I like how the only Trump NFT with an actual real picture of Trump has been heavily photoshopped to remove his wide torso.

Lizzie’s point about cross cultural marriages is important.

The English middle and uppers can be frigid and cruel during social interactions. It wouldn’t surprise if Meghan copped a bit of that and thought ‘eff it, I’m outa here’. Wouldn’t blame her.

KD, GreyRanga usually makes good sense in his laid back commentary on blog issues. I don’t know whether this was about cricket or stoushing on the Cat. I suppose it could be both. I’ll readily admit I know little about cricket, but I’ve seen a lot of Cat stoushing over ten years or more of being here, so I’ve opted for it being an observation about stoushing. I’ll just say on that – no one here really wants to lose a good opening batsman, but sometimes the really good ones need a little R and R to recover top form again against economic illiteracy and the left, the original purpose of Catallaxy.

Just did a search for the cost of replacing all our gas appliances with electric including central heating, hot water system, gas log heater, gas oven top. All up about $15,000 not including installation. Albo and the Greens seem intent on making our lives hell. This is a direct attack on the public.

Speaking of R&R, and to change the subject, does anyone remember the days of the American servicemen who were here on R&R during the Vietnam War? Bourbon and Beefsteak at the Cross was a favoured hang out. Do they even teach the Vietnam War in schools any more? We are roughly the same distance from that war as the second world war was from us in the mid 70’s.

ps. it’s safe here now, isn’t it, with Commo Bob not around, to mention Vietnam again?

Tom another Toon for you

“Three Wise Men & a Welfare Baby”

The English are not renowned for kindness and tolerance.

On the other hand, if you relish irony, poking fun, witty put downs, and satirical barbs, then it’s the world capital of humour. BBC all the way.

Norwegian filmmaker faces three years in prison for saying a man cannot become a lesbian
‘It’s just as impossible for men to become a lesbian as it is for men to become pregnant. Men are men regardless of their sexual fetishes.’

Indolentsays:
December 16, 2022 at 9:21 am
The ‘Patient Zero’ of Transgender Kids

David Reimer drove to a grocery store parking lot on a Tuesday in 2004, raised a shotgun whose barrel he had methodically sawed off that morning, and ended his life with a blast to the head. Years earlier, he had become a kind of “patient zero” for transgender kids and struggled with the trauma for the rest of his life.

The tragedy that affected Reimer is more relevant now than ever. On Tuesday, while signing the inaccurately named “Respect for Marriage Act” into law, President Joe Biden called for challenges to state laws “targeting transgender children.”

Upon meeting with the Reimers, Money quickly advocated David be “sex reassigned” into a girl. Though Money and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins had performed sex reassignments on hermaphrodite children, a similar procedure had never been attempted on a child born with normal genitals and nervous system. Desperate and badgered by Money to proceed (he accused the parents of “procrastinating” for taking time to make up their minds), the Reimers ultimately agreed to move forward.

The truth about the John/Joan case was revealed thanks to the work of Milton Diamond, an academic critic of Money, and Colapinto’s journalism.

But that didn’t stop the tide that brought us to where we are today.

Meanwhile in the Lunacy that is the West today

Norwegian Filmmaker Faces Three Years in Jail for Saying Transgender ‘Women’ Can’t Be Lesbians: ‘Men Are Men Regardless of Their Sexual Fetishes’

and

Christian teacher jailed after refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns is told he will remain behind bars for Christmas after telling court he should not be punished for his views on ‘transgenderism’

. Enoch Burke will spend the festive period behind bars, a court has told him
. The teacher was jailed for refusing to obey a court order to stay away from his school in County Westmeath, Ireland
. His school told him to stay away after he refused to address a student as ‘they’

Snap Zipster re Norwegian Filmmaker

‘With all her faults we love her still…’ But away, over “there.”

I am very torn in my patriotic loves. Australia comes first, but there is a hankering after Britain still residual in me and in many who still have relatives in Britain. It was the ancestral Old Country, which always counts, in spite of it offering us the ongoing ‘convict stain’ until at least the 1950’s and the British press calling PM Keating’s arm on the Queen as done by The Lizard of Oz. My parents living in Australia always joined the British housos who called Blighty ‘home’ in all conversations. My mother pined for ‘home’ in her loneliness for all of my childhood and adolescence, returning sans dad for 18 months. My father never went back, his family had ditched him, and I barely knew them, but I lived with my mother and my two siblings in one bedroom in my Welsh Nana’s tiny old rental in Middle England when I was eleven. It was in that town, as the old abbey bell tower pealed joyfully every Sunday, that I discovered the true entrancement of a British Spring and kindly schooling and the salt of the earth tolerance and stern grit of the traditional British working classes.

Later in my life I’ve married a Cambridge Man, and that grand institution can still order our lives, for we visit his Jesus College friends still (as we will again in Janury) where they will celebrate as alumni their win against those who wanted to remove all traces of a C17th benefactor due to what proved to be non-existent connections to ‘slavery’. As he gets older, the friends of his youth who are still alive achieve a relevance beyond simple friendships made today. I guess this is so with all who are lucky enough to have maintained contacts from their salad days. I don’t have many.

And then there will be some little house converted into a museum by some crank in 1860.

And closed because of cranks who have arisen in the past five to ten years – as shown in a recent Speccie articles, which looked at how the Wellcome Trust Museum of Medical History has suicided – it has closed itself because the medical remnants of the past were ablist and racist so had to be shot down by the latest canons of ‘diversity’. Sadly, as the article then elaborates, all museums in Britain, even the smallest ones, are now infected by the constant relabelling of collections to show how colonialist and terrible was the society and Empire that did so much to improve the world.

Bruce, I have had to bring out my fluffy winter dressing gown for these cold mornings.
I had washed it, fluffed it up in the dryer, and put it away for the summer.
Makes going to England in January not quite the summer loss it seemed.

Just did a search for the cost of replacing all our gas appliances with electric…

Funny thing – most ACT houses run their heating off gas. Going to be interesting watching the reaction of tenants, landlords, owners etc sink in as Elbow’s’ new vision becomes reality.

‘Some Sort Of Sex Slave’? Son Of Paul Pelosi’s Attacker Breaks Silence, Fuels Speculation

The son of Paul Pelosi attacker, David DePape, says his father ‘is not evil,’ and is ‘hardly a right-wing conservative.’ He also implied that the 82-year-old Pelosi may have invited DePape over for sexual activities.

Official reports about the attack have changed several times. First, an ‘unknown third party’ opened the door after police arrived at the Pelosi house – after which police witnessed DePape take a hammer from Pelosi and hit him with it. Then, it was that Pelosi and DePape were both struggling with the hammer, and DePape wrested it from Pelosi and beat him with it. Then, in a now-retracted report which has gotten veteran NBC reporter banished from the air, after being alone in the home for 30 minutes, Pelosi opened the door when police arrived. However, he did not try to escape or alert police to an emergency, and he instead walked to the police and back toward DePape.

Comments are a load of fun

Tomsays:
December 16, 2022 at 9:54 am
I want to put in a missing persons report.
For a lady called Summer.
She’s nowhere to be seen.

It’s December 16. It’s 16C and feels like 12C.

I’m wearing the same winter jacket I was wearing in July.

December in Victoria doesn’t usually warm up until Christmas, but this year is exceptional — one of the coldest starts to summer since I arrived on this earth.

Yep – same in Sydney – Inside of house 18C – Winter Temp after last night’s cold Southerlies

Now UPDATED 9:50AM AEDT
17.5°C
FEELS LIKE 11.8°C
WEATHER STATION – Sydney – Observatory Hill

From the link re the Irish schoolteachers refusing to call a ‘transgender’ student ‘they’.
It seems to me that I can be a Christian in Mountjoy Prison or be a pagan and respecter of transgenderism outside of it. I know where I belong.

‘My faith has led me to that place and will keep me there, God helping me.’

He told the court that if that choice was put to him ‘every hour of every day for next 100 years’, he would answer the question the same.

Mr Burke added: ‘This court is seeking to deprive me of my religious beliefs.’

He also claimed there was an ‘unlawful attempt’ to persecute him for stating his opposition to ‘transgenderism’, and that the court was depriving him of his liberty and dignity.

He added: ‘I have had much time to consider my actions and behaviour that brought me to that place and far from finding any instances of misconduct, let alone gross misconduct, I only found my actions to be commendable and that I had the courage to respond to the principal telling her that transgender was an abuse of children and a breach of my constitutional rights to free expression of religious beliefs.’

The Court say he is being held for contempt of Court and not for his religious views.

But if his religious views mean he cannot accept what the Court tells him to accept, then where is he freedom of religion?

This case, and others like it, show how deeply stupid our anti-discrimination laws have become.
All of this is taking place within the context of England placing further restraints on the medical system there with regard to encouraging transition and ‘treating’ children presenting with a gender dysphoria.

There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

Haha, it’s 11 C at the Cafe having actually gone down two degrees in the last hour.
Amazing.

m0ntysays:
December 16, 2022 at 9:10 am
I like how the only Trump NFT with an actual real picture of Trump has been heavily photoshopped to remove his wide torso.

lol of the day – Monty talking about a wide torso

Johanna, the Medibank and other hacks made us all vulnerable. I have had a couple of messages about ‘suspicious activity’ on my Comm bank a/c which I assumed were from the hackers and ignored after checking. But make sure not to reply to anything that seems suss.

The proposals being aired – expanding terror laws to capture right-wing extremists, crackdowns on social media and associating peaceful public protest against covid restrictions with “extremism” will only confirm individuals like Gareth Train in their thinking and further set the power of the state against its citizenry.

I look to the days pre WW1, where various monarchies screwed the lid down tighter and tighter in an attempt to keep control.

Im expecting a resurgence of “propaganda of the deed”- semi anarchist killings of public figures as the outcome.
Not wanting it, just seeing it as a possible outcome.
You could almost put the train mob into that category, but their targets werent high enough profile.
Id prefer the turds ruling over us/ making the rules as targets anyway, rather than random acts against the public.
https://www.wondriumdaily.com/anarchists-in-action-assassinations-and-bombings/

Anarchists carried out a string of assassinations and bombings from the 1870s through the early 1920s. They succeeded in murdering six monarchs, including the Tsar of Russia, the Empress of Austria-Hungary, and the Kings of Italy, Portugal, and Greece.

In 1893, anarchist Santiago Salvador tossed two bombs into the packed Liceu Theater in Barcelona, killing 20 people. Another anarchist, Auguste Vaillant, detonated a nail bomb in the French Parliament, wounding two dozen. Vaillant went to the guillotine proclaiming, “Death to Bourgeois Society, Long Live Anarchy!” Bourgeois society had good reason to feel under siege.
…
Anarchism isn’t the rejection of law, but rejection of the state. Anarchism sees the state as a tool of the ruling class, a system of control and exploitation. Anarchists believe destruction of the state will free humanity to create a genuine, egalitarian society.

The state is an instrument of violence, so it’s okay to use violence against it. Violent action is called “propaganda of the deed” as opposed to “propaganda of the word.” Anarchists see violence as defensive, and a means of revenge.

You’d be laughing right now thinking about what wasn’t answered. …challenges not accepted….last night if denialism hadn’t blinded many of you.

Let it go!

I found it interesting that Hairy reports King Charles (as he is now) trying to calm him down by addressing him as ‘Darling boy, etc etc’.

Harry would do well to remember that his father had his own trials with the press during the years with Diana, and in particular, that Charles even survived Tampon Gate. The Netflix show The Crown put a sympathetic light on that little number with regard to Charles – his very secret privacy was totally invaded there, yes he just soldiered on. Good on him for that. So Charles’ ‘Darling Boy’ was said in considerable sympathy I’d say.

Look I hate all this vaccine stuff with a passion and the masks. They are still mandatory in Thailand, however Princess Bajrakitiyabha is still very much with us.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2461577/thais-wishing-princess-well.

I’m in Thailand atm, if a royal that close to the top of the pile pops clogs the response would be immediate outpouring of greif.

That said sun just popping over the horizon and roosters crowing everywhere. Coffee in hand enjoying the cool, been very cold nights this year. More than normal. Life’s good.

yet not yes re the soldiering on.

“Stoush” not spouse.

the Californian woman is quite photogenic.

Indeed she is, and she also has internalised the hurt she has told herself she feels; you can see it in the hurt showing in her face. One obviously feels some sympathy but not for the right reasons; she needs to shake herself out of it. Only she can perform that miracle, drop the game show, and get on with life.

One thing to note re her looks – early photographs show that she has quite curly African hair. She must spend a fortune in time and money on straighteners to get the look she currently uses. I do wonder – is that some form of cultural appropriation? She’s not too keen on looking more than a touch African??

I was only talking about my experience in the big Apple.

I understand JC. And I was talking about my wife’s personal experience.
I’m just saying that you can’t discount something based purely on your personal experience.
Based on the crime data from the Democrat-run states (and I’m pretty sure they try to hide as much of it as they can) most of these states are basket-cases, especially the cities in them.

Anarchism isn’t the rejection of law, but rejection of the state.

Anarchists are lefties. We are already getting anarchist violence, it’s coming from the Extinction Rebellion bunch and their various colleagues.

‘Last Generation’ Climate Extremists Block Entrances to German Parliament After Police Raids (15 Dec)

When you have people calling themselves Extinction Rebellion and Last Generation and the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement you’re getting very close to the bomb throwing stage.

Loons like the chap who attacked Pelosis husband only need a smattering of “manifesto” to go from mad idiot to anarchist assassin.

Bingo!

Quite right. Everyone, at all times, must behave as courteously as JC. He must also change his name to JFC.

Full on Armageddon nut jobs.

Yup.

Invariably one or more of them would have completely unravelled by then, and started using the end of world (‘It’s Happening!) as a prompter to freedive further into the nuffy vortex. Being on the crystal pistol wouldn’t have helped.

Whether or not they were anti-vax – compared to their much, much larger problems, such as the Jesuit/Mason conspiracy that resulted in their individual brillance not being recognised – became irrelevant, although some would still use it as a shield.

They were – were – just another handful of garden variety cockheads, feeding off one another’s insecurities and inability to operate in normal society. History is replete with them. The events of Monday have happened before, and will happen again.

I have had a couple of messages about ‘suspicious activity’ on my Comm bank a/c

We are being driven absolutely spare by our Comm Bank credit cards, which are being constantly rejected and then restored later as Hairy is making all sorts of bookings from Lappland to Korea late at night in Sydney. Then in the middle of Christmas shopping at Westfields Bondi Junction yesterday my linked Comm Bank card was rejected, then allowed, then rejected again. I turned to my NAB card, which was ok for $150 in Kidstuff without a pin, but rejected later in a bookshop for $70, and which now seems to be ok again. Are NAB coat-tailing on Comm Bank’s rejections? Tried my Comm Bank one on something else, and it worked! Crazy!!! What annoys Hairy is that when you complain about it they get huffy and simply say these are anti-fraud measures, get used to it.

We’ve had to return to using AMEX a lot and there are no problems with that, although most vendors charge a hefty fee for using it, and some simply don’t accept it. I’m certainly thinking that their ad for ‘don’t leave home without it’ is good advice.

We are determined to stick some emergency funding on one of those ‘hold your money’ cards that are now on offer. Just in case you can’t access even a savings account once a credit card is rejected, and especially when in furrin climes, where you can’t wait to do the business of getting in touch with the bank and saying yes, we did make that purchase etc and getting the card restored. And I always secrete around five hundred Aussie dollars in my carry-on luggage or person, just because. Hairy says make it US dollars and you might have better luck using it. Pffft. I can spend the battler at home later.

Also, walk with purpose. If you wander about looking like a tourist, they – in the manner of wild dogs – will sense weakness and go in for a crack.

If someone tells me that I need to behave like this when visiting their city, I’ll probably go somewhere else.

Violent action is called “propaganda of the deed”

IIRC, leftards were big into “propaganda of the deed” back in the 1960s to 1980s. Now, however, the leftards have become “the Man”. What goes around …. ?

We spent a week recently in New York, and it was pretty harmless. Did see some idiots and very suss characters on the Metro. Some of the stations you wouldn’t want to be there by yourself late at night, but that’s no different to most big cities.

Did have a weirdo enter the carriage on a Metro ride, around 10am, with the car about 1/4 full. He looked the full monty: wild hair, swaying, various badges, filthy etc. He came and sat down on the floor in the middle of the carriage, right in front of us, and shouted “I’m singing until I get five dollars” and commenced screaming.

Everyone ignored him, including us, and after threatening “I can do this all day” he gave it another 30 seconds and then jumped up and went off to the next car.

Hello sailor!

NSW Health warns against Costco spinach (16 Dec)

Nine people have been hospitalised after consuming ‘Riviera Farms’ branded baby spinach from Costco. Their symptoms included delirium, fever, hallucinations, rapid heartbeat, and flushed face.

Also very large forearms and a craving for olive oil.

It’s almost as though, right from the start, they had a certain narrative they wanted to shape — and that documenting everything fed into their narcissistic little plan.

Because that’s how Harry and Meghan appear to many of us: the ultimate narcissists in an age of narcissism.

Daily Mail

Tv spoof The Windsors portrayed Harry as thick and easily influenced by anyone who was smart enough to use him for their own purposes.
It started in 2016 so the take on Harry predated Meghan. The writers and producers knew something.

Same applies to every major city in Europe.
And should they physically accost you regardless, start yelling no.

Funny that. I spent a few months of this year in one of the Stans (former USSR) and never ones seen anything like that. There are beggars there, but they are very calm, even polite.
Why is this being tolerated in the civilised (formerly?) parts of the world I have no clue.

No one gives a shit anymore when there’s hardly any masks being worn in Singapore.

rickw, do you know if Singapore Airlines still requires the nazi pass for its flights?

Wonder what it’s like as a newcomer in the House of Windsor. Royal courts are notoriously cruel, full of mischief makers and plotters competing for the Royal eye. Kate would almost certainly view Meghan’s arrival the way a Messerschmidt over the cliffs of Dover would have been seen eighty years ago. It cannot have been pleasant for someone who’d fallen for her own press releases.

Kneelsays:
December 16, 2022 at 10:49 am
“…bought Bosch and it’s stood up to a tremendous amount of wear and tear from a young family.”

My LG front-loader washing machine finally died after approximately 20 years, the last 5 or so doing 3+ (sometimes as many as 10!) loads per week.
Needless to say, I got another LG to replace it…

Same here – 2 LG’s over 25 years after 20 year Whirlpool Top Loader with destroy the clothes with vigorous action finally gave up the Ghost

Flew MEL-BKK. Masks not required onboard and no nazi pass. However at Bangkok masks required but not really enforced for foreignes. Elsewhere in Bangkok & Chonburi (where we are) in public closed spaces required but again not enforced for foreigners. They desperately want tourist cash but so far I have seen only a fraction of what is normal, even among Indians & Chinese that were overwhelming last time I was here.

How did you go with flights Rickw? I avoided transiting Changi due to Sg’s strict mandates and can say that direct flights by Thai airways are not at full capacity yet. No Brisbane schedule yet.

That said Market Day, other half is going with a couple of Thai partners of friends. Great day to sit in an expat bar.

Everyone ignored him, including us, and after threatening “I can do this all day” he gave it another 30 seconds and then jumped up and went off to the next car.

That must have been weird, seeing St. Ruth on a train.

“You attempt to abduct us using contractors. You attempt to intimidate and target us with your Raytheon Learjets and planes. You send covert assets out here to my place in the bush,” the video’s description reads.

No, no, no. They weren’t Radio Rental at all. They’re heroes for Standing and Fighting.

And, because it was certainly ‘necessary’, they Fell.

Jorge 12.29[m
“It cannot have been pleasant for some who’d fallen for her own press releases”

It would’ve been a huge shock to her system – she was an expert in the field of Gush and Bubble.
But it wasn’t working on the in-laws.
I can imagine them drawing-in their skirts, when she zoomed in.
Makes me laugh

rickw, do you know if Singapore Airlines still requires the nazi pass for its flights?

Last flight, a couple of months ago, they asked for it. What I would say though is that they were very disinterested. I could have shown them any old crap and they would have given me an OK. I don’t think it was airline policy driving it either, Singapore rules. If I had of refused to show on the basis that Maldives doesn’t require vaccination, I think they would have let me board.

I think they would have let me board.

Maybe not. Philippine Airlines, which is still in the grip of COVID madness wouldn’t let me board an October flight without proof. Fortunately I had a photoshopped stiffcate on my phone, which satisfied them. Later found my Novovax card which I had to produce at least ten times while marooned in Manila by cancelled flights.

Raytheon Learjets > Trains > Trucks

The Albanese government is committed to delivering a new, accessible, sustainable and trusted administrative review tribunal that serves the interests of the jealous people.

Freudian slip?

Check out the pics. I think she could barely fit down the aisle.

I guess they couldn’t fit her favourite chair (scroll down for a pic) in a cabin.

Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered full-color portraits of mummies – the first to be found in over a century – the Egyptian government has announced.

Researchers found the two full portraits of Egyptian mummies and fragments of others at the Gerza excavation site in Fayoum, Egypt, making these artworks the first of their kind to be discovered in over 115 years.

The team investigating the Gerza archaeological site in Fayoum also uncovered a funerary building, records written on papyrus, pottery, and coffins dating from the Ptolemaic period, which spans from 305 B.C. to 30 B.C., through the Roman era, which lasted from 30 B.C. to 390 A.D.

In addition to these finds, archaeologists also revealed a rare terracotta statue of the goddess Isis Aphrodite inside a wooden coffin, per Artnet.

Two videos posted the week before also menacingly insult four named police officers and speak of previous welfare checks about the property.

seems there has been a severe failure at the police if there have been previous “safety checks” that were told to buzz off. If that is true, on what grounds did they return?

I’ve masked up going to stores trying to avoid passing it onto other folks. I’m not sure they work but I think it’s worth a try.

I reckon if you’re crook, it’s worth a shot. Also fits with the approach of focusing on the sick and leaving every else the hell alone!

Two videos posted the week before also menacingly insult four named police officers and speak of previous welfare checks about the property.

Let’s keep poking these loonies until they do something really fucking crazy…..

Hey Choo Choo.
Remember that during the train versus trucks sage we had a little chat about fuel usage per tonne transported?

Curiously enough, no.

I am pretty sure that all you did was question my masculinity non stop and call me a unionist when I disagreed with your clumsy generalisations and spectacular ignorance of everything beyond your limited sphere of experience.

But, since we want to play that game…

A representative diesel-electric locomotive in current Australian freight service (We’ll use the NR class) has a fuel capacity of 10,000 litres.

2 of these will pull a train of about 80 wagons (with an axle load of about 19 tonnes) and a gross load of ~4,000 tonnes from Adelaide to Perth with a single refuelling stop at Cook. This journey is otherwise non-stop, for a total distance of 2655km

Other companies take their own fuel sources with them across (~20,000 litres) and pull about 5-6,000 tonnes (once we get into double-stacking and bulkier and heavier goods like steel, etc.) non-stop.

They pull up only every 12 hours to change crews (15-20 minutes), and take an average of 2.5 days to complete their journey.

40,000L (2 locos getting completely refilled once)/4000t x 2655km gives us a rough figure of 0.0037664783 Litres per tonne-km. Or 4mL diesel.

A representative truck (let’s do something nice and as modern and capable as it gets on-road, like a current-spec Western Star 79X 72″ Sleeper) has a fuel capacity of 200L, and we’ll give it every possible favour by saying the Struth-surrogate in this argument is permitted and able to haul a Category 3 Triple Road Train (we’ll let him have those 3 trailers with triple axle bogies to allow a 20 tonne axle load, for a total load of ~365 tonnes) between the same 2 cities, a road distance of 2693.6km.