Open Thread – Weekend 30 July 2022


A Wet Road by Moonlight Wharfedale, John Atkinson Grimshaw, late 1800s

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Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
August 2, 2022 10:12 am

sfw says:
August 2, 2022 at 9:24 am

Re Doctors, the way the system operates is designed to make them a living. My left knee is a bit dodgy, doesn’t hurt but can’t take a lot of weight, it just slowly folds. I can’t go straight to a knee specialist.

Silly, are you paying your GP? Just identify as abo and you will be bulk billed. problem solved.

Rabz
August 2, 2022 10:14 am

Thorpe is not even an Aborigine.

She is a perpetually angry delusional hate filled imbecile, so there is that.

Franx
Franx
August 2, 2022 10:19 am

Old Ozzie
Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?
Curious as to how doublethink might work.

johanna
johanna
August 2, 2022 10:19 am

The AITSL blueprint for reform coincides with action from the NSW government to cut red tape for teachers in the nation’s biggest schooling system.

An extra 200 administrative staff will be sent into schools in term four to relieve teachers of some of the paperwork that principals warn is causing burnout.

The obvious solution is out of bounds. Get rid of the pointless paperwork.

No, what we do is employ more paperworkers, at public expense.

The stupidity, it burns. 🙁

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
August 2, 2022 10:20 am

re: Durka durka splatter splatter.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri killed in US drone strike

Having a real Mandela Effect moment here. I was sure they’d nixed this ace card years ago.
Must have been some other dude.
They all kinda blur together from 20,000ft.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 2, 2022 10:21 am

She is a perpetually angry delusional hate filled imbecile, so there is that.

Well said, Squire. Sounds like your typical Greens politician to me.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 2, 2022 10:21 am

Not a great fan of Neil Mitchell (or commercial radio in general) but he is spot on with Chairman Dan. Liar thug from central casting.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 10:22 am

Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?

Labor will win the Victorian election by the largest margin over the LNP in Victorian history.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
August 2, 2022 10:24 am

Franxsays:
August 2, 2022 at 10:19 am
Old Ozzie
Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?
Curious as to how doublethink might work.

Because Mitchell realises Victorian Voters are Idiots, with a retention span of zero?

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 2, 2022 10:24 am

nice photos here of lidia as a little girl and with her grandmother here.

I saw one photo there of a protest (do they have any other mode of argument?) with placards reading “200 years of violence against blak (sic) women”.

Does she have the slightest idea of the treatment doled out to women in the 1,250,000,000,000 years before Europeans arrived?

And in the past 200 years, who does she think perpetrated most violence against blak women? What about now?

I have no doubt white people have done brutal things to black people in the past. I applaud every instance where the perpetrator was brought to justice and denounce every case they were not. But honestly, this fairy tale version of pre-white history makes her look childish.

Didn’t the first Europeans note in their journals their astonishment at the savagery inflicted upon Aboriginal women by their men?

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 2, 2022 10:25 am

Most Greens rhetoric is a dog whistle delivered for their key demographics. 18yo failing Arts students, doctor’s wives and retired school teachers.

Top Ender
Top Ender
August 2, 2022 10:25 am

Modern students are being increasingly diagnosed as having a “special need”. The major ones are autism, ADHD, and anxiety. To add to these we are also seeing anger diagnoses and Asperger’s. We are also seeing a range of other requirements related to speech impairment and psychological situations. There are also physical areas such as vision, and movement problems, although these seem static.

This growth of such problems – or at least the perception that they are there – within the everyday classroom has been explosive. One reports says that “From 1989-2010, there was a 90% increase in the time special education students spent in general education classrooms.” This impact on work levels is far more spectacular in secondary teaching than in primary. In the earlier years students spend most of their time with one teacher, all day, with other teachers such as librarians or physical education specialists coming in as arranged. The primary teacher has one class to deal with. In the secondary world a teacher might have five classes with 25 students in each.

Just consider the workload for such a person. We might for the sake of the argument propose that 30% of each class has a specialised learning requirement. That is 40 students who present as needing further input into their learning, added to the 125 who need five programs arranged for them. Typically the 40 extra considerations are made up of entering administrative returns, as well as arranging individual attention.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 10:27 am

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri killed in US drone strike

I was wondering to myself if the Taliban leaked his location accidentally-like.
They have a cultural hospitality requirement to let AQ guys like al-Z stay with them, but they’re also realists in understanding what happened last time they did that…

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
August 2, 2022 10:28 am

NBN at risk of being a ‘white elephant’ unless speed is the focus

A steadily increasing demand for faster internet means the National Broadband Network needs to heavily reinvest in its technology or risk losing customers to high-speed alternatives and becoming a “white elephant”, a telecommunications expert warned.

New data from broadband plan comparison site WhistleOut shows that interest in NBN’s higher-speed 100 megabits-per-second plan (mbps) has more than doubled in the past three years; interest in low-speed broadband plans has all-but collapsed; and interest in ultra-high-speed plans has blossomed, increasing more than fourfold in the past two years.

Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said this data showed that the federal government should forget the slow “fibre-to-the-node” network it built under the previous government, and move quickly to upgrade as much of the network as possible to faster “fibre-to-the-home” technology, just to keep up with what consumers were demanding.

“The world is moving on. 50mbps is now the minimum speed people need. Five years ago, 25 megabits was the minimum. In five years time, 100 will be the minium,” Mr Budde told The Australian Financial Review.

Last week, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland reversed the previous government’s plan to privatise the NBN, de-emphasising its need to return a profit and potentially freeing it up to invest instead in upgrading its network.

The Labor government is yet to detail what the new policy will mean for the broadband speeds enjoyed by ordinary Australians, but one widely touted possibility is that it will indeed write off slow fibre-to-the-node investment and move customers to faster speeds for the same monthly cost.

WhistleOut’s data, which analyses the “share of voice” that NBN plans have compared to other NBN plans, shows that interest in very fast, 1000mbps plans has increased from 1.07 per cent in July 2020 (the first period for which data was available), to 4.68 per cent last month.

Interest in 100mbps NBN plans increased from 18.21 per cent in August 2019 to 38.99 per cent last month. In that same period, interest in the NBN’s 12mbps plans fell from 11.49 per cent to just 1.95 per cent.

Nimble NBN rivals

“If you don’t address the weak parts of the NBN, customers will go to 5G, they’ll go to smaller fibre providers or to satellite, and then you’ll get an underutilised NBN that struggles even more to keep up,” Mr Budde said.

“Eventually, it will become a white elephant, and nobody wants that,” he said.

But even if it does invest heavily in building out its fibre-to-the-home network, the NBN may still struggle to compete with more nimble competitors that don’t have the national network’s political and technological baggage.

David Klizhov, the founder and chief executive of east coast broadband infrastructure company DGtek, said his all-fibre broadband network offered much higher speeds than even the NBN’s fastest 1000mbps plan, and at wholesale prices much cheaper than those offered by the NBN for even its 100mbps plan.

DGtek’s network, which is already available in parts of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and is being planned for Perth, offers upload and download speeds of 1000mbps as the default speed for new customer connections, he said.

The NBN’s fastest plan, in comparison, offers 1000mbps download speeds, but upload speeds of only 400mbps.

And although the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has found that congestion and network design mean that NBN customers often get much lower speeds than they’re paying for, especially during peak hours, Mr Klizhov said the DGtek network had so much fibre capacity built into it from the outset, it’s less than 3 per cent utilised, meaning customers always get very high speeds.

The company is now testing 10 gigabits-per-second connections, which will cost “very, very little more” to install than the existing 1000mbps connections (also known as 1 gbps connections), and which should also wholesale at roughly the same cost.

“There is zero difference between the cost of 1gbps and 10gbps on the infrastructure side, and the infrastructure is the most costly part of the service,” Mr Klizhov said.

A saving grace for the NBN, though, was that competitors such as DGtek were likely to remain niche even in the medium and long term, accounting for just a couple of points of market share, Mr Budde said.

shatterzzz
August 2, 2022 10:29 am

This growth of such problems – or at least the perception that they are there – within the everyday classroom has been explosive.
The “explosion” occurred once they added “autism” diagnosis on the ‘welfare” hand-out list ….!

Franx
Franx
August 2, 2022 10:30 am

Labour might win, yes, but I just wonder how someone like Mitchell saying so is simply another way of encouraging voters to avoid supporting losers, despicable though the alternative to the losers may be. The query is about the doublethink on the part of Mitchell.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 2, 2022 10:34 am

Because Mitchell realises Victorian Voters are Idiots, with a retention span of zero?

A generous assessment.Also there are single cell amoeba living in a puddle with more idea than the Victoriastan Lieborals – who will lose because they deserve to.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
August 2, 2022 10:35 am

Wow – Sydney’s Oaks Hotel offered for record-breaking $175m

One of Sydney’s best known pubs, The Oaks Hotel on Military Road in Neutral Bay has been put on the market for the first time almost 50 years with a record-breaking asking price of $175 million.

Best known for its beer garden dominated by an 80-year-old English Oak tree, The Oaks is being sold by the Thomas family, who acquired the leasehold from Tooth & Co in 1975, and the freehold real estate in 1990.

Should it find a buyer at $175 million, or close to that amount, it will be the highest price ever paid for a pub, eclipsing the $160 million paid in April by former Sydney Lord Mayor Nelson Meers for the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydney’s south-west.

With their trophy status, and inflation-busting cash-flow-rich operating businesses, pubs have become one of the hottest asset classes since the sector reopened after the first wave of the pandemic.

As punters have flocked back to their favourite watering holes, more than $2 billion worth of pubs has changed hands in the past 12 months despite rising interest rates and increasing cost of living pressures.

John Musca, managing director of JLL Hotels & Hospitality, which is handling the sale of The Oaks with colleague Ben McDonald, said a family office or high net worth investor was the most likely buyer of the famed property, pointing to the Smorgon and Kanat families’ investment in the Continental Hotel at Sorrento as a prime example.

Fond Memories of Lunchtime Tomahawk Steak with Mates under Oak Tree

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
August 2, 2022 10:36 am
Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 10:39 am

Thorpe is not even an Aborigine.

she looks like a male, has it transitioned?

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
August 2, 2022 10:40 am

I’ve had 10 orthopaedic
operations. I go to GP, get Xrays which never show much as I don’t scan well whatever the medium. Go back to GP, who refers me to specialist privately. Specialist then refers me to Canberra hospital specialist who is likely to be the same specialist to be on the 3 -6 month waiting list. Sometimes its a longer wait but not very often. Recovery is the worst now as I’ve got older. I have waited 18 months but that was as a result of not recovering from a previous op. Last Sunday was pain free, no drugs either. I only take painkillers if I really have to. Pain free for the first time in at least 10 years.

Franx
Franx
August 2, 2022 10:42 am

OldOzzie
I suppose my impression is that Mitchell could be touting for Andrews and doing so in the only possible way available to Mitchell which is to say that Andrews is the worst ever yet HE is the one-and-only ALL we have. A bit like what people say about families. I don’t follow the wireless discussions, but I also wonder whether the spat between Mitchell and Andrews is a contrivance. Maybe not.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
August 2, 2022 10:44 am

H B Bearsays:

August 2, 2022 at 10:25 am

Most Greens rhetoric is a dog whistle delivered for their key demographics. 18yo failing Arts students, doctor’s wives and retired school teachers.

You should know better than that Bear.
No-one fails Arts.

Tom
Tom
August 2, 2022 10:45 am

Labour might win, yes…

Labor will win the November 2022 Victorian state election because a majority of the electorate are communist sympathisers who love Free Stuff and the Stupid Fucking Liberals in opposition are running on Labor policies.

It will be a WA-style Liberal wipe-out.

Cassie of Sydney
August 2, 2022 10:50 am

“Because Mitchell realises Victorian Voters are Idiots”

I don’t believe Victorian voters are idiots. The problem is that for decades now voters in Victoria have been let down by a spineless, craven and cowardly opposition, also known as the Victorian Liberals. All governments need strong oppositions, the tragedy in Victoria is that there is no such thing and this is compounded by the freaks in the upper house, such as Fiona Patten. I’m beginning to think that the Liberals are officially dead in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 10:52 am

Every day the age group 5-21 is bombarded with hard Green propaganda.
If you think they can come through that without being part of that club, good luck.
Labor can show boat now, but the Greens are eating them too.

Winston Smith
August 2, 2022 10:54 am

Helen:

Those girls in the locker room should have walked out and left him to swim by himself.

If the girls won’t stand up for themselves, why should I stand up for them?
No, I’m over this “We won’t do nuffin’ but youse blokes have to stand up for us.”

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 10:56 am

The Labor government is yet to detail what the new policy will mean for the broadband speeds enjoyed by ordinary Australians, but one widely touted possibility is that it will indeed write off slow fibre-to-the-node investment and move customers to faster speeds for the same monthly cost.

remind us whose brain fart this fibre-to-the-node debacle was?

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 10:59 am

Pierre Omidyar, the Next George Soros

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71FfhJFwk8Q

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
August 2, 2022 11:01 am

Most Greens rhetoric is a dog whistle delivered for their key demographics. 18yo failing Arts students, doctor’s wives and retired school teachers.

Also failed economics students who argue with their lecturers, and fantasy football dreamer-upper-ers with separate significant incomes belonging to other people.

Win
Win
August 2, 2022 11:03 am

The selective media . When have the MSM ever mentioned the Labor Premier Peter Beattie American jaunt curtesy of Labor Premier Anna Bligh. How did Anna Bligh husband get a lucrative job in the O’Farrel Liberal NSW government. How did Anna Bligh get her bank job.The MSM boastfully celebrate their blatant hypocrisy as they openly pick off and destroy LNP politicians.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
August 2, 2022 11:05 am

Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?

In response to this and a number of other comments above…
Mitchell is right on both counts.
I presume I don’t need to explain why Maximum Leader is the worst Premier ever.
The reasons Maximum Leader will be returned with a large majority are…
(a) Much of the media shills for him, and people who have busy lives tend to accept what they’re presented with. They know their lives aren’t going well, but will accept “it would be worse without Maximum Leader’s strong wise guidance”.
(b) As the old saying goes “50% of the population are of below average intelligence”.
(c ) The Liberals’ campaign is, as usual, “we agree with every premise behind Labor/Greens policy so we’ll do what they do except less wholeheartedly”. Why buy the imitation when you can have the real thing?
(d) Victoria does not lag the nation in Karens, pseudo-intellectuals, doctors’ wives and bedwetters. If Maximum Leader announced that every Victorian must be sodomised with a 12 inch dildo every morning to be “safe” there’d be a large and loud constituency begging him to make it 16 inches just to be sure.
(e ) Last but not least, Matthew Guy.

Winston Smith
August 2, 2022 11:05 am

Mother Lode:

A crappy curriculum, all-pervading political conditioning, no discipline, lazy hostile parents who think sending their little rat-faced urchin to school everyday means said urchin should be a ‘straight’ A student with no fuss on their part, a minefield of race and religious and gender identities to be threaded through – and with more mines laid every time the ABC decides there are new injustices to champion, and the fear (much more so for males) that just one of your charges is malignant enough to point at you and say you touched them and it made them uncomfortable – career gone, possible charges laid, and everyone looking at you funny for the rest of your life.

This is why I believe the fish has rotted all the way from its head to its arsehole, and nothing less than a near total collapse of society will wake the people up to the disaster – in – waiting.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 11:06 am

remind us whose brain fart this fibre-to-the-node debacle was?

If they’d persisted with FTTP we’d still be waiting.
And it’d be ginormously expensive.
FTTN was a reasonable stepping stone to Starlink and 6G.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 2, 2022 11:07 am

From the Oz.

Peter
1 hour ago
Lydia, you will stay behind after parliament has finished sitting and you will write on the blackboard ? times. I will pledge my allegiance to Queen Elizabeth!

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 11:09 am

If they’d persisted with FTTP we’d still be waiting.
And it’d be ginormously expensive.
FTTN was a reasonable stepping stone to Starlink and 6G.

they have no choice now but to do fttp, otherwise as the article shows nbn will become a white elephant

Franx
Franx
August 2, 2022 11:10 am

To elaborate
A (contrived) spat between Andrews and someone like Mitchell gives Andrews the opportunity to openly refute his having acted despicably. Without the spat, that same hateful behaviour would remain a latent perception amongst the voters, and possibly, just possibly, influence their vote. But out in the open, spin can be relied upon to shift perceptions, or at least ameliorate them. Happy days. (Trouble posting this.)

Winston Smith
August 2, 2022 11:17 am

Eyrie:

Winston, regarding production of NOx every lightning strike allegedly produces thousands of tonnes.

It was a leading question, actually. But thanks anyway.
My next question was going to be along the lines of “By what method are they going to stop the lightning?”

sfw
sfw
August 2, 2022 11:21 am

Mitchell is as much to blame for Dans dominance as anyone else. For years he’s given soft interviews to Dan and his cronies. For the last two years Mitchell has been fully on board with Dans lockdowns and police brutality and is a mad vaxxer. He has demonised the freedom protesters and does his best to make anyone who disagrees with him look a fool. The question is how long has he thought that Dan is bad?

Like Cassie said the fact the Libs are not a force in politics doesn’t help, in Vic they are the most spineless unprincipled, untalented bunch of seat warming parasites to ever be elected.

flyingduk
flyingduk
August 2, 2022 11:21 am

nothing less than a near total collapse of society will wake the people up to the disaster – in – waiting.

cheer up,

1) winter IS coming….
2) untreated cancers ultimately do kill their hosts

mc
mc
August 2, 2022 11:22 am

Because Mitchell realises Victorian Voters are Idiots, with a retention span of zero?

As a Victorian I resent that….but can’t refute it.

As to why Andrews will be voted back in with a thumping majority. It is a preferential (essentially) two party system. As Mark Steyn often quotes Osama Bin Ladin, when people see a strong horse and a weak horse, they are attracted by the strong horse. The Liberal Party in Victoria (particularly) are pathetic. So pathetic, at the rate they are going, no one will even notice them at the election.

shatterzzz
August 2, 2022 11:26 am

One of Sydney’s best known pubs, The Oaks Hotel on Military Road in Neutral Bay has been put on the market for the first time almost 50 years with a record-breaking asking price of $175 million.

being a “houso” must be missing something when it comes to making money schemes .. how can anyone recoup &, eventually, profit from buying this “pub” for this sort of money?
Normally, this wouldn’t interest me overmuch but being “The Oaks” I do know a bit about the joint or, at least, it’s once the “place to be seen” status of the late 1960s/early 70s when Neutral Bay was the mecca for single 10pound tourists, O/S backpackers & Oz bush kids checking out the “big smoke”.
Back then it was packed 6 nights (no Sunday opening metro pubs back then) in the lounge area, the public bar was still wall to wall tiles and average attendance and no one used the beer garden except on Saturday mornings but still without any nearby competition The Oaks thrived until 1969 when the “Cremorne” opened and dragged the majority of Oaks trade a coupla kms up Military Road to their “modern” premises .. after that The Oaks, basically, got by with the public bar outdoing its lounge which reverted to Friday/Saturday opening only ….. unless they’ve made some incredible changes the “beer garden” would be lucky to accomodate 100 patrons and the lounge at it’s nightly high just managed coping with around 300 max.
Anyway, getting back to the real estate value .. it occupies a decent sized corner area of Military Road but would only have space for an average block of units or a small expansion to the “Big Bear” shopping complex so why anyone would pay $175million baffles me ..
Not a real estate expert of any sort but over $7 maybe $9million you’d still be struggling to get your money back without selling for development …….

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 11:26 am

Zippy – NBN is a dead parrot, they just don’t know it yet. There’s literally nothing they can do. Telstra was visionary to get out while they could.

There is no possible project financial case for FTTP. It ain’t happening because the capital cost of digging up the verges of suburbia is ‘way too high for a positive ROI. As I said: Starlink and 6G show the way to go, since they can transmit GB/s over distances without all that costly wire or fibre. So they’re always going to undercut a FTTP network.

My bro is a medium-sized IT company boss. He moved out of their house so it could be renovated and rented one a klick or so up the road. It was nice, with a courtyard. So he asks landlord can I build a microwave link in the courtyard please? He needed the bandwidth for his business. Landlord says no way.

Much discussion thence ensued, finally reaching agreement that bro could erect a temporary microwave mast, so long as nothing required permanent alterations. So he put up a large pole with a dish, like 20 m high, and literally duct taped it on. Then spent quite some time lining it up with the Telstra microwave tower. That was about five or six years ago.

We’re now an IT generation on from that. FTTN and FTTP are Norwegian Blues.

JMH
JMH
August 2, 2022 11:26 am

feelthebernsays:
August 2, 2022 at 10:22 am

Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?

Labor will win the Victorian election by the largest margin over the LNP in Victorian history.

Victorians, including Nanny Mitchell are more than aware there is no opposition to the Andrews Regime.

rosie
rosie
August 2, 2022 11:26 am

I did see a big red sign somewhere between Hoppers Crossing and Williams Landing,
Laverton ? , on the Freeway heading into town reminding people to remember world’s harshest lockdowns in November.
Couldn’t see which political party was responsible.

eric hinton
eric hinton
August 2, 2022 11:28 am

Country Hour

Went to a Belmont Red sale yesterday. 89 bulls, 100 % clearance. Average price north of 18 thou to a top of 46 thou. While I was making my ‘selections’ for the fantasy cattle baron comp – the Twiggy Forrest cup – the owners came over and I suggested they not waste their time on me, I’m just a tourist. “Oh, we’ve never had a tourist before.”

I have a natural eye for a cheapie. Apparently. Although, one I was partial too – purely on looks, without perusal of the objective measurement palaver that comes with a sale of ‘quality genetics’ these days, and blind to the fact the stud had used it as back up for AI’d heifers – went for 28 thou.

Next sale I’m changing strategy and picking ones I don’t like. I’m a sucker for cherry red so it’ll be a Santa Gertrudis…. but the main reason is it will be on a property that is the remnant of a Darling Downs squatter’s run and the homestead has, like, six chimney’s or something, and I’m hoping to get close enough to count them.

incoherent rambler
incoherent rambler
August 2, 2022 11:29 am

Coal is dead, right?

Coal is king.
The king is dead.
Long live the king.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
August 2, 2022 11:32 am

Like Cassie said the fact the Libs are not a force in politics doesn’t help, in Vic they are the most spineless unprincipled, untalented bunch of seat warming parasites to ever be elected.

They’re working on falsifying those last three words.

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 11:32 am

Australia urged to intervene as China tries to buy a strategic Solomon Islands port
A Chinese state-owned company is negotiating to buy a deep-water port and World War II airstrip in Solomon Islands, as new documents detail how money from Beijing has helped keep the Pacific nation’s controversial leader in power.

As a battle for influence plays out in the region, an investigation by Four Corners has found China is aggressively pursuing economic opportunities across the Solomons to boost Beijing’s strategic interests.

One asset being targeted by China is a hardwood forestry plantation on the island of Kolombangara, which features a protected harbour, deep-water port and an airstrip.

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 11:32 am

nice photos here of lidia as a little girl and with her grandmother here.

It’s a photo of the way Australia used to be…..

johanna
johanna
August 2, 2022 11:34 am

Dover, PLEASE stop tinkering. The site keeps freezing, and losing my comments, or refusing to delete them from the comments box once they are posted.

It reminds me of the worst possible email on a Friday – IT are doing an ‘upgrade.’

Just stop.

I’ll try again to post about the lie that TheirABC keeps running about Namitjira:

His status grew rapidly in Australia, and as a result became the first Indigenous person to gain full citizenship, enabling him to vote and buy alcohol in 1957.

Cassie of Sydney
August 2, 2022 11:34 am

“Why buy the imitation when you can have the real thing?”

Quite so, and here’s the evidence…..

1. In November 2018 the Victorian Liberals pursued a Labor lite agenda, how did that go for them? Annihilated electorally.

2. In November 2020, the Queensland LNP pursued a Labor lite agenda, how did that go for them?
Thrashed electorally.

3. In March 2021 the Western Australian Liberals pursued a Green agenda, in fact they were more green than the Greens. How did that go for them? Annihilated to the point of extinction, reduced to how many seats? Oh that’s right, two seats.

4. In March 2022, the South Australia Liberals pursued a far-left, progressive agenda under a marshmallow one term premier. How did that go for them? Annihilated electorally.

5. In May 2022 the federal Liberals, after nine years of mainly Labor lite policies, where they pursued many left-wing agendas, culminating in the disastrous “net zero emissions”, a party ridden with “Tealesque” Liberals such as Karma Sharma, Rent Zimmerboy and so on. How did that go for them? Annihilated electorally.

6. And coming soon, the annihilation of the NSW Liberals, a party that, like their comrades in WA, are more green than the Greens.

The facts speak for themselves. Meanwhile, the Liberals never learn, and you know what, I don’t think they want to. They loathe their traditional voters and they now don’t even try to hide their loathing.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
August 2, 2022 11:34 am

Neil Mitchell hasn’t cracked it with Hunchback because of anything he has done to 5 million Victorians.
It’s because he won’t appear on Nanny Neil’s radio show.

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 11:35 am

There is no possible project financial case for FTTP. It ain’t happening because the capital cost of digging up the verges of suburbia is ‘way too high for a positive ROI.

I don’t think you understand socialist governments…

Dot
Dot
August 2, 2022 11:35 am

being a “houso” must be missing something when it comes to making money schemes .. how can anyone recoup &, eventually, profit from buying this “pub” for this sort of money?

Gaming machines. Do an NPV estimation of a recent pub sale you know of and the gaming lounge is where the money really comes from.

Gaming machines are also cash only; hence cashflow. You have EFT over the bar for any accounts that must be paid EFT.

Arky
August 2, 2022 11:36 am

Victorian electorate and the intelligence thereof:
Issacs and Holt, for example, had huge reductions in Labor primary vote in the federal election. And huge increases in One Nation, Palmer and Liberal Democrats. Huge. Huge.
If Victorians were given a viable alternative, Andrews would be roadkill.
We’ll see how much they differentiate between wet lettuce leafs Viclibs and the utterly horrendous Morrison slobs.
I think there is an urge to purge all politicians who were involved with this Covid stupidity.
The piss drenched and hopeless VIC liberals are the cleanest stall in the dunny from that point of view, simply because they were nowhere near the levers of power when the world imploded.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 11:42 am

I don’t think you understand socialist governments…

Zippy – Now that’s something else entirely. 😀

An Albo-led giant white elephant FTTP project to catapult Australia triumphantly into the Year of the Fruitbat is entirely believable.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
August 2, 2022 11:42 am

Typo last nite, we’ve finished Series 4 of Peaky Blinders (the rigged boxing) and have 5 and 6 still to go. Moving into Oswald Mosley territory as impassive gangster Tommy Shelbey becomes an MP.

This show isn’t for everyone but especially series 1 and 2 are good intros to the world of working class Birmingham returned soldiers with PTSD in 1919. The director films them backed with Nick Cave sound and flame-blackened industrial mettle, a viewpoint, he claims, from the larger-than-life perspective that a child might have of it all. The ganglands and Romani life of the 30’s then receive cover extended over six series. Works for me. My maternal grandfather came from Appleby in Westmoreland, haunt of horse trading between border reivers and gypsies for hundreds of years.
For me and Hairy it is a retreat from the woeful politics of Australian life at present, a reminder of how corrupt and blinded people can get, and of how bad things creep up slowly to cause ruin. It’s all happened before, so we need to keep our cool and work a way through it.

Winston Smith
August 2, 2022 11:43 am

Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?

Because he understands what a tyrant Andrews is, and has demonstrated himself to be over his parliamentary career.
Andrews is a nasty little prick and everyone is shit scared of him and what he will do in one of his moods.
The hiding he got from whatever source hasn’t slowed him down at all.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 11:50 am

Not a real estate expert of any sort but over $7 maybe $9million you’d still be struggling to get your money back without selling for development …….

Pokies.
Food.
Booze rebates. A place like that would be getting monster rebates.

What price you put on it?
Here’s a range.
Court House/ Kinsella sold on a cap rate of 6.5% (corporate buyers).
Minskys sold on a cap rate of 4.5% (corporate buyers).
Burdekin sold on a cap rate of 2.9% (private buyer).

A place like that is going to a corporate so if they pay more than a Minskys type multiple, I’d be surprised.
Because the council aint going to let 20 stories be put on top of it.

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 11:50 am

This morning’s feel good story!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byu1itGeBa0

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
August 2, 2022 12:00 pm

Geez Sancho, I should take the showroom’s bow off the new sporty Beamer?

Lizzie B is as thick as two short planks? Keep it up, it is my deep cover here. 🙂

Franx
Franx
August 2, 2022 12:06 pm

The Libs are indeed parasites, yet they are not the parasites in power, nor are they equal to the parasitical natures of those in power, if only because they are not in power. No reason then why the former could not be an alternative to the latter. I worry about a forgone, somewhat defeatist conclusion, a likelihood though it be.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 12:08 pm

Disney+ now available via the Foxtel box.

PeterM
PeterM
August 2, 2022 12:09 pm

Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?
Curious as to how doublethink might work.

Because Mitchell realises Victorian Voters are Idiots, with a retention span of zero?

Because Mitchell realises that the Victorian opposition has abandoned its base and is marching to oblivion?

m0nty
August 2, 2022 12:12 pm

Guy’s chief of staff asked wealthy Liberal donor for payments

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s chief of staff asked a wealthy Liberal Party donor to make more than $100,000 in payments to his private marketing business, in addition to his taxpayer-funded salary.

Oh dear.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 12:13 pm

Oh dear.

Red shirts are so passe.

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 12:14 pm

Disney+ now available via the Foxtel box.

whats a foxtel box? erverything disney makes these days is ultra-woke

m0nty
August 2, 2022 12:16 pm

A hundred large buys a lot of red shirts, yes Bruce.

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 12:20 pm

US comedian Chris Rock has slammed Will Smith for trying to be a “victim” after the Hollywood actor posted a length apology for the Oscars slap.

“Everybody is trying to be a f***ing victim,” Rock said during a stand-up gig on Friday night.

The 57-year-old then compared the Oscar winner to former Death Row Records executive Suge Knight, who has spent years incarcerated for assault convictions, according to Page Six.

“If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims. Even me getting smacked by Suge Smith … I went to work the next day, I got kids.

“Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 12:20 pm

Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?
Curious as to how doublethink might work.

Expecting Andrews to win is not the same as wanting him to win.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
August 2, 2022 12:21 pm

m0ntysays:
August 2, 2022 at 12:12 pm
Guy’s chief of staff asked wealthy Liberal donor for payments

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s chief of staff asked a wealthy Liberal Party donor to make more than $100,000 in payments to his private marketing business, in addition to his taxpayer-funded salary.

Oh dear.

Shocking.
Why can’t people in politics and government stick to rorting taxpayers’ money?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 2, 2022 12:22 pm

Matthew Guy’s chief of staff Mitch Catlin resigns
By Paul Sakkal and Annika Smethurst
August 2, 2022 — 10.04am

Matthew Guy’s chief of staff Mitch Catlin has resigned following revelations he asked a wealthy Liberal Party donor to make more than $100,000 in payments to his private marketing business, in addition to his taxpayer-funded salary.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 12:22 pm

Thorpe was called back to the senate chamber to take her oath as second time, properly.

I expect she had her fingers crossed behind her back.

Timothy Neilson
Timothy Neilson
August 2, 2022 12:23 pm

If everybody claims to be a victim, then nobody will hear the real victims.

You’ve got to say Chris Rock is right in general, whatever you think of the “slap” specifics.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 12:25 pm

A hundred large buys a lot of red shirts, yes Bruce.

Large as $1.1 billion?
Got to hand it to the ALP in Vicco, they have completely industrialized this sort of thing.

calli
calli
August 2, 2022 12:25 pm

Anyone who says words hurt has never been punched in the face.

Rock says it much better than me.

Most of the time I’m too stunned to feel much pain. And then comes the roar of laughter.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 12:28 pm

2 hours to go.
The expectations of 50bps is pretty baked in.
But there is one economist saying 25.
And two saying 75.
That’s of the 29 polled by Bloomberg.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 12:30 pm

Rock says it much better than me.

Given what Rock said about Smith’s wife I wouldn’t be listening to anything he says.

Old bloke
Old bloke
August 2, 2022 12:30 pm

calli says:
August 2, 2022 at 8:53 am

No one (apart from normal, everyday, law abiding citizens) fears the fourth estate any more – the object is to get them onside, and once onside there they stay.

Which simply means they are as corrupt as the people they “expose”.

The Fourth Estate became the Fifth Column many years ago.

Winston Smith
August 2, 2022 12:31 pm

Some nice people have dug a little deeper into the stats and pathology samples of the very early days of the Wuhan Zombie Virus in Italy.
And surprise, surprise, surprise!

These are at least some of the reasons why our media and our public health officials are desperate to forget those early days. In March 2020, real infections were already in decline. The apparent surge in infection numbers was an illusion caused by the introduction of mass testing programs. Mass containment made everything worse.

calli
calli
August 2, 2022 12:32 pm

They’re big boys, Bruce. They can duke it out.

Shame it was all out there for public consumption.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 12:34 pm

Biden has started plugging gaps in Trump’s border wall caused by his hasty executive order to cease construction.

Must be elections ’round the corner.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 12:36 pm

Shame it was all out there for public consumption.

Calli – I haven’t worked out yet whether it was an arranged stunt that went wrong. It smells a bit like that. But the cost to Smith is huge. Tens of millions at least. Rock should have his arse sued off, even if Smith’s wife is not especially lily white in this regard.

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 12:39 pm

Must be elections ’round the corner.

I think what’s made the difference is Texas and Arizona transporting the “immigrants” to Washington DC.

johanna
johanna
August 2, 2022 12:40 pm

Because the council aint going to let 20 stories be put on top of it.

Bern, you are a babe in the woods.

(Re The Oaks sale)

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 12:42 pm

Rock should have his arse sued off

The footage of Smith laughing at the joke and then switching to angry when he gets wind of Jada’s reaction would make that a pretty interesting proposition.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 12:44 pm

Dover – I see no improvement. The workarounds usually work, but I couldn’t see Tom’s toons yesterday for example no matter what I tried. The “older comments” link wasn’t giving anything later than 10pm the previous evening.

It seems to be something especially about the pagination function. It does also affect the other threads though.

As I said before I recall a similar problem with the old Cat once, which Jacques finally found a fix for. But that was years ago and I can’t recall any details.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 12:44 pm

I think what’s made the difference is Texas and Arizona transporting the “immigrants” to Washington DC.

No doubt; and an Arizona Dem senator up for reelection fearing a backlash apparently.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 12:45 pm

There have been renewed calls for convicted rapists to be chemically castrated.

Why chemically? One snip would do it.

Sulphuric acid is a chemical.
Just putting that out there.

Dot
Dot
August 2, 2022 12:45 pm

Given what Rock said about Smith’s wife I wouldn’t be listening to anything he says.

Sweet Jesus.

Smith is a cuck.

His wife openly cheats on him, even with their son’s friends.

shatterzzz
August 2, 2022 12:46 pm

Dover, PLEASE stop tinkering. The site keeps freezing, and losing my comments, or refusing to delete them from the comments box once they are posted.

minor sidebar probs .. can’t access past yesterday using “latest comment” but no probs when using the general “latest thread” link …..

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 12:46 pm

Rock should have his arse sued off

I don’t think you can be sued for telling a lame joke; well, not that particular lame joke, anyway.

Otoh, Smith should count himself fortunate that Rock didn’t press an assault charge.

Old bloke
Old bloke
August 2, 2022 12:46 pm

The problem is that the EU will soon be deprived of its biggest supplier: The bloc slapped sanctions on Russian coal in April, forbidding further imports starting August 10.

That means the 2 million tons of coal it is set to receive from Russia this month will be the last such shipment, said Alex Thackrah, a senior coal analyst at the market intelligence firm Argus Media.

Here’s another opportunity for India. Just like the Russian oil which is sent to India then reshipped to Europe at substantially increased cost, the Europeans will soon start importing “Indian coal.”

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 2, 2022 12:46 pm

Thorpe was called back to the senate chamber to take her oath as second time, properly.

I expect she had her fingers crossed behind her back.

Just wondering if Lidia is positioning herself to challenge Bandt for the Greens leadership?

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 12:48 pm

Teals starting to get international attention for being hypocritical wankers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0_B_gg1Om0

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 12:49 pm

They can’t even get the current re-zoning through council which is another two on the top of the current two.
How are they going to get to 20?

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 12:50 pm

In a couple of months time expect to see “Why is there so much monkeypox in Sydney” articles and calls to vaccinate the entire population…

Wounded pride: Is Sydney ready to host the biggest LGBTQ+ event?
Being LGBTQ – or an ally – it seems, will cost you. Sydney Mardi Gras, already the envy of other global cities, will next year run consecutively with WorldPride, the largest LGBTQ event on earth, following Sydney’s successful bid to be host city.

Strangely enough both definitions of the word host seem to be applicable.
Host:
1.
a person who receives or entertains other people as guests.
“they were always gracious hosts at the numerous dinner parties they held for friends”
Similar:
2.
BIOLOGY
an animal or plant on or in which a parasite or commensal organism lives.

Dot
Dot
August 2, 2022 12:50 pm

What do you sue for?

Your wife is unfaithful and makes you look like a bitch?

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 12:50 pm

Just wondering if Lidia is positioning herself to challenge Bandt for the Greens leadership?

Of course! Just look at arse bandit’s ranking on the victim totem pole!

JMH
JMH
August 2, 2022 12:51 pm

Bruce of Newcastlesays:
August 2, 2022 at 12:30 pm
Rock says it much better than me.

Given what Rock said about Smith’s wife I wouldn’t be listening to anything he says.

Isn’t Smith’s wife supposed to be some sort of raging root-rat?

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 12:54 pm

No words.

The only solution to this mess is Rooftop Korean mode.

shatterzzz
August 2, 2022 12:55 pm

Thorpe was called back to the senate chamber to take her oath as second time, properly.
I expect she had her fingers crossed behind her back.

What should have happened is she should have been, publically, slapped down there and then and suspended without pay until she made a full public & written apology ..
These “rorters” get away with far more that the average “wukka” who could lose money or their job over ..!

shatterzzz
August 2, 2022 12:57 pm

This isn’t meant to sound salty but why use latest comments for anything from yesterday?

Normally, “latest user comment” takes me to the latest entry …….

calli
calli
August 2, 2022 12:58 pm

No problems at all for me these days Dover.

shatterzzz
August 2, 2022 12:59 pm

Just wondering if Lidia is positioning herself to challenge Bandt for the Greens leadership?

SHY & Lidia dukin’ it out for the top job .. tickets only event .. LOL!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:00 pm

I don’t think you can be sued for telling a lame joke

As Dot said it wasn’t a lame joke. It was an extremely nasty accusation which certainly should not be used as a joke in front of an live audience and about 50 million people on television.

I can entirely understand that it took a few seconds to register before Smith went with his hand. It is to Smith’s credit that’s all he used. Rock need to be deplatformed forever for unacceptable behaviour IMO. And sued given what a catastrophe he inflicted on Smith.

Which isn’t to say Ms Smith is a fine upstanding person.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 1:01 pm

Speaking of colonisers, I read a great column on the East India company a couple of weeks back.
I didn’t know how they incentivised even the lowest level of clerk to take on risk & have skin in the game.
Current period drama’s that show a top down approach from a stuffy board of directors is no where near correct.
They had huge profit share arrangements in place.
One of the first corporates to do it in a meaningful way.

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 1:02 pm

from above

This is one of the most crucial and eagerly ignored facts of the whole pandemic. Those early patients were hospitalised at very high rates and – in accordance with Chinese advice – subjected to aggressive mechanical ventilation, which killed a great many of them

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 1:02 pm

It was an extremely nasty accusation

Chris Rock : I can’t wait for GI Jane 2.

That was the nasty accusation ?

shatterzzz
August 2, 2022 1:03 pm

They can’t even get the current re-zoning through council which is another two on the top of the current two.
How are they going to get to 20?

Don’t know but I’d hazard a guess that The Oaks is heritage listed anyway …..

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 1:04 pm

What should have happened is she should have been, publically, slapped down there and then and suspended without pay until she made a full public & written apology ..

What the senate needs is a naughty corner.

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 1:05 pm

The punters can articulately describe the state of the swamp at the drop of a hat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpulkZo6x98

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 1:07 pm

As Dot said it wasn’t a lame joke.

As bern states, it was a lame, improvised joke about her shaved head.

Rock didn’t know she has alopecia.

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 1:07 pm

That was the nasty accusation ?

I think BoN is watching a different video to the rest of us.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 1:07 pm

That’s all I saw & heard, anyway.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
August 2, 2022 1:08 pm

feelthebernsays:

August 2, 2022 at 12:28 pm

2 hours to go.
The expectations of 50bps is pretty baked in.

Fiddy is the new twenny five.

rickw
rickw
August 2, 2022 1:09 pm

New OT at 2pm.

Podium to be a true test of skill, bandwidth and typing speed!

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
August 2, 2022 1:09 pm

dover0beachsays:

August 2, 2022 at 1:07 pm

New OT at 2pm.

Will this one have two sidebars refreshing instantaneously as well?

Cassie of Sydney
August 2, 2022 1:09 pm

“As Dot said it wasn’t a lame joke. It was an extremely nasty accusation which certainly should not be used as a joke in front of an live audience and about 50 million people on television.

I can entirely understand that it took a few seconds to register before Smith went with his hand. It is to Smith’s credit that’s all he used. Rock need to be deplatformed forever for unacceptable behaviour IMO. And sued given what a catastrophe he inflicted on Smith.”

It didn’t take Smith “a few seconds to register”. He initially laughed. Sure, it wasn’t a nice joke…but no joke warrants being assaulted in front of millions of people.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 1:12 pm

Speaking of colonisers, I read a great column on the East India company a couple of weeks back.

There’s a fascinating and lively account of the workings of the East India Co. is in the early chapters of Nick Bunker’s An Empire on the Edge, How Britain Came to Fight America.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:13 pm

This is what Smith said:

Smith could be heard repeatedly saying “Keep my wife’s name out your (expletive) mouth!”

I think the issue is as clear as it can possibly be in the circumstances, which were very well known by everyone.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 1:13 pm

And sued given what a catastrophe he inflicted on Smith.

That was entirely self-inflicted, Bruce.

Cassie of Sydney
August 2, 2022 1:14 pm

“As bern states, it was a lame, improvised joke about her shaved head.”

Correct. What next, somebody assaulting a comedian because of a joke? Oh wait, that has already happened, Dave Chapelle was assaulted a few months ago on stage, by someone who found Chapelle’s comedy about trannies triggering.

Boambee John
Boambee John
August 2, 2022 1:15 pm

feelthebernsays:
August 2, 2022 at 10:52 am
Every day the age group 5-21 is bombarded with hard Green propaganda.
If you think they can come through that without being part of that club, good luck.
Labor can show boat now, but the Greens are eating them too.

I suspect that in ten ot so years time, an enlarged Greens will have been joined by many on the Liars left, with the rest of Labor having linked with most of the Lieboral left (those who do not go straight to the Slime). The residual of the Libs, plus ON, LDP, and the rump of the Nationals will occupy the position now occupied politically by the Slime. The balance of power will rest with them.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 1:16 pm

I think the issue is as clear as it can possibly be in the circumstances, which were very well known by everyone.

Nothing Rock said warrants an assault or a law suit.

The issue is Smith’s temper on the occasion. Others have alluded to a possible explanation for that. Quite seriously, he should get help.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 1:17 pm

It helps when you have the Redcoats & other mercenaries to back you up, but if you properly incentivise staff & ensure they have skin in the game, the payoffs for everyone are substantial.
Which is the antithesis of Australian business culture these days.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:21 pm

Nothing Rock said warrants an assault or a law suit.

A hundred or one fifty years previously Rock would be a very dead comedian, since the slap would be a challenge to duel. Which Smith would win given the weapons training he’s had for various roles he’s played.

Dueling was a fine discipliner of men’s mouths. Led to lots of polite behaviour which we no longer have.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 1:22 pm

The only issue was Will Smith had zero impulse control.
Like a small child.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
August 2, 2022 1:23 pm

BoN, Smith thought it funny till skank wife got the sooks.

Roger
Roger
August 2, 2022 1:23 pm

I suspect that in ten ot so years time, an enlarged Greens will have been joined by many on the Liars left

We’re in the early days of the biggest hit to living standards in two generations.

Such experiences have a way of sobering people up.

When young people attracted to the Greens realise that the radical Left’s plans for wealth redistribution will, in the end, impact them more than anyone else, they might start to reconsider their allegiance.

Top Ender
Top Ender
August 2, 2022 1:25 pm

Sydney Mardi Gras, already the envy of other global cities, will next year run consecutively with WorldPride, the largest LGBTQ event on earth

This is starting to sound like Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War.

The central character comes back to Earth after a jump between stars which meant many years had passed, to find almost everyone was homosexual. The UN (of course) had engineered it to control the rising population.

Boambee John
Boambee John
August 2, 2022 1:26 pm

m0ntysays:
August 2, 2022 at 12:16 pm
A hundred large buys a lot of red shirts, yes Bruce.

How many hundred large were involved in the Red Shirts affair, m0nty-fa? Almost four hundred?

Another rake.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
August 2, 2022 1:26 pm

“GREEN” IS UNSUSTAINABLE

The administration’s “green” energy proposals, like those that have been adopted in Europe, are leading this country toward an economic, social and strategic disaster. It is hard to think of any set of policies, adopted by any government at any moment in history, that rival our “green” mania for sheer destructiveness. Although, that said, Sri Lanka’s brief commitment to “sustainability” comes to mind.

Speaking of sustainability, this piece by Stuart Gottlieb in today’s Wall Street Journal, titled “Biden’s Climate Plans Are Unsustainable,” makes some great points.

The greatest threat to [environmental] progress—particularly in the critical realm of climate—comes not from such emerging mega-emitters as China and India, although they certainly play a role. It comes from the energy and climate initiatives promoted by the Biden White House, which are themselves unsustainable—so aggressive and unduly optimistic that they risk a backlash that would set back the cause of environmental sustainability for generations.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
August 2, 2022 1:28 pm

Can any Cat point me to thread post on NZ Transport Department increase in Staff all Admin, no one who actually did anything?

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 1:31 pm

According to Bruce, Ricky Gervais should have been blackened and bruised after each of his Golden Globes appearances.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:33 pm

What do you mean here exactly?

Dover – Yesterday Toms toons were on the previous page when I turned up at about 7am. When I clicked the “Older comments” to see them all that rendered were that page’s comments up to 10pm. Tom’s 4am toon comments though still did appear on the sidebar, but when I clicked on any of them all I got was the same: the previous OT page up until 10pm and no later.

Whenever I submit a comment the OT only updates to some point hours before the comment. BUT if I click on the title of the OT on the upper sidebar I get the fully updated OT and on scrolling to the end I see my just-submitted comment.

This is the same as it has been since the software update you did a week or so ago.

The workaround I found is to use this url:

https://newcatallaxy.blog/2022/07/30/open-thread-weekend-30-july-2022/

Which is minus the page number and comment number. It gets to the top of the current OT page, and by scrolling to the end the most recent comment is visible.

None of the comment links on the sidebar work properly, they tend to get some cached instance and hour or two ago, sometimes many hours ago.

I don’t know why this affects me and not other Cats. But it’s clear that some Cats are getting the same as I do, like sfw and Johanna.

I’m doing the ad nauseam detail here to try to give you a feel for whatever it is that’s causing it.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 2, 2022 1:34 pm

Dueling was a fine discipliner of men’s mouths. Led to lots of polite behaviour which we no longer have.

I’ve often lamented the passing of the practice of dueling. It offered gentlemen a way of settling their differences, there are a few individuals I would have demanded satisfaction from, and I’m still quite a good shot with a handgun…

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 1:34 pm

I didn’t know how they incentivised even the lowest level of clerk to take on risk & have skin in the game.

From memory the lowly plebs were assigned a certain amount of hold space which they could use to send back whatever ‘hot commodity” they could make a quid off.
I suspect the company itself used that as a great way of spotting emerging demand for products at relatively low outlay to themselves.

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 1:35 pm

The central character comes back to Earth after a jump between stars which meant many years had passed, to find almost everyone was homosexual. The UN (of course) had engineered it to control the rising population.

can someone tell the WEF & UN this was science fiction not a how to manual

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:36 pm

Ricky Gervais should have been blackened and bruised after each of his Golden Globes appearances.

Ricky Gervais isn’t dumb enough to insult his cohost’s wife within arms reach.
Smith is a bit of a romantic I admit. And she ain’t the greatest. But still.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
August 2, 2022 1:40 pm

Nick Bunker’s An Empire on the Edge, How Britain Came to Fight America.

There’s my new resolution to buy fewer books gone for a ball of chalk…I’ve just ordered a copy on line.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 1:41 pm

Ricky Gervais isn’t dumb enough to insult his cohost’s wife within arms reach.

Smith wasn’t his co-host.
Gervais didn’t insult one person, he insulted hundreds.
And you didn’t see when Gervais came back on stage to roast Mel Gibson whilst standing 30cm from Mel Gibson.
The audience at the Globes are practically on top of the stage unlike the Oscars this year.
Jeebers, I don’t think you could be more wrong.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:43 pm

BoN, Smith thought it funny till skank wife got the sooks.

I think it was because he was reacting to cue, which is to reflexively “laugh” at whatever Rock had said. Standard in that role as copresenter. But then it sank in what he’d said…

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 1:46 pm

Smith is a bit of a romantic I admit. And she ain’t the greatest.

Did his wifes boyfriend tell you that?

Hes hollywood vermin, they are literally the lackeys of slime like Weinstein and other abusive weirdoes.
https://www.thedelite.com/the-biggest-scandals-of-old-hollywood/21/

Boambee John
Boambee John
August 2, 2022 1:46 pm

Zipstersays:
August 2, 2022 at 1:35 pm
The central character comes back to Earth after a jump between stars which meant many years had passed, to find almost everyone was homosexual. The UN (of course) had engineered it to control the rising population.

can someone tell the WEF & UN this was science fiction not a how to manual

They haven’t yet worked out that 1984 wasn’t a how to manual.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
August 2, 2022 1:47 pm

Teals starting to get international attention for being hypocritical wankers:

What is with her hair?

She looks like a cat-lady*.

*NB – not a Kitteh. The other kind of cat-lady.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 1:48 pm

Kiddie rapist…. standing ovation…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXnNOBj26lk (one minute in)

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:48 pm

Bern – I did say earlier I haven’t yet worked out whether it was an arranged stunt that went wrong or not. That would be just as bad, since then Smith would’ve lost tens of millions because of a misunderstood stunt that Rock didn’t fess up to.

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 1:48 pm

Standard role as copresenter ?
What the actual.
Rock: standing up on stage cracking gags.
Smith: seated down the front.
Yes, clearly co-presenting something.

Tom
Tom
August 2, 2022 1:50 pm

The only issue was Will Smith had zero impulse control.
Like a small child.

Lefties, especially females, have a mental age of about three, for whom the standard tantrum is: “give me what I want or I’ll SCREAM!!!”

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:50 pm

Test.

Winston Smith
August 2, 2022 1:50 pm

Calli:

Shame it was all out there for public consumption.

Yeah.
But they ALL put it out there for the public. Once it’s out, there’s no controlling it.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 1:51 pm

feelthebernsays:
August 2, 2022 at 1:48 pm

Echoes of Smiths bedroom life…
Smith: seated down the front.

rosie
rosie
August 2, 2022 1:53 pm

“Why would Mitchell go on to say that he expects Andrews to win in November if Mitchell has said that Andrews has been the worst premier ever?”
Worst is the new best.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 1:53 pm

Did you just make a change Dover?
The last three comments I just posted all rendered correctly, including the test one.

And I just tried a sidebar comment opened to new tab – it worked too!

feelthebern
feelthebern
August 2, 2022 1:53 pm

6 dead in mass shooting event in Washington DC.
Wonder why there is zero coverage?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 2:00 pm

Rock: standing up on stage cracking gags.
Smith: seated down the front.

Ok, admit I missed that, only saw the later footage. So Rock cracked his “joke” right in front of Smith eh? Who did as all people in his position and reflexively laughed…until his brain registered the words…

Insulting someone’s wife in front of a world audience is quite a thing, if you think about it.
Doing it within close proximity of the husband is nearly Darwin Award level.
But I’m as romantic about things as Will Smith seems to be.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 2:01 pm

Oops, whatever it was has gone again, that comment didn’t update properly.

Instead went to the top of the thread and the latest was Bern’s at 1:53pm.

Ah well. Software has its own mind these days.

Eyrie
Eyrie
August 2, 2022 2:02 pm

My next question was going to be along the lines of “By what method are they going to stop the lightning?”
A: you DO NOT want to do that.
Nitrogen cycle:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle
The article seems a little confused but near the beginning:
However, atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for biological use, leading to a scarcity of usable nitrogen in many types of ecosystems.

Eyrie
Eyrie
August 2, 2022 2:03 pm

The NBN always was a white elephant. Labor are doubling down on stupid. Operations normal.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 2:03 pm

Dover – It may be that caching is linked to your own activities as a logged in official blogger. But not to anyone else. I don’t have a clue, I’m just guessing.

dopey
dopey
August 2, 2022 2:12 pm

The Oaks once had the Doug Walters Bar. Maybe it still does but $175m, heck that’s a lot of beers and smokes.

calli
calli
August 2, 2022 2:24 pm

I took the reaction to be about GI Jane and the buzzcut. I know absolutely zero about Mrs Smith apart from the bald head.

As for pistols at dawn…bring it on! Let the gents show their mettle! Then we’ll see who’s a mere flash in the pan.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 2:25 pm

Bruce, why don’t you log-in via WP and see if it makes a difference for you.

I don’t have a WP account. But I do have a Gravatar account so I’ll try that.

Here we go…

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 2:26 pm

No, didn’t work. Same as before: when I hit the submit button the view reverts to the top of the thread and the comment hasn’t appeared. But going to the threat title and scrolling to the bottom – there it is.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
August 2, 2022 2:36 pm

I know absolutely zero about Mrs Smith apart from the bald head.

Calli – Search “Will Smith open marriage”. The vibe I get is the marriage was much more open in one direction than the other. As often happens.

H B Bear
H B Bear
August 2, 2022 2:51 pm

Just wondering if Lidia is positioning herself to challenge Bandt for the Greens leadership?

Just take a number and move to the back.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 2:58 pm

Duels.

Done right, a thing of dignity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-LjYlZnOOU

Anyone want to bet on Montys fat mouth lasting long?

Muntypoxes Gasconading* would see him choking on a ball in no time.

* what a great little word

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
August 2, 2022 3:09 pm

As for Lidia Thorpe: I’ll respect her right to carry on as she does if she returns the compliment by keeping her hand out of my filthy colonialist pocket and not filching my filthy colonialist money for her parliamentary salary and perks. Fat chance of that, I suspect.

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 3:11 pm

Monash University to prevent students from graduating unless they complete a new mandatory ‘Indigenous Voice’ course
A major Victorian university has warned students they cannot sit exams or graduate if they fail to complete a mandatory learning module on “Indigenous Australian Voices”

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 3:32 pm

A major Victorian university has warned students they cannot sit exams or graduate if they fail to complete a mandatory learning module on “Indigenous Australian Voices”

Much the same as not-mandatory vaccination then.

We wont make it compulsory, you can choose to be unpersoned and waste the time/money/effort by not complying with our arbitrary dictates.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
August 2, 2022 3:34 pm

Casting my pearls, while everyone is over at the new thread..

Vicki
Vicki
August 2, 2022 3:58 pm

A major Victorian university has warned students they cannot sit exams or graduate if they fail to complete a mandatory learning module on “Indigenous Australian Voices”

This mandatory course, which has absolutely nothing to do with competency in the chosen degree at a university, is nothing short of socialism in its intention to enforce a view of the world.

Zipster
Zipster
August 2, 2022 4:08 pm
Vicki
Vicki
August 2, 2022 4:15 pm

I have just viewed a repeat of the Q&A examination of the proposal of the Voice to Parliament at the Garma Festival.

I thought Stan Grant did an excellent job of attempting to allow various opinions to be heard. Jacinta Price, of course, impressed once again for her genuine humanity, great understanding of the issues and concern to respect dissenting voices.

What was clear from most of the questions from the Aboriginal representation in the audience is that few actually understood what was being proposed. Many of the “aunties” in the audience simply wanted to ensure that what was left of the particular cultural legacy of their language group, was preserved. Fair enough – but that is up to them. It will be an uphill battle.

The grim faced elderly male representative of the local Yolgnu (forgotten his name) wanted either a Treaty or “the Voice” – although I suspect he would prefer a Treaty, as that would entail independence financed by the rest of us. He also referred to the “traditional law” working, if the government would allow it to function. Rubbish! It is not simply that traditional law is, in the modern world, barbaric and unacceptable – but that, in any case, it doesn’t solve disputes in contemporary life.

Besides Jacinta, the one source of hope came when a young lass rose to say how being sent out of the community to achieve a good education was a godsend for her. Good for her. She, and others like her, are the only hope of bringing her people out of a disoriented and aimless existence.

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
August 2, 2022 4:43 pm

Besides Jacinta, the one source of hope came when a young lass rose to say how being sent out of the community to achieve a good education was a godsend for her. Good for her. She, and others like her, are the only hope of bringing her people out of a disoriented and aimless existence.

Hopefully there are many like her. The ones that express themselves with logic and common sense similar to Jacinta. Unlike the screeching marxist activists.

JC
JC
August 2, 2022 4:47 pm

Bruce of Newcastle says:
August 2, 2022 at 2:26 pm

No, didn’t work. Same as before: when I hit the submit button the view reverts to the top of the thread and the comment hasn’t appeared. But going to the threat title and scrolling to the bottom – there it is.

He’s a marriage counselor – an expert on open relationships.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
August 2, 2022 6:33 pm

Indolent says:
August 2, 2022 at 5:56 pm

Avi Yemini
@OzraeliAvi
The game plan EXPOSED by Senator Alex Antic

It doesn’t matter how often it is exposed, if we have 75+% NPC in the population, that’s what we’re going to get. And 75% is an underestimate. Most ppl want to be told what to think, believe, feel and do. They’re like m0nty. Basically, zombies.

We’re phukt. Prepare for really bad times.

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  3. Speaking of which, we now have the US, China & India placing their national interest ahead of cutting emissions and…

  4. In a bookshop recently, can’t remember which one, Australian section, 95% female authors, I’d never heard of most. Jane Harper…

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