Open Thread – Weekend 16 July 2022


Sunday, Alexei Korzukhin, 1884

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OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 10:28 am
OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 10:31 am

Mon Dieu – What is the World Coming to?

France has run out of Dijon mustard and it’s no laughing matter

The mustard makers of Burgundy have been hit by a triple catastrophe that has cut supplies of the seeds of Brassica juncea, the so-called ‘brown mustard’ species used for the Dijon product.

Paris | Surgical masks and paracetamol for the fight against COVID-19. Microchips from Asia for European car manufacturers. Sunflower oil from Ukraine for restaurants and households. All have been in short supply at times since the start of the pandemic.

But now – for French food lovers – it’s getting serious: the country is running out of mustard.

“I eat lots of mustard,” French musician Didier Marouani told me with barely concealed panic, “but there’s no mustard in Paris. I’ve been to 25 shops, and we’ve found nothing – well, there is some mustard, but it’s not the good stuff.”

It’s the same story as far afield as the Mediterranean. As I write this, I have just received a WhatsApp message from a concerned colleague: “Guys. Corsica has run out of mustard too. It’s the talk of the town.”

Trifecta of pain

The mustard makers of Burgundy say they have been hit by a triple catastrophe that has cut supplies of the seeds of Brassica juncea, the so-called “brown mustard” species used for the Dijon product.

First, there was bad weather in Burgundy itself and in Canada linked to climate change, particularly a North American heatwave last year that cut the crucial Canadian mustard seed exports by half.

Then there was the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which had previously been a fallback source of supply. And last, importers faced the global COVID-related shipping and transport logjams.

“We didn’t think we would have such a shortage,” says Luc Vandermaesen, managing director of producer and exporter Reine de Dijon, who also heads the Burgundy Mustard Association.

Wholesale prices for the seeds were double or triple the normal level for some shipments, and retail prices have risen nearly 10 per cent in the past year.

A visit to my nearest Monoprix supermarket confirms the gravity of the crisis. No mustard at all. And although the local corner store has two kinds on sale, one is bright yellow Colman’s mustard imported from England and the other is a “sweet-and-sour” concoction mixed with honey.

There is no sign of the smooth Dijon mustard so prized by the French – Amora and Maille are popular brands, and along with Colman’s belong to Unilever.

C.L.
C.L.
July 18, 2022 10:35 am

Zelensky firing dozens of people for treason and releasing convicted nazis of the old Tornado Battalion to join the war. (Amongst many other things, they were convicted of sodomy torture and forced ‘suicide’ during their reign of terror against Russian ex-pats).

War’s going well, obviously.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 10:40 am

When completed, Queensland’s charging network will be 5,400km long, opening up new travel destinations for more than 10,000 drivers in the state who have gone electric to date.

Pity the average person paying for it all, having to fill up at $2.00l +.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 10:43 am
H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 10:47 am

A Frenchman eating Colmans? Probably time to check your tank is in working order.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 10:47 am

Zelensky firing dozens of people for treason and releasing convicted nazis of the old Tornado Battalion to join the war.

Shades of the Austria Hungarians during WW1 where their chief of espionage sold their plans to the Russians.
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/redl_alfred

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 10:49 am

Traditional end for the chap though..

After a brief interrogation, the commission left Redl’s hotel room. In the early hours of 25 May 1913 he used the opportunity offered to him and committed suicide.

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
July 18, 2022 10:50 am

Coal is dead!!………………………………..China won’t buy our coal!!……………………

Whitehaven flags record $3bn profit as coal soars

The coal major has flagged further share buybacks and a strong dividend on the back of what is expected to be a record $3bn before tax profit.

We should just tell China to fuck off, there is plenty of demand for our coal elsewhere.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 10:50 am

Adds Dijon mustard to shopping list.

Six jars ought to tide me over.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 10:56 am

Elbow having to slither over to the greens for a grovel and fundament clean.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/17/greens-open-to-backing-labors-43-emissions-target-but-demand-ban-on-new-coal-projects
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has signalled his party is open to backing the government’s 43% emissions reduction target, but says there are “problems” with the bill as he digs in on his demand that new coal and gas projects be banned.

The Liberal party appeared set to vote against Labor’s emissions target, with the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, raising concerns about enshrining the reduction in legislation. This would mean the Greens are now crucial to the success of the bill.

“We’re up for talking. We’re up for moving. We’re up for shifting,” Bandt told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.

The government would need the support of either the Coalition or the Greens to pass the emissions legislation in the Senate. The Greens want far higher reductions, up to 75%, citing climate scientists who said Labor’s 43% target was not compatible with keeping global heating below 1.5C. Albanese has said his target is not up for debate.

Albanese in May flatly rejected any prospect of negotiating the emissions target with the Greens, and has since challenged the Greens to support the plan or oppose it, but last week said the government would consider “sensible amendments” that may be proposed.

Tom
Tom
July 18, 2022 10:58 am

The US CBS network’s Australian tax dodge, the 10 Network, has decided to hide Lisa Wilkinson in America to discourage Australian authorities from charging her with contempt of court over her Logies speech. The Paywallian’s Media Diary:

It’s amazing the impact that one Logies winner’s speech can have.
Sources close to Lisa Wilkinson have confirmed to Diary that she has now headed off to America, and will now probably not return to her role as The Project’s co-host until late August at the earliest.
It had initially been thought that Wilkinson would return to The Project panel on the Sunday night just passed, after a taking a four-week break from the show.
The Wilkinson camp told Diary at the time that her absence was largely due to a high emotional ‘‘toll’’ from her speech at the Logies, which caused a media storm.
But nearly a month on from the June 19 event, we’ve learnt that her absence as co-host will continue. The Wilkinson camp appears to be reasoning that right now may not be best timing for a return to live appearances on the panel for the The Project.
So instead, Wilkinson has enacted a ‘‘Plan B’’. Diary understands that she was quietly and securely whisked out of Australia and into Los Angeles over the weekend, and will now make the US her base for at least the next few weeks while she files stories for The Project.
After her US trip, Wilkinson is also expected to take some leave which we’re told she had already booked, to extend her absence from the show until at least the end of August.
We’re told Wilkinson will be filing interviews and packaged stories for The Project from the US, mainly from Hollywood and New York.
It is understood that high up on her interview agenda will be a combination of household name musicians and A-list film stars, with many key US movie releases expected in August and September at the end of the northern ¬summer.
We’re told she will also file an interview with celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, known for her pursuit of women’s rights cases, which are known to be close to Wilkinson’s heart.
This follows her first interview a week ago with gold-medal-winning Olympic swimmer Michael Klim about his battle with the debilitating illness, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).
Interestingly, we’re told Wilkinson will make her first tentative steps back towards live broadcasting during the trip, crossing into The Project panel on occasions over the next few weeks.
While Carrie Bickmore made her long-awaited return to the hosting of the Monday to Wednesday editions of The Project last week, the show will still have to find a temporary female host to fill in for Wilkinson on the Thursday, Friday and Sunday instalments in coming weeks.
Diary understands that this void will be filled by a combination of regular The Project stand-in host Georgie Tunny, Studio 10 host Sarah Harris and Sydney radio personality Rachel Corbett.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 18, 2022 10:58 am

Only six Roger, I’m having a panic attack.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 10:59 am

Adds Dijon mustard to shopping list.

Don’t forget 2nd order effects – mayonnaise.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 11:03 am

Diary understands that [Wilkinson] was quietly and securely whisked out of Australia and into Los Angeles over the weekend…

Private jet, no doubt.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 11:05 am

Tom – I did note the decidedly US bias in the story.. Expect “Channel 10” would appear fairly regularly in parent company board papers. I expect an employee charged with perverting the course of justice might raise more than an eyebrow in the US.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 11:06 am

Farmer Gez said

The Ukraine war is a damning reflection of modern journalism.

Never before have we seen less or known less about the hot zones. Opinion and posture from safe areas have replaced the head down war correspondent.

It a war of self serving anecdotes that never gives you a full picture of the state of play.

I like to try read both sides – rt.com, sott.net, http://www.strategypage.com etc – especially given Biden,

Joe Biden boasted that as vice president he threatened to withhold $1 billion in foreign aid from Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor looking into a lucrative contract held by his son, Hunter Biden.

and

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A conversation between a State Department official and the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine that was posted on YouTube

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-ukraine-tape-idUKBREA151VA20140207

revealed an embarrassing exchange on U.S. strategy for a political transition in that country, including a crude American swipe at the European Union.

especially given Julia Nuland’s Involvement in President Trump’s impeachment on Ukraine Call

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957

Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call

But Given America is Baiting the Russian Bear using Ukraine Bodies on NATO and US Behalf with WW III and Nuclear War possible

Yes Prime Minister was well ahead of its time – prescient in current situation described in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o861Ka9TtT4

“When Will You Press the Button”

and in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7YR6WICIAI

The Red Hot Nuclear Button Yes, Prime Minister Comedy Greats

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 11:07 am

Farmer Gez said

The Ukraine war is a damning reflection of modern journalism.

Never before have we seen less or known less about the hot zones. Opinion and posture from safe areas have replaced the head down war correspondent.

It a war of self serving anecdotes that never gives you a full picture of the state of play.

I like to try read both sides – russia today, sott, strategypage. etc – especially given Biden,

Joe Biden boasted that as vice president he threatened to withhold $1 billion in foreign aid from Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor looking into a lucrative contract held by his son, Hunter Biden.

and

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A conversation between a State Department official and the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine that was posted on YouTube

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-ukraine-tape-idUKBREA151VA20140207

revealed an embarrassing exchange on U.S. strategy for a political transition in that country, including a crude American swipe at the European Union.

especially given Julia Nuland’s Involvement in President Trump’s impeachment on Ukraine Call

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957

Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call

But Given America is Baiting the Russian Bear using Ukraine Bodies on NATO and US Behalf with WW III and Nuclear War possible

Yes Prime Minister was well ahead of its time – prescient in current situation described in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o861Ka9TtT4

“When Will You Press the Button”

and in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7YR6WICIAI

The Red Hot Nuclear Button Yes, Prime Minister Comedy Greats

Tom
Tom
July 18, 2022 11:07 am

Adds Dijon mustard to shopping list.

This is serious. Dijon has already been removed from Woolworths’ discount list so periodic discounts to around $3.30 per jar are no longer available. Now it’s $5 or see ya later.

Well, it’ll take more than that to put off your serious French mustard head. Dijon or death!

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 11:12 am

Perhaps the US might do an Assange with Mts Pirate Pete with a prisoner swap on board an American aircraft carrier in the Pacific somewhere? Would make a good miniseries.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 11:14 am

Only six Roger, I’m having a panic attack.

😀

I mainly use Dijon on pastrami and in a honey mustard sauce.

English, Australian & even American mustards on other things. Horses for courses.

I think that’ll see me through to next season.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 11:16 am

Mustard is basically one step up from a weed. Probably still a couple of months too early to plant for spring. Has a bright yellow flower which should help in planning.

C.L.
C.L.
July 18, 2022 11:17 am

LOL. Wilkinson as the Australian Yasser Arafat.

Never two nights in the same bad.

C.L.
C.L.
July 18, 2022 11:18 am

bed

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 11:19 am

Zelensky firing dozens of people for treason and releasing convicted nazis of the old Tornado Battalion to join the war.

Ditto Vlad.

Ukraine LIVE: Putin raiding ‘hell hole’ prisons as he sends cannon fodder to front lines (18 Jul)

Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the organisation Gulagu.net, told RFE/RL two sources told him some 300 inmates at Correctional Colony No. 1 in the town of Tlyustenkhabl had been recruited by the private military company Vagner, which has ties to the Kremlin.

A day earlier, Gulagu.net issued a video it said was taken in the penitentiary in Adygea.

Soldiers from jails will bolster the ranks of the invading forces with the promise of almost £2,800 and their sentences scrapped if they comply.

Originally open to convicts with a record of military service, the new scheme now appears to be open to all prisoners, apart from people serving 20 years or more for heinous crimes.

The prisoner-soldier scheme is reportedly being run by the FSB, Russia’s state security services.

A family member of one convict said prisoners were being asked to attack ‘Nazis’ in Ukraine, the false claim put forward by the Kremlin about the war in Ukraine.

They said: “They talked to convicts and asked them to ‘defend Motherland’…. My relative was told this: ‘It is very hard to find Nazis, they are prepared very well. You will be in vanguard, help find the Nazis – this is why not everyone will return’.

“Those who survive are promised a reward of 200,000 roubles [£2,800] and an amnesty. And if he dies, they promise to pay the family 5 million rubles [£70,000]. But this is all words, it will not be recorded anywhere on paper.”

Baddies vs baddies, literally. Won’t be hard for them to find Nazis, just look at their own officers.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 11:20 am

Squeezy yellow American mustard is actually OK on hot dogs. American processed foodstuffs are very hit and miss.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 11:21 am

Indolentsays:
July 18, 2022 at 9:23 am
This is where we’re at

Dance School Drops Ballet from Auditions for Being ‘Built Around White European Ideas’

Racism, straight up, as m0nty-fa would say.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 11:21 am

Mustard is basically one step up from a weed. Probably still a couple of months too early to plant for spring. Has a bright yellow flower which should help in planning.

The other option is to buy some brown mustard seeds now while they can still be had (larger bags can probably be purchased at Indian grocery stores) and mix up your own Dijon as a last resort, should it come to that.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 18, 2022 11:24 am

Perhaps the US might do an Assange with Mts Pirate Pete with a prisoner swap on board an American aircraft carrier in the Pacific somewhere

Taking to account the size of Ms Wilkinson’s superstructure, she would be a damn sight harder to tip off the deck of an aircraft carrier into the ocean than an F35, as happened the other day in the Mediterranean.

Slim Cognito
Slim Cognito
July 18, 2022 11:26 am

I’m not too fussed about mustard but have you seen the price of honey lately?

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 11:34 am

Don’t know how much attention this got but that plane that crashed carrying armament over the weekend .. turns out it was Ukrainian and carrying ammo from Ukraine enroute to Mogadishu .. wierd!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 11:39 am

turns out it was Ukrainian and carrying ammo from Ukraine enroute to Mogadishu

I read it was going from Serbia to Bangladesh carrying mines. Which went kaboom when it crashed. Maybe the Bangladesh thing was cover though, since it’s probably illegal to sell mines to Somalia.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 18, 2022 11:41 am

Australia has ordered millions more COVID vaccines than it needs. What are the options to deal with them?

If you know the population of Australia and are capable of simple mathematics, it wasn’t difficult to anticipate this issue. When the govt announced it had purchased 50 million Novavax doses at a time we already had truckloads of AZ and the mRNA poison darts both admonistered and in the fridge it was clear we were in peak clownworld.

Same thing happened with RAT tests – well, at least in WA. When Omicron first broke out here, there was a dearth of RATs, so McClown went out of his way to be the decisive leader and ordered a bazillion tests. Now we’re swimming in the bloody things that will need to be thrown away in less than a year when their shelf life expires. My wife’s work has given her several boxes of 20 packs. Last time I went to the pharmacy to pick up a relative’s script, they gave me – completely unsolicited – a box of 10! My kids keep bringing them home from school. What are we supposed to do with all of these things? We have hundreds!

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 11:41 am

Get ready for awful hot takes surrounding the Indiana mall shooting.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 18, 2022 11:41 am

administered, even

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 18, 2022 11:51 am

Any weapons heading out of Ukraine are obviously lining the pockets of politicians. If they’re not using them in battle they deserve everything they get from the Russians. Remember the proles voted them in unless Dominion was counting the votes as a tryout for the US.

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 11:51 am

The Burnet Institute’s Professor Crabb says Australia needs a “covid reset”

I wonder what problem they’re trying to fix?

Right now I can’t see any problem, other than Freedom and Liberty.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 18, 2022 11:55 am

OCO the rat tests will fit up McClown’s fundament. Removal from the box not necessary.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 11:55 am

I doubt that many would be able to locate their group’s “country”.

Rubbish. We’ve been told ad nauseam that songlines make brilliant maps.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 11:57 am

I’ve read a lot of commentary since Friday.

I think this is the quote of the weekend:

Life has about it a seemly, inevitable flow, a progression from birth to childhood to youth to adulthood to middle age to old age, and finally to death, with rules and roles appropriate to each stage. It is good to be old. It is good to be young. It is right to be a child and right, when the time comes, to be a mother or father, and right, further down the road, to be a grandfather and, by and by, a corpse. To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. Let’s leave it at that.

Morrow’s column here is unfortunately behind the Journal’s paywall. He implicitly advises Biden to pack it in, but Biden should never have packed in the first place.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 11:58 am

Who cares about a mustard famine when we will soon have no meat to put it on.

Cassie of Sydney
July 18, 2022 11:58 am

I’m still wondering when Mrs Pirate will be charged with contempt of court?

Or is Mrs Pirate special?

Fair Shake
Fair Shake
July 18, 2022 11:58 am

Wilkinson jets off to Hollywood to be with her brethren elite. Reloads on woke and metoosim to return triumphant for the Spring Carnival.

Can’t wait for her next series of lectures. Hopefully all that private jetting is getting her acclimatised to confined spaces.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
July 18, 2022 11:59 am

Oh Come Ons link is an article had been waiting to see. Surprise it is on ABC site.

Good info on Vax usage compared to how many ordered.

Novovax only 0.3% of 51 million used by end of June. Others about 1/4.

We are talking billions wasted although the article avoids mentioning the cost.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 11:59 am

Or is Mrs Pirate special?

Some pigs are more equal than others.

Kneel
Kneel
July 18, 2022 12:00 pm

“Making the Most of the Coming Biden Boom by Paul Krugman”

The economy isn’t booming, it went boom.
So technically, a Biden boom (several, actually) happened.

Mater
July 18, 2022 12:00 pm

Last time I went to the pharmacy to pick up a relative’s script, they gave me – completely unsolicited – a box of 10! My kids keep bringing them home from school. What are we supposed to do with all of these things? We have hundreds!

Choke the turtles with them. They make a good substitute for the ‘single use’ straws, but only if they can swallow them through all the masks building up over their heads.

Hypocritical dickheads.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 12:02 pm

He implicitly advises Biden to pack it in, but Biden should never have been picked in the first place.

Tucker said it best – Biden was senile 3 years ago and his handlers knew it.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 12:03 pm

What the Ukraine War is really about!

Western can’t sustain prolonged conflict in Ukraine – Pentagon supplier

The industry needs a “clear signal” from governments on what to build and whether it will be bought, Northrop Grumman’s CEO says

The West doesn’t have the stockpiles of weapons needed to sustain a prolonged military campaign in Ukraine or elsewhere, the CEO of one of the Pentagon’s main defense contractors has warned.

The military-industrial complex therefore needs a “clear demand signal” from Western governments on what exactly it should produce and whether it will be purchased, Kathy Warden told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday.

The Pentagon’s main contractors have been meeting several times a week to discuss efforts to supply Ukraine. The dialogue with the Pentagon was “good,” Warden said, and further discussions are ongoing about “getting clarity on their plans.”

While Northrop Grumman is ready to invest and even expand its factories “ahead of a contract,” the industry still needs more clarity about Washington’s plans to support Ukraine, Warden warned. The military-industrial complex needs to “get an indication that if we build it, the demand will come.”

The US has become Kiev’s top supplier in the ongoing conflict, allocating billions to prop up Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Moscow has reputedly urged the West to stop “pumping” Ukraine with weaponry, insisting that the aid would only prolong hostilities rather than change the ultimate outcome.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 12:04 pm

VicPlod went to Rome to interview Cardinal Pell.
Shirley other jurisdictions have top cops looking for work-related flights to Hollywood?

areff
areff
July 18, 2022 12:07 pm

Bear, don’t forget The Oz now has an editrix, so ‘stranded’ mums and kiddies stories are predictable XX fare.

Next week: Mrs Sharrouf’s 50 tantalising recipes to make the most of chick peas and camel leftovers

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 12:11 pm

London falling: Britain’s military decline exposes NATO’s collapse in credibility and capability

NATO’s plan to vastly increase its forward force is wishful thinking, and the UK’s struggle for military relevance is a perfect case in point

Confusion is the name of the game at NATO these days, with the alliance still reeling from last year’s Afghan debacle and unable to adequately disguise the impotence shown in the face of Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine. The bloc is but a shadow of its former self, a pathetic collection of under-funded military organizations more suited for the parade ground than the battlefield. No military organization more represents this colossal collapse in credibility and capability than the British Army.

Even before the current Ukraine crisis kicked off, the British military served more as an object of derision than a template of professionalism.

The UK Ministry of Defense was wrestling with planned force reductions that would see the British Army cut from its current “established strength” of 82,000 to 72,500 by 2025 (the actual strength of the British Army is around 76,500, reflecting ongoing difficulties in recruitment and retention.)

Even these numbers are misleading – the British Army is only capable of generating one fully combat-ready maneuver brigade (3,500 to 4,000 men with all the necessary equipment and support).

Given what we now know about the reality of modern warfare, courtesy of the ongoing Russian operation in Ukraine, the British battlegroup would have a life expectancy on an actual European battlefield of less than a week. So, too, would its allies in the Estonian 2nd Infantry Brigade. First and foremost, the units lack any sustainability, both in terms of personnel and equipment losses that could be anticipated if subjected to combat, or the basic logistical support necessary to shoot, move, or communicate on the modern battlefield. Artillery is the king of battle, and the British and Estonians are lacking when it comes to generating anywhere near enough tubes to counter the overwhelming fire support expected to be generated by any hostile Russian force.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 12:14 pm

Gruinaid beating the drums for a continent wide war.
With a nuclear armed opponent.

What complete retards.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/17/putin-is-already-at-war-with-europe-there-is-only-one-way-to-stop-him
Russia’s destabilisation operations, social media manipulation, cyber-attacks, diplomatic double-talk, nuclear blackmail, plus its unrelenting slaughter of civilians in Ukraine, will only intensify Europe’s state of siege in the months ahead. The west’s fanciful belief it could avoid continent-wide escalation is evaporating fast.*

Freezing pensioners, hungry children, empty supermarket shelves, unaffordable cost of living increases, devalued wages, strikes and street protests point to Sri Lanka-style meltdowns**

As if the mounting misery of millions were not daunting enough, then consider, too, the war’s knock-on impact on efforts to combat the climate and biodiversity crises. In the UK and elsewhere, net zero targets appear at increasing risk of being abandoned.***

Fortunately, there is an alternative: using Nato’s overwhelming power to decisively turn the military tide.

As previously argued here, direct, targeted, forceful western action to repulse Russia’s repulsive horde is not a vote for a third world war. It’s the only feasible way to bring this escalating horror to a swift conclusion while ensuring Putin, and those who might emulate him, do not profit from lawless butchery.****

* Or as they are called, “the same things “our” side are doing”
** Yessss, nothing to do with the spacktarded dream of renew-balls virtuousness underpinned by gas baseload from Russia ramping up energy costs then? Nothing to do with 50+ years on anti-nuclear power flogbaggery combined with pinning your hopes on some of the most oleaginous spivs and chancers promising wind/solar will provide you with eternal salvation.
*** Gods of the copybook headings, do you read it motherlover!
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”

**** Or you could lose a battle, then prepare a useful response for the next one, because youve fucked up big time here.
The initial supplying of armaments was a great tactic, but tactics are short term.

Fair Shake
Fair Shake
July 18, 2022 12:16 pm

Zelensky sends out urgent request for supplies as hashtags and scented candles stocks run low. Pelosi has already responded with a airdrop of shoes she doesn’t need anymore creating a Ukrainian frontline of crack, weird alluring troops. In a late statement from Russia, Kremlin announces ‘if it wears pumps and responds to correct pronouns, we can kill it.’

pete of perth
pete of perth
July 18, 2022 12:18 pm

A friend of a friend bought a house along Jutland Parade thanks to importing rat tests from china on behalf of the SFL

m0nty
July 18, 2022 12:22 pm

Yeah, I dunno about just posting Russian state government propaganda from RT. It’s pretty weak stuff, very reminiscent of Comical Ali.

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
July 18, 2022 12:23 pm

There are Eighty Times More Excess Deaths Associated With Cold Each Year than Heat

According to a recent study in the Lancet Planetary Health, between 2000 and 2019, there were an average of 65,000 excess deaths per year in England and Wales associated with cold, but fewer than 800 a year associated with heat. In other words, roughly 80 times more deaths per year are associated with cold than heat.

https://joannenova.com.au/2022/07/dear-uk-from-hot-australia-your-netzero-policies-will-kill-far-more-people-than-a-40c-weekday/

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 12:27 pm

I dunno about just posting Russian state government propaganda from RT.

So you’re saying that government owned broadcasters aren’t believable, eh Monty?

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 12:27 pm

Global Times not happy with Marles.
Maybe all this horseshit in the Australian media about a China/Australia “reset” can stop.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202207/1270760.shtml

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 18, 2022 12:28 pm

Given age and prostates, I don’t expect him to repeat that at the reunion.

Whoops-a-daisy, areff. Sancho will be on your tail for any more of these elder reminiscences which clog the speeding wheels of Catallaxy these days if his whiskery Grandpa Simpson-at-the-cricket take on my little reminiscence yesterday is anything to go by. lol.

That said, excess reminiscence can be a failing, albeit one we must treat with some sympathy as most of us will be there soon enough. At the birthday lunch yesterday a very dear old friend of ours, a retired businessman of eighty summers, did go on a bit about hard times during his arrival in Australia as a ten pound Pom some fifty years ago. I listened patiently while others of the twelve at table chattered across him, because I care about him and the tale was slow but still of interest. Hairy, celebrating his 70th against my 80th, sat there at our long-term friends’ well-set table, replete with all manner of excellent foods and wines, including some special Penfolds ‘Grandfather’ port (passed around in the proper way), and laid on comment that he never thought he would hear some of us discussing ‘nursing homes’. ‘Retirement villages’ came back the sharp reply from the few who were in that discussion.

We’re staying put, Hairy declared. And so we are, for some parts of each year, I contribute.

duncanm
duncanm
July 18, 2022 12:28 pm

Big_Nambassays:
July 18, 2022 at 10:50 am
Coal is dead!!………………………………..China won’t buy our coal!!……………………

Whitehaven flags record $3bn profit as coal soars

I must say.. I’m chuckling at my > 20%pa WHC purchase from late 2020

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 12:33 pm

What are we supposed to do with all of these things? We have hundreds!

how lucky can you get! .. I’ve never even seen one and, probably, wouldn’t recognize one if I came across one .. don’t even know how you “use” them .. LOL!

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 12:41 pm

How many of the 376 law enforcement officers at Uvalde school were on the city/county payroll?
Some would have come from San Antonio but how many copes does a city of less than 20,000 need.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 12:42 pm

cops.
not copes.

Dot
Dot
July 18, 2022 12:48 pm

Yeah, I dunno about just posting Russian state government propaganda from RT. It’s pretty weak stuff, very reminiscent of Comical Ali.

What if they’re not lying though?

m0nty
July 18, 2022 12:52 pm

What if they’re not lying though?

The stuff about the British military is basically shitposting. It is political propaganda, not reportage.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 12:55 pm

m0ntysays:
July 18, 2022 at 12:22 pm
Yeah, I dunno about just posting Russian state government propaganda from RT. It’s pretty weak stuff, very reminiscent of Comical Ali.

m0nty-fa didn’t check the name of the author!

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 1:00 pm

m0ntysays:
July 18, 2022 at 12:52 pm
What if they’re not lying though?

The stuff about the British military is basically shitposting. It is political propaganda, not reportage.

m0nty-fa is not really on top of the state of the British armed forces. Then, he probably doesn’t know much about the state of Australia’s armed forces either.

Ignorance is bliss, eh, m0nty-fa?

PS, have you checked the name of the author yet?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 18, 2022 1:01 pm

Best wishes to Steve Kates, one of Catallaxy’s own, who we now hear has had a stroke.

Too early, too young, but there is never a right time for this.
Hope recovery is swift and without any damage. We miss you, Steve.

m0nty
July 18, 2022 1:02 pm

Hmm, the author of the RT piece on the British military was… Scott Ritter, convicted rock spider and with a twenty-year axe to grind against America. Yeah, real authoritative.

Mater
July 18, 2022 1:02 pm

The stuff about the British military is basically shitposting. It is political propaganda, not reportage.

Growing up NEAR Puckapunyal doesn’t necessarily give a fat, red headed, sickly Collectivist any particular military insight.

Wrap yourself back up in glad-wrap, get back under the bed in the basement, and we’ll call you when it’s safe to come out.

m0nty
July 18, 2022 1:02 pm

Best wishes to Steve Kates, one of Catallaxy’s own, who we now hear has had a stroke.

Hear hear. Get well soon, Prof.

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 18, 2022 1:08 pm

Went to an ACT government office this morning, which is still practising Deep Covid.

Amongst the measures taken:
1. some poor masked woman was parked outside the closed electric doors in a corridor about 2 degrees above outside temp of 9. Her job was to ask you what you wanted, and to tell you to wait there.
2. Another worker came over to signal OK to open doors. I was allowed in and asked what I wanted.
3. Given a numbered ticket and directed to spaced out chairs.
4. Number came up – there were about 5 customers present so little waiting
5. Talk to lady – masked like all of them – behind plexiglass shield
6. Go and stand on purple dot in a line
7. Have photo taken by masked man in booth
8. Exit

Most of them looked fairly miserable, but hey – follow the science.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 1:10 pm

m0ntysays:
July 18, 2022 at 1:02 pm
Hmm, the author of the RT piece on the British military was… Scott Ritter, convicted rock spider and with a twenty-year axe to grind against America. Yeah, real authoritative.

Also a former military officer with knowledge of military affairs, and a former weapons inspector.

PS, do you think that the Guatemalan who allegedly raped the 10-year old in Ohio should be classified as a “rockspider”? But, nice try for a distraction squirrel.

PPS, I guess your “rockspider” point counter balances his opposition to George W’s war in Iraq? Do you ever get confused? Silly question, you suffer from permanent cognitive dissonance.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 1:14 pm

Dover

Dear oh dear, from the RUSI article, The Return of Industrial Warfare:

m0nty-fa now desperately Googling to discover if the author ever jumped the queue for the Tube.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 1:16 pm

How many of the 376 law enforcement officers at Uvalde school were on the city/county payroll?

Via Associated Press:

‘According to the report, 376 law enforcement officers massed at the school. The overwhelming majority of those who responded were federal and state law enforcement. That included nearly 150 U.S. Border Patrol agents and 91 state police officials.’

Early reports at the time mentioned that it was a Border Patrol officer who took out the shooter.

That being said, someone described as the “school district police chief” appears to have been nominally in charge of what has been described as a “chaotic” police response.

No doubt there are many “learnings” that will come from this.

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 1:23 pm

did go on a bit about hard times during his arrival in Australia as a ten pound Pom some fifty years ago.
“Hard times .. LOL! .. I landed at Mascot at 5.15am on a Sunday morning in 1967 .. 19 years old .. knew no one in Oz and had $A39 to my name .. taxi driver dropped me off at a boarding house in Neutral Bay and I was working for the Water Board by Tuesday .. Sure, there’s been lotza “hard times” since but, generally, self inflicted! .. Best decision I ever made was following thru on the tenpound tourist advert in the local paper .. LOL!
the last gummint dealings I ever had regarding immigrating was with whoever it was that handed me my ticket paperwork at Heathrow and said, “Good luck” ….. LOL!

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 1:29 pm

No doubt there are many “learnings” that will come from this.

Why? .. the only ones “paying” are the victims and families the “law enforcement” side, apparently, just get on with their daily lives after some “nasty” reporting” ..
bit of “bullets do kill but words only annoy ……..!”

pete of perth
pete of perth
July 18, 2022 1:34 pm

… did you beat Boon’s record?

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 1:35 pm

And Lots Of Love to you too shaterzzz.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 1:42 pm

m0ntysays:
July 18, 2022 at 12:52 pm
What if they’re not lying though?

The stuff about the British military is basically shitposting. It is political propaganda, not reportage.

Lets use an impeccably left source for monty then.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/nov/14/british-forces-no-longer-fit-for-purpose-former-uk-service-chiefs-warn
Former UK service chiefs have launched a devastating critique of the state of British forces, saying they were no longer fit for purpose and that the army was 20 years out of date.

Gen Sir Richard Barrons, who retired last year as commander of joint forces command, said the armed forces were close to breaking point, with the navy underfunded and the air force at the edge of its engineering capacity.

Barrons, speaking alongside counterparts from the navy and air force, was giving evidence to a House of Commons defence committee investigation into the latest defence review, which is scheduled to announce its findings next month and which will almost certainly mean more cuts.

Zipster
July 18, 2022 1:47 pm
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 18, 2022 1:47 pm

ACT to phase out petrol cars from 2035
Staff writers
STAFF WRITERS

The ACT government has launched a new plan to make every nine cars in ten sold in the territory to be zero emissions by 2030.

The Zero Emissions Vehicle Strategy will confirm commitment from the territory government to phasing out light petrol cars from 2035 and is expected to include new incentives and other programs to encourage people to switch out their old petrol vehicles.

Transport emissions currently account for sixty percent of the territory’s CO2 emissions.

The announcement comes along with news from Queensland over the weekend with the northern state planning to expand its electric vehicle charging infrastructure into the outback.

Once completed, Queensland’s charging network will be 5,400km long, opening up new travel destinations for more than 10,000 drivers in the state who have gone electric.

132andBush
132andBush
July 18, 2022 1:48 pm

Look at the calendar: Police were informed on Wednesday, June 22, but it was not until Tuesday, July 12, nearly three weeks later, that Fuentes was arrested. This raises more questions, including whether it was coincidental that Fuentes wasn’t arrested until after Megan Fox and Dave Yost went on Fox News to raise hell about this story.

It looks to me that Dr Bernard went to the media for political purposes without the permission or even knowledge of the mother/ child. She gave scanty detail in order to shield the mother and Fuentes from their sordid situation, even falsifying a legal document as to the age of the perp. This might, to some extent, explain the delay in arresting Fuentes. It’s instructive that the mother, in the end, notified children’s services, and not the doctor in Ohio, nor the abortionist in Indiana. Keep in mind, these are people described as ‘defending’ the most vulnerable, and yet their pregnancy doesn’t even warrant a mention to children services in their eyes. Some ‘defenders’ we have there.

Monty: “Whatever it takes”

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 1:50 pm

m0ntysays:
July 18, 2022 at 12:52 pm
What if they’re not lying though?

The stuff about the British military is basically shitposting. It is political propaganda, not reportage.

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/10/12/british-army-admits-more-delays-in-fielding-enough-combat-forces/#:~:text=A%20fully%20capable%20division%20including%20a%20new%20Strike,impact%20the%20admission%20would%20have%20on%20Britain%E2%80%99s%20allies.

LONDON — The limitations of the British Army’s ability to field modernized armored fighting forces in the 2020s have been laid bare in evidence submitted by the military to the parliamentary Defence Committee.

The Army admitted that by 2025 it would only be able to field a combat division consisting of just a single maneuver brigade and an interim maneuver support brigade.

A fully capable division including a new Strike brigade will not be available for fielding until the early 2030s — more than five years late, the Army said in written evidence published by the committee Oct 9.

One analyst here wondered what impact the admission would have on Britain’s allies.

“If you are the chief of staff of the U.S. Army, which still retains considerable heavy forces, you are going to really wonder how much the British Army is a warfighting army, “said Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in London.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 1:54 pm

Indolent:

failing to learn from history
and letting the same charlatans force you to repeat it

Had the Law come down on these people at this moment in time, we may not have had the fraud which is the WZV. It’s remarkable how badly corrupt science undermines itself.

Zipster
July 18, 2022 1:57 pm

There are Eighty Times More Excess Deaths Associated With Cold Each Year than Heat

they are already setting up the “narrative” that uk heat is responsible for the vaccine excess deaths

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
July 18, 2022 2:00 pm

thefrollickingmolesays:
July 18, 2022 at 12:14 pm

If I didn’t know that The Gods of the Copybook headings was by Kipling, I’d have sworn that it had been written this year.

Zipster
July 18, 2022 2:00 pm

The Zero Emissions Vehicle Strategy will confirm commitment from the territory government to phasing out light petrol cars from 2035 and is expected to include new incentives and other programs to encourage people to switch out their old petrol vehicles.

the incentive they are talking about is a per km toll

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
July 18, 2022 2:02 pm

the incentive they are talking about is a per km toll

“Incentive”.

Reminds me of an old Patrick Cook line: “A very big stick and a photograph of a carrot”.

Cassie of Sydney
July 18, 2022 2:02 pm

“is basically shitposting.”

Something you’re an expert at.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
July 18, 2022 2:03 pm

Complete article below from Daily Mail because it says what the other papers do not. Contrast with Bernard Crabb (head of Burnet Institute and head of AMA in the Oz article today. Is it because DM is HQ’d offshore and would have less Government influence on it that local papers ? Any reporters or TV / radio hosts should be using this info to question the politicians or experts. The experts need to be challenged as some of the interviews I have heard have been fawning and pathetic.

I note article says NSW Premier was on 2GB when he said flu more of an issue than Covid. Wonder if he was on Chris Smith / Fordham or Hadley show. Hadley would be very upset that info does not fit his scare campaign narrative. Meanwhile Smith is apparently consulting lawyers after Hadley implied his comments about the cruise ship might be affected by some sort of sponsorship.

The astonishing Covid-19 stats that EVERY Australian needs to see proving we DON’T need more rules – as a busy city centre hospital’s ICU ward lies almost EMPTY of Omicron patients
Median age of Covid deaths is 83, same as Australia’s average life expectancy
Most cases are among under 50s but only 1 in 10,000 of them died from Covid
Even 95 per cent of elderly frail residents in aged care units survived infection
St Vincent’s Hospital ICU ward currently only has a couple of Covid patients
NSW Premier Dom Perrottet admitted on Monday that flu was worse than Covid

The median age of those dying from Covid in Australia is now 83 years old – the same age as the nation’s average life expectancy, new government data has revealed.

The federal health department’s latest quarterly Covid report has blown the lid off the myths pushing Australia to return to punishing lockdowns and mask mandates.

The data came after it was revealed the ICU at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital now has just one or two Covid patients as medics admit the current wave is less severe. ‘We certainly don’t have many,’ confirmed a hospital spokesman on Monday. ‘It’s not presenting so much on the very acute side where patients need ventilation.’

The vast majority of those who have caught Covid are under 50, with 3,121,953 cases so far…but just 293 of that age have died of the virus since the pandemic began. The stats reveal that since Australia’s mass vaccination rollout began, those under 50 faces a less than one in 10,000 chance of dying from Covid.

‘The median age of all those infected is 31… [but] the median age of those who died is 83,’ federal government stats revealed on Monday. The average life expectancy in Australia is 82.9 years of age.

Most killed by Covid were men over 70 and women over 80, accounting for 7,585 deaths out of the nation’s total virus death toll of 10,582, up to 3pm last Friday. And even if Covid breaks out among elderly frail residents in aged care centres, more than 95 per cent of those infected will survive.. Of the 63,875 who caught Covid in Australian aged care centres, 60,771 recovered, with less than 1 in 20 of infected residents dying, for a tragic toll of 3,104.

NSW Premier Dom Perrottet admitted on Monday that the current flu wave was now a bigger threat than Covid. ‘At the moment, the current strand of influenza is more severe than the current strands of COVID,’ he told 2GB. ‘As we move through the next phase of the pandemic, we need to balance up the competing health issues.’

The official figures come as pressure grows for a return to compulsory masks ahead of a feared new outbreak of the virulent new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. Doomsday modelling by the Burnet Institute for the NSW government last year said the state’s health system could cope with up to 947 Covid patients in ICU. But NSW currently has just 64 Covid cases in ICU across the state with only 13 on ventilators.

The stats have also destroyed claims that Omicron is super-infectious, with infection rates staying constant all year long. Australia’s Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 outbreak, which started in January, coincided with the end of most mask mandates and lockdown restrictions. Omicron BA.2’s R0 – the number of people one person can infect without restrictions – is said to be around 13.3. But the Re – the effective rate of infection – has stayed around 1 or less since the middle of January, after a brief spike to 2.0 for a couple of days after New Year.

The government’s mass double-jab vaccination program, taken up by 95 per cent of the population, has played a huge part in controlling the spread of the virus. But the subsequent third booster shot program has been less successful , with just a 71 per cent take up, as work now starts on encouraging a fourth jab.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has urged students and children to mask up in schools, while NSW education minister Sarah Mitchell also flagged the return of masks in class. NSW schools have suffered a 30 per cent rise in staff shortages through sickness as a result of Covid and flu this year, she said. ‘We are absolutely feeling the pressure…there’s no question of that,’ Ms Mitchell admitted.

NSW and Victorian health ministers have both so far resisted the growing calls for a return to mask mandates, but critics say the looming state elections in October and November are the main reason behind any delay in bringing them back. Victoria chief health officer Ben Cowie told the state government to bring back masks, but the advice was rejected by state health minister Mary-Anne Thomas. ‘I made a decision based on the advice that I had received that further mandating masks was not the most effective way to get the message out about the importance of mask wearing,’ she said.

South Australia would need to declare another state emergency, after allowing the last announcement to expire, before they could issue any new mask mandate. Federal health minister Mark Butler also says it is ‘unlikely’ the government will enforce compulsory masks, but urged people to wear them in public and work from home where possible.

But Deakin University’s Professor Catherine Bennett insists compulsory masks will ease the coming Covid wave and also play a major psychological role. ‘When you put a mask on, it’s a reminder that things aren’t quite normal. It reinforces behaviours like taking a step back from other people,’ she told Seven West media. ‘The mask could be the thing that also helps us stay mindful of those other things … and stay that bit safer.’

The stats also revealed NSW has had the most Covid cases in Australia with 2,971,525 and 3,798 deaths. Victoria has had the most deaths with 4,148 from 2,245,301 cases. Northern Territory has had the least number of cases and deaths with 53 deaths from 83,684 infections, ahead of even ACT which has had 84 deaths from 175,923 cases.

The nation has also just passed the 75million milestone for the number of Covid test results since the pandemic began, almost three each for every single person”.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 2:03 pm

ACT to phase out petrol cars from 2035

LOL, who is going to break the news to Federal MPs? Electric comcars will be awesomely hilarious, and you’d need dedicated towing services in Goulburn and Bega for lost pollies with flat batteries.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 2:05 pm

shatterzzzsays:
July 18, 2022 at 1:23 pm
did go on a bit about hard times during his arrival in Australia as a ten pound Pom some fifty years ago.

“Hard times .. LOL! .. I landed at Mascot at 5.15am on a Sunday morning in 1967 .. 19 years old .. knew no one in Oz and had $A39 to my name .. taxi driver dropped me off at a boarding house in Neutral Bay and I was working for the Water Board by Tuesday

Did you go to the Water Boardworks Depot corner of Mowbray Road and Pacific Highway under TV Tower?

Italian Mate and I the day after we finished Leaving Certificate exams mid November 1961, lined up at the Water Board Works Depot corner of Mowbray Road and Pacific Highway under TV Tower at 0700 and were assigned to a Gang jackhammering and deepening Sewage Tunnel under (from memory) North Shore Temple Emanuel Chatswood- moved from there to jackhammering new Sewage for Killarney Heights – nicer in the open rather than standing in effluent in a tunnel jackhammering

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 18, 2022 2:07 pm

‘Systemic failures’ of police and authorities at Uvalde school shooting, report finds
Hugh Tomlinson, Washington
Monday July 18 2022, 12.01am BST, The Times
Although nearly 400 local, state and federal officers were on the scene, none took responsibility for confronting the lone teenage gunman
Save

An investigation into the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, has uncovered “systemic failures” and “egregious poor decision making” by local police and federal agencies.

The massacre left 19 children and two teachers dead. The 77-page report by the Texas state legislature, the most exhaustive investigation so far, highlighted glaring errors leading up to the May 24 attack on Robb Elementary School and on the day itself. Although nearly 400 local, state and federal officers were on the scene, none took responsibility for confronting the lone teenage gunman, “failing to prioritise innocent victims’ safety over their own” and causing a critical delay that may have cost lives.

The 21 victims were killed by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, who entered the school unchallenged and shut himself in two adjoining classrooms as law enforcement officers dithered in their response. It was more than an hour before officers broke into the classroom and shot Ramos dead.

Co-ordination between officers was further hampered by faulty radio equipment, while Pete Arredondo, the school district police chief and commanding officer at the scene, did not have a radio with him at all. As a result, he was unaware of 911 calls from desperate children and teachers still inside the classrooms appealing for help.

“The void of leadership could have contributed to the loss of life as injured victims waited over an hour for help, and the attacker continued to sporadically fire his weapon,” the report said.
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Arredondo has borne the brunt of criticism since the massacre, and failed to follow the Uvalde active shooter response plan, which he had co-authored and which placed him in charge of “all law enforcement and first responders that arrive at the scene”. Instead, Arredondo stayed in a corridor of the school as shooting continued and ordered officers to hang back, assuming others outside the school would take command.

The report found that without a radio, Arredondo lacked “reliable communication with other law enforcement” and castigated his “failure to establish a reliable method of receiving critical information outside the building”. Arredondo was placed on administrative leave last month.

The investigation is the first to criticise the inaction of state and federal agencies who arrived at the scene, however. Having established that Arredondo had lost control of the situation, other officers should have stepped up to take command, the report said. Instead, investigators found “an overall lackadaisical approach by law enforcement at the scene”.

“Local officials were not the only ones expected to supply the leadership needed during this tragedy,” the report said. “Hundreds of responders from numerous law enforcement agencies — many of whom were better trained and better equipped than the school district police — quickly arrived on the scene.”

The report also highlighted warning signs about the shooter that were missed before the attack. Ramos was an outcast from an impoverished, broken home who indulged in violent sexual fantasies and believed the massacre would bring him fame, the report said. He earned the nickname “school shooter” after making violent threats towards other users on online platforms and shared videos of suicides and beheadings.

In the months before the shooting, Ramos became determined to buy a gun, asking relatives to purchase a weapon for him when he was still 17. Family members “uniformly refused to buy guns for him”, but when he turned 18, Ramos spent more than $3,000 on two AR-15 style assault rifles. An uncle twice drove him to a local gun shop, where one of the patrons told the FBI that he “appeared odd and looked like one of those school shooters”. His online history was not reported to the authorities and he raised no red flags.

The report also found that complacency among school staff had undermined safety at Robb Elementary, allowing Ramos to enter the school with ease. Witnesses told investigators that doors were often left unlocked or wedged open, partly due to a shortage of keys.

Not all school employees received an emergency alert about the gunman because of a poor wireless internet signal, the report said. The school principal failed to issue an alert over the intercom, while the lock for classroom 111, where the gunman entered and began shooting, was known to be faulty but had not been repaired.
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“Had school personnel locked the doors as the school’s policy required, that could have slowed his progress for a few precious minutes — long enough to receive alerts, hide children, and lock doors,” the report said.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 2:10 pm

The ACT town council grandstanding on the future of ICE is pretty easy with Sydney a 3 hour drive away. I still need convincing Australia wound not be better off with Canberra levelled by a nuclear strike. On a weekday with Parliament sitting.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 2:17 pm

Qantas rearranges some London Heathrow departures amid passenger caps

Mon, 18 July 2022

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Qantas Airways Ltd has rearranged its flight schedule from London’s Heathrow Airport amid the hub’s move to cap passenger capacity and limit disruption, a spokesperson for the Australian carrier said on Monday.

The airline delayed the departure of its London-Perth flight by three hours on Sunday and has brought forward the departure of its London-Singapore flight on Tuesday by nine hours, with other changes possible as Britain’s busiest airport looks to limit queues, baggage delays and cancellations through September.

“We have two flights a day to London and we want to preserve them at all costs given people’s travel plans are at stake,” the Qantas spokesperson said.

Bringing forward the London-Singapore departure on Tuesday will result in an 11-hour layover in Singapore before the plane continues on to Sydney, during which time Qantas will provide accommodation for passengers.

“We’ve managed to negotiate a workaround that isn’t perfect but will get our customers to their destination,” the spokesperson said. “We continue to work with Heathrow on improving this situation.”

Aviation data firm OAG last week estimated the passenger caps at Heathrow would lead to $550 million in lost airline revenue.

Emirates said on Thursday it had rejected demands by Heathrow to cut capacity, despite being threatened with legal action, and intended to continue operating its six daily flights to the airport.

A day later, the Dubai-based airline reached an agreement with the airport to cap further sales on flights out of Heathrow through mid-August, according to a joint statement https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/heathrow-airport-and-emirates-joint-statement from Emirates and Heathrow.

Anchor What
Anchor What
July 18, 2022 2:18 pm

Nine in 10 cars sold in the territory will be zero emissions by 2030 under a new plan being launched by the ACT government this week.
Canberra, Washington, London; wherever the entitled public servants (I use the term loosely) aggregate we see leftism rampant.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 2:20 pm

Bringing forward the London-Singapore departure on Tuesday will result in an 11-hour layover in Singapore before the plane continues on to Sydney, during which time Qantas will provide accommodation for passengers.

Nice one. Should help peoples Sudoku skills.

m0nty
July 18, 2022 2:23 pm

Now look, I am among the last people to complain about Pom bashing. I love a good skewering of supercilious bastards as much as the next red-blooded Australian. What I was talking about was the uncritical reposting of entire swathes of RT.com stuff, which Old Ozzie can tend to do. Some of it may be true, all of it has a lot of mayo on it – e.g. if the whips really got cracking in a fair dinkum world war, you’d bet Old Blighty would be able to start manufacturing ammo in sufficient quantities.

There seems to be a concerted media push by arms manufacturers for Western governments to lock themselves in to long-term contracts to fund new munitions factories. I would be far more suspicious of the propaganda coming out now than to just repost blocks of text supporting a new arms race.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 2:23 pm

Helped, no doubt, by the curfew. Laughable for an “international” city.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 2:24 pm

shatterzzz

handed me my ticket paperwork at Heathrow

You spelled “Thiefrow” incorrectly.

132andBush
132andBush
July 18, 2022 2:25 pm

But Deakin University’s Professor Catherine Bennett insists compulsory masks will ease the coming Covid wave and also play a major psychological role. ‘When you put a mask on, it’s a reminder that things aren’t quite normal.

It’s a reminder that the people pushing for these measures ARE NOT QUITE NORMAL!

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 2:35 pm

Did you go to the Water Boardworks Depot corner of Mowbray Road and Pacific Highway under TV Tower?
Naah, not sure of location now but was more into North Ryde area, industrial .. big storage depot got a lift off someone who’d heard the WB was hiring and joined a queue of around 100 .. everyone got taken on .. loaded onto various trucks and off in different directions .. I ended up somewhere in Killara digging up private backyards and pipelaying .. used train from N Sydney & get picked up from K station and dropped back every afternoon .. did that for about 4 months until I was a bit more financial then joined the Fed PS as a clerk …….

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 2:36 pm

Anchor Whatsays:
July 18, 2022 at 2:18 pm
Nine in 10 cars sold in the territory will be zero emissions by 2030 under a new plan being launched by the ACT government this week.
Canberra, Washington, London; wherever the entitled public servants (I use the term loosely) aggregate we see leftism rampant.

Politicians, public servants at SES and above level, all receive a privately plated car as part of their remuneration. I wonder how many of them are planning to retire before 2035?

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 2:38 pm

m0nty-fa

you’d bet Old Blighty would be able to start manufacturing ammo in sufficient quantities.

What odds are you offering? JC or Winston (even Salvatore) might be up for a bet.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 2:39 pm

rosie:

premier Andrews should mandate these building specifications for all new Victorian builds.

On the edge of a Eucalypt Forest.
That place will go up like a bomb if someone as much as stubs a cigarette out on it.

slackster
slackster
July 18, 2022 2:41 pm

Oh come onsays:
July 18, 2022 at 11:41 am

Regarding the RAT’s on WA
McClown earlier this year had put a health order out fining anyone using a RAT $20,000.

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 2:42 pm

shatterzzz
handed me my ticket paperwork at Heathrow
You spelled “Thiefrow” incorrectly.

methinx, ten pounds for 13 500miles flight was pretty reasonable .. LOL!
The only condition(s) was you had to stay minimum 2 years .. if you left earlier you got billed for the original flight and became ineligible for future “bargain basement” immigration .. knew a few fools that got “homesick” and went back and from letters afterwards regretted it .. LOL!

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 2:42 pm

Note that m0nty-fa has not responded to the question on the 10-year old and her alleged rapist, nor about the use of “rockspider” in relation to that case, though he used it in relation to Ritter, who was convicted of flashing his dick on the web at a copper claiming to be a 15 or 16-year old girl, much older, and no personal contact.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 2:45 pm

mUnty’s outrages are ideologically selective.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 18, 2022 2:55 pm

McClown won’t comply with ABC mask mandate demands, ABC most affected:
WA government resists calls to extend mask mandate amid ANF claims patients treated in corridors

The WA government is standing firm on its refusal to reintroduce the mask mandate, despite reports patients are being treated in corridors as the number of people in hospital exceeds 400 for the first time.

Ooooh 400 people in hospital…that’s less than 10% of beds in public hospitals (probably another 1500-2000 in private hospitals) with a bunch of elective surgeries postponed. How many are in ICU? That’s where resources really get gobbled up and are generally tight at the best of times. Govt won’t say.

BTW, we’ve reached a “grim milestone” (will the media ever stop using this exhausted cliche?):

The state has reached a grim milestone, recording more than one million COVID cases since the pandemic began

Big deal. Covid is a fairly mild illness for the vast majority of those one million cases. Of course, the AMA is screeching for a return to mask mandates, and so is the nurses’ union (both can be reliably called upon by the ABC to back whatever demented Covid measure it seeks to have implemented).

So McClown is refusing to go along with it. Three cheers for him? Two? How about one? Hmm no. I think not. I don’t attribute his (in)action to him reaching down, checking left and right, realising he has a pair after all and telling the Covid hysterics to rack off. No, I suspect it’s because he’s been advised by his spin doctors that too large a proportion of the public will simply ignore a new mask mandate and that there will be significant political fallout for him if he tries to enforce one. Most of us have moved on.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 2:57 pm

Maybe switch on the LEDs in the rotating codpiece?

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 18, 2022 2:59 pm

he used it in relation to Ritter, who was convicted of flashing his dick on the web at a copper claiming to be a 15 or 16-year old girl, much older, and no personal contact.

For me, there’s now a big question mark hanging over Ritter’s convictions. We’ve seen the lengths the Feds are willing to go to in order to silence and discredit dissident voices.

Kind of funny. I bet Ritter was a hero of m0nty’s back in the Bush era. Wonder what m0nts was saying about his convictions then?

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 3:07 pm

Bruce of Newcastle says:
July 18, 2022 at 2:03 pm

ACT to phase out petrol cars from 2035

LOL, who is going to break the news to Federal MPs? Electric comcars will be awesomely hilarious, and you’d need dedicated towing services in Goulburn and Bega for lost pollies with flat batteries.

Fester:

It talks about cars sold or used in Canberra. I can’t imagine a better place to use such cars as the ACT is a small area. It doesn’t mention cars used in other regions. Furthermore the ACT does NOT dictate to the federal government what it can purchase and what it can use. You really need to stop taking these meds.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 3:12 pm

Howie Carr: Enduring Biden’s corruption and incompetence

It’s Weekend at Biden’s now that Dementia Joe is back in the USA after what will likely be one of his last visits to anywhere other than his second assisted-living facility on the Delaware Shore.

Brandon’s junket this week to the Mideast was so catastrophic that even state-run media could no longer ignore his senile babbling.

After stumbling off Air Force One, he vowed to “keep alive the truth and honor of the Holocaust.”

He meant to say, “horror.” Just as he was supposed to read “hallowed” when he slurred out “hollowed ground.”

But there was so much more, and as usual, all dialogue guaranteed verbatim.

At least twice he called the Israeli prime minister “Mr. President.” He referred to “Palestinian counties.” He discussed the “United Avrab Ememirates.”

He referred to the birth of Christ as “God’s great grift to the world.” To be fair, grifts are something all the Bidens understand.

Brandon’s mind is failing faster than your 401(k), and that’s saying something. He mentions going to the Japanese embassy after the murder of Shinzo Abe to sign the “consolence book.” For reaffirmed he reads “reafformed.” His nurses write “protect,” and it comes out “provide.”

Endure — that’s the word of the moment. Somehow we must all… endure the enduring character of Brandon’s dementia, corruption and incompetence.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 3:16 pm

“United Avrab Ememirates.”

Marshall Mathers checks into the middle-east.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
July 18, 2022 3:17 pm

Mrs Pirate, as far as I can tell, got let off with a warning. Very lenient under the circumstances. One of the criteria for contempt of court is that the conduct in question is likely to interfere with the administration of justice. Her grandstanding performance was a lot more than likely to interfere: it obviously did!

All animals are equal but some are more equal than others?

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 18, 2022 3:17 pm

you’d bet Old Blighty would be able to start manufacturing ammo in sufficient quantities.

Um no it wouldn’t. The deindustrialisation of the West means there isn’t nearly enough suitable industrial plant capable of being requisitioned and repurposed to supply the needs of a war economy. Our existing weapons manufacturing industries are very slow and expensive. The UK is no exception.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 3:18 pm

“United Avrab Ememirates.”

Marshall Mathers checks into the middle-east.

Will the real fat oily please stand up?

Zipster
July 18, 2022 3:18 pm

It’s Weekend at Biden’s now that Dementia Joe is back in the USA after what will likely be one of his last visits to anywhere other than his second assisted-living facility on the Delaware Shore.

biden may be an incompetent sock puppet, but the shadowy figures behind the scene know exactly what they are doing, systematically dismantling the USA and we are road kill

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
July 18, 2022 3:20 pm

This below from News blog of Deakin Uni Institute for Health Transformation. Head is Catherine Bennet who is in papers so often.

The danger of severe illness or death for under 60’s is remote yet the experts keep pushing more vaccines. Todays DM article says 1 in 10,000 chance of an under 50 dying from Covid. Even less if assume 16 million rather than 9 million cases.

If only this country actually had some competent journalists rather than reporters taking dictation from the experts without question.

“Vaccines protect individuals
Despite the allure of herd immunity, the primary purpose of COVID vaccination has always been to protect individuals from severe illness and death, and thus the impact of disease on the population.

In this regard, despite the waning protection against infection, vaccines appear to afford more sustained protection against severe disease.

So being vaccinated remains as important now as it has always been. Right now, at the start of winter and with few COVID restrictions, it has never been more important to ensure you are fully vaccinated”.

The full article “Herd immunity was sold as the path out of the pandemic. Here’s why we’re not talking about it any more” has a good explanation for why herd immunity so difficult.

Zipster
July 18, 2022 3:21 pm

Um no it wouldn’t. The deindustrialisation of the West means there isn’t nearly enough suitable industrial plant capable of being requisitioned and repurposed to supply the needs of a war economy. Our existing weapons manufacturing industries are very slow and expensive. The UK is no exception.

the only way we can defend against china is full nuclear war

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 3:23 pm

The US seems hell bent on becoming some kind of war economy.
The deep state would welcome an opportunity to give it a crack.

duncanm
duncanm
July 18, 2022 3:26 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alphasays:
July 18, 2022 at 1:47 pm
ACT to phase out petrol cars from 2035
Staff writers
STAFF WRITERS

The ACT government has launched a new plan to make every nine cars in ten sold in the territory to be zero emissions by 2030.

disconnect them from the NSW grid. NOW.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
July 18, 2022 3:28 pm

dover0beach says: July 18, 2022 at 2:36 pm

Marcus Trafalgar
@dolce65023071 ·
Jul 13
Hispanic restaurant owner threatens to call the police after black couple steals tray of fried chicken and walks out.

It’s not just the couple that are outrageous, it’s the people in the store that think this is funny.

When that shop & others in the area are refitted from open plan to plexishield & closed counter (like our banks now are) those same people & their “community leaders” can be referred to this video (& a plethora of similar ones) as to why their “friendly” stores have become like money-change booths.

duncanm
duncanm
July 18, 2022 3:29 pm

I still need convincing Australia wound not be better off with Canberra levelled by a nuclear strike. On a weekday with Parliament sitting.

I prefer a walled solution – like Escape from New York. You never know, a real leader like Snake Plissken may emerge.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 3:30 pm

Could China Or Russia Really Sink A US Navy Aircraft Carrier?

The Navy conducted “shock trials” on its newest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, in summer 2021, detonating 40,000-pound explosive charges in the water around it.

The Ford was the first carrier to go through shock trials since 1987. The trials didn’t simulate a direct hit, but Navy officials said the ship needed only a fraction of the repairs as the last carrier to go through them.

The trials were a demonstration of “super resilience” against conventional anti-ship weapons, a Chinese commentator said in August.

US carriers are “incredibly well built, as you saw with the shock trials on Ford,” Campagna said. “These things will take it and continue to operate, so I’m very confident in the aircraft carrier, very confident taking it out to sea in any environment.”

The layered defenses Campagna referred to include anti-ballistic-missile systems aboard the ships of the carrier strike group. The US Missile Defense Agency is also pursuing seaborne defenses for hypersonic threats.

The carrier itself has sensors and defenses, including surface-to-air missiles, radar-guided cannons, and “soft-kill” measures like decoys and electronic jamming. Chinese and Russian submarines are also a growing concern, and the US and allied navies have reemphasized anti-submarine warfare.

The risks of long-range missiles are forcing planners to reconsider combat operations to keep carriers and other ships out of range of those missiles until US bombers, submarines, and long-range missiles can knock them out. The US Navy is also pursuing longer-range aircraft and weaponry to continue operating in such a scenario. The MQ-25 carrier-based refueling drone, which will extend the range of carrier aircraft, was recently tested aboard a carrier for the first time.

Hitting US carriers also requires Chinese forces to find and track them.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 3:31 pm

biden may be an incompetent sock puppet, but the shadowy figures behind the scene know exactly what they are doing, systematically dismantling the USA and we are road kill

Hard to think this is not the case.

Gabor
Gabor
July 18, 2022 3:33 pm

Cassie of Sydney says:
July 18, 2022 at 7:34 am

It’s the Middle East. I don’t and have never “lionised” the Assad family. The Assads are very nasty people but given the choice between Assad’s Syria and a Syria run by IS, well, there isn’t much choice is there? Syria under the Assads is strongly secular Syria and Christians and other minorities are protected and women have a lot more freedom than they do in most other Muslim societies.

It’s the Middle East.

This is the point nearly every western politician overlooks or simply does not understand.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 3:34 pm

In September this year there will a full scale re-enactment of the Battle of Antietam.
Well that’s the plan.
I wonder how they will get enough Confederates.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 3:36 pm

Re-acting a battle on the Confederate side will get you de-banked.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 3:40 pm

When that shop & others in the area are refitted from open plan to plexishield & closed counter (like our banks now are) those same people & their “community leaders” can be referred to this video (& a plethora of similar ones) as to why their “friendly” stores have become like money-change booths.

Calm down Snopes, it’s already happened. Nearly all shelves in NYC drug stores – even Upper East Side ones- are locked up and entry doors to most stores are locked on the inside and will only allow you in after staff have taken a look at you.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 18, 2022 3:44 pm

Which new MacBook should you buy?

Have you ever wanted a computer that you could flog all day long, and well into the night, without it ever whining once?

Look no further than Apple’s almost completely redesigned MacBook Air, an ultraportable laptop that we’ve been flogging the hell out of here in the Digital Life Labs, and from which we’re yet to hear a single whisper of complaint.

The MacBook Air, you see, is the laptop computer Apple has designed to be the most portable, and the most silent, of all its laptops.

It’s got the new Apple Silicon M2 processor that first appeared a couple of weeks ago inside the entry-level MacBook Pro. But where the MacBook Pro is designed to get the most performance out of the M2 processor, the MacBook Air is designed to give you the most portability, and the most silence, even if that means taking the edge off the performance of the M2.

The Air, you see, doesn’t have an internal cooling fan, which means three things: it allows it to be thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pro; it means it never makes a whining noise, even when it’s being flogged to death; and it means it will start to slow down pretty soon after you start flogging it with a heavy workload, to prevent the M2 processor from actually dying due to overheating.

What does all that mean?

It means that, for most computer users, there is absolutely no reason to get the new MacBook Pro, if that’s the thing you’re hesitating about when you’re considering buying the new MacBook Air.

Losing 20 per cent performance only after you’ve flogged the thing to death for half an hour is a small price to pay in order to get a computer that’s thinner, lighter, has better charging options (the Air has a MagSafe charging port as well as USB-C charging), a slightly larger screen (13.6- versus 13.3-inch) and is cheaper than the MacBook Pro.

To us, the choice is an easy one. It’s the fanless, whine-free MacBook Air over the MacBook Pro every time.

If only you could still run Windows on Apple Silicon MacBooks the way you could run it on Intel MacBooks, Apple would be killing it.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 3:50 pm

Hard to think this is not the case.

It remains to be seen whether the Separation of Powers and the various governance bodies are sufficiently strong and self healing to allow the USA to continue to fulfil its historical role in world affairs. At best, you would have to say the jury is out on this one.

m0nty
July 18, 2022 3:55 pm

biden may be an incompetent sock puppet, but the shadowy figures behind the scene know exactly what they are doing, systematically dismantling the USA and we are road kill

It always comes back to the Protocols with you, Zippy.

Kneel
Kneel
July 18, 2022 3:57 pm

“Reminds me of an old Patrick Cook line: “A very big stick and a photograph of a carrot”.”

Or: They’ll promise you the world, and hand you an atlas.

m0nty
July 18, 2022 4:01 pm

Um no it wouldn’t. The deindustrialisation of the West means there isn’t nearly enough suitable industrial plant capable of being requisitioned and repurposed to supply the needs of a war economy. Our existing weapons manufacturing industries are very slow and expensive. The UK is no exception.

They still have the technical capability. The rest is just logistics.

You think Russia would win an arms race? They lost the last one, remember. It bankrupted them.

If you think the new arms race is with China… well, that’s another story. But we’re not far down that path just yet.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
July 18, 2022 4:02 pm

… it’s already happened. Nearly all shelves in NYC drug stores – even Upper East Side ones- are locked up and entry doors to most stores are locked on the inside and will only allow you in after staff have taken a look at you.

You’re saying that shop is already refitted, & the video is old?

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 4:08 pm

You’re saying that shop is already refitted, & the video is old?

No Snopesy, I’m not saying that all, you mentally damaged nincompoop.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 4:10 pm

Fatboy.

You never appear to want to talk about Hiden. Also, recall your numerous comments about Trump’s kids? How do you think Bunter is traveling these days?

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
July 18, 2022 4:11 pm

I’m not saying that all,

What are you saying?

you mentally damaged nincompoop.

Class language.
Some things never change. You never fail to prove you’re an unwiped arsehole.

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
July 18, 2022 4:12 pm

… did you beat Boon’s record?

Nobody, but nobody, beats Boonie’s record.

Greatest Tasmanian since “Electric” Eric Reece wanted to keep building dams.

Oh, and Ricky Ponting and John Greening (Collingwood).

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 4:14 pm

You think Russia would win an arms race? They lost the last one, remember. It bankrupted them.
If you think the new arms race is with China… well, that’s another story. But we’re not far down that path just yet.

USA will always win the “race’ but does it have the bottle, as do Russia & China, to “use” the weapons ..?
neither Russia/China is hamstrung by media opinion in the way the USA is ..
USA has armed both Afghanistan and Ukraine with tonnes of armament for no discernible return on the outlay other than humilation & embarrassment …..!

m0nty
July 18, 2022 4:17 pm

Not much to talk about with Biden, old man. He is doing most of what he can with the Senate that he has, which is not much.

I see several Senate races in red states are competitive because the Repubs have put up clown candidates. The mid-terms might not be as bad for the President’s party as usual. Would be nice to see Manchin and Sinema removed from the balance of power.

m0nty
July 18, 2022 4:18 pm

USA will always win the “race’ but does it have the bottle, as do Russia & China, to “use” the weapons ..?
neither Russia/China is hamstrung by media opinion in the way the USA is ..

You seem like an old bloke shat, surely you remember 1945.

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 4:20 pm

In September this year there will a full scale re-enactment of the Battle of Antietam.
Well that’s the plan.
I wonder how they will get enough Confederates.

Luv to be there but I’ll settle for the video …. passport & re-entry visa (Oz) both expire shortly so not gonna fork out around $A700 at 74 to renew them .. LOL!

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
July 18, 2022 4:20 pm

Not much to talk about with Biden. He is doing most of what he can with the Senate that he has, which is not much.

This would happen only on days when Biden doesn’t believe he is still a Senator in that Senate.

The bloke is a gibbering senile idiot.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 4:23 pm

Class language.

Some things never change. You never fail to prove you’re an unwiped arsehole.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 4:23 pm

ROFLMAO. m0nty-fa slags a known US military expert for being published by RT. Smacked down, he attempts to impersonate a member of the Imperial Loyalist’s League, smacked down again, he disappears.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 4:29 pm

m0ntysays:
July 18, 2022 at 3:55 pm
biden may be an incompetent sock puppet, but the shadowy figures behind the scene know exactly what they are doing, systematically dismantling the USA and we are road kill

It always comes back to the Protocols with you, Zippy.

ROFLMAO, he reappears, re-interprets references to O’Bummer and other DemonRats pulling Hiden’s strings as references to another group entirely, and proceeds down the wrong path enthusiastically.

Still, it would be hard for m0nty-fa to admit that the DemonRats put a puppet into the presidency, and are now manipulating a senile geriatric to destroy the US. Hint, m0nty-fa, Israel and the US, at least under Trump, were very close allies. Under the DemonRats, less so.

shatterzzz
July 18, 2022 4:29 pm

You seem like an old bloke shat, surely you remember 1945.

The bloke who made the “1945” decisions ain’t around now tho!
Neither Reagan or Trump would have let the USA slide the way LJB has ……!

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 4:32 pm

m0ntysays:
July 18, 2022 at 4:17 pm
Not much to talk about with Biden, old man. He is doing most of what he can with the Senate that he has, which is not much.

Hiden is so deranged and senile, he no longer knows what the Senate is.

Bluey
Bluey
July 18, 2022 4:33 pm

I’ve been seriously looking for work maybe a week or so. At this point I’ve had a couple of interviews, and one more definite interview. Also has a couple of screening interviews I’m waiting to hear back from.

Anyone unemployed at the moment isn’t serious about working, even with some businesses still running a covid vaccine requirement.

Having said that, with both major parties in Victoria working hard to destroy the economy with stupid energy policy, that employment might not last.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 4:39 pm

Boambee John:

you’d bet Old Blighty would be able to start manufacturing ammo in sufficient quantities.

To manufacture ammunition – bullets, shells, bombs, and missiles – would require an industrial base competent enough to do so.
To my way of thinking, to balance the use rates with the production rates would take GB at least a year even if they were to have the raw materials to do so. Which they don’t – GB doesn’t have to my knowledge – a formal stockpile of the necessary, nor the old equipment like lathes, metal formers, etc stockpiled somewhere. Perhaps the LME has a small amount of buffer stocks.
Rickw would have an idea of the industrial machinery.
But I’d bet the point of balance manufacture vs use wouldn’t be less than a year.
Bet of $1.00, anyone?

Frank
Frank
July 18, 2022 4:41 pm
H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 4:42 pm

… smacked down again, he disappears.

As with most troublesome floaters a 2nd flush is usually enough.

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 4:43 pm

you’d bet Old Blighty would be able to start manufacturing ammo in sufficient quantities.
Um no it wouldn’t. The deindustrialisation of the West means there isn’t nearly enough suitable industrial plant capable of being requisitioned and repurposed to supply the needs of a war economy. Our existing weapons manufacturing industries are very slow and expensive. The UK is no exception.

Hard to say with ammunition .50 BMG and below. Manufactured on very specialised machines. From memory they used to run “lines” on a sequential basis to check all was in order. If an emergency arose then all lines could be put into simultaneous production.

Given that the country has 2 weeks of Diesel supply I doubt very much that this sort of preparedness remained in effect. The ammo lines at ADI Maribyrnong used to use Gulf and Western machines.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 4:47 pm

H B Bearsays:
July 18, 2022 at 4:42 pm
… smacked down again, he disappears.

As with most troublesome floaters a 2nd flush is usually enough.

Not with m0nty-fa, he re-appeared soon after. This is one persistent floater!

Zipster
July 18, 2022 4:49 pm
Fair Shake
Fair Shake
July 18, 2022 4:49 pm

BRS trial wrapping up. Defence team have not disclosed amount of damages sought. If BRS wins, it will be significant based on the seriousness of murder allegations made by Nein.

I hope he wins and wins biggly.

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 4:50 pm

Gulf Western seem to have a YouTube channel:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xuyF6JvWFcw

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 18, 2022 4:50 pm

Quite amusing…

Palaszczuk sin bins Seven reporter after press conference grilling
NICK TABAKOFF

She might have started a retirement home for ex-Nine reporters, as Diary has previously noted, but there’s clearly no love lost between Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and senior journalists at the rival Seven network.

Palaszczuk tried one of her signature distraction tactics with the media, amid a range of controversies, when she bowled up to a news conference on Wednesday – the day of the deciding State of Origin in Brisbane – wearing Maroons fan gear.

But it was senior Seven Brisbane reporter Samantha Heathwood who was seeing red, refusing to engage in the Premier’s clear pitch to reporters for some Origin footy banter.

Instead, to the Premier’s disapproval, Heathwood launched into a multi-question cross-examination of Palaszczuk over a damning independent report exposing massive growth in the state’s waiting list for public housing.

After Heathwood started by grilling Palaszczuk about why so many Queenslanders were “sleeping in cars” rather than social housing, the Premier started by defensively noting there were “pressures across the nation”. That wasn’t good enough for Heathwood, who went on to ask why the Premier’s much-trumpeted $200m Wellcamp quarantine facility – now widely regarded in Queensland as a white elephant – was “sitting virtually empty” in the face of the housing crisis.

When Palaszczuk claimed that some people “don’t want to move from their communities”, Heathwood was having none of it.

“There are some people who would love to have the opportunity to go there (Wellcamp),” Heathwood corrected the ­Premier.

At this point, things got heated. Palaszczuk fixed the Seven reporter with a death stare and told her: “Well, I’m happy to talk to those people and happy to get the Housing Minister to talk to those people. Because it is available!”

The press conference threat­ened to reach boiling point, with an exchange of verbal biffo worthy of the all-in brawl in Wednesday’s Origin decider:

Heathwood: I’m out there! I’m talking to people every single day! And the degree of desperation …

Premier interrupts … No, no, I do understand it!

Heathwood (snappily): I don’t think you do!

Premier (indignantly): I represent social housing! I represent a social housing community! Please do not say I do not understand this issue! That is incorrect! That is false!”

At this point, a still-seething Palaszczuk put Heathwood in the media sin bin, and turned away for only a few questions from other journalists before ending the press conference.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 4:54 pm

Hiden is so deranged and senile, he no longer knows what the Senate is.

Oh yes he does! That’s what he thought he was running for. 🙂

Fair Shake
Fair Shake
July 18, 2022 4:57 pm

If Dan doesn’t like the medias journo they get their Premier news briefing accreditation pulled and delisted from the invitation list. Independant media need not apply.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 5:02 pm
thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 5:04 pm

I was today years old when I found out why there are so many cats/rabbits around…

Apparently the Japanese barred anything with hair or fur being used for cray bait as the stuff wasnt exactly a culinary delight if it got into the meat from the gut of the cray.

A million long tailed rabbits must have breathed a sigh of relief.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 18, 2022 5:06 pm

In All Pineapple No KY news:

Anthony Albanese’s government warns Australia that bad news is coming – and it’s going to impact YOUR wages and mortgage

Taxpayers will find the upcoming government budget update confronting, Treasurer Jim Chalmers says.

Dr Chalmers said his government had inherited the ‘trickiest set of economic conditions’ in memory. The latest debt forecast will be provided on July 28.

Braace.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 18, 2022 5:08 pm

Hard times .. LOL! .. I landed at Mascot at 5.15am on a Sunday morning in 1967 .. 19 years old .. knew no one in Oz and had $A39 to my name .. taxi driver dropped me off at a boarding house in Neutral Bay and I was working for the Water Board by Tuesday

Same story for our old friend, it was swim on arrival, find your own way, or sink. He found the Neutral Bay room (taxis must have had a link to there) but his main problem was being messed around between two employers, both of whom wanted him to wait until they had fired someone first while he starved. He did some odd-jobbing to make ends meet, then got the good job, gained experience and started his own very successful company.

At risk of the dreaded ‘reminiscing’, it was common enough for people to be fired back in that day if a better prospect for the job arrived. As a young copywriter ‘of talent’ in the ’61 credit squeeze I was hired to start immediately after a meet up in a cafe arranged by my previous boss, but only found out later someone had got the push to make room for me – an older guy, alcoholic, music critic journo trying to reinvent himself in advertising – and it wasn’t working out well for him.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 5:10 pm

Indigenous groups have lodged a native title claim over The Spit, Burleigh Heads and other pristine parts of the Gold Coast.

I say we let them have Surfers Paradise & call it a deal.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 18, 2022 5:11 pm

In All Pineapple No KY news:

Yep. Read it. Huh? And then the penny dropped. lol.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 18, 2022 5:13 pm

A credible commenter on UR says that the mother of the 10 y.o. is also pregnant to the guy facing the Charges.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 5:14 pm

Dr Chalmers said his government had inherited the ‘trickiest set of economic conditions’ in memory.

Yes, SmoMo & Fraudenberg were useless. Shades of Emperor Barney here in the West.

calli
calli
July 18, 2022 5:15 pm

At this point, a still-seething Palaszczuk put Heathwood in the media sin bin

Childish.

This is the sort of garbage you expect at high school.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 5:16 pm

Anthony Albanese’s government warns Australia that bad news is coming – and it’s going to impact YOUR wages and mortgage

It may be news for Elbow and Jim, but most Australians have been dealing with a cost of living crisis for six months now.

duncanm
duncanm
July 18, 2022 5:16 pm

Remember, boys and girls, the reefs are dying aieeee!

Have a look at *any* of the 2021/22 sector reports here. There is one region that has decreased, “Swains”. Every other region has either increased or is unchanged from 1986 levels.

https://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/monitoring/reef/latest-surveys.html?fbclid=IwAR0bzai0u327LgBAhknRY1kNF_-6d-qoXO68e13CbhzWbjgDmljUHrMwjVM

Summary here: https://www.aims.gov.au/reef-monitoring/gbr-condition-summary-2020-2021
Hard cover coral has increased by 26 to 39%
Crown of thorns starfish down
Bleaching down.

Could it be that coral and crown-of-thorns behaviour is influenced by the weather.. such as El Nina ?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 18, 2022 5:18 pm

I say we let them have Surfers Paradise & call it a deal.

Never. Native title wasn’t ever meant for land that was part of Australia’s settled areas.

This is pushing the envelope and should be firmly resisted.

If I had my way I would rescind ‘Native Title’. There was no such thing, except on the lands of indigenous localised New Guinea style farming communities in the Murray Islands areas of the Torres Strait.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 18, 2022 5:19 pm

Indigenous groups have lodged a native title claim over The Spit, Burleigh Heads and other pristine parts of the Gold Coast.

Funny how they never have a spiritual connection to places like Menai Tip.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 5:20 pm

Dr Chalmers said his government had inherited the ‘trickiest set of economic conditions’ in memory.

B.S.

Try ’70s stagflation & unemployment levels.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 5:20 pm

At this point, a still-seething Palaszczuk put Heathwood in the media sin bin

But I WANT a pony.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 5:22 pm

Never. Native title wasn’t ever meant for land that was part of Australia’s settled areas.

Er…that was an attempt at humour, Lizzie.

Surfers isn’t exactly civilised.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 5:25 pm

Did the High Court say anything about the impact of bikies and Russian mafia on native title?

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
July 18, 2022 5:31 pm

Rogersays: July 18, 2022 at 5:16 pm

Anthony Albanese’s government warns Australia that bad news is coming – and it’s going to impact YOUR wages and mortgage

It may be news for Elbow and Jim, but most Australians have been dealing with a cost of living crisis for six months now.

All the remaining sandwich/burger joints in town (thanks Slomo, Recessionberg & Palletjack) have raised their prices by 40% in the past few weeks.

For the numerically challenged greens/alp voters lurking, that is same as a $24 item jumping overnight to $34

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 5:32 pm

Premier (indignantly): I represent social housing! I represent a social housing community! Please do not say I do not understand this issue! That is incorrect! That is false!”

Champion of the battler!

I seem to recall questions being asked not that long ago about Palaszcuk’s government selling off housing commission homes in her electorate to Vietnamese Labor mates.

Housing crisis…what crisis?

Bluey
Bluey
July 18, 2022 5:36 pm

Rogersays:
July 18, 2022 at 5:16 pm
Anthony Albanese’s government warns Australia that bad news is coming – and it’s going to impact YOUR wages and mortgage

It may be news for Elbow and Jim, but most Australians have been dealing with a cost of living crisis for six months now.

Anyone want to bet on them cutting government spending?

OI! You lot stop laughing.

Zipster
July 18, 2022 5:38 pm

At this point, things got heated. Palaszczuk fixed the Seven reporter with a death stare and told her: “Well, I’m happy to talk to those people and happy to get the Housing Minister to talk to those people. Because it is available!”

cool, party time!

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