Zelensky says which can be verified independently and he will say whatever to keep the money pouring in.
Why do I get the feeling the authorities are trying to start a panic?
Are they really that concerned about upcoming elections?
Why yes. Yes, they are!
But here’s the amazing part – all the shortages have happened due to government action.
Show me a shortage, and I will show you government intervention that has created it.
hang on a sec, “social media investigate”, er who made social media arbiters of truth?
Because the video took the piss out of that pair of imbeciles, Wendy Pong and Albanselazey – and yes, there won’t be any of that, when you’re an incompetent humourless bureaucratic busybody.
From the Hun.
Jordan Peterson Q&A At The University Of Cambridge (Lady Mitchell Hall)
I have never been more disturbed by Penny Wongs package….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iN5-RgDlyc