Open Thread – Tues 4 Oct 2022


Near the Water, Gustave Moreau, 1896

2,499 responses to “Open Thread – Tues 4 Oct 2022”

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  1. DrBeauGan Avatar
    DrBeauGan

    Technically, question begging needn’t involve a question at all. The argument:
    “Immoral nazi arseholes should be punched in the face. Therefore m0nty should be punched in the face” begs the question of whether m0nty is an immoral nazi arsehole. Opinions may differ, but it needs to be included as a premiss before the argument is logically complete.

  2. custard Avatar
    custard

    It’s not actually

  3. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    Q is for retards.

  4. Winston Smith Avatar

    Dare we hope?
    Have the lower ranks of the FBI finally found their balls?

  5. custard Avatar
    custard

    FTB is a moron

  6. The Beer whisperer Avatar
    The Beer whisperer

    Sorry BB I don’t know any songs of theirs. I never listened to much music in the 90’s. Too busy working and fishing. You’re the only person I’ve heard of that liked them, every comment about them has been derogatory.

    I got the Oasis album as a gift. I think I was convincing in my false appreciation of receiving it. I never even listened to it.

    That said, I always thought the Gallagher brothers were more entertaining on commercial flights and interviews about each other. Derek and Clive in real life.

    Fuck, yeah.

  7. Indolent Avatar
    Indolent

    Biden is practically screaming that they’re planning a nuclear false flag. Remember, they always do exactly what they accuse others of doing.

    Biden warns the world is facing the prospect of ARMAGEDDON for the first time since the Cuban missile crisis – saying Putin is deadly serious about using tactical nukes in Ukraine: ‘He’s not joking’

  8. custard Avatar
    custard

    There isn’t a 46th President of the United States

  9. Bar Beach Swimmer Avatar
    Bar Beach Swimmer

    cohenitesays:
    October 7, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    cohenite, I was there the other day and there was nothing that looked like that.

  10. custard Avatar
    custard

    People need to understand that.

  11. Rockdoctor Avatar
    Rockdoctor

    cohenitesays:
    October 7, 2022 at 10:02 pm

    Wow, Morisset is a bit of a s%$#hole.

    Very flash.

  12. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    The good news is that people who the retards listen to (ie Anne Coulter) are now jumping on board a lot of races.
    In October 2022 she jumped on board on Blake Masters in Arizona.
    It was only a month ago, the GOP started funding his machine in a meaningful way.
    In November 2021, I was on a conference call with Blake when he was laying out the game plan especially the ecommerce bill.
    It you really want to engage, it’s all laid out like a buffet.
    If you want to swallow the shit the establishment wants to feed you, you only have yourself to blame.

  13. The Beer whisperer Avatar
    The Beer whisperer

    Explained: How to navigate the A-Z of modern sexuality
    Claudia ConnellDaily Mail
    October 7, 2022 12:30PM

    Personally, I’m convenientsexual.

    If I’m horny, you need to give me sex. If I’m accused of sexual impropriety, I’m nonsexual so I couldn’t have dunnit, and otherwise I’m hotsexual, which makes hot chicks responsible for getting me off.

    Three totally different definitions that all mean it’s someone else’s fault. What a convenient ideology.

  14. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    Custard, what was more important today?
    A Q post?
    Or the Trafalgar polling for NY state?

  15. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    “Immoral nazi arseholes should be punched in the face. Therefore m0nty should be punched in the face”

    mUttley considers himself to be part of a collective. nazis are collectivists.

    Therefore mUttley should be punched in his ample bloated visage by normal members of society at every available opportunity and then some (to be sure, to be sure). In the vain hope that it might finally attempt to engage whatever remaining grey matter is still bouncing around in its thick empty skull.

  16. Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity Avatar
    Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

    Which Cat was it recently having a spit about the bank making it difficult to use your own money?

    This afternoon the bank refused to allow me to withdraw my own money.
    I’d announced I required a certain amount of change to get me through the weekend & did they have it?*
    Yes they did have the cash**

    If I wanted to do a level swap of cash for cash, fine. Withdrawal; No.
    They are “not approved” to transact such a withdrawal***
    They helpfully suggested I should come back on Monday when the branch manager “might” be in****

    *A business taking a large amount of cash on Friday for weekend change is a perfectly normal & regular part of banking.
    **Always have to ask if the branch has the cash, as sometimes they do not have enough.
    ***WTF?
    ****Is this for real?

  17. Winston Smith Avatar

    rickw:

    Oil Refinery
    Foundry
    Machine shop
    Sawmill

    The other day I was actually thinking of buying a couple of sheep or goats. More because I’m too lazy to mow the grass, than for any other reason.
    Sheep are slightly ahead because goats are more difficult to keep fenced in.

  18. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    How much Sal?

  19. custard Avatar
    custard

    I like Trafalgar polls FTB

    Saying that a Q post might be more interesting or relevant is your issue not mine.

    If you don’t understand Q posts, just say so.

  20. cohenite Avatar
    cohenite

    cohenite, I was there the other day and there was nothing that looked like that.

    Mmmm. Didn’t like it? Here’s a video of the joint:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmEBv4Ntm4w

    How was it different for you. I don’t have an interest in the place. Not really.

  21. Colonel Crispin Berka Avatar
    Colonel Crispin Berka

    duncanm says: October 7, 2022 at 7:32 pm

    I must say that the Higgins case is demanding much more popcorn than I had planned for.

    You are watching a movie?

    😀

    Look to Queanbeyan, heroes in disguise.

  22. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    Rabz, any music fred to fritter away the Friday evening?

    BB – Friday Night Pop Tarts – any time soon, I tells ya! 🙂

  23. The Beer whisperer Avatar
    The Beer whisperer

    But then it worked out so well for Napoleon and Hitler, didn’t it?

    It couldn’t go wrong, on the cusp of winter and all …

  24. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    What the Trafalgar poll showed in NY state was the the GOP chap running for Governor (the guy who was attacked) is within 2% of the DNC bird.
    Now there is zero chance of him winning.
    But when a state wide poll goes like it means the chance of flipping house seats becomes not just a chance, but more of a probability.
    If the GOP are looking at flipping seats in NY state it sets the stage.

  25. cohenite Avatar
    cohenite

    Wow, Morisset is a bit of a s%$#hole.

    Morisset maybe. Trinity is not Morisset. Its next to the psychiatric centre. Completely different.

  26. Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity Avatar
    Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

    How much Sal?

    More than they were “approved” to allow to be withdrawn.
    Under interrogation (I was a touch riled) they did confess that they had an approval limit for withdrawals & grumbled a bit then said I could “have that much” if I wanted it.

    That’s like being told you can’t have a Ford Falcon, but “will the back wheels help?”

  27. DrBeauGan Avatar
    DrBeauGan

    But in today’s ever-diverse society there are now dozens of sexualities by which people identify.

    We used to just call them weirdos. *Sigh*.

  28. custard Avatar
    custard

    Trump and Patel have been massively trolling around this

  29. Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity Avatar
    Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

    I must say that the Higgins case is demanding much more popcorn than I had planned for.

    Yer not rong!
    This sort of criminal trial is usually seen only in TV shows.

  30. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    it worked out so well for Napoleon and Hitler

    Shirer’s description of the latter:

    “probably the last of the great adventurer-conquerors in the tradition of Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon and the Third Reich the last of the empires which set out on the path taken earlier by France, Rome and Macadamia

  31. Winston Smith Avatar
  32. The Beer whisperer Avatar
    The Beer whisperer

    mUnty is a team player. Like all collectivists.

    He takes one for the team. Who knew?

  33. Zulu Kilo Two Alpha Avatar
    Zulu Kilo Two Alpha

    Lee Edward Lankester and Monique Leonie Kerr fined for stealing $700 of sex toys from adult store
    Breanna RedheadPerthNow
    October 6, 2022 5:00PM
    Topics

    A Bunbury couple have been fined for stealing more than $700 worth of sex toys from an adult store in the South West.

    Lee Edward Lankester and Monique Leonie Kerr appeared in Bunbury Magistrates Court on Thursday where they admitted to a count of stealing each after the incident earlier this year.

    At 3.30pm on July 14, the pair entered Bunbury’s Adultshop.com store on Spencer Street in the CBD where they stayed for an hour and a half.

    During this time, the couple was seen taking products off the shelves, removing the packaging and stuffing the items down their pants before leaving the store and making no attempt to pay.

    The actions were captured on CCTV cameras, with the stolen goods totalling $729.10.

    Four days later, police arrested the couple at their home address and took them to Bunbury Police Station for an interview, where the court was told they made full admissions to the crime.

  34. Winston Smith Avatar

    Jannie:

    The Russians are mobilising, and that incudes the nuclear strike capability. Redacted is reporting that the US has admitted to having boots on the ground in Ukraine. Also the Russians have commenced air strikes on the Ukrainian troops around the Kherson, and this will no doubt provoke US empowered retaliation and SAM strikes.

    The important question is: Are the battery factories working 3 shifts?
    H/T

    Red Storm Rising.

    🙂

  35. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    Last week Baris said that betting wise 240+ in the house was a lock but he thinks it will be 250+.
    And that the Senate 52+ is a lock.

  36. Bar Beach Swimmer Avatar
    Bar Beach Swimmer

    How was it different for you.

    Far too personal.

    (It was shut).

    And the exterior view you posted, reminds me of one of those middle-aged actress filmed with one of those filter thingys – nothing like the real thing.

  37. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    Went to Woodcut tonight in the Crown complex.
    Seriously one the best places to entertain in Sydney.
    Welcomed back a former staff member who had spent over $A200k at Sydney uni for her degree & masters but was getting dicked around on her visa so her billionaire father said screw Australia & come back to China.
    Now back in Oz and kicking goals that few could imagine.

  38. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    The sommelier at Woodcut is on the pace.

  39. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    Rabz’ Friday Night Pop Tarts! 🙂

    Souxsie

    Liz Fraser

    Beth Gibbons

  40. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    What my neighbours are currently hearing.

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

    Yeah, Inglewood, Inglewood always up to no good

  41. Colonel Crispin Berka Avatar
    Colonel Crispin Berka

    Metallurgy, materials, assembly processes, adhesives, contamination, secret ingredients, tolerance stackups.. all this stuff is where your real IP value lives.

    An ingredient ends up in the final product, so may be discerned by a keen-eyed inspector. e.g. the “11 secret herbs and spices” that were figured out by food labs in the 1970s.
    A secret catalyst is possible if it is fully recovered during production.
    Also secret keys for decrypting secret firmware, but the key has to be in memory that can’t be physically interrogated without being destroyed.

  42. Ed Case Avatar
    Ed Case

    Wadey had a good game, so did Davey.
    Burnsie, 85 against Tassie.

  43. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    You can sit at home with your fingers up your arse.
    Or you can go upstream & become enlightened.
    Never stop going upstream to the source.

  44. Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity Avatar
    Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

    The other day I was actually thinking of buying a couple of sheep or goats. More because I’m too lazy to mow the grass, than for any other reason.

    Winston;
    You’ll be sorry!
    A goat will mow the lawn, the rosebushes, the orchard, & just about anything else you’ve got. Everything remotely edible will be stark from ground level to about 7 feet up, possibly higher.

    That’s for one goat. For two or more, multiply the damage exponentially.

  45. custard Avatar
    custard

    Seems FTB agrees with me

  46. Bar Beach Swimmer Avatar
    Bar Beach Swimmer

    I’m thinking the Andrew Thorburn affair could have materially damaged Andrews’ chances of winning the election in November and simultaneously wounded AFL woke-world.

    For Andrews to assert that to believe that the religious prohibitions of sodomy, which all the major religions adhere to, is to be homophobic, has probably put off a very significant percentage of the Victorian believing electorate.

    In fact, as a Roman Catholic, he knows full well that there is a huge difference between the sinner and the sin, but which he has conveniently ignored in his outburst.

    Why? To strengthen support for the Liars in the inner city green-leaning seats? Because it can’t have helped him out in the suburbs.

    As to the AFL – if Thorburn sues the Dons, the AFL can’t maintain that “smell of roses” while being the main instigator of the diversity and inclusion round that the clubs have to sign up to.

    I can see it now:
    Essendon: “they made us show no inclusion and diversity to that group of homophobes, yr honour!”

    And how will all those card-carrying, believing members and supporters feel, now they know what their sport, their club and their premier really thinks of them?

    It’s a bit like cheating at something: until you’re caught, it’s hidden.

  47. custard Avatar
    custard

    enlightened

  48. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    No Custard.
    You need to feel the sting of your stupidity.
    The sooner the better.
    Hopefully you’ll learn from the experience.

  49. cohenite Avatar
    cohenite

    And the exterior view you posted, reminds me of one of those middle-aged actress filmed with one of those filter thingys – nothing like the real thing.

    Excellent. Were you on the road side or the lake side. The views I posted are on the lake side. The road side is a typical road side. Which middle-aged actress in particular were you thinking of.

  50. rickw Avatar
    rickw

    rickw:
    as to whatever, you could do worse than one of these.

    I think it needs a PLC so it can run itself overnight!

  51. Winston Smith Avatar

    OCO:

    I don’t pay attention to any of the corporate media coverage of the war. Their propaganda is strikingly similar to WW1-era stuff. Amazing that people buy into such absurdities.

    I admit I have been waiting for one side or the other to do the ‘catching thrown babies on their bayonets’ and ‘nuns with hobnail boots’ stories, ‘kittens nailed to doors and connected to booby traps’.
    None yet, so I’m a bit disappointed.

  52. Bar Beach Swimmer Avatar
    Bar Beach Swimmer

    Were you on the road side or the lake side. The views I posted are on the lake side. The road side is a typical road side. Which middle-aged actress in particular were you thinking of.

    We walked ‘round it; all the way. A bit of grass, a few out doorsy tables & chairs and artificial grass with a view of the water.

    Anyone of them – since camera filters seem to be de rigueur. (Sandra Bullock; Sarah Jessica Parker; Nicole Kidman).

  53. John Brumble Avatar
    John Brumble

    Seriously? I’m in moderation but the internet troll who is actively trying to shut the site down still posts under multiple psueds.

    Get your damn priorities straight.

  54. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    Winston, David Sacks has been one of the most vocal about avoiding a nuclear war.
    You can listen to his views as part of the All-In podcast on YouTube or you can listen to his callin shows if you download the app (PS he the founder of Callin).

  55. custard Avatar
    custard

    No FTB

    You don’t know what you’re talking about.

  56. rickw Avatar
    rickw

    trying to reproduce their beautifully made graduated scales

    I think I’d draw the scales in a CAD program and use laser engraving.

    I did some CNC engraved examples for him, they looked good but weren’t an exact reproduction. Why he ended up going back to the roll engraving which was how the originals were done. Surprisingly he found a Sydney company that could do it at an excellent price.

  57. calli Avatar
    calli

    About to pass this gruesome monument.

    A dish served very, very cold.

  58. custard Avatar
    custard

    There is no 46 th

  59. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    Custard, I talk in metrics & timeframes.
    You rehash old Q shit.
    Here’s the thing, you don’t even talk the “up to date Q shit”.
    You’re like picking up a month old Epoch Times.

  60. areff Avatar
    areff

    Rabz: They’re more rock cakes than pop tarts, but Zepparella are worth as listen.

    When the levy breaks

  61. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    JC is on the pace.

  62. Knuckle Dragger Avatar
    Knuckle Dragger

    bern is a white hat.

  63. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    KD is Inglewood.

  64. custard Avatar
    custard

    There are big pieces being played out on the chessboard and I would urge Cats to pay attention.

  65. Zulu Kilo Two Alpha Avatar
    Zulu Kilo Two Alpha

    A dish served very, very cold.

    A friend of mine – a Campbell – went to rediscover their Highland roots – there are still signs in shops, saying “No Campbell’s will be served here..”

  66. Knuckle Dragger Avatar
    Knuckle Dragger

    The key is in the transcripts. A goat and magic eye.

    Just think about that.

  67. Iron Cove Avatar
    Iron Cove

    Cabbage rates over the briny

  68. calli Avatar
    calli

    Areff, thanks for the question begging and hung objections.

    My own pet grouches:

    could of – he could of done it but he didn’t
    taken off – they had their bags taken off them by thieves

    The scheduled broadcast may now resume.

  69. Iron Cove Avatar
    Iron Cove

    Crates

  70. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    History Guy just posted this.
    Tell me this guys wasn’t on the DMT to come up with this idea 1800 years ago.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7POHJy8tpLY

    Trajan’s Bridge and the Roman Empire

  71. calli Avatar
    calli

    I’m in Glencoe tonight, Zulu.

  72. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    The key is in the transcripts. A goat and magic eye.

    And punching yourself in the balls.

  73. dover0beach Avatar

    What most folk mean when they say ‘begs the question’ is ‘poses the question’

    Every day on Tom Elliot’s program.

  74. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    areff – you must have missed all my previous comments lauding the Gretchen Menn, a rock ‘n’ roll womanage possessing a super superstructure 🙂

  75. Zulu Kilo Two Alpha Avatar
    Zulu Kilo Two Alpha

    I’m in Glencoe tonight, Zulu.

    I’m envious, calli..

    Mme Zulu was at one stage married to a Kerr. As a joke, I brought her a scarf in the Kerr family tartan, with the joke that it was probably made from stolen sheep. We were on holiday in Scotland, when she wore said scarf into the village bakery.

    The lady behind the counter fixed us with a baleful eye. “That’s a Kerr family scarf. The Kerr’s of Fernieherst sacked this town – burned it to the ground, and what they did to the women, no decent soul could ever contemplate!”

    “Oh, really” says an Aussie tourist.”When would that have been?”

    “1588!” was the answer.

  76. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    Brumbles:

    I’m in moderation but the internet troll who is actively trying to shut the site down still posts under multiple pseuds, I tells ya!

    Who might this troll be, Squire?

  77. feelthebern Avatar
    feelthebern

    Neighbours currently getting this.
    David Guetta & Bebe Rexha – Blue (AHH Remix)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ztd3U96CAM0

  78. rickw Avatar
    rickw

    and what they did to the women, no decent soul could ever contemplate!

    I’m surprised this wasn’t “women and livestock”!

  79. areff Avatar
    areff

    Rabz, I did miss your admiration for Ms G, who is well worth such lauding.

  80. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    could of – he could of done it but he didn’t

    Could’ve (i.e. could have)

    taken off – they had their bags taken off them by thieves

    “off them” being redundant, presumably.

    Let’s not enter into the realm of “knocked off” … 😕

  81. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    The teacher said that that that that that boy had written was incorrect.

    English as she is spoke. If there is or was a god, she speaks it. 🙂

  82. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    the book’s “Idiotisms “:

    “I am mUtlley, hear me bore!”

    “There will be no carbon tax while my genitalia resembles mussels in a jar, I tells ya!”

    “The rain that never falls will never fill our dams!”

    “Gerbil worming is real and has been happening for over 34 years!”

  83. calli Avatar
    calli

    could have

    taken from

    *bows and scuttles off*

  84. calli Avatar
    calli

    Or is that scuttles away? 😉

  85. rickw Avatar
    rickw

    Just washed me feet out the front of the Saudi Embassy for the second time. Might be a high risk approach to getting sand off one’s feet! 🙂

  86. Fair Shake Avatar
    Fair Shake

    Psst, this way. I’ve just seen another thread.

  87. Barking Toad Avatar
    Barking Toad

    “loose” when they mean “lose” pisses me off.

    seems to be preferred by residents of Danistan

  88. Rabz Avatar
    Rabz

    Dusty:

    The look of love

    Again – the sparseness … 🙂

  89. Winston Smith Avatar

    P:

    Winston, how is it going for your sister these days.
    Every time you post a comment I say a prayer for her.
    Forgive me if this is an intrusion into your privacy. Is so just disregard.

    She got the lump removed and a course of radiotherapy which finished a fortnight ago.
    Everything looking good.
    Unfortunately her best friend died week ago from breast cancer but the terminal stage was really quick – up and about one day and died 48 hours later. Painfree, at home with family and the standard SC Morphine/Midazolam/Maxolon therapy.
    So she’s a bit fragile but doing OK.
    And yes, survivor guilt is a thing.
    Ta for the prayers…

  90. Winston Smith Avatar

    Custard:

    Dems try a full steal in November.

    If the Dems try that I’d say you’d see the military intervene.

    A military intervention would have to come from the Colonels Ranks – the O’Biden/Harris stacking and purging of the upper echelons has been incredible.

  91. duncanm Avatar
    duncanm

    Someone in this thread pointed out it’d be interesting to know who the line-up of Higgins supporters were.

    Michael Smith identified

    Here’s another for you.

    That dashing young lezzo is “support worker” Heidi Yates.

    Ah – support worker. You know, some lowly functionary from the local women’s shelter.

    No – that would be ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner and alphabet and social justics law reform champion Heidi Yates.

  92. duncanm Avatar
    duncanm

    post before completion..

    .. Michael Smith identified

    PR and political messaging advisor Emma Webster, a former Kevin Rudd staffer and these days a big bucks Hawker Britton Labor-aligned spin artist

  93. Johnny Rotten Avatar

    The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.

    – Leo Tolstoy

  94. Johnny Rotten Avatar

    Three Aussie guys all go to a building site in London answering to an advert for brickies.

    The foreman asks them if they each can each build a small wall out of a pile of bricks outside the foreman’s office. They oblige, the foreman checks on them and confirms that the work was a high enough standard, so he decides to hire all three.

    He figures he better do a health and safety check but since he is desperate for workers, he decides to make it pretty simple and just asks each of them a simple question: “What would you do if you were up a scaffolding and dropped a brick?”

    The first Aussie says “Shout *FALLING BRICK!* to warn anyone working below me”. The foreman replies “That’s fine, you’re hired, go up that scaffolding and get to work”.

    The second Aussie replies “I would shout *FALLING BRICK, WATCH OUT BELOW!* to warn those below me”. The foreman replies “Good good, you’re also hired, go up that scaffolding and get on with the job”.

    The third Aussie however has a pretty bad stutter and replies “I w-w-w-w-would also shout *F-F-F-F-F-Falling B-B-B-B-Brick!* as a w-w-w-warning to others”. Now the foreman realises this could be a bit of an issue but since he is desperate for workers just tells the lad to be careful and not drop anything.

    Within an hour the first Aussie drops a brick and shouts down *FALLING BRICK!* and everyone below got out of the way without a problem.

    Later on the second guy also drops a brick and shouts down *FALLING BRICK, WATCH OUT BELOW!* and once again everyone below moved out of the way without any issues.

    Eventually the third guy also drops a brick and begins to shout “F-F-F-F-F-F…”

    … but as he is still shouting, the brick falls and hits an Englishman right in the head, killing him outright…

    “…ucking B-B-B-beauty!!!!”

  95. m0nty Avatar

    Cassie, it’s pretty much the one thing I’ve been trying to get through to people from the start. Putin IS the moderate everyone is dreaming of. The idea it’s going to be rainbows and fairy floss is he was killed or otherwise disappeared is completely unrealistic.

    I keep getting the same sort of reactions though, get called a vatnik, Russia supporter etc. etc. Very few people admit there might be a legitimate concern for the Russians, or that they might actually have decided diplomacy was achieving nothing and done something about it.

    It’s the difference between how people want the world to be, and the reality of what the world is.

    Putin may have been a moderate before he started the war, but he’s not one now. What more could a replacement do, apart from drop a nuke? He’s already started a mobilisation and devoted 20% of Russia’s GDP to it, it’s not as if there is a cigarette paper’s difference between him and some random Mad Pyotr.

    Any thought of Putin having a legitimate beef with Europe about their moves to discourage him from invading countries were snuffed out when he started the invasion. He kind of proved them right, didn’t he? Turns out he actually was a threat that they should have made moves to counter.

  96. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare Avatar
    Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare

    Bernard Cornwell, a descendent of the eleventh century Uhtred the Bold of Bamburgh Castle, drew upon this Uhtred’s life to create the earlier ninth century Uhtred of Bebbenburg in his saga The Last Kingdom, recently turned into a long-running set of TV series about the creation of Engalande prior to Athelstan’s final victory (a film is now being made to place Cornwell’s Uhtred in this). The tale of the seven severed heads is repeated in this series, drawing on Uhtred the Bold’s life, being thus placed anachronistically in Cornwell’s books as well as by the TV series. From Calli’s link above, a similar tale has also been part of C16th and C17th historic Scottish clan warfare. Seven is a sacral number, which probably explains the common numeric identification.

    The taking of heads was prominent in earlier tribal cultures in Britain. In Lancaster a Roman tombstone fairly recently found covering a drain depicts a second century Centurian in full panoply on horseback going native, not only on this ‘riter’ style of tombstone crushing underfoot a Brythonic barbarian but also having gathered five barbarian heads strung together over the back of his horse. Cutting off heads and putting them on a pole was part of legal punishment until at least the early seventeenth century. Elizabeth the First did a lot of it to her favorites as well as foes. The wonderful Irish war song ‘Follow me up to Carlow’ speaks of cutting off an opponents Tudor head and ‘sending it back to Queen Lisa and her ladies’.

    Islamic cultures, witness the lamentable Islamic State, also did some head chopping in our times. Indeed, women and their children paraded the desire to do some more on placards not long ago in Sydney’s streets. Nor will I ever forget seeing videos of men being decapitated by a river in the contested Middle East during those dreadful times and the men’s bodies falling into the water as their heads were held aloft. It was always a murderous custom.

    As was hanging. In the past tense, Odin ‘hung’ on the World Tree and it continued on from there. Strangling was part of the ‘triple death’ of the Bronze Age, as seen in bog bodies and recounted in tales of Merlin (Odin). Hanging has been the mode of capital punishment in British law especially since head-taking lost favour. My border-riever grandfather never referred to being ‘hanged, drawn and quartered’, btw. It was always, in his words that flowed so easily off the tongue, ‘thee’ll be hung, drawn and quartered’ whenever a sheep-stealing misdemeanor, or any misdemeanor of mine, was the reference. Common enough parlance to have the sting of ancient remembrance about it in his day.

  97. Mother Lode Avatar
    Mother Lode

    I see from one of BB’s comments on a previous page that Brittney (Australian of the Year -pending) was approached by Pirate Pete about a book deal before she even spoke to the police.

    No doubt Pete will get his crack team of researchers on the case and will provide his own inimitable embellishments.

    And no doubt Brittney’s indignation will soar up to eleventy when she reads the book and discovers to her horror new details of the event that she had not known.

    Imagine her outrage (outrageously outrageous outrage) when she learns that Lehrmann also ushered in the entire Cabinet to have their way with her; how they urinated and defecated on her inert body, how they dragged her into the basement of Parliament House where they took her newborn baby (innocent issue of the night’s savagery), and Tony Abbott and John Howard ritually killed it. They all drank the blood, even forcing Brittany to drink as well.

    Brittney will be the loveable hero, possessed of a free and unbroken spirit, too pure for the world she was to enter into. She looked at the stunted and malformed ogres of the Liberal Party, but all she saw was people needing help.

    The Libs will be a melding of 19th and 20th century British toffs with things like “tally-ho” and “I say” tripping constantly from their tongues, a haughty cabal concealing their grasping, calculating, and corrupted natures beneath layers of scented linen, silk, and brocade, with flashing medals and sparkling jewellery – all trophies of past successful campaigns won with other people’s blood.

    Then we will have the likes of Bruce, one of an army of foul emissaries, intermediaries that transmit the will of the Liberal cabal upon the real world. Stripped of humanity, motivated solely by greed and malice, and a wish to one day be received into the cabal, there will be no deed so low he will not stoop to it, and when the command is given to get rid of ‘the virginal upstart’, he will know exactly what to do.

    This will be a boon for Pirate Pete. To date he market niche has been kids who need to buy a present for their Dads but have no idea what they want but don’t yet have – in the ‘bargain bin’ price range.

    This will open the door to ‘My daughter is a middle-class undergraduate feminist gender studies uni student’ market.

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