Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence, Caravaggio, 1609
Open Thread – Christmas Weekend 2022
1,623 responses to “Open Thread – Christmas Weekend 2022”
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Bari Weiss gets schooled
https://twitter.com/adamscrabble/status/1607510903905259520?s=20&t=8n4yok5TC2MefUlHoalaNQ -
Dimitry makes some 2023 predictions/sarc
https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/1607487338401206273?s=20&t=8n4yok5TC2MefUlHoalaNQ
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On travel to Paris.
Yes, there are places I wouldn’t go within the city. As a rule of thumb, any arrondissement with a number in double figures deserves close scrutiny.
But if a city having a “no – go” or precautionary area is the criteria for putting a red line through it, I would suggest there are no large cities in the Americas and most of Europe you would visit.
As for citizens in rural and regional areas being more accommodating than those in the cities, that is true the world over too.
And the arrogant, rude French? Outside a few toffy restaurants and hotels, where some staff raise indifference to customers to the level of an art form, that is also a myth. -
Knuckle Draggersays:
December 27, 2022 at 11:12 am
Marnus Labuschagne.
Our latter-day Graeme Wood.
5 run-outs in 55 innings.
As a young bloke I used to open the batting with a “class batsmen” who was also a shit runner.
One particular day we bowled the opposition out on day one with 20 minutes to bat before stumps.
Got away to a good start and knocked off 25-30 of the target. One over to go and I tell him I’ll take it and “no silly short singles”. It was almost as if the mere mention of suicide runs triggered something in his lizard brain. I push one just a little bit away from cover and call a loud “NO!”.
Nek minnit, without uttering a call, he is right on top of me. I take off and get run out by 7-8 yards.
After that, I and others in the top order made a pact (without telling the coach) that we would stand our ground and let him burn himself.
Three run-outs in a season and he was cured. -
KD at 11:23.
Yes.
The real test would be to ring the Nowra station and ask for the police report number.
Because, if there is no number, they have not “written it down”.
A Bic ballpoint moving up and down on the back of a Maccas bag is not “writing it down” in any meaningful way.
It goes along with 000 calls for “there’s a huntsman behind my sun visor”. -
Wait until QLD ditches the interconnectors. That’s when you will find out what a barbwire canoe looks like.
Yep. Been saying this for a while. As soon as it becomes politically advantageous to keep domestically generated electricity for intrastate use it will be real Lord of the Flies stuff (particularly with Pony Club generators still government owned).
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Goodness gracious me. The Hun:
A storm has erupted over the sensational backlash towards Australian icon Sir Donald Bradman.
There has been significant twist in the public debate with many Australian commentators coming forward to defend the legendary cricketer after calls on social media for “The Don” to be “cancelled”.
Bradman, known as one of history’s greatest sportsmen, has been dead for 21 years. But now, a dusty old letter addressed to Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, two days after the 1975 dismissal election, has apparently “exposed” the former cricketing great as a “right wing nutjob”.
In the letter, which was unearthed by Federation University’s Verity Archer, Bradman urged the new PM to scrap regulations on capital and warned of the risks inflation poses to Australia.
“A marvellous victory in which your personal conduct and dignity stood out against the background of arrogance and propaganda indulged in by your opponents,” Bradman wrote.
“Now you may have to travel a long and difficult road along which your enemies will seek to destroy you.”
Bradman — who was 67 at the time of writing the letter — also warned Mr Fraser about the power of unions and urged for the public to be “re-educated to believe private enterprise is entitled to rewards, as long as it obeys the rules”.
“What the people need are clearly defined rules which they can read and understand so that they can get on with their affairs,” Bradman continued.
“The public must be re-educated to believe that private enterprise is entitled to rewards as long as it obeys fair and reasonable rules laid down by government. Maybe you can influence leaders of the press to a better understanding of this necessity of presentation.”
A swarm of commentators and Twitter users have now leapt to his defence.
His reputation as a magician at the crease helped pull through Australia through the Great Depression of the 1930s — and his record 99.94 average is still far and beyond the most iconic statistic in a game ruled by numbers.
So it’s no surprise the attempted pile-on — on Boxing Day no less — was met with pushback from public figures across the country.
Federal Liberal Party Vice President Teena McQueen told Sky News host Rita Panahi: “It’s absolutely disgraceful that they are now trying to cancel one of the greatest Australians. It’s unbelievable”.
Panahi said the “woke” current cricket team led by Test captain Pat Cummins should be more like Bradman.
She said Bradman’s views have been misrepresented and described the backlash as “quite disgraceful”.
Renowned Indigenous leader Nyunggai Warren Mundine wrote on Twitter: “It’s actually a LWNJ attack”.
Nationals MP and former deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack was among those pushing back on Twitter.
The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Blair wrote in a column: “We need more statues of Bradman”.
ABC reporter Gareth Hutchins wrote: “There are other Bradman letters worth writing about. Like his letters to protesters in the 70s, in which he asked them to explain to him why they didn’t want the apartheid-era South African cricket team to tour Australia. He listened to them, and he ended up cancelling the tour.
“What an enormous s**t take,” founder of Cato Advisory Tim Findlay said.
“Focusing on the opinion of others yet no criticism of the actual message in the letter which, given the state of the economy and Bradman’s role as a company chairman, was to be expected of a man doing his job.”
Social media users and journalists were earlier divided over the famed member of the 1948 “Invincibles” team’s views.
Former Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula posted.
Sydney Morning Herald writer Daniel Brettig described the letter as “extraordinary” and said it showed Bradman’s attempt at an “intervention at an explosive moment in Australian political history”.
Broadcaster Phillip Adams wrote, “Sad. Lost letter from Bradman to Fraser after Whitlam’s dismissal reveals ‘the Don’ to be a RWNJ [right-wing nutjob].”
Others social media users said The Don was well known as a “thoroughly nasty piece of work”.
Former Lord Mayor of Brisbane Clem Jones previously described Bradman — who claimed to live a “non-political” life — as a “bigoted right-wing politician”.
“Bradman was quite right-wing,” Mr Jones told Inside Story in 2007.
“He was the best chairman of any organisation I’ve had anything to do with, absolutely outstanding. But he was a bigoted, right-wing politician. People say he wasn’t political — he was, and very much so.”
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” I love Paris in the springtime…” is in a minor key for a reason. My tips:
Don’t forget to stay in La Chapelle – it’s near the centre of Paris. You get to see Mogadishu close up without having to go there. As an aside, and I am certainly not making any generalisations, but , er, if you are a young woman don’t go out on your own. By the way some of the train drivers refuse to stop there.
When you get hassled by gypsies and the like, yell in Arabic ( “Emshi, emshi) – that stops them in their tracks as the Arabs do not tolerate them.
The train to and from the airport – put any jewelry and wallets in a place that can’t be grabbed easily. Get a seat where you can hold your bag.
Finally when the Parisians are rude and impatient, go slow, take your time and watch them fume. The place is a tinder box. The Olympics will have to be an armed encampment. see 2022 UEFA Champions League Final, Bataclan, Stade de France..
The churches are empty or set on fire. There is a reason they are heading to Australia. But if you are situationally aware, adventurous and tough, you’ll…..love Paris ever moment of the year. -
A young manager was leaving the office late one evening when he saw the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in her hand. “Listen” said the CEO “this is a very sensitive and important document here, and my secretary has gone for the night. Can you make this thing work?” “Certainly!” said the young manager. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper and pressed the start button. “Excellent, excellent!” said the CEO as her paper disappeared inside the machine. “I just need one copy.
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I talked to a homeless man this morning and asked him how he ended up this way. He said “Up until last week, I still had it all. I had plenty to eat, my clothes were washed and pressed, I had a roof over my head, I had TV and Internet, and I went to the gym, the pool, and the library. I was working on my MBA on-line. I had no bills and no debt. I even had full medical coverage”. I felt sorry for him, so I asked “What happened? Drugs? Alcohol? Divorce?” “Oh no, nothing like that” he said. “No, no… I was paroled”.
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