Open Thread – Tuesday 26 April 2022


The Incredulity of Thomas, Caravaggio, 1601-02

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Cassie of Sydney
April 29, 2022 5:06 pm

“Zulu Kilo Two Alphasays:
April 29, 2022 at 5:01 pm”

Unbelievable. This will end up in the High Court.

Cassie of Sydney
April 29, 2022 5:07 pm

“ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum dismissed an application for a permanent or temporary stay made by lawyers for Bruce Lehrmann.

Ms McCallum also dismissed an application for a take-down order made by the defence, which would have forced media organisations to remove previous articles written about the case”

So this man is denied due process?

Zipster
Zipster
April 29, 2022 5:12 pm
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 29, 2022 5:13 pm

So this man is denied due process?

Any of the bush lawyers here know whether there will be a jury, or “judge only?”

Cassie of Sydney
April 29, 2022 5:18 pm

“Any of the bush lawyers here know whether there will be a jury, or “judge only?””

It’s jury. He’s totally stuffed. It’s another Pell.

Zipster
Zipster
April 29, 2022 5:19 pm

ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum

this lucy

New ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum wants to open conversation on ‘building communities, not prisons’

if only we had communities all our troubles would fly away

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 29, 2022 5:20 pm

Why is autism ( other than extremely severe cases) & whatever “developmental delays” embraces covered by NDIS?

Shatterzzz – We already used to pay for them historically when we had mental hospitals. We no longer have mental hospitals, but we still have mentally ill people. Autism is a mental illness. I saw this article recently:

Many women with autism and ADHD aren’t diagnosed until adulthood. What to do if you think you’re one of them (22 Apr)

I know of a lady like this: she was affected in late teenage years, like a switch had been turned on in her brain (or off). Now on NDIS as she really can’t function well, not able to hold down a job. Lizzie’s son is similar, although male autism has different traits compared with female autism.

Temple Grandin is a famous autistic lady with an extraordinary talent. Not exactly sane though, and life for her would be very difficult.

Zipster
Zipster
April 29, 2022 5:21 pm

But here’s the amazing part – all the shortages have happened due to government action.

grotesque clowns engaged in a pantomime with live weapons

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 29, 2022 5:29 pm

I have never been more disturbed by Penny Wongs package

Well she is the one who wears the pants in her marriage.

Roger
Roger
April 29, 2022 5:29 pm

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?

Um…the contract would have specified the currency payments were to be made in, which wasn’t rubles.

Roger
Roger
April 29, 2022 5:35 pm

New ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum wants to open conversation on ‘building communities, not prisons’

I’m sure that’s a discussion Mr. Lerhmann’s barrister will want to engage in should his client be found guilty.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
April 29, 2022 5:36 pm

AEC data reveals the rate of voting multiple times during the 2019 federal election was estimated to be at 0.03 per cent.

Key word “estimated”. They don’t know.

And even if 0.03% is anywhere near right, that’s about 4,500 bogus votes nationwide – enough to swing at least four seats if it’s done strategically in the most marginal seats.

Is it anywhere near right? Doesn’t look like it.
Bruce of Newcastlesays:
April 29, 2022 at 4:22 pm

Makka
Makka
April 29, 2022 5:39 pm

How much of Biden’s $43 Billion will end up in the hands of the Ukraine Mafia, Zhelensky and maaaates and the myriad CIA affiliated operatives running around Ukraine and Eastern Europe?

THIS is the real purpose of supporting Ukraine – to get that Treasury spigot open, wide.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 5:57 pm

The right immigrants are great. I received this through WhatsApp

WHAT AMERICA GAINED AND SOUTH AFRICA LOST

After a quarter century, this small generation of South African immigrants has risen to break through, en masse, into such key leadership roles that they’re changing the US. UTUBE…, PAYPAL, , TESLA… one of them has led the transition from PCs to cloud computing; another leads the US’s top business school; and another is replacing the space shuttle.

But they’ve done it as individuals, and – with the notable exception of commercial spaceflight pioneer Elon Musk – almost invisibly.

In December, the Silicon Valley Business Journal made a remarkable statement regarding four of their first five winners of the US’s high-tech chief executive officer awards, which feature competition from the likes of Google’s Larry Page.

It said: “Here’s something interesting about our executive of the year awards, something that hadn’t occurred to us at the time that these four executives were selected – they are all originally from South Africa.”

In Silicon Valley alone, South African-born high-tech chief executives include Vinny Lingham, founder of Yola and Gyft; Willem van Biljon, co-founder of Nimbula; and Pieter de Villiers, founder and chief executive of Clickatell, the world’s largest online text messaging service.
And these weren’t even among the award winners.

Those include Gauteng brothers Lyndon and Peter Rive, who have built the US’s largest provider of residential clean energy, and Paul Maritz, the outgoing chief executive of cloud computing giant VMware, who was schooled in KwaZulu-Natal.

Impact South African immigrants in the US number only 83 000 – a “small number even for a big city”, says Professor Nancy Foner, an expert on immigration achievement at the City University of New York.
So small, she says, that there are almost no figures or studies on their impact.
Yet new South African networking organisations, such as the Sable Accelerator in California, are springing up as South Africans are suddenly appearing in front of microphones as chief executives and university deans and scientific research team leaders.

Apart from well-established South African communities in places such as San Diego, or the tight group of professional golfers in Florida, South Africans don’t network the way they do in the United Kingdom.

Instead, mutual recognition often happens like this:
“Hey, that guy running the University of Notre Dame seems to have a Saffer accent.
Come to think of it, so does the dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business. Ja, and what about the guy who was in charge of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority? And with a name like Mahlangu-Ngcobo, that elections judge in Maryland has gotta be from home.”

Pat Soon-Shiong, philanthropist inventor businessman, Cape Town-born of Chinese descent, the son of a shopkeeper, Pat was University of Witwatersrand educated and is also the owner of The L.A. and part-owner of LA LAKERS

Some are fairly well known. Pik Botha’s grandson, Roelof, has been ranked as high as 22nd on the Forbes Midas List of venture capitalists, ­having funded the launch of…… YouTube in 2005.

Among the celebrity conscription-dodgers, singer Dave Matthews probably heads the pack. Matthews was recently declared the US’s most successful touring act of the decade. Remarkable anonymity
But most have risen to the cutting edge of American business with remarkable anonymity.

Former Illovo schoolboy Steven Collis, almost unnoticed, has taken the reins of healthcare wholesaling company AmerisourceBergen, listed 29th on the Fortune 500, with 13000 employees, and annual revenues of an almost ridiculous R600-billion. It’s the same story in science.

The single greatest breakthrough in cancer treatment in recent years – epigenetic therapy – has been credited to Stellenbosch’s Peter Jones, who now runs a major research center in California.

And another South African, Dr Liam Pedersen, has grabbed what could be the most exotic job in the US.

He leads a Nasa research team to develop the brains of “intelligent” space robots that will explore the solar system in search of extraterrestrial life.
And to test his “autonomous navigation” systems, Pedersen (42) gets to test the robots in places like Antarctica and alpine lakes in the Andes.

In terms of sheer impact for Africa among transplants, it’s a draw between ex-pats Dr Trevor Mundel and Nomvimbi Meriwether.

A former Soweto businesswoman, Meriwether – now the owner of Meticulous Tours travel agency in Washington DC – is the co-founder of multimillion-dollar health and basic education charity in Southern Africa, the Meriwether Foundation.
Astonishing over-achievement She told the Mail & Guardian that her fundraising clout in the US enjoyed a major boost in December when her daughter – South African-born Nana Meriwether (27) – won the Miss USA crown.
”We are meeting governors, presidents, billionaires, so the plight of [South Africa’s] most vulnerable ­children is being heard where it counts,” she said.

Mundel, from Johannesburg, has been appointed as president of global health for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with a grant budget of about R130-billion, and a brief of nothing less than to eradicate polio and malaria from the Earth.

But it’s when you consider a professional field as specific as immigration law that the astonishing over-achievement of this group becomes clear.

Bernie Wolfsdorf – another conscription dodger – has been named “the most highly rated immigration lawyer in the world” for the past three years by the peer-reviewed International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, and South Africa’s Daryl Buffenstein is a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

In the same field, Chris Wright, a transplant from Johannesburg, is described as “Hollywood’s go-to lawyer” – somehow securing “genius” work visas for everyone from Piers Morgan to Playboy playmate Shera Bechard.

The “O-1? work visa is normally reserved for foreigners of “extraordinary ability”, including Nobel prize, winners, but Wright has controversially expanded its use to include celebrities. South African lawyers have not yet broken through, as a group, as judges in the US’s highest courts, the way they have in, say, Western Australia.

But Margaret Marshall (68), a former student leader at Wits, recently retired as chief justice of Massachusetts, where, in a landmark case in 2003, she was the first justice in the US to grant gay couples the right to marry.

Compared to the US’s business world, expatriates have under­achieved in Hollywood itself, but its modest breakthrough artists include Charlize Theron, District 9?s Sharlto Copley and Stelio Savante, who both co-produced and cracked a role opposite Matthew Perry in the comedy The Whole Banana last year.

Building and innovating The poster-child for the 1980s immigration generation is Musk, the founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX – the rocket company charged with leading the replacement of the space shuttle. In an earlier interview, he told me he left the country in 1988 because the South African Defence Force promised to be “an amazing waste of time”.

John Affleck-Graves, executive vice-president of Notre Dame, Collis and Wright were among those who told me they credit their education for much of their success, but offered few other clues as to why South Africans had risen so sharply.

Professor Foner says white South Africans, in particular, had “invisibly” risen to the top.”South Africans [in the US] have gone unnoticed, especially the majority who are white, for whom there were few cultural barriers, if any,” she said. “But I have noticed that South Africans move right into elite circles in the US, immediately, and look where they’ve gone.”

Donovan Neale-May, founder of the Sable Accelerator, says the 1980s South African immigrant generation was unique in that they did not take advantage of contacts and mobility through “ethnic communities” in the US, “as, say, Indian entrepreneurs have done so effectively”.

Instead, Neale-May says the conscription-avoidance generation had simply outcompeted American professionals with a multitasking combination of management talent, drive and pioneering vision.

Overwhelmingly white phenomenon South African emigration to the US has been an overwhelmingly white phenomenon.

According to the Migration Policy Institute in Washington DC, only 14% of South African immigrants – about 11 000 – are black. And they’ve had to travel a far more difficult road, says Foner.

Yet a number of black South Africans have made New World leaps that are, if anything, closer to the purest form of the “American Dream” than their rich white countrymen. Among the exiles who remained in the US, Mahlangu-Ngcobo is one who has emerged as a national force in both government health policy and theology.

She has testified on healthcare for the government’s Congressional Black Caucus and, during the violent tumult in Liberia in 1997, she led a workshop there on violence against women.

The author of nine books – including research works on Aids and gender equality – Mahlangu-Ngcobo lectures on public health, and has founded both a US church and an international ministry.
Gift Ngoepe, the first black South African to be offered a professional baseball contract, is one of a more recent immigrant generation to the New World.

The unlikely sporting story He discovered baseball when his mother took a job as a domestic worker at the Randburg Mets clubhouse.

A tiny room inside it later became his home, and he simply practiced against a wall until he was noticed by coaches and, later, a US mentor. Now, he plays professionally as a shortstop within the Pittsburg Pirates organization. Richman Mahlangu (49) has a similarly unlikely sporting story, but, in pursuing it, has carved out a classic, John Steinbeck-style American tale.

He fled apartheid itself at the same time that Musk and others were ­fleeing conscription. Mahlangu’s “hook” into the US was a sports scholarship after he literally discovered the sport of tennis when he found a broken tennis racket on a dusty street in Durban’s Lamontville township in the 1970s.
He says that, as with Ngoepe, a local professional coach was so taken by his diligent practice with that racket that he offered free lessons, and, eventually, an introduction to a US mentor. Living in Las Vegas, Mahlangu has since achieved neither riches nor professional-level excellence in his sport.

Instead, he has coached his two sons to the point where, last year, they were both recruited for scholarships by Ivy League universities.

His youngest son, Yannik (17), has held a national rank of ninth for his age group and his eldest, Nicholas – now on his way to Harvard – has starred with Andre Agassi in a TV ad.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
April 29, 2022 6:00 pm

GreyRangasays:
April 29, 2022 at 4:03 pm

GreyRanga, I was told a few ways of getting even by some veterans once. Most were of the Rwanda to East Timor era and not old. Unfortunately Townsville has some rough edges, more so than other places.

They reckon wait a few months till the dust settles otherwise cops will be on your doorstep. Also use hoodies, gloves & pad out clothing be unrecognisable. Make use of dark greenzones for avenues of approach and alternate routes to exit the area as apparently private CCV footage is used a lot and larger amounts of homes have cameras these days.

KD brought up the old man with the .22 pistol this morning that got a fine. I had been following on DM for a couple of days and laughed at the now shot scumbag feigning PTSD to the beak. I guess the old dude had been to the cops a dozen times and got nowhere till the crim thought he could threaten shooting the old guy who out of options just acted. This morning another home invasion in Brisbane by usual suspects. Sooner or later with limp police/judicial action people will sort things out themselves.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 29, 2022 6:03 pm

The rubles thing is fun. The ruble exchange rate has appreciated 100% in a month, from 0.7 US cents to 1.4 US cents. Might have something to do with oily gassy stuff, which Russia sells lots of, and that the war hasn’t apparently ended the world, at least not yet, seeing that markets only are interested in the short term outlook.

The appreciation of the ruble is the problem. Vlad now is getting half the local revenue from his oil and gas than he was in March, in the currency he has to pay his armament industry with. Resupplying all those T-80s is costly. And he’s got half the money to pay for it all than he did a month ago.

I can see why he wants the contracts in rubles. That way the cost of ruble appreciation is borne by the customer, not him.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 6:10 pm

Fester

Stop talking about FX. Russian Rubble isn’t tradable and the exchange rate can therefore be set at any level Putin sees fit. The Rubble has been set higher to screw the shit out of the European energy importers who aren’t able to substitute.

If China or anyone else not beholden to the Russians buys energy, they may even accept the current “set” level of the Rubble, but make purchases at massive discounts. Stop posting nonsense. There’s no appreciation of the Rubble as the market doesn’t determine the value. The Kremlin does.

Roger
Roger
April 29, 2022 6:12 pm

The rubles thing is fun.

Not for Vlad.

No wonder he was fidgetty at the Easter service.

Delta A
Delta A
April 29, 2022 6:14 pm

Oh, relief!

After ten days of almost noticeable discomfort, I am recovered from the dreaded covid.

That was the weirdest cold I’ve ever had, all back to front, starting with lethargy, then cough and mucus overload, headache, sore throat and finally, body aches. And, on the scale of ‘One to Ten’, not one of these symptoms scored above a three – apart from the post-nasal drip (to put it politely) which, if harvested, could revolutionise industrial lubrication* agents.

*Sorry, that’s gross! It’s my post-nasal drippy stuff getting the better of me.

Ed Case
Ed Case
April 29, 2022 6:14 pm

And even if 0.03% is anywhere near right, that’s about 4,500 bogus votes nationwide – enough to swing at least four seats if it’s done strategically in the most marginal seats.
You’re making the assumptions that the multiple voters only voted twice
and that it was organised.
The problem there is that if it was organised then why not cast 25 or 50 extra votes?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 29, 2022 6:15 pm

How much of Biden’s $43 Billion will end up in the hands of the Ukraine Mafia, Zhelensky and maaaates

I suspect it’s actually all going to the UKR armed forces since the Ukrainian mafia rather dislike being displaced from their territories by the Russian mafia. And don’t want to retire by the usual double-tap procedure.

Existential threats do so focus hearts, minds and gonads onto the essentials.

Numerous oligarchs lately have carked it in mysterious ways, often along with their families. I suspect the Ukrainian oligarchs are exquisitely aware of this strange phenomenon.

Here are all the Russian oligarchs who’ve died under strange circumstances this year (26 Apr)

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 6:15 pm

No kidding, the biggest fakenews bullshit I’ve seen in a while is the current price of the Rubble. The Kremlin actually thinks they are putting out this fake bullshit and people will believe it? FMD.

Historically, they’re actually going back to the old Soviet ways. The Rubble then was fixed at a massively overvalued exchange rate.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
April 29, 2022 6:23 pm

Pomgolians: What happens when you let weirdoes infest your public spaces.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10762815/NHS-urged-use-terms-chestfeeding-frontal-birth-instead-breastfeeding-vaginal-birth.html

Its real- and its beautiful you BIGOT!!!

Link to actual paper.
https://dxfy8lrzbpywr.cloudfront.net/Files/97ecdaea-833d-4ea5-a891-c59f0ea429fb/ITEMS%2520report%2520final.pdf

Some highlights from the glossary
Breast/ Chest/Infant Feeding: Inclusive terminology referring to nursing a child. Traditional
terminology may induce dysphoria or discomfort for trans and
non-binary parents.


Disabled People: Within the social model of disability, the focus is not on the
impairment, disability or long-term condition, but instead on the
way society excludes people who have impairments like mobility
issues, mental health conditions or sensory impairments. As
such, the social model says disabled people are disabled by
society

(See im not deaf, society is to blame)
…..
Frontal/Lower/Vaginal: Some trans men and non-binary people feel discomfort talking
about having a vagina, and so instead opt to use terms like
frontal birth instead of vaginal birth.

Apparently this is true. After all its been written up to inform medical procedures, so they would check any inaccuracy.
“I ended up having a post-partum haemorrhage. I lost like almost 12 litres of
blood
and had to have transfusions. I was passing out from losing so much
blood because they had essentially left a little bit of the placenta in my uterus
somewhere and when it dislodged it just you know created a hole for it to bleed.
But that whole experience was very violent and very harmful, and quite
traumatizing because uhh first of all it was all gend…. There is no
consideration for any gender identity outside of woman
because it was
somebody that gave birth, it was quite stressful and I was in quite a lot of pain
and was just trying to get a bit more empathy and support than what I was
being offered…”

….
Alex intentionally accessed the fewest possible services, as they were uncomfortable with
the highly gendered nature of perinatal care. They felt that their queerness and sexuality
were not recognised or taken into account. They did attend one half-day antenatal class,
and found the experience to be highly gendered. Couples were split into mums and dads,
something which didn’t fit with their family.

“The interaction I remember the most was when the midwife came to check my
stitches on like day 5 probably, they weighed the baby, checked my stitches…
that just felt really horrendously invasive. I don’t know if that was made worse
by the gender stuff, I feel like that would be felt pretty invasive anyway but it
definitely didn’t help.
If I had known that this was a trans-friendly midwife that was aware of my
identity and was aware of my feelings about my body in that situation would it
have been more comfortable for me? Would that have been less traumatizing
for me? And the answer is definitely yes so then obviously gender does come
into it.”


Their ‘case study”..

Cam (they/them) is a Black Caribbean non-binary
transmasculine person going through their
second pregnancy. They hid their gender during
their first pregnancy five years ago, as previous
experiences of medical racism and transphobia
meant they were afraid that asserting their
identity could lead to being seen as ‘difficult’ and
further compromise their care.
However, this was a very distressing
experience and they don’t want to
conceal their gender again, so they
are reluctant to access care during
their pregnancy this time.

I want off mr Bones wild ride.

H B Bear
H B Bear
April 29, 2022 6:23 pm

Unbelievable. This will end up in the High Court.

The interlocutory application had almost no chance of succeeding. Judges are very reluctant to stop matters proceeding to full trial. WA Cats will be aware of the Lloyd Rayney trial which proceeded to a Supreme Court trial in front of a NT judge alone after he was charged with the murder of his wife, a WA Supreme Court Registrar and reported on the front page of Teh Worst.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
April 29, 2022 6:26 pm

Sounds like Pauline is right over the target.

If there was anyone worth voting for, I might vote for them eleven times too. It’s not as if there’s any effective penalty.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 6:27 pm
johanna
johanna
April 29, 2022 6:28 pm

The university workers’ union is demanding up to 30 days of ­gender-affirmation leave across the nation’s campuses for staff who are gender transitioning.

In the midst of a dispute with the University of Tasmania, the National Tertiary Education Union says staff transitioning have not been given enough time to deal with the medical issues they face.

and

Queer Unionists in Tertiary Education national convener Amy Sargeant says gender affirmation leave will save the lives of tertiary education workers.

“There are too many stories of incredible workers who have had to quit their jobs while they’re transitioning because they are not supported,” Ms Sargeant said.

“The consequences can be too difficult to bear for many, ­deprived of income during a ­highly traumatic time in their lives – which they have no ­control over.”

“When gender affirmation leave clauses start to appear in our agreements, they will be used by unions across Australia as the benchmark for other industries.”

What nonsense. And, how much longer are employers going to fall for the emotional blackmail that claims that denying certain people paid leave is a death sentence.

Not long ago, we were being told that employees should get bereavement leave if a pet died. Already, if you say that you are a ‘victim’ of domestic violence you get extra leave in some workplaces. Now this.

Unions must really be running out of significant things to do.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
April 29, 2022 6:28 pm

That would be Mr Rayney who wrote the “How to prosecute someone” manual for WAPOL then opted for a judge alone trial in which he showed not all proper procedures were followed, subsequently being found not guilty owing to evidentiary problems.

I have opinions on this chap.

calli
calli
April 29, 2022 6:30 pm

They hid their gender during their first pregnancy five years ago

If you’re pregnant you’re female. No amount of baggy clothing and chemically induced whiskers changes that.

The only thing in hiding is intelligence.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 29, 2022 6:31 pm

Peak stupidity, anyone?

Meet ‘Cam’ (on the right) a fictional ‘Black Caribbean non-binary transmasculine person going through their second pregnancy’ that the LGBT Foundation have used as an example of they way maternity services in Britain could be improved for pregnant trans people

Roger
Roger
April 29, 2022 6:32 pm

Historically, they’re actually going back to the old Soviet ways.

True,JC. But even in the dying days of the Soviet Union, Gazprom didn’t attempt to break international protocols & demand payment in rubles.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
April 29, 2022 6:35 pm

Wasnt the old pegging of the rubble in the USSR days a way of increasing their foreign reserves?
I seem to recall currency had to be exchanged on entry to the USSR?

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 6:44 pm

Mole

You would theoretically increase reserves when a currency is in a fixed status like the old soviet Rubble by being undervalued. The old Soviet didn’t give a shit because they imported very little from the free world. They set the rate very high so as to show, like they were a reary, reary big power. The old Sov hardly imported anything.

The Kremlin dickheads are sort of pulling the same stunt but with a twist. They want the Euro countries beholden to them to pay in Rubbles so they are doubly fucked … both through the exchange rate and the higher prices. They also want to make the world believe the sanctions are no great shakes. No really.

Us hurt? Look at the exchange rate!

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
April 29, 2022 6:45 pm

Cali, I’d be more concerned about the unknown effects of pharmaceutical hormones side effects with the natural ones the body secretes. Especially on the child of an expectant mother.

As usual it will be 20-40 years down the road and a bunch of broken lives before someone admits in the end it wasn’t a good idea.

H B Bear
H B Bear
April 29, 2022 6:48 pm

I have opinions on this chap.

I suspect you are not alone. It does however serve to illustrate the amount of pretrial publicity a court will allow and still permit a matter to proceed to trial.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 6:49 pm

Mole

Wasnt the old pegging of the rubble in the USSR days

Pegging is actually the wrong term. The right term is fixed or at least when I was growing up 🙂

Pegging means there is ex-changeability by the pegging conversion rate. The Honki dollar was pegged to the US. Dunno about now. It meant that you could exchange Honki for US Dollars at any time at the pegged rate and no questions asked as there were no exchange controls preventing convertibility. There were a few complexities but that was about it.

Roger
Roger
April 29, 2022 6:50 pm

How much of Biden’s $43 Billion will end up in the hands of the Ukraine Mafia, Zhelensky and maaaates and the myriad CIA affiliated operatives running around Ukraine and Eastern Europe?

Very little, we’d best hope.

The US is our security guarantor. After Vietnam & Afghanistan, losing this war – when they’ve now (foolishly) gone all in to make it about crippling Russia’s military capability – would surely be the last nail in the coffin of imperial USA.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 29, 2022 6:52 pm

It does however serve to illustrate the amount of pretrial publicity a court will allow and still permit a matter to proceed to trial.

The photo of the accused has been published – that used to be a no-no.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
April 29, 2022 6:53 pm

I can see why he wants the contracts in rubles. That way the cost of ruble appreciation is borne by the customer, not him.

Bruce: that’s not quite the way it works. Under the Poot’s decree:

1) The gas buyer calculates its USD/EUR obligation under the contract and transmits that amount in USD/EUR to Gazprombank;

2) which then converts to roubles on the ‘open market’ and makes the payment to the producer.

So, no additional currency risk for the buyer.

The problems for the buyer are:

• The buyer’s contractual payment obligation is not met until Gazprombank pays the producer – which is a significant commercial risk at present – exposing the buyer to payment deficiency penalty/default claims.

• Deemed contravention of the EU sanctions, and possible consequences;

• Commercial uncertainty; having accepted one fiat contract change, which one is next?

dopey
dopey
April 29, 2022 6:55 pm

A horse called Love Potion won a race somewhere today. It wasn’t number 9.

Zipster
Zipster
April 29, 2022 6:55 pm
JC
JC
April 29, 2022 6:55 pm

How much of Biden’s $43 Billion

I very much doubt that is real cash moving across borders as in the US government filling up the coffers of the Uke government’s bank account.

I bet nearly all that “money” isn’t money at all and in fact very likely US propaganda by valuing material being sent to Uke at sky high prices. I suspect it’s also being doing to frighten the Russians about the resources being offered to Uke.

miltonf
miltonf
April 29, 2022 6:59 pm

Peak stupidity, anyone?

Meet ‘Cam’ (on the right) a fictional ‘Black Caribbean non-binary transmasculine person going through their second pregnancy’ that the LGBT Foundation have used as an example of they way maternity services in Britain could be improved for pregnant trans people

I think the marxist assault on the west, which began in earnest in the 60s, is moving into what they believe is the coup de grace. I’m sure it’s discussed in many uni faculty common rooms from North Ryde to Morningside Heights.

miltonf
miltonf
April 29, 2022 7:07 pm

You know that horrid Schott woman, the Trumble groupie, she’s nearly 80. What is it these loathsome geriatrics? Had never heard of her until the Trumble debacle but seems to have been a bit of a figure in the London feminist man hating scene in the 80s.

H B Bear
H B Bear
April 29, 2022 7:07 pm

The photo of the accused has been published – that used to be a no-no.

If identity is an issue at trial this is the sort of thing that will get judges excited – not mere political argy bargy and point scoring. I don’t think anyone is arguing they’ve got the wrong guy.

miltonf
miltonf
April 29, 2022 7:13 pm

Schott, K. A Theory of Inequality and Taxation. Fem Rev 13, 97–98 (1983).

Old bloke
Old bloke
April 29, 2022 7:18 pm

OldOzzie says:
April 29, 2022 at 9:04 am

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.

Is the Big Guy collecting his tithe on this lot?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
April 29, 2022 7:19 pm

The old Sov hardly imported anything.

So they made everyfink?
How did that work out?

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 7:19 pm

That’s -1.4%

U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter

The U.S. economy shrank at a 1.4% annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday, its first contraction since early in the pandemic.

Also

Yen’s Historic Fall Signals Rewrite of Global Currency Playbook

The yen’s plunge to a 20-year low threatens to leave it significantly weaker for years to come, shaking up global money flows and undermining Japan’s efforts to get its fragile economy back on track.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/yen-historic-fall-signals-rewrite-074224479.html

The financial world gets a little uglier by the day.

Winston Smith
April 29, 2022 7:21 pm

Delta A:

That was the weirdest cold I’ve ever had, all back to front, starting with lethargy, then cough and mucus overload, headache, sore throat and finally, body aches. And, on the scale of ‘One to Ten’, not one of these symptoms scored above a three – apart from the post-nasal drip (to put it politely) which, if harvested, could revolutionise industrial lubrication* agents.

Nah. Not gross.
On a scale of 1 – 10 it barely registers a 2.
But that post nasal drip?
You know that you give babies some burping medicine to help them get the air out of their bellies? I’ve forgotten what it’s called, but it has sodium bicarbonate in it. Soda Bic works by reducing the surface tension of biofilms. It’s good for suds clog in your washing machine if you’ve got that problem.
But best of all, put a pinch between your fingers or the “anatomical snuff box” and have a sniff of a small amount. Make sure you have tissues or a bucket handy, because that lubricant biofilm will turn to water and pour out of your nose.
Postendoftheworldtip – pneumonia with excess mucous production can be a killer. If you have a ventolin mask and a nebuliser, a tiny amount of soda bicarb in water in the solution bowl will help mobilise those secretions and get the crap out of your lungs.
Not meant to be medical advice if you’re sick – see your doc if problems persist.

miltonf
miltonf
April 29, 2022 7:22 pm

U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter

The U.S. economy shrank at a 1.4% annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday, its first contraction since early in the pandemic.

all going to plan and I’m sure it will only be people of modest means who suffer (that’s part of the plan too)

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 7:22 pm

Sancho Panzer says:
April 29, 2022 at 7:19 pm

The old Sov hardly imported anything.

So they made everyfink?
How did that work out?

Stop it. 🙂

johanna
johanna
April 29, 2022 7:26 pm

GreyRanga says:
April 29, 2022 at 4:03 pm

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.

As I recounted at Sinc’s, the friendly mutt owned by a woman who used to do gardening for me got savaged in the street by an unleashed potential killer of the usual mix of breeds. The poor thing recovered from the wounds, but for months and months was a cowering, terrified wreck.

She was too scared to report it because the dog belonged to the local ice dealer, and he knew her and where she lived in the same public housing complex.

Even if she had reported it, history is not very promising in terms of getting a result. Local governments are absolutely gutless about dog control until something gets into the media.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 7:34 pm

Ranga

That breed should be outlawed. Pitbulls are absolute freaking maniacs and simply cannot be trusted.

Maybe I’m wrong as I’m just relying on memory, but recalling back when I was a kid, dogs were far more aggressive than they are now. You walked past someone’s home with the gate open. If there was a dog, invariably it would be trying to attack you. I suspect, the popular breeds being bred these days are much docile. Our lunatic, wants to just attack other dogs and leaves humans alone.

cohenite
April 29, 2022 7:38 pm

The scumbag biden’s appointment to head his new ministry of truth, nina jankowicz is literally the kunt from hell, possibly trans and totally nuts. That her dept is in the DHS, the most aggressive fascists in biden’s swamp and the best armed adds further weight to my position there will be no mid-terms and Elon better have a spare rocket fuelled up ready for an escape. The rest of us are fucked. These people are complete bastards.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
April 29, 2022 7:39 pm

JC.
Back in those days most dogs would have been “intact”.
Having your nuts chopped off tends to modulate behaviour.
Or so I’ve heard.

Eyrie
Eyrie
April 29, 2022 7:39 pm

Local governments are absolutely gutless about dog control until something gets into the media.
Yep, fucking dog owners get to inflict their animals on everyone without hindrance. If you aren’t prepared to keep it inside at night, don’t own it. If nobody is home all day, don’t own it.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
April 29, 2022 7:39 pm

That breed should be outlawed. Pitbulls are absolute freaking maniacs and simply cannot be trusted.

Poodles.
No decent person owns a poodle, that’s why they’re very popular in France.
The French toy poodle looks like a rat with a wig.
Bastards, all of them.

local oaf
April 29, 2022 7:43 pm

It’s jury. He’s totally stuffed. It’s another Pell.

Shouldn’t be any trouble finding a dozen people in the ACT who’ve never heard of Brittany or what “happened” to her!
I mean, no-one watches TV or reads newspapers in Canberra do they?

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 7:43 pm

JC.
Back in those days most dogs would have been “intact”.
Having your nuts chopped off tends to modulate behaviour.
Or so I’ve heard.

Oh Yea. But you know, ours had his nuts cut off and he’s aggressive as anything, while on a leash, toward other dogs.

Growing up we’d avoid certain streets because of rabid dogs.

Boambee John
Boambee John
April 29, 2022 7:44 pm

Bruce of N

Numerous oligarchs lately have carked it in mysterious ways, often along with their families. I suspect the Ukrainian oligarchs are exquisitely aware of this strange phenomenon.

Here are all the Russian oligarchs who’ve died under strange circumstances this year (26 Apr)

So, to add to Arkancide, we now have Moskvacide?

Perth Trader
Perth Trader
April 29, 2022 7:46 pm

Anyone else from Perth noticed all the new Tesla’s on the road?…

Cassie of Sydney
April 29, 2022 7:48 pm

“The photo of the accused has been published – that used to be a no-no.”

Yep. Regardless, his life is destroyed. Even if he’s found not guilty he’ll never ever recover from this. I doubt he has the strength of faith that someone like George Pell was able to muster during his incarceration.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Sky news musta had somebody call in sick at the last minute.
They put Jenna Clarke to air, presumably without notice, coz she was clad in a dressing gown & had her hair pinned back. She only just had time to get the curlers out of her hair.

John H.
John H.
April 29, 2022 7:57 pm

Dot, Cohenite,

This one surprised me. Probably coals to Newcastle for you.

Blood flow restriction enhances hypertrophy.

This one confuses me:

A protein to enhance hypertrophy can also cause muscle wasting.

It is an inflammatory mediator. I might try and dig into this one and try to understand what is going on. Inflammation is necessary for growth but the timing is critical, it needs to be short and not too high.

Ed Case
Ed Case
April 29, 2022 8:01 pm

I mean, no-one watches TV or reads newspapers in Canberra do they?
Some old people still read newspapers and watch the Evening News.
But, not many.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 8:08 pm

You know, Mercedes Benz has said that by 2030, their entire range will be electric. What if it doesn’t work out well?

Get a load of this.

https://tinyurl.com/4t66abb9

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 29, 2022 8:09 pm

Even if he’s found not guilty he’ll never ever recover from this.

There weren’t enough wimminses on the jury..

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 29, 2022 8:12 pm

Brittany Higgins rope trial to go ahead in June
Remy Varga
Reporter
@RemyVarga
17 minutes ago April 29, 2022

The man charged with the rope of Brittany Higgins in Parliament House will face trial after the ACT Supreme Court denied his application for a permanent or temporary stay of proceedings due to the widespread publicity surrounding the case.

ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum also dismissed an application that would have required media outlets to ­remove news stories and content mentioning the allegations.

Justice McCallum said it would be a “pious hope” to try to regulate the media through suppression and non-publication ­orders and said the issue was one of regulation rather than “condoning a media ‘free for all’.”

“This country has robust contempt laws of which the media may be taken to be aware,” she said. “To seek instead to regulate media discussion of criminal proceedings by the inexact tool of suppression and non-publication orders is a pious hope, particularly since the advent of the internet and social media.”

Accused man Bruce Lehrmann, who has pleaded not guilty and denied sexual intercourse took place, sought the applications on the grounds he would be unable to receive a fair trial due to media coverage surrounding the allegations against him.

Mr Lehrmann, a former Liberal staffer like Ms Higgins, also sought an order preventing “any media outlet from publishing any material of and concerning the accused and/or the complainant that relates to or refers to directly or indirectly the present criminal proceedings or any part of the subject matter to which those proceedings relate”.

Judge McCallum described this application as “problematic” and said she wasn’t persuaded that a trial judge wouldn’t be able to appropriately guide a jury.

“Further, for the reasons already stated, I am not persuaded that the material which the evidence establishes remains on the internet is of a kind that cannot be addressed by appropriate direction to the jury,” she said.

Justice McCallum said there existed no statutory power from which to issue a take-down order and said there was no evidence of a “threat to publish” that needed to be properly restrained.

“The refusal of the media entities represented in court to give an undertaking as sought does not of itself establish the existence of a threat,” she said.

A six-week trial of the case has been set to start on June 6.

Winston Smith
April 29, 2022 8:26 pm

ZK2A:

Accused man Bruce Lehrmann, who has pleaded not guilty and denied sexual intercourse took place,

Interesting plea.
How can he prove a negative?
Notalawyer opinions?

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
April 29, 2022 8:33 pm

PT, I noticed the Tesla influx a few weeks ago now, here in the dress circle Margaret River – Dunsboro – Busselona triangle.

Cassie of Sydney
April 29, 2022 8:39 pm

“pitbull comes out attacks the dog “

Pitbulls are a problematic breed, made worse by the type of person that likes to own them.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
April 29, 2022 8:42 pm

Tourette’s
Trans-planted in the latest victim virus.
Remember the swearing twitching kiddies that were all over MSM not all that long ago. Remarkable recoveries.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 8:54 pm

Wow. Just wow!

This will have severe and long-lasting consequences for China’s economy and society—and for investors and firms with exposure to the Chinese market. Mr. Xi has unambiguously hitched his personal legacy to the successful preservation of the zero-Covid policy. His speech at the Two Sessions conference on March 17 “swept down from the commanding heights” and “set the tone for all,” National Health Commissioner Ma Xiaowei wrote in a leading party journal this week. “He has personally commanded and made arrangements for the epidemic, taken overall control, and made resolute decisions.” Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who has taken over supervision of the pandemic response in Shanghai, said this week that she had come to implement “General Secretary Xi Jinping’s requirements.”

Given the rising cost of containing the Omicron variant, this is a risky macroeconomic bet. As of Monday, 45 cities with 373 million people, representing 40% of China’s gross domestic product, were under partial or full lockdown, according to Nomura estimates. More cities and counties are under “static management,” a euphemism for quasi-lockdown.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 8:55 pm

Wuhu sounds like WA’s sister city.

Lower-ranking officials have gotten the memo. Wuhu, a city in Anhui province, locked down and initiated mass testing Sunday after identifying a single positive case. Xi’an, a city in Shaanxi province, locked down for more than a month in December and January and is back in de facto lockdown. Industrial cities Zhengzhou and Suzhou have initiated mass testing, banned social gatherings, closed movie theaters, gyms, and bars, and advised residents to work from home. Unless all these cities succeed in shutting down their outbreaks simultaneously, China seems headed for rolling lockdowns and strict limits on intercity travel for the foreseeable future.

Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
April 29, 2022 8:57 pm

Put the major last!
Here’sa brilliant website someone has put together that generates a How To Vote card for you in your area by putting the majors last.
Try it out

https://majorslast.com/how-to-vote-cards

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 29, 2022 8:58 pm

1) The gas buyer calculates its USD/EUR obligation under the contract and transmits that amount in USD/EUR to Gazprombank;

I didn’t think Gazprombank was actually accepting dollars, or even euros. On orders of the Tsar.

The difficulty for European buyers is that the decree requires buyers to also open a rouble account at Gazprombank into which their euro or dollar payments would be deposited after conversion into the Russian currency.

The European Commission has said this would breach EU sanctions on Russia, because it would only fulfil EU buyers’ payments after the euros-to-roubles conversion is done. That conversion would involve a transaction through Russia’s central bank, which is subject to EU sanctions.

So basically they put dollars into their account at Gazprombank, then must convert those dollars to rubles in their other Gazprombank account then pay the bill. So they still have to pay in rubles, with Gasprombank cutely ticket clipping on the forex exchange.

Plus a small added bit of fun that Poot could tell Gazprombank to sit on the euro accounts, whereby virtuous Europeoples would have their euros frozen without ability to turn them into rubles to pay da bill. Which would be great fun in a hostagelike sort of way.

Meanwhile Gazprombank has suffered an unfortunate tragedy.

Putin-linked Gazprombank vice president found dead alongside his family was ASSASSINATED and did not carry out ‘murder-suicide’, colleague claims (27 Apr)

It must be really scary to know that when you sign off on such a deal that you may be required to pay quite a large personal price, if you’ve chosen…poorly.

rickw
rickw
April 29, 2022 9:00 pm

You know, Mercedes Benz has said that by 2030, their entire range will be electric. What if it doesn’t work out well?

It’s probably a pretty easy virtue signal. With 8 or so different drivetrains they could cover their entire vehicle range. Much more flexible than IC. If they retain IC they’ll just blame customers for a lack of EV uptake.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 9:02 pm

I generally don’t like posting entire pieces, but this one is really worth a read. China could entering a new phase. Closed up and the CCP going back to its roots.

WSJ

Xi Jinping Is Betting It All on Zero Covid
To fight the pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party leader mobilizes forces he will likely find difficult to control.
By Eyck Freymann

China’s Leninist political system is very good at mass mobilization but very bad at stopping mass mobilization once it has begun.

Mao Zedong proved this most destructively with the Great Leap Forward in 1958. Today Xi Jinping’s bold embrace of the zero-Covid policy, in the face of an increasingly transmissible Omicron variant, is evoking Mao’s legacy and running the risk of repeating Mao’s mistakes. Like Mao, Mr. Xi’s position within the Chinese Communist Party is rock-solid. Yet the grass-roots effort he has mobilized against Covid is gathering internal momentum and is increasingly likely to last past the National Party Congress in October.

This will have severe and long-lasting consequences for China’s economy and society—and for investors and firms with exposure to the Chinese market. Mr. Xi has unambiguously hitched his personal legacy to the successful preservation of the zero-Covid policy. His speech at the Two Sessions conference on March 17 “swept down from the commanding heights” and “set the tone for all,” National Health Commissioner Ma Xiaowei wrote in a leading party journal this week. “He has personally commanded and made arrangements for the epidemic, taken overall control, and made resolute decisions.” Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, who has taken over supervision of the pandemic response in Shanghai, said this week that she had come to implement “General Secretary Xi Jinping’s requirements.”

Given the rising cost of containing the Omicron variant, this is a risky macroeconomic bet. As of Monday, 45 cities with 373 million people, representing 40% of China’s gross domestic product, were under partial or full lockdown, according to Nomura estimates. More cities and counties are under “static management,” a euphemism for quasi-lockdown.

Yet Mr. Xi’s logic is primarily political, not economic. To abandon the policy would require the Communist Party to countermand an order that it has repeatedly and unequivocally given for more than two years. This not only would be an admission of failure, it would badly delegitimize Mr. Xi’s carefully constructed hero-cult. The Chinese people have become accustomed to life with zero Covid. If Mr. Xi lifts the policy now, he could be seen as personally responsible for every death that follows. To revise the policy would therefore be an unacceptable risk for Mr. Xi ahead of the Party Congress.

Lower-ranking officials have gotten the memo. Wuhu, a city in Anhui province, locked down and initiated mass testing Sunday after identifying a single positive case. Xi’an, a city in Shaanxi province, locked down for more than a month in December and January and is back in de facto lockdown. Industrial cities Zhengzhou and Suzhou have initiated mass testing, banned social gatherings, closed movie theaters, gyms, and bars, and advised residents to work from home. Unless all these cities succeed in shutting down their outbreaks simultaneously, China seems headed for rolling lockdowns and strict limits on intercity travel for the foreseeable future.

Even after the Party Congress, Mr. Xi may consider it unacceptably risky to unwind the zero-Covid policy. It is time for markets to start taking this possibility seriously.

The history of the Great Leap Forward illustrates the worst-case scenario of what can happen when a Chinese leader insists that a pest be eliminated at any price. In 1958, Mao launched the “eliminate sparrows campaign,” arguing that birds were stealing grain from farmers’ fields. For every million sparrows killed, Mao promised, there would be food for an additional 60,000 people. More than three million people were mobilized in Peking alone. Schoolchildren banged pots and pans day and night to keep the birds from sleeping. Middle-school girls were organized in rifle regiments and given shooting lessons. Ordinary people climbed trees and strangled chicks in their nests.

Within a year, China’s sparrow population had collapsed. The result was a swarm of locusts that attacked crops. The annual harvest had already been badly damaged by collectivization. Massive statistical errors from the overreporting of harvest data convinced central planners that China actually enjoyed a “super-abundance” of grain, when in fact production was contracting. Tens of millions of Chinese died in the resulting famine.

China’s food system today is sufficiently marketized that the government bungling of food allocation won’t lead to widespread hunger. Government efforts to improve food provision to populations in lockdown have also made enormous strides in the past few weeks.

Yet as in the Great Leap Forward, the aggregate macroeconomic damage from pandemic lockdowns has likely been deeper than the official data suggest. As Daniel Rosen argued in Foreign Affairs, China’s reported 4.8% GDP growth for the first quarter of 2022 strains credulity, and the true data for the second quarter will surely be much worse, despite the coming fiscal and monetary stimulus. Since Mr. Xi has committed himself to an ambitious 5.5% annual growth target, the pressure on local officials to manipulate economic data will only increase as the Party Congress approaches.

If the zero-Covid policy becomes permanent, China’s external border may never reopen in any meaningful way, particularly for foreigners. But the implications for China’s social contract could be even more profound. In the wake of the Great Leap Forward, Mao’s more-pragmatic colleagues Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping tried to return to market economic reforms. To resist them, Mao turned to an increasingly paranoid style of repressive and ideological politics, leading eventually to the Cultural Revolution.

Since Mao’s death, the Communist Party has derived legitimacy primarily from its ability to deliver economic growth. Yet in recent years, as inequality has increased and growth has slowed for secular reasons, the idea of pinning legitimacy to ultra-fast growth has lost some of its appeal. As Mr. Xi enters a third term, perhaps he envisions a radically different future for China. Going forward, the party may derive legitimacy less from GDP growth than from its ability to protect the lives and health of the people, ensure “common prosperity” through redistribution of wealth, and preserve domestic social order with the help of its repressive surveillance tool kit.

In China, more than in other countries, the shadow of history looms large over politics. When Xi Jinping doubles down on a pandemic policy that makes no macroeconomic sense, rallying the people and the Communist Party to eradicate the virus, he knows that he is ordering a Mao-style mass mobilization. History suggests that such movements gain momentum over time and are not easily reversed. It’s possible Mr. Xi has no intention of returning China to the relatively open-facing, gradually marketizing country that it was before the pandemic. If so, China will become a less dynamic, more statist and more ideological society in which the party rules and the masses follow.

rickw
rickw
April 29, 2022 9:05 pm

Mr. Xi has unambiguously hitched his personal legacy to the successful preservation of the zero-Covid policy.

Communists and Communism always screw up big at some point.

Xi trying to out moron Dickhead Dan who also tried COVID zero and got beaten senseless by reality.

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 9:08 pm

Fester is pretending not to read my comments.

Can someone ask Uncle Fester a question derived from this silly sentence.

So basically they put dollars into their account at Gazprombank, then must convert those dollars to rubles in their other Gazprombank account then pay the bill. So they still have to pay in rubles, with Gasprombank cutely ticket clipping on the forex exchange.

There are very harsh exchange controls and the Russian central bank controls the the exchange rate. This would mean that any Russian bank would need to clear the exchange transaction with the central banks. How is it possible for the Russian bank to make a cute spread on the exchange transaction?

JC
JC
April 29, 2022 9:11 pm

If they retain IC they’ll just blame customers for a lack of EV uptake.

Rick, they’ve said ALL the range is going EV. Dunno about trucks though.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 29, 2022 9:17 pm

Really Romania?

I dunno what’s going on in Trans Dniester. it’s interesting though. Someone has been shooting up the kleptocracy’s administration buildings then leaving the spent military bits behind. Then photos turn up onto the internet. It smells. What exactly it smells of, though, I have no idea.

But it does seem to’ve stimulated a new proposal for Moldova to merge with Romania. The Moldies say that has to be after a referendum, which in the current circumstances just might get up. Romania is in the EU, so that would be a neat way for them to get into the EU also, without all the fiddly bits.

The three BTGs the Russians have appear to’ve been moved to the south of Trans Kleptomania. What that means I don’t know. Possibly around the capital, such as it is. Maybe the Russians fear the Ukrainians will boot them out and give the place back to the Moldovans. Strategically that would be a reasonable move since having Russian bases on the west side of Ukraine is potentially painful, if used for air attacks. And in theory the Russian Navy can get more forces into place there, if they do so before those Pom Harpoons go active.

Something seems to be going on in that place. But what? I don’t know, but it’s something to watch.

rickw
rickw
April 29, 2022 9:19 pm

Pitbulls are a problematic breed, made worse by the type of person that likes to own them.

A mate of mine used to be head of the AVA. When asked about banning pit bulls he said it would make more sense to ban people with tatts from owning any sort of dog.

Delta A
Delta A
April 29, 2022 9:19 pm

Winston Smithsays:
April 29, 2022 at 7:21 pm

Thanks, Winnie. I’ve book-marked your post.

Thefrollickingmole
Thefrollickingmole
April 29, 2022 9:23 pm

On the doggies.
Munched as a kid a couple of times.
One of our locals got bailed up in the water at the beach by another chaps dog.
Complained and I was “ gifted” the job of sorting it out.

I came to a method of resolving it Solomon would have been proud of.
Instead of bitching about the mutt I just pointed out if his dog had bitten anyone the usual treatment was for it to be shot shortly after.
Satisfied everyone and gave the owner a reason to care as well.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
April 29, 2022 9:43 pm

Took an early evening stroll around The Strand and Covent Gardens, calling into a pub that was old when Charles Dickens used to drink there; at that time it was very near an area of dissolute slums but now it is Trendy Central. Noise levels extreme so we couldn’t talk, Hairy sat on his beer and I with my cider, watching London come in and out, everyone wearing puffer jackets or equivalent on a cold spring day. I hugged my light Armani jacket and spring dress close around me, for I had not packed for bitter cold.

We then went around the corner to the special Chop Restaurant, the one that was so positively reviewed in The Spectator. Speciality of the Day is Meat. Glorious meat, lots of meat. We met up with a couple we hadn’t seen for years, old Cambridge College friend of Hairy’s and his wife, whom we hadn’t seen since their wedding in the 1980’s. He’s a grandpa now too, so the two grandpas exchanged pleasantries about age, children, grandchildren and the latest doings of all of the old College crew. One has his country house full of ‘strange people’, another (a medico) has just thrown a heroin habit, and others are doing the Glittering Prizes stuff in various positions of influence, and Mervyn himself, a lawyer and impressario in the rock era, has now given up the Glastonbury organising and is busy with new projects, including founding a charity to revive Real Tennis.

We were persuaded by an intense waiter to order the meat platter for four, and another single dish of steak, with a few ‘sides’ of that inedible sort of green like curly lettuce but tougherne. One of the sides nominated itself as an ‘Invisible’ side, destined for Ukraine, so we each ordered that one too. The platter arrived and looked like something that would do an Aussie BBQ proud for about eight or ten people, piled high with cooked chops and strips of meat – lamb, pork and beef. The challenge was then mounted – we had to plough our way through it all, for this was a new trendy rarity in the UK of today, where vegetarianism abounds, and such a platter is seriously unorthodox, probably even heretical. We had to show we were up for it because after all, a tree had been planted as its carbon offset. The Brits are absolutely obsessed about all of this stuff; it is everywhere. It has replaced the C of E in the minds of the middle classes, that is for sure.

Mervyn was interested in history and interested in my little church (he offered to help found a charity for it) and interested in anything Arthurian, so the evening went well for me. His wife is a psychiatrist, a nice woman who said little, as the place was so noisy and she is a quiet soul in the face of two men engaging in competitive eating, happily exchanging memories of times past, of undergraduate hi jinx, and the strange things that life does to you on the way to one’s older age.

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 29, 2022 9:48 pm

Something seems to be going on in that place. But what? I don’t know, but it’s something to watch.

Among the other more ‘interesting’ factoids Southfront is putting out amongst its analyses* (aside from seeming admissions that the Russian amry is struggling to close its pockets in the South, the Ukranian armed forces are resisting strongly and competently their pushes out of the Donbass and their defence of any Russian push on Kramatorsk is probably going to be just as tenacious as their defence of Mariupol[!] ), is claims that the Turks have sent ‘Grey Wolves’ Neo-Nazi militias to the Transistra border. And NATO are allegedly infiltrating in combat troops disguised as third-party ‘volunteers.’

Everyone seems interested in trying to ‘widen’ the war and claim the other side is going to pull something nefarious at present…

* It was amusing to see SouthFront make the claim that donations of artillery pieces and armoured vehicles to Ukraine are allegedly equipment that has ‘no strategic value,’ in the context of a video showing Australian Bushmasters at work in-country.

Rabz
April 29, 2022 9:52 pm

It’s jury. He’s totally stuffed. It’s another Pell.

Not necessarily. Jury composition will be the key. If there’s any less than two men on the jury then it’s say hello to the AMC for about six years (?), Mr Lehrman.

These ridiculous unsubstantiated allegations brought by a dodgy pissed bimbo on the make should never have even made it to trial. As the for the subsequent behaviour of the gliberal MPs involved, there was never any point in expecting anything better. Unfortunately, they continue to blight our lives, which is also entirely unexpected.

When too much subsequent steam cleaning and hoovering the following Monday morning is barely enough.

Said it before and I’ll say it again – the security guards, Lerhman and the Higgins should all have been summarily jobsacked as of 8:00am the following Monday morning, never to be seen (much less heard of) again.

Yet here we are, courtesy of collectivist screechers, being subjected to the sort of hysterical idiocy that’s audible in space (again).

Rabz
April 29, 2022 9:57 pm

There’s nothing like a good ol’ show trial to boost those popcorn sales and take peoples’ minds off all the other monstrous communist idiocy they’re being subjected to 24/7/365.

Bloody hell, I’m beginning to sound like St Ruth. 😕

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
April 29, 2022 10:05 pm

aside from seeming admissions that the Russian amry is struggling to close its pockets in the South

Rex – The Russians were getting a bit of real schwerpunkt going SE of Izyum a couple days ago with southwards advances down four roads. But I read today that has transmogrified into an advance of about 2-3 km a day enabled by massive artillery. Not fast, although solid. The interesting question is how they’re getting those tonnes of arty ammo to the front. It’s very heavy and they haven’t had an abundant logistics train thus far.

cohenite
April 29, 2022 10:10 pm

John H.says:
April 29, 2022 at 7:57 pm
Dot, Cohenite,

This one surprised me. Probably coals to Newcastle for you.

Blood flow restriction enhances hypertrophy.

That’s the Matrix method.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 29, 2022 10:17 pm

the security guards, Lerhman and the Higgins should all have been summarily jobsacked as of 8:00am the following Monday morning, never to be seen

Why the security guards? “Do you know who I am – who my boss is? I’ll have your license by tomorrow morning – good luck finding another job!”

Indolent
Indolent
April 29, 2022 10:24 pm
John H.
John H.
April 29, 2022 10:25 pm

cohenitesays:
April 29, 2022 at 10:10 pm
John H.says:
April 29, 2022 at 7:57 pm
Dot, Cohenite,

This one surprised me. Probably coals to Newcastle for you.

Blood flow restriction enhances hypertrophy.

That’s the Matrix method.

They use bands to restrict blood flow.

Rabz
April 29, 2022 10:25 pm

They were all being recorded, Squire.

Allowing that pair of paralytic morons in enabled the entire subsequent interminable fucking farce.

A gross dereliction of duty. If I turned up and blundered into my work’s office, completely planeted with a handy equally pissed HBOT at 1:30am on a Saturday, I’d still be pointlessly seeking gainful employment.

Yet, these arrogant tax hoovering political imbeciles have the gall to try and blame this alleged incident on a “toxic workplace culture”?

F8ck them and the donkeys they rode in on.

Not having it.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Rabz: HBOT = ??

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 29, 2022 10:31 pm

The interesting question is how they’re getting those tonnes of arty ammo to the front. It’s very heavy and they haven’t had an abundant logistics train thus far.

Simples- It’s what they have prioritised for now, based on their General Staff planning, analysis of the past few days/weeks and expectations of operations to come.

I seem to recall the tempo of US advance in Iraq in 2003 was slowed a little and some localised supply issues for the most advanced units occurred because at one stage or another the logistics planners prioritised artillery ammunition for resupplying units reducing hold-out cities and supporting the general advance over food, water and go-juice for the guys furthest out front.

Another consideration is that the faster and further an advance goes, the longer the spearhead units’ A1 , A2 and B echelons (Sorry, dropped into old Armour terminology for immediate POL, ammo, rations and water resupplies, then replacement peronnel and the Recovery Troops, then Workshops, spares resupply and so forth) have to travel to replenish everything. This slows everything down, and exposes everyone involved to considerable security risk.

This was a real risk Germany’s ‘Ghost Division’ faced in 1940, when they outran everyone. Including their own supply units.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 29, 2022 10:35 pm

If I turned up and blundered into my work’s office, completely planeted with a handy equally pissed HBOT at 1:30am on a Saturday,

I’ve worked in the security business. You’d be surprised……

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 29, 2022 10:40 pm

HBOT = ??

Hot Bit of Tail?

(Definition of ‘Hot’ is rubbery, and often directly proportional to the degree of one’s internal ethanol or other intoxicant concentrations…)

Rabz
April 29, 2022 10:45 pm

HBOT

Hot Bit O’ That … 🙂

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 29, 2022 10:46 pm

DC woman who ‘accidentally suffocated her baby in 2021 while high on angel dust’ then threw his body in the trash is stabbed to death ‘by infant’s father’ while awaiting trial

50 Shades of Messed Up… 🙁

Rex Anger
Rex Anger
April 29, 2022 10:47 pm

Hot Bit O’ That

Welp, 3 out of 4 ain’t bad… 🙂

Bruce in WA
April 29, 2022 10:51 pm

Anyone else from Perth noticed all the new Tesla’s on the road?…

Yep, my wife commented own that very thing while we were driving this morning.

Zipster
Zipster
April 29, 2022 10:51 pm
Bruce in WA
April 29, 2022 10:51 pm

… commented on … FFS

Rabz
April 29, 2022 10:52 pm

Peoples, if you’re fed up with the mediocrities that you are expected to vote for, then please have a look at this link.

Put the Major Parties last

This message has nothing to do with the Faulty’s previous monomaniacal political obsessions.

It’s about the only sensible course of action left to Ozzie voters.

Zipster
Zipster
April 29, 2022 10:58 pm
MatrixTransform
April 29, 2022 11:06 pm

Put the Major Parties last …

yep.

except both Animal Justice and The Greens are getting suffocated by being last

one of the Animal justice loons lives two doors up from me
she tried for a State gig and failed
then tried for council gig and failed.

crazy mole
nothing screams animal justice louder than rabbits in a cage on yr front lawn

cohenite
April 29, 2022 11:08 pm

They use bands to restrict blood flow.

Sounds isometric.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
April 29, 2022 11:09 pm

How many of the locked-down Chinese proles are “vaccinated”?
Quick googling reckons above 85% “fully”.

cohenite
April 29, 2022 11:09 pm

DC woman who ‘accidentally suffocated her baby in 2021 while high on angel dust’ then threw his body in the trash is stabbed to death ‘by infant’s father’ while awaiting trial

Another classic case of white supremacy.

John H.
John H.
April 29, 2022 11:23 pm

cohenitesays:
April 29, 2022 at 11:08 pm
They use bands to restrict blood flow.

Sounds isometric.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzdChsD7-Zk

I haven’t come across it before. The physiology is interesting, something I’d like to follow up. I don’t think it will benefit most people but for the advanced types it might be worth exploring. Also for injury recovery.

MatrixTransform
April 29, 2022 11:23 pm

They use bands to restrict blood flow

explains the correlation between neck-ties and politician’s heads too

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
April 29, 2022 11:27 pm

Another classic case of white supremacy.

LaDonia Boggs, 39, was found unresponsive by police in the doorway of her DC apartment around 3am on Wednesday with ‘an apparent stab wound.’ Carl Jones, 44, who shares a child with Boggs, reportedly stabbed her during a ‘domestic dispute,’ authorities reported. She was awaiting trial in November for allegedly killing the pair’s son Kyon Jones after accidentally rolling on top of him while high on angel dust. After discovering her son was dead, she allegedly wrapped him in a blanket and threw him in the trash. She was originally charged with murder and evidence tampering, but the murder charge was dropped after authorities were unable to locate the body.

Rabz
April 29, 2022 11:29 pm

How many of the locked-down Chinese proles are “vaccinated”?

Couldn’t give a soup dwelling rodent’s backside, Wally.

Put the majors last

I can’t in all good consciousness do this, Cats. I live in a red ribbon labore seat. If I put the labore imbecile last and the greenfilth second last, with the gliberal third last, I still end up voting either labore or gliberal.

This regrettable heavy handedness will result in a meat and two veg rendering on the lower house ballot paper, with a legitimate vote in the senate – for six candidates only.

The ALPEC has still refused to post the correct advice on how to vote in the senate.

i.e. You must vote for twelve senate candidates in a feral double dissolution election*, but you only need to vote for six in any other feral election. Which would be this one (like 2019).

*If you exist in a territory, you only need to vote for two, regardless of the dissolutionness.

John H.
John H.
April 29, 2022 11:31 pm

MatrixTransformsays:
April 29, 2022 at 11:23 pm
They use bands to restrict blood flow

explains the correlation between neck-ties and politician’s heads too

Also ….

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2173623-wearing-a-tie-may-be-restricting-blood-flow-to-your-brain/

MatrixTransform
April 29, 2022 11:38 pm

I live in a red ribbon labore seat. If I put the labore imbecile last and the greenfilth second last, with the gliberal third last, I still end up voting either labore or gliberal

I think of it as a sort of least-worst filter

Rabz
April 29, 2022 11:40 pm

think of it as a sort of least-worst filter

Nein. You’re enabling the irredeemable idiocy.

bons
bons
April 29, 2022 11:47 pm

For those whose Coof came in as a low two, good luck to you.
Mine sat me squarely on my skinny tail and hurt more than a little.
I guess because of my circumstances of being dependant upon strangers it was a little depressing as well.
Suddenly in the night, I awoke without the headache, breathing easy and the beginnings of an appetite. It is so good, it is scary.
Still weak and puffy but the bastard is on the run. It tested as Covid but it actually felt like a severe flu.

Arky
April 29, 2022 11:50 pm

Stay drunk and you’ll never get sick.

Rabz
April 29, 2022 11:55 pm

For those whose Coof came in as a low two, good luck to you

Woke up this morning with a very sore throat, which had a runny nose added to it from about 10:00am.

Classic head cold. Picked up no doubt on Tuesday night while alternating between being drenched while marching many kms to a humid venue packed with thousands of people and then marching back to the place originally left.

Hopefully killed stone dead this evening following the consumption of many alcoholic beverages. 🙂

Arky
April 29, 2022 11:56 pm
DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
April 29, 2022 11:57 pm

Stay drunk and you’ll never get sick.

I’ve just ordered some cigars for a friend in the US who is still recovering from the Chinese plague. As I explained to her, cigars are healthy: organic, vegan and herbal. If I’d sent them six months ago, she’d never have caught it.

JC
JC
April 30, 2022 12:03 am

Three cheers for death. That’s the spirit.

John H.
John H.
April 30, 2022 12:05 am

Arkysays:
April 29, 2022 at 11:56 pm
Bombed again. Like these xunts:
https://funker530.com/video/nsfw-mavic-3-drops-mortar-round-into-group-of-russian-troops/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUSxkpd-k9s

First one:

They leave their wounded mate behind.

Second one:

Straight down the sun roof into the car.

Arky
April 30, 2022 12:08 am

They leave their wounded mate behind.

..
And rifle.
Something weird about the editing though.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
April 30, 2022 12:09 am

Dr Beaugs- good to see you lurking.
…straight to spacechooking- how the hell can I buy cigars economically in Oz?
And when I say “economically”, I mean illegally sidestepping the horrific tax slug which seems to fall mid-Pacific. Lotsa U.S. suppliers promise lots, but get lost.

JC
JC
April 30, 2022 12:09 am

Leadership, you really are a Xunt of a human being. Just a low down dirty Xunt.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
April 30, 2022 12:17 am

It looks like the coof has run through town here. Every second household has had one or more kids – but hardly ever more than one grown-up- spend a half-day shut in the bedroom, and one mate from Perf who was weekending here has “had the squirts” and hit a positive test.
Seriously though- if it weren’t for them tests, how would you ever know it’s the batflu?
All symptoms described to me are indistinguishable from the common cold or flu. Even had to point out to a chef- who as a profession are a bit dim- that he blows his nose and loses his sense of smell in May every year, and then in November with pollen.

Rabz… yeah I know, but I have a bit of sympathy for the pangolitarians. But that would be a good question to pitch to an ambassador.
Speaking of short music shows- I quite love the early gigs where a band has but one EP and one LP to their name, and no desire to lecture between melodies. You get a round hour of solid musical ideas, and none of the browbeating or worthy cover versions of songs by their dear friend and amazing artist mates. Everyone raves about Springsteen playing three hour shows, but let’s face it, a hundred minutes of that is just spoken word.

MatrixTransform
April 30, 2022 12:28 am
Rabz
April 30, 2022 1:01 am

Wally – Miss Ellie was witnessed in excelsis on Tuesday night.

Grace, beauty and mighty taut long pale thighs.

That elusive concept of “Exquisite” personified. 🙂

Zipster
Zipster
April 30, 2022 5:54 am
Zipster
Zipster
April 30, 2022 6:13 am
Zipster
Zipster
April 30, 2022 6:22 am
thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
April 30, 2022 10:03 am

ABCcess has an epidemiologist basically asking “Are we prepared for people over 50 to die in very small numbers”….

Are we at a point where Australians tolerate people dying from COVID-19?

We seem to be at the point in this pandemic where people die every day from COVID-19 … and we’re OK with that.

Just last week, on average, 39 Australians died each day after catching the virus.

Compare that to the start of the pandemic when we were aghast at the thought of a single case, let alone a death.

The change is troubling to veteran epidemiologist Professor Mike Toole.

“We seem to have closed our eyes to the suffering and the deaths that are still occurring due to Omicron, so I think it’s bordering on irresponsible,” Professor Toole said.

It is not surprising that a medical professional who has dedicated a 50-year career to saving lives believes one death is one too many, but it doesn’t appear to be the way everyone thinks.

Such as the statistics..
https://www.health.gov.au/health-alerts/covid-19/case-numbers-and-statistics#cases-and-deaths-by-age-and-sex

The ABCcess report goes on to quote the scriptures and the prophet.
This is despite mask-wearing being one of the most effective ways of containing super-spreader events, according to epidemiologists like Saskia Popescu, who looked at the dropping of the mandate in despair.

You’re likely seeing a lot of “ffs” from public health folks at the news that TSA is dropping mask mandates on airplanes, trains, and public transportation. Here are some thoughts (while screaming into the void):
(1/n)

— Dr. Saskia Popescu (@SaskiaPopescu) April 19, 2022
The US President’s chief medical adviser, Antony Fauci, said it was a decision a judge did not have the medical experience to make.

Abc discovers breaking news old people die more than young people.
The impact has been disproportionately felt by older people.
The federal health department has broken down the number of deaths in Australia by age group and it shows almost 83 per cent were aged 70 years or older.

ABC bemused why people who were deliberately lied to about the “stop the transmission/not carry covid/not get covid arent excited by more liars products. Products so good every state territory’s and the feds are cowering behind emergency legislation to make as mandatory as possible”
Remember last year when we so intently watched as the double-dose vaccination rate inched higher toward a particular target or milestone?

While over 95 per cent of people age over 16 have had two doses, only 70 per cent of the eligible population have had a booster shot.

You don’t see social media lit up with people showing off getting their boosters like they did when first and second doses were made available.

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  1. Is that the line being pushed by the DNC/MSM talking points? Very inventive, but hardly credible.

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