Open Thread – Weekend 16 July 2022


Sunday, Alexei Korzukhin, 1884

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Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Bluey says: July 18, 2022 at 5:36 pm

Anyone want to bet on them cutting government spending?

Spot on Bluey!
Budget toughness will be bad news for ABC funding, & for various “outreach” programs, etc.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 5:41 pm

If I had my way I would rescind ‘Native Title’. There was no such thing…

An activist HC judiciary has determined otherwise.

Not quite Roe v. Wade creativity, but up there.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 5:41 pm

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

I bet the ABCcess and SBS as well as the various discrimination/incrimination boards are battening down the hatches as we speak.

m0nty
m0nty
July 18, 2022 5:43 pm

LOL. That is wing and a pray stuff. There is no way Western countries can meet the requirements of this level conflict without significant reductions in the consumer economy.

It’s been a while since the Blitz, but I reckon the Brits remember a thing or two about bunkering down for a long war.

It’s not an arms race. Unless they can immediately supply their forces for a high intensity peer-peer conflict, they lose. Right now, Russia are expending ammo without any signs of a reduction in tempo. In fact, it has picked up over the last few months.

I am not sure what scenario you are thinking of where Britain has to defend its own shores once again. Who invades… Russia? Even if Putin does go full Adolf, it will take quite a while for Russia to get through the rest of Europe.

I mean, Germany did lose WW2, and they were far better prepared than Russia is. Putin is already emptying the gaols for conscripts, and he hasn’t even got past his own personal Poland yet.

Also, the fact that people are just blowing this off suggests that all this guff about Taiwan is puffery. If you’re not restructuring your economies in order to meet a similar response to China invading Taiwan than all this stuff about standing shoulder-shoulder with Taiwan is just words. If things are this bad with a sanctions regime against Russia, they will be on another level with one against China.

The conditions in 2022 are a heck of a lot different to the 1930s. No country is on a war footing apart from Russia and Ukraine. We are seeing the rumblings from Western munitions companies to fund the next escalation with China as the Big Bad, but I hope leaders from all sides see that for what it is. We have the 1930s as one example of why we should be ultra-ready, but we also have the Cold War as a cautionary tale on the other side.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 5:44 pm

Format fail; first sentence is Lizzie.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 5:46 pm

Not quite Roe v. Wade creativity, but up there.

the original judgement wasnt supremely bad.
There was a fairly formalized local land designation and customs in the locality the judgement was based on.

It took serial clock mongler Keating to pass legislation making it Australia wide to make it the herpes of land tenure in Oz.

Ignoring the couple of unsuccessful attempts at a mainland judgement already decided.

miltonf
miltonf
July 18, 2022 5:47 pm

Has the fat turd turned into some sort of latter day neo-con?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 18, 2022 5:50 pm

From the Oz – I’ve posted the whole article.

‘Reviled as a murderer’: Roberts-Smith closes case against Nine with fiery speech
Perry Duffin
Senior Court Reporter
@perryduffin1
NCA NewsWire
26 minutes ago July 18, 2022

Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial is at the beginning of the end with his lawyers accusing Nine newspapers of a “sustained campaign” to falsely smear the Victoria Cross recipient as a war criminal, bully and domestic abuser with unfounded articles and a contorted court case.

The newspapers have claimed, in their final address, that Mr Roberts-Smith and his mates “calculated” and lied to hide the truth about brutal killings by the SAS.

Two full weeks of closing submissions are now underway in what has variously been called the trial of the century, a proxy war crime trial and an attack on the free press.

But Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawyers, on Monday, said their lawsuit is nothing but an attempt to clear the name of one of Australia’s most venerated soldiers.

Behind the endless discussions about damages and defamation law is “a case about a human being”, one of Mr Roberts-Smith‘s barristers told the court on Monday.

“A human being who has suffered, who was once known as a hero but now, thanks to (Nine) is a man widely reviled as a murderer and an abuser of women,” Matthew Richardson SC said.

The barrister quoted Mr Roberts-Smith, in his evidence a year ago, who said “it was traumatising” to be at the centre of war crime accusations.

“I served with honour and distinction and I always followed the laws of armed conflict,” Mr Roberts-Smith told the court.

“These people, using smears from people who don‘t like me, have written articles that suggest I’m a war criminal.”

Mr Roberts-Smith said he was sent to Afghanistan at the behest of the Australian government and he always did the correct thing – even when those things were horrific.

“What is the legacy of my family now because of those articles?” he asked rhetorically.

“It‘s something that crushes me, crushes my soul, because I gave so much to that job and it’s all lies.”

Mr Roberts-Smith launched legal action against the publishers and journalists behind a series of articles in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers in mid-2018.

The articles claimed Mr Roberts-Smith killed or was complicit in the murder of six unarmed prisoners on the battlefields of Afghanistan during his deployment with the SAS.

The articles further alleged Mr Roberts-Smith bullied other soldiers and physically abused a woman he was dating while back in Australia.

Mr Roberts-Smith emphatically denies every allegation made by Nine while the newspapers mounted a truth defence when the elite soldier sued them for defamation.

After more than 100 days of evidence, legal teams for Mr Roberts-Smith and Nine have begun summarising their cases to Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanko.

Mr Moses began his closing address with a blistering denouncement of Nine’s conduct, claiming the newspapers had refused to back down from errors in their stories, even in the face of contradictory evidence, and instead used the court to launch more unfounded allegations.

“This is not about a path home to victory, as (Nine) have at one time put their case,” Mr Moses said.

“Rather this is about (Nine) using the processes of this court to make allegations of murder which will have national and international repercussions the applicant and other members of the Australian Defence Force who they have accused of murder.”

Nine’s barrister, Nicholas Owens SC, painted the case very differently.

He said it was no coincidence that his reluctant and disconnected witnesses all gave sworn evidence that pointed to Mr Roberts-Smith’s guilt, particularly on a crucial mission from 2009 known as Whiskey 108.

Nine claims the SAS found two Afghans hiding in a tunnel and detained them before Mr Roberts-Smith executed one and forced a junior soldier to execute the second.

The SAS soldiers, on the ground at Whiskey 108, have given totally contradictory evidence about the raid.

Some claimed they witnessed the killings while others claimed the tunnel was empty so there could be no executions.

Mr Owens claimed Mr Roberts-Smith’s witnesses are all close mates who spent years cooking up a story “calculated to deny the presence” of Nine’s key witnesses.

“Each witness has a motive to lie,” Mr Owens said.

“(They) are a very close unit of people, communicating regularly and with an obvious affection for each other.”

One of those witnesses, Mr Owens said, has the additional motive to lie because he stands accused of jointly ordering one of the two executions at Whiskey 108.

The court has heard from numerous soldiers who have been implicated by Nine’s reporting of war crime allegations – many fiercely denied they carried out executions, others refused to testify on the grounds of self-incrimination.

But Mr Moses said that, even when the evidence came up short, Nine refused to withdraw grave allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith.

He pointed to an allegation Mr Roberts-Smith shot dead a teenage boy during one mission outside the legal rules of war.

“As the evidence revealed, there was no 13 to 14-year-old boy involved in any incident, nor was there any killing without justification. This allegation was baseless and should not have been persisted with,” Mr Moses said.

“Presumably it was persisted with to damage Mr Roberts-Smith in aid of the other allegations propounded in this matter.”

Mr Moses told the court Nine’s “sensationalist” stories stemmed from bitter and jealous SAS insiders who were trying to tear down Mr Roberts-Smith.

Federal MP Andrew Hastie is one of the SAS witnesses who, according to Mr Moses, was “obsessed” with Mr Roberts-Smith but had failed to provide evidence to back up Nine’s claims of murder.

Mr Hastie, an SAS veteran who deployed briefly alongside Mr Roberts-Smith in 2012, gave evidence for Nine about one mission in the region of Syahchow.

Nine claimed Mr Roberts-Smith ordered a junior soldier, known as Person 66, to execute an Afghan captive during the mission.

Mr Hastie was at Syahchow that day and told the court he saw a dead body with an AK-47 assault rifle and saw Person 66 looking uncharacteristically uneasy.

The MP claims Mr Roberts-Smith walked past and said “just a couple more dead c***s”.

Mr Hastie also told the court he had “dreams” about Mr Roberts-Smith in which they had killed an Australian troop and “covered it up”.

The MP said he believed the dream was a metaphor for a “deep truth” about “what we had done to ourselves” in Afghanistan.

Person 66 refused to testify about Syahchow on the grounds of self incrimination.

Nine said his evidence would have been a potential “path to victory”, but Justice Besanko refused to order Person 66 to testify about Syahchow.

Mr Moses, on Monday, said there was simply no evidence to support Nine’s claim of murder at Syahchow but the allegation remains in their court documents.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team have never publicly revealed how much money they want in terms of damages for Nine’s articles.

But, if Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawsuit succeeds, the payout could dwarf any other in defamation history because of the seriousness of multiple war crime murder allegations, his prior good name, previous business successes and the “avalanche” of publicity that has continued through the court case.

miltonf
miltonf
July 18, 2022 5:56 pm
Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 18, 2022 5:57 pm

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.

And:

“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!”

Spotted on Gumtree:

‘Death Camps.
Backpacker style affordable accommodation. Toowoomba area. Bastard cold in winter. Meh in summer.
Mains gas available. Email klausworlddomination.wef.com for more details.’

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 5:58 pm

Even if Putin does go full Adolf, it will take quite a while for Russia to get through the rest of Europe.

Russia (and the USSR) have a bad habit of screwing up wars but learning from those screw ups.
If they hadnt had such an abysmal performance in the winter war with Finland odds are they would have been completely and utterly pantsed by the boxheads, almost none of the war changing equipment (T34s, better artillery, anti-tank guns, better aircraft) would have been in service, much of it not even designed or in sufficient quantities.

Russia is currently having its new winter war, its probably going to grind out a win of some sort the same way it did then (artillery & manpower).
The risk is it will actually learn a lot and fix its defective gear/tactics.

And its not your great grandfathers/grandfathers Wehrmacht anymore.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-army-chief-fed-up-with-neglect-countrys-military-2022-02-24/
BERLIN, Feb 24 (Reuters) – The chief of the German army vented his frustration over what he sees as the long-running neglect of military readiness in his country in an unusual public rant a few hours after Russia invaded Ukraine, adding that the army was in bad shape.
..
“In my 41th year of peace-time service, I would not have thought that I would have to experience a war,” Lieutenant General Alfons Mais said on LinkedIn on Thursday.

“And the Bundeswehr, the army which I have the honour to command, is standing there more or less empty-handed. The options we can offer the government in support of the alliance are extremely limited.”

“When, if not now, is the moment to put the Afghanistan mission structurally and with regard to our equipment behind us and overhaul our posture?” Mais said. “Otherwise, we will not be able to successfully fulfil our constitutional duty and our obligations in the alliance.”

German forces were drastically scaled down after the end of the Cold War, and later trained mainly for missions such as in Afghanistan where the adversary was poorly equipped and not an armed force with the most modern weapons.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 18, 2022 5:58 pm

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

They were handed an economy as bad as Labor usually leaves behind. Labor is furious that they were not gifted something to plunder.

Scomo and his mob were bad. But lets be serious, they were not quite Labor bad. What they did was exactly the same as Labor would do – except Labor would have done it a few months earlier.

Ditching the Libs was, as far as I am concerned, a matter of shaking Australia out of its stupor.

If there is or was any hope for the Libs it was perhaps that they might remember when they were not jellyfish – spineless, wet, driven by the eddies and currents of the sea with no direction of their own, below any threshold of what might be pegged as intelligence – frankly so feeble as to lack the mental or physical wherewithal to rise to even selfishness. Watching them one by one being driven from office by ABC hit pieces, or apologising for things they haven’t done but scared to say they hadn’t because it would make their accuser’s backers call them more names, or creeping with already defeated eyes – like a limping scarred cur edging toward its abusive master, powerless against instinct – into an interview where they will try to ingratiate themselves with the host and audience who will toy with him before humiliating him.

There is no hope for Labor.

But if Australians can get angry…

miltonf
miltonf
July 18, 2022 6:01 pm

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

Oh no another ‘doctor’. There’s ‘Doctor’ Andrew Leigh too, not to mention all the Canbra pubic ‘service’ ‘doctors’.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 18, 2022 6:02 pm

Surfers isn’t exactly civilised.

After schoolies week they would be petitioning the government to take it back – perhaps claiming that that particular piece of land was not part of Australia but that the reviled English towed it here because it was more toxic that Smallpox brand blankets.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 6:03 pm

Backpacker style affordable accommodation. Toowoomba area

Bit downmarket for the Helldrivers AGM. We’ll swing past and have a look though.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 6:03 pm

Who invades… Russia?

Argies.
They need squirrels like an addict needs crack.
OTOH a single brigade would probably be sufficient for reconquering the Falklands again.

More seriously (although I was fairly serious – Argies are tragics in the worst way) we seem to be getting into a new age where nibbling bits off the neighbours is becoming un-unthinkable. Which means a serious need for more infantry and appropriate accoutrements. One doesn’t own a new acquisition until you have a bunch of teenage soldiers with rifles sitting on it. Nukes do not give you control of a place, they just irritate lots and lots of people who then stop buying your stuff and annoyingly refuse your oligarchs berthing rights for their yachts.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 6:06 pm

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

Shouldn’t be an issue for Wayne Goosesteen’s brains trust.

miltonf
miltonf
July 18, 2022 6:09 pm

like a limping scarred cur edging toward its abusive master, powerless against instinct – into an interview where they will try to ingratiate themselves with the host and audience who will toy with him before humiliating him.

Why even engage with the press gallery and the rest of the legacy meja? The internet provides so many ways to bypass that collection of trash. Abbott shaking hands with Riley is the opposite of what should have happened.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 18, 2022 6:12 pm

Abbott shaking hands with Riley is the opposite of what should have happened.

You mean Abbott’s hands should have shaken Riley? Absolutely yes!

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 6:14 pm

The internet provides so many ways to bypass that collection of trash

Maybe, if you’re the POTUS. Oz PM? A courageous decision PM. I’m not sure we’re quite there yet, particularly with the Breakfast TV crew.

Frank
Frank
July 18, 2022 6:15 pm

Have they gypped Rudd on the promise of some high level posting yet. I don’t remember any announcements of new appointments for him. A scorned Kevni white-anting furiously from the sidelines would spice things up a bit.

miltonf
miltonf
July 18, 2022 6:17 pm

Keating was always good at playing hardball with germalists- if they don’t give you good press cut them off. Think of the sycophantic muck that they used write about the undertaker- ‘brilliant’ , ‘would have the ability to earn two or three degrees’ etc etc

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
July 18, 2022 6:19 pm
Tom
Tom
July 18, 2022 6:20 pm

‘Reviled as a murderer’: Roberts-Smith closes case against Nine with fiery speech

I can’t wait for the Ben Roberts-Smith verdict. Journalists at the Fakefacts titles have deliberately targeted the left’s political enemies and hang the expense: company lawyers who used to read everything before it was published have been sidelined by lunatics on the Fakefacts editorial staff who have decided that satisfying their ideological blood lust is a price the company must pay.

This is expensive corporate insanity, but it’s what happens if management is forbidden from interfering in the staff’s ideological warfare, as Fakefacts has stipulated for around 20 years in the company’s “charter of editorial independence”.

I’m tipping that Fakefacts/Nein will go down with a legal bill of $1-5 million plus in damages plus expenses and I suspect I’m being conservative.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 6:20 pm

A scorned Kevni white-anting furiously from the sidelines would spice things up a bit.

Git his hands full atm.

He’s been hired by Zelensky, along with 11 other worthies, to work on ways to deter Russian aggression in the future.

No, don’t laugh.

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 6:21 pm

Got.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 18, 2022 6:22 pm

Git works too.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 6:27 pm

He’s been hired by Zelensky, along with 11 other worthies, to work on ways to deter Russian aggression in the future.

I can picture him sitting on the floor surrounded by butchers paper, Post-It notes and mini croissants.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 6:28 pm

He’s been hired by Zelensky, along with 11 other worthies, to work on ways to deter Russian aggression in the future.

“Stop shelling us, withdraw and pay damages or we will send him to advise you”

Frank
Frank
July 18, 2022 6:29 pm

OK then.

A scorned Kevni with shrapnel wounds acquired in the Donbas white-anting furiously from the sidelines and spinning war stories of gallantry and tactical brilliance would spice things up a bit.

I read about it at least, if it was short.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 6:29 pm

He’s been hired by Zelensky, along with 11 other worthies

Surely room for one more.

Pacific Island nations won’t ‘compromise’ independence with Chinese facilities (Sky, 18 Jul)

Small Pacific island nations will not compromise their independence by offering to host Chinese facilities in the foreseeable future, former foreign minister Bob Carr says. … Mr Carr suggested China would “steer away” from such “adventurism” in the context of an improved relationship between Canberra and Beijing.

Please stop laughing.

Frank
Frank
July 18, 2022 6:31 pm

I would read about it…

Roger
Roger
July 18, 2022 6:32 pm

LOL.

Upticks all ’round, chaps.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 18, 2022 6:34 pm

Git works too.

Yep. It made me think of John Wayne’s ‘Fill yer hands, you sonofabitch!’

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 6:39 pm

Which new MacBook should you buy?

Thanks OldOzzie. Your timing is excellent.
(Plus the article gives me a lot of jargon to convince the grandkids I know what I’m talking about.

Eyrie
Eyrie
July 18, 2022 6:39 pm

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

C’mon Vlad, you won’t miss just one lousy SS18 with a MIRV’d payload.

Dragnet
Dragnet
July 18, 2022 6:42 pm

Matthew Richardson SC is none other than Richo’s progeny. Having met the lad, the pasty complexion and lack of muscularity leave no doubt as to paternity.
Yeah I know, “meow” but there ya go.

miltonf
miltonf
July 18, 2022 6:43 pm

Speaking of Fairfax, wasn’t Hilmer going to take over the internet with f2? What ever happened to that?

Indolent
Indolent
July 18, 2022 6:51 pm
JC
JC
July 18, 2022 6:52 pm

H B Bear says:
July 18, 2022 at 6:27 pm

He’s been hired by Zelensky, along with 11 other worthies, to work on ways to deter Russian aggression in the future.

I can picture him sitting on the floor surrounded by butchers paper, Post-It notes and mini croissants.

Mini-croissants? Kind of a little gays to be thinking that, Bear?

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 6:53 pm

Tom

I’m tipping that Fakefacts/Nein will go down with a legal bill of $1-5 million plus in damages plus expenses and I suspect I’m being conservative.

We can but hope.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 18, 2022 7:02 pm

Mr Roberts-Smith’s legal team have never publicly revealed how much money they want in terms of damages for Nine’s articles.

But, if Mr Roberts-Smith’s lawsuit succeeds, the payout could dwarf any other in defamation history because of the seriousness of multiple war crime murder allegations, his prior good fame, previous business successes and the “avalanche” of publicity that has continued through the court case.

From the West Australian.

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
July 18, 2022 7:03 pm

Sorry if this has been posted previously Chris Mitchell has a beauty in the Oz today:

From Sri Lanka to Abe, ABC missing in action
CHRIS MITCHELL

Demonstrators rest in a makeshift tent at a protest arena near Sri Lankan presidential office in Colombo at the weekend. Picture: Arun Sankar/AFP)
12:00AM JULY 18, 2022
522 COMMENTS
What sometimes looks like deliberate ABC bias can often be a mixture of lazy unprofessionalism – and even lazier group think.

How, for example, can new 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson, in only her second week in the job, have done a report on the fall of the Sri Lankan government of Gotabaya Rajapaksa without even a mention of his disastrous decision last year to ban chemical fertilisers and the subsequent devastation of food production in a nation of small farmers? Even The New York Times, the US media’s most activist climate change news outlet, has extensively covered the disastrous fertilizer decision, as have all the major UK papers.

As if to sharpen the point, only a minute after Ferguson’s Tuesday night interview with Sri Lankan opposition MP Harsha De Silva, Andrew Bolt on Sky News began a 5 minute 39 second segment discussing the profound consequences of a supposedly pro-environmental decision by Rajapaksa, announced to much fanfare last year at the Cop 26 climate summit in Glasgow.

No surprise that Bolt, a critic of environmental solutions backed by politicians with no clue about the complex problems their preferred solutions can involve, interviewed Queensland National Party senator Matt Canavan, a strong supporter of fossil fuels, about the dangers of environmental policies with unintended consequences.

‘No scientific evidence’ to defend Sri Lanka’s ban on chemical fertilisers
University of Peradeniya’s Professor Buddhi Marambe says “ill advice” given to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya… Rajapaksa was the reason for a nationwide ban on chemical fertilisers. Mr Rajapaksa made the decision in April 2021 to ban all chemical fertilisers in Sri Lanka, forcing farmers to use organic fertiliser. More
Regular viewers of Sky News and of the ABC will be unsurprised that Sky News focused almost exclusively on the environmental causes of Sri Lanka’s problems or that 7.30 completely ignored them. Yet several ABC reports online and in news programs since May have discussed the role of the country’s move to organics in its food crisis.

ABC showpiece current affairs programs often ignore problems with green solutions. They hardly ever mention reliability issues with wind and solar power here and barely discuss the need for firming renewables with pumped hydro and battery storage. Nor does the ABC, when reporting on batteries, mention they can only distribute power for a couple of hours. At the start of the year the ABC barely covered Europe’s energy crisis during a long midwinter wind drought that preceded Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

So what is the non-culture war truth of the Sri Lankan tragedy?

The Rajapaksa government had been mishandling the economy long before the fertilizer decision. Covid-19 and the collapse in tourism to Sri Lanka that followed hit the island nation hard. Its main sources of foreign exchange revenue were tourism and agricultural exports.

Both have come to a screeching halt and the country’s poorest farmers are feeling the pain most. Soaring global prices for the foodstuffs they can now not grow in sufficient quantity and the petrol and gas they must import last month forced Sri Lanka into talks – so far unsuccessful – for an International Monetary Fund bailout. That must now wait for a new constitutionally elected government in Colombo.

Many economists were sceptical at the time of Rajapaksa’s Cop 26 commitment, arguing the government was betting on organic farming because it could not afford to import fertilisers. The Wall Street Journal last week pointed out that even before the pandemic, Sri Lanka had been hit by “an accumulation of debt on infrastructure spending and sweeping tax cuts that drained government revenue”.

Rajapaksa – part of a family dynasty that has dominated the country for 20 years – refused advice he should default on the nation’s debt. Sri Lanka “increasingly took to international sovereign bonds to roll over existing debt at effectively commercial interest rates’’. As its position deteriorated credit ratings agencies “marked down the country’s sovereign-credit rating, cutting off its access to on-market borrowing”.

So the nation’s problems are not just about a poor environmental decision. Yet that decision has crippled food production and viewers should have expected Ferguson to ask her 7.30 guest about the issue. Keen readers can trace the deliberate origins of Rajapaksa’s “green agricultural revolution” to an election promise in 2019.

People line up for flower offering at Zojoji temple on the day of the funeral for former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on July 12. Picture: Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images)
People line up for flower offering at Zojoji temple on the day of the funeral for former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe on July 12. Picture: Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images)
A piece in Nature magazine last October urged Sri Lanka to pursue food security and food sovereignty “by applying agro-ecological practices in agriculture” to combat “ongoing massive-scale agro-industrial approaches”. The ABC should investigate how that science went. Protests like those in Sri Lanka against green elites’ policies are becoming more common, even in Europe.

Ferguson’s appointment to replace Leigh Sales as host 7.30 was not universally welcomed. After Ferguson’s three-part June 2018 Four Corners “story of the century” about Russian collusion allegations against former US president Donald Trump, sceptical viewers would have marked her highly had she examined the environmental roots of Sri Lanka’s problems.

The ABC has never corrected the record on that Four Corners blooper, which relied heavily on Barack Obama’s former national security chief James Clapper. Viewers did not know Clapper – a year before speaking with Ferguson – had told a secret hearing of Congress that he had seen no evidence of Trump collusion.

Like other ABC failures this was a case of unconscious bias. Four Corners assumed the US media pack was right about Trump, just as 7.30 never thought to ask about the role of environmentalism in Rajapaksa’s fall. ABC journalists don’t bump in to people who might support Republicans or talk about problems with green pieties. Their biases reflect a lack of political diversity.

Radio National provided two examples of the phenomenon on July 9 and July 10. In 10 segments of Julian Morrow’s Sunday Extra and five of Geraldine Doogue’s Saturday Extra there was no item on the assassination that Friday of former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe. Doogue was on holiday.

ABC insiders blame staff shortages for the oversights. Not good enough. Abe was a close friend of this country and of several of its former prime ministers. His grandfather, Nobusuke Kishe, was the Japanese PM who in 1957 signed a trade pact that has proved the defining trade relationship of post-war Australia. The story made the front of all the main newspapers last Saturday and led websites and TV news bulletins the night before.

One internal ABC critic said this was more than just poor journalism. This critic said the ABC had virtually ignored the death in late 2006 of free market economist Milton Friedman despite running many tributes from left wing economists only six months earlier when John Kenneth Galbraith died. The critic said the ABC virtually ignored the death of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kwan Yew in 2015 but eulogised Cuban dictator Fidel Castro when he died in 2016. The critic asked what this column imagined RN would do if something happened to Jacinda Ardern and to reflect on the importance of Abe versus Ardern.

Another ABC staffer defended the RN programs, suggesting the oversight reflected reticence of younger journalists to pivot quickly from stories that had been planned. Of course that pivot is exactly what all the newspapers and TV channels did a day earlier.

Both RN programs opted for a foreign story they just could not resist: the fall of Boris Johnson. For the ABC, Johnson is a figure almost as sinister as Trump or Scott Morrison.

Yet both RN programs regularly carry live interviews and could have accommodated Abe coverage if anyone had thought the assassination of the former PM of a major ally in a country with no history of gun crime was a good story. Apparently it occurred to no one.

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 18, 2022 7:03 pm

Hello

sfw
sfw
July 18, 2022 7:06 pm

Sex on Fire, featuring the Alpenhorn.

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

Tom
Tom
July 18, 2022 7:10 pm

I’m choking up watching the replay of Brisbane bogan Cameron Smith accepting the British Open trophy at St Andrews.

In the meritocracy, no-one gives a stuff if you have a mullet.

calli
calli
July 18, 2022 7:12 pm

Hi Swimmer! Long time no sea.

calli
calli
July 18, 2022 7:14 pm

In the meritocracy, no-one gives a stuff if you have a mullet.

And if you must have one, make sure it’s a beauty.

He wins.

I wonder if he’s tested the beer holding capacity yet.

mem
mem
July 18, 2022 7:17 pm

Only 3% solar and wind being supplied into the grid across 5 states at 7pm. Good luck turning off the coal!

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Tom says: July 18, 2022 at 6:20 pm

I’m tipping that Fakefacts/Nein will go down with a legal bill of $1-5 million plus in damages plus expenses and I suspect I’m being conservative.

This is excellent news.
I fervently hope your forecast is correct, even better if considerably conservative.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 7:19 pm

Mini-croissants?

The scourge of the corporate morning tea.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 7:19 pm

3% is more than enough to fully supply our needs, mem. Don’t be so pessimistic.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 7:21 pm

H B Bear says:
July 18, 2022 at 7:19 pm

Mini-croissants?

The scourge of the corporate morning tea.

Really? The only thing we got in NY was shitty drip coffee. It was DEEgusting as it was usually “burnt”.

Cassie of Sydney
July 18, 2022 7:21 pm

“I can’t wait for the Ben Roberts-Smith verdict. Journalists at the Fakefacts titles have deliberately targeted the left’s political enemies and hang the expense: company lawyers who used to read everything before it was published have been sidelined by lunatics on the Fakefacts editorial staff who have decided that satisfying their ideological blood lust is a price the company must pay.

This is expensive corporate insanity, but it’s what happens if management is forbidden from interfering in the staff’s ideological warfare, as Fakefacts has stipulated for around 20 years in the company’s “charter of editorial independence”.”

Me too and well said Tom. It’s funny because I was thinking the same on the bus coming home tonight. The juvenile activists at Nine Newspapers think that they’re just like their buddies at the ABC, they really think they can say and do anything and get away with it without incurring any consequences. BRS is lucky he’s had Stokes behind him because I think that without Stokes BRS would have buckled and withdrawn the case, exactly like Craig McLachlan was forced to do back in March. McLachlan withdrew the case because Nine Newspapers dug up every female they could find to discredit and besmirch McLachlan so as to weaken his defamation case and to weaken him. And it worked, McLachlan buckled and I don’t blame him, he’d been through the mill, he’d faced criminal charges, he had no work and legal warfare is expensive. There’s only so much a person can take. Nine know this and being a large corporation, they use every tactic and every dollar available to them to intimidate and destroy whereas plaintiffs like McLachlan are on their own. They’ve tried to do this with BRS. The allegations against BRS were a disgrace. BRS might not be a nice person, he might be an adulterer, so fucking what.

I hope BRS wins and wins big time. We have a media in this country that is out of control. Unlike their ABC which has coffers full of OUR money to waste on legal cases involving scum like Louse Nilligan, Channel Nine has shareholders, and so there needs to be a reckoning and Nine Newspapers must be hit hard financially. Bring it on.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 7:23 pm

I suspect even Little Kerry might have blanched at a few of those BRS legal bills. There is a bit at stake.

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 18, 2022 7:23 pm

Hi Calli, +1 for that pun!

Anf in beach news, no sand left up there at the moment, very sad. Fingers crossed, no more east coast lows for the rest of the year, and we might get some of it back.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 7:27 pm

Cuddly might have a tough time at the AGM if things don’t go as planned.

Tom
Tom
July 18, 2022 7:29 pm

I wonder if he’s tested the beer holding capacity yet.

Calli, Cam Smith reckons he was too rooted to get legless last night. But, like the near-year-long Melbourne Cup tour, he promises to let people outside of friends and family enjoy a beer out of the cup.

Cam Smith is a reminder of what Australian used to be like before it was taken over by the dregs.

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 18, 2022 7:35 pm

Indolent @ 7:09pm. I watched a great clip this morning on thehighwire- Robert Malone & Pierre Kory as guests – a clip was shown of that US health bureaucrat admitting before a congressional hearing that despite asserting to the public the effectiveness of the vaccines to stop infection, that was really just a hope.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 7:35 pm

Good to see golf hasn’t been completely taken over by drones churned out a Bollettieri type school yet. That what makes it better than tennis.

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 18, 2022 7:36 pm

Mater, I tried to comment on your last post but it wouldn’t work?

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 7:37 pm

Get a load of this!

@

ShellenbergerMD
People think solar panels protect the environment but they require 300+ times as much land as conventional energy sources and now the Los Angeles Times has discovered that they could “contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium.”

Look at the vid and while doing that consider this crap is supplying around 3% of annual energy and what it would do to the landscape at a theoretical 100%.

https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1548910544345829378

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 7:38 pm

the guff about stiff upper lip is just that.

Watching m0nty-fa LARPing as a latter day neo-con Churchill would be laughable, if it were not so tragic.

m0nty-fa, words of advice, producing modern munitions, in quantity, is rather more technically and industrially difficult than running a fantasy football website. Stay in your lane.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 7:38 pm

Good to see golf hasn’t been completely taken over by drones churned out a Bollettieri type school yet.

Hey, we took our kids there one year for tennis camp. Knock it off.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 7:39 pm

Sex on Fire, featuring the Alpenhorn.

Sounds like bones being played with by monkeys.
Interesting similarity.
Could an alpenhorn turn into a spaceship?
Saw the movie at the cinema fifty years ago. Mindblowing.

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 18, 2022 7:42 pm

JC,
This was a letter to the editor (in The Australian) from 11/9/2017. I kept a copy because I was astounded by the numbers.

In the talk about Liddell or AGL’s move from coal to renewables, people forget about the scale of the problem in replacing a large coal-fired power station. AGL’s largest solar plant is at Nyngan. To replace the 2000MW Liddell would require 69 Nyngans, a total of 93 million solar panels, costing $20 billion (plus cost of additional transmission lines and backup for when the sun is not shining), occupying an area of over 17,000 hectares equivalent to 28 Melbourne CBDs.
Solar can make a contribution, but we should not have unrealistic expectations. Of course when all else fails there are small modular reactors.
Tony Irwin, Kirribilli, NSW

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 7:42 pm

Tennis should be learned by riding your pushie to the local club with a borrowed racquet.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 7:43 pm

Perhaps not here, but elsewhere it could be an enormous problem with ground water.

California went big on rooftop solar. Now that’s a problem for landfills

California has been a pioneer in pushing for rooftop solar power, building up the largest solar market in the U.S. More than 20 years and 1.3 million rooftops later, the bill is coming due.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-07-14/california-rooftop-solar-pv-panels-recycling-danger

@ShellenbergerMD

I was one of the first reporters to write about solar waste. Representatives of the solar industry attacked me personally and tried to get my editors to censor me. Happily, they stood firm, and the article, from 2018, now looks prescient.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 7:44 pm

Eyrie:

R-36M2 ‘Voevoda’ (SS-18 Mod 5/6)
The Mod 5 and Mod 6 (‘Voevoda’) entered into service in 1988, and only the Mod 6 remains operational as of 2016. The Mod 5 contained a single re-entry vehicle with an 8 MT warhead and an accuracy of 500 m CEP, with a range is 16,000 km.
The Mod 6 has 10 MIRV, with each warhead having a 500-750 kT yield and an accuracy of 500 m CEP. The range is 11,000 km. It uses two tiers on its instrument section to house its 10 MIRVs. 11 The Mod 5 and Mod 6 both received improved protection against nuclear warhead effects, improved decoys and penetration aids, increased MIRV coverage, and a rapid re-targeting capability. 12

I think the Mod 5 with the 8Mt single warhead would do just fine in creating Lake Canbra.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 18, 2022 7:44 pm

Er…that was an attempt at humour, Lizzie.

Surfers isn’t exactly civilised.

I know. I get the humour, Roger.

But Mabo, a legal decision re settled land tenure by local indigines in the Torres Strait islands was then misinterpreted to extend to continental Australia.

Hence ‘Native Title’ for extant communities was invented by the activist High Court.
And band waggons were hopped on which it was claimed would never happen.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 7:46 pm

H B Bear says:
July 18, 2022 at 7:42 pm

Tennis should be learned by riding your pushie to the local club with a borrowed racquet.

Oh yea, not every city is as small as Perth, Bear.

Dot
Dot
July 18, 2022 7:46 pm

In the talk about Liddell or AGL’s move from coal to renewables, people forget about the scale of the problem in replacing a large coal-fired power station. AGL’s largest solar plant is at Nyngan. To replace the 2000MW Liddell would require 69 Nyngans, a total of 93 million solar panels, costing $20 billion (plus cost of additional transmission lines and backup for when the sun is not shining), occupying an area of over 17,000 hectares equivalent to 28 Melbourne CBDs.
Solar can make a contribution, but we should not have unrealistic expectations. Of course when all else fails there are small modular reactors.
Tony Irwin, Kirribilli, NSW

Get this bloke in Parliament.

Mater
July 18, 2022 7:46 pm

Mater, I tried to comment on your last post but it wouldn’t work?

Give it another go.
Don’t leave me at the sole mercy of Ed!

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 7:47 pm

Don’t leave me at the sole mercy of Ed!

That’s your punishment. 🙂

Dot
Dot
July 18, 2022 7:49 pm

But Mabo, a legal decision re settled land tenure by local indigines in the Torres Strait islands was then misinterpreted to extend to continental Australia.

I don’t buy that completely, it is the type of tenure that mattered.

Don’t forget a year later we had the NTA after some states wanted to limit land rights to an extent.

Gove predated Mabo, whilst Mabo has problems, there is some merit in land rights.

The NTA is riddled with problems.

1. Settle all claims ASAP.
2. Remove the communist framework of NT.

Everyone wins.

Eyrie
Eyrie
July 18, 2022 7:55 pm

Winston, Canberra is pretty spread out. More is better.

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
July 18, 2022 7:56 pm

Just watched some of the debates on who is to be the new British PM — the set reminded me of the one used for The Weakest Link

Vicki
July 18, 2022 7:59 pm

BRS is lucky he’s had Stokes behind him because I think that without Stokes BRS would have buckled and withdrawn the case

In our household we were saying just that today, as the case concludes. And it was SO important that BRS has sufficient fire power (no pun intended) to withstand the onslaught of those who would emasculate our special forces.

We are now sufficiently hamstrung by international protocol (post WWII) that makes action against insurgents in places like Afghanistan very very difficult. They must conform to military tenets not necessarily followed by our grandfathers behind enemy lines.

But in contemporary professional forces, personal rivalry within units and particularly between units (eg SAS & other special forces units) can result in unwarranted accusations and actions. This seems to be the case in the BRS accusations.

It is on record that Andrew Hastie, who served in Afghanistan, regarded BRS as an unyieldingly tough superior officer. I have considerable regard for Hastie, but feel that he has allowed his personal dislike of BRS to affect his judgment. I doubt if any of our VCs was an angel-in-waiting. All of them were cast into situations that few human beings would want to face. But virtually all of those VCs put their own lives in mortal danger to protect their comrades.

If we have reached a point in contemporary society that we do not value personal sacrifice on the battle field….well…….what can I say…..

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 8:03 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.

Not to mention the Victorian vax mandate employment crisis 6 months before that…

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 8:04 pm

Oh yea, not every city is as small as Perth, Bear.

So get an Uber.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 18, 2022 8:04 pm

mUnter, dabbling in the economics of military logistics again:

It’s been a while since the Blitz, but I reckon the Brits remember a thing or two about bunkering down for a long war

Do you mean:

1. Losing a third of their fighting manpower and half their equipment in Europe; then
2. Living in rubble while they ran out of fighter pilots; then
3. Rationing food and other day-to-day items and having to turn their lights out at night; and
4. Having to send their children away to the countryside, away from military and/or manufacturing targets; then
5. After four years, only having a crack after other countries supplied 75% of the manpower and materiel required to do so; then
6. Remaining reliant on those other countries for food and industry for fifteen years after the war ended, and for security over 80 years later?

‘Bunkering down’ like that?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 8:07 pm

Just watched some of the debates on who is to be the new British PM — the set reminded me of the one used for The Weakest Link

Interesting dynamics.

Tory outsider Kemi Badenoch TOPS Conservative voters poll for who should be next PM (17 Jul)

KEMI BADENOCH has topped a poll of Conservative voters to become the UK’s next Prime Minister.

The results, from the poll by Conservative Home, come after the five final candidates battled it out during ITV’s second televised debate on Sunday evening.

The scores showed Kemi Badenoch was top with 31 percent of the votes.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was in second place with 20 percent.

Penny Mordaunt, who was previously tipped as the favourite, came in at third place with 18 percent of participants.

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak – also hailed as one of the favourites – came in fourth with 17 percent of votes.

Tom Tugendhat was last, in fifth place, according to the poll results.

The survey outcome shows that Badenoch won all four head-to-heads.

She is the genuine article: an actual conservative Tory. Which means all the luminaries hate her. Will be interesting if the current system that the Tories use to elect the leader works in her favour, since (iirc) it requires mail in ballots from party members. I do hope she wins.

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 8:10 pm

the Los Angeles Times has discovered that they could “contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium.”

I know of someone who’s first step when this mess started was to establish a small company specialising in solar panel safe disposal, at exorbitant prices.

Solar Panels are the new asbestos.

Vicki
July 18, 2022 8:11 pm

Victoria’s police have dropped charges against anti Covid vaccine activist Monica Smit for “incitement”.

https://www.rebelnews.com/police_drop_incitement_charges_against_monica_smit

Indolent
Indolent
July 18, 2022 8:12 pm

Russell Brand interviewing Aaron Maté of Grayzone. The meat of the matter starts at 1.55.

So THIS Is Why US Wants War In Ukraine

Eyrie
Eyrie
July 18, 2022 8:12 pm

‘Bunkering down’ like that?
Yair, the Brits mouths wrote a cheque that couldn’t be cashed in 1939.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 8:15 pm

It’s been a while since the Blitz, but I reckon the Brits remember a thing or two about bunkering down for a long war

For the record my grandad told my granny that he was a night watchman during the Blitz.
He had to because of the Official Secrets Act.
What he was really doing was working on nukes. He was a chemical engineer.
My granny never knew.
Mum and I have pieced the story together.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 8:20 pm

Mum and I have pieced the story together.

Fester, it’s not like we haven’t seen where your deductive reasoning leads to quite often . At your “level” of deductive ability, your grandpa could end up being Churchill or Roosevelt.Bill Clinton even. Go to bed.

rosie
rosie
July 18, 2022 8:20 pm

I don’t know that the British would have considered that they merely bunkered down.
They might have thought they hunkered down.

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 8:23 pm

Victoria’s police have dropped charges against anti Covid vaccine activist Monica Smit for “incitement”.

The small matter of no actual laws having being broken?

I wonder how Vikpol will fare when we go Sri Lanka?

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 18, 2022 8:25 pm

If they hadnt had such an abysmal performance in the winter war with Finland …

Rubbish.
The Finns were on the brink of collapse after only 100 days and sued for peace.
They ended up settling for what the Soviet Union had demanded in 1939 anyway, and
it cost them 40,000 men that they couldn’t afford to lose.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 8:25 pm

Eyrie:

Winston, Canberra is pretty spread out. More is better.

OK.
Will you settle on a compromise that we allow 10 MIRVed at 500/750Kt to loosen the soil and one 8Mt to detonate 500 meters underground to spread it out a bit?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 8:26 pm

the Los Angeles Times has discovered that they could “contaminate groundwater with toxic heavy metals such as lead, selenium and cadmium.”

Golly, that’s terrible. I think I have a piece of pure cadmium and a vial of pure selenium powder in my loungeroom. I don’t bother keeping lead, our company produced several hundred thousand tonnes of it a year. Also I cast hundreds of lead sinkers for my dad when I was a kid. I like lead metallurgy, he likes fishing.

The selenium is from a selenium refinery which operated for some years in Marrickville in Sydney. The cadmium is from some electrolytic runs in our lab in Ncl. I’m almost certainly going to die horribly.

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 8:28 pm

Ordered a bandsaw sawmill from the CCP today. 31”, 15hp. Got a good deal, I ordered it without any track, no point shipping angle iron and RHS halfway across the world.

Only the foundry and the refinery to go!

Frank
Frank
July 18, 2022 8:29 pm

Should be hunkering down, surely.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
July 18, 2022 8:29 pm

Vickisays:
July 18, 2022 at 8:11 pm
Victoria’s police have dropped charges against anti Covid vaccine activist Monica Smit for “incitement”.

Two cheers.
The process is the punishment. She spent 22 days in jail and now LaborPol (the organisation formerly known as “VicPol”) just walks away, effectively admitting they haven’t got a case against her that’s worth running.
I hope she sues. I’d be willing to donate to a legal fund. Yes, maybe she’s a bit flakey. Yes, it probably doesn’t matter anyway because Maximum Leader’s government would just use our money to shelter all involved, and regard it as money well spent in order to discourage further criticism. But it needs to be put out there that abuse of power like that is not OK.

Ed Case
Ed Case
July 18, 2022 8:31 pm

I doubt if any of our VCs was an angel-in-waiting.

That’s a silly statement.
Regardless of the outcome of the Trial, Roberts-Smith has shown himself to be a First Class arsehole.
If any other Aussie VC winner matched that, i’d be surprised.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 8:36 pm

Vicki

I doubt if any of our VCs was an angel-in-waiting.

Albert Jacka, the first Australian awarded a VC in WW I, latere received an MC for an action during which he was cut off by a German counter-attack. He had to break past the advancing Germans to reach the Australian lines, but had several German prisoners with him.

Reasoning that if he released the Germans, then they would grab their discarded weapons and shoot him, he shot them first, then broke past the advancing German counter-attack and returned to the Australian lines.

The MC was for other actions that day, not for shooting the prisoners.

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 8:37 pm

A bit of a rundown on the UK’s aircraft carrier mess:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV144k2qdlY

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 18, 2022 8:38 pm

Ed.

Arseholes win wars.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 18, 2022 8:42 pm

Regardless of the outcome of the Trial, Roberts-Smith has shown himself to be a First Class arsehole.

See you say that to his face..

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 8:42 pm

Some very articulate Sri Lankan’s describing how government fucked them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEh0GBB-bh0

Cassie of Sydney
July 18, 2022 8:42 pm

“I doubt if any of our VCs was an angel-in-waiting.”

A family friend’s grandfather won a VC in World War I. I know the story of his bravery however today he’d be indicted for war crimes.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 8:45 pm

Bruce O’Newk:
Tube Alloys – now there’s a blast from the past.
It just released a lot of memories of the early days of the project…

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 8:45 pm

Bruce of N

She is the genuine article: an actual conservative Tory. Which means all the luminaries hate her. Will be interesting if the current system that the Tories use to elect the leader works in her favour, since (iirc) it requires mail in ballots from party members. I do hope she wins.

You missed one of the key intersectionalities. Not just a woman, but a black woman. Labour would have to tie itself in knots to attack her.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 8:46 pm

It is on record that Andrew Hastie, who served in Afghanistan, regarded BRS as an unyieldingly tough superior officer.

It appears that most of Hastie’s opinion of BRS was formed as a result of BRS’s “reputation” (i.e. gossip and second hand stories) and a dream that Hastie had.

Mr Hastie also told the court he had “dreams” about Mr Roberts-Smith in which they had killed an Australian troop and “covered it up”.

The MP said he believed the dream was a metaphor for a “deep truth” about “what we had done to ourselves” in Afghanistan. (The West Australian, today)

Hastie had my admiration for his success in becoming an SAS soldier, his family life, and apparently conservative values. In taking rumour and innuendo to court, he lost my support.
(Not that support is important to him of course. Just another event confirming my distrust of the SFLs.)

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 8:47 pm

Dickless

Rubbish.
The Finns were on the brink of collapse after only 100 days and sued for peace.

How many men did the Soviets lose?

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Fester, it’s not like we haven’t seen where your deductive reasoning leads to quite often . At your “level” of deductive ability, your grandpa could end up being Churchill or Roosevelt.Bill Clinton even. Go to bed.

What a stupid comment.

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 18, 2022 8:48 pm

Bruce of N

The selenium is from a selenium refinery which operated for some years in Marrickville in Sydney.

Don’t some shampoos contain selenium?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 18, 2022 8:49 pm

Just checked a few of the other national online rags. No mention of this (the NT News):

POLICE have found a firearm near the bodies of a baby and two adults at a Central Australian outstation.

Northern Territory Police confirmed the bodies of a 41-year-old man, a 40-year-old woman and an infant were located at a house in the small community north of Alice Springs on Sunday.

“Police located a firearm at the scene and we are treating this as a domestic violence incident,” said Acting Commander Mark Grieve.

Word is that a bloke with a truly shit history of domestic violence shot his missus and infant child, before shooting himself – thus saving endless amounts of taxpayer cash.

I have no idea why a domestic violence double murder and suicide wasn’t mentioned further afield.

Commander Grieve said the Community Resilience and Engagement Command team, including the Aboriginal Liaison Officers, were providing integral community engagement and support to those involved.

Oh. Oh, right.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Fester, put all that shit in your drinking water and let us know how it’s going. You idiot.

This really adds to knowledge & discussion.
You really do need to apply Bowscott (or perhaps Softly) more often.

Who was it said 5% of comments on the old Open Threads were just one commenter making unedifying abuse at others?

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 8:52 pm

rickw:

Only the foundry and the refinery to go!

What the Hell are you up to now?
Going into business against BHP?

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 8:53 pm

John MacArthur, what’s wrong with the USA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvUkxG2N8UI

rickw
rickw
July 18, 2022 8:54 pm

What the Hell are you up to now?
Going into business against BHP?

Na, just self sufficiency!

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 8:57 pm

Driller
Do you still own the hwy stop or are you now a full time stoush troll? I’m curious.

Go read the tweet comments above, you inbred Kunt. Shellenberger is talking about these trace metals soaking into the drinking water. Fester thinks having lead in his lounge is the same thing.

You fucking moron.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 8:59 pm

This really adds to knowledge & discussion.

Like plussing 458 adds more.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 8:59 pm

Fester, it’s not like we haven’t seen where your deductive reasoning leads to quite often . At your “level” of deductive ability, your grandpa could end up being Churchill or Roosevelt.Bill Clinton even. Go to bed.

Still shouting at the sky and shaking your fist at the clouds, old man?
My admiration for BoN’s stoic silence in the face of your unprovoked aggression grows with each stupid “gotcha” you attempt.
Take your irrational jealousy of Peter Switzer and direct it at him. That will preserve whatever remaining credit you have at the Cat.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 18, 2022 9:00 pm

A family friend’s grandfather won a VC in World War I. I know the story of his bravery however today he’d be indicted for war crimes.

Supposed to have been an Australian soldier, who was awarded a VC during the First World War. Sometime after, he was on leave in London, in civilian clothing, when he was presented with a white feather, and asked why he wasn’t in uniform…Shame, I don’t know his name..

Indolent
Indolent
July 18, 2022 9:05 pm
Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 9:07 pm

Salvatore:

J.C. Fester, it’s not like we haven’t seen where your deductive reasoning leads to quite often . At your “level” of deductive ability, your grandpa could end up being Churchill or Roosevelt.Bill Clinton even. Go to bed.

What a stupid comment.

You expect any better from the vicious little shit?

Indolent
Indolent
July 18, 2022 9:08 pm
chrisl
chrisl
July 18, 2022 9:09 pm

rickw Could you rip some 150 mm Oregon with that new-dangled gadget of yours ?

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 9:10 pm

Boambee John:

Don’t some shampoos contain selenium?

Yes – it’s a treatment for excessive dandruff.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:10 pm

Old school
I dunno, maybe it’s just me. Uncle Fester is one of the biggest bullshit artists posting here. A disturbing number of his posts are either hallucinating or just plain unadulterated fake news crap like we see from the left. There’s one single thing I’ve been consistent over the years and that’s that I don’t like bullshit. That applies to both the left and right. Where do you stand?

And by the way, a large number of commenters here agree with me. And that’s no bullshit.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

You expect any better from the vicious little shit?

Nobody does.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:13 pm

LOl

Oh look, you know you’ve hit bottom when turtlehead and the Driller try to form a trolling posse. You jus have to laugh.

Arky
July 18, 2022 9:14 pm

My admiration for BoN’s stoic silence

..
Many may not appreciate how difficult it is to maintain that strength under a sustained, months long and vile personal attack.
Bruce is an extraordinary example that we should emulate.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Uncle Fester is one of the biggest bullshit artists posting here. A disturbing number of his posts are either hallucinating

What a stupid comment.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

I don’t like bullshit.

If that were actually true, you would STFU.
You don’t – ergo you like bullshit.
Now go & wipe yourself.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 9:18 pm

Tube Alloys – now there’s a blast from the past.
It just released a lot of memories of the early days of the project…

Winston – My grandad and Oliphant were mates at Birmingham.

See if you can spot him in the photo… 😀

Says “Birmingham University Senior Training Corps, Royal Engineer Section, Clitheroe 1942.”

(Btw my PC background graphic is various moons.)

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:19 pm

Take your irrational jealousy of Peter Switzer and direct it at him. That will preserve whatever remaining credit you have at the Cat.

WTF? I have an irrational jealousy of Peter Switzer? What are you drinking these days, Old School? I barely know who he is and can’t ever recall mentioning him. If I needed either you, the Driller or Turtle-head assess my “credit” standing I be more than embarrassed.

Let me repeat one more time. Fester is the equivalent of a fake news bulllshit artist and I’ll highlight it every time the idiot tries it on. A disturbing number of people agree with me.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

A disturbing number of people agree with me.

< – – – – This is bullshit.

Now go & wipe, properly this time.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:26 pm

Many may not appreciate how difficult it is to maintain that strength under a sustained, months long and vile personal attack.
Bruce is an extraordinary example that we should emulate.

Yea, but you’re not and never were, thought leadership.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:27 pm

A disturbing number of people agree with me.

< – – – – This is bullshit.

Nope, it’s very true.

John H.
John H.
July 18, 2022 9:28 pm

Boambee Johnsays:
July 18, 2022 at 8:48 pm
Bruce of N

The selenium is from a selenium refinery which operated for some years in Marrickville in Sydney.

Don’t some shampoos contain selenium?

Selenium is an essential nutrient, vital for the production of the major antioxidant glutathione and to maximise thyroid function. We need very little of it per day and like so many metals we need in small quantities high levels are toxic.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 9:31 pm

The selenium is from a selenium refinery which operated for some years in Marrickville in Sydney.

Don’t some shampoos contain selenium?

Selenium sulfide.

The (elemental) selenium refinery was the effort of Lakshman Jayaweera, a fine guy. He took an old process developed by the Russians and applied it to a selenium residue produced by the Cockle Creek zinc smelter. He put the residue through that process in a shed in Marrickville, producing highly purified Se for sale to the international market. Awesome guy: for a long time he had an ASX company called Hydromet. He and I are the same under the skin, only he’s braver and crazier.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

A disturbing number of people agree with me.

< – – – – This is bullshit.

Nope, it’s very true.

Let’s wait for a “disturbing number” of people to post agreement.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Yea, but you’re not and never were, thought leadership.

What a low-energy retort.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:35 pm

We need very little of it per day and like so many metals we need in small quantities high levels are toxic.

Thanks for making the point and getting back to the core of what Shellengberger was getting at John H.

In contrast, Uncle Fester claims he has these metal strewn all over his abode, which (he infers) is the same thing. Subsequently, we have Turtlehead, the Driller and the Thought Leadership saying I’m a horrible person for suggesting those aren’t the same thing. Finally, Fester comes back and tells us his grandpa was best buddies with Oliphant, which thereby proves consuming those metal in large doses in drinking water or in lounge room are the same thing.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

we have Turtlehead, the Driller and the Thought Leadership saying I’m a horrible person for suggesting those aren’t the same thing.

No, your character is what gets you called for what you are.

Don’t like it? Trying growing up. Something achieved by everybody else on here.

calli
calli
July 18, 2022 9:38 pm

Eat Brazil nuts if you want a belt of selenium. Not too many of course.

I wouldn’t recommend it in a cocktail.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 9:39 pm

One day I got a phone call from Lakshman. He says “I’ve just bought 20,000 tonnes of residue containing 20% lead, how do I get the lead out of it?”

I says: “dunno”. (A conversation about very anal metallurgy then ensued.)

I still don’t know what he did with his pile of lead residue, but I figure he worked out some sort of money-making idea. That was his way.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:43 pm

Thought Leader

A couple of things so so we’re on the same page.

1/ I’d pay the blog owner, Dover a similar compliment you paid Uncle Fester. I disagree with Dover on a lot of things, but I also think he’s sincere in his views and I would never attack him personally. Dover is consistent.
Do you still think he should fuck off to Moscow? That’s what you said to him and then like the pathetic, worthless piece of human garbage that you are you took off like a jack rabbit.

2/ Someone humorously mentioned to me that you’re quite the little economist over at the Lollipop Blog. Apparently, you mentioned that importing goods is trading in goods that are below cost. Would you mind elaborating on that bit of economics as it’s fascinating.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 9:44 pm

They’ve obviously forgotten 3 million cranky Russian soldiers, and over a thousand bombers dropping shit on them every day, haven’t they?
“We’re Facing The Biggest Crisis The Country Has Ever Had”: President Of German Employers’ Association Warns Of Historic Crisis Over Russian Gas Cut”
And you did it to yourselves, you stupid, stupid, people.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:44 pm

Drilller, go away.

(I used to say go clean or dust the bar, but that’s not happening anymore, right?) 🙂

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

A couple of things so so we’re on the same page.

Low energy.
You’re not, & never will be, on the same page as men.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

go away.

You do not have what it takes to make that happen.
Deal with that how you may.

You haven’t even the balls to take a bet.
I’ve owned you since that moment.

It’s kinda cute having my own personal Broken.

Thefrollickingmole
Thefrollickingmole
July 18, 2022 9:46 pm

Ed- Mong considers losses of 5-1 in men and massively more in material and finally signing a treaty to gain 10% of the country you wanted to take over a victory.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

Napoleon eat your heart out.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 9:47 pm

JC pulls his favourite rabbit out of his hat.

Oh look, you know you’ve hit bottom when turtlehead and the Driller try to form a trolling posse.

“They’re picking on me!”
Sook.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

“They’re picking on me!”
Sook.

Slings mindless abuse & invective at others.
Gets a fraction thrown back at it & starting crying like a little girl.

First class pantywaist.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:51 pm

“They’re picking on me!”
Sook.

That will be your obit , Turtlehead. I’ve lost count on the number of times you’ve accused me of being a weal mean bully. Indirect trolling is the prefect of example.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 9:52 pm

Bruce O’Newk:

See if you can spot him in the photo…

Easy one!
Third from the left, middle row.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:54 pm

You do not have what it takes to make that happen.
Deal with that how you may.

You haven’t even the balls to take a bet.
I’ve owned you since that moment.

It’s kinda cute having my own personal Broken.

Did you wear gloves picking up soiled sheets? Past tense obviously.

Broken… lol. You’re one of the worst examples of a damaged individual on this blog, Driller. The other two are pretty close.

Now please go away.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 18, 2022 9:55 pm

It must be said that the bonhomie and good humour is below par this evening, but at least no-one has trotted out the “spastic” word yet.
Although it is still early.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

My Broken is too low energy.
This one is too stupid & low energy to even be a challenge.

I need another. This one is too weak & sooky.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 9:57 pm

JC:

In contrast, Uncle Fester claims he has these metal strewn all over his abode, which (he infers) is the same thing. Subsequently, we have Turtlehead, the Driller and the Thought Leadership saying I’m a horrible person for suggesting those aren’t the same thing. Finally, Fester comes back and tells us his grandpa was best buddies with Oliphant, which thereby proves consuming those metal in large doses in drinking water or in lounge room are the same thing.

That’s a really disturbing thought salad, JC.
It almost fits into the WMD category.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 9:59 pm

Sanchez

Did you know the imported goods we buy are all produced below cost? Arky Friedman said so on the Lollipop blog. Someone told me on Discord, but I have to find the link. Bear with me while I look for it.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 18, 2022 10:00 pm

WTF? I have an irrational jealousy of Peter Switzer? What are you drinking these days, Old School? I barely know who he is and can’t ever recall mentioning him.

It was just bait. You rose and took it.

A disturbing number of people agree with me.

The number 1 must be very disturbing. To you.

Winston Smith
July 18, 2022 10:03 pm

I can imagine JC, red faced and pounding away at the keyboard…

Indirect trolling is the prefect of example.

Thought salad.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

It was just bait. You rose and took it.

That one is so easy to bait.
It should consider adopting the blog handle: “Come in Spinner” 🙂

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 10:04 pm

Turtlehead
“Disturbing”is scaring yourself almost to death by posting comments the Chinese were going to invade Australia at any time using commercial airline arrivals at Tullamarine Airport. When I made fun of that shocking level of self-delusion you went running to the old blog owner bawling… telling him I was being mean to you.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 18, 2022 10:05 pm

JCsays:

July 18, 2022 at 9:59 pm

Sanchez

Did you know the imported goods we buy are all produced below cost?

Top news!
This means the rest of the world is going broke, right?

rosie
rosie
July 18, 2022 10:07 pm

Isn’t it nice to live close enough to your work you can walk home?
subtle scolding of two car families by the ABC

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Did you wear gloves picking up soiled sheets?

Why would there be soiled sheets?

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 18, 2022 10:07 pm

Biggles was also presented with a white feather while on leave in London in WWI.

Just saying.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 18, 2022 10:08 pm

Easy one!
Third from the left, middle row.

Hehe, Winston, actually front row one to the right of centre.
Can’t name him without doxing myself.
I was a 6 year old kid, we’d visit grandad and granny, and grandad would let me play with his mechanical calculator worth five thousand pounds. Sadly he died when I was about 11. Decades later I ended up doing the same stuff he did. How do you escape genetics? Please? I think he’d’ve been happy with what his grandson did, at least that’s what I hope.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 10:08 pm

It was just bait. You rose and took it.

Some bait. Weird shit Old School. Makes no sense.

The number 1 must be very disturbing. To you.

I know, we all suffer cognitive dissonance at times. Some more than others. Yours is when your own tribe peddles fakenews. Don’t be so gullible.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 18, 2022 10:08 pm

Deborah Birx.
Another fantastic Trump appointment.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Biggles was also presented with a white feather while on leave in London in WWI.

I’ll challenge that statement.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 10:11 pm

Why would there be soiled sheets?

I know. Not any more there isn’t. Should’ve used the past tense.

rosie
rosie
July 18, 2022 10:11 pm
JC
JC
July 18, 2022 10:12 pm

Oh God. Fester , just go to bed for FFS.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Biggles was presented with a white feather when on a short leave & holidaying at a country estate in Kent coastline.

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 18, 2022 10:13 pm

Step outside Salvatore!

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

I’ve had soiled sheets at my place? Wow, I didn’t even know JC had booked a room here.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Step outside Salvatore!

To shoot down some Huns who’re attacking Ramsgate?
Or to join the shooting party with the attractive young lady who presented the white feather? 🙂

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 10:17 pm

Anyway enough having to deal with these imbeciles.

Does anyone get the same feeling as I have. I’m having several issues with a comms company at the moment. I’ve probably spent 4.5 hours on the phone with their reps who are all working from home. Their telephone lines break down (cackle), kids are screaming in the background, dogs barking and when they say they can’t help and need to link to a rep in another department, the line goes down. Working from home is an absolute crock that doesn’t work.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Anyway enough having to deal with these imbeciles.

Stop looking in the mirror & you’ll no longer an imbecile to deal with.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 18, 2022 10:19 pm

Step outside Salvatore!

Pistols for two, and breakfast for one……..

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 18, 2022 10:23 pm

Groogs cannot re-enter Finland for molesting reindeer.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Pistols for two, and breakfast for one……..

That won’t be necessary.
There was no disagreement on the substantive issue – (white feather)

Merely a matter of some Seventy miles over where it happened.

JC
JC
July 18, 2022 10:23 pm

Fester

Association doesn’t make one a genius so stop the pretentious bullshit. To give an example , a friend’s kid works in a Japanese lab for a Nobel prize winner in science at their best university. The kid is smart, but it doesn’t make him a Nobel winner. The kid’s Anglo-saxon and speaks Japanese well enough to do science in Japanese. You’re no Oliphant.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 18, 2022 10:24 pm

Spastics.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

a friend’s kid works in a Japanese lab for a Nobel prize winner in science at their best university. The kid is smart, but it doesn’t make him a Nobel winner. The kid’s Anglo-saxon and speaks Japanese well enough to do science in Japanese. You’re no Oliphant.

Utterly fascinating.
Tell us more.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Knuckle Dragger says: July 18, 2022 at 10:24 pm

Spastics.

Spastic.

  1. Some nice pix of a 4WD and trailer completely flooded by a rising tide at K’gari. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13360571/Aussie-campers-50-000-disaster-simple-mistake-left-group-friends-stranded-Kgari-hefty-bill.html That never used…

  2. Muddy, this is where unions can sometimes be helpful. I assume that the relevant union would be useless about COVID…

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