Open Thread – Weekend 28 May 2022


The Japanese Bridge, Claude Monet, 1900


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Bourne1879
Bourne1879
May 30, 2022 9:46 pm

You mean the gap between her and Waleed compared to Lisa who works less days for far more money. If only investigative journalist Bandana Man could look into it as must be high on his woke list of complaints.

“Bickmore. The gender pay gap will feature heavily”

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 30, 2022 9:52 pm

I’m a proud Cumudgeon Man

Between “Proud _______ Man” and “My pronouns are _________”, there is a lot of fun to be had.

Frank
Frank
May 30, 2022 9:53 pm

Still suspicious of Bickmore’s extended holiday being cover for some extensive plastic surgery that needs serious time for the scars to heal. Presumably the next soft soaping in the lady pages will provide a chance for some before and after comparisons.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 30, 2022 9:55 pm

Knuckle Draggersays:

May 30, 2022 at 9:36 pm

Bickmore’s hubby sounds like he was on a meth bender.

Stand by for the Australian Story episode ‘My Struggle’ by Bickmore. The gender pay gap will feature heavily.

Must hurt that he’d rather whack off to Laura Tingle on Zoom than wait for Carrie to get home.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
May 30, 2022 9:59 pm

Bickmore’s partner’s nakedness raises important questions.
He’s in the UK with her. Is he still working full time as an executive producer on the ABC’s The Weekly?
Why are the observers being offered counselling? Shouldn’t the stupid techno idiot be so devastated that he needs the counselling?
Why didn’t the other staff members turn their devices off immediately and minimise eye bleach requirements?
Can anybody explain what this means – Chris Walker, who shares two children with the Gold Logie winner…….

Oh well. At least nobody is talking about Penny Wong’s failure to get Samoa on side.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
May 30, 2022 10:02 pm

I just rang Sir Cliff Richard.
He said Carrie doesn’t live here anymore
Carrie used to room on the second floor
Sorry that she left no forwarding address
.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 30, 2022 10:03 pm

JCsays:

May 30, 2022 at 9:39 pm

Eyrie says:
May 30, 2022 at 4:25 pm
Crummy cold wet day in Toowoomba so we went to the movies to see “Top Gun Maverick”.

Of course you did, you maverick.

Tell us eyrie, did you get the sense it was a little biographical?

I do hope you didn’t provide running commentary on technical errors.
It’s on a par with the old ducks in the Downton Abbey movie, “Oooooh. That Royal Doulton design didn’t come out until 1932.”
And leave the Ray-Ban Aviators at home.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
May 30, 2022 10:04 pm

What ! That means we have lost Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock. Worth at least a battalion.

“well. At least nobody is talking about Penny Wong’s failure to get Samoa on side”

Frank
Frank
May 30, 2022 10:06 pm

Wonder if jerking off on a work zoom call is enough to get onto the sex offenders register.

Zipster
May 30, 2022 10:16 pm

People are seizing the opportunity to flee/Shanghai faces a tough decision to unblock or not

China Insights

Netizens in Shanghai told the outside world, “If I weren’t in Shanghai, I would have believed that Shanghai was unblocked. Who is the strongest at formality politics? Shanghai of course!” “People from outside the city are watching the news and saying that Shanghai has been unblocked, but Shanghai people don’t know about it yet.”
It can be speculated that due to concerns of economic pressure and international image, the CCP also wants to lift restrictions on Shanghai, but the number of infected cases popping up everywhere makes it fear a massive resurgence of the outbreak. So, the CCP is wavering between lockdowns and opening up.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 30, 2022 10:16 pm

Children are to be fed bugs as part of a plan to get a new generation to switch from meat to insects – and persuade their parents to follow their lead.

I ate insects in primary school.
Mostly accidental, but.

Zipster
May 30, 2022 10:28 pm

do a search of what Joe Rogan did to get over it – iirc, he got over it in a few days.

ivm+hcq works. you might be able to convince a doctor to prescribe these. pretty sure Rogan also got monoclonal antibodies. good luck getting that here unless you are dying.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 30, 2022 10:31 pm

Children are to be fed bugs as part of a plan to get a new generation to switch from meat to insects – and persuade their parents to follow their lead.

What comes next – having your appendix removed, without anesthetic or antibiotics?

MatrixTransform
May 30, 2022 10:35 pm

a mega bin has the dimensions 1162 x 1162 x 785mm
there are two labs where they do the breeding
each lab has columns of 4 mega bins
oh sorry, I meant to say each lab has 40 columns of 4 mega bins
so 160 mega bins per lab
each bin is about 1/2 full of larvae after 20 days

dont bicker there’ll heaps of bugs to go round

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 30, 2022 10:39 pm

I have just registered two trademarks.
PETI – People for the Ethical Treatment of Insects.
and
Insects Australia.

Frank
Frank
May 30, 2022 10:51 pm

It gets real when they start co-opting Jamie Oliver to do the fifteen minute meal worm dinners on TV to make it all cuddly.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
May 30, 2022 11:02 pm

I will wait for the Nigella Lawson series on insects before deciding.

“It gets real when they start co-opting Jamie Oliver to do the fifteen minute meal worm dinners on TV to make it all cuddly”.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 30, 2022 11:05 pm

I have just registered two trademarks.
PETI – People for the Ethical Treatment of Insects.
and
Insects Australia.

I ate whitchetty grub on survival course, way back when. Do I owe you back royalties, and what wine should have been served?

Diogenes
Diogenes
May 30, 2022 11:06 pm

there is a lot of fun

to be had.

I’ve had “Proud Székely Man of the Magyar people connected to Háromszék country ” as part of my work and personal signature for a while. So far I have had only person comment that I am a cheeky bugger, that person’s surname was Nagy so they understood the joke.

However I am still debating whether or not to use ” my pronouns are ? and ? ” or “er and ihn” (Hungarian and German for he him respectively.

Frank
Frank
May 30, 2022 11:10 pm

The ponces in HR sent around an email asking for everyones pronouns a few months back. I put Your/His Excellency forward for mine. Didn’t get a response and when the list came out all I got was first and last name. Bridges burnt.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 30, 2022 11:13 pm

I’ve had “Proud Székely Man of the Magyar people connected to Háromszék country ” as part of my work and personal signature for a while

In the early 1960’s I went to school with Aboriginal children, from several of the more prominent Noongar clans, in Western Australia. I see them interviewed, on the A.B.C. as ” Noongar Tribal Elders.” What does that make me?

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
May 30, 2022 11:17 pm

Has Carrie Bickmores partner been suspended without pay yet ?

I am sure Ita will get right on it in between appearances on The Project.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 30, 2022 11:24 pm

Labor to form a majority government as it secures the 76 seats needed to govern in its own right – leaving the teal independents powerless

Yeah, but doesn’t Albo need Greens or Teal support to get any legislation through the Senate?

Oh come on
Oh come on
May 31, 2022 2:54 am

AFL legend suffers major heart attack

West Coast Eagles legend Peter Matera is recovering in hospital after suffering a major heart attack in Victoria over the weekend.
(…)
Earlier this year, cricket legend Shane Warne and Rod Marsh suffered fatal heart attacks, while former Australian wicketkeeper Ryan Campbell is recovering from a series of cardiac arrests in April.

Everything’s totally normal, nothing going on here I’m sure.

JC
JC
May 31, 2022 3:07 am

He had a couple of stents put into his heart to reverse arterial blockage. Yes, it kind of is normal, OCO. Normal as in , shit happens type normal.

Gabor
Gabor
May 31, 2022 3:21 am

Top Ender says:
May 30, 2022 at 11:16 pm

Life is never boring in Paris!

TE, I would be more than surprised if any major work on display, including Mona Lisa, is actually the original.

Not they would admit it of course, but for display purposes why risk it?
When ‘experts’ can spend months on deciding on authenticity, what would the average punter know?
Pay your fees in and out and one item off the bucket list for most of them.

Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:00 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:01 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:02 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:03 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:04 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:05 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:06 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:07 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:09 am

Michael Ramirez (it’s Memorial Day in America).

Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:10 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:11 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:12 am
Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:13 am
Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
May 31, 2022 4:15 am

oops Tom sorry if I interrupted the flow

Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 4:15 am
Gabor
Gabor
May 31, 2022 4:40 am

Standing your ground, or posturing?
Politics meets insanity.

The Danish government decided to stop the flow of Russian gas because they refuse to pay for it in rouble.
Incidentally, their supply from Russia is 1.3% in total, but they are going to buy it from others at an inflated price. (they do not have a direct pipeline anyway)

I do wonder why we bother with politicians?
A government based on sortition and on capable technocrats under very tight and strict control is my answer.

2dogs
May 31, 2022 5:09 am
win
win
May 31, 2022 5:19 am

Our economic misery planned. The destruction of manufacturing and the policies that insure that it can never return. Look at the UK ,they keep the policies that are causing the disastrous cost of living by handing out one off compensation payments.

Gabor
Gabor
May 31, 2022 5:42 am

Looks like the Dutch couldn’t keep their trap shut, so no more Gas for you, says Gazprom .

bespoke
bespoke
May 31, 2022 6:00 am
JC
JC
May 31, 2022 6:12 am

Lol

Putin is like the soup Nazi or the gas Nazi.

No more gas for you

will
will
May 31, 2022 6:27 am
Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 31, 2022 6:32 am

Overnight:

And leave the Ray-Ban Aviators at home.

Possibly the most hurtful thing anyone has said on this blog for quite some time.

Gutted.

bespoke
bespoke
May 31, 2022 6:40 am

Ray-Bans are a mandatory for model air craft flyer’s.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 31, 2022 6:45 am

Tarek Zahed’s stunning recovery (the Hun):

Comanchero bikie boss Tarek Zahed is talking to friends in what medical experts describe as an “incredible” recovery after being shot 10 times during a botched assassination attempt.

The 41-year-old is reportedly improving daily despite being hit with shots to the head, body and limbs.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that for the past five years, Zahed’s breakfast, lunch and dinner had consisted exclusively of mealworms. These reports – from ‘experts’ in certain circles of the internet – say his insect-related diet made him unkillable.

“To be shot in the head the chances of survival are so small, let alone direct shot through the eyeball, is exceptional,” the doctor said. “He should rush out and get Powerball tickets.”

And a mega box of crickets.

Despite being able to talk, it is understood Zahed is not co-operating with police.

Duh.

Gabor
Gabor
May 31, 2022 6:47 am

model air craft flyer

Translation, those who never made it as proper pilots.
Have Ray-bans as presents, wouldn’t be seen wearing one, not fit for purpose. Only total wankers and wannabees wear them.

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 6:47 am

Yeah, but doesn’t Albo need Greens or Teal support to get any legislation through the Senate?

No, they have labor-lite for when the going gets tough.

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 6:49 am

Only total wankers and wannabees wear them.

They’re just glasses, calm down old bean.

Come on, they’re not 3/4 length cargo pants.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 31, 2022 6:51 am

Only total wankers and wannabees wear them.

People who would say that would never know what it means to be super cool.

And I mean ‘because I was…. inverted‘ cool.

Gabor
Gabor
May 31, 2022 6:51 am

Dot says:
May 31, 2022 at 6:49 am

Come on, they’re not 3/4 length cargo pants.

Do you know they are still on sale, at Amazon and Myer?

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 6:52 am

Cargo shorts.

Just say no.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 31, 2022 6:56 am

Cargo shorts

aka full-length dwarf pants.

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:01 am

I’m quite confident that enough people who are knowledgeable about art would notice if old masters in major galleries were being replaced by copies (which would be a fraud in itself)
And of course while the Mona Lisa is a fine work the Louvre has many other famous works, Venus de Milo, a couple of wonderful Fra Angelicos etc, I don’t think I’ve even bothered to wander round to see her the last couple of times I’ve been there.
Authentication is rarely about complete fakes iirc but whether the work was produced by the master himselves or his school, or where a work was previously unknown to the modern world.
With wars and civil disturbance there are often serious breaks in chain of custody.
I saw ‘The Scream’ shortly before it was stolen for the second time and there are a number of other modern era cases where major originals have been stolen from galleries, some recovered, some not.
I was reading about a Monet that was stolen and recovered in Corsica and I think Netflix had a doco on a gallery in Boston which lost several major works, none ever recovered.
Not to mention the vast quantity of art stolen by the nazis, some of which will never be restored to its rightful owners and some being litigated still, eg the fabulous Pissaro currently in the Thyssen in Madrid.

johanna
johanna
May 31, 2022 7:02 am

Comanchero bikie boss Tarek Zahed is talking to friends in what medical experts describe as an “incredible” recovery after being shot 10 times during a botched assassination attempt.

KPI for a bikie boss – being able to survive multiple gunshot wounds. Tarek deserved the job.

The shooter(s) – not so much. They may be allowed to lick the dirty grease from exhaust pipes on a good day after this debacle.

Oh, and there was mention of the three-quarter length cargo pant above. Curses on all of you for bringing back those visual memories. Horrible and unflattering.

Sometimes I wonder if the invention of mirrors is just a delusion of mine.

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:06 am

Ray bans are just everyman sunglasses in western Europe.
Wayfarers are much nicer than aviators though.

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 7:07 am

Gen Z don’t get how head shots are insta kills.

Shoulda played Goldeneye. Fortnite ruined a generation.

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:08 am

Capris for men who go to The Coffee Club.

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:09 am

Kath Pettingill survived a head shot.

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 7:09 am

Wayfarers are much nicer than aviators though.

Wayfarers don’t fit on my skull.

I know dudes who “have to” wear Oakleys, being true meatheads, you have to pity their poor mothers.

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 7:10 am

Kath Pettingill survived a head shot.

She must be Jaws or Baron Samedi.

johanna
johanna
May 31, 2022 7:12 am

BTW, I always thought that ‘Tarek’ was an Iranian name. Does anyone know?

Iranians are generally lighter and brighter than a lot of other Muzzies. Not so keen on interbreeding, and value education.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 31, 2022 7:13 am

Kath Pettingill survived a head shot.

Multiple head shots*, with many many different triggermen over several decades.

*Different definition of ‘head shot’.

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 7:13 am

Oh god!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 31, 2022 7:14 am

I have just registered two trademarks.
PETI – People for the Ethical Treatment of Insects.
and
Insects Australia.

You can’t have Buglife, they already exist.

Britons told NOT to kill wasps that invade their homes and build ‘bug hotels’ instead (30 May)

Conservation charities Buglife and the Kent Wildlife Trust conducted a survey of insect numbers by asking members of the public to count the number of bugs on their vehicle number plates. Comparing the results to a similar 2004 study, they found that insect numbers were down by 65 percent in England.

That’s sad. Maybe we should stop eating them for the Planet then.

Paul Hadaway, director of conservation at Kent Wildlife Trust, said the decline in insect populations is occurring at “an alarming rate”.

In an article in Yorkshire Live which shared the results of the study, readers were advised to “set up an insect house” in their gardens, “rather than killing bugs”.

According to the RSPB, building an insect house, also known as a “bug hotel”, “can provide a safe hideaway for wildlife and help make use of your garden waste.”

Now you can have your very own Roach Motel!

It added: “A well-built hotel can shelter anything from hedgehogs to toads, solitary bees to bumblebees, and ladybirds to woodlice.

Great for cane toads too.

Speaking about the study, Mr Hadaway said: “The results from the Bugs Matter study should shock and concern us all.

So if climate change shocks and concerns us all, and we have to eat bugs to stop climate change, and if bug deaths shock and concern us all, do we save the planet or save the bugs? We should ask the Teals, they’re sure to know.

Gabor
Gabor
May 31, 2022 7:17 am

Dot says:
May 31, 2022 at 7:13 am

Oh god!

+ many

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:19 am

That might just be upper middle class Iranians who were smart enough to emigrate.
All the ones I ever met referred to themselves as Persians.
By the way where is Upper Middle Monty?

johanna
johanna
May 31, 2022 7:27 am

rosie says:
May 31, 2022 at 7:01 am

I’m quite confident that enough people who are knowledgeable about art would notice if old masters in major galleries were being replaced by copies (which would be a fraud in itself)

Authenticating an Old Master through bullet-proof glass might be … challenging.

In the case of the Mona Lisa, thanks to magnificent marketing millions of people have paid to go to France just so that they can say they have seen it.

It’s a pretty undistinguished painting compared to works by Vermeer, Monet, and many others, IMHO. Not to mention Mikey Angelo’s drawings.

Like what they did with wine and peasant food and decrepit country houses, the Frogs could teach us all a thing or two about marketing. Italians a close second. 🙂

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 31, 2022 7:27 am

Top Endersays:
May 30, 2022 at 11:19 pm
And the Greens too!

Labor to form a majority government as it secures the 76 seats needed to govern in its own right – leaving the teal independents powerless

The Slime still have plenty of power in the Senate, unless the UNiParty join forces.

calli
calli
May 31, 2022 7:27 am

I like Ray Bans. Had a pair and lost them – fell into a pot plant. In a vast wholesale nursery.

I like to think that there is a shrub, somewhere in Sydney, that looks very cool and laid back. A bit like Bespoke’s MnM.

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:28 am

Apparently Brighton has had an increase in home invasion robberies.
Brighton wars, Judd v Andrews

Winston Smith
May 31, 2022 7:30 am

Top Ender:

So presumably such communities as Yuendemu and Palm Island and so on are going to stay as they are forever.

One thing these communities do produce is survivors.
If the individual can escape, and stay escaped, they are usually formidable – Jacinta Price being one of them.
Formidable and rare. The cost is too high.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 31, 2022 7:30 am

I prefer the Liars govern in their own right. That way they own everything they do without being able to blame others. The sooner the village is destroyed the sooner it can be saved. sarc, for the slow learners.

calli
calli
May 31, 2022 7:33 am

Is it just me, or does David Littleproud look like the annoying, pimply schoolboy who always ended up in the bin after recess?

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 31, 2022 7:35 am

Dot

I do wonder why we bother with politicians?
A government based on sortition and on capable technocrats under very tight and strict control is my answer.

Good luck with the second part, after so many years of white anting of educational institutions.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 31, 2022 7:38 am

rosiesays:

May 31, 2022 at 7:09 am

Kath Pettingill survived a head shot

It wasn’t a genetic trait she passed on to her kids.

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:41 am

I suppose it’s possible millions of people have gone to France solely to see Mona, I can’t see what would be wrong with that though.

If anyone have any actual evidence that the Mona or any other masterpieces (most of which aren’t behind bullet proof glass) on display is a fake please share. It was rather a sweeping without a shred of evidence to support it claim.
“TE, I would be more than surprised if any major work on display, including Mona Lisa, is actually the original”

The British started doing the ‘grand tour’ without any marketing from the French or the Italians; possibly the art, history, wine, food, culture and natural beauty marketed itself.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 31, 2022 7:41 am

rosie

By the way where is Upper Middle Monty?

The Fifth Yorkshireman is still living in a hole in the middle of the road, waiting for a traffic jam, so he can re-heat his donuts on the exhaust pipes.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 31, 2022 7:42 am

Wayfarers are much nicer than aviators though.

But Wayfarers don’t say “fly boy”.
You need the Aviators with the flexible wire arms so your David Clarks seal properly around your ear lugs (or so your USN helmet fits snugly).

johanna
johanna
May 31, 2022 7:45 am

Who is proud of a name like Littleproud? I get that it means something that only sticks out a little bit, but why would you want that?

You wonder why some people didn’t change their names, like Dr De’ath in Qld. Dr Li’fe would have been much better.

JC
JC
May 31, 2022 7:46 am

Eyrie

Do mavericks wear Aviators or Wayfarers?

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:47 am

Perhaps some people don’t realise just how much incredibly valuable fine art exists in Europe, a huge proportion of it not on display, even if it is in museum hands.
And perhaps the Last Supper in Milan is another of those alleged fakes.
If so, well done Italy.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 31, 2022 7:50 am

Nothing like an impending nuclear war toe-to-toe with the Russians to help sell aeroplanes.

Air Force Planning to Replace Aging ‘Doomsday’ Planes (30 May)

With Russian President Vladimir Putin threatening to deploy nuclear weapons over Western countries’ response to his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, replacement “doomsday” planes are at least five years away as the Air Force seeks funding, Politico reported.

Currently, four Boeing 747-200s are custom-made to satisfy the needs of government officials in case a nuclear war forces them to the sky.

Politico reported the Air Force said it wants to replace the planes within the next 10 years but hasn’t announced what it would replace them with.

Under the replacement program, commercial derivative planes will be purchased and modified to survive a nuclear blast.

Hopefully doomsday will wait for them to be built. The military aircraft builders must be feeling left out, what with all these new sales of missiles, artillery and ammunition.

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 7:52 am

Who is Dr De’ath in qld?

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 31, 2022 8:01 am

The Slime still have plenty of power in the Senate, unless the UNiParty join forces.

The Liars and the SFL are in lockstep 93.1% of the time anyway. Is there anything the Marxists put up that the greenslime won’t vote for. I doubt it. Realistically I can’t see anything presented to the Senate being rejected.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 31, 2022 8:01 am
Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 8:04 am

World Economic Forum Says Go Vegan: Eat Seaweed, Algae, and Cacti to Save the Planet (30 May)

And Klaus wonders why WEF memberships are falling…

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 31, 2022 8:09 am

Not to mention the vast quantity of art stolen by the nazis

There is actually a collection. of “Nazi art” outside Washington DC in, if memory serves, a US Army museum. Mostly confiscated in the final days of WWII in Europe and brought back there.

Most of it is art glorifying the Nazis; eg: a painting showing Adolf in armour wrapped in a flag, and pictures of him visiting army boys at the front. Includes four watercolours by Hitler.

Apparently the museum doesn’t really know what to do with the collection. Can’t/won’t display it, and the Germans don’t want it.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 31, 2022 8:10 am

Wayfarers – walk
Aviators – fly
Mavericks – wander

Did you know?
When a client gave Samuel A. Maverick 400 cattle to settle a $1,200 debt, the 19th-century south Texas lawyer had no use for them, so he left the cattle unbranded and allowed them to roam freely (supposedly under the supervision of one of his employees). Neighboring stockmen recognized their opportunity and seized it, branding and herding the stray cattle as their own. Maverick eventually recognized the folly of the situation and sold what was left of his depleted herd, but not before his name became synonymous with such unbranded livestock. By the end of the 19th century, the term maverick was being used to refer to individuals who prefer to blaze their own trails.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
May 31, 2022 8:10 am

We’re in Windsor but Her Maj has decamped to Balmoral for a rest. Had a very clear run down from York to get here yesterday. Now staying a hotel right in the old part of tow, every bed full of Americans and other tourists all ‘doing’ the Castle for the Platinum Jubilee and hoping for a glimpse of Her Maj, but she’s gone away to conserve her resources for the coming week of celebrations. I got so caught up in the moment with all the razzle-dazzle of bunting that I went into a twee swanky shop and paid twelve pounds for a souvenir teatowel to join my collection of other souvenir teatowels at home.

Hairy managed to push the wretched plug in too far on the bathroom sink, one of those attached ones, and we couldn’t empty the sink from his shaving water, erk; reception called maintenance. A very polite and constantly smiling young Polish plumber arrived, fiddled with the fiddly bit at the back reattaching it and it was emptied pronto. Such an innocent-faced bright young Christian chap, wearing his cross proudly, doing his job well. They are such an asset to Britain, these Polish plumbers. It may seem apocryphal, but most British plumbers these days really are Polish.

Today we spent some time in London, going in by train and then tube, riding on the brand new super-duper Elizabeth Line, opened only two weeks ago by Her Maj herself. We had lunch again with Hairy’s retired barrister friend who wanted to discuss my Arthurian material because he’d passed it to a friend of his in Brittany who knows a thing or two Arthurian and that friend, like the barrister friend too, is mightily encouraging of me to get on with it.

How did you vote? asks barrister friend. Liberal Democrats we answered, hastily saying as his jaw dropped that they are not the same as wimpy Lib Dems in Britain. They’re for small government, I say as he nods approval, and nods even more approval when I outline how they are truly libertarian. They sound as though I could vote for them, he agrees re the libertarianism, saying ruefully in reference to his own character that he hasn’t yet come across a line that he hasn’t wanted to cross. With Hairy in their yoof at Cambridge they were both known as wild young fellas and there is still something of that about them now they are both retired from the public gaze of the glittering prizes that claimed their middle years. He hasn’t really changed much at all, says Hairy, noting that his friend has gone through life throwing his polymath verve into a stream of slightly mad sideline endeavours. Character is formed young, Hairy adds to emphasise his point. These two went to school together as well. You should know, I agree, perhaps a little caustically.

Actually, for some strange reason, this man reminded me quite a lot of the Cat’s own areff, someone else rather good for an entertaining two-hour lunch during which conversation never flags.

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 8:11 am

China’s regional agreement with Pacific nations shelved for now.

Seems Kiribati wouldn’t come to the party.

johanna
johanna
May 31, 2022 8:12 am

Today’s expose (ha!) of TheirABC is their unrelenting support for anyone who opposes energy production. If there is a gas, oil or coal project in the offing, TheirABC will cover anyone and everyone who is against it.

At random:

A gas company has started exploratory work on a Northern Territory cattle property despite opposition from the station’s pastoralists and some traditional owners against fracking.
Key points:

Sweetpea Petroleum starts gas exploration works on Tanumbirini Station
Station owners and some traditional owners are opposed to fracking
NT Civil and Administrative Tribunal forced pastoralists to allow access

Gas company Sweetpea began preparatory works for fracking at Tanumbirini Station last week.

The station, which lies in the gas-rich Beetaloo Basin, 700 kilometres south-east of Darwin, is run by Rallen Australia.

So, a company doing something which is legal and has gone through all of the fiery hoops laid out by the deractors is finally fulfilling the required obligations.

According to TheirABC, this is newsworthy on a national scale. Some people don’t like it, and we agree with them.

As demonstrated in the clip Tinta put up, they are all in favour of curbing energy use and production as long as it doesn’t affect them.

Toddlers R Us.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 31, 2022 8:13 am

Gez at 8:10.
So Lizzie claimed she was a stray COW then?

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 31, 2022 8:13 am

If the individual can escape, and stay escaped, they are usually formidable – Jacinta Price being one of them.

I can see her being blocked all the time, even by the SFL for being too sensible. The political system can’t handle the truth. Looking forward to her maiden speech, if we get to hear about it.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 31, 2022 8:15 am

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bearesays:

May 31, 2022 at 8:10 am

We’re in Windsor but Her Maj has decamped to Balmoral for a rest.

This town ain’t big enough for the two of us?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 31, 2022 8:16 am

SAS soldier recalled after puzzling evidence in Ben Roberts-Smith case

Perry Duffin
Senior Court Reporter

Interesting re this case when you read

Bullets Flyin’, Soldiers Lyin’

On March 4, 2007, Galvin and 29 of his Marines were ambushed by a suicide bomber and other insurgents while conducting a mounted reconnaissance patrol along Highway 1 in Bati Kot District. Rocked by the blast but mostly unharmed, the Marines defended themselves and aggressively counterattacked before aborting the mission and returning to base. By that point in his career, Galvin had deployed to combat numerous times, and so he “wasn’t excited or freaking out about the tactical situation” he’d just survived. The actual combat was fairly routine. Galvin and his Marines performed just as they had been trained.

But within 30 minutes of returning to Jalalabad airfield, international media reports alleged the Marines had killed and wounded dozens of Afghans by firing indiscriminately into a crowd of civilians. The allegations were false and later disproven, but not before the Marines were condemned as criminals by the media, public, and top military brass. It took a lengthy inquiry and years of conflict between Galvin and the military bureaucracy to correct the record. And yet, “not once did any uniformed person get up and use a legal term such as “innocent” or “not guilty” to describe us,” Galvin said. “The damage was already done.”

Galvin and co-author Sal Manna tell the full story in their new book, A Few Bad Men (Post Hill Press, 2022). What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 31, 2022 8:19 am

Top Endersays:
May 31, 2022 at 8:09 am
Not to mention the vast quantity of art stolen by the nazis

There is actually a collection. of “Nazi art” outside Washington DC in, if memory serves, a US Army museum. Mostly confiscated in the final days of WWII in Europe and brought back there.

Most of it is art glorifying the Nazis; eg: a painting showing Adolf in armour wrapped in a flag, and pictures of him visiting army boys at the front. Includes four watercolours by Hitler.

Apparently the museum doesn’t really know what to do with the collection. Can’t/won’t display it, and the Germans don’t want it.

A garage sale may be in order.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
May 31, 2022 8:21 am

Who is Dr De’ath in qld?

Currently lil’ Yvette. ALP poster-girl for ‘every child wins a prize’.

No, don’t thank me.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 31, 2022 8:22 am

Dutton should rule out separate constitutional voice on principle
GREG SHERIDAN

Peter Dutton is the right choice to lead the Liberal Party. This is certainly a time for a pragmatic conservative. However, as leader there are some questions of principle he and his party should not dodge.

Perhaps the most important this term is that they should oppose, in principle, the move to establish in the Constitution an elected voice to parliament exclusively for Indigenous people. Dutton is right to wait for the details of Labor’s proposal, but people should make the in-principle argument against racial classifications in the Constitution or a bad and emotional decision will be made.

The main reason to oppose the voice is not conservative but liberal, the basic principle that race and ethnicity should have no place in civic status.

This is part of the tradition of Christian universalism, that race and ethnicity cannot establish any kind of religious hierarchy. St Paul declared: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male and female, but you are all one in Christ Jesus.” That was a religious statement with profound civic consequences. No race, no social status, no sexuality, had favour with God compared with anyone else. The individual, not the group, has an immortal relationship with God.

This universalism became the heart of Western liberalism and the basis for human equality. It goes without saying that no nation has fully lived up to the universalism and non-discrimina­tion that is true liberalism.

In Australia, Aboriginal people were dispossessed and suffered terrible ongoing discrim­ination and disadvantage. I have benefited from the wisdom of Aboriginal friends. I admire and esteem Aboriginal cultures. I wish Aboriginal people every advancement and success. But I do not want racial categories added to the Constitution. There are already racial clauses in the Constitution but they do not allow discrimination, or they are not acted on at all.

The argument that First Nations status is about culture, not race, is disingenuous. If it were true, then anyone could gain First Nations status by adopting the culture and anyone could lose it by abandoning the culture. That’s nuts, of course. This ghastly proposal will mean governments will have to define citizens’ racial or cultural background to determine their eligibility to vote.

One of the most unattractive aspects of this debate is the way advocates intimidate opponents into silence by accusing them of racism, a lack of empathy or a range of lesser sins. No one, but no one, enjoys being accused of racism by a voice advocate. It’s an extremely career-limiting experience. Yet many advocates of this supposed mechanism of harmony will fling the vilest labels at people who simply have the temerity to disagree with them.

So let’s be clear about a founding principle. It cannot be racist to insist that there be no racial distinctions in civic status, and it is entirely possible to operate from goodwill, and with full knowledge, and still disagree with the constitutional proposal.

There are two categories of argument, one symbolic, one practical. Symbolic ambition is misplaced with our Constitution. Australians don’t look to their Constitution for active symbolic leadership. It contains plenty of anachronisms, but it also contains the world’s best system of government. Therefore, rightly, we seldom change it.

We already live in a society rich in symbolic recognition of Indigenous heritage. When I was a kid, civic functions often began with a prayer or, if a meal, grace. Now, routinely, on aeroplane flights, at official meetings, business and other functions, we start by acknowledging the traditional custodians etc. Like saying grace 50 years ago, part of the purpose is to show how pious and religious you are. Just a different religion.

The practical argument is even weaker. As Malcolm Turnbull points out in his memoir, the biggest population of Aboriginal people lives in western Sydney. So how is it that someone identifying as Indigenous who lives in, say, Parramatta should be meaningfully consulted about policy specifically directed towards a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land?

Consultation with local communities is immensely important. Value in the type of grandstanding a voice would go in for is much less clear. If there is any real practical benefit in it, set one up outside the Constitution and see how useful it is. Because it would not affect anyone’s civic status, it would not import racial classifications into citizenship in the way a constitutionally mandated voice would.

It is in the nature of all modern identity politics that the symbolism is never complete, the apology never sufficient. Acts of atonement for history become performative, endless and ever more demanding. Next on the agenda will be treaties, acknowledgments of dual or multiple sovereignty, veto rights in certain policy areas and who knows what else.

The mess we are in on this partly arises from the characteristic way the Morrison government refused to deal with contentious issues. It neither did anything nor said anything. When the voice proposal was raised, then prime minister Turnbull and his cabinet considered it and rightly ruled it out on principle. The Morrison government, in characteristic intellectual abdication, never seriously took a position on it, while millions of dollars of taxpayer money was spent building support for the idea. If we get a referendum and it is defeated, the nation and history will look poorly on Scott Morrison’s failure to rule a referendum out, in principle, right from the start.

It is worth revisiting Turnbull’s memoirs for a fine, crisp statement of the principles that should rule out a constitutionally mandated voice. Turnbull wrote that he wasn’t “comfortable with the Constitution establishing a national assembly open only to the members of one race”.

He recalled his statement after the cabinet decision: “Our democracy is built on the foundation of all Australian citizens having equal civic rights – all being able to vote for, stand for and serve in either of two chambers in our national parliament …

“A constitutionally enshrined additional representative assembly for which only Indigenous Australians could vote for or serve in is inconsistent with this fundamental principle.”

The reason to oppose the voice is not conservative at all. Certain types of conservatives might well accept the idea of different races negotiating with each other. The reason to reject it is profoundly liberal. No human being is defined by, or limited by, race. Citizenship is colourblind and the only civic status that should count. Making these changes at the height of contemporary identity politics madness is deeply ill-advised.

If Dutton can get his party to argue energetically for colourblind civic equality in the Constitution, he will have done his nation a service.

Can’t fathom why we have a separate flag for Aboriginal people either. Surely something dividing us rather than saying we are all equal Australians.

Oz

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 8:28 am

As demonstrated in the clip Tinta put up, they are all in favour of curbing energy use and production as long as it doesn’t affect them.

Part of the push for indigenous sovereignty includes granting traditional owners a right of veto over mineral and energy resource exploration. This would require the Commonwealth to exercise its power over corporations under s51 of the Constitution to over-ride state laws. This would endue indigenous people with a right not available to other citizens.

lotocoti
lotocoti
May 31, 2022 8:28 am

The Beeb probably thought they had a Ukie tale of adversity guaranteed to soften the hardest heart.

132andBush
132andBush
May 31, 2022 8:31 am

BoN @6:07pm

Bye Nats, no need to turn the lights out when you leave the political stage since we won’t have electricity for them.

I agree with this. The Nats have, for a long time, been thought of as a retarded step child by the Libs and if they won’t make a stand re this net zero bullshit they deserve oblivion.
A lot of people don’t realise yet just how squarely in the cross hairs agriculture is for the zealots.

P
P
May 31, 2022 8:39 am
Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 8:40 am

Can’t fathom why we have a separate flag for Aboriginal people either. Surely something dividing us rather than saying we are all equal Australians.

That’s a feature, not a bug.

Behind it is the Marxist theory of class division and struggle, adapted for contemporary times.

The adaptation was necessary because the Western working classes largely rejected Communism. Thus a new approach to fomenting societal revolution was required, in which the role of the working classes as the vanguard of the revolution is replaced by various “oppressed” minorities.

feelthebern
feelthebern
May 31, 2022 8:41 am

From the WSJ.

European Union Pledges to Impose Oil Embargo on Russia
The European Union agreed to impose an oil embargo on Russia. The bloc would include an exemption for oil delivered by pipelines, in a bid to secure Hungary’s approval.

Most oil that turns up in Europe from Russia is via pipeline.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 31, 2022 8:51 am

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

Claim: Sheep Produce Better Fleece When Grazed Under Solar Panels (30 May)

Solar farm trial shows improved fleece on merino sheep grazed under panels

ABC Rural / By Hannah Jose and Olivia Calver

Sheep grazing under solar panels at farms in NSW’s Central West have produced better wool and more of it in the four years since the projects began, according to growers.

Sussan Ley will be happy about this story I suspect. It’s sufficiently silly for a Lib. On the other hand I can’t think there’d be much grass under solar panels since grass needs sunshine to grow.

shatterzzz
May 31, 2022 8:53 am

Wayfarers – walk
Aviators – fly
Mavericks – wander

If it ropes in cowboys it getz its tick … 10/10

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 8:57 am

A lot of people don’t realise yet just how squarely in the cross hairs agriculture is for the zealots.

Oh yes.

Rabz
May 31, 2022 9:02 am

Off to a flying start:

“Dutton apologetic for mocking climate change and sea level rise.”

johanna
johanna
May 31, 2022 9:03 am

As usual, been watching old police procedurals. I find them soothing, latest lot is New Scotland Yard. Late 60s early 70s. Look it up on Youtube if interested.

I like the clothes and the cars, Swinging London and all that. Girls in short skirts (not mini skirts) and boots, shiny vinyl, lads with 100 versions of not short back and sides.

While I applaud the idea that not every man has to have short back and sides, thanks to the cultural revolution, we see around us every day the tonsorial equivalent of mid length cargo pants. Oh dear. I have a fantasy where I am sitting behind them in a bus and snip those mangy, stringy grey ponytails off with sharp scissors.

Speaking of male tonsorial stuff, a friend (in his 40s) who has been going the classic Friar Tuck bald has now decided to do the full head shave thing. Is this a thing?

It must be high maintenance – just ask Peter Garrett. If you have dark hair the five o’clock stubble would be noticeable. Luckily, he was blond.

More generally, it seems that hair removal is big in contemporary culture. We are told that young women are routinely paying to get pubic hair removed. In the gay scene, men are (ouch!) getting testicular and adjacent hair removed.

I don’t care what people do as long as it doesn’t affect anyone else. Zero interest in other people’s sex lives.

But, what is disturbing is that sexual desirability is being equated with pre-pubescence. In the space of a decade, adult women’s genitals looking like pre-pubescent girls’ genitals has become ‘normal.’ Same goes for the gay scene. Hairless pubes are tops.

I don’t think that this is unimportant. And, I’m someone who enjoyed the best bits of the Sexual Revolution. Yee Ha! Woo Hoo! And so on. But that was long before this shit happened.

duncanm
duncanm
May 31, 2022 9:07 am

So, a company doing something which is legal and has gone through all of the fiery hoops laid out by the detractors is finally fulfilling the required obligations.

According to TheirABC, this is newsworthy on a national scale. Some people don’t like it, and we agree with them.

not only that, but clearly some traditional owners DO want the exploration to go ahead.

Why are they known of only by their omission?

TheirABC is quite happy to ignore their usual target – rich pastoralists (Rallen, owned by a South African), and by sleight of hand, are calling the tenants ‘owners’. They’re not, they’re leaseholders

btw – this Rallen mob aren’t just bitching about Sweatpea petroleum, they’re also fighting Santos

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 31, 2022 9:10 am

P says:
May 31, 2022 at 8:39 am
Sussan Ley backs Labor’s sheep export ban

Of course she did.
Destroying an entire business enterprise she had no part in building nor bear the loss incurred.
Vanity in its rawest form.

Zipster
May 31, 2022 9:12 am

Xi Jinping’s health problems: Will Premier Li replace Xi? Will Army Support? Fights within the CCP

China Insights

Since May 2022, two rumors have been making rounds online: one is that Chinese President Xi Jinping has a “Brain Aneurysm” and the other is that there is a coup within the Chinese Communist Party or CCP and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang would replace Xi.
We noticed that these rumors have been spreading like wildfire in the Chinese community mainly because these two recent rumors came from western media. So, are they true? Is Xi’s power secure?

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 9:14 am

Off to a flying start:

“Dutton apologetic for mocking climate change and sea level rise.”

Pragmatic conservatism, à la Greg Sheridan above, so far looks much like maintaining your principles until they become a hindrance to being elected to power.

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 9:15 am

Sussan Ley backs Labor’s sheep export ban

“Pragmatic conservatism.”

Zipster
May 31, 2022 9:16 am

Sussan Ley backs Labor’s sheep export ban

sigh

Rabz
May 31, 2022 9:18 am

A lot of people don’t realise yet just how squarely in the cross hairs agriculture is for the zealots.

As are affordable 24/7 electrickery and ICE vehicles. A deliberate barely disguised attempt to drive humanity into a new dark age. Existing in a pod, eating the bugs, owning nothing and being happy, or else.

Can’t have nice things, can’t lead a comfortable existence, (almost) everyone must be embeggared so as to satisfy the sanctimonious desires of the new collectivist clerical class. Most of whom are too stupid to realise they’ll be the ones in the crosshairs following this glorious transition – which will be a not so slow and tortuous journey into serfdom for the majority.

Zipster
May 31, 2022 9:19 am

There is actually a collection. of “Nazi art” outside Washington DC in, if memory serves, a US Army museum. Mostly confiscated in the final days of WWII in Europe and brought back there.

Most of it is art glorifying the Nazis; eg: a painting showing Adolf in armour wrapped in a flag, and pictures of him visiting army boys at the front. Includes four watercolours by Hitler.

Apparently the museum doesn’t really know what to do with the collection. Can’t/won’t display it, and the Germans don’t want it.

donate it to ukraine

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 31, 2022 9:21 am

A lot of people don’t realise yet just how squarely in the cross hairs agriculture is for the zealots.

Cite you the episode during the debate on mulseing sheep, a few years ago, where a senior member of PETA admitted that their ultimate aim was a ban on breeding Merino sheep in Australia.

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 9:22 am

Taiwan claims that China has made the largest incursion since January. At least 30 aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace and Taiwanese fighters say they scrambled against Chinese aircraft.

Japanese fighter planes were scrambled against a joint Chinese-Russian attempted incursion of Japan’s airspace while the AUKUS meeting was on.

“The common development and prosperity of China and all the other developing countries would only mean great harmony, greater justice and greater progress of the whole world.”

China FM Wang on his recent Pacific tour.

The Micronesians, however, weren’t buying was Mr. Wang was selling and the regional security deal has been put on the back burner for now.

JC
JC
May 31, 2022 9:27 am

Rabz says:
May 31, 2022 at 9:02 am

Off to a flying start:

“Dutton apologetic for mocking climate change and sea level rise.”

That concession speech took all of 18 1/2 hours. Look, this is just my opinion. He’s a useless bald headed idiot, way over his head (bald).

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 9:27 am

While I applaud the idea that not every man has to have short back and sides, thanks to the cultural revolution, we see around us every day the tonsorial equivalent of mid length cargo pants.

A while back I was standing in line at the post office and noticed down front a chap around 40 sporting a mullet. Next to him was a lad in his early teens I took to be his son. He had the same haircut!

Rabz
May 31, 2022 9:27 am

maintaining your principles until they become a hindrance to being elected to power

Or are perceived to be so.

Just how exactly do the gliberals and the nationals expect to regain government while trying to out bid labore and the greenfilth in the collectivist lunacy stakes?

Hint – they won’t. See the recent WA state election as a signal example.

JC
JC
May 31, 2022 9:29 am

According to CL’s site, Susan Ley, became Sussan Ley because of numerology and supports a ban on exporting sheep. Baldie conceeds on gerbil warming in 18 1/2 hours.

Winning.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 31, 2022 9:29 am

Oz part 3 in a series:

When police arrested her dad for repeatedly bashing and raping her, Ruby should have finally felt free. Instead, she was banished from her community.

By KRISTIN SHORTEN

Today The Australian publishes the last of a three-part series revealing the effects of family violence in remote communities through the life of 21-year-old Ruby, who lived at Yuendumu in the same house for a time as Kumanjayi Walker, shot dead by police in 2019. It’s a confronting story but one that needs to be told.

When police arrested Dean Wilson for repeatedly bashing and raping his daughter Ruby, the teenager should have finally felt free.

Instead, the 17-year-old was forced from her home in Yuendumu by community members who supported the perpetrator and blamed her for having him locked up. “Everybody just kept giving me dirty (looks) and didn’t believe me,” she said.

Ruby – not her real name – told The Australian that when she returned to Yuendumu after providing her police statement in Alice Springs about her father’s abuse, she no longer felt safe moving around the community and had to “stay in the one place”. A close relative even told her that “Dean wants to forgive me” for finally reporting him to the police following months of horrific abuse. “I was thinking, like ‘What do you mean? I don’t get it?’,” she said. “I don’t want him to forgive me. I want him to admit it and say sorry … he should be the one saying sorry to me.”

On Saturday, The Weekend Australian revealed Ruby’s father had bashed and raped her after being released on parole in September 2017 and moving into the Yuendumu home where the teenager lived with her grandparents.

After Ruby endured four months of hell, Wilson was finally arrested in January 2018 after a particularly vicious beating and attempted rape that left his daughter limping and exhibiting more than 50 separate injuries.

When Ruby’s aunt took her to the medical clinic, police were notified and Wilson was arrested.

Within a week of being released on parole, Dean Wilson was viciously beating and raping his teenage daughter in a similar way to that in which he had attacked his previous victim.

Where were elders’ voices amid this horror? Some raw and unpleasant truths about what really happens in remote communities must be dragged out of the darkness and into the light.

When police arrested her dad for repeatedly bashing and raping her, Ruby should have finally felt free. Instead, she was banished from her community.

For testifying against a man who had bashed and repeatedly raped his own daughter, Serita Ross was attacked with an axe
.
Almost two years later, Ruby testified against her father in the Northern Territory Supreme Court at Alice Springs.

Following the five-day trial in November 2019, the jury found Wilson guilty on all six counts of physically and sexually assaulting her and attempting to rape her at various locations in Yuendumu and Alice Springs.

In her victim impact statement from January 2020 – two years after his arrest – Ruby said she felt “sad and lost and angry all the time”.

In May 2020, judge Jenny Blokland sentenced Wilson to 18 years in prison.

Ruby in May told The Australian her father’s abuse has left her feeling lost, lonely and worthless. “He’s the one who is supposed to protect me and everything,” she said. “He’s supposed to protect me from people like that. But you can’t always trust people, even if they’re your real family.”

After the trial, Ruby felt abandoned and unsupported at Yuendumu. She also feared for her safety at the remote outback community, 330km northwest of Alice Springs, after her aunt was attacked with an axe in retaliation for giving evidence at her father’s trial.

“I really want to go back home but, at the same time, I don’t feel safe there,” she said.

It’s a common story. In June, an NT Supreme Court judge said Indigenous sexual assault victims were being banished from their communities as punishment for reporting abuse. Justice Blokland, who presided over Wilson’s trial, made the remarks during the sentencing hearing in a separate sexual assault case.

She said the victim in that case had, like Ruby, been forced to leave the remote community where she had grown up. “We may be witnessing the emergence of a trend which sees victims of sexual assault being incidentally punished in their home communities through a form of banishment,” she said. “I feel it is something community leaders need to seriously reflect on.”

After Wilson’s arrest, Ruby met her boyfriend, whose father is from Yuendumu, and gave birth to their son in November 2020.

“Ever since I had my baby, I was happy but I couldn’t just brush off my memories, they’re still haunting me,” she said. “I tried to distract myself with things and I got into weed really bad back home.

“It was just sometimes it would calm me down and make me forget things but I tried to leave that.”

Before long, Ruby’s relationship with her boyfriend became volatile. Despite this, the young couple took their baby and moved to far north Queensland, where Ruby’s boyfriend had grown up, in search of a new beginning and better life. Yet their trip from the Red Centre to the tropical north was turbulent.

When they reached Mount Isa in early June, both were arrested for fighting. In October, following months of volatility, Ruby was charged with one count of obstructing a police officer and one count of seriously assaulting a public officer. In November, she was charged with two counts of failing to appear in court. On December 10, she was arrested and taken into custody.

“I wasn’t in my right mind cos I’m still going through this (trauma),” she said. “That just put me back to that part where everything happened to me and I tried defending myself but then the police wouldn’t listen to my side of the (story) and still locked me up.”

The day Ruby was arrested, her boyfriend was charged with possessing drug utensils. A few days later, he pleaded guilty in the Mareeba Magistrates Court to eight driving and drug-related offences, spanning a period from April to December 2021.

The 22-year-old had convictions recorded, his driver’s licence disqualified and drug utensils seized. He also copped $2500 in fines which, the court has since heard, he was unable or unwilling to pay.

Meanwhile, Ruby remained in custody for four months before her matters were dealt with in the Mareeba Magistrates Court in March. Represented by criminal lawyer Jaci Soles from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, she pleaded guilty.

On March 25, magistrate Thomas Braes sentenced her to 12 months in prison for obstructing a police officer and 12 months in prison for seriously assaulting a public officer. Noting that she had already spent 105 days in custody, he immediately released her on 18 months’ parole.

As a part of parole conditions, she was ordered to submit to a psychological or psychiatric evaluation. Ruby told The Australian she was diagnosed with PTSD and depression as a result of her ­father’s abuse.

“They think I can’t control my mental issues,” she said. A doctor prescribed antidepressants for her.
“They’re not helping,” she said. “It just gives me headaches.”

Ruby has seen her son only a handful of times since being released from prison but cherishes the weekly hour-long visits.

“First, he was shy but then he started remembering us,” she said. “On Wednesday, I called out his name … and he turned around and crawled to me.”

During her last visit, he fell asleep in her lap. Every week, when Ruby sees him, she notices how much the 18-month-old has grown. He recently took his first steps and Ruby suspects he will soon be stringing sentences together. She said being separated from him was “really hard” but he seemed to be safe, happy, well cared for and surrounded by other kids. She said he looked healthy, was eating a lot and not suffering from any health issues.

Her boyfriend has been trying to get a job. After growing up fatherless, Ruby wants to keep the family unit intact at all costs.

The 21-year-old said she felt unwelcome where she was staying with her boyfriend’s aunt but had nowhere else to go. “It just feels like everyone is blaming me for everything,” she said.

“I’ve got so many emotions running through me every day and I always feel like I’m not worth anything.

“Everything just puts me down. It’s just my life’s been hard and still is hard.”

“It’s been lonely,” she said. “I just feel lost all the time and I miss my family. I just want a home to stay in and a good family.”

Ruby also wants a job, “something easy to start with” but eventually in childcare so she can be reunited with her son. “I miss him so much,” she said. “Firstly I really want a job and a house to live in with him. “I’ve never had my own place and even when living with family, I’ve never had my own room.”

The young woman, who has changed her surname since her father’s trial, still entertains returning to the Territory to be closer to kin but says staying in Queensland would “probably be better”.

And even if she felt safe to return to Yuendumu, she can’t go back. “I feel like people there are too judgmental,” she said. “I can’t face those memories. It’s hard to forget what happened to me. I just want a happy life and wanna be free.”

Link

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
May 31, 2022 9:32 am

Hows that jab jab booster booster going for you?

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports growing levels of breakthrough infection, meaning the COVID-19 vaccines are doing less to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection, as well as community transmission. While the vaccines are holding down more serious infections and death, a recent bombshell population-wide study sponsored by the Veterans Affairs (VA) in St. Louis reveals vaccination does little to protect people from long COVID. This means that the risk for problems associated with long COVID is potentially increasing in places like Wisconsin, where the health authorities verify growing numbers of breakthrough infections.

https://www.trialsitenews.com/a/vaccinated-wisconsinites-face-growing-risk-for-breakthrough-infection-long-covid-997468ae

shatterzzz
May 31, 2022 9:33 am

Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes says voters may “start to review what their vote has done” when they “see how ineffective these teal members are”.

Just goes to show how ‘out of touch” with voters the average pollie is! .. 99.99% of us, mug voters, feel the same about “what we have dun” within a month of the polls being finalized ……

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 9:36 am

Just how exactly do the gliberals and the nationals expect to regain government while trying to out bid labore and the greenfilth in the collectivist lunacy stakes?

The won’t outbid them, they’ll offer a more “sensible”, moderate version of the same policies.

The electorate in metropolitan areas where the majority of seats are has been moving leftwards for some time and I fear it will continue to do so until forced to face the consequences of the policies they’ve voted for.

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
May 31, 2022 9:37 am

I see a bonus to the live export ban! Cheap lamb for Australians, sorry for the farmers though.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 31, 2022 9:37 am

I hope this Bec v Chairman Dan thing doesn’t mean we will see the Chairman in a backless number at this year’s Brownlow. The rest of Australia isn’t ready for that.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
May 31, 2022 9:41 am

Most oil that turns up in Europe from Russia is via pipeline.

Mostly by tanker from the Arctic, Baltic and Black Sea terminals. The Druzhba oil pipeline capacity is between 0.75 and 1 million bbls/day – depending on how badly it’s leaking. Pre Poot’s big day out, Europe imported about 2 million bbls/day of crude, plus another 1 million bbls in products.

A bit of a problem for landlocked countries like Hungary.

shatterzzz
May 31, 2022 9:44 am

The Micronesians, however, weren’t buying was Mr. Wang was selling and the regional security deal has been put on the back burner for now.

“We is gonna need bigger Aldi bags” sez Mr. Wang …….

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 31, 2022 9:46 am

Firstly I really want a job and a house to live in with him. “I’ve never had my own place and even when living with family, I’ve never had my own room.”

Sort of puts all the nonsense about “Constitutional recognition” and a “Voice” in Parliament in its right place?

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 9:49 am

Labor ahead by 142 in Gilmore.

Roger
Roger
May 31, 2022 9:49 am

Ruby also wants a job, “something easy to start with”…

Good girl…you’ve escaped the “community” hell hole, now getting a job, any job, and sticking with it is the best thing you can do. A foundation on which to build a better life.

Zipster
May 31, 2022 9:50 am

How Woke Conquered the World & Why It Threatens Democracy, Tolerance & Reason
The New Culture Forum
Wokeness has conquered our institutions. The worlds of politics, academia and even corporate capitalism now bend the knee to the new orthodoxies around gender, racism and identity. In her new book, “How Woke Won”, Joanna Williams explores the intellectual roots of wokeness and how this movement, which poses as radical and left-wing, came to be embraced by some of the most privileged people imaginable.

Joanna argues that anyone interested in building a truly free, egalitarian and democratic society needs to tackle wokeness head-on.

Joanna Williams is founder of the Cieo think tank and a writer for Spiked Online, The Spectator and the Times.

rosie
rosie
May 31, 2022 9:51 am

Can someone link the Dutton climate comments?
I can’t find them.

Zipster
May 31, 2022 9:52 am

“We is gonna need bigger Aldi bags” sez Mr. Wang …….

load up the chap’s old combi van

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 31, 2022 9:54 am

A while back I was standing in line at the post office and noticed down front a chap around 40 sporting a mullet. Next to him was a lad in his early teens I took to be his son. He had the same haircut!

Heriditary condition.
Male pattern mullets.

Lysander
Lysander
May 31, 2022 9:54 am

Since May 2022, two rumors have been making rounds online: one is that Chinese President Xi Jinping has a “Brain Aneurysm” and the other is that there is a coup within the Chinese Communist Party or CCP and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang would replace Xi.

He always looks like he’s letting out a sneaky fart to me.

Zipster
May 31, 2022 9:56 am

Appeal to Zelensky from a volunteer of Ukraine Army, located in the Donbass
A fresh appeal to Zelensky from a volunteer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, located in the Donbass, who tells how the command sent them to slaughter.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 31, 2022 9:56 am

JC says:
May 31, 2022 at 9:29 am
According to CL’s site, Susan Ley, became Sussan Ley because of numerology and supports a ban on exporting sheep. Baldie conceeds on gerbil warming in 18 1/2 hours.

Divorced from a NE VIC farmer years ago.
Fill in the blanks maybe.

132andBush
132andBush
May 31, 2022 9:58 am

According to CL’s site, Susan Ley, became Sussan Ley because of numerology and supports a ban on exporting sheep. Baldie conceeds on gerbil warming in 18 1/2 hours.

Like I’ve stated, a fruitloop.

Jorge
Jorge
May 31, 2022 10:00 am

I saw ‘The Scream’ shortly before it was stolen for the second time

Heard this morning that a security guard stole the Mona Lisa back in 1911 and kept it on the wall of his room next to the stove for two years.
Odd, the infatuation and obsessive craziness that seems to surround some paintings.

Tom
Tom
May 31, 2022 10:05 am

Dutton apologetic for mocking climate change and sea level rise.

It is essential for the Liberal Party’s “broad church” that it believes in nothing. So its newest parliamentary leader signals he’s just a rebadged version of Morrison, who also believed in nothing. Morrison was, of course, the hand-picked choice of a renewable energy investor who tricked his way into the prime ministership and took the Liberal Party he loathed to the brink of defeat before Morrison finished the job for him on May 21 this year.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 31, 2022 10:11 am

Lurch looking like more Potential Greatness. Early days yet.

lotocoti
lotocoti
May 31, 2022 10:12 am

In other woke hilarity news, some turgid piece of RadFem utopian sci-fi has got a lot of lady testicles in a tangle.
Some of the reviews are Titania McGrath-worthy.

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 10:17 am

donate it to ukraine

Oooh.

Touche.

Winning the internet for today so far.

Unpopular opinion, but I actually like Adolf Hitler’s paintings.

shatterzzz
May 31, 2022 10:23 am

According to CL’s site, Susan Ley, became Sussan Ley because of numerology and supports a ban on exporting sheep. Baldie conceeds on gerbil warming in 18 1/2 hours.

Also luvs “troughin” especially when it involves “free” travel involving extensions to her property potfolio ….

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 31, 2022 10:32 am

You need the Aviators with the flexible wire arms so your David Clarks seal properly around your ear lugs (or so your USN helmet fits snugly).

You don’t need sunglasses. The helmets have a tinted visor and a clear one. In daytime you use both. Might just protect you in the event of a birdstrike.

If you need vision correction these may interest you:
https://www.amconlabs.com/product/7637/SunWraps-Fit-Behind-Sunglasses
The wrap around feature protects from UV from the sides.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
May 31, 2022 10:35 am

Rogersays:
May 31, 2022 at 9:15 am
Sussan Ley backs Labor’s sheep export ban

“Pragmatic conservatism.”

Quite. The plain English translation of “pragmatic conservatism” being to bend over and get cornholed by the “progressives” on every single issue, every single time.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 31, 2022 10:36 am

In other woke hilarity news, some turgid piece of RadFem utopian sci-fi has got a lot of lady testicles in a tangle.

I’ve read few Kate Wilhelm novels and enjoyed them but I couldn’t get beyond the first couple of chapters of “Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang”.

lotocoti
lotocoti
May 31, 2022 10:43 am

Apparently the Red Army is on the verge of collapse.
Again.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
May 31, 2022 10:45 am

Rogersays:
May 31, 2022 at 9:36 am
Just how exactly do the gliberals and the nationals expect to regain government while trying to out bid labore and the greenfilth in the collectivist lunacy stakes?

The won’t outbid them, they’ll offer a more “sensible”, moderate version of the same policies.

That’s exactly what they’ll do. And the message the voters will get is “we totally agree with every premise, every factual assertion and every value judgment underpinning Labor/Greens/teals policies, so we’ll do the same thing except less wholeheartedly”.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 31, 2022 10:46 am

Eyrie.
We weren’t looking for a dissertation on USN pilot helmets.
We was jokin’ aroun’.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 31, 2022 10:52 am

On Sussssan Ley and live sheep exports.
Let’s just put aside for a moment the rights and wrongs of it and her burning a good part of her constituency.
It is stupid politics.
The Liars are going to do it anyway. Even if you support it, say nothing. All you are doing is driving voters away from the Nats to PHON and UAP. On the flip side, the number of voters you will attract on the issue is approximately zero. Animal Justice and PETA types are never, EVER, voting National.
So why do it?
Purely to virtue signal to the press gallery, hoping in vain for some soft coverage.

Bluey
Bluey
May 31, 2022 10:57 am

Sancho Panzersays:
May 31, 2022 at 10:52 am
On Sussssan Ley and live sheep exports.
Let’s just put aside for a moment the rights and wrongs of it and her burning a good part of her constituency.
It is stupid politics.
The Liars are going to do it anyway. Even if you support it, say nothing. All you are doing is driving voters away from the Nats to PHON and UAP. On the flip side, the number of voters you will attract on the issue is approximately zero. Animal Justice and PETA types are never, EVER, voting National.
So why do it?
Purely to virtue signal to the press gallery, hoping in vain for some soft coverage.

A great example of “conservatives” being useless tards, and why it’s pointless.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 31, 2022 10:59 am

Exactly Tim, just another reason I will never vote for them again. Along with all the other reasons. I only need one.

Zipster
May 31, 2022 11:05 am

Denmark To Be CUT OFF From Gas. Russia Announces DEBT FOR ROUBLES scheme
Leading Danish energy company Ørsted said it still did not intend to pay for Russian gas in rubles and admitted the possibility of a cessation of supplies

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Sancho Panzer says: May 31, 2022 at 10:52 am

On Sussssan Ley and live sheep exports.
Let’s just put aside for a moment the rights and wrongs of it and her burning a good part of her constituency.
It is stupid politics.
All you are doing is driving voters away from the Nats to PHON and UAP. Animal Justice and PETA types are never, EVER, voting National.

Let’s just put aside for a moment the rights & wrongs & how she’s driving votes away from Nationals & PETA will never vote National.

Sussan Ley is a member of, & the Deputy Leader of, the Liberal Party.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 31, 2022 11:07 am

Also luvs “troughin” especially when it involves “free” travel involving extensions to her property potfolio ….

Nothing a spell on the pine won’t cure. Then all is forgiven.

sfw
sfw
May 31, 2022 11:07 am

Great article at The Spectator, accurately defines why the Libs lost, the Libs will ignore it of course, Dutton is already making a personal move leftwards, what do the Libs do to their politicians?

https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/05/the-price-of-not-being-liberal-enough/

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 31, 2022 11:08 am

Unpopular opinion, but I actually like Adolf Hitler’s paintings.

Pity his paintings weren’t more popular, we might have dodged a World War.

P
P
May 31, 2022 11:11 am

Sussan Ley to continue being a ‘strong voice for women’

“And my message to the women of Australia is we hear you, we heard you, we’re listening, we’re talking, and we are determined to earn back your trust and your faith.”

sfw
sfw
May 31, 2022 11:14 am

On ‘The Australians’ front page at the moment.

“Peter Dutton has ruled out changing the Liberal Party’s policy on nuclear energy, saying it is “not on the table at the moment”.”

Who was it said “They have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing”?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 31, 2022 11:18 am

Oops.
So she is a Liberal.
I suspect I was thinking of Bridget McKenzie who is out of the same mould.
But the point remains.
Why buy into an issue which is basically a fait accompli, when the only result is a bonfire of ballot papers?
Unless you are simply pandering to the press gallery.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 31, 2022 11:23 am

“They have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing”?

Charles Talleyrand on the Bourbons, IIRR. That ended badly too.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 31, 2022 11:24 am

Extraordinary how a 3% decline in the primary vote can provide a “clear mandate”.

Democracy, the worst form of government except …

Not Uh oh
Not Uh oh
May 31, 2022 11:25 am

Albanese addresses Caucus. First up, a commitment to the Uluru Statement. FMD. TV off.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 31, 2022 11:26 am

Charles Talleyrand on the Bourbons, IIRR. That ended badly too.

That’s my understanding, as well.

dopey
dopey
May 31, 2022 11:27 am

Sydney Morning Herald.
I am amazed that there are still people who believe that we should turn to nuclear energy to combat climate change, when we have the opportunity to have a reliable source of clean energy that requires no mining.
Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, and green hydrogen is easily produced from it. Andrew Forrest is preparing to manufacture green hydrogen in Australia, and I am sure he will succeed in this venture just as he succeeded in establishing Fortescue Mining.
There’s always danger in nuclear power production, as the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters showed, and if we were to become involved in a war, what devestation a hit on a nuclear power station would be.
Green hydrogen is safe, can be easily produced around the country, and once established it will be cheap, and easily exported. We should bury the idea of nuclear power in this country forever and leave the uranium in the ground. It’s time for green hydrogen.
Pam Nankivill, Parkes

shatterzzz
May 31, 2022 11:31 am

How do these folk not only get away with it but make a comeback? .. reading that Adriano Zumbo is back in business with another cake shop .. this bloke went into administration in 2017 owing over $10million to creditors, staff who not only lost wages & super but a lot of them were underpaid as well, plus $1million to the the Tax Office and yet here he is ready to do it all again .. must have some great maaates who, not only paid all his debts but refinanced his new venture ……… as if! … FFS!

Dot
Dot
May 31, 2022 11:35 am

Green hydrogen is safe, can be easily produced around the country, and once established it will be cheap, and easily exported. We should bury the idea of nuclear power in this country forever and leave the uranium in the ground. It’s time for green hydrogen.
Pam Nankivill, Parkes

Oh god.

I hope that’s satire.

Wait until she hears about lithium-deuterium weapons.

What’s left, wind power?!

shatterzzz
May 31, 2022 11:37 am

“And my message to the women of Australia is we hear you, we heard you, we’re listening, we’re talking, and we are determined to earn back your trust and your faith.”

Wimminzes to get “free” travel to/from and a 10% discount on all finalized property deals .. LOL!

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 31, 2022 11:41 am

132andBushsays:
May 31, 2022 at 9:58 am
According to CL’s site, Susan Ley, became Sussan Ley because of numerology and supports a ban on exporting sheep. Baldie conceeds on gerbil warming in 18 1/2 hours.

Like I’ve stated, a fruitloop.

Wonder what her star sign is?

m0nty
m0nty
May 31, 2022 11:42 am

Have there been any policy changes under Dutton, or is it just putting lipstick on a potato?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 31, 2022 11:44 am

Towering inferno…

Researchers introduce new energy storage concept to turn high-rise buildings into batteries (Phys.org, 30 May)

With the rapid reduction in the costs of renewable energy generation, such as that of wind and solar power, there is a growing need for energy storage technologies to make sure that electricity supply and demand are balanced properly. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) researchers have come up with a new energy storage concept that could turn tall buildings into batteries to improve the power quality in urban settings.

Ok, no it isn’t as insane as filling a high rise tower with actual batteries. But it is totally bonkers in a different way: they want to carry wet sand up the elevators and park it in unused apartments. Then produce electricity by putting it back in the elevator and run it down to the ground floor again. You really can’t make this stuff up. I wonder how big the grants they are getting?

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