Suppressed News.@SuppressedNwsJUST IN: Details of a proposed ceasefire agreement:Details of the Proposed Agreement:•A test period of a 60-day ceasefire.•During this…
Open Thread – Tues 11 Oct 2022
- Open Thread – Mon 25 Nov 2024
- The more you gets the less you eats
- Open Thread – Weekend 23 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 18 Nov 2024
Like most of his economic policy ideas, it is so stupid that you can’t take it seriously. But you took…
This shit hole is rooted. It is run by morons and its citizens are lazy and often as dumb as…
Let’s hope the next crash these monsters have has more certainty for them.
In my career, I have done surgery for ‘ununited’ fractures that have already healed, removed implants that were not causing…
Ozzie posting Russian war crime apologia is disgraceful.
Thankfully, NATO partners are now shipping more kit for the Ukrainians to shoot down the Russian missiles targeting civilians. Over half of the incoming missiles were shot down last night. That defensive percentage will go up over time, rendering Putin’s latest tactic into a useless waste of resources.
That tactic worked so well for Riccardo Bosi and AustraliaOne, lol.
Peter Thiel on how the homeless problem in California enriches the elites ??
Arguably, 2013.
Unless you immediately agree to a grovelling public apology and quite substantial damages, I require satisfaction at the Duelling Chamber.
Thanks for that, the property is between Stawell and Ararat. The soil consists of about 10″ of decent soil which floats on a pale grey/yellow clay which is literally liquid at the moment. Machinery unexpectedly breaks through the upper crust and sinks to the axles.
Sounds like a ‘sodosol’ and they answer my ‘will it transition from too wet to too dry in an afternoon’ question:
I suspect a fair bit of the damage in Uke cities was caused by Uke SAM missile boosters and/or malfunctions.
There’s so much bullshit.
m0nty-fa. Good to see you. In case you missed it, here is my question from 2052.
My conclusion is that the right is being consistent in supporting the bully, while the left consistently supports the less powerful. Thus in the Bush era the right was all in for both Gulf Wars,
A question for m0nty-fa.
Now that he has convinced himself that the reason the left now supports US wars is that the left consistently supports the” less powerful”, why was the left so against the First Gulf War (1990-91). In that War, the US was supporting the vastly weaker Kuwait against the much stronger Iraq.
That is the Iraq that started a war with Iran in the early 1980s, and used both mustard gas and nerve gas in that war, used both mustard and nerve gas against his own citizens, and specifically against the less powerful Kurds, then invaded the much less powerful Kuwait.
The use of mustard and nerve gases was a clear war crime, yet the left opposed the operation to free Kuwait. Pliss essplain, m0nty-fa.
“Ozzie posting Russian war crime apologia is disgraceful.”
Firstly, you’re not the chief censor of this blog.
Secondly, I find almost everything you write here to be disgraceful.
Finally, if you don’t like it here, fuck off.
Bruce O’Newk:
In Australia, Canada, GB, NZ, etc.
How many non CCP undercover Police Stations are there?
Their communities know and won’t tell us.
Therefore, once an undercover Police Station is recognised, should the entire community be deported for failing to inform of its existence?
Otherwise we are failing to recognise a significant threat to national security.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-resumes-strikes-after-mass-bombardment-of-ukraine-11665478054?mod=hp_lead_pos5
Russia Resumes Strikes After Mass Bombardment of Ukraine
Zaporizhzhia is hit with renewed shelling as air defenses intercept missiles over Kyiv and coastal cities
Since the start of the war, Kyiv’s ability to prevent Russia from dominating the skies above Ukraine has been crucial to its fending off Moscow’s advance. Ukraine’s aerial defense is built on a patchwork of Soviet-era air-defense batteries bolstered by systems rushed to the battlefield by the U.S. and others in the early days of the invasion.
But it remains vulnerable to aerial attack.
Ukrainian officials renewed calls for Western countries to supply Ukraine with additional air defenses in the aftermath of Monday’s attacks. “We are doing everything to get modern air-defense systems. And I am grateful to the partners who are already speeding up the delivery,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his address on Monday night.
President Biden pledged to provide more advanced air-defense systems in a call with Mr. Zelensky on Monday, and the Pentagon has said the U.S. is sending two mobile air-defense systems known as Nasams to Ukraine within the next two months. Another six Nasams have been earmarked for Ukraine, but Pentagon and industry officials said it could take around 18 months or longer to finish and deliver them.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned in an interview with state broadcaster Rossiya Segodnya of the danger to Western powers of “uncontrolled escalation” and “large-scale assistance to Kyiv.”
“There are calls from leaders at various levels in the U.S. and Europe to defeat our country on the battlefield,” Mr. Ryabkov added. “Russia will be forced to take adequate countermeasures, including those of an asymmetric nature.”
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Russian TV news show 60 Minutes that he hoped “those who constantly speculate on the topic of nuclear war” and accuse Russia of preparing to use nuclear weapons “realize their responsibility.”
Mr. Lavrov said President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly said that Russia’s nuclear doctrine provides for “exclusively retaliatory measures that are designed to prevent the destruction of the Russian Federation as a result of direct nuclear strikes or other types of weapons which threaten the very existence of the Russian state.”
Mr. Putin said Monday’s broad attack on Ukraine was in response to an attack on a strategic bridge connecting Russia to occupied Crimea, a part of Ukraine that Russia seized in 2014. Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for an explosion on the bridge on Saturday that crippled access to the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine hasn’t claimed responsibility for the bridge explosion, but senior Ukrainian officials celebrated it on social media.
UK and AUS interfered in the US 2016 election.
Others too…
They’re called Pack & Sends.
mUnty can’t help it … he’s an idiot
US taking advantage of EU energy crisis – Paris
Washington is selling gas to the EU for four times what it charges at home, the French finance minister says
The US should not be allowed to dominate the global energy market while the EU suffers from the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has warned.
“The conflict in Ukraine must not end in American economic domination and a weakening of the EU,” he said, speaking at the National Assembly on Monday.
Le Maire said it’s unacceptable that Washington “sells its liquefied natural gas at four times the price than it sets for its own industrialists,” adding that “the economic weakening of Europe is not in anyone’s interest.”
“We must reach a more balanced economic relationship on the energy issue between our American partners and the European continent,” Le Maire said.
Prior to the conflict in Ukraine, Russia was the EU’s largest gas supplier, responsible for about 45% of the bloc’s gas imports. However, due to sanctions imposed on Moscow in recent months, Russian gas supplies to the EU have decreased significantly.
Doubtful. The Israelis claim the US Patriot missile system had at best a 30% success rate. There would be a non negligible amount of Russian missiles that are either defective, have poor inputs or go off course (miscalibration, unstandardised propellant or atmospheric conditions). If Russia can launch closely enough for low level radar evading flight paths, the strikes can go on indefinitely.
Cassie, I find everything you write here to be boring, but I forgive you.
Sorry.
Dr Faustus.
Spoiling (deregistered) parties since 2017.
With the utmost respect, sir, I invite you to auto-fornicate.
Just to cheer the Cat Farmers
New Zealand unveils plan to tax cow farts
The eco-friendly tax scheme faces opposition from local farmers groups
The government of New Zealand has proposed a plan to tax greenhouse gasses created by farm animals, hoping to slash carbon emissions as part of a decades-long climate change initiative, despite vocal criticism from agricultural organizations.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the proposal on Tuesday morning, saying the plan is the first of its kind ever attempted and would put New Zealand on track to hit its targets for reducing methane emissions over the next decade.
“No other country in the world has yet developed a system for pricing and reducing agricultural emissions, so our farmers are set to benefit from being first movers,” she said, adding that “Cutting emissions will help New Zealand farmers to not only be the best in the world but the best for the world.”
Under the proposal, farmers who meet thresholds for herd size and fertilizer use would be required to pay a fee for methane and nitrous oxide gasses created by their cattle – earning the scheme the unceremonious, though somewhat misleading, title of ‘fart tax’ (most methane from cows is released in the form of burps).
If the plan secures final approval by the end of the year, the tax payments would begin in 2025 and be levied every one to three years. Exact amounts have yet to be determined.
“Cassie, I find everything you write here to be boring, but I forgive you.”
Nup, I’m not boring. You’re going to have to try harder than that. You’re actually pathetic and becoming more pathetic by the day.
You might strike gold?
That is the best I can offer.
Bruce O’Newk:
They could get me to do it – I’ve had the Uncle Bob personna in our family for decades.
Mainly because my real name is Robert.
Aaargh! Someone doxxed me!
See that’s what I mean Cassie, you have no spark of creativity, no sense of humour. At least be entertaining; this is the Cat, not a high school debating class.
I understand if you are unable to lift your game, that’s fine, but don’t cop an attitude like you’re the SRC rep.
Hear, hear!
“m0ntysays:
October 11, 2022 at 10:29 pm”
Pathetic.
Taiwan: War With China ‘Absolutely Not an Option’; Musk Offers Proposal on China-Taiwan Tensions
China in Focus – NTD
00:58 Taiwan: War w/ China ‘Absolutely Not an Option’
03:13 Musk Offers Proposal on China-Taiwan Tensions
05:16 A Look at China’s ‘Special Administration Zone’; Could Taiwan Become the Next Hong Kong?
06:15 Palau Supports Taiwan Despite ‘Mounting Aggressions’
07:16 DOJ: 36 Million Lethal Doses of Fentanyl Seized
08:14 China Certifies New Jet to Compete with Boeing
10:40 Philippines, U.S. Rekindle Ties; Hold Joint Amphibious Landing Drills
11:36 U.A. Lawmakers Question Biden Admin Over CCP Recruiting from Top U.S. Nuclear Lab
12:45 U.S. Should Return to Nuclear Deterrence: Rick Fisher
Adhern is certifiably insane.
Seriously.
Yeah righto Miss Trunchbull.
how to take a long-time successful industry – NZ dairy farming and export – and fuck it right royally sideways.
The sooner New Zealanders’ throw that harpie aside, the better. They’d better get cracking.
A plan by the Australian War Memorial to commemorate Aboriginal people killed in the “Frontier Wars” between British soldiers and settlers and Indigenous inhabitants has been slammed by senior Coalition figures.
“I have real concerns about this because first and foremost, since its inception, the War Memorial was about remembering the carnage of the First World War,” said shadow Veterans Affairs minister Barnaby Joyce.
“The unifying purpose of the Memorial is that it represents the human sacrifice of men who have fought on behalf of Australia against a common foe.”
Mr Joyce said a new cultural centre announced last January by the Morrison government would be a much more appropriate place for such an exhibit.
“We can recognise the truth of both issues, but the issues are very different,” said Mr Joyce, noting the difference between wars fought by Australian soldiers abroad and the internal conflicts that marked the nation’s settlement.
“The Australian War Memorial … is a place to remember our fallen who died in our wars. It should be above politics,” said shadow defence minister and Afghanistan veteran Andrew Hastie.
“Over time it has evolved into a museum (but) I’m sympathetic to the view that it is not a new battleground for the history wars, it’s a place to remember our fallen.”
“This invites the hostile, postmodern academy into the inner sanctum of Remembrance, which they will treat as a beachhead to move further inland on Anzac and tradition.”
A spokesman for the Australian War Memorial defended the planned exhibit, saying, “It is the Memorial’s intention to expand on the depiction and presentation of the violence committed against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people … The Memorial is a place for all people to reflect upon and understand the Australian experience of war.”
Daily Tele – comments open
Nord Stream Sabotage Escalates US War With Russia
Pipelines (both of them) were recently blown up, and they’re not even hiding it.
Below is Radek Sikorski MEP on Twitter thanking the USA with a graphic of the explosion of the Nordstream pipeline.
Who, you might ask, is this dude?
Just the Chairman of the EU-USA delegation at the European Parliament.
You likely missed it, but back in February, before the war had kicked off, sleepy Joe let this all slip… or perhaps it was meant to be part of an NLP programming of the sheeple.
Who the hell knows.
But here is what he told a reporter:
Pres. Biden: “If Russia invades…then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”
Reporter: “But how will you do that, exactly, since… the project is in Germany’s control?”
Biden: “I promise you, we will be able to do that.”
Any sane person would ask how the hell can Biden shut down a project which isn’t ostensibly under US control or even in US territory?
Those are good questions which I’d hope you already know the answer to. Think it through…
Ever since the sabotage, the MSM and Monty are all bunching up their panties and hysterically blaming Russia.
If you believe this, I’ve a bridge to sell you.
And as reported by the WSJ…
Amid Europe’s Energy Crisis, Manufacturers Shift to the U.S.
US is a “big winner” from Europe’s energy crisis:
As geopolitical tensions and sanctions against Russia drive up energy prices in Europe, a number of European manufacturers are being tempted by the relative stability of the United States, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The sharp rise in gas prices in Europe is forcing local producers to think about moving their capacities to the United States, where energy prices are more stable. This is especially true for energy intensive firms who tend to use natural gas for intense heating to make their products, for example, fertilizers used by farmers and agricultural firms.
Now, ask yourself this question. What happens when Europeans realise that they’re simply being used as cannon fodder for US hegemony and are about to pay for it with their lives?
And while they’re suffering, they’ll be forced (because there are now no other solutions available) to buy much more expensive US natural gas.
Dot:
What we really need to do is to find out whether our balls are functioning organs or just biodecorations, and doing it ourselves. We’re as bad as the Aborigines waiting for someone else to fix up the mess they’re in.
Things need to get much worse before Australians realise the position we’re in.
An irate van driver drove through a mass of environmental protesters at a major junction in London today as fed-up motorists ripped banners from the group and dragged them off the road by hand amid extraordinary scenes.
The Just Stop Oil activists in exclusive Knightsbridge also caused a fire engine responding to an emergency to be blocked while an ambulance had to reverse and find another route as the group took to the capital’s streets again.
On what was the 11th consecutive day of demonstrations that have resulted in more than 300 arrests so far, the van driver slowly drove into the activists to make it through, forcing them to move away from his vehicle.
Daily Mail
ffs mUnty … you’re just a bit tragic
you dont have an original thought in your head
Catallaxy’s NPC
“Comments open” may change swiftly, judging by the theme of the first half-dozen comments.
I think the Grayzone has fallen into a trap on this one.
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/10/10/ukrainian-kerch-bridge/
Usually spot on.
This time it sounds like they’ve been had.
One of Bob Moran’s best of a batch of recent excellent cartoons.
I think he captures JA nicely.
Our long term average rainfall (depending on which adjacent BoM site I use) is 600-650mm, with >1mm on 100-110 days.
Rainfall as of now for 2022 is roughly on the annual average (just quickly adding up the monthly totals in my head). To prove my hypothesis that it is spread more evenly and stayed saturated for longer, I would have to manually tote up the number of “wet days”.
But, undeniably boggy.
Sorry, Flanners.
The gauge doesn’t lie.
This is not enough to exempt him from the next shot. They are really trying hard to kill us.
Catturd ™ Retweeted
Christopher J Williams
@Christo19725794
2 weeks after Az vax blood clot, seizures, coincidentally.Been declined my exemption certificate from another? Never had a seizure pre jab and now heart failure
Labor reels from power price shock
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has revealed the government is working on a new plan to try to force down domestic gas prices, but has resisted pressure for new cost-of-living relief in this month’s budget as industry braces for a fresh surge in energy costs that may send some plants to the wall.
Dr Chalmers declined to repeat Labor’s pre-election promise that its clean energy policy would lower household electricity bills by $275 a year by 2025 as shockwaves spread from an industry forecast of 35 per cent jump in power tariffs next year made at The Australian Financial Review Energy & Climate Summit on Monday.
“It’s become very clear to us that a combination of global factors, extreme weather, and policy failure has meant that electricity prices are going up much faster than we would like to see and what Australians would like to see,” Dr Chalmers said.
“I think that’s incredibly clear, and we’ve had news in the last couple of days about that as well.”
The forecast increase in household and small business electricity tariffs comes on top of rises of up to 18 per cent in household bills on July 1, and as surges in wholesale gas prices flow through to big jumps in contracted gas prices.
Household power bills have already gone up by $300 on average since April 1, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission told the House of Representatives economic committee.
The Australian Energy Regulator warned on Tuesday that the unanticipated surge in wholesale power prices to up to a record $344 a megawatt-hour in Queensland in the June quarter “have translated into much higher contract prices, and that these higher contract prices are likely to persist”.
‘Disruption is just beginning’
Phaedra Deckart, chief executive of TasGas, which supplies gas to about 1100 industrial customers in Tasmania, said pressures were rising on medium and smaller businesses as they faced 11.5 per cent rises in electricity prices, and gas contracts rolled over into new arrangements which no longer shielded them from substantial increases.
“I think there is a real scenario where businesses aren’t able to withstand the energy pressures,” Ms Deckart said, adding that some businesses were facing a threefold increase in energy costs and were not able to pass it on.
“The disruption that we’re seeing in the market is just the beginning.”
Alinta Energy boss Jeff Dimery warned of a 35 per cent spike in power tariffs in 2023 on day one of the Financial Review Summit based on increases that have already occurred in wholesale electricity and gas prices.
Speaking two weeks before handing down his first budget, Dr Chalmers cautioned that providing further cost-of-living relief to help consumers with power prices could make the inflation problem worse.
He said energy prices were now the key driver of inflation, which is officially forecasts to peak at 7.8 per cent by the end of 2022.
“Electricity is the one that I think most about. It is going to be the most problematic aspect of … our inflation problem over the course of the next six or nine months,” Dr Chalmers said.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with Treasury and with others about it.”
Resources Minister Madeleine King last week indicated the days of cheap gas were over after she signed a new head of agreement with the gas export giants.
This prompted an angry reaction from the manufacturing sector that the government had not been forceful enough in that it had only secured supply and done nothing about price.
Dr Chalmers said he, Ms King, Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Industry Minster Ed Husic, were working on a plan “to see what else can be done beyond the near-term updating of the heads of agreement that Minister King did with the companies”.
“I do think there’s more that can be done. I think all of those ministers recognise that the way that our gas industry regulation is set up has not been delivering the kinds of outcomes that we want to see and so if you recognise that, and I do, then you recognise that if more can be done, it should be done.”
The focus is on the code of conduct between gas producers and customers which was absent of any measure on price.
Mr Husic said he has told gas companies “the game has changed”.
Skyrocketing gas prices have smashed Europe’s fertiliser manufacturing sector – which relies on the molecule as a feedstock – and pushed up electricity prices.
‘There are huge shocks’
Chief economist at the Paris-based International Energy Agency, Tim Gould, told the summit that governments have spent more than $US750 billion ($1.2 trillion) on cash hand-outs or installing price caps to limit the damage.
“A lot of Europe’s fertiliser capacity is now either on very reduced schedules or it’s been curtailed completely,” he told the summit.
“There are huge shocks, particularly for smaller businesses that are facing very rapid increases in their electricity bills in many countries. And it’s noticeable that the government’s have mobilised huge amounts of money to try and stabilise some of those energy bills.”
The managing director of Melbourne-based textiles and fabric company Flickers Australia, Yaron Flicker, described hefty gas and electricity prices rises as as “an absolute disaster”, making it harder to stay in business.
He said governments had not done enough to ensure a smooth energy transition. Flicker’s gas prices were up 400 per cent in the past year, but he was fortunate for now in that an electricity contract was in place until the end of 2023.
“I just don’t accept that what’s being inflicted on industry and the Australian public can be justified,” Mr Flicker said.
The company employs 40 people at its factory in Sunshine in outer Melbourne and makes hundreds of different fabrics for customers including the Australian cricket team and the military.
Australia’s top energy policy adviser, Energy Security board chairman Anna Collyer, told the Summit that immediate responses would be needed to help customers get over the hopefully short-term increase in electricity prices before increased renewable energy supply provided relief.
Large industrial energy user representative Andrew Richards, who heads the Energy Users Association of Australia, said it would be “a white-knuckle ride for anyone looking to re-contract in the coming years for both electricity and gas”.
“Price increases of this magnitude impact the ability of Australian industry to compete with imports, putting local jobs at risk,” Mr Richards said, calling for a plan for energy and climate policy that recognises the immediate pressure on consumer bills.
Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott said greater co-ordination and understanding of how the energy system would evolve would be critical to pave the way for the economy.
“We’ve got to be very careful that we don’t remove things until we’ve replaced them,” she said, pointing to the role of gas and the need to come to a landing on the capacity mechanism that would spur investment in firming generation to back up renewables, while the carbon offset market needs to be deepened and refined.
“Where we’ve moved to is those really detailed conversations about the how and the coordination, not the what, and that to me is the big, the big change, and you can see that in the debate.”
But she said that old fossil fuel assets such as coal-fired power plants would “run out of both the social licence and the economic license to operate” and urged companies to take long-term views when making decisions on capital allocations.
Its not the emissions they want to slash, its the animals (read food) themselves – as Neil Oliver said, ‘its not about going green, its about going without’.
You will eat the government issued bugs and be happy.
they don’t seem too keen to repeat their protests on the International Petroleum Exchange
If you launch I’ll be right behind you, champ.
Off you go.
Meanwhile – Chalmers tipped for $114b revenue windfall
Treasurer Jim Chalmers looks set to benefit from more than $114 billion in additional revenue over the next four years, as a new forecast ahead of the October 25 budget warns Labor has the slimmest margins for missteps.
I stand corrected. Japan eased their restrictions two weeks ago. Thank you to those that pointed it out. I’m glad you were able to find a way to refute the argument and justify yourselves.
Hey, I get it. I understand your circumstances. You took the clotshot so you could see your dear old mum (who it now seems lives in some remote Pacific Island), or to put food on the table (now seemingly a dropdown in QF7s business class).
Jim Chalmers resembles Lex Greensill a little too much, otherwise known as Pumpkin Head.
They definitely share genetic material.
duncanmsays:
October 11, 2022 at 10:52 pm
Top Endersays:
October 11, 2022 at 10:43 pm
An irate van driver drove through a mass of environmental protesters at a major junction in London
they don’t seem too keen to repeat their protests on the International Petroleum Exchange
Traders – East End Barrow Boys don’t take Crap – environmental protesters picked the wrong group there.
Are we in “who blinks first” mode which will result in a rush to the renewballs exit?
Or will it be doubling down on “we need even more renewballs”?
Normally I’d say the latter.
But let’s just hold our betting tickets until after the Northern winter.
No, you do not seem to understand people’s individual circumstances. You fall into the same trap the other dunderheads have – grouping millions upon millions of people into one amorphous blob, and conflating pro-vax and pro-government with anti-mandate.
when bogged to the axles … definitely try to talk your way out
-san cho
An observation made here a few days ago.
The wingnut ears.
The mad Marty Feldman stare.
The abject cluelessness about business.
It’s uncanny.
MatrixTransformsays:
October 11, 2022 at 11:00 pm
when bogged to the axles … definitely try to talk your way out
-san cho
Family-of-four left stranded in the Simpson Desert after their 4WD Camper Truck got bogged following heavy rain
SBS and the ABC are claiming that 100,000 Aboriginal men, women and children died in the “Frontier Wars.” Where’s all the forensic evidence?
Again, FPV, I am struggling to find a way to explain how little I care.
Who cares, KD?
Mr and Mrs Struth are going feign martyrdom every day, ad infinitum.
Leave them to it.
Who gives a shit anymore?
It’s at the same place as Brittany’s forensic evidence. Brittany herself could also be there, nobody’s seen her for almost five days.
I am struggling to find a way to explain how little I care.
If that were true, you wouldn’t have bothered responding. Twice.
Palmer as an ornament on the body politic??
The vagazzle of the house?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajazzle
Well, yes. I did note that Mrs Struth dropped the ‘betrayal’ and resist’ terminology this time, hoping to use a bit of (failed) snark instead.
If they’re going to feign martyrdom, I will feign playing the accordion right next to them while they’re trying to watch Love Island.
Bloody hell mole.
At least it wasn’t a cute owl pic.
Albanese Government considers sending Australian troops to Ukraine
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2022/10/albanese-government-considers-sending-australian-troops-to-ukraine.html
Tuesday, 11 October 2022
From SBS https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/government-considers-sending-troops-to-ukraine-after-appalling-russian-attack-on-kyiv-richard-marles-says/v0otzlpwk
From the Comments
– Don’t poke the bear.
– How would we feel if China had a naval force of a few dozen ships/carriers along the East Coast of Oz?
This is exactly what NATO (and Biden and EU) did to Russia.
I repeat – don’t poke the bear.
– We need to stay well away from this. Pity we have interfered as much as we have.
– Send this bunch of thugs over to poke the bear.
Treasonous Aussie police showing peaceful unarmed protestors who’s the boss!
https://gab.com/BeachMilk/posts/109146730989154569
– Yeah, it was very unsportsmanlike of the Russians to play tit for tat, like when the Israelis get angry when multiple rocket attacks are made on them.
– Why should our troops fight a war which Biden and co instigated? It is not going to end well We need to look after our own land and backyard. Putin is going rogue and many will die. Zelenskyy should negotiate a peace deal but the west keeps stuffing him with money and weapons
Just trying to save us all a bit of time, Mrs KennWorth-RoadRanger.
As did their parents.
Vajazzle?
That is just …
I can’t even …
Really, mole?
I mean really?
Dunderhead? Mrs Struth? Name calling. Is that all you have?
I think I struck a raw nerve of painful truth. That gives me solace that you regret your actions.
And you two are not even travellers that I was referring to.
And what actions do we regret, Mrs Kenn?
May I be so familiar as to address you as that?
https://realrawnews.com/2022/10/military-arrests-us-ambassador-to-ukraine-bridget-brink/
Superb PissTake
While we are at it Mrs K, do you have any predictions for us?
Anything related to imminent mortality, perhaps?
“Back To The Old Days”: Europeans Panic Buy Firewood And Stoves
As natural gas and electricity prices soar, many European households turn to firewood, a move to offset higher energy costs as the heating season begins. Rising demand for firewood is sending much of Europe back to the ‘medieval’ days of using stoves and fireplaces to heat homes.
The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline system underneath the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany sparked even more energy uncertainty among Germans as many brace for what could be the coldest and possibly even the darkest winter in a generation due to rising risks of power blackouts.
On Friday, European Union leaders failed to agree on a price cap for NatGas as the energy crisis might worsen this winter as freezing weather could quickly draw down supplies from storage facilities and catapult prices even higher.
About 70% of Europeans use NatGas to heat their homes, and according to Bloomberg, some 40 million people are now burning wood to heat their homes. New demand for a heat source that’s been around for ages has doubled the price of wood pellets per ton to 600 euros in France.
Bloomberg pointed out Europeans are “panic buying the world’s most basic fuel.” Demand is so high that Hungary banned exports of wood pellets, and Romania capped firewood prices through spring.
Diogenes:
Don’t people have to look for work any more to qualify for the dole?
Monty:
I have little idea of what you are on about.
I strongly suggest you don’t either.
Indeed. However if they actually get a job the dole stops.
Perhaps the Struth baiting belongs on the duelling thread.
Just a thought.
Did the First Battery Actually Originate in Iraq 1,500 Years Ago?
By Ross Pomeroy – October 11, 2022
Mainstream consensus holds that Benjamin Franklin first tinkered a rudimentary battery into existence in 1749, followed by Italian physicist Alessandro Volta in 1800 with his voltaic pile, but there are a rare few experts who wonder if three artifacts found together in Iraq – a ceramic pot, a tube of copper, and an iron rod – actually represent the first battery.
The apparatus (pictured above), originally unearthed in 1936 and roughly dated to the time of the Sasanian Empire between 224 and 640, has since been dubbed the Baghdad Battery. It has all the makings of a basic galvanic cell, in which electric current is generated via spontaneoous oxidation-reduction reactions. In such a cell, two different metals are placed in separate salty solutions and connected by a salt bridge. Electrons then flow from the oxidized (negative) metal to the reduced (positive) metal, making electricity.
Commenting on the Baghdad battery back in 2002, R&D chemist Dr. D.E. Von Handor did not deny the possibility that it could have actually been a battery.
“An iron nail in vinegar or wine with the copper tube is all that is needed here. There is no question in any of the articles available that the vessel can produce the potential. The hard question is whether it was actually used that way.”
Earlier estimates suggest the device might have been capable of producing a meager 0.5 to 1 volts of electric potential. But if a few jars were connected in series, there might have been enough electricity to electroplate gold onto an object.
However, Handor thinks it unlikely that the artifact was a battery.
Gabbard: Today’s Democrats “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness”
In 2019, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. She did well enough in the debates to expose Kamala Harris as an intellectual lightweight, although didn’t gain much traction otherwise.
Now just three years later, Gabbard says she’s done with the Democrat Party entirely. In a Twitter thread, and also on her new podcast, Gabbard says she’s been disillusioned by Democratic promises of an “inclusive, big tent” political party. “I can no longer remain in the Democratic Party,” Gabbard announced. “It’s now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.”
Don’t hold back — tell us how you really feel:
Sancho Panzer:
That doesn’t sound right, SP.
I’ve reported a few times but only on my comments because I’d rather DB saw my efforts in case they broke some law or another.
I can’t remember reporting anothers, but the ‘comment reported’ remark has shown up.
Yes, I agree.
He should post his belligerent personal attacks over there.
But he seems reluctant to go there.
The lack of courage is perplexing.
LOL. Maybe, just maybe, the strikes weren’t directed at killing civilians but rather degrading the operations of the security services and energy infrastructure.
Some interesting data on travel out of Australia here.
I was momentarily surprised that EnZed was number one, but it makes sense when you think about it. It’s close, it’s cheap, and there are a lot of family connections.
As for the rest, well, Indians and Filipinos love to travel to visit family and friends, and Singapore is a top tourist destination.
Also, pent-up demand for Japan is evident.
I was surprised to see that Vietnam didn’t make the list. Seems odd.
I wonder if our betters want to hang out with Zelenski and take selfies now.
Dot:
I’ve made this point on multiple occasions over the last few years, but it just drops into a black hole.
“A bomb is a germ is a chemical”.
Saddam had, and used, WMDs.
If you hadn’t allowed demented greenies to stop you from harvesting your own resources, you wouldn’t be in this position.
Pretzel logic, once again.
Because his appeal was rejected, he is excluded for 3 years.
Doesn’t concern you. What concerns you and belongs on the duel thread is your pathological lying. It’s disgusting and has no place here.
Because his appeal was rejected, he is excluded for 3 years.
The time honoured Australian approach of extra punishment for anyone who challenges the Mongocracy.
Integrity of immigration process? If there was any integrity in the process then the joint wouldn’t be full of recently immigrated criminals.
I wonder if our betters want to hang out with Zelenski and take selfies now.
Albo don’t abandon Zelensky! Stay with him!
Sancho Panzer:
Pigs arse, Sancho – beside me or piss off.
Gabbard: Today’s Democrats “an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness”
Warmongs?!
“panic buying the world’s most basic fuel.”
Fire wood in Greece is apparently 125 euros a cubic metre. Price in the UK is roughly equivalent.
Thessaloniki work done, back to Athens!
Old Ozzie:
Now here comes Gabbard’s invitation to join the Republican Party where she will vote the Republican way right up to the moment when it really counts – just like Pence.
Albanese Government considers sending Australian troops to Ukraine
Future headline:
Diversity accounts for little in a real war: Australian affirmative action platoon wiped out after running into Russian patrol.
Haha. Johannes Leak.
Warren Brown.
Peter Broelman.
David Rowe.
Bob Moran.
Christian Adams.
Morten Morland.
Michael Ramirez.
A.F.Branco.
Matt Margolis.
Al Goodwyn.
Tom Stiglich.
Bob Gorrell.
Chip Bok.
Gary Varvel.
Ben Garrison.
Tulsi Gabbard is Right – The Democratic Party is a Cabal of Warmongers
From Armstrong Economics –
“Tulsi Gabbard, former representative for Hawaii’s second district, announced that she is fleeing the Democratic Party in a video that has made waves across the internet. The Democratic Party has radically transformed to “a cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness,” Gabbard said. The party has altered its views to such a far-left point that their ideals are no longer based in democracy.
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.”
The Democratic Party has indeed undermined the entire Constitution with an aim to remove all our freedoms under the guise of “equality,” while the powerful elites who run the nation prosper and are immune from their own laws. The “cowardly wokeness” has certainly racialized every issue in an attempt to DIVIDE us. The Treasury just created a racial equality board, banks have said they would begin issuing special mortgages for people of color, and even Kamala Harris said that whites would be the last to receive aid after Hurricane Ian. The true enemy is not your neighbor but the state.
We are no longer energy independent due to woke climate change policies. There would not be an energy crisis in America had Biden not taken office—illegally. Countless government funds are placed into “climate initiatives” that never see the light of day.
Similar to dictatorships that have abandoned faith, Americans are demonized for their spirituality. They closed our churches during COVID in an attempt to separate the people. The fake Catholic president supports abortion, as does the fake Catholic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Christians are portrayed in the media as closed-minded and ignorant.
The borders are open with more illegals coming in than ever before at the expense of the taxpayer. They are deliberately allowing the borders to remain open as nothing has been done to curb the influx. Criminals are indeed protected above law-abiding citizens. This is why they want to remove the Second Amendment and confiscate our guns, one prohibition at a time. Democratic cities are overrun with homelessness, crime, pollution, and drugs. We have an opiate epidemic that is killing off millions. The police are unable to prevent crimes because Democrats have passed laws prohibiting them from arresting criminals, as law-abiding citizens suffer the consequences.
As a former Army Reserve officer who was deployed in Iraq from 2004 to 2005, and served in Kuwait as an Army Military Police platoon leader from 2008 to 2009, Gabbard has seen the aftermath of warfare firsthand. America has no concern for its own borders, but is willing to risk the lives of millions to protect Ukraine’s border. We now face the prospect of nuclear war due to incompetent politicians who have made massive decisions without the vote of the people. Everyone swore Trump would start World War III, but he actually kept America out of international conflicts. Obama attempted to bring America into the war in Syria, and now his minion Joe is upping the ante.
Gabbard continued:
“I believe in a government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people. Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite.
I’m calling on my fellow common sense independent minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party. If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me.”
Look at what has become of our beautiful nation in less than two years. Biden was handed one of the strongest economies in American history and has since erased all progress. The outlook for America looks bleak. Can anyone honestly say that they are better off under Biden? The two-party system cannot work when each spectrum is pushed further to an extreme. It is time for reform.”
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/politics/tulsi-gabbard-is-right-the-democratic-party-is-a-cabal-of-warmongers/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS
You’re playing in the golf club championship tournament finals and the match is halved at the end of 17 holes.
You have the honour and hit your ball a modest two hundred fifty yards to the middle of the fairway, leaving a simple six iron to the pin.
Your opponent then hits his ball, lofting it deep into the woods to the right of the fairway.
Being the golfing gentleman that you are, you help your opponent look for his ball. Just before the permitted five minute search period ends, your opponent says “Go ahead and hit your second shot and if I don’t find it in time, I’ll concede the match”.
You hit your ball, landing it on the green, stopping about ten feet from the pin. About the time your ball comes to rest, you hear your opponent exclaim from deep in the woods: “I found it!”
The second sound you hear is a click, the sound of a club striking a ball and the ball comes sailing out of the woods and lands on the green, stopping no more than six inches from the hole.
Now here is the ethical dilemma: Do you pull the cheating bastard’s ball out of your pocket and confront him with it or do you keep your mouth shut?
A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree.
– Spike Milligan
Thanks for the warning about the Tate Modern, Dr Faustus. I could probably do a guest post on it, but I don’t think it would have wide appeal. So I’ll condense what I saw.
As many here already know, the gallery is housed in an old power station. A remarkable space, perfect for large displays of creativity and beauty. And there it ends. A more preposterous collection of garbage posing as “art” I have never seen before in my life. Thank goodness I didn’t have to pay for it.
But it doesn’t end there. The viewer is not permitted to assess the work on its merits. No, no, no! Everything has a description, usually for some Woke cause. A list:
– climate change
– environment
– BLM and other forms of rank racism
– wymminses
It was as predictable as the dawn. But there was more…
Upstairs, an Australian exhibition. Indigenous. I was looking forward to something I find quite beautiful and traversing the traditional/contemporary divide, but what did I find? Black armband shyte, including “safe space” warnings about slavery and land theft. Including the spreading of smallpox as though it was deliberate (the only piece by a white artist).
I left in disgust, but also dismay. This crap is lapped up as Truth. I was reminded of this by Keats-
Snapshot – ALDI Greenwich.
I sashay into a familiar store only to find something resembling the gates at the railway station. I approach them, expecting a sensor to set them off an allow me through to shop. They remain closed. What the?
An “assistant” explains – you need an “app” to access the store. The Beloved roars at the top of his voice – we need a smart phone and clearance to buy food? Yes. Yes, we do.
So we retreat, utterly shocked. Apparently this is an “experiment”. Another so-called Conspiracy Theory on the cusp of realisation.
calli says:
October 12, 2022 at 5:17 am
Surely you jest?
No?
Will Google, not that I don’t trust you but this is unbelievable.
Gabor says:
October 12, 2022 at 5:22 am
calli says:
October 12, 2022 at 5:17 am
Apologies, behind the times I am.
That is a “checkout-free store”.
Wonder how they fare?
Last one. I mentioned the other day that Gaia worship is the new religion, edging out the old. This was starkly confirmed today.
I wanted to visit Southwark Cathedral, along with the Borough market, Golden Hind and the Globe. Which we did.
Southwark cathedral, that vast pile straddling the old Roman road and full of the history of the Faithful is hosting an exhibition – Gaia.
A seven metre globe of the earth suspended in the apse and a diatribe about climate and evil humans. And, to top it off, a “Gaia Prayer” complete with candles and offertory box.
This place is a society in decline. And, given its remarkable, exceptional past of invention and industry, it’s the canary in the coal mine of the West.
Westminster Abbey was closed today. Apparently God was busy doing other things.
If I sound a bit sad…I am. I get a real sense of the UK’s clockwork spring winding down.
Marxist muck Calli. I regard Marx and his neo marxist and cultural marxist successors as some of the most evil and spiteful human beings ever to have lived. Marcuse, Derrida, tec.
When you left Southwark, did you say “Sic transit mundus” ?
Australia for all its faults is still the best. As for the Church of England (in England) with its lezzo deacons and cellibration of ‘sex changes’- what can I say? I think I prefer Coober Pedy to London, any day
Gabor, it’s called the ALDI Shop and Go App and you can’t access the store without it.
We can imagine where this ends. With my active imagination, I have difficulty with it even starting. How could any marketer think this is good for turnover? And the applications on the back of the App are sinister.
The last monk, upon entering, paused in the lock.
He stood in the open hatchway and took off his sandals.
“Sic transit mundus,” he murmured, looking back at the glow.
He slapped the soles of his sandals together, beating the dirt out of them.
Thanks for the reference, Bern.
I guess it was the current of hatred for the society that gave them everything that depressed me. Elderly adolescents, looking for someone to blame for their inadequacy.
Vast numbers of immigrants come here every year, so the place must have some sort of allure. I feel it in the built history, the villages and gardens, the wild uninhabited places, the weight of civilised glory. But there is a grim underbelly, and always has been. We used the DLR to get to the City this morning and stopped at Limehouse. Now upmarket flat-land, it was once notorious for its squalor.
Ben Garrison claims the Anti Defamation League is driving the PayPal madness.
The Battlesea redevelopment demonstrates the world is upside down.
The former power station, which now contains over 100 shops, 46,000 square metres of office space for technology brand Apple and 254 apartments is set to officially open to the public on 14 October.
https://www.dezeen.com/2022/10/05/battersea-power-station-opens-wilkinson-eyre/
That quote has a nice biblical reference too. The app only supermarket wouldn’t have bothered me, the Tate and cathedral freakshows would.
I mentioned the Roman Road under Southwark cathedral. I saw its remains today in a glass-topped excavation, and walked part of it up at Cheapside near St Paul’s. It’s Watling Street, of course.
Cats who love Chaucer will recognise the route – the Pilgrims used it to get to Canterbury. I think it finally ended at Dover.
A few weeks ago we were at Dere Street on the way to Hadrian’s Wall.
What have the Romans ever done for us? 🙂
Rosie…if you were hungry and without your smartphone…would it bother you then?
it’s like an Edward the VIII redux
What a useless eater.
Accidentally reported bespoke at 7.09 pm. Please ignore, Dover.
John Howard condemns ‘disgraceful’ treatment of Andrew Thorburn and lashes Daniel Andrews’ ‘appalling’ comments
With so many other options in the middle of London, no.
After all, if I were a local I’d know the drill, don’t leave home without it.
passenger breaches security at Melbourne, Qantas’s fault.
Future Teachers Deny Science And Lash Out At Professor
Monique Ryan is the leader of the Teal Party
Our option was Sainsbury’s next door. Which we used to good effect.
The uneasiness remains. Perhaps I am not as tough and resilient as I thought.
I’m very grateful I don’t have to confront that whole non binary language thing.
I had a customer once who wore a label button with they/them on it, but as my conversation was limited I escaped the pronoun punishment.
The ALDI app is all about data harvesting.
But don’t worry, your data is safe….oh that’s right.
More BEEB misinformation #gazillion.
Yapping right now about Cambridge being the “oldest” outside Venice. Huh?
No dummies. It’s Bologna. Or baloney if you’re American.
Isn’t it amazing how there has been over 20 years of meaningful data collection & harvesting by private businesses but there is zero meaningful protection of consumers.
Different governments of different political colours have done nothing globally.
It’s almost like they are all in on it.
Who would have thunk it.
It’s not a bad idea though, if you don’t relish spending half an hour queueing to pay for your handful of items.
I recall doing that in Madrid, where everyone was just buying three or four items and the line was all the way to the back of the store.
it’s not a bad idea
Pfizer testifies in the EU. This was all hope and fraud.
They even admit no testing was done on transmission, yet the overlords sold it like it did.
https://gettr.com/post/p1txonh59a8
I’m old enough to remember people cracking the shits about Rebel asking for your postcode at the check out.
It started after Harvey Norman bought a controlling stake in the business.
That evil Gerry Harvey was going to spy on you.
Now google knows more about you than you’d believe but that’s ok.
Wonder what changed.
Howard, late to the fray and only for subjects not involving his Libs, Silent throughout the pandemic madness and mandates and lockdowns and police thuggery, now he finds his voice, way too little, way too late. He should refuse his pension, office and other perks and shut up.
I hope he doesn’t have a coronary before he’s coronated.
Date announced for Coronation of King Charles (Sky News, 12 Oct)
That’s fitting. The Green Archbishop gongs the Green King.
Many…many mornings I have watched Gerry search around the verge in his dressing gown looking for the paper. I don’t see him as a particularly malevolent figure. 🙂
That doesn’t mean data harvesting didn’t happen. It’s all a slippery surveillance slope.
Dan Andrews comments re Thorburn should be called out loudly and often.
Andrews has been crushing religious freedom for many years.
And it was Andrews, who as Health minister in 2008 presided over the abortion til birth laws being introduced into Victoria.
How dare anyone say abortion is wrong.
another article at Fox footy
“This place is a society in decline. And, given its remarkable, exceptional past of invention and industry, it’s the canary in the coal mine of the West.”
Yep…depressing isn’t it? Just remember that the UK has had “conservative” governments for the last 12 years, Cameron, May, Johnson and now Truss…..who have all presided over over this neo-Marxist destruction.
“I don’t see him as a particularly malevolent figure. ?”
He isn’t.
Last night I tried to close my PayPal account and could not. I will try again today.
The BBC joined in the condemnation of Kanye West on the basis of his “bipolar” mental state. To reinforce their diagnosis they produced two Vox Populi Bipolari persons to say a few words about their condition.
I hold no particular brief about West’s mental health or his attitudes, but for the BBC to get down and dirty as if they were merely an extension of the USA MSM is unseemly. We expect better. Tucker Carlson interviewed West recently and gave him a pass. The result was that the left got stuck into West for consorting with the enemy.
“John Howard condemns ‘disgraceful’ treatment of Andrew Thorburn and lashes Daniel Andrews’ ‘appalling’ comments”
Yes, I watched Kenny’s interview with Howard. Howard was on the mark. Janet A has another good piece in today’s Oz about Thorburn. It’s titled “We need legal clarity on religious freedom”. Quite so, however I do seem to recall how the Morrison government, at the eleventh hour earlier this year, tried to push through religious freedom legislation. It was unsuccessful and I remember how certain now unlamented “Liberals” crossed the floor to oppose this religious freedom. Mercifully most of those Liberals are all gone now however I remember Howard’s silence. He should have lambasted those so called Liberals. He didn’t.
Yes, Anchor. Like the Oxford Dictionary redefining words.
I call it Wokedecline.
Redefine that!
That religious freedom legislation would have been used to subdue criticism.
I’m glad it didn’t get through.
Johnny Rottensays:
October 12, 2022 at 4:51 am
Tulsi Gabbard is Right – The Democratic Party is a Cabal of Warmonger
As a former Army Reserve officer who was deployed in Iraq from 2004 to 2005, and served in Kuwait as an Army Military Police platoon leader from 2008 to 2009, Gabbard has seen the aftermath of warfare firsthand. America has no concern for its own borders, but is willing to risk the lives of millions to protect Ukraine’s border. We now face the prospect of nuclear war due to incompetent politicians who have made massive decisions without the vote of the people. Everyone swore Trump would start World War III, but he actually kept America out of international conflicts. Obama attempted to bring America into the war in Syria, and now his minion Joe is upping the ante.
Fair Summary
On the app-only ALDI.
This (Greenwich) is a University town. I find the young increasingly malleable to everything that is “new”, with a surprising absence of criticism. They will hop on to any fad or nonsense with a bewildering alacrity, considering their obvious worldliness in other areas.
The “experiment” will probably be a success until students whose credit is refused get to a critical point- then the store will be sacked US style.
We need legal clarity on religious freedom
JANET ALBRECHTSEN
It is high time the Labor government delivered on its election promise to provide legal protections against religious discrimination.
Though it is a sorry state of affairs that we must go cap in hand to government begging for religious freedom, there is little point crying over spilt milk. That horse bolted when the human rights industry convinced successive governments that feelings should receive legal protection. Elevated into a faux human right, feelings are routinely weaponised to trump and destroy fundamental rights.
Rights such as freedom of expression, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, so central to living in a free and liberal society, have been emasculated by social engineers who know exactly what they are doing, and facilitated by knaves who should know better.
Last week, when forcing Andrew Thorburn to resign, the board of Essendon Football Club caused their club a world of pain and damaged the fabric of freedom that binds a tolerant, liberal society. Their hasty and foolish decision raises the question: should they be trusted to make considered, prudent decisions in the future?
In the hierarchy of human rights, religious freedom – a central tenet of liberty and our history – should trump feelings. That means, at a minimum, a person should not be effectively sacked because of their faith.
The ABC’s Patricia Karvelas could be counted on to side with feelings, saying that gay Essendon players wouldn’t feel welcome if the chief executive was the leader of an Anglican church. Let’s add a dash of logic. Thorburn was not trying to turn players into Christians, nor was he removing homosexuals from the team. His private faith is just that. Following Karvelas’s feelings argument, it is preferable that a quiet Christian be made to feel unwelcome, and be unemployable too.
To understand how demented the human rights industry has become, and how those running these bureaucracies cannot be trusted with our most fundamental rights, it bears repeating that Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights commissioner Ro Allen sided with Essendon’s religious persecution of a Christian man, applauding the club for “standing to their values”.
This perverse approach to human rights, especially in Victoria, means Anthony Albanese has a chance to do what the former Morrison government failed to do: deliver on an election promise and protect, at the federal level, citizens from being discriminated against because of their private religious faith.
But will he?
Last week, Labor’s Brendan O’Connor suggested that Essendon’s mistake was not to do enough due diligence before appointing Thorburn. In other words, discriminate against a person’s religious faith behind the scenes and early. Is that the Labor government’s position?
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Julian Leeser is calling on the government to act now to protect Australians from further religious persecution. Speaking with The Australian late last week, he said it was outrageous that a person could be sacked for their religious beliefs.
Leeser, who has a long history of working with faith-based bodies, is concerned “that so few people on the centre-left of Australian politics have been prepared to say: ‘Hang on, this is wrong.’ Daniel Andrews joined the pile-on. No one at the federal level of Labor has stood up for Thorburn’s rights” to hold a job and practise his religion privately.
Leeser has spoken many times about human rights emanating from our Judaeo-Christian tradition where all people, made in the image of God, are equal, attracting equal dignity and worth. “When a society loses a sense of human dignity that society loses its soul,” he said in parliament in February when speaking in favour of the Morrison government’s religious discrimination bill that floundered from lack of support from within its own ranks.
While Leeser is not suggesting that only people of faith believe we are all equal, he has warned about the dangers of “pulling too far away from our moral roots”.
Essendon board members did that last week by effectively sacking its chief executive for his faith. The silence of the Labor Prime Minister and Labor ministers points to how a culture loses its soul.
Leeser is equally concerned about other cases that haven’t attracted national attention. “There will be more cases around the country where people of faith in the workplace are being discriminated against, and we don’t hear anything about these,” he told The Australian on Friday.
In a 2019 speech to the St Thomas More Society, Leeser listed concerns that Christians had raised with him, “things they have never had to worry about previously”. They worried about their right to quote the Bible; the freedom to share the message of Jesus; what their children were being taught about gender and sexuality; what they themselves would be allowed to teach about sexuality and gender to the next generation; the right of employees to object to participating in work-based corporate social responsibility programs that were at odds with the employee’s beliefs without putting their employment at risk; the use of discrimination law as a weapon against Christians; and the media and in particular the ABC’s bias against Christians and Christian leaders.
Today it’s about Christians, says Leeser, “tomorrow it will be about Jews or Muslims or Hindus or Sikhs. But Christians are particularly in the gun. It’s hard to believe that, that this would’ve been the case even 10 years ago. It just shows what’s happening to the culture.”
“Victoria,” he says, “is the canary in the coalmine” because of all the restrictions it has put on religious institutions over the past few years.
There is a baseline case for people not to lose their livelihoods because of their faith. While a religious discrimination bill comes with its own dangers – handing judges and human rights bureaucrats the power to determine what faith means – the collapse of religious freedom demands a targeted legal response.
Don’t mistake this for the woolly-headed calls for a broadbased bill of rights to sort this out. Last week, Reverend Tim Costello suggested that a bill of rights would “settle this down”. How so? Costello didn’t explain how a bill of rights would resolve the conflict between legally weaponised feelings and religious freedom. Victoria’s charter of rights didn’t save Thorburn from religious persecution.
Instead of the clarity from sharply targeted legislative protection from discrimination on religious grounds, a federal bill of rights will add more confusion and ambiguity, empowering judges to socially engineer the society they want. In a democracy, we should hold on to that power for ourselves.
Oz
Monique Ryan has a head full of how to run the country but no thought of consequences . When asked before election as coal exports paid for health and education where would the money come from if we shut down coal mines she said not her problem . Bu all those who worked in this industry would be able to work in renewables . Well we know who is going to pay extra for energy, now add health and education. As long as her kids get enough snow to ski as that was her reason for going into politics .
Admittedly I didn’t look into it all that hard, but I never worked out what the attraction of PayPal was.
On the occasions I have bought things from the internet (as an example, my excellent Pulp Fiction-themed Boulevard of Broken Dreams print) the options were there to pay with your card, along with PayPal and whatever else. So I just chose the path of least resistance and went with the card number.
I assume it provided some extra level of security or somesuch.
As Trump Rallies Republicans Across The Country For Midterms, Where’s Joe Biden?
Democrats don’t want Joe Biden anywhere near their candidates, and it’s obvious why.
The midterm elections are just four weeks away, and former President Donald Trump is busily campaigning for Republicans in crucial contests. Joe Biden, on the other hand, is nowhere to be found.
It’s quite odd, given Biden’s past performance as a “road warrior,” traveling the country to support fellow Democrats. Back during the 2018 midterms, for example, the former vice president traveled to roughly two dozen states to attend rallies, fundraisers, and other stops, supporting 65 candidates as one of the best-known Democrats in the nation. In one week, he attended 12 rallies.
This time around, however, Biden seems to be sitting campaign events out (although he’s still traveling, just not for congressional Democrats). His public schedule in the last two weeks shows he attended three fundraising events for Democrats (one for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee at the home of James and Kathryn Murdoch, no less), but nothing directly affiliated with a candidate.
This keep-the-president-at-a-distance approach seems to be congressional Democrats’ strategy as Nov. 8 nears.
Why are Democrats so loath to speak the president’s name and tout his support? One look at his horrendous approval ratings gives a pretty good idea. What with skyrocketing inflation, energy costs, and crime — not to mention flirting with nuclear war with Russia
How surprising that Trump, supposedly the most politically toxic political figure in the history of the United States, is now making his rounds across the country to help Republican candidates in crucial midterm contests. Meanwhile, the sitting president, once the most coveted speaker for Democrats, is being shoved in a closet. Democrats don’t want Biden anywhere near their candidates, so he’s been relegated to fundraiser.
Murder, She Wrote
PayPal is useful if you’re buying stuff off Ebay and the like, KD.
You don’t trust the person who is offering to buy your vinyl records, so he gives the money to PP and they hold it in escrow until the records are received. Haven’t used my account for years but it was useful when I was doing just that with my old records.
(Should have held on to my white vinyl copy of The White Album, though…)
“Top Endersays:
October 12, 2022 at 7:38 am”
Thanks TE…I’ve been having having problems posting pieces from The Oz. It’s good piece by JA.
Re the Aldi app this is an experiment in checkout less shopping. Other chains are experimenting with this as well. You just put items in a bag, a combination of cameras and your phone’s Bluetooth track what you put in the bag and you you are automatically charged for those items as you walk out.
On the good news front my son announced to the world he is going to be a father. We knew a month ago. The first person he told was his grandmother. Although she is far away she rates higher than his siblings.
Congratulations, ranger.
Psays:
October 12, 2022 at 7:44 am
Murder, She Wrote
The Mousetrap review – the world’s longest-running play gets new life in Australia
Robyn Nevin’s take on the Agatha Christie production – which turns 70 this year – is as tight, springy and comforting as it should be
Ah. Righto. Something else I’ve never done.
Perhaps I should get out more. No, wait. Stay in more.
Fuck.
This is scary.
Scheduled to Die: The Rise of Canada’s Assisted Suicide Program
What are the chances Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying Act (MAiD) gets introduced here.
BIDEN WATCH
The Drift Toward ‘Democratic Despotism’
“Popular tyrannies” seek to outlaw or delegitimize oppositional political parties.
The Biden administration’s excessive use of executive orders, regulatory rulemaking power, and lawfare against state governments and other “intermediary institutions”; its dictatorial pandemic decrees; and its ongoing efforts to delegitimize the Republican Party as an organization of dangerous neo-fascists, lawless election deniers, and insurrectionists are all manifestations of this country’s continuing drift toward “democratic despotism,” which didn’t start with President Joe Biden and will not end with him. The roots of this political phenomenon can be traced to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, but, as the political philosopher James Burnham pointed out, democratic despotism fundamentally springs from the “myth” of democracy.
Seventy years ago, in a little-remembered lecture at the Aspen Institute in Colorado, titled “Democracy, Oligarchy and Freedom,” Burnham warned that the United States was drifting toward “democratic despotism,” the key symptoms of which were the centralization of power both in the presidency and in the bureaucracies of the executive branch and the weakening of “intermediary institutions” that stand between the people and the executive. Burnham argued that if we continued down this path, the end result would be Caesarism, where the executive in the name of the “popular will” suffocates liberty.
In 1952, when Burnham delivered the lecture, he was far along on his political/philosophical odyssey from 1930s Marxism (the Trotskyite version) to National Review conservatism.
BoM – Wetter than average November to January likely for eastern half of Australia
Uh huh.
I’m now planning for a drought.
I Won’t Go To War With Russia For Randi Weingarten
After news broke on Monday that Russia launched missiles at several Ukrainian cities, the president of the second-largest teachers union in America announced she was “heading to the border now to assess the situation.”
“This Russian attempt to frighten civilians & the effect on children (who are learning online today) is why this [Ukraine] trip is so important,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten tweeted.
What is the woman infamous for sentencing American children to school on screens doing in Ukraine other than making herself a Franz Ferdinand-like target and possibly violating the Logan Act? Especially since the U.S. Department of State has ordered Americans “not travel to Ukraine due to Russian military invasion.”
According to the AFT, which sponsored the trip, Weingarten’s presence in Ukraine is supposed to “offer solidarity and support in the face of relentless attacks that have forced hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee the country’s east.” ?
Frankly, that’s not a good enough reason to be gung-ho about celebrities such as Ben Stiller, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Liev Schreiber, Jessica Chastain, and now leftist pawns such as Weingarten making the dangerous pilgrimage East with the hopes that they can “make a difference” in Ukraine. These American civilians have no business traveling to Eastern Europe in the midst of a conflict that is teetering on the edge of nuclear war, even if they are just trying to “do something” beyond putting the performative blue and yellow flag in their Twitter bios.
Already, American warmongers including President Joe Biden have threatened escalation if Russia continues its rampage in the East. The last thing the United States needs after funneling more than $67 billion to the Volodymyr Zelensky regime without any accountability or oversight
Anyone know what’s going on in the Vic Libs? Seems that their lawyer has bailed and there’s some problems there. How hopeless can the Libs get?
Angela Lansbury brown bread.
Was she vaxxed?
Biden, storyteller in chief, spins yarns that often unravel, leading to criticism
BY MICHAEL D. SHEAR AND LINDA QIU – NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — Standing in front of Floridians who had lost everything during Hurricane Ian, President Biden on Wednesday recalled his own house being nearly destroyed 15 years ago: “We didn’t lose our whole home, but lightning struck and we lost an awful lot of it,” he said.
Biden has mentioned the incident before, once saying he knows what it’s like “having had a house burn down with my wife in it.”
In fact, news reports at the time called it little more than “a small fire that was contained to the kitchen” and quoted the local Delaware fire chief as saying that “the fire was under control in 20 minutes.”
The story is not an isolated example of embellishment.
Comments very interesting
– Much of America believes the 2020 election had serious issues, many due to last-minute voting reg changes charged off to COVID. More and more real problems are surfacing. There was no enthusiasm for Biden and it seemed odd that he won. Like many democrats who believed elections were stolen, Trump believed he should have won. He is entitled to that opinion.
– Biden never lies about the big things? Are you kidding? How about inflation? How about the border? How about saying requiring a voter ID (which the entire rest of the free world requires) is Jim Crow 2.0? How about saying that climate change is an “existential problem”, as though it is going to mean the end of our existence? How about his dealings with his son Hunter and their joint corruption?
– Nice article, but, too late. The media should have been writing articles like this about 3 years ago
– The story leaves out the biggest lie. That his first wife and daughter were the victims in a car accident involving a drunk driver. The driver not only wasn’t drunk, he wasn’t even the cause of the accident. Anyone who would embellish the facts of such a tragic event for political gain, and in the process, destroy the reputation of another family, is seriously troubled.
Calli, your distress is warranted.
Visiting my daughter in April, (works in St Albans, lives in the Chilterns), I was feeling very comfortable that ‘English’ England still exists and is doing well.
Tea shops, polite people, gardens, awful roads, etc.
Then I was taken to a few functions involving large numbers of zoomers. Yeah, sadly, the UK is on a self inflicted kamakazi course, and celebrating it.
You were down at my favourite spot, Greenwich. I’d be interested in your comments on the dystopian cityscape that now dominates both sides of the river for miles to the East. Endless neo-brutilist apartment blocks overwhelming the wonderful old working Thames sites and towns.
London is a seperate nation and is dangerous for England.
1,000 Australian schools are fed insects
Are you keen to chow down on micro livestock?
A teacher from one of the 1,000 Australian schools feeding kids chips made out of powdered crickets asks, ‘Do crickets taste good?’ The student nods and the teacher adds, ‘Yeah. Let’s eat some more crickets…!’
Bugs are on the menu again… Why does the World Economic Forum have such a weird obsession with making our kids eat them?
First, let me make something very clear: Bugs are not food. You should not eat bugs. They are insects. They belong on the ground, or in the air, or wherever the heck they live. They do not belong on your dinner plate.
With that out of the way, we can move on with the insanity being encouraged by unhinged scientists and allies of the World Economic Forum.
Probably the salmon mousse.
OldOzziesays:
October 12, 2022 at 7:59 am
Psays:
October 12, 2022 at 7:44 am
Murder, She Wrote
Sorry P,
a bit slow – too much an Agatha Christie Fan, only realised when I saw headline in The Australian – ‘Murder, She Wrote’ star Angela Lansbury dead
Lansbury was 97, good innings. Only three more until she got a telegram from Meghan Markle.
Someone’s hacked mUnter.
m0nster at 8:31.
Not great.
But better than Rotten’s alleged jokes.
And shorter.
‘Labor reels from electricity price shock’
‘Chalmers rules out cost of living measures in budget’
‘Chalmers refuses to repeat Labor’s election promise of a $275 cut to power bills’
Elbow’s government is very similar to Whitlam’s, only not in the way he imagines.
And unlike Whitlam, Elbow’s Labor came into power despite a swing against it.
The Queen, now Angela Lansbury.
Women in their 90’s dropping like flies.
But carry on talking about cricket and Britnah.
Nothing to see here.
It’s just terrible, these 97-year-old people just up and dying like that. Must be a conspiracy.
Proud gold-digger’s essay about her fabulous life weirdly doesn’t mention what she likes to do with severed pigs’ heads
New York Times Races to Do Damage Control to Defend Biden’s Lies
In the latest installment of “things the mainstream media would never do for conservatives,” The New York Times is again rushing to President Joe Biden’s aid to defend his frequent use of outright lies in his…creative…storytelling.
Headlined “Biden, Storyteller in Chief, Spins Yarns That Often Unravel,” the Times points to Biden’s usual lies used to pander to audiences but characterizes the blatant falsehoods as merely a “habit of embellishing narratives to weave a political identity.”
How nice to be Joe Biden and have the Times around to make your literally unbelievable anecdotes an endearing quality, or whatever.
The Times outlines Biden’s many falsehoods, starting with one of his most recent delivered to the victims of Hurricane Ian in Florida.
Only think missing from this is Biden the falconer. Or should it be Obama?
David Maddison
October 12, 2022 at 7:42 am · Reply
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/south-east/flyer-calling-for-brighton-residents-to-ration-power-use-to-cater-for-ev-charging/news-story/20572589057d4aa8958abb0f0367a764
Flyer calling for Brighton residents to ‘ration’ power use to cater for EV charging
The growing popularity of electric vehicles has sparked a bizarre theory about a blue-ribbon suburb’s bid to go green.
A flyer claiming Brighton EV owners want power rationed in their street so they can charge their cars has sparked furious debate online.
The leaflet explains that four electric vehicle owners in the same street were struggling to “fill up” their cars.
“We have been presented with some challenges in relation to electricity use. In short our infrastructure is from 1822 and our cars are from 2022,” the flyer says.
SEE LINK FOR REST
Considering the descent into open shop stealing in many places, I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of this kind of technology.
every 15 minutes?
I haven’t scanned all the way through yet, but as at 0715, m0nty-fa has offered no answer to my question at 2052 and repeated at 2157. It is copied below as a reminder to him that he has some logical inconsistencies in his argument as to why the left are now warmongers.
My conclusion is that the right is being consistent in supporting the bully, while the left consistently supports the less powerful. Thus in the Bush era the right was all in for both Gulf Wars,
A question for m0nty-fa.
Now that he has convinced himself that the reason the left now supports US wars is that the left consistently supports the “less powerful”, why was the left so against the First Gulf War (1990-91). In that War, the US was supporting the vastly weaker Kuwait against the much stronger Iraq.
That is the Iraq that started a war with Iran in the early 1980s, and used both mustard gas and nerve gas in that war, used both mustard and nerve gas against his own citizens, and specifically against the less powerful Kurds, then invaded the much less powerful Kuwait.
The use of mustard and nerve gases was a clear war crime, yet the left opposed the operation to free Kuwait. Pliss essplain, m0nty-fa.
PS, there were two “Bush eras”. The 1990-91 war was under the elder Bush, the later one under his son.
Probably the salmon mousse.
Canned salmon again. If it were fresh from the fishmonger she would be still solving murders.
Rain heading down onto Melbourne now.
Locusts reported moving in from the NW and frogs heading in from the SE.
The Pharaoh is unmoved.
Apparently the CPS often refuses to prosecute
Retailers Urge UK Police to Prioritize Shoplifting as Costs Rise
Wasn’t the late Ms Lansbury related to Malcolm Turnbull?
Safe Labour seat.
Lower than average white population.
Higher than average muslim population.
Should be interesting.
Calli
On the subject of the Oxford dictionary re-defining words, this is from the Daily Wail article:
The Oxford English Dictionary has been quietly redefining words like ‘nagging’, ‘rabid’ and ‘shrill’ because previous definitions were deemed too sexist.
Since rabies is usually a disease of canines, is the OED suggesting that women are bitches? How very sexist of the editors. I disagree with them.
WATCH: Not even MSNBC can ignore the signs that something is very, very wrong with John Fetterman
OK, guys. So at what point can the Democrats of the United States of America just come together and agree that John Fetterman is a terrible political candidate who would make a terrible senator and has absolutely no business whatsoever being anywhere near the levers of American governmental power? Is this the point? Are we there yet?
NBC reporter on her interview with John Fetterman:
“You’ll see he has a screen in front of him that is transcribing my questions as I ask them.”
“Once he can read, he can fully understand what I’m asking.”
And the Journalist says at the end of the 37 Sec Video clip, that in small talk before the formal interview Fetterman had troubles understanding what they were discussing
with soaring retail prices in the UK, it’s only going to get worse.