Open Thread – Tues 19 July 2022


Woman on a Porch with Flowers, Robert Lewis Reid, 1906

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calli
calli
July 19, 2022 12:14 pm

Biggles was not a gay boy!

Depression is a terrible thing. Even for flying aces.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 19, 2022 12:15 pm

Hey, Dover moderated my comment posted at 11.52am. All of the n-bombs, holocaust denial, misogyny, white supremacist, pro-paedo stuff I packed in there – he took it out!

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 12:15 pm

Earlier this year, the GOP (in name only) controlled Arizona statehouse voted to approve “emergency” election protocols.
This was allegedly a surprise to a lot of members who voted to pass it.
Immediately they said they were blindsided & would reverse it.
It didn’t happen & now drop boxes are dotted across the state.
The primary isn’t until August 2nd but postal votes have been accepted at these drop boxes since the weekend.
This is going to be a shit show.

Cassie of Sydney
July 19, 2022 12:18 pm

“Aunty has turned into a monster”

Yes, just ask Cardinal Pell, Craig McLachlan, Christian Porter, Alan Tudge and Andrew Laming.

Perplexed of Brisbane
Perplexed of Brisbane
July 19, 2022 12:20 pm

Rogersays:
July 19, 2022 at 12:10 pm
SICK: Biden’s Transgender Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Levine Says We Need to “Empower” Children to go On Puberty Blockers

Bring on the mid-terms; hopefully we’ll see the the mother of all electoral admonishment

Agreed. We also need to “Empower” children to kick transgender activists in the nuts*.

*if applicable.

Indolent
Indolent
July 19, 2022 12:21 pm

I particularly liked that twitter feed which showed PalaceChook having drinks with Parrotet (both unmasked of course) indoors at the SOO – only to have her say a couple of days later that everyone should wear masks inside.

There’s a clip floating around of Parrotet saying outright that the only reason they reintroduced checking in was pressure from activists. He clearly said there was no “science” behind it and that they weren’t even contact tracing – which we knew at the time. But you were still forced to check in, or sneak in. How much more dishonest or pathetic can you get?

Turnip
Turnip
July 19, 2022 12:21 pm

Did the Brits survive the Heet Holocaust gleefully forecast yesterday?

Up to 43 degrees!!!!!

……..actual …somewhat less.

MatrixTransform
July 19, 2022 12:25 pm

gas runs low

what a bunch of clowns
burn it
burn it faster
make it all fall down

maybe then a sensible conversation can be had

Kneel
Kneel
July 19, 2022 12:25 pm

“…Australia’s ecosystems will deteriorate and are at risk of collapse if climate change is not addressed collaboratively.”

Dear Collaboratively,

I demand you immediately cease and desist deteriorating and threatening the collapse of Australia’s ecosystems.

Regards,
Aussie Pleb.

There ya go – I just addressed it “collaboratively”, so problem solved as soon as I can figure out where to send it. All assistance in that regard greatly appreciated – thanks in advance.

Probably have about as much effect as anything taxes and other GovCo actions would…

Boambee John
Boambee John
July 19, 2022 12:27 pm

“It makes a great deal of sense at this current juncture – it’s not as if the energy companies did anything to deserve it.”

And what does Stiglitz think that the ruinable companies did to deserve their huge subsidies? They don’t even provide a reliable supply.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 19, 2022 12:28 pm

The billionaire who is happy to pay more tax than he should

Lots of billionaires say this (see the Buffett Rule) whilst paying bugger all tax. What’s the trick in the US? Don’t receive an income – borrow against your assets and live off that. Can you do this in Australia?

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Sancho Panzer says: July 19, 2022 at 12:12 pm

Biggles was not a gay boy!
He had a passionate relationship in WWI with a lady …

… who was, in fact, the squadron’s trannie mascot.

Er… the nearest Marie got to the squadron was sending a secret message to the Germans, ordering a bombing raid on the squadron airfield, with particular attention to the Officer’s Mess.

This is the message Biggles dropped behind enemy lines for her.
The message was written after she received a five-hour rogering from Biggles (their first meeting)

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 12:40 pm

Did the Brits survive the Heet Holocaust gleefully forecast yesterday?

Up to 43 degrees!!!!!

To be fair to them, the indoor UK is pretty uncomfortable above mid 30’s.

Nobody has a/c at home, nor most older work places.

Many newer buildings have bizarre ‘energy saving’ a/c systems that cool stacks of bricks, using off peak electricity, and then run hot intake air through them during the day.

By 3pm the coolth has gone and you find yourself melting in an airless office, 5° hotter than outside. People suffer from heatstroke and dehydration.

(Also, avoid the UK during winter – November to March – due to indoor temperatures ranging from bitter to stifling.

And snow. It snows every year, but it’s as though it’s the first time ever. Everything grinds to a halt and people are found dead in snowbound cars and snow drifts.)

Shit of a place.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 19, 2022 12:42 pm
feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 12:43 pm

Eric Holder refused to show up to a congressional committee hearing.
The House then voted to hold him in contempt.
He got the subpoenas, through them in the bin & went out for a nice dinner in DC.

A select committee holds Bannon in contempt for not showing up & now he’s in court.

The rule of law.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 19, 2022 12:44 pm

Earlier this year, the GOP (in name only) controlled Arizona statehouse voted to approve “emergency” election protocols.

RINO central.

GOP leaders attempt to block Trump Arizona rally (18 Jul)

Republican leaders, including Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and others who have backed candidates not endorsed by former President Trump, are trying to prevent a Trump rally from going ahead in Arizona.

The movement is part of an increasingly powerful push by establishment Republicans to support the Arizona gubernatorial candidacy of housing developer Karrin Taylor Robson against Trump backed candidate Kari Lake, a former TV news anchor, the Associated Press reported.

Other Republicans behind Robson include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, an alignment similar to the manner in which a group of GOP leaders helped incumbent Georgia Governor Brian Kemp defeat a Trump endorsed primary opponent.

Hopefully the base will send them a nice message using large army boots.

shatterzzz
July 19, 2022 12:46 pm

Youngest daughter’s return flight(JetStar) from a weekend in Melbourne cancelled last night .. rescheduled for Thursday .. cheapest fare to get back earlier $500 one way .. FFS!
Fortunately she was visiting a sister & as she worx for her other sister she is able to stay ’til Thursday without any extortion ….!

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 12:47 pm

The message was written after she received a five-hour rogering from Biggles (their first meeting)

Capt. W.E. Johns did not write about rogering.

He wrote about manly stuff.
And strong (but healthy) friendships.

Unfortunately some, usually foreigners or shallow cocksmokers, mistake his characters for roarers.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Capt. W.E. Johns did not write about rogering.

Nobody did write about it in those days.
Biggles & Marie spent five hours “together” in her house.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
July 19, 2022 12:49 pm

Can this be the ABC reporting on the p3d0 r0pist Roman Polanski’s 40-year effort to flee justice, protected by the left establishment and Artie luvviedom?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-19/roman-polanski-case-new-testimony/101250020

Wonders never cease! I thought cases like this were off limits. And I’ll bet Jon Stephens still is.

Zipster
Zipster
July 19, 2022 12:49 pm

SICK: Biden’s Transgender Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Levine Says We Need to “Empower” Children to go On Puberty Blockers

looks like somebody needs more fresh meat

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 12:52 pm

Threw.
Not through.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 12:57 pm

Biggles & Marie spent five hours “together” in her house.

Good Lord man.
Why on earth would you leap to rogering?

They were likely comparing stamp collections, or playing Mah Jong.

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 12:57 pm

Mole

Stigliz is and always has been an idiot. I don’t know why he’s here.

He has zero understanding of monetary policy and seems to believe high inflation isn’t a problem. Why you think he’s “a mate” is something I don’t get.

Stigliz appears to have no respect for an inflation target.

The problem we have is that the Fed made a big mistake last year when nominal GDP in the US was approaching 9%. I understand how they made that mistake because they hunched Omni was going to be a bigger problem than what it turned out. Having said that a mistake is for the Fed to wear as they own it.

Stigliz reckons that high inflation goes with technological transition. He’s obviously attempting to give the US administration cover for causing the abortion in the energy markets. Technological innovation is always has the footprint of lower inflation . He’s an arsehole.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 19, 2022 1:00 pm

Capt. W.E. Johns did not write about rogering.

Biggles did cause a lot of flamers though.

Biggles Delivers The Goods

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 1:03 pm

Lots of billionaires say this (see the Buffett Rule) whilst paying bugger all tax. What’s the trick in the US? Don’t receive an income – borrow against your assets and live off that. Can you do this in Australia?

Yes, one can do this is Australia. I know a few people who continue living this way. They come undone when the margin call comes in. Don’t borrow to live on beyond 10%.

ATO wise, you need to ensure you have a documented loan agreement with the company or the corporation. I think Tim Nielsen would better at explaining this.

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 1:05 pm

Whoops

Technological innovation always has the footprint of lower inflation .

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 19, 2022 1:06 pm

Stigliz is and always has been an idiot. I don’t know why he’s here.

Same reason he still has a job, to provide cover of a “nobble prize winner” to whatever brain spasm the ALP wants to inflict on people.

And the ‘mate” bit was to get a bite…. he lives near you doesnt he? Almost family…probably.

Amazing how he managed to completely gloss over Bidens turning the USA from energy independence back to fellating camel jockeys for a few drops more of the back stuff.
Apparently he missed the whole cancelling pipelines/crippling fracking/shutting out leases.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 1:07 pm

Windfall tax?
Seriously.
We need to tax income less & assets more.
But not all assets.
Australia has a universe of lazy assets (land banking) that need to be taxed more.
Or when they are sold by the government there needs to be use it or lose it provisions.
And we need to exempt carried interest from all tax treaties globally.
This last point would wipe the smile off the Atlassian chappies.

Kneel
Kneel
July 19, 2022 1:08 pm

“…And, most important, has he cut his home off from the grid,…”

No, no – the most important one is the interwebs thingy. No power and no NBN means we need to look carefully at full GovCo funding for this ASAP:

RFC-1149:
“Network Working Group D. Waitzman
Request for Comments: 1149 BBN STC
1 April 1990

A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers

Status of this Memo

This memo describes an experimental method for the encapsulation of
IP datagrams in avian carriers. This specification is primarily
useful in Metropolitan Area Networks. This is an experimental, not
recommended standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Overview and Rational

Avian carriers can provide high delay, low throughput, and low
altitude service. The connection topology is limited to a single
point-to-point path for each carrier, used with standard carriers,
but many carriers can be used without significant interference with
each other, outside of early spring. This is because of the 3D ether
space available to the carriers, in contrast to the 1D ether used by
IEEE802.3. The carriers have an intrinsic collision avoidance
system, which increases availability. Unlike some network
technologies, such as packet radio, communication is not limited to
line-of-sight distance. Connection oriented service is available in
some cities, usually based upon a central hub topology.

Frame Format

The IP datagram is printed, on a small scroll of paper,…”

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 19, 2022 1:12 pm

A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers

Speckled Jim smiles in approval.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
July 19, 2022 1:13 pm

JUST IN: Colbert Crew Arrested For Invading US Capitol and Harassing GOP Lawmakers CLEARED of “Unlawful Entry” Charges
Wow, that was quick clearance.
“January 6th” was 2021, five hundred days ago.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

They were likely comparing stamp collections, or playing Mah Jong.

Yeah, and Biggles spent a week trying to outdo Wilkinson to shoot down an observation balloon to win a carton of lemonade. Coz they lemonade was something they had a real hankering for.

Roger
Roger
July 19, 2022 1:16 pm

Germany to reintroduce indoor mask mandate in autumn.

calli
calli
July 19, 2022 1:18 pm

Nobody did write about it in those days.

D.H. Lawrence did.

But the Biggles books were for adolescents.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 1:24 pm

Biggles needs a 21st century netflix re-boot.

Kneel
Kneel
July 19, 2022 1:26 pm

“A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers

Speckled Jim smiles in approval.”

As I said, we need GovCo to support this – it’s environmentally friendly, requires very little infrastructure investment, and has been studiously ignored by Big Tech for more than 30 years! Truly a system for the masses and the third world that won’t result in environmental destruction – with the exception of the odd statue, which may need more regular cleaning. But that’s a small price to pay to unshackle yourself from Big Telco, isn’t it? Sure, the kiddies will complain that it’s too high a latency for games and such, and streaming video would definitely be problematic, but email would be fine, as would any other “store and forward” style comms. What’s not to like?
See – they don’t care about the N-viron-ment a bit. More concerned with prof-fits. Bastards. The only answer is a GovCo subsidy – you know it makes sense.

Rabz
July 19, 2022 1:27 pm

let’s take a minute to remind ourselves how London commuters deal with the treat of climate change

Comedy gold, Bear. Especially enjoyed the part where the “extinction rebellion j’ismist” cops a pummeling from the angry mob.

The ALPBC is going full enviro catastrophist today

Blabbers’ desperate quest for relevance continues …

Zipster
Zipster
July 19, 2022 1:30 pm

We need to tax income less & assets more.

what we need is to slash the size of government and burn the majority of regulations

Rabz
July 19, 2022 1:30 pm

Biggles needs a 21st century netflix re-boot.

With Biggles played by a disabled black tranny.

Miltonf
Miltonf
July 19, 2022 1:38 pm

The Levine filth is the worst of the worst

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 1:39 pm

With Biggles played by a disabled black tranny.

& hopefully in a grooming style “relationship” that is viewed as totally acceptable by society.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 1:39 pm

D.H. Lawrence did.

Louche degenerate.

calli
calli
July 19, 2022 1:40 pm

Biggles needs a 21st century netflix re-boot.

Black female Biggles with Algy as the trannie.

Biggles fights waycism and Male Privilege as Algy struggles with body dysmorphia and a burning desire to make silky lingerie from his parachute. Mid air.

Meanwhile the filthy Hun circles warily. He’s about to run out of gas.

local oaf
July 19, 2022 1:41 pm

Indolent says:
July 19, 2022 at 12:16 pm

Pulitzer Prize Board Stands by Awards Given to NYT, WaPo for Russia Hoax Reports

Nothing changed then, Duranty lives in the 21st century!

rosie
rosie
July 19, 2022 1:44 pm

It was merely an example Franx.
I don’t know why you feel the urge to flatten me at any opportunity, but noted.
Btw, I’m just as fond of Salve Regina.

Rabz
July 19, 2022 1:45 pm

Biden’s turning the USA from energy independence back to fellating camel jockeys for a few drops more of the back stuff

Tucker had an interesting take on this the other day: “Biden said repeatedly during the campaign that he was ‘going to end fossil fuels’, but nobody took any notice at the time, well, because he’s obviously senile and he was never going to win.”

A rare example of a politician keeping a campaign promise.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 1:48 pm

calli, that is far too detailed.
Are you moonlighting as a scriptwriter?

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

calli says: July 19, 2022 at 1:18 pm

Nobody did write about it in those days.

D.H. Lawrence did.
But the Biggles books were for adolescents.

For some reason, as adolescents we were considerably more interested in reading D.H. Lawrence than Biggles.

One particular edition of a Lawrence novel was most well received, being illustrated with photography from the movie (of the same novel) starring Sylvia Kristel.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

calli says: July 19, 2022 at 1:40 pm

… as Algy struggles with body dysmorphia and a burning desire to make silky lingerie from his parachute. Mid air.

Er… um… Calli…. parachutes were not used by anybody in Biggles stories of the time.
Exception: Crew of observation balloons.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 19, 2022 1:54 pm

Ha!

Apparently the place Biden fell of his bike is now listed in Google Maps as ‘Brandon Falls’.

And a story…

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 1:56 pm

shatterzzz says:
July 19, 2022 at 12:46 pm
Youngest daughter’s return flight(JetStar) from a weekend in Melbourne cancelled last night .. rescheduled for Thursday .. cheapest fare to get back earlier $500 one way .. FFS!
Fortunately she was visiting a sister & as she worx for her other sister she is able to stay ’til Thursday without any extortion ….!

Yea, the entire global airline system appears to be broken and looks like it will take years to mend.
Every airline is especially short of staff and short or pilots in particular. It takes years to train them and I read it costs close to a mill in training costs for an individual to become a fully accredited pilot in the US which is likely about the same here.
It’s a mess.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Every airline is especially short of staff and short or pilots in particular.

Covid isolation rules are making it worse.
Just received cancellation of (another) tourist booking for 80 room nights, due to the tour company losing their chartered aircraft & crew at the last minute.

There’s barely a few days pass here without a flight cancellation causing a load of inbound customers to not make it – and people being stuck here coz their outbound flight was cancelled.
Sorta like the pickle Shatterzzz’ daughter finds herself in.

P
P
July 19, 2022 2:04 pm

Hero Who Stopped Indiana Mall Shooter Identified as 22-Year-Old Eli Dicken, Trained in Firearm Use by his Grandfather
July 18, 2022 | Sundance

A mass shooter named Douglas Sapirman opened fire at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana, shooting three people before he was stopped by a 22-year-old who reacted in seconds after the shooting started.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 19, 2022 2:05 pm

Speckled Jim, hee, hee. For a flamer he made a good straight man.

Zipster
Zipster
July 19, 2022 2:11 pm

China in Focus – NTD
00:45 Shanghai: New Round of COVID-19 Mass Testing
03:03 China Economy Hits Slowest Pace Since COVID-19 Began
04:50 Taiwan Accuses Chinese Company of Stealing Secrets
05:54 Taiwan Parliament Speaker Visits Czech Republic
08:30 China Urged to Agree to $4B Aid for Sri Lanka

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 2:16 pm

Rumor: The Lord Of The Rings Scholar Tom Shippey Fired For Telling Prime Video They Were “Polluting The Lore”

https://boundingintocomics.com/2022/07/18/rumor-the-lord-of-the-rings-scholar-tom-shippey-fired-for-telling-prime-video-they-were-polluting-the-lore/

Lol.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 2:18 pm

feelthebernsays:

July 19, 2022 at 1:24 pm

Biggles needs a 21st century netflix re-boot.

He’d be a flight attendant rather than a pilot in the re-make.

Franx
Franx
July 19, 2022 2:19 pm

Oh no, rosie, nothing to do with flattening anyone, or anyone in particular; it’s the issue, the topic, always, and nothing to with flattening these, either, but of relating to them one way or another. Look closely.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 2:20 pm

Biggles needs a 21st century netflix re-boot.

If they cast Sir Roger in the lead, I’d pay my 2/6d for a front stall seat.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 2:25 pm

Just waved off the last of the rellies after Christmas in July.
Jeez, they can eat.
Near to three dozen of them on the long table in the woolshed, and not a vegan to be seen.

Frank
Frank
July 19, 2022 2:25 pm

The Lord Of The Rings Scholar Tom Shippey Fired For Telling Prime Video They Were “Polluting The Lore”

The Critical Drinker had some fun with the idea of a Lord of the Rings scholar.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 19, 2022 2:29 pm

Top Ender says:
July 19, 2022 at 11:43 am
Anthony Albanese and Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen seem blissfully unaware of the developing crisis affecting the NEM. Retail electricity prices have gone up recently but these increases will look like small beer relative to what is coming down the pike.

Oz…can post the whole article if necessary

Top Ender – yes please if you can – always enjoy Judith Sloan Articles

areff
areff
July 19, 2022 2:29 pm

Biggles needs a 21st century netflix re-boot.

comment image

Kneel
Kneel
July 19, 2022 2:32 pm

“…before he was stopped by a 22-year-old who reacted in seconds after the shooting started.”

Obviously fake news – this never happens, it can’t because CNN said it never happens, and CNN is fully NOT fake news. Google, MS, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter all say that CNN is “reliable”, as does NewsGuard. Who you gunna believe, your own lying eyes, or the bastions of MSM honesty and integrity? Respect the authora-ties!

“TV wouldn’t lie” – Homer J Simpson.

C’mon man! How could it be true without the sort of kerfuffle that accompanied Kyle Rittenhouse’s racist, murderous rampage? We’d KNOW. And we don’t. So QED, didn’t happen. Duh.

Anchor What
Anchor What
July 19, 2022 2:33 pm

Sky is doing wall to wall coverage of “our” ALP government today.

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 2:33 pm

US money center bank results have come out now with the last big batch having reported overnight. Overall results, although not spectacular are pretty decent. In fact, they’re better than expected if we take into account those new rules governing bank reporting in the US instituted since the GFC.

Banks executives are now required to make provision for losses on expectations of future economic performance. It’s hard to get one’s head around this new rule but there it is. Provisioning for losses on this basis wasn’t large and conference calls might not have been terrific, however expectations aren’t nearly as bad as what punters are thinking. Commercial bank lending went up materially during the quarter, which signals optimism in the hills yonder.

That’s the US. Australia? We could be pretty rooted if the Chinese economy is slowing like it appears to be.

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 2:34 pm

Just waved off the last of the rellies after Christmas in July.
Jeez, they can eat.
Near to three dozen of them on the long table in the woolshed, and not a vegan to be seen.

LOl.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

He’d be a flight attendant rather than a pilot in the re-make.

There’d be some serious rewriting to do (above & beyond the sex-changes & political realignments)
In all of the 101 books in which Biggles appears, the number in which he flies a passenger airliner is: Zero.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 19, 2022 2:36 pm

Re AFR – Do you actually need $1m to retire?

taken from (I believe)

CONSULTATIVE REPORT: Super Consumers Australia
Retirement Spending Levels and Savings Targets – March 2022 – 39 Page PDF

and commented on by Choice

Our new targets for your super in retirement

Super Consumers Australia has developed new guidelines based on the actual spending of Australians in retirement.

For more detail about the AFR Article reached it’s conclusions

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 2:36 pm

Some of the bankster CEOs actually talked about manufacturing re-shoring occurring in the US and they said it was noticeable. A bit of the lending was being directed to that.

Kneel
Kneel
July 19, 2022 2:37 pm

“…not a vegan to be seen.”

First sanity test passed – if God didn’t want you to eat animals, why did he make them out of meat?
Next test: how many were masked?
Next test: how many told you their pronouns?
If the answers are none and none, there is a fighting chance the are completely sane.
Only a chance mind you – after reading YOUR posts, anyone related to you is somewhat suspect – hell, almost as suspect as anyone related to ME! 🙂 Almost. (Shut up, let me talk!)

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Kneel says: July 19, 2022 at 2:32 pm

“…before he was stopped by a 22-year-old who reacted in seconds after the shooting started.”

Obviously fake news – this never happens, it can’t because CNN said it never happens,

One 22-yo at the shopping mall, in a split second achieved more than did several hundred macho Texas police officers could in a couple of hours.

Bruce in WA
July 19, 2022 2:41 pm

The next step will be the introduction of all kinds of prominently featured accommodations for athletes who may be menstruating,

Bonds undies shop at t’local shopping centre had humongous posters in the front windows for “period panties”, with the header, “A bloody good idea”!

Yeah, so good they lasted less than a week …

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Dinner in the woolshed eh?
Apart from pikelets & jam, with mugs of hot tea, which all go down fine in the woolshed, for anything else the…er…. aroma isn’t exactly appetite-enhancing.

johanna
johanna
July 19, 2022 2:44 pm

No State/Territory has a properly functioning child protection system, but SA shows a particular incapacity to learn from previous tragedies.

The latest case is a six year old who died from some form of neglect, one of five children in a household known to all the usual agencies.

Acting Premier Susan Close said her government would conduct a review because four agencies, the Department for Human Services, SA Housing Authority, Department for Education and Department for Child Protection, had been involved with the family.

“What interactions occurred, could they have been any different and are there any lessons?” she said.
System must be improved, minister

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said contact between the family and government agencies occurred “over the past couple of years” but she was unable to comment on the nature of those interactions.

“This is an absolutely heartbreaking situation – its tragic a six-year-old girl has lost her life,” she said.

She said she understood how frustrating it would be for South Australians given the number of coronial inquires (sic) and reviews had been conducted into the child protection system.

“We will look at all of the chronology of services delivered and agencies engaged in relation to this particular matter, the roles, responsibilities and interactions with respective agencies and the effectiveness of interventions and government services,” she said.

She said the government needed to understand “what else we can do” to improve the system.

Same old, same old. ‘Learnings’ and ‘better co-ordination’ and all the rest of the stock platitudes will be rolled out. What will not roll are heads. Nobody will be held responsible.

And that’s why this keeps happening.

calli
calli
July 19, 2022 2:45 pm

Er… um… Calli…. parachutes were not used by anybody in Biggles stories of the time.

Ha! You expect historical accuracy from Netflix.

Re-read my, ahem, script sir!

shatterzzz
July 19, 2022 2:46 pm

Breaking….. Treasurer Chalmers has announced he intends to make it more
difficult to claim the Dole and other social security handouts.
From next week the forms will only be printed in English .. LOL!

Tom
Tom
July 19, 2022 2:47 pm

He’d be a flight attendant rather than a pilot in the re-make.

Played by Steve Vizard.

P
P
July 19, 2022 2:50 pm

The sheer arrogance of Zali and her arrogant cohorts including Allegra, Zoe and Kylea who tink they can save the planet!

‘Dutton insurance’: crossbench MPs set joint demands on Labor’s climate bill

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 2:52 pm

He’d be a flight attendant rather than a pilot in the re-make.

I’m assuming a First Class Steward stately homo character, rather than a trolly dolly up the back.

Someone who could prevent a war between the Duchy of Spagbol and Transvestia, by roguishly plying the Port bottle to the Archdukes in his care.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 2:54 pm

We need to tax income less & assets more.

Preach it.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 2:55 pm

Played by Steve Vizard.

Who, I bet, wakes in fright, wondering when Fast Forward is going to get him cancelled…

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 2:59 pm

If Biggles went to public school it’s a safe bet he knew all about a good rogering – Lawrence of Arabia style. Brokeback Mountain with sand dunes.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 3:01 pm

Steve Vizard got himself cancelled. A most unsound chap.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 3:01 pm

areffsays:

July 19, 2022 at 2:29 pm

Biggles needs a 21st century netflix re-boot.

Aha!
Photographic evidence of turd-burgling!
I knew it!

areff
areff
July 19, 2022 3:05 pm

Salvatore, I think you’ll find Biggles flew an airliner after WWII somewhere in Africa. Can’t recall which book (it’s only been 55 years; shame on me) but it was in his ‘air detective’ period

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 3:06 pm

Lol

The unfortunate reality—for the rest of us as well as for Democrats—is that at nearly 80, Mr. Biden is as fit now to be president as he has ever been. Like the old man in Carroll’s fantasy Mr. Biden hasn’t lost his capacities. He never had them.

His long political career before the presidency was remarkable for its unremarkability. It is a pretty good indicator of the quality of your political judgment when most of the memorable things you did in your career you have subsequently repudiated—pro-life votes in the 1970s and later, the 1991 Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill showdown, the 1994 crime bill, the 1996 welfare reform, support for the Iraq war in 2002.

His previous, abortive presidential campaigns were fittingly forgettable way stations on this long march to mediocrity. First in 1988, in youthful middle age, then in 2008, when he was old enough for Medicare, his party soundly rejected him.

WSJ opinion.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Ha! You expect historical accuracy from Netflix.

Mmm.. hmmmum.
Netflix have sunk to the point where there wouldn’t even be a rationalisation for the majority of German fighter pilots being West African black people.
There’d still be a few white saxon types, to be responsible for everything bad.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 3:09 pm

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupiditysays:

July 19, 2022 at 2:42 pm

Dinner in the woolshed eh?
Apart from pikelets & jam, with mugs of hot tea, which all go down fine in the woolshed, for anything else the…er…. aroma isn’t exactly appetite-enhancing

Small shed.
Superseded in the 1970s and hasn’t heard the clatter of hooves for forty years.
Any sheep aroma has long dissipated (although, if you rub the palm of your hand against some of the worn timbers you might extract a faint lanolin aroma)

areff
areff
July 19, 2022 3:10 pm

Bear: and he was a druggie too. Group Captain Raymond offers him an unusual cigarette, which he smokes and drifts into a sort of opium den haze,

Well it turns out Raymond wishes him to experience the seductive curse of hashish before sending him off to the Middle East to set straight the producers and their camels.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

areff says: July 19, 2022 at 3:05 pm

Salvatore, I think you’ll find Biggles flew an airliner after WWII somewhere in Africa.

I’ll concede – until I can unpack some books & verify. (This will be in about the year 3000)
He flew a few airline runs, and started at least two airlines. However carrying cargo. Sometimes in a subterfuge role as an undercover.
AFAIK he never flew in a regular RPT airline pilot role.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 3:15 pm

A spot of opium was fine in the day. Ask Graham Greene.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 3:18 pm

The lead in the Netflix Biggles series?
Julian Clary.
Obviously.

rosie
rosie
July 19, 2022 3:20 pm

That is not how it appears to me.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 3:22 pm

56.7% of all woolsheds in our district now earn their keep as wedding reception/party and photography venues
Some even sourced extra rusty corrugated iron cladding for the grungy black-and-white photos.

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 19, 2022 3:23 pm

IIRR Biggles competed with Wilkinson for the crate of lemonade after the publishers got Johns to rewrite certain bits of the stories. Originally they weren’t written for young lads. First up it was a crate of Scotch.

Similarly Biggles doesn’t kill too many Huns in the revised stories. Certainly he doesn’t machinegun the balloon observers when they jump out and try and parachute to safety.

As was the norm in WWI, balloons being cheap and replaceable, unlike observers, who were expensive and rare. Otherwise there’d be another balloon up within an hour or so with two more observers correcting the fall of shot of their artillery into your Lines.

If you want an honest account of WWI flying read Goshawk Squadron.

areff
areff
July 19, 2022 3:27 pm

The perfect casting for a neo-Biggles, Hannah Gadsby.

She could begin with a rant about ‘cockpit’ being an endorsement of rape. After that, ‘flaps’ not getting the same respect as ‘joystick’.

calli
calli
July 19, 2022 3:27 pm

War is hell. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.

William Tecumsah Sherman

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 3:27 pm

A Statement from the Pulitzer Prize Board

The Pulitzer Prize Board has an established, formal process by which complaints against winning entries are carefully reviewed. In the last three years, the Pulitzer Board has received inquiries, including from former President Donald Trump, about submissions from The New York Times and The Washington Post on Russian interference in the U.S. election and its connections to the Trump campaign–submissions that jointly won the 2018 National Reporting prize.

These inquiries prompted the Pulitzer Board to commission two independent reviews of the work submitted by those organizations to our National Reporting competition. Both reviews were conducted by individuals with no connection to the institutions whose work was under examination, nor any connection to each other. The separate reviews converged in their conclusions: that no passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.

The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in National Reporting stand.

Russia-gate reporting maintains awards for work that has been proven to be a construct by some never Trumper swampies.

https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staffs-new-york-times-and-washington-post

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 19, 2022 3:29 pm

OldOzzie here you go:

Albo, Bowen in denial on looming energy meltdownJUDITH SLOAN

The mainstream media has been kind to the new Albanese government, excusing the Prime Minister’s lengthy overseas absences as being necessary and in the national interest. But being overseas does not prevent the domestic challenges from piling up, not least growing cost-of-living pressures and higher energy prices. These are in addition to the most recent resurgence of the coronavirus and its implications for a stretched health system.

When it comes to electricity, the situation on the east coast has become quite dire, with wholesale prices in the June quarter nearly 170 per cent higher than in the corresponding quarter last year. The gas situation is worse, with recently recorded prices about four times higher than levels that prevailed early in the pandemic.

A climax of sorts occurred recently when the Australian Energy Market Operator was forced to suspend the national electricity market and dictate to suppliers the quantity and timing of electrons required. We are finding out only now the cost of this exercise, with the first of several large bills being sent to retailers. At the same time, several retailers have exited or are about to exit the market.

It is clear the price trigger point for AEMO – $300 a megawatt hour – to suspend the market is too low, with the operating costs of many suppliers above this level. It simply is not plausible to order providers to supply electricity while making substantial losses.

Bear in mind AEMO is continually intervening in the market and has been doing so for years. In the past, the market basically ran itself. But with the rising proportion of intermittent renewable energy and its variability across the day, week and time of year, the grid has become increasingly difficult to maintain. The ancillary services, in terms of inertia and frequency control and that were provided incidentally in the past by coal-fired plants, cannot be taken for granted now.

Anthony Albanese and Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen seem blissfully unaware of the developing crisis affecting the NEM. Retail electricity prices have gone up recently but these increases will look like small beer relative to what is coming down the pike.

Speaking at an energy conference in Sydney last week, the Prime Minister was still predicting cheap energy and a resurgence of manufacturing. Evidently, we can be an energy superpower because we have a lot of sun and wind. Throw in green hydrogen (which is unproven at scale and at an affordable price) and the energy outlook is extremely rosy, according to him.

Bowen even had the nerve to pat himself on the back for keeping the lights on recently, while claiming the answer lies in increased investment in renewables and additional transmission lines. He seems to be ignoring the implications of the total closure of the Liddell coal-fired plant next year and the large Eraring plant in 2025, coupled with the delay in the commissioning of Snowy 2.0. Most engineers are predicting ongoing stresses on the east coast grid for many years as more coal-fired plants exit.

Optimistic predictions such as those recently released by the CSIRO that increased investment in renewables and transmission coupled with (unproven long-duration) storage will ensure affordable and reliable electricity are not universally embraced by those with direct experience. It is unlikely there will be much more pumped hydro because of our topography, and battery technology has not progressed to anywhere near the degree required to deal with high proportions of renewable energy. Recall that Labor expects renewables will account for more than 80 per cent of electricity by 2030.

The Albanese government has already begun to back away from its commitment that household electricity bills would drop by $275 a year by 2025. According to Bowen, “of course, figures move around”, indicating the figure cited during the campaign no longer has any credibility. In fact, the government will be lucky if average household retail bills increase by less than $1000 a year.

It’s important also to consider the effects of rising electricity and gas prices on businesses. Many of them are much more exposed to fluctuations in the wholesale price than households. Those east coast businesses that need to use gas as a direct input – most food processing, brick making, fertiliser – are being hit hard by the rapid increase in gas prices, in line with overseas trends.

According to Bowen, “renewable energy is more secure, there is no geo-strategic crisis that can impact on the supply of sun to our land and the wind to our shores”. Of course, the sun and wind are of no use without the overseas-supplied equipment that has much shorter lifespans than large-scale plants. Note also the high degree of overseas ownership of renewable installations here, particularly Spanish and French.

The federal government needs to move quickly beyond platitudes to deal with the looming crisis affecting the NEM. There are plenty of lessons from overseas about the problems that arise when an electricity grid has insufficient, affordable 24/7 sources of generation and renewable energy has been promoted at the expense of other fuels.

The European Commission recently has declared both gas and nuclear “sustainable”, paving the way for government funding of new gas and nuclear plants. Having allowed their nuclear power industries to wallow, Britain and France have changed tack to encourage the building of new nuclear power plants as well as extending the life of existing ones.

Even in deep-green California, the governor has sought permission to extend the life of its large nuclear power plant in the face of an unreliable grid and rising electricity prices. (California has been a world leader in promoting renewables.)

Germany, Austria, Italy and Britain have all turned to coal to deal with the actual and foreshadowed shortfall of gas from Russia. It is now acknowledged renewables provide a role but other sources of generation are needed as part of balanced energy policy. The combination of gas shortages and much higher prices in Europe may end up tipping the EU into recession.

Note here that the energy problems confronting Europe predate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prices had begun to ramp up well before then. An extended wind drought affecting both Britain and northern Europe had created havoc with the electricity systems.

The German experience also points to the limitations of renewables as a mainstay of energy policy. Notwithstanding many years of policy ambition and direct and indirect subsidies to renewables, the actual track record points to slow progress (particularly in respect of the rollout of new transmission lines) and a very limited impact on total emissions.

The lesson for Australia is that reliable and affordable energy is a critical ingredient of economic prosperity and community wellbeing. Political bromides coupled with wishful thinking of climate activists, including those running our bureaucracy, won’t do the job.

Link with comments

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 3:31 pm

calli at 3:27.
A reminder.
It might be time to give Ken Burn’s “The Civil War” a re-run.
Good film-making and story telling never suffers with age.
No CGI.
No moving pictures.
But lots of moving pictures.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
July 19, 2022 3:35 pm

Goodness me! Going after a Labor MAAAATE!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-19/qld-paul-tully-ipswich-city-council-call-to-resign/101248076https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-19/qld-paul-tully-ipswich-city-council-call-to-resign/101248076

Apart from putting his snout in the trough and supporting his fellow snouter Pisale, Tully’s greatest contribution to national life was an oafish performance when he smashed a bottle of French champagne in front of the TV cameras after one of France’s nuclear tests. (I would have been happy to drink it for him instead if he’d let me know.)

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
July 19, 2022 3:40 pm

“Call me conservative or liberal,
Republican or Democrat,
I’m somewhere in the middle,
but y’all don’t know what to do with that.
The system got you so obsessed,
with classifying Right or Left,
you never call a person human,
you call them names instead.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7tTfY84grM

Another goody 🎵 from Tom MacDonald.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

IIRR Biggles competed with Wilkinson for the crate of lemonade after the publishers got Johns to rewrite certain bits of the stories. Originally they weren’t written for young lads. First up it was a crate of Scotch.

Your recollection matches my printed copy of The Camels are Coming.

Cassie of Sydney
July 19, 2022 3:44 pm

“It might be time to give Ken Burn’s “The Civil War” a re-run.
Good film-making and story telling never suffers with age.”

Last I heard it’s been cancelled. Sadly I doubt it will ever be re-run. In this age of BLM and wokery, the superb series painted a too noble picture of General Lee and others.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
July 19, 2022 3:45 pm

Gerard Henderson reminded us recently of the perfect summing up of Biden. It was originally delivered by Kitty Muggeridge about the he self-important BBC talking head David Frost: ‘A man who has risen without trace’.

Indolent
Indolent
July 19, 2022 3:46 pm

This might explain the ABC’s – and Sky’s – frenzy today.

Jeff Stein
@JStein_WaPo
Scoop: White House weighs declaring national climate emergency as soon as this week, per sources, as collapse of talks w/ Manchin leads admin to explore raft of unilateral options

When you can’t get your way democratically, get it done by force. Obviously, Covid was the template.

calli
calli
July 19, 2022 3:47 pm

I have it on disc, so I can watch it whenever and wherever.

It isn’t just Lee. The Democrats and post war reconstruction are examined as well. Inconvenient truths.

Cassie of Sydney
July 19, 2022 3:51 pm

“It isn’t just Lee. The Democrats and post war reconstruction are examined as well. Inconvenient truths.”

Yep….I’d like to watch it again. Hard to believe it’s thirty years old.

Indolent
Indolent
July 19, 2022 3:51 pm
GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 19, 2022 3:52 pm

“Faint lanolin aroma”, has kiwis swooning allover.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 19, 2022 3:54 pm

“The Camels are Coming”, so am I said Mo.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 19, 2022 3:57 pm

Yes, one can do this is Australia. I know a few people who continue living this way. They come undone when the margin call comes in. Don’t borrow to live on beyond 10%.

From what I understand, the hyper, hyper rich ie. those with net worth in the tens of billions and above, have enormous lines of credit available to them that are secured against their holdings. They can maintain a relatively small income and thus pay very little income tax whilst using their lines of credit to pay for the billionaire lifestyle. I don’t really understand how this debt can be serviced with revenue that isn’t subject to some form of taxation…?

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 3:59 pm

And the ‘mate” bit was to get a bite…. he lives near you doesnt he? Almost family…probably.

He lives in Australia? I didn’t know that.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 19, 2022 4:01 pm

Top Endersays:
July 19, 2022 at 3:29 pm
OldOzzie here you go:

Top Ender Thanks,

Freezing here in Sydney, currently 11.6C at the moment and raining down, grey and miserable- just turned Gas Central Heating back on, having just woken from afternoon snooze and turning on Swashbuckle for 5yr Old home from school.

Meanwhile as BOM shows showers Sydney for the next week (been that way for over a year), from the Article

Speaking at an energy conference in Sydney last week, the Prime Minister was still predicting cheap energy and a resurgence of manufacturing. Evidently, we can be an energy superpower because we have a lot of sun and wind.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen – According to Bowen, “renewable energy is more secure, there is no geo-strategic crisis that can impact on the supply of sun to our land and the wind to our shores”.

What a Pair of Idiots, along with the Labor Party/Liberals/Greens and Teals

Megan
Megan
July 19, 2022 4:02 pm

It might be time to give Ken Burn’s “The Civil War” a re-run.
Good film-making and story telling never suffers with age.”

Heard the lovely theme music on ABCFM* at the weekend and thought I should do a rewatch of that. I have it on disc as well.

*Failed to mention on whose country it was composed and performed. Slackers.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 4:02 pm

“Faint lanolin aroma”, has kiwis swooning allover.

Love is love.

Megan
Megan
July 19, 2022 4:03 pm

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen – According to Bowen, “renewable energy is more secure, there is no geo-strategic crisis that can impact on the supply of sun to our land and the wind to our shores”.

That is not the kind of statement that will age well.

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 4:04 pm

I don’t really understand how this debt can be serviced with revenue that isn’t subject to some form of taxation…?

Dividends are a decent way of avoiding tax if they enjoy tax imputation credits. Also, if the stock pays no dividend there’s no income. However, you can borrow against the stock, so you’re not really spending “income” you’re spending borrowed money. The ATO is very diligent these days tacking if folks have loan agreements set up. It’s stupid if you own the company or the trust, but it’s how they want things.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Top Ender: Capt W.E. Johns’ biography – despite some trite title to lure Biggles readers – is a worthwhile if slightly shorter than desired, read.
There’s not much about his time as a prisoner-of-war, but plenty about the type of true stories he used to recount at the beginning of Biggles books, incredible things that he’d seen happen in real life but would never put in a Biggles yarn as they would seem too far-fetched to present in a fiction setting.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 19, 2022 4:06 pm

California Power Problems Hit Texas

Another state where unreliable renewable energy leads to power outages.

By The WSJ Editorial Board

California transplants who moved to Texas no doubt thought they had escaped electric power outages. Think again. Texans this week were told to crank up their thermostats amid a brutal heat wave to avoid rolling blackouts. Some ultimatum: Swelter, or bake without power.

Temperatures in Texas climbed into the triple digits this week but this isn’t unusual. The problem is that wind power faltered, as it often does during hot spells. Wind accounts for about 30% of Texas’s power supply, but unlike fossil-fuel powered generators, wind can’t provide power when it doesn’t blow. Then gas-powered plants have to pick up the slack.

But gas plants alone couldn’t compensate for wind and meet surging demand for power. Texas’s grid operator had to urge residents to conserve electricity. Bitcoin miners were asked to power down to free up 1,000 megawatts of electricity—enough to power about 200,000 homes on a hot day. Soaring power prices gave them an incentive to do so.

Manufacturers also reported curtailing production owing to grid strains and surging prices. Toyota said Thursday it scaled back production at its San Antonio plant. Reuters reported that Toyota is considering stopping production most days before 2 p.m.—when demand for power increases—and shortening night shifts through mid-August.

One of Texas’s selling points to businesses has been its cheap and reliable energy. Under former Republican Gov. Rick Perry, the state invested heavily in building transmission lines to carry heavily subsidized wind power from West Texas to big cities. For a time, wind pushed down prices in the state’s deregulated power market.

But coal and nuclear plants have struggled to turn a profit running at reduced capacity, causing many to retire. As a result, the grid has become more dependent on gas-fired generators to compensate for unreliable renewables. Meantime, demand for power is increasing as Texas’s population grows. All of this pushed the state’s grid to a near-breaking point.

Gas and power prices are also increasing as regulatory obstacles to building new pipelines constrain supply. Texas’s residential electric rates have surged 70% since last June, costing the typical family $80 more per month.

It’s no surprise that Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke is using this against incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, who isn’t leading in the polls by as much as he probably imagined. Texas needs to fix its emerging power problems lest it become California.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 19, 2022 4:07 pm

Any Cat Blogger explain this from above WSJ Article?

Bitcoin miners were asked to power down to free up 1,000 megawatts of electricity—enough to power about 200,000 homes on a hot day. Soaring power prices gave them an incentive to do so.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 19, 2022 4:09 pm

Yea, the entire global airline system appears to be broken and looks like it will take years to mend.

Yes, it’s all screwy. You have to wonder if there’s some cartel action going on between the bigger carriers – at least on some routes. Apparently, lots of A380s are being brought back into service to increase capacity on many routes. Why aren’t the other airlines that used to fly these routes resuming these services?

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 4:12 pm

Why aren’t the other airlines that used to fly these routes resuming these services?

I’m guessing that with relatively limited resources (personnel) they focus on their most profitable routes and fuck the rest until they can increase staff.

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 19, 2022 4:14 pm

Thanks Salvatore. I think I read Johns’ bio years back but maybe not – I will check.

The thing that slowly occurred to me, as very young and stupid as I was then, was that Biggles couldn’t still be flying in the 1960s which was when Johns was still churning out titles. Old Biggles would have to be about 80 by then.

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 4:14 pm

It’s no surprise that Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke is using this against incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, who isn’t leading in the polls by as much as he probably imagined. Texas needs to fix its emerging power problems lest it become California.

The dickhead (Beto) should be sucking wind (not windpower). I’m not suggesting he’ll win, but Abbott has a race on his hands at this very moment.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 19, 2022 4:15 pm

Bitcoin miners were asked to power down to free up 1,000 megawatts of electricity—enough to power about 200,000 homes on a hot day. Soaring power prices gave them an incentive to do so.

The collapsing BTC exchange rate would surely be a greater incentive. Unless you have access to a lot of very cheap energy, I don’t really see how Bitcoin mining could be profitable if your operation is in a developed country. Could still be in some shithole country.

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 19, 2022 4:15 pm

I went out to lunch today. When I paid the bill with my cc, I asked the waiter for a copy of the receipt. The waiter showed me the face of the payment machine thingy and asked if the last three numbers shown was the correct mobile and email address. When I queried how he had this information, he said it’s all linked to my cc! When did this all happen?

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 4:16 pm

OldOzzie says:
July 19, 2022 at 4:07 pm

Any Cat Blogger explain this from above WSJ Article?

Bitcoin miners were asked to power down to free up 1,000 megawatts of electricity—enough to power about 200,000 homes on a hot day. Soaring power prices gave them an incentive to do so.

Old O, very high energy prices made it more expensive to mine for that crap. They’ll mine when power becomes cheaper.

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 4:17 pm

When I queried how he had this information, he said it’s all linked to my cc! When did this all happen?

Did you book online?

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 19, 2022 4:18 pm

What happened to all of the pilots, however, JC? Did the extended Covid grounding of the airlines force pilots to break out of the golden handcuffs and they went and found alternative work?

Bar Beach Swimmer
July 19, 2022 4:19 pm

Did you book online?

No, we just walked off the street.

JC
JC
July 19, 2022 4:21 pm

OCO. Someone above mentioned COVID restrictions are taking a bite. Also, the airlines business was mostly down for two years. During the period , there was natural attrition and there was probably no training to speak of.

bespoke
bespoke
July 19, 2022 4:23 pm

johannasays:
July 19, 2022 at 2:44 pm

Same old, same old. ‘Learnings’ and ‘better co-ordination’ and all the rest of the stock platitudes will be rolled out. What will not roll are heads. Nobody will be held responsible.

Yes!, and if say they haven’t enough resources that’s a lie. It’s being eaten up by the process. I feer this will only be an excuse to make things worse.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 19, 2022 4:31 pm

Here’s a thing that will never happen:

Calls for corruption inquiry into McGowan government’s alleged G2G passes for mates

No meaningful investigation, anyway. Everything will be found to have been above board.

The CCC gets a nice funding increase in next year’s budget.

Oh come on
Oh come on
July 19, 2022 4:34 pm
feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 4:36 pm

Ha OCO!
File under “things that we knew for the last two years”.

Parliamentary crossbenchers have joined the Opposition in calling for the corruption watchdog to investigate allegations Deputy Premier Roger Cook’s office helped fast track G2G pass applications for Labor donors when the state’s border was slammed shut for almost everyone else.

jupes
jupes
July 19, 2022 4:46 pm

Calls for corruption inquiry into McGowan government’s alleged G2G passes for mates

I have direct evidence of this. My work mate from France arrived in Sydney a couple of days after me in December (we couldn’t fly straight into Perth without two weeks hotel quarantine). He called his Labor politician mate and arrived in Perth a few days later. Meanwhile, my G2G applications kept being rejected. I ended up doing 2 weeks in Sydney, then two weeks in Tassie before I was accepted but only made it back with 3 hours to go before all flights to Tassie were rejected.

During this time I contacted my (Labor) member of State Parliament (well his flack actually) and was told that they couldn’t do anything, it was up to the police to approve G2G passes. I told her about my mate getting in and nothing more was heard from her. Funnily enough.

johanna
johanna
July 19, 2022 4:49 pm

What about the hysterical British response to a spot of warm weather? One loony claimed that ‘thousands will die.’

That said, the locals are no better.

For those of us who grew up in the age when air conditioning was opening the windows in the car, the kindergarten teacher style lectures are infuriating.

As for the Brits, so far the catastrophists have been disappointed, as temps have not broken records.

They need to get the BOM in on a consultancy. They know how to fix that little problem.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 19, 2022 4:50 pm

Sanja Spasojevic, a former electorate officer in Mr Cook’s office, made the allegations during a hearing as part of her unfair dismissal claim against the deputy premier before the Public Service Appeal Board on July 8.

In her evidence to the board, Ms Spasojevic alleged Mr Cook, then Health Minister, asked her to fast track G2G applications by members of the Labor Business Roundtable, a grouping which “provides a unique opportunity for your organisation to engage with WA Labor“.

The codpiece is now tarnished…

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 4:58 pm

Sanja Spasojevic, a former electorate officer in Mr Cook’s office, made the allegations during a hearing as part of her unfair dismissal claim against the deputy premier

Beware of ex-wives and sacked staff.

bespoke
bespoke
July 19, 2022 4:59 pm

Night of terror begins soon. This one likes to challenge my trade mark indiference with endless grinning at me. Woke up last time with a stuffed toy on me pillow. Like that scene from the Godfather it was.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 5:00 pm

And Eastern European women who aren’t on an hourly rate. And their brothers.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 5:04 pm

The bloke who abused Eddie Jones is rewarded by being banned from Wallabies games.

pete of perth
pete of perth
July 19, 2022 5:05 pm

Capt Flashheart would give Biggles a run for his money.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 5:06 pm

The work, travel, quarantine exemptions (or at home quarantine) were hiding in plain sight for two years.
Politicians, media, friendly business types, public servants all were living under different rules to everyone else.

Barry
Barry
July 19, 2022 5:12 pm

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen – According to Bowen, “renewable energy is more secure, there is no geo-strategic crisis that can impact on the supply of sun to our land and the wind to our shores”.

You don’t even need any explosives.

Drop an “Elvis” water crane full of paint over a solar farm would put it out of action for months.
Dropping a load of 10m ropes or chains would catch windmill blades and unbalance them for instant destruction.

Plenty of similar weaknesses make renewables vulnerable to a 5th column sabotage attack. Hard to guard all the windmills in Gippsland compared to a single gas turbine plant. Our local Chink sleeper cells are primed for action when Taiwan is overrun.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 5:12 pm

The Judith Sloan piece hits most of the key points.

However she is somewhat understating the wholesale electricity price increase:

When it comes to electricity, the situation on the east coast has become quite dire, with wholesale prices in the June quarter nearly 170 per cent higher than in the corresponding quarter last year.

The AEMO monthly average prices work out at:
– June Quarter 2022: $220/MWh
– June Quarter 2021: $75/MWh

That is, about three times what they were a year previously – and about four times the FY 2021 average price of $54/MWh.

She also make the point:

It is clear the price trigger point for AEMO – $300 a megawatt hour – to suspend the market is too low, with the operating costs of many suppliers above this level. It simply is not plausible to order providers to supply electricity while making substantial losses.

This is actually not the current situation.

AEMO lifted the $300/MWh spot cap on June 24. Since then, the spot market has consistently traded above $300. The average wholesale price for June was $330 (including both the offending $1000/MWh spikes and the two weeks of $300 cap) – while the average price for July $402/MWh (time of writing: $667/MWh).

In effect, AEMO’s price cap appears to have become the trading floor and the generators are having a field day with the cold weather. (Hence no fucking gas in Victoria.)

In summary:

1) The Australian electricity market is still in failure mode – despite the spastic Bowen publicly pleasuring himself about saving us with his quick decision-making and technology deals to protect us from being “held to ransom on renewables“;

2) AEMO is floundering and out of control – as one might expect;

3) Power bills will be increasing to the extent that will likely exceed Dr Sloan’s prediction that: “the government will be lucky if average household retail bills increase by less than $1000 a year.

This is what a train crash looks like.

The only mildly surprising thing is how few of the commentariat notices that it’s happening.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 5:15 pm

Pelosi just doesn’t care about optics anymore.
Her husband’s trading timing is sublime.
You can see who the Pelosi/DNC boosters are when they talk about the returns he’s generated from his trading.
Nominally, his returns would have been better over the past decade if he just bought an S&P500 etf.
& the boosters refer to that.

But when you look at the ROE & IRR on his trading it’s off the chart.
& that’s what the boosters avoid at all costs.
But how many of the punters know what ROE & IRR even mean.
The punters know the Pelosi trading stinks though.

Eyrie
Eyrie
July 19, 2022 5:16 pm

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen – According to Bowen, “renewable energy is more secure, there is no geo-strategic crisis that can impact on the supply of sun to our land and the wind to our shores”.

We’ve got heaps of coal and uranium and thorium that no geo-strategic crisis can impact as it’s all onshore here. Bowen is a dickhead. It’s going to be a long 3 years.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 5:20 pm

AEMO is floundering and out of control – as one might expect;

They have been served a giant shit sandwich. Bit tough when half the “market” participants make a profit without the need to supply anything.

calli
calli
July 19, 2022 5:23 pm

Did someone mention Flashheart?

😀

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 19, 2022 5:23 pm

One key question in Roberts-Smith defamation ‘trial of the century’

Perry Duffin
Senior Court Reporter
@perryduffin1
NCA NewsWire
An hour ago July 19, 2022

Nine newspapers’ final attempt to defeat a mammoth defamation lawsuit, launched by venerated SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith, can be distilled to one single question and one single moment in the remote and dusty hills of Afghanistan one decade ago.

How could a group of illiterate Afghan villagers, and an elite SAS soldier, all recount the same harrowing details of an alleged war crime murder if it never happened?

The Federal Court, in Sydney, is in the final stages of the defamation trial of the century between the Victoria Cross recipient and the media company.

Justice Anthony Besanko has heard evidence from dozens of SAS veterans over more than 100 days of evidence.

One soldier, known as Person 4, emerged as perhaps the most critical witness in the trial.

Person 4 refused to testify on one allegation that he executed a prisoner on Mr Roberts-Smith’s orders in 2009.

But he did testify about a mission in 2012, in the town of Darwan, where he claimed Mr Roberts-Smith kicked a detained shepherd, named Ali Jan, off a cliff.

Person 4 claimed he watched the handcuffed Afghan tumble down the slope, his head hitting a rock “exploding” a tooth from his mouth, before the badly injured man came to rest in a dry creek bed.

The SAS soldier claimed a third soldier, his best mate known as Person 11, then executed the Afghan while Mr Roberts-Smith watched on.

Person 4’s evidence, Nine claims, lines up with what three villagers from Darwan told the court on a videolink from Kabul.

Nine’s barrister, on Tuesday, cast the evidence from Person 4 and the Afghans as an undeniable consistency that points only to Mr Roberts-Smith’s guilt.

“(The Afghans) all spoke of being in that final compound set, seeing a tall soldier wet from the waist down, seeing someone kicked off a cliff all at the exact same time, the exact same date, in the exact same location, that Person 4 described,” Mr Owens told the court.

“There is no attempt (from Mr Roberts-Smith) to explain how it is that the evidence of Person 4, a soldier on this side of the world, could correspond so closely with the evidence of the three Afghan witnesses on the other side of the world.”

Mr Owens claimed one of the villagers correctly described the SAS’ military working dog, the number of ADF helicopters, the movements of troops, “the cliff kick” – all in line with what SAS witnesses later told the court.

The details offered up by the villagers could not be “cunningly” inserted or “manufactured” unless they were true Darwan locals and true witnesses to the raid, Mr Owens told the court.

Mr Owens’ comments come at the very end of the trial, 10 years since the SAS raid on Darwan and four years since Nine newspapers first published war crime allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith.

Those articles prompted Mr Roberts-Smith to sue for defamation – he denied every single allegation while Nine mounted a truth defence.

The newspapers ultimately claimed, in their case, that Mr Roberts-Smith either pulled the trigger or ordered his patrol mates to execute six unarmed and detained Afghan men.

Mr Roberts-Smith’s barristers, on Monday, urged Justice Besanko to see the case as an attempt to restore the good name of a war hero and a human being who has been falsely accused of murder.

“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,” barrister Matthew Richardson SC said.

The closing submissions continue.

Zipster
Zipster
July 19, 2022 5:25 pm

What about the hysterical British response to a spot of warm weather? One loony claimed that ‘thousands will die.’

excess deaths solved!

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 5:26 pm

Politicians, media, friendly business types, public servants all were living under different rules to everyone else.

Kerry Stokes was unavailable for comment.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 19, 2022 5:28 pm

John Connor II
July 19, 2022 at 3:57 pm · Reply
Tuesday craziness: Calls for Hooters to hire more curvaceous waitresses

https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1548072041579827206

Go woke go broke. Go BBW go broke.
Perhaps she should try Sports Illustrated. ?

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 5:28 pm

How could a group of illiterate Afghan villagers, and an elite SAS soldier, all recount the same harrowing details of an alleged war crime murder if it never happened?

The lawyer knows this is false.
The “witnesses” stories & the SAS chappy who first raised the complaint have changed their tune multiple times from the first airing of it on the ABC when they contracted an Afghani camera man to the middle of butt fuck Afghanistan to record the initial interviews.

Roger
Roger
July 19, 2022 5:29 pm

This is what a train crash looks like.

Australia, you’re luck just ran out.

Bluey
Bluey
July 19, 2022 5:30 pm

If Victoria is slated to run out of gas, does that knock over our “peaking” gas power plants too? You freeze and get blackouts?

Roger
Roger
July 19, 2022 5:33 pm

your

Dot
Dot
July 19, 2022 5:33 pm

So it’s perjury then.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 5:34 pm

The initial SAS chappy said that he didn’t see the incident but:
* he saw the dead body;
* at the bottom of a cliff (not a dirt berm);
* from the distance of 200m;
* from the Blackhawk;
as they were getting out of dodge.

How can that conceivably be possible?
In dust bowl Afghanistan.
And what are the odds from his seat on the bench in the back of the chopper he could see it.
It’s not like it’s a glass bubble nor were they doing a sight seeing tour, they were getting out of there.

Zipster
Zipster
July 19, 2022 5:35 pm

Therapeutic Goods Administration approves Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for young children

the purge is on

Zipster
Zipster
July 19, 2022 5:36 pm

How can that conceivably be possible?

is this guy a sniper? at what distance did he see the tooth explode out of the head??

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 19, 2022 5:38 pm

The lawyer knows this is false.
The “witnesses” stories & the SAS chappy who first raised the complaint have changed their tune multiple times from the first airing of it on the ABC when they contracted an Afghani camera man to the middle of butt fuck Afghanistan to record the initial interviews.

Any of the bush lawyers here help out? Is there a final opportunity to draw the judges attention to that sort of discrepancy?

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
July 19, 2022 5:41 pm

Another Labor MAAAATE in the crosshairs:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-19/icac-sydney-councillor-escort-paid-by-chinese-developer/101251486

The NSW ICAC has its faults – serious faults – but it’s not all bad.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
July 19, 2022 5:44 pm

Beware of ex-wives and sacked staff.

Indeed, H B Bear.

The Victorian IBAC shut Somyurek up when he threatened to dump on Chairman Dan and the Socialist Left. He did manage to say outside the IBAC inquiry room that the SL had put the completely unqualified ex of a SL heavyweight on a government board as a bribe to stop her from bagging her ex-hubbie in public.

Diogenes
Diogenes
July 19, 2022 5:44 pm

Drop an “Elvis” water crane full of paint over a solar farm would put it out of action for months.

Given the length of grass I have seen around solar and wind farms, a hot windy day, a match…

John H.
John H.
July 19, 2022 5:47 pm
Top Ender
Top Ender
July 19, 2022 5:52 pm

And what are the odds from his seat on the bench in the back of the chopper he could see it.

Bugger all. You can see zilch from the back of a Blackhawk or Seahawk, esp. if it’s loaded up, unless you’re in the door. Even when you get to the door you are totally preoccupied with getting yourself and all your kit out. Plus there are people yelling at you about getting clear and so on.

amortiser
amortiser
July 19, 2022 5:54 pm

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity says:
July 19, 2022 at 12:48 pm
Capt. W.E. Johns did not write about rogering.
Nobody did write about it in those days.
Biggles & Marie spent five hours “together” in her house.

Capt Johns is not responsible for what happens behind closed doors.

bespoke
bespoke
July 19, 2022 5:56 pm
Indolent
Indolent
July 19, 2022 5:57 pm

Watch this to the end. Part II follows below it. And it is absolutely true.

Gonzalo Lira
@GonzaloLira1968
·
It’s funny ‘cause it’s true.

Zipster
Zipster
July 19, 2022 5:59 pm

Senator Klishas said that Scholz is ready to freeze Germany to the last German

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 6:07 pm

Exactly Top Ender.
The initial ABC hit piece doesn’t reconcile with what he said later in the Nine/Fairfax piece.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 19, 2022 6:08 pm

They have been served a giant shit sandwich. Bit tough when half the “market” participants make a profit without the need to supply anything.

True to a point, HBB.

My sympathy for those now tucking in is tempered by the fact that they have spent the past 13 years setting the detailed rules that dictate how thickly the shit is spread.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 6:08 pm

Australia, your luck just ran out.

Aka democracy.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 19, 2022 6:09 pm

One of the Bannon jurors selected today was a government lawyer.
Seriously, even though it’s a Trump appointed judge how the hell can anyone from the GOP get a fair trial in DC.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 19, 2022 6:11 pm

My sympathy for those now tucking in is tempered by the fact that they have spent the past 13 years setting the detailed rules that dictate how thickly the shit is spread.

Yep, more money to be made gaming the “market” than producing electricity. Has been for some time.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 19, 2022 6:15 pm

The initial SAS chappy said that he didn’t see the incident but:
* he saw the dead body;
* at the bottom of a cliff (not a dirt berm);
* from the distance of 200m;
* from the Blackhawk;
as they were getting out of dodge.

And he’s backed up by three practitioners of a religion that believes lying to unbelievers is acceptable?

Zipster
Zipster
July 19, 2022 6:19 pm
Roger
Roger
July 19, 2022 6:34 pm

Aka democracy.

Good and hard.

Vicki
Vicki
July 19, 2022 6:36 pm

“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,” barrister Matthew Richardson SC said.

I am fearful that this case will be a barometer of the change in the world view of current society towards the role of our military. Such a transition was famously portrayed in the movie “A Few Good Men” when Colonel Jessep, played by Jack Nicolson, observed that our safety ultimately depends on soldiers doing the unthinkable.

His Honour may well find that the evidence does not support the claims against BRS and finds that he has been defamed. But the accusations have been so publicly promoted, that a man who has fought with extraordinary valour under fire on at least two occasions against this country’s sworn enemy, will likely continue to bear the stain.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 6:37 pm

Cassie of Sydneysays:

July 19, 2022 at 3:44 pm

“It might be time to give Ken Burn’s “The Civil War” a re-run.
Good film-making and story telling never suffers with age.”
…..
Last I heard it’s been cancelled. Sadly I doubt it will ever be re-run.

You cannot be Sirius!!
It is a faithful recounting of contemporaneous letters, reports and speeches from the day.
FMD.
Of course some of the content might be racist. The war was fought, at least in part, over slavery, for fuck’s sake. Surely people in 2022 are capable of watching it without reaching for the white hood and wooden cross.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
July 19, 2022 6:38 pm

Safe as houses herself as the old head wouldn’t be out of the chaff bag too often.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-19/qld-coronavirus-covid-19-schools-masks-vaccine-ventilation/101247972

Roger
Roger
July 19, 2022 6:39 pm

Should wake many to the scam they’ve empowered.

miltonf
miltonf
July 19, 2022 6:40 pm

When Australia was reasonably well run, it wasn’t just luck- it was also hard work and skill.

Roger
Roger
July 19, 2022 6:41 pm

“It might be time to give Ken Burn’s “The Civil War” a re-run.
Good film-making and story telling never suffers with age.”
…..
Last I heard it’s been cancelled. Sadly I doubt it will ever be re-run.

Which is why I have the DVD set.

miltonf
miltonf
July 19, 2022 6:42 pm

The engineers and tradies who keep the lights on now- after what the lawyers and BAs have done- are pretty darn skilled.

miltonf
miltonf
July 19, 2022 6:42 pm

How I loathe lawyers and ‘generalists’.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 19, 2022 6:46 pm

Megan.
Re “Civil War”:-

Heard the lovely theme music on ABCFM* at the weekend and thought I should do a rewatch of that. I have it on disc as well.

*Failed to mention on whose country it was composed and performed.

A (possibly) interesting factoid.
The song is Ashokan Farewell and, although it sounds like a 19th century folk song, it was written in the 1980s, shortly before Burns series was conceived.

Roger
Roger
July 19, 2022 6:52 pm

When Australia was reasonably well run, it wasn’t just luck- it was also hard work and skill.

Yes, it was.

Reference Donald Horne’s original quote for the context.

He praised the adaptability of ordinary folk, but warned of the second rate nature of our leaders. Nothing much has change in 60 years. It takes a special sort of iodiocy to stuff up a country as naturally rich as Australia.

  1. Listen to the howls of “That’s Collective Punishment” coming from the peanut gallery. What’s wrong with collective punishment? Apart from…

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