Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence, Caravaggio, 1609
Sooo why did he get asylum. Kuwait City from my memory isn’t exactly backblocks Yemen.
Open Thread – Christmas Weekend 2022
- Bumtree #1
- Open Thread – Mon 29 April 2024
- Open Thread – Weekend 27 April 2024
- Nuclear power and the foundational lie
- Open Thread – Anzac Day 2024
“With a name like Majid Jamshidi Doukoshkan, surely there couldn’t be two of these?” Probably an independent contractor security guard.…
Unbelievable that this should even be necessary. I thought doctors were there to save lives, not end them.Utah bans doctors…
Some 17 year old has reported stabbed her 10 year old sister in Newcastle. What a society!!!
Dover this is a few paragraphs into the article. Few 20th-century thinkers have had such a lasting and profound influence…
Dave Collum’s 2022 Year In Review, Part 1: All Roads Lead To Ukraine
This Year in Review is brought to you by Pfizer, FTX, and Raytheon…
Every year, David Collum writes a detailed “Year in Review” synopsis full of keen perspective and plenty of wit. This year’s is no exception, with Dave striking again in his usually poignant and delightfully acerbic way.
To download Part 1 as a pdf, click here: 2022 Year in Review: All Roads Lead to Ukraine. – 132 Pages
I break every rule of blog marketing. Nobody writes one gigantic blog a year, but it makes the rounds. It is onerous and exhausting, especially since I must necessarily procrastinate up to the deadline.
All Roads Lead to Ukraine. Trying to understand the war from a dead cold start was monumentally hard. Geopolitical events occur to teach Americans geography; I am no exception. As a combination of foreshadowing and trigger warning, I am going to steelman the debate by taking a decidedly Russian perspective but am not sure it is steelmanning if you come to believe it. If this is gonna drive you nuts, I beg you to stop reading because you will just get mad while I wallow in the slime of your frustrated soul.
I propose Vladimir Putin for the Nobel Prize in Medicine, for solving COVID globally in 48 hours.
~ Anonymous
As Ron Popeil would say, “But wait. There’s more!” The Ukrainian theme runs deeper than that. Here is a little more foreshadowing. Canadian trucker crusher Chrystia Freeland has deep Ukrainian Nazi roots. Nina Jankowicz, initially appointed as head of Biden’s Orwellian “Disinformation Governing Board” (Ministry of Truth for short) was doing psy-op work in Ukraine in her previous gig. The collapse of the second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world (FTX) revealed a massive money laundering scheme through Ukraine with political ties in the US. The rising tide of a global neo-Nazism—an idea I am still dubious about—connects tiki torchers in Charlottesville, suspicious rabble-rousers in the January 6th “insurrection”, the Patriot Front, and the Azov Battalion in Ukraine.5 Who is that guy with the horns hanging out with Ukrainian “nationalist”?
The U.S.-sponsored bioweapons lab in Wuhan that spawned the SARS-Cov-2 virus has 36 counterparts in Ukraine. The crackhead son of the President of the United States ran scams in Ukraine via Burisma Holdings, the same country that his dad funded a proxy war. And who was the largest donor to the Clinton Foundation for 15 years? Ukraine. Go figure.
Looks like it’s another Grooglemas. Faaark!
When even Groogs feels sorry for you it’s time to go. Swallow the ham bone Davy.
If the right is going to continue down this very silly anti- American route they will find themselves precisely where the left wants them: a ridiculous clown show of conspiracy nuts.
Sen. Lindsey Graham: Someone Must “Take Out” Putin For War To End
Senator Lindsey Graham this week repeated his call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be assassinated, telling Fox News in a live interview that the Ukraine war will only end if someone “takes Putin out”.
“How does this war end? When Russia breaks, and they take Putin out. Anything short of that, the war’s gonna continue,” Graham said on Wednesday’s America Reports on Fox.
Graham said Moscow’s invasion won’t succeed because the United States is “in it to win it, and the only way you’re gonna win it is to break the Russian military and have somebody in Russia take Putin out to give the Russian people a new lease on life.”
He also called on Washington and NATO to keep up arms and support for Ukraine “completely, all in without equivocation,” and further that ramping up long-range missile transfers to Kiev would help “dislodge” Russian forces from the Donbas, and even Crimea.
He additionally said that larger drones would “kill tons of Russians without losing any Ukrainians in the endeavor” – and essentially called for giving Zelensky everything he’s asking for.
During Zelensky’s Wednesday address to Congress, which actually saw less than half of House Republicans show up, which was in part due to holiday travel and weather given also the visit was unannounced until the day prior, the Ukrainian leader suggested the US should even send tanks and aircraft. “I can assure you that Ukrainian soldiers can perfectly operate American tanks and planes themselves,” he had said during the 30-minute speech.
It wasn’t the first time Graham called for Putin’s assassination on a national news program. In March he made similar statements.
At the time this prompted an official reaction from the White House distancing President Biden from the assassination comments. The White House Press Secretary had said “that is not the position of the United States government and certainly not a statement you’d hear come from the mouth of anybody working in this administration.”
From the Comments
– Ladyboy Lindsey is a kid-banging draft-dodging chickenhawk who has been compromised to faithfully serve his masters. I live in SC and I can’t for the ever-lovin’ life of me figure out WHY and HOW the Hell he keeps getting reelected. I know he’s not the only one whose presence in DC defies logic and reasoning but when is enough ENOUGH?!
– Lindsey, Ukraine is probably still accepting foreign mercenaries….man up.
– Excellent then Russia will use it’s order of magnitude superior nuclear arsenal to incinerate the USA and live happily ever after
– What is with the voters of South Carolina, sending this psycho back to the Senate each election?
He should be careful, maybe the party of the second part might decide to take him out instead.
After what’s gone down in the US in the last 3 years particularly the obscene sexualization of minors, I’m not sure what the appeal of the US is anymore.
Mental health and lack of support from CA kept me out of the Australian Test side. Particularly against Joel Garner in the 80s.
Merry Christmas Cats.
Look what Santa brought me!
“Wake up Australia: Many liberal democracies have a First Nations voice”
The writer of the above turgid activist piece, Shireen Morris, is a well known left-wing race hustler and grifter, a nasty female who, at the 2019 federal election, ran as the ALP candidate for the Victorian federal seat of Deakin against Michael Sukkar. The MSM at the time, of course, spruiked her, and fawned and glossed over her. Thankfully Michael Sukkar prevailed, as he did in May 2022.
Ghastly female.
Just another marxist don in other words.
I know right?
It was down to me or Mark Taylor, and they went with the (left-handed) airconditioner salesman.
GoFundMe link provided shortly.
Was Santa Actually a Mushroom-Tripping Reindeer Herder?
In which our intrepid reporter Leighton Woodhouse explores the competing theories behind Father Christmas.
Dunno. Let’s ask mUnty? He seems obsessed about this.
After what’s gone down in the US in the last 3 years particularly the obscene sexualization of minors, I’m not sure what the appeal of the US is anymore.
I should also add imprisonment without trial of political dissenters.
“America” these days is in the hands of freaks and perverts. Make no mistake. What’s more freak’s stranglehold on power , all kinds of power, is almost universal. Looking ahead, the US may have some challenges but nothing compared to the Russia/China + alliance that is forming.
The very unsettling thing about all of that is that we here in Australia have no choice but to remain a vassal state of the US , ugly and ill-led as it may be. We have to remain allies and enthusiastic pals.(Uggh!)
STFU about conspiracy nuts though. The revelations about the stolen election and Biden, Covid, Ukraine, The Twitter Files/FBI, Hunter’s laptop, SBF to name just a few “reveals” clearly shows that the “conspiracy theorists” have been pretty close to the mark. While disgusting MSM and Big Tech did their level best to force fake news and propaganda down our throats.
So yeah, we stick with the US and wear our hazmat suits while doing so. Because at times the relationship will feel like we are crawling around inside a rotting cow’s carcass.
A question, do we ever see the MSM fawn over conservative female Liberal and National candidates, the way they fawn over ALP, Green and Teal candidates? Do we ever see descriptions of how brave they are, and how amazing they are?
The answer to the above is nope, nyet, nah. Instead, conservative female candidates at elections in this country are subjected to harassment, trolling, stalking, smearing, lies, defamation, and threats of physical and sexual violence, just ask Nicolle Flint. The left use their proxies such as GetUp and the Unions to go after conservative women and the MSM sit back and say and do nothing.
So yeah, we stick with the US and wear our hazmat suits while doing so. Because at times the relationship will feel like we are crawling around inside a rotting cow’s carcass.
yes perverts and degenerates
Oh No! Scientists Determine We’re Actually Headed For An Ice Age And We Have To Pump As Much CO2 As Possible Into The Atmosphere Or We’re All Gonna Die
My IGA is open this morning. Is nothing sacred?
I am going in to buy eight cans of insect spray. It’s my idea of living in harmony with nature. I’m selecting for insects that leave me alone.
Well, they are the bad guys in Ukraine, the current executive government conducted a coup to gain power and they are currently enthusiastic supporters of all the WEF’s totalitarian agenda, so they are really hard to like right now. There is hope that they can recover, but not much.
Welcome to Launceston Tasmania in Winter!
Liberal City Enacts Anti-Pollution Order – You Can No Longer Burn a Wood Fire to Stay Warm
On Thursday, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced that it was issuing a “Spare the Air” alert to last through Christmas Day which would ban the burning of wood to heat residents’ homes, supposedly due to “excessive pollution” in the area.
The authority claims that cool temperatures and slow winds will cause smoke from fires to hang too close to the ground and won’t let the smoke rise up and dissipate into the air.
The pattern has usually been for Test players to be dropped for the 50 over team, while still getting a couple more years in the Test side.
I’d say CA are sick of Davey, they’ll finish him up after the Sydney Test no matter what.
Given the defensive style of Cricket played in ODIs and T20s, Davey still has a future there.
A left right opening combination makes a lot of sense.
Santa brought me a bottle of very fine single malt, and a new Mont Blanc fountain pen….
SPECTATOR EDITORIAL
After the cryptocrash
The cacophonous collapse of FTX is the soundtrack of one economic era giving way to another
In many respects, the FTX saga looks like a self-contained tale of greed, dishonesty and, quite possibly, criminal fraudulence. But the rise and fall of FTX is also part of a bigger story. Scam artists have been drawn to bubbles for as long as they’ve existed; when they burst, the jig is very often up for the swindlers. So it is with crypto and Bankman-Fried. And that bursting bubble tells an even bigger story; in fact the cacophonous collapse of FTX is the soundtrack of one economic era giving way to another.
Last summer, a time when pliant financial journalists hung on his every word, Bankman-Fried blamed the Fed for driving down the price of digital currencies. He was right, of course. The crypto boom was a product of an unprecedented era of cheap money. When loose monetary policy combined with pandemic-era fiscal stimulus, crypto soared. When the disastrous consequences of those policies became clear, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell decided to do something about it, crypto crashed. Then the scammers were found out.
Cheap money discourages scrutiny and breeds gullibility. And, as Bankman-Fried’s rise and fall demonstrates, credulity is not limited to investment decisions. Central to Bankman-Fried’s swindle was a bet that if he cultivated a reputation as an “effective altruist,” wrote big checks to Democrats and presented himself to Washington as the grown-up who wanted to help them regulate the boisterous world of crypto, he could evade scrutiny and write the rules to suit his scheme.
If it’s possible to spy a silver lining, though, it’s that the end of the era of free money has brought with it a healthy skepticism and rigor that has often been missing in recent years.
You see it in the collapse in value of NFTs; in the fact that “meme stocks” seem like a distant memory; and in Elon Musk’s entirely reasonable request that Twitter’s workforce either show up for work or accept a payout.
As Oliver Wiseman explains, you also see it in the fresh scrutiny the ESG investing craze now faces. Much like Bankman-Fried’s cryptophilanthropy evangelism, ESG boosters present a win-win promise that you can get rich and save the world.
The message might sound too good to be true when the going is good. When the going gets tough, though, it becomes demonstrably false.
Speaking of the American left, remember when O’buma was in Brisbane wailing about the Barrier Reef to embarrass Abbott. Great friend and ally. It’s not Ronald Reagan anymore.
There is nothing different going on culturally in the US that did not also occur in the 1970s.
The difference today is three things:
1. The left were allowed a free hand to take over media, education and entertainment in a way they were not in the 70s. Still in the 70s a lot of the perversion bleed through anyway.
2. Social media siloing has your attention focussed.
3. The other bloc in the globe is using and exacerbating internal issues using bots and paid trolls to weaken and demoralise the West.
McConnell’s Ukraine comments show why Republican voters flocked to Trump
There was a coup in 2020 where the marxist establishment stole the election.
You’re kidding yourself arky.
How about talking instead about Jesus Christ, the gospel and what Christmas means?
Melbourne Anglican Archbishop raises global issues in Christmas message (Sky News, 25 Dec)
There aren’t any significant non-natural effects of climate change. If you espouse so you are lying, which isn’t a good look for an Archbishop.
That’s why I don’t go to church anymore.
Video circulating in Russia mocking the decline of Western traditional values, depicts Putin as Santa, swapping a photograph of a child’s same-sex parents for one of a mother and father, and gifting the boy being raised as a girl a football, toy cars and a drum kit.
No link
As I’ve said before, my minister back in the 80s was extolling Al Grassby.
especially for us grandads .. enjoy!
https://youtu.be/GMuhj_aO3QE
Played golf yesterday with an accountant and banker, both who believe in AGW
Morons!
SCOOP: National Guard informs troops last paycheck before Christmas will be late as Biden admin sends billions to Ukraine
On Friday it was revealed that the Biden administration failed to pay numerous National Guard troops their final year end pay on time during the week of Christmas. The failure came after approving a contoversial additional $45 billion aid package to Ukraine, and the House passing a $1.7 trillion spending plan.
“Hello gents,” began a letter sent to members of the National Guard, obtained by The Post Millennial, “if you have been tracking, the pay issue that has been plaguing the unit and the division as well.” Reports came in from Pennsylvania, Georgia, and South Carolina from troops angered and upset that their pay hadn’t yet come through.
“You are probably already tracking there are pay issues. Many soldiers were due pay today. They received LES but did not receive funds.” An LES, or a Leave and Earning Statement, is simply a pay stub, but it was not accompanied by funds.
The letter revealed that this is a “nation wide” issue, and that this issue “seems to be at DFAS [Defense Finance and Accounting Service] and is related to the CR.”
“NGB [National Guard Bureau] is currently working the issue with DFAS time now,” the letter added, stating that “we would hope the issue is rectified today or tomorrow.”
“This is unfortunate and can cause serious issues and aggravation across the formation which are understandable. Especially 2 days before Christmas,” the letter stated. “I think the messaging is important that it’s understood the issues are at the highest levels and that everyone in the Division and State are pushing for immediate resolution.”
Another email posted to Twitter by Georgia National Guard soldier James Jarrett read, “the current Continuing Resolution expired today.”
You look into the abyss it also looks into you.
I suggest you balance catastrophism with spending some time in positive interactions, good news and solutions.
Especially on Christmas day.
Failing that, recognise that 90% of the outcomes in life come from your own efforts and decisions. There is no one coming in on a white horse to save you. No election result is going to make a significant material difference to your situation.
Also this: the bastards have stolen elections before, and they will again.
It’s like thievery, the fault lies with those who leave their things unsecured. You want to win elections? Step one: secure the damn thing.
No election result is going to make a significant material difference to your situation.
rubbish
Are Americans better off now than they were in 2018?
“Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the No. 1 priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans,” McConnell said. “That’s how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment.”
McConnell and his grotesque neo-con /Demorat war mongering cohort are convinced they can use Ukraine as a means of deposing Putin and thereby change Russia. Change it by seeing it break up or becoming a Euro-weenie style state.
So very wrong. Whoever follows after Putin will be a lot more difficult to have relations with than Vlad.
These insider trading corruptocrats running the US Congress see a bevy of very lucrative investment returns sitting isolated in Russia and will fight to the last Ukrainian to get their hands on them.
Good Morning and Merry Christmas troops
I hope Santa was good to you because Santa was very good to me.
I am a mad fisherman and have a massive collection of rods reels and lures to the point i could open a small shop.
We are visiting family in Australia and all the Jugulettes are here including the youngest who has flown in from Korea.
Anyway, i love getting fishing gear and this year was something extra special, i got 2 small steel crankbaits (lures) that i will try out when we head south from Bundy in the new year.
The icing on the cake was they bought me a handline, the old style that used to be a light line spooled around a cork cylinder with a small hook and pea sinker, it is quite old and not usable for fishing but it took me back to when i was a 4 year old and dad took me fishing with something similar, it was when i caught my first fish (with photo to prove it) it still had the original price in texta on it (80 cents), something so simple is something i will cherish, i must be the luckiest man alive to have such a great family.
Enjoy Christmas Troops
Soldiers have mutinied for lesser reasons….
I don’t need insect spray.
shatterzzzsays:
December 25, 2022 at 12:10 pm
especially for us grandads .. enjoy!
https://youtu.be/GMuhj_aO3QE
Thanks shatterzzz,
reminder for my New Years Resolution – start weights training to try and get broken knees working (trying to avoid surgery) – actual will start today – Voltaren Tablets & Gel helping, and haven’t reached Steroid Injections into knees
2. Social media siloing has your attention focussed.
I don’t get my news from soshal meja- I get my news from here, Breitbart, PJ Media, Spiked, the Spectator and American Thinker
Bruce of Newcastlesays:
December 25, 2022 at 12:18 pm
I am going in to buy eight cans of insect spray. It’s my idea of living in harmony with nature.
I don’t need insect spray.
Neither do I, I just walk outside accompanied by my Wife and the insects bite her & leave me alone!
Sure JKF stole the election in ’60 but I’m not aware of imprisonment of Nixon supporters.
Get mosquito coils
Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
““Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the No. 1 priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans,” McConnell said. “That’s how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment.””
Senator McConnell conveniently forgets about the challenges confronting his own country at the moment.
Funny that.
““Providing assistance for Ukrainians to defeat the Russians is the No. 1 priority for the United States right now, according to most Republicans,” McConnell said. “That’s how we see the challenges confronting the country at the moment.””
Senator McConnell conveniently forgets about the challenges confronting his own country at the moment.
Funny that.
Our Saviour, Premier McClown has “enthusiastically” (quote) supported the notion of a national firearms registry.
Ahh, but his idea differs from mine because he added, There are too many firearms in our community.
Brace yourselves fellow Sandgropers.
Merry Christmas to all Cats and Kittehs, and of course to Mine Host.
It’s the first day of summer here – finally.
28C and rising, blazing sun, cloudless sky. Off to scoff some delicious seafood, my favourite thing for Christmas lunch. Accompanied by a crisp, chilled dry white or a good beer – perfick!
My Christmas gifts were very food-oriented this year, which is great for a motel dweller. Although I’m not sure what to do with the quince paste and similar items in the fancy hamper. 🙂 But, I’ve got enough chocolates and other sweets to put me into a diabetic coma unless I am strict with myself.
Let’s hope that 2023 is a cracking year, and that grubby politics does not prevent us from making the most of it.
Merry Xmas to all my Cat pals.
Our kid came down from the US to spend Xmas with us and brought back possibly the most delicious panettone from my favorite Italian restaurant in NYC , Sant Ambroeus ( St. Ambrose). It’s the best ever. Nothing compares.
Obviously, Border Force knew it was high quality, which is why they let it through. 🙂
Insect spray is a lot cheaper than all that bird mince, and a hell of a lot cheaper than getting married.
I’ve tried mosquito coils. They make a mess and don’t work.
re: Arky, December 25, 2022 at 12:12 pm
It would help parse flow of discussion if you could quote what you’re responding to or at least name the other user that you are addressing in the comment. That applies to all of us Catallaxians.
We had them when I was a kid, they were a lot of fun. Always fascinating to see how slow they burned.
Now I don’t need them: I have an air force. They clean up the mossies and the spiders quite amazingly.
Cheap too, they get paid in Coles $2 bread.
Miltonf
There are some decent twitter sites which are news/opinion pages. Mike Sandwich (Cernovich) isn’t bad for instance. He generally takes no prisoners on both sides and it’s refreshing to read two sided-criticism.
..
You know how lefties will go off on long, incomprehensible, stupid rants about how Whitlam was “cheated”, even now, decades after?
Don’t become that. It’s not good or productive or likely to induce future successes. In NZ they fantasised for years about how good things would have been if their hero Norman Kirk hadn’t snuffed it in office in 1974. They probably still whine about it. Apparently in their brains he was building a paradise on Earth.
Also don’t underestimate the power of the underdog . Enjoy. They own it all and are going to be responsible for all the ensuing shit. And there is just so much shit coming!
The 21st Century’s SOE;
https://jackmurphywrites.com/169/the-cias-sabotage-campaign-inside-russia/
Has anyone been watching/reading closely the goings-on with the Arizona election court case? I’ve been reading some bits, where Lake’s expert witness tore shreds off Hobb’s defending lawyer.
It appears there was no real election in Az if fair and verifiable elections are how one defines elections. The chain of custody didn’t exist (again) and the machines “breakdown” appears to have been fraudulent (although very difficult to verify). Here’s one issue that appears to be inanswered. Elections officials claim the paper ballots were incorrectly cut and or printed. They claim to have tested the ballot going through the machines prior to the election. If the papers were incorrect, what ballot papers did they use to test these machines?
I dunno where this is heading, but it sure looks like fraud.
Good to see Q showing up and thought leading us.
At least it’s not just words alone as there’s actual long sentences.
Whoops
Hobbs’
I was wondering if the sabotage ops in the US against power infrastructure are due to Russians or Greens. I’m inclined towards the Greens, but would not be surprised if it is Russians.
Increased alert at power substations after North Carolina attack (22 Dec)
Is that you in the pic, jupes ?
That bright blue streak down your left temple is a new tatt, yes ?
The rot has been set in motion decades ago. It will take decades to reverse, by which time we will be quite firmly in the WEF trans humanist, post capitalist dystopia. Not much anyone can do at this stage, other than plan to surivive.
The DEI cabal will do whatever it takes to steal ’24 and ensure its race towards the 2030 goal line is unhindered. Trump’s mistake was failure to ensure the military was onside and he foolishly assumed the CIA was patriotic. They are not.
Arizona judge rejects Kari Lake’s election challenge and confirms Hobbs’ victory
I follow Latho on Twitter JC, otherwise don’t know my way around it too well.
Zip, thanks.
It says that she will appeal. Let’s see.
How good is Spotify. A couple of Elmore James albums, a Fat Boy Slim mix tape and some African blues. Not sure what the algorithms make of that.
Body Language: The Judge, Kari Lake v. Katie Hobbs & Maricopa Count
Body Language Ghost
MOnster’s singing on Spotify? Wow, didn’t know that.
Lol, “the degree of precision” only applies to one side. Loss of custody, incorrect ballot papers. That’s precision.
What a dishonest wank.
Happy Christmas, Cat people.
Hahahahahajajajaja!
Body Language: Judge, On Closing Arguments, Lake Vs Hobbs
Body Language Ghost
I think blog rules don’t want me to link but if you head over to Bob’ blog you get an honorary mention. Starts with 1735
A Christmas Cracker joke at lunch time today.
– Why are there no Muslims in Star Trek?
– Because it’s set in the future.
Remind you of anyone?
Have to watch through to the end…
On such things.
Faithless – Insomnia (1995)
Because sadly he’s no longer with us:
Maxi Jazz dead: Crystal Palace plan Boxing Day tribute after Faithless singer passes away (25 Dec)
I would’ve said because Muslims don’t do space travel.
But that would be wrong.
UAE Launches First Arab-Built Lunar Rover (20 Dec)
Launched by Elon, and as you might expect the launch went flawlessly.
Presents: done.
Secret Santa: done.
Punch (drinks, not dust ups,): done.
Prawns and champagne (for those who can): done.
And now the entire house is awash in the most beautiful fragrances: baked ham (courtesy, Best Man,) turkey with two aromatic stuffings, honey/garlic carrots, cauli bake, roast pork… Oh, it just goes on and on.
As I said in prayers this morning: we are so extraordinarily lucky, for a host of reasons. Any Cats alone today; I wish you were here with us. (We have half a dozen happy ring-ins. A few more wouldn’t make any difference.)
And now, I have to choose from a dozen eager tasters someone to try the brandy custard which goes with my homemade Christmas pudding. Decisions. Decisions.
Enjoy the day.
Turducken — check
Ham — check
Pork roast — check
Roast veggies — check
Honey carrots — check
Minted peas — check
Gravy; cranberry; mustard
Ice-cream pudding — check
Traditional Christmas pudding — check
Rumballs — check
Brandy sauce — check
All good. Let’s roll!
And a very Merry Christmas to you all!
Delta A,
thanks for the invite but I don’t think we’re even in the same State.
Merry Christmas!
I will have a drink to you, Pogria.
Maybe next year?
Daily Mail. Don’t you just feel such a warm inner glow that poor little Brittany is so happy? Naah, me neither.
I get the feeling Brittany and David were licking lots of stamps last week. If you have to release pics showing how popular you are….
Brittany Higgins shared gratitude for overwhelming support on Christmas Day
Ms Higgins posted photo with boyfriend David Sharaz in front of boxes of letters
Post came just days after Ms Higgins announced she would return to university
and from the same media outlet that announced she was off to work with Christine Holgate earlier in the week .. LOL!
I could almost feel sorry for her all that money and no time to spend it between jobs & uni .. [sarc]
Delta Asays:
December 25, 2022 at 2:32 pm
I will have a drink to you, Pogria.
Maybe next year?
Thank you Delta,
I will raise a glass to your good self also and the rest of the Cats.
Next year may be a date!
I’m off to watch the delectable Alan Rickman. Men in Tights is on!
eldest daughter (owns a restaurant) just dropped by with Xmas left-overs .. seems my trips to Coleworths will be rarities for a coupla weeks .. lol!
Mervyn!
Woops, forgot, Rickman was in Robin Hood.
meh, Men In Tights in still a great movie!
On those dark and stormy, nefarious times that I had to fly cattle class, I managed to perfect the fine art of arriving at the boarding gate dead last, and always before any loudspeaker announcements.
Apart from giving me an obscene sense of self-satisfaction, this was to avoid having to queue, and so that I could walk to my seat unhindered by the travelling bogans.. you know, those who obstruct the walkway with their bulk and baggage, as well as walk at a pace that suggests they were the only people on Earth, and who take 5 minutes to put their oversized carry-ons in the overhead locker, blocking the aisle, happily unhindered by any common concern for others.
How TF is this relevant?
Well, hopefully I am the last Cat to wish everyone a Buon Natale!
Yes, even Montz and Eddles, but especially to all those that have made this blog the most interesting, amusing and informative site on the net. You all know who you are.
Lastly… dear Dover, take a bow.
Always escalate.
Happy Christmas to all at Catallaxy.
Been farfing around using iphone ‘cos my Macbook Air shat itself then number one son surprised me with a new laptop from Santa.
Summer has finally arrived and heading for 32 – thank you Baby Jesus for global warming.
Life is good – cold beer, cold G & T and then some flash red wine with the lamb and turkey. Then finish off the day with some good scotch.
Today is for family and fun – even the new puppy is enjoying it. Fuck the cholesterol and the liver, they can look after themselves after Boxing Day ‘cos they’ll get hammered then too.
I sincerely hope Santa dropped off some XL Cottontails for Britnee to wear under her frock on Christmas Day.
Be sad for drips to show on the clogs whilst out on the piss with her” friends”.
They use ballot on demand. When you go to vote the ballot is printed then and there. The problem found was that on the day many of the ballots were printing a 19 inch image onto a 20 inch ballot paper. Once they filled out their ballot and returned to have their ballot tabulated, the tabulator was configured to read a 20 inch image on a 20 inch ballot paper. The difference caused the tabulator errors, the delays in processing ballots, those that couldn’t be tabulated went into door 3 to be duplicated and then tabulated later, the long lines, and so on.
Pretty clear this judge was going to make it as difficult as he could for Lake to win. The law doesn’t require intentionality. All it requires is evidence that the problems were sufficient to change the result.
Just on the story that the Trains were battling QGL over a gas pipeline running thru their property:
Legislation was passed c. 1909 giving Oil & Gas Companies automatic right of way over any property in Qld.
So, it’s likely to be misdirection.
Turducken
Always circles back to Frollickingmole with the superb effort a couple of months ago, in which the internet was won.
Still makes me chortle
A Bill to scrap the Military Vaccine Mandate passed the House 350/80 and is expected to pass in the Senate easily and be signed into law by Biden.
The reason is probably a drastic shortfall in fresh blood … uh …I mean, New recruits.
Thanks Dover. Still, this doesn’t obscure the testing prior to the election to see if the machines were working. The same conditions I mentioned would apply, no?
A very merry Christmas to all Cats. We have had an interesting one. Family arrived from Sydney in good time and we had a great Christmas Eve. That is, until about midnight when swarms of little flying bugs infested the house (we are in rural NSW). We think 20 year old grandson left lights and doors open as he took the Gator almost 1km to front gate where he could connect to the internet. 18 year old granddaughter, who was also apparently awake, discovered black masses of them, panicked (she is a city girl) and woke her mother, who promptly woke husband and I. Granddaughter refused to go back into bedroom in her part of the house (although there were no bugs there) and slept in TV room. Good for her – I couldn’t get back to sleep until about 3am.
Fight erupted between brother and sister (par for the course) today which has only partially quietened. Par for the course amongst families, I guess, on this most special family day. At least we had a great traditional lunch.
Eddles
Look at you, ignoring Christmas like it didn’t happen and going straight to the punch line.
Oh, and it took 2 hours this morning (before preparing Christmas lunch) to get most of the bugs off the ceilings and walls.
I was going to send her a cheque but apparently the government has already done it for me. Better hope they find the right Commissioner for this one and it doesn’t turn into a Fitzgerald Inquiry.
There was testimony that the 19/20 inch issue happened in 2020 and the 2018 midterms too! But apparently they were conducting an investigation into the matter. All BS.
This judge was obviously compromised as I suspect the AZ supreme court judges will be too.
It seems that the test involved a 20 inch image. So the question is how did a 19 inch ballot image get into the system across multiple sites on election day? Very curious.
A Marie-Rose sauce should fix that. And perhaps a white serving platter.
They caught out the Maricopa Election Co-Director on the different ballot image size on Day 1 when they inspected a random selection of the ballots. He acted surprised but then on Day 2 he declared they knew about this early on and were now conducting a root cause analysis. So he perjured himself. This was how they spiked the election day vote.
Dover, it seems likely to me that the image was always the same, but ‘twas the paper that changed. The printer then, looking at it’s 20inch input and its 19in paper feed, resized the image to fit the output. Even my printer at home is “smart” enough to do that.
And from what I’ve read, while it had happened before, it had happened in one or two locations, occasionally. Probably due to running out of
paper and using the incorrect paperas back up. It would be interesting to find out how two different types of paper were on hand.
The scale of this was something else. It’s almost as if someone was aware of the issue and, instead of trying to stop it, made darn sure that it reoccurred at just the right locations.
We know that the vast majority of locations that it occurred were expected to vote majority red, but it would be great to see a heat map showing all locations. Here’s betting the very few non-red-voting locations reveal much about the route travelled by the oerosn who delivered the bad paper.
Here’s the story of Scott Morrison as Prime Minister…..
Fell for a deliberately planned Labor trap with Christine Holgate and Cartier watches, and then proceeded to ridicule, shame, and smear Christine Holgate in federal parliament for no good reason. He should have apologised to Holgate inside and outside parliament but refused to do so.
Fell for a deliberately planned Labor trap with Brittaneee da Knickerless, and then proceeded to fawn over her, in doing so jeopardising a criminal trial by apologising to Higgins in federal parliament for a crime that was simply an allegation (and remains an allegation) and had not been tested in court, and now, because of the likes of Morrison, will never be heard in court.
Scott Morrison – unlamented and unmissed.
Ahh, but his idea differs from mine because he added, There are too many firearms in our community.
McClown just worked out how badly it would currently end if the population at large decided that they’d had enough.
Shorter Dover and Crumble:
“Democrats cheat, Republican can’t understand election results
“
I am housesitting for my sister and just went for a swim in her pool. It was heavenly. Today here in Sydney is a gloriously hot summer’s day. The sky is blue and the sun is hot. I swam in the pool and then lay on the ground on my towel, soaking up the sun on my skin, it was delicious, and I was reminded of my adolescence, of those long hot summer days when I’d go to the beach with friends and we’d all lie and sizzle in the sun in our bikinis, we’d rub coconut oil all over our bodies (I miss that smell), spend hours in the water, and then when it was time to leave we’d buy potato scallops and a can of passiona and sit, eat and drink and wave to the boys. It was a nicer time, when the only shops to be found at beaches were a milk bar and a fish and chip shop. Now, Sydney’s beaches like Bondi and Bronte are fully of trendy and expensive cafes and restaurants, but, but, at least the beaches remain egalitarian.
Fair assessment.
Rabbi Tuckman saying to Robin and his Merry men, “Fegolars?”.
Still funny.
He was particularly bad. You could see what Waffleworth saw in him. Perrottet next.
I am so much in debt, I can start a Government.
—
A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor’s office. After his check-up, the doctor called the wife into his office alone. He said “Your husband is suffering from a very severe stress disorder. If you don’t do the following, your husband will surely die”. “Each morning, fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant at all times. For lunch make him a nutritious meal. For dinner prepare an especially nice meal for him. Don’t burden him with chores. Don’t discuss your problems with him, it will only make his stress worse. No nagging. And most importantly, make love with your husband several times a week. If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely”. On the way home, the husband asked his wife. “What did the doctor say?” “He said you’re going to die” she replied.
—
I bumped into my ex in town earlier. I said “How’s your new bloke?” “He’s twice the man you are” she sneered “what about your new woman?” I said “Thankfully she’s half the woman you are…?”
My wife and I were happy for 20 years. Then we met.
– Rodney Dangerfield
After the last couple of years, I suspect anyone who owns firearms will be clinging on to them for dear life…
I could be wrong though, maybe there will be a new NFA put in and everything will be banned.
Maybe 99% of Australians will hand everything in without a word…
Perrotet will get a fair smacking.
But he will blame everyone else like the fuckhead he is
They moved too far to right BB. You could write the review for them right now.
Not enuf wimmin for starters
How about something uplifting, Adeste Fideles by Pavarotti. Never fails to bring a tear to the eye.
Also, a particular favourite Little Drummer Boy.
I admit to being shocked and depressed about the situation in the US. Horrified actually. I really do hope that they can beat this cabal of billionaires, crooks and marxists but I’m not counting on it.
Thanks, mate – never heard the song before, either.
And, because it is his Birthday today.
Rabz, I am so happy you liked it!
It has always been one of my favourite songs. The film clip is so much fun also.
Partridge (like most collectivists at the time) was a notorious anti-government kook.
Until they all became the man, man. Soft targets all round. Much like the Celibate Rifles (and Damo, RIP) laying into Eastern Suburbs eighties/nineties yuppies*.
*Now there’s a term I bet most of us haven’t seen or heard for a while … 🙂
So KD at 10.30. you’re not a supporter of the housorangacheat then.
Another excellent rendition of Little Drummer Boy.
I miss Boney M.
young upwardly mobile professional person
Pretty Pictures … 🙂
Featuring Koppes and Ploog of the Church.
the garden’s full of furniture, the house is full of plants
Next year’s Christmas Display.
No, the expert witness on Day 1 said that when he inspected the randomly selected ballots there were multiple ballots on 20in paper but the image measured 19in and you could see the printer margin lines on the ballot which shouldn’t be visible if the image was 20in. He said this could only occur if the configuration had been adjusted either by script or manually.
Can’t beat the Pogues on this day of the year.
Fairytale Of New York (1987)
And the bells are ringing out for Christmas Day!
An erstwhile mate once claimed he was at local fast food restaurant chain where he had the misfortune to overhear an American complaining loudly to the counter staff that his Coke “wasn’t syrupy enough”. Apparently this is because Coke in the US is more “syrupy” than the Coke you (may be stupid enough) to buy here.
Anyone care to elaborate – JC, areff? Is “syrupy” Coke an actual thing? 😕
I think Coke in the US is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, whereas here it is sucrose. I definitely prefer the Aussie version.
The IGA was open and I bought my eight cans of insect spray.
Also a packet of mylanta. *Brrrrrp*. I want my stomach to live in harmony with what goes down my throat, too.
After the last couple of years, I suspect anyone who owns firearms will be clinging on to them for dear life…
I was in a gun shop 18months ago, there seemed to be plenty of newbie’s buying their first guns. I can’t see anything that has happened since that would convince them that what they did was a bad idea.
Would be interesting to see what the last two years of shit did to the number of licensed firearm owners, and the number of unlicensed firearm owners!
Me either until you got me to go back a page and check it out. Ripper single. I had to go look Tal Bachman up. Thanks Pogria!
The US is fucked. Any so called democracy which cheats someone like Kari out and cheats someone like fetterman in is toast.
Yes, I just bought some more ammo yesterday and I was wondering how long I would have left to be allowed to use it.
The US is fucked. Any so called democracy which cheats someone like Kari out and cheats someone like fetterman in is toast.
They sure as shit don’t like integrity, achievement and excellence when it comes to appointing leaders.
Like I’ve said before someone like Brezhnev had accomplishments in the war and as a metallurgist
Had a glorious day at the beach here in Melbourne, water just starting to warm and a pleasantly hot sun to laze in. Coupled with good company and it was an excellent way to while away an afternoon.
Hope everyone has enjoyed Christmas
I stand corrected. That’s clown-world level stuff.
Yes lovely Australian summer day here in the melbourne exurbs.
Bruce of Newcastle,
happy you liked it also. It has been one of my favourite songs since it first came out. Had it played for me a few times also. 😉
I have always fancied a pair of Angel Wings and a leather flying helmet!
A bit of Pretenders.
2000 Miles (1983)
Today I had snow falling at the Cafe, at least it looked like it. But no, they were breadcrumbs from a cockie above me that were raining down.
“The US is fucked. “
It isn’t just the US, it’s the West. In the last week we’ve witnessed the dystopian scene of a Christian woman in the UK arrested for standing and praying silently outside an abortion clinic. Watching the chilling footage was, for me, a clear sign that the West isn’t just rotten to the core, that core is now disintegrating. And if we’re arming Ukraine to the teeth so that Ukraine can become like us in the West, so they can abort babies at nine months, so that they can groom children into the LGBTQI+ cult, so that they can mutilate children by cutting off their breasts and penises, so that they can demonise Christianity and to a lesser extent Judaism, I say NO. We have zero moral superiority over Putin. It isn’t like it was forty years ago when we had giants like Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. Now we have the Sniffer, Mini Macron, Sunak and co, all controlled by the WEF and the Nazi Klaus Schwab. I don’t think for one moment Vladimir Putin is a nice guy, he is not, but he doesn’t feign being something he’s not like the pervert in the White House does.
H B Bearsays:
December 25, 2022 at 4:10 pm
Scott Morrison – unlamented and unmissed.
No. Green Kean is next – thanks to Perrottet’s abject stupidity!
And the other thing about Britain is the establishment have rendered Brexit meaningless and are spitting in the collective face of Britons. Looks look King Tampon I is pretty ok with that. Thought BloJob was bad? Someone even worth comes along. Same here, same in France.
Now we have the Sniffer, Mini Macron, Sunak and co, all controlled by the WEF and the Nazi Klaus Schwab.
Indeed, and Elbow who’ll do whatever the fuck they tell him to do!!
FFS, is there any allegedly famous imbecile in this country who wasn’t “blessed” with a yoof as a houso or in a “poverty stricken background”*?
Stolen valour, come on down.
The four Yorkshiremen spring to mind …
*See Plibbers’ tales of woe growing up in the Shire.
miltonfsays:
December 25, 2022 at 4:37 pm
I lived in the US for a number of years during the late 70’s. They were the best of times. No way would I entertain a return visit!
Australian Crawl didn’t have much time for them either. “. …garden full of furniture, house is full of plants …”. One of the best lines ever along with, “ … hope is up for trousers down/ with the hostess on the business flight”. Great stuff.
the Trains were battling QGL over a gas pipeline running thru their property
I was told today that there are other problems out that way. Gangs of feral pig shooters (the shooters AND the pigs) go out there, trespass, do whatever they like and shoot at people who remonstrate. The coppers don’t want to know about it. Might explain some of the paranoia and neighbours coming over to see what’s happening when they hear gunshots. Some farmers allegedly don’t want to spend nights on their properties.
An apt description of Democracy.
No way would I entertain a return visit!
Think twice about that, JMH. After leaving Nanny State Australia, especially the bit polluted by the presence of the Danfilth, America, even with its problems and corrupt Establishment, is still a joy.
Example: here, 5kph over the limit gets you a fine. There, where the speed limit says 70mph, you keep up with traffic doing 85, pass a highway patrol car on the median and …. no one slows down.
And another thing, unlike our compliant, convict-and-guard descended society, a surprising number of Americans staunchly believe in their Constitution and its various amendments. It’s most refeshing.
I’m planning on heading back in May and counting the days until. May well be a loooooooong stay this time.
We solved our insect problem by enclosing out elevated deck area with insect screening.
Sorry “our” not “out”
The coppers don’t want to know about it.
Coppers have so many soft targets courtesy of endless rules and regulations, they end up being geared towards policing the shit out of the law abiding, instead of policing the shit out of the lawless.
I’m a big (JC level) optimist when it comes to the US. History suggests all empires have a use-by date but the US has a high capacity for self regeneration. It is certainly in a down phase when it comes to governance.
All of the ten senior members of the Board of Directors of the company were called into the chairman’s office one by one until only Bob, the junior member, was left sitting outside. Finally it was his turn to be summoned. He entered the office to find the chairman and the ten other directors seated around a table. He was invited to join them, which he did. As soon as he had sat down, the chairman turned to Bob. Looking him squarely in the eye, with a stern voice, asked “Have you ever had sex with Mrs. Fox, my secretary?” “Oh, no sir, positively not!” Bob replied. “Are you absolutely sure?” asked the chairman. “Honest, I’ve never been close enough to even touch her!” “You’d swear to that?” “Yes, I swear I’ve never had sex with Mrs. Fox anytime, anywhere”. “Good, then YOU fire her!!”
I looked up my family tree and found out I was the sap.
– Rodney Dangerfield
I’m planning on heading back in May and counting the days until. May well be a loooooooong stay this time.
If you’re in Danisbad, as good as marking off the days until the end of a prison sentence!
Thanks, Bon.
My favourite ever Christmas tune. Just magnificent.
Oi Knuckles
Your a reject Kraut who couldn’t swim back.
Frolich Weinachten everyone
Can’t let that one go!
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) – Trial Before Pilate
I love the polished helmets. I saw the stage version at the Capitol Theatre in the seventies once. Jon English got hung, for about the 500th time. Awesome production.
(Jon English was Judas and was hung by the neck in every performance. Great guy!)
I’m a big (JC level) optimist when it comes to the US. History suggests all empires have a use-by date but the US has a high capacity for self regeneration.
Indeed.
Via Custard: The Brazilian Revolution will not be televised.
Had a lovely lunch with most of the extended family, no controversy, just good food, a glass and half of prosecco and pleasant conversation.
Nothing like new babies and small children to keep things gently humming.
The latter is fast earning himself a well deserved reputation as the “enfant terrible” of televisual conservative opinion.
Highly recommended.
Here’s also wishing the Steyn a speedy recovery. The man has inflicted so much irreparable damage on collectivist idiots (BIRM) over the last two decades that his impact is unquantifiable.
For him to go out now (or any time soon) Cats, would be a tragedy.
Have to do this one.
Jon English – Heaven On Their Minds (1972)
Vale.
Example: here, 5kph over the limit gets you a fine. There, where the speed limit says 70mph, you keep up with traffic doing 85, pass a highway patrol car on the median and …. no one slows down.
In my world of 0600 and 0700 starts in Vicco speed limits are optional.
areffsays:
December 25, 2022 at 6:21 pm
Not happening, areff. I would rather sweat out what Dan of the dead has in store for Victorians over the next four years than take the chance of entering the US alive and exiting in a body bag. I have zero faith in the US’s ability under Brandon to keep their own citizens safe, let alone mouthy visitors like me!
Bruce this version is better-amazing scenery too
The one thing that could finish the US would be the loss of the USD as the world reserve currency. Nothing even looks like coming close at the moment but you would never say never.
China is actively de-dollarising (selling U.S. bonds and cash reserves)
Other countries will eventually follow suit, most likely the BRICS nations first.
Once this happens, the U.S. will experience massive inflation as all their exported debt comes right on home…
Incredible what is happening in France.
Oh yes, Carl Anderson was awesome. Seriously good.
Damned for All Time (1973)
I like the hats and the tanks.
Well – it had to happen. My cousin, whose about the only person on this planet that I’m related to that I would ever semi-willingly communicate with again (given she was one of the few people to stand by me in a very difficult year 12) has texted me (after the Christmas wishes) to advise that my bloody brother is still in hospital.
Rodent’s will not be given, nor will forgiveness be extended.
The benefits of not being (or claiming to be) a Christian.
Watching it now Bruce. Thrilling and moving.
Plasmamortar at 6:51 – certainly an option. Like Australians they have been living beyond their means for years. Lots of capacity for local production and a huge domestic market if required. Agreed their national finances are not good.
And buying lots of gold.
But the Chinese need export markets, or they die. So I don’t see the CCP divorcing themselves from their primary markets in the US and Europe. And they’ll need USD’s for payments. The USD looks safe.
He is – and the really absurd thing is that he does not even pretend not to be.
The Standartenführer indeed.
However, BoN may just have twigged – The Standartenführer is actually a Vogon sleeper agent who has turned up on this planet seventy year too late and has had to quickly try to re-disguise himself – and funnily enough, it isn’t working.
(Cue spookee muzak …) Talk about Lizard People.
When I say living beyond their means I really mean Chinese demand has resulted in a return on sale of resources far in excess of what would otherwise be expected. Chinese stimulus got us out of what should have been the last recession and we are still heading towards one trillion in national debt.
Yep, like our iron ore, there is no real alternative. For now anyway.
Re. a return trip to the US. I forgot to mention, the joint is far too unstable, on a number of fronts. At this stage of life, I’m not really a willing risk-taker.
Rabz,
you don’t have to be a non-Christian to not give a rats about family members.
I left my family, brothers and sisters, behind a long time ago. The only person I looked out for was my mother. Even the nieces and nephews are not on my radar.
Would you hold the Renminbi over the US Dollar? Reserve status is conferred on the nation with the biggest guns and the place which gives you at least a 90% chance of getting your money out of there when you want it. It’s not for want trying – China and Russia along with a few other countries have been trying to reduce the Greenback’s reserve status since the 90s and it goes nowhere. Look, there could be a reduction of the Dollar’s international as we move towards de-globalization, but not by much. The Greenback is preeminent. I measure my net worth in US Dollars because that’s all that counts. 🙂 Gold is gay, which is why Cronkite likes it so much.
The best? The very best. I can’t imagine a better time in the US with crime at record levels in the big cities, NYC flat on its back, Carter as president and the Soviet Union muscling their way around the world, inflation at record levels and the misery index at an all time high. 70s was a great period in the US.
The best of times.
This is apropos of the following earlier comment
So he perjures himself, misrepresents the situation, and the judge whistles past the graveyard in the judgement talking about ‘degrees of precision’.
Sounds better in the original Deutsch …
“Wir brauchen einen neuen Gesellschaftsvertrag, weil wir im Einklang mit der Natur leben müssen, ich sage es dir” 😕
It’s not as clear cut as that. The best way to describe it is that China needs its exports to equal what it imports (maintain a trade balance). Sure, nations like Australia, US etc can run trade deficits for a very long time because foreigners are prepared to fund the capital account. Trade deficit = capital account surplus.
There’s also a very good argument in economics that countries which export capital do so because domestic investors find that a superior marginal return on capital is found elsewhere. Japan’s return on capital in anemic for example. The US return on capital is the highest in the world and the liquidity available to exit an investment is incredibly high.
Nations with capital surpluses can be very weak.
If China opened up its capital account, the wall of money wanting to exit would be of tsunami proportions.
The problem with China atm is that Xi is an ideological purist and not a pragmatist.
The hubris and, somewhat paradoxically, the paranoia evident in his worldview can lead to decisions that are not in China’s best interests (such as pursuing zero covid for nearly 3 years).
Some would say he’s not a rational actor.