Month: April 2022

Daniel Andrews may be the most clueless political leader in Australian history

There really is no getting away from how dumb Daniel Andrews is, with this the latest: Dan Andrews rips into Scott Morrison as the Prime Minister calls for end to hated Covid isolation rules: ‘I’m in the business of taking advice from the experts’.

Everyone in politics has “experts” to draw upon. We elect our leaders for their judgment; we elect them in the hope they will be able to make sensible decisions based on the advice they are given. The PM is trying to emphasise that the lockdowns and closed borders are based on decisions made by the premiers, and if things were up to him, many of the restrictions now in place would be lifted. Andrews has thus helped the PM get his message across. It is Andrews who is responsible for having implemented the world’s longest lockdown, and for keeping the present restrictions in place.

As for taking advice, it has been clear from the start that it is Andrews who has made all the major decisions in Victoria, and that the only serious consultation he does is with those who do the polling. That is what we have had to put up with since the start. But if he has not had a variety of opinions offered by the “experts” he is surrounded by, Victoria really is an idiocracy from the very top all the way down. But that is not how it worked out. The people who do the polling have told him that the majority of voters in Victoria prefer the lockdowns and that is what we have had, and will continue to have until voter sentiment changes.

There he is, a political leader, Premier of the State, but still doesn’t know what the job he has actually is. It is to make decisions based on all of the options that others propose.

That he has been singularly inept in the decisions he has made is just how it is. He will leave Victoria a bankrupt mess, wrecking the world’s most liveable city in the process. And there is no doubt that the mess is directly attributable to the string of phenomenally bad decisions Daniel Andrews has made while Premier.

Rabz’ Radio Show April 2022: Disco

Cats, due to popular demand, here we are. I’m not even going to pretend that it’s one of my favourite musical genres, but nonetheless, there are some diamonds in the dirt.

To truly understand the rise and (seeming) fall of disco, one needs to understand the Seventies as the era that taste forgot.

Following on from the revolutionary changes in social mores that began in the Sixties and similar to many musical subcultures before, disco was initially an “underground” phenomenon that later slipped seamlessly into the mainstream. To paraphrase, that time “when bank clerks started dressing like Neil Diamond”.

This piece at Reason attempts to put disco in context and this film looks like it might also be worth checking out. Not to mention this riotous event, which I wish I’d been at.

Anyway Cats, don those flares, stacked heels, open necked polyester shirts (chest carpet obligatory), munch on some ‘luudes and boogie on down.

Here’s a piece from the seventies 

and a neo disco piece to get you in the mood 

Enjoy!

Irony is the second casualty of war

Searched but haven’t found anything. Irony is hard to find in wartime; most particularly among the Left. That covers, among others, most politicians and mainstream media pundits.

Morrison is in high dudgeon over the Solomon Island security pact with China. A grave concern echoed in the United States.  Cameron Stewart, writing in the Australian, quoted Biden’s top adviser on Asia as warning that it was an unwelcome strategic surprise. Not so surprising, but never mind.

Here are, some of the adjectival phrases thrown out by Stewart in the space of a few words: bombshell plan, worst fear, giant strategic and diplomatic dilemma, deeply disturbing development.

I understand that the Solomon Islands are around 2000 kilometres from Australia.  A Chinese military base, if built, which it will be let’s face it, will give China, according to experts quoted by Cameron: “unprecedented ability to eavesdrop along Australia’s eastern coast, monitor naval and air force movements and – in time of conflict – disrupt communications and supply lines.”

On the other hand, NATO in Ukraine, zero kilometres from Russia, would offer no strategic threat to Russia. Any such fears on the part of Russia are without merit. In fact, many commentators like Ergas and Sheridan dismiss the thought that Russia might be motivated by concerns about NATO. That, according to them, is simply a pretext for Tsarist-like aggression.

Those with the temerity to suggest that Russia might be concerned about NATO are Putin puppets. Those who are sympathetic to Zelensky and who believe Putin to be a thug but who nevertheless think that the encroachment of NATO might be a contributing cause of the conflict are also Putin puppets. In fact, anyone who doesn’t hero worship Zelensky and despise Putin as a war criminal and blame him entirely for the unprovoked military aggression is, you guessed it, a Putin puppet. Anyone who tries to look objectively at the conflict and at the state of the war and who thinks it might be necessary to give Putin something to end the war and the suffering is, of course, a Putin puppet.

When will Russia and China understand that we are the good guys and they are the bad guys. Our spying is for the common good theirs nefarious.

In case you have been wondering about Novavax

I have been looking everywhere for a medical assessment of Novavax which is the vaxxine that is more traditional and does not rely on mRNA molecules to produce whatever effects it supposedly produces. I have now been sent this for which I am extremely grateful.

This is its title, Novavax – hope or hype? but as a hint of what is to come, this is the sub-head: “Spoiler alert: it’s not what you were sold.” You can read the whole thing at the link. It’s quite detailed, and the writer seems knowledgable, but as with so much you will have to decide for yourself how much any of this can be trusted. This is how the post ends:

Even if adverse reactions to the Novavax vaccine are rarer than to the AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna shots, any risk at all is, in my opinion, a completely unacceptable price to pay for a product that offers no clinically meaningful benefit to individuals nor any social benefit.

So, don’t bother inviting me to join your Novastan cult. I’m staying in the control group.

And if there are other assessments out there that you know of, please note them in the comments.