Open Thread – New Year’s Weekend 2023


The Dreamer, Casper Friedrich, 1840


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miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 7:30 am

Sitting by the pool, great weather, beer in hand, not in Australia!!

Pretty good!

sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
January 6, 2023 7:34 am

Not to mention the compression toll on my lower back vertebrae due to the crap roads.

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 7:36 am

I just worked out I’ve trucked four thousand tonne of grain and travelled five thousand kilometres this harvest so far.

yes saw some of that action driving out to Nhill- a very fine sight indeed. The real economy- not some pubic serpent shiny bum in canbra with a ‘degree’ from the ANU

Anchor What
Anchor What
January 6, 2023 7:41 am

Looks (and sounds) like Brandon’s handlers have gotten him on a new formula of Monkey Gland Juice.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 7:42 am

I’m looking at the pool, mug of coffee warming my hands, wondering how I’m going to keep two small children entertained in the cold weather.

In Australia. In summer.

Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 7:45 am

Katie Hopkins again.

You are NOT allowed to talk about this.

She is absolutely brilliant at articulating what is going on and what has been and is being done to us.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 7:48 am

*Community Service Announcement*

Twelfth Night.

Decorations down guys.

Next stop – Pancake Day, 21 Feb.

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 7:52 am
P
P
January 6, 2023 7:53 am

Funeral Mass of Benedict XVI from the Vatican | January 5, 2023
Prompted at 53:45
https://youtu.be/XOA2m3_9t6s?t=3225

Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 7:55 am

There is plenty of evidence that it’s seriously harmful, in many respects.

Despite the absence of evidence, governments want us to mask up again. Why?

My mother is in hospital at the moment and every time I visit I’m looking at faceless people. It’s compulsory for visitors to wear a mask and they religiously hand me one when I go in and I pretend to put it on. They are reasonably good about leaving me alone when I’m with my mother, who wants to see me, not a blank face, and I feel seriously sorry for them having to work full days in conditions similar in terms of breathing as going down a mine shaft.

rosie
rosie
January 6, 2023 7:57 am

Yesterday we excurted to Melbourne museum again, they have a decent cafe, a playground for under 5s (you have to pre book for a fifty minute session) plus all day underground parking for $10 if you are a museum member.
Walk down to Myer precinct, lunch at QV which is quite an attractive complex, the Myer windows were awful, celebrating Disney, but GS liked the Lion King, then we wandered through to where Daimaru used to be, to the shot tower and the giant clock, finished with a visit to the Lego shop.
Melbourne was packed, it was good to see.

Dot
Dot
January 6, 2023 8:02 am

WOW, JUST WOW!

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/treason-gen-mark-milley-hid-nuke-codes-trump-holding-secret-calls-china-armed-taliban-80-billion-us-weapons/

TREASON: Gen. Mark Milley Hid Nuke Codes from Trump – Held Secret Calls with Chinese Defense Officials – Then Surrendered to Taliban and Armed Them with $80 Billion in US Weapons

It seems that President Trump had zero chance of fighting the deep state.

Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 8:03 am

This might have been put up before but it’s pretty good. Victor Davis Hanson.

The Coup We Never Knew

132andBush
132andBush
January 6, 2023 8:04 am

Not to mention the compression toll on my lower back vertebrae due to the crap roads.

Obviously driving too fast.
Slow down from your normal 30km/hr to 15*.

*This may work.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 6, 2023 8:08 am

Indolent – I’ve just read this one.

Tim Robbins Says COVID Has Become A “New Religion” (6 Jan)

According to actor Tim Robbins, people who refuse to let go of pandemic restrictions have formed a belief system that has all the indications of a “new religion”. … “It’s exactly like a religion, it’s dogmatic, it’s absolute – if you do not believe in it you are condemned to hell, maybe this is a new religion,” he added.

The irony is that he’s as lefty as they come, even in Hollywood, and has been a climate bedwetter forever, which is even more of a religion than Covid nuttiness. I wonder if this will red-pill him?

Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 8:09 am
miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 8:10 am

Milley filth is another example of what running uni bludge courses brings- BA in politics, MA in international relations.

Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 8:11 am
Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 8:15 am
Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 8:16 am
Top Ender
Top Ender
January 6, 2023 8:19 am

Aus. War Memorial uses woke pronouns in ceremonies commemorating the fallen:

Daily Mail

Leon L.
Leon L.
January 6, 2023 8:20 am

From Sundance at the conservative treehouse: Day 3 of speaker voting.

What caught my eye in this was a graphic from Fox News Research.

Closer Look – Lobbying Congress.
1986: $61 million spent, avg $113,700 per lawmaker.
2016: $3.1 billion spent, avg $5.8million per lawmaker.

The business of politics.

In modern politics not a single member of the House of Representatives or Senator writes a law, or puts pen to paper to write out a legislative construct.

This simply doesn’t happen.

Over the past several decades a system of constructing legislation has taken over Washington DC that more resembles a business operation than a legislative body.

So clearly, politicians act in the interests of their shareholders, not their electors.
Almost certainly happening outside the USA and given the last three years, probably all across the western world.
Voting a different way will not fix this problem and probably explains the SFLs.
The conflict of interest in government, including politicians, public servants and the judiciary need to be exposed and eliminated.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 8:27 am

All good, rosie.

I just love the ebb and flow of the Church calendar.

Have a friend who keeps hers up all year – so much stuff she doesn’t know where to store it! Extreme Christmas.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 6, 2023 8:29 am

Cows with guns!

Palestinian Gov’t Daily Charges Israel with ‘Training and Recruiting’ Spy Cows (5 Jan)

So far they haven’t said anything about chickens with choppers.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 8:32 am

Amusing to watch all the Reeeeee!-ing about the Speaker election. Unlike the Dem Borg who must vote with the herd, the Republicans are a bit more individual and free-wheeling.

It isn’t x’s “turn”, not is it a done deal.

This is a Good Thing.

Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 8:34 am
Top Ender
Top Ender
January 6, 2023 8:39 am

Victoria Police is fighting for numbers with almost one in nine officers leaving since 2019 and the force struggling for recruits.

It can be revealed 1912 sworn members out of a 16,700-strong workforce retired or resigned in the three-and-a-half years to July.

Although overall officer numbers have increased in that period, the departures and recruitment issues are a major challenge for command.

The Herald Sun has been told many of those who left did so as a result of enforcing draconian Covid rules, such as children not being allowed on playgrounds.

While the vast majority are rank and file members, 530 are of sergeant level and above, showing the force has lost thousands of years of experience.

Sixty per cent had reached retirement age or finished because of ill health.

The alarming departures are combined with “very few recruits” training at the academy and a dire number of applications to join Victoria Police.

Senior police are aware Covid rules left many officers feeling “wondering what they were doing”.

Victoria Police has just launched a recruitment drive to try to gain 2400 members in the next two years, following an attrition rate rise from 3.6 per cent last year to 4.7 per cent this year.

At some stations, managers have emailed all staff pleading with them to “speak to their peers and encourage them to transfer” to their station.

“We are starting to feel the pinch with staffing,” a memo for the Whitehorse, Monash, Boroondara and Manningham areas reads.

“After Monday’s gazette the number of unmatched vacancies is about 34 positions across the division. With very few recruits in the Academy the only way to address this issue is for every ED1 member to speak to their peers and encourage them to transfer into ED1.”

But officers told the Herald Sun it was a “solution” that only “robbed Peter to pay Paul”.

The Herald Sun is also aware of some policing departments having to reduce hours due to “unprecedented” staff shortages.

“Covid took a massive toll on the force – we were not only dragged from pillar to post, manning state and regional borders to being thrust at protest after protest, but then we were expected to stop toddlers playing on slides and grannies sitting on benches in the park,” one senior constable, who left last year, said.

“So many of us just became disillusioned with the job. It’s not what we came into policing for and we felt let down by our superiors, who were just toeing these ridiculous government edicts.”

Many officers are believed to have transferred to other state police forces, with Queensland being a popular choice.

Herald-Sun

Crossie
Crossie
January 6, 2023 8:42 am

rosie says:
January 6, 2023 at 8:02 am
I’m keeping mine up a little longer, I’m expecting to see nativity scenes in Italy until the end of January.

When I was a child Christmas decorations in church remained until Candlemas though we took ours down on 6th January.

Black Ball
Black Ball
January 6, 2023 8:50 am

yes saw some of that action driving out to Nhill- a very fine sight indeed. The real economy- not some pubic serpent shiny bum in canbra with a ‘degree’ from the ANU

Indeed miltonf. On the train home from Bendigo last night, 4 properties had the headers going through the night. Obviously a few crops were affected by the floods but reports are that most will get a profit, dependant on the quality.

Dot
Dot
January 6, 2023 8:52 am

LOL

Gaetz votes for TRUMP to be US House Speaker.

lotocoti
lotocoti
January 6, 2023 8:54 am

I just worked out I’ve trucked four thousand tonne of grain and travelled five thousand kilometres this harvest so far.

How many bajillion women and children have drowned
from the sea level rise that has caused?

Johnny Rotten
January 6, 2023 8:55 am

Inflation & the Tricks of the Trade

From Armstrong Economics –

“Our inflation models came in at 32% for 2022. This does not include things like paper clips to bring down the entire average. This number is the basic core inflation that consists of food, energy, and transportation. We do not include housing values which rose about 11% in 2022, but because that is the national average, it understates places such as Texas and Florida and over states California and areas such as Chicago.

Our index attempts to reflect the national core inflation of things that most people use. The largest increase was obvious fuel between gasoline and diesel used in trucking and homes averaging 65%+, eggs were up nearly 50%, flour rose by 25%, cooking oil 23%, Butter was up 35%, Chicken by 14%, and Rice by 18%.

The more things you throw in, the lower the inflation rate. The national average rise in rental rates was 7.8%, in Florida it was 8.5%, and in NYC 1.5% where controlled.

If we broaden the list to include rents and coffee, which was up 15%, we can bring it down to about 27%. The Fed broaden the scope so widely that the rate come down to about 7%.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/inflation/inflation-the-tricks-of-the-trade/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 6, 2023 9:03 am

Interesting data:

The Public Transit Debacle: Billions More Dollars To Fund Fewer & Fewer Riders (4 Jan)

The thing behind it is that over half of people intend to keep social distancing and therefore avoid public transport. It might also be the crime issue, but that was in the questions it appears.

At the same time the WEF wants to ban private car ownership entirely, for the planet. Which the whole health scare stuff is undermining by making the proles are too terrified to take public transport.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 9:07 am

The irony is that he’s as lefty as they come, even in Hollywood, and has been a climate bedwetter forever, which is even more of a religion than Covid nuttiness.

Perhaps he doesn’t like competing religions? There’s only a finite amount of faith capital out there to divvy up.

Robbins – you think that finally someone has woken up, only to watch them switch to another dream.

Cassie of Sydney
January 6, 2023 9:08 am

Hmm, so the ISIS scum were dumped out west, dumped way way out west. No, not in urban western Sydney Labor electorates but rather in a rural National electorate, the electorate of Riverina, currently held by Mr Personality of the Year, Michael McCormack.

What sayeth Mr McCormack?

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 9:10 am

Gaetz votes for TRUMP to be US House Speaker.

Florida Man strikes again! This is what makes America great. 😀

Black Ball
Black Ball
January 6, 2023 9:11 am

Look to the Herald Sun website for an article to share, 2 headlines which I will reproduce here, no article.
“Harry’s cocaine admission; new Diana death details” and
“How Prince Harry lost his virginity”
I think I threw up in my mouth a little

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
January 6, 2023 9:15 am

TE’s link:

Of course the jacks are leaving en masse/have left en masse.

It’s turned into a policy enforcement arm of government that targets the average punter rather than shit people who need to be kept away from normal people.

Added to that, if you fold in SlugGate, Pell and the Red Shirts for direct political interference by the braid it’s perfect indictment of what used to be a feared (by crooks) organisation. Just appalling.

The wonder is that people are actually sitting around tables with their arms in the air going ‘How could this have happened?’

I may have mentioned this over the past couple of years, but the reason a) jacks are leaving and b) nobody else is joining is because enforcement of health policy is NOT POLICE WORK, and that well has now been poisoned so badly that I wouldn’t be surprised if they start recruiting Poms and Kiwis as they have in WA.

Dickheads running the show. Dickheads all.

bons
bons
January 6, 2023 9:15 am

Sorghum seeding commenced on the 2nd. I would have preferred the 1st – dream on.
For the first time we hired two Gatton students during the stand down.
We normally grab local young folk but they must all be on cultural exchange programs in Bali this year.
They are most impressive young people. If only they were representative of our Ed system product.
I have enjoyed watching them beating-up my daughter for her antedeluvian farming practices. Righteousness of youth.
One is a Thai, so we had her home for Christmas.
She claimed that women have always taken the lead in Thai agriculture. Passionate about keeping foreign entities out of Thai primary production and equally passionate about retaining families on the land.
Coops are a big deal supporting family agriculture. They have what sounds like forceful legislation preventing the coops being taken over or corporatised by local big men and pollies. Our Dept of Ag would soon fix that democratic nonsense.

Top Ender
Top Ender
January 6, 2023 9:17 am

Lady producer of bumper stickers says:

Western Australia is the most common address of those buying stickers, and the most popular sticker is “Don’t Welcome Me to My Own Country”.

Quadrant

Black Ball
Black Ball
January 6, 2023 9:18 am

Cassie, is there a chance that Perrotet will use this ISIS bride shyte to his advantage? Or will I see myself out for suggesting that?

alwaysright
alwaysright
January 6, 2023 9:19 am

Dickheads running the show. Dickheads all.

This is not limited to the Stasivic.

Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 9:19 am

ATO vows to crack down on glam ‘influencers’ and their ‘gifts’
The ATO is targeting Australia’s multimillion-dollar ‘influencer’ industry, vowing to tax social media stars’ ‘gifts’ from companies, make them pay GST, and stamp out bogus deductions

and

“A search of the boat allegedly revealed two intricate concealments of more abalone onboard, the first containing 71 freshly shucked (removed from shell) and 18 whole abalone,” Mr Parks said. “The second concealment allegedly contained 17 whole abalone, making a total of 116 including the 10 abalone initially presented to officers.”

After being escorted to a nearby boat ramp, officers seized diving gear, the catch, and the boat — thought to be worth approximately $50,000. An image of the boat plastered with a sign reading ‘Seized by Fisheries’ and being towed away were posted to social media.

and

The TGA warns social media influencers and advertisers not to advertise this prescription medicine.

Ozempic is a prescription only medicine and cannot be advertised to the public. Prescription medicines are higher risk medicines and should only be determined as an appropriate treatment option in consultation with a professionally trained medical practitioner, rather than on the basis of consumer advertising.

Advertising to the public is a contravention of the Act that can result in jail time and:

criminal penalties of up to:
$888,000 for individuals
$4.44 million for corporations
civil penalties of up to:
$1.11 million for individuals
$11.1 million for corporations.

the only service 99% of the public service actually provide is enforcing, punishing and fining the public over the myriad rules and regulations they created. government is a behmoth that is intrusive, out of control and not subject to any privacy law restrictions or constraints beyond raking in big bucks to bolster budgets.

Australia is a nation of gaolers.

Cassie of Sydney
January 6, 2023 9:24 am

“Cassie, is there a chance that Perrotet will use this ISIS bride shyte to his advantage? Or will I see myself out for suggesting that?”

Sorry BB, that would require a Liberal leader with some kahones and you’re more likely to find a hen’s tooth than such a Liberal. Last I heard, they’re extinct.

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 9:26 am

What sayeth Mr McCormack?

What I’m sure he won’t say is that Canbra is at war with the Australian people. Cloward-Piven immigration, punitive taxation, sabotaging irrigation and the electricity supply.

What’s this little trick the pubes use where they retire at 54 and get to fleece the taxpayer even more? Something I read somewhere.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 9:27 am

Indolent says:
January 6, 2023 at 7:45 am
Katie Hopkins again.

You are NOT allowed to talk about this.

Thanks for posting this. There may be details that you don’t agree on, but she’s right on the money with media suppression now compared to media coverage back then. And also the dismissal of “lockdown”.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 6, 2023 9:27 am

Oh my.
Talk about testing the waters.

ChatGPT Creator Is in Talks for Tender Offer That Would Value It at $29 Billion

OpenAI, the research lab behind the viral ChatGPT chatbot, is in talks to sell existing shares in a tender offer that would value the company at around $29 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, making it one of the most valuable U.S. startups on paper despite generating little revenue.

Black Ball
Black Ball
January 6, 2023 9:32 am

I think this is worth a share. Hun:

Victorian hospitals have been put on alert over the dangerous bacterial infection invasive group A streptococcus following a spike in cases and the death of two children.

Victoria’s chief health officer and hospital quality watchdog have both issued warnings over the infectious disease caused by the group A streptococcus bacteria

It generally causes mild symptoms such as a sore throat, or strep throat, but in rare cases can cause death via sepsis, as well as flesh-eating bacteria and rheumatic fever which can affect the heart and kidney.

The local warning follows health authorities in the US and UK issuing similar warnings, with a shortage of antibiotics adding to the problem.

At least 30 children have died in the UK from the strep A bacterial infection since September.

Safer Care Victoria said there had been more than 60 children with group A streptococcal infections admitted to the Royal Children’s Hospital in 2022.

This included 30 invasive infections with 21 of those coming since September, the agency said in a warning issued in late December.

Prior to the pandemic the RCH logged about 20 to 25 invasive cases a year.

Monash Children’s Hospital logged 12 cases of invasive group A streptococcal infection in 2022.

Two children were killed by invasive infections in 2022 and “many other children with Group A streptococcal sepsis have required intensive care”, Safer Care said.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton has issued his own warning, saying a recent increase in cases of invasive group A streptococcal disease has been observed in Victoria and internationally.

RCH pediatrician and infectious diseases physician Andrew Steer said the outbreak was “a cause for concern”.

“We have seen an increase in the number of (invasive) cases in the last few months in Victoria,” Professor Steer told ABC radio on Friday.

“Strep throat is incredibly common, it affects around one-quarter of children each year, so it’s a common thing for people to get.

“When it crosses into the blood stream that is actually very, very rare. Despite the number of cases we are seeing at the moment, which is cause for concern, it is still a very, very rare condition and uncommon in our population.”

Professor Steer said it wasn’t clear what was driving the new outbreak, saying increased mixing and weakened immunity brought about by lockdowns could be factors.

Alternatively, a new strain could have emerged although health authorities have no evidence that is the case at this stage, he said.

“It may be because we had a period of time in Victoria in lockdown where we weren’t seeing a lot of strep and so maybe our immune system has forgotten about strep a little bit so we have some decreased immune protection,” he said.

Professor Steer said children who were lethargic, had limb pain and didn’t want to walk or who were running a fever and had a rash should go to their GP.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 6, 2023 9:33 am

Aus. War Memorial uses woke pronouns in ceremonies commemorating the fallen:

First the proposal to commemorate the so-called “Frontier Wars, now this,.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
January 6, 2023 9:35 am

Random observations before hitting the road for the final leg:

1. The Stuart Highway in SA is generally first-rate;
2. Coober Pedy is shit – at first glance appeared to be the Tennant Creek of SA but nicer;
3. There are a series of buttes around Port Augusta covered in wind turbines. Without exaggeration, maybe one in 10 were lazily turning. The rest – nothing; and
4. It will be nice to be able to listen to the radio for a change today.

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 9:41 am

Coober Pedy is shit – at first glance appeared to be the Tennant Creek of SA but nicer

ok haven’t been since 2008 but Calli’s report made it seem quite attractive. Still keen to go back. Visited Coonawarra and Penola this week. Rather good. Love those Stobie poles! If SA ever gets a nuke power station I’ll be very happy. At least they’re talking about it and maybe reality is hitting home (maybe).

Top Ender
Top Ender
January 6, 2023 9:42 am

It will be nice to be able to listen to the radio for a change today.

You’ll probably get nothing but Radio National, Knuckles.

Be the master of your own destiny and make up a USB of preferred music to plug into the sound system.

Tom
Tom
January 6, 2023 9:44 am

Dickheads running the show. Dickheads all.

State police commissioners now see themselves as policy doctrine enforcement officers for the political party in power. Any idea that they work for the public who actually pay their wages has been swept away in a groupthink tsunami.

So (as KD says) they stopped doing police work and wonder why they can’t get recruits.

They’re not very bright.

Next they’ll start misunderstanding why the public are becoming hostile to cops they used to respect.

Derrr.

Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 9:44 am

another comment found on an unrelated video

I was born in Australia 60 years ago, and have watched it slowly turn into a nanny state. We now need 10 licenses to do what our Grandfathers did for free. If we want to go fishing in Australia now we need a car license, drivers license and trailer license to get to the boat ramp. Then we need to pay for the boat license and skippers license to put the boat in the water. Then we need a recreational fishing license to put a line in the water, a net license to throw a cast net, a crayfish license to dive for a crayfish, a fresh water license if we take the boat up a river and an abalone license if we want to catch abalone. Ten licenses just to what Grandad did for free, and of course all these licenses need to be renewed every year which costs $50 per license

.

and

Not to mention the policing of outboard motor sizes, catch quotas, size limits, ramps and access restricted, some no longer allowed, license’s not issued, and the list goes on, while this goes on other nations are poaching our waters, it will come down to fighting for survival if this continues to degrade

the liberals have utterly failed to protect our liberties and freedoms and are stunned mullets as Australia has been turned into a total nanny state

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 9:46 am

Aus. War Memorial uses woke pronouns in ceremonies commemorating the fallen:

First the proposal to commemorate the so-called “Frontier Wars, now this,.

Canbra is a rotten place filled with marxist, entitled parasites. Must admit though I didn’t think that they would have level of evil, hate and stupidity to do this.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 9:49 am

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Kevin McCarthy:

Prior to the first vote on the speakership, Kevin McCarthy reportedly met with the conservative House Freedom Caucus, refused to entertain most of their requests and ended the meeting with “I’ve earned this job. F*** you!”

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 9:50 am

That’s incredible zip.

I go fishing and all I have is a driver’s license. I refuse to get a fishing license and have never been asked to show one. F…’em.

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 9:53 am

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Kevin McCarthy:

Prior to the first vote on the speakership, Kevin McCarthy reportedly met with the conservative House Freedom Caucus, refused to entertain most of their requests and ended the meeting with “I’ve earned this job. F*** you!”

what a turd- politics really does attract the worst. Represent your constituents and serve the people? I don’t think so.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
January 6, 2023 9:53 am

Daily Mail article update on Phelps partner. Quite long but interesting to know her wife is behind Coverse which is a vax victims group. Phelps in her submission said 1 in 1,000 vax had an adverse event. No informed consent as not enough info. Still cant walk properly and cant go out much due to risk of Covid. Worth a read. Her jab was Pfizer.

EXCLUSIVE: Dr Kerryn Phelps’ wife opens up about her devastating Covid vaccine injury for the first time as she reveals the toughest part – and it’s not the horrific side-effects
Kerryn Phelps said she and her wife suffered devastating vaccine side effects
Claimed medical authorities failed to follow up and censored discussion of them
Her wife Jackie Stricker-Phelps said she was still unable to walk without pain

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 9:53 am

feelthebern says:
January 6, 2023 at 9:27 am

Oh my.
Talk about testing the waters.

ChatGPT Creator Is in Talks for Tender Offer That Would Value It at $29 Billion

OpenAI, the research lab behind the viral ChatGPT chatbot, is in talks to sell existing shares in a tender offer that would value the company at around $29 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, making it one of the most valuable U.S. startups on paper despite generating little revenue.

Bern, I’ve always maintained that good technology will live on even thought the entity that introduces it may not. AI will transform the world and we’re going to see vast changes in about 3 years.

Cassie of Sydney
January 6, 2023 9:53 am

“the liberals have utterly failed to protect our liberties and freedoms and are stunned mullets as Australia has been turned into a total nanny state”

I would say that the Lieborals have been active participants in the complete desecration and trashing of our liberties and freedoms. But what would I know, according to Peter Dutton, I’m “extreme right”.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 9:54 am

I just worked out I’ve trucked four thousand tonne of grain and travelled five thousand kilometres this harvest so far.

Keep up the hard work, Farmer Gez.

Many are dependant on you.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:00 am

I just worked out I’ve trucked four thousand tonne of grain and travelled five thousand kilometres this harvest so far.

Make tons of cash, Gez.

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 10:01 am

I would say that the Lieborals have been active participants in the complete desecration and trashing of our liberties and freedoms. But what would I know, according to Peter Dutton, I’m “extreme right”.

Yes and iirc, it was health hazzard who let slip ‘new world order’.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 10:02 am

“the liberals have utterly failed to protect our liberties and freedoms and are stunned mullets as Australia has been turned into a total nanny state”

I would say that the Lieborals have been active participants in the complete desecration and trashing of our liberties and freedoms.

I read an interview with John Howard the other day.

He’s unrepentant.

His biggest regrets are wearing the bullet proof vest at the rally in Sale and bowling that tennis ball straight into the ground in Kashmir.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
January 6, 2023 10:04 am

I wouldn’t be surprised if they start recruiting Poms and Kiwis as they have in WA.

You would think he would starting trawling the violent crimes wings of Victorian prisons. Available, temperamentally in sync with Dan’s requirements, and already familiar with the law.

People whose conscience will not obstruct or cloud their sense of loyalty to the state.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
January 6, 2023 10:07 am

Seen in the comments below the Katie wotsername video…

The best part of being a conspiracy theorist is not having myocarditis

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:09 am

Cassie

Can I make a comment here. Take Victoria.

There have been two quite decent Liberal governments since the early 90s. The Kennett government was great. I didn’t live here at the time, but his legacy lived on for a long time.
On the economic side, he inherited a complete mess from Cain and Kirner and he cleaned up both aisles 7 and 9. He left a surplus that was easily squandered.

Ted Baillieu was a useless flop, but Denis Napthine wasn’t. He was weak in not taking on the public sector unions but he also left a surplus of around $5 billion after inheriting a debt mess too.

We’re currently running a state deficit of around $140 billion and the majority of folks don’t seem to care.

In relative terms the Liberals have done well.

m0nty
m0nty
January 6, 2023 10:09 am

Amusing to watch all the Reeeeee!-ing about the Speaker election. Unlike the Dem Borg who must vote with the herd, the Republicans are a bit more individual and free-wheeling.

It isn’t x’s “turn”, not is it a done deal.

This is a Good Thing.

It is a rare thing to see the “this is fine” meme in real life.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
January 6, 2023 10:10 am

Harry, Prince of Woo..
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/05/prince-harry-diana-new-book-autobiography-spare

In his highly anticipated autobiography, Spare, Prince Harry describes how his sadness over the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, led him to seek help from a woman who “claimed to have ‘powers’” and to be able to relay a message.

“You’re living the life she couldn’t,” Harry says the woman told him. “You’re living the life she wanted for you.”
….
His account of what he says was a conversation with his dead mother is short. Harry, who now lives in Los Angeles, does not say where the meeting happened, or when. He does not name the woman involved.

The prince says he “recognised the high-percentage chance of humbuggery” but went to meet the woman because trusted friends recommended her.

“The minute we sat down together,” he writes, “I felt an energy around her.”

The prince says the woman told him she felt an energy around him too, and said: “Your mother is with you.”

Harry replied: “I know. I’ve felt that of late.”

The woman, he writes, told him his mother was with him “right now”. Harry says his neck grew warm and his eyes watered.

The woman told Harry his mother knew he was “looking for clarity” and “feels your confusion”, and knew he had “so many questions”, and said answers would come in time.

The prince also says the woman told him Diana said: “You’re living the life she couldn’t. You’re living the life she wanted for you.”

Harry, who in his book also describes endless clashes with the press amid trips to London clubs and visits to Africa, Europe and Hollywood, and admits to regular drinking and drug-taking, says he wanted to believe the woman but needed “proof. A sign. Anything.”

One such sign offered by the woman involved a story about an ornament, and a claim that his mother knew about it because “she was there”.

Earlier in the book, Harry recounts how a Christmas tree ornament in the shape of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, was accidentally smashed by his son, Archie.

The woman, he writes, repeated that his mother was there when the incident happened, saying: “Your mother says … something about a Christmas ornament? Of a mother? Or a grandmother? It fell? Broke?”

Harry said: “Archie tried to fix it.”

The woman said: “Your mother says she had a bit of a giggle about that.”

mem
mem
January 6, 2023 10:11 am

Sky News is owned by Comcast with H/O in Rockefeller Building NYC. Apparently the Roberts family is the front-men with 33% ownership, Bill Gates has 10%. Does anyone on the cat know who owns the other shares? I’m interested in who is running the policy direction of its programming and editorial bent

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 10:11 am

Howard was always a Big Government stooge.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:12 am

I would say that the Lieborals have been active participants in the complete desecration and trashing of our liberties and freedoms.

We’re a nanny state. The actual state carrying the record for the longest lockdowns in the West was reelected with a handsome majority. It’s a socialist country.

Howard introduced a more liberal labor market and the public rejected the reform out of hand.

JMH
JMH
January 6, 2023 10:12 am

Roger @ 9.54 am

Keep up the hard work, Farmer Gez.

Many are dependant on you.

Yes.

alwaysright
alwaysright
January 6, 2023 10:13 am

Take Victoria.

Please.
Someone. Anyone.

Hello?

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 6, 2023 10:13 am

“Covid took a massive toll on the force – we were not only dragged from pillar to post, manning state and regional borders to being thrust at protest after protest, but then we were expected to stop toddlers playing on slides and grannies sitting on benches in the park,” one senior constable, who left last year, said.

Too little too late Mr Plod – I said ‘no’ at the time, you could have too. If enough of us had, it would have ended within a week.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 10:14 am

It is a rare thing to see the “this is fine” meme in real life.

Mmm, yes; it’d be so much better for democracy if everyone had the Labour Party’s system, in which unelected, faceless men in bad suits tell the incoming PM who’ll get what.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 10:16 am

Diana would have taken Harry to a psychic if Prince Edward hadn’t run her into the wall of that tunnel.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:16 am

H B Bear says:
January 6, 2023 at 10:11 am

Howard was always a Big Government stooge.

He was not. He was good for the time. He reformed sales tax introducing the GST with the objective of handing the money earned in the states back to them. The fact that it’s been screwed over and turned into an abortion isn’t his fault.

He introduced workchoices which was the biggest labor market reform in a freaking 100 years. He did what he could in the face of massive leftwing opposition. For a time he refused to go with the Kyoto accord until it became impossible.

alwaysright
alwaysright
January 6, 2023 10:17 am

Too little too late Mr Plod – I said ‘no’ at the time, you could have too. If enough of us had, it would have ended within a week.

Consequences of their actions and inactions.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 6, 2023 10:17 am

3 minutes ago
Keep us safe from returning ISIS brides, demands Ley
Joe Kelly
JOE KELLY

The Coalition has called on the government to explain how many ISIS brides will be repatriated and what communities they will be placed in after police arrested a woman, 31, on Thursday for entering the declared zone of al-Raqqa in Syria in 2014.

Federal deputy leader Sussan Ley told Sunrise that Mariam Raad had been charged with serious terror offences less than three months after being returned to Australia, arguing that the government had a series of questions to answer about its policy.

“The first priority of every Australian government is to keep Australians safe and we join the government in that. However, we are talking about a woman who has been charged with serious terror offences,” she said.

“It is not in Australia’s national interest to have had these ISIS brides repatriated.”

Ms Ley said that Ms Raad, who lives in Young, was from “her neck of the woods” in regional NSW.

“So the government has a list of questions to answer. How many ISIS brides are going to be continued to be repatriated (including) those who might potentially be charged like this woman with serious terror offences,” she said.

“What communities are they in? And what assurances can the government give us because at the moment communities are confused and bewildered.”

Ms Ley said that only orphaned children should be returned to Australia.

Senior Labor frontbencher and NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said the arrest of Ms Raad showed the “system was working as it should be.”

“Despite all of the smoke and all of the point scoring, the reality is that there’s been no suggestion that anyone who’s come back here is causing any actual threat to safety. The police are monitoring them all,” he said. “I’m not going to run around and start scaring people.”

There you are, Australia, that’s what Whining William thinks of you!

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 10:20 am

Howard introduced a more liberal labor market and the public rejected the reform out of hand.

work choices never affected me adversely but it was a gift on a platter for your opponents to attack you with. Howard also brought in mass migration, the RET and attacked property rights. And gave Australia Michael Trumble.

m0nty
m0nty
January 6, 2023 10:20 am

Mmm, yes; it’d be so much better for democracy if everyone had the Labour Party’s system, in which unelected, faceless men in bad suits tell the incoming PM who’ll get what.

See also: every political party.

Up to the tenth vote now, LOL.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:21 am

Does anyone really recall the economic state of the country when Howard took over? It felt like a poor country coming over and visiting. The place had been wrecked by the Liars and it will happen again with the cycle recommencing under the Albanian.

The Libs appear to only get elected when the party ends and the clean up has to begin.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 6, 2023 10:21 am

Canbra is at war with the Australian people. Cloward-Piven immigration, punitive taxation, sabotaging irrigation and the electricity supply.

FACTCHECK : TRUE

The key targetsets in war are :

1) the food system
2) the fuel system
3) the electrical system
4) the transport system

ALL are under threat by the Green Movement

The weapons of war include:

1) censorship
2) propaganda
3) movement controls/closed borders/identity documents and checks
4) armed men in the streets and on the borders (yes, men)
5) central control of a ‘war economy’
6) suppression of protest and dissent

ALL were used by our goverments, against the people, in the last few years.

m0nty
m0nty
January 6, 2023 10:22 am

It’s hilarious that Cats are now getting huffy about the concept of political parties. Anarchic conservatism seems like a fraught combination.

miltonf
miltonf
January 6, 2023 10:23 am

Does anyone really recall the economic state of the country when Howard took over?
Yes I take your point- Keating’s recession plus the tariff cuts wrecked a lot of lives. It was seriously hard to find work in 1991.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 10:24 am

A recently publsihed study claims science is becoming less innovative.

There’s plenty of research being published, but new discoveries are increasingly rare.

The authors suggest groupthink within specialised areas of research is a limiting. factor.

RTWT

Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 10:25 am

Prince Harry describes how his sadness over the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, led him to seek help from a woman who “claimed to have ‘powers’” and to be able to relay a message.

girlie-man status confirmed

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 6, 2023 10:26 am

State police commissioners now see themselves as policy doctrine enforcement officers for the political party in power. Any idea that they work for the public who actually pay their wages has been swept away in a groupthink tsunami.

Time to change ‘Protect and Serve’ to ‘Protect and Serve – the government’?

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 10:26 am

Today the part of iampeter will be played by JC. Howard was the Father of Middle Class Welfare and At Least We’re Not Labor personified. He never met any government spending he didn’t like.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 10:27 am

I liked Coober Pedy. It reminded me of the prairie derg city at the base of Devil’s Tower, but with bigger mounds.

Interesting people, tight knit community. As different from vanilla city slickers as it gets, apart from the visit to the little community in Alaska in the Arctic Circle. Now they were frontiersmen.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
January 6, 2023 10:27 am

Monty barracking for uniparty again.

Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 10:29 am

“Despite all of the smoke and all of the point scoring, the reality is that there’s been no suggestion that anyone who’s come back here is causing any actual threat to safety. The police are monitoring them all,”

monitoring them because you know, there is no risk to anyone, just like the “vax” is safe and effective.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 10:30 am

See also: every political party.

Political parties dominated by vested interests are on borrowed time, monty.

Labor’s primary vote of 32% should temper your assurance otherwise.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 10:30 am

And there’s no money in it. No longer “to know” but “to be paid…well”.

Also, collectivists just love to agree on everything, even if they’re wrong. Worse, they love to be seen to agree on everything, which is even more corrosive.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 10:30 am

Yes I take your point- Keating’s recession plus the tariff cuts wrecked a lot of lives. It was seriously hard to find work in 1991.

Yep. Banks didn’t cover themselves in glory either. Everybody got a hangover from that. It was a pretty wild ride.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:32 am

work choices never affected me adversely but it was a gift on a platter for your opponents to attack you with.

Okay then, then we shouldn’t whine when no one wants to introduce major reform. That’s why the present Libs are frightened of their own shadow. Look at what happened to the Lib government in QLD when the dude tried to fire public sector dicks. The electoral swing was massive.

Howard also brought in mass migration, the RET and attacked property rights. And gave Australia Michael Trumble.

The Australian system was without parity in the world in terms of the relative quality of people it allowed in. Again, we’re talking in relative terms.
The unfortunate thing we have to live with is a birth rate below replacement. If molly coddled Australians want to maintain their generous welfare system ( like throwing $35 billion a year to indigenous smoke ceremonies) then you have to have immigration. There’s no way out of it especially with the trillion dollar plus debt we’ve accumulated.
In fact Howard tried to turn this around with the baby bonus.

Okay, he screwed up with Turnbuckle. Everyone makes mistakes.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 10:32 am

Also at Coober Pedy – The Beloved bought me a fine opal – odd shaped, deceptively milky but with hidden fires. Still have to get it set. Almost worth a Dubai stopover.

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 10:35 am

“I’m not going to run around and start scaring people.”

Of course not. That job has always been outsourced to union thugs.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
January 6, 2023 10:35 am

JC

Okay, he screwed up with Turnbuckle. Everyone makes mistakes.

“But apart from that Mrs Lincoln, what did you think of the play”.

Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 10:35 am
Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 10:36 am

the lastest crime against the state: greenwashing
current ASIC news feed

05 January 2023 – MEDIA RELEASE
23-001MR ASIC issues infringement notices to energy company for greenwashing
ASIC has taken action for greenwashing against listed energy company Black Mountain Energy Limited (BME). BME has paid $39,960 to comply with three …
23 December 2022 – MEDIA RELEASE
22-379MR ASIC issues infringement notice against superannuation trustee for greenwashing
ASIC has issued an infringement notice to superannuation trustee Diversa Trustees Limited (Diversa) in further action against alleged greenwashing. . …

the entire asic news feed is just prosecution after prosecution, who has even heard of greenwashing??? asic is nothing but a defacto tax collector and police force.

Greenwashing is the practice of misrepresenting the extent to which a financial product or investment strategy is environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical and is an enforcement priority for ASIC.

an enforcement priority for ASIC, no cheating on GAIA!!!

m0nty
m0nty
January 6, 2023 10:37 am

Political parties dominated by vested interests are on borrowed time, monty.

I would welcome suggestions for what happens after that system breaks down. Italy, perhaps?

sfw
sfw
January 6, 2023 10:38 am

Another reason for some of the vicpol resignations is something that they won’t talk about. Remember the big ‘Diversity’ hiring campaign over the past few years. They were actively recruiting people on the basis of sex and colour etc, not suitability. I think vicpol only used to accept the top 10% of those who did the the entry exams, physicals etc. Been told that they dropped that to 50% during the diversity hiring, probably still at that level. Well many of these poor fools just don’t have the skills or ability to do the job. Many have left as they discovered they just weren’t cut out for it or couldn’t do the work.

Throw in a lot of members who were made Sgts to handle the new recruits, a lot of these Sgts would once have never been promoted but there weren’t enough good candidates so again they took second raters. All this has demoralised many, along with the covid madness, a politicised semi corrupt hierarchy and you have a terrible, under manned police.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 10:38 am

If molly coddled Australians want to maintain their generous welfare system ( like throwing $35 billion a year to indigenous smoke ceremonies) then you have to have immigration.

When do we get to vote on this?

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:39 am

H B Bear says:
January 6, 2023 at 10:26 am

Today the part of iampeter will be played by JC. Howard was the Father of Middle Class Welfare and At Least We’re Not Labor personified. He never met any government spending he didn’t like.

Okay, this is a chart of government consumption/ ie. spending. Look a the time Howard was in office. Look for 1996 to 2007. Consumption was flatlined in real terms.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CSHGCPAUA156NRUG

calli
calli
January 6, 2023 10:39 am

Final observation about Coober Pedy.

They are very, very cagey about their earnings. It is a cash only environment.

When discussing tax revenues, I got the impression that any ATO investigator game enough might meet the same fate as the IRS guy in Fried Green Tomatoes.

The land is vast, and the pits are deep. 😀

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:41 am

When do we get to vote on this?

Form a political party if you feel this strongly about it. Dickhead and novice Holmes a Court did and ended up 10 housewives pretending they’re senators.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 10:41 am

When do we get to vote on this?

Ask Tweedledee and Tweedledumb.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 10:42 am

I would welcome suggestions for what happens after that system breaks down. Italy, perhaps?

Italians actually do quite well under their system. They’ve got the 10th largest economy in the world and reported rates of satsifaction with their lot are high.

m0nty
m0nty
January 6, 2023 10:42 am

Also, Gaetz is playing pure party politics. He just wants more committee assignments for himself. There is no great principle at play here, just grubby politicking and personal vendettas.

lotocoti
lotocoti
January 6, 2023 10:44 am

Ginge should’ve stuck to hookers, blow and chain-gunning Pakis.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:45 am

We could end up like Japan. We restrict immigration close to zero, maintain one of the lowest birthrates in the world, have a massive debt problem and focus public spending tilted more to welfare. You end up with what was great infrastructure because it’s all 40 years old.

Indolent
Indolent
January 6, 2023 10:45 am

The woman who lost her law practising licence for dishonesty.

Hillary Clinton to Become Professor at Columbia University

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 10:47 am

Consumption was flatlined in real terms.

At Keatingesque levels. Possibly as good as we will ever get.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 6, 2023 10:47 am

If molly coddled Australians want to maintain their generous welfare system ( like throwing $35 billion a year to indigenous smoke ceremonies) then you have to have immigration.

Small correction, if you are going to use the immigration ponzi to pay benefits to those already here, you need to ensure them new Australians are *productive*, and therein lies the rub: many of our favoured new immigration groups are demonstrably low on the productivity scale – takers not givers on net – cheap imports if you like.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:48 am

Italians actually do quite well under their system. They’ve got the 10th largest economy in the world and reported rates of satsifaction with their lot are high.

With around a million plus of the young leaving to go elsewhere because opportunities at home base are hugely limited. This is a million plus young kids they can’t afford to lose. Go to the freaking towns and all you see are a bunch of oldsters sitting at bars having coffee. They’re gone.

Tom
Tom
January 6, 2023 10:48 am

I liked Coober Pedy. It reminded me of the prairie derg city at the base of Devil’s Tower, but with bigger mounds.

As a youth, I got stuck there for two days in the 1970s while hitchhiking to Darwin. I dared not wander too far off the main road.

I stopped there again in the 1980s and the town disappeared into a dust storm just as we arrived.

Lots of shady types used to migrate there to dig opals and were never seen again.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:49 am

many of our favoured new immigration groups are demonstrably low on the productivity scale – takers not givers on net – cheap imports if you like.

Duk, can you offer any evidence for that, as an assertion isn’t enough.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
January 6, 2023 10:50 am

JC
We could stop punishing people for having kids.
eg: Income splitting for couples. (coincidentally removing the need for about 1/2 the child storage facilities pretending to be kindys)
Housing as dogbox or multi millions. (coincidentally turbocharged by migration)

Migration as its currently used is a ponzi scheme.

Arky
January 6, 2023 10:52 am

Someone posting every half a minute like the blog is their own private conversation with Alexa.
I’ll come back when it’s over.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 6, 2023 10:56 am

They are very, very cagey about their earnings. It is a cash only environment.

Nobody ever makes any money at opal mining. 🙂

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 10:56 am

Oh look who it is. Dickhead is again trying to control the blog. A few days ago he was telling us he’s the reincarnated Steve Jobs. He “built” a computer in his garage. Built means adding software.

DaFisk
DaFisk
January 6, 2023 10:57 am

Right, now that Germany is almost completely weaned off Russian energy, and now this, I’m calling it. Putler is done, done like a dinner. This is going to be an epic rout!

https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1611106280864899073
Paul Massaro
@apmassaro3
Replying to
@MakeYourBed1
France delivering AMX-10 RCs to Ukraine, Germany delivering Marders, USA delivering Bradleys. Game-changing equipment to win the war and a sign that bigger stuff is on the horizon

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 11:00 am

Having a baby is a vote in the future. Collapsing fertility rates across the West and Europe should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 11:01 am

Gaetz Votes For TRUMP As Speaker

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 11:03 am

JC
We could stop punishing people for having kids.

Sure. What you mean is reducing taxes, right? How do you know this will increase family formation instead of causing a stampede for more overseas holidays by single girls? 🙂

eg: Income splitting for couples. (coincidentally removing the need for about 1/2 the child storage facilities pretending to be kindys)

Income splitting may work, but you really want the mother to stay home with the kids.

Housing as dogbox or multi millions. (coincidentally turbocharged by migration)

Depends where you want to live. You can live in the outer burbs and end up with a quarter acre and a red brick house. The homes are boring and it’s a long way out of town, but the life isn’t bad.

Migration as its currently used is a ponzi scheme.

What do you do, in order to maintain welfare levels and not keep raising the debt due to the stratosphere? I’m really interested in how this would work out.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 11:05 am

Whoops.. to the stratosphere.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 11:07 am

Having a baby is a vote in the future. Collapsing fertility rates across the West and Europe should not come as a surprise to anyone.

That’s part of it, but declining fertility rates have several causes, not least being the hedonistic culture that’s come into place in Western societies since the 1960s.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 11:09 am

What do you do, in order to maintain welfare levels and not keep raising the debt due to the stratosphere? I’m really interested in how this would work out.

I’d sugest cuts in welfare are going to come about of necessity.

Even Labor now concedes the NDIS is unsustainable.

lotocoti
lotocoti
January 6, 2023 11:15 am

This is going to be an epic rout!

Maybe they should’ve sent this game-changing equipment first, instead of
all the other game-changing equipment which didn’t do much game-changing.

Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 11:15 am

How Gender Ideology Conquered South Dakota
It’s the all-too-common story of a powerful progressive business interest pushing a deep-red state leftward.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 11:15 am

I’d sugest cuts in welfare are going to come about of necessity.

They won’t until the music stops which is when there’s a rupture in the bond market. You can’t predict when that happens. Japan is now around 250% of GDP- even more now.

Even Labor now concedes the NDIS is unsustainable.

They’ll slow it down, but it’s here to stay.

Abbott did one great thing and one terrible. He closed down that domestic car manufacturing shitshow but left the NDIS.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
January 6, 2023 11:19 am

My UK soshuls tell me that the British Monarchy is surprisingly likely to survive the latest Harry Markle Shock Horror Bombshell.

The bellwethers of mainstream public opinion, the Sun and the Mirror have Hazza firmly marked down as a pencil squeezer: broken necklace, therapist, Afghan slaughterer, dog bowl fracturer, and general all round ponce.

My personal favourite:

Prince Harry was suffering from frostbitten penis during William and Kate’s wedding

As a tabloid subeditor might say: ‘What a tool’.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 11:22 am

That’s part of it, but declining fertility rates have several causes, not least being the hedonistic culture that’s come into place in Western societies since the 1960s.

The biggest change is womens’ role in society. That genie ain’t going back in the bottle. Ask mUnty. We can debate whether it is really “progress”, whatever that might mean.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
January 6, 2023 11:23 am

Even Labor now concedes the NDIS is unsustainable.

They’ll slow it down, but it’s here to stay.

Certainly is.
Nobody will want to be the one to shoot Bambi’s Mum.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 11:24 am

My UK soshuls tell me that the British Monarchy is surprisingly likely to survive the latest Harry Markle Shock Horror Bombshell.

Chuckle. Harold & Megs are so insufferable they make Charles and Camilla look good.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
January 6, 2023 11:25 am

to maintain welfare levels

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found
I’ve got a little list — I’ve got a little list
Of society offenders who might well be underground
And who never would be missed — who never would be missed!

https://www.grants.gov.au/Ga/ViewByPublishDate?Weekly=01-Jan-2023%2C07-Jan-2023&Weekly_Submit=

https://www.directory.gov.au/departments-and-agencies

There will be no reduction, voluntarily, of spending by any arm of the government.
“welfare” consists of taking money from people on 5 figures and pooling it together for the benefit of those on 6 figures.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 11:26 am

Prince Harry was suffering from frostbitten penis during William and Kate’s wedding

That explains the move to LA.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
January 6, 2023 11:26 am
Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 11:26 am

They’ll slow it down, but it’s here to stay.

But the expediture will have to be tamed.

That’s my point regarding welfare.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 11:29 am

The biggest change is womens’ role in society. That genie ain’t going back in the bottle.

You wouldn’t think so presently, but social changes often happen unexpectedly.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 11:30 am

Roger

What do you mean by tamed? You mean it will have to fall in real terms as a % of GDP or something else. In my opinion, there’s no way spending will fall like that unless there’s a bondmarket crisis and that’s not going to happen over the short term.

hzhousewife
hzhousewife
January 6, 2023 11:30 am

Arghhhhhh can’t get links to post at all these days……………………….

lotocoti
lotocoti
January 6, 2023 11:31 am

My UK soshuls tell me …

He’s lost The Sunday Sport too.

Speedbox
January 6, 2023 11:31 am

calli says:
January 6, 2023 at 10:39 am
The land is vast, and the pits are deep.

Growing up in SA it was accepted urban myth that numerous pits were de facto graves. Cooper Pedy was a wild frontier occupied by people who would ‘catch and kill their own’. Stories usually referred to an unpaid debt or some deviant behaviour but the person in question had simply disappeared. Further, the locals were suddenly struck mute so police enquiries (if any) were stonewalled.

The myth, whether true or not, made it clear that workers who would work hard and keep their mouth shut would find jobs – but it was very unwise to get on the wrong side of some of the long term locals as Cooper Pedy justice was swift and brutal.

Robert Sewell
January 6, 2023 11:32 am

Feelthebern:

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Your message couldn’t be sent because it includes content that other people on Facebook have reported as abusive.

Facebook is censoring Doc Campbells posts.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 6, 2023 11:36 am

Arkysays:

January 6, 2023 at 10:52 am

Someone posting every half a minute like the blog is their own private conversation with Alexa.
I’ll come back when it’s over.

Wut?!?
He’s been hiding over at the Furniture Store for a week and looks like he won’t be back.

Robert Sewell
January 6, 2023 11:38 am

Bar Beach Swimmer:

Before I can put in a new password, it wants to know the old one.

Computer says “No.” BBS.
One day, in the far distant future, the human race will die out because the Bastard Son of Gates will say “Planetary Defence Grid On/Off not an available option. Verify your password and try again.”

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 6, 2023 11:38 am

Rogersays:
January 6, 2023 at 10:14 am
It is a rare thing to see the “this is fine” meme in real life.

Mmm, yes; it’d be so much better for democracy if everyone had the Labour Party’s system, in which unelected, faceless men in bad suits tell the incoming PM who’ll get what.

Even Whitless didn’t like the “36 faceless men” system, but the modern Fascist, sorry, Labor Party is all in on the system.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 11:42 am

Roger

What do you mean by tamed? You mean it will have to fall in real terms as a % of GDP or something else.

In real terms as a percentage of budget expenditure, JC.

Getting some control over the growth of the NDIS is now a political issue that occupies much of Bill Shorten’s time.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 11:43 am

Sanchez
Funny that, it’s almost a year he said he was leaving the site in shame after having some mental breakdown over New Year’s Eve – of all times.

He then returned here, but did a massively funny flounce and headed over to the Lollipop blog where he found the Lollipop owner somewhat “hostile” to his leadership style. And here he is again, reverse flouncing and trying to direct traffic.

DaFisk
DaFisk
January 6, 2023 11:45 am

Maybe they should’ve sent this game-changing equipment first, instead of
all the other game-changing equipment which didn’t do much game-changing

Lol, you mean after Putin got run out of Kyiv and utterly thumped in Kharkiv and Kherson? You mean those “non game changing events”? You have to hand it to Putinists, they have an endless appetite for punishment!

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 6, 2023 11:45 am

m0ntysays:
January 6, 2023 at 10:37 am
Political parties dominated by vested interests are on borrowed time, monty.

I would welcome suggestions for what happens after that system breaks down. Italy, perhaps?

m0nty=fa is now terrified of change. He has become a caricature of his own caricature of a “conservative”(which was never real).

Robert Sewell
January 6, 2023 11:46 am

Knuckle Dragger:

1500km.
With a rescue dog.

That’s a decent run – is the dog wondering what the hell it got rescued from?
A name please.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 11:47 am

In real terms as a percentage of budget expenditure, JC.

Okay, fair enough but I don’t see it happening.

Getting some control over the growth of the NDIS is now a political issue that occupies much of Bill Shorten’s time.

Until their ABC sticks a couple of folks with two heads and five limbs on bawling about how only one head can afford 2 meals a day. Good luck. 🙂

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 6, 2023 11:49 am

JCsays:
January 6, 2023 at 10:48 am

Italians actually do quite well under their system. They’ve got the 10th largest economy in the world and reported rates of satsifaction with their lot are high.

With around a million plus of the young leaving to go elsewhere because opportunities at home base are hugely limited. This is a million plus young kids they can’t afford to lose. Go to the freaking towns and all you see are a bunch of oldsters sitting at bars having coffee. They’re gone.

https://www.itaxa.it/blog/en/italy-tax-breaks-for-foreign-workers/

Italy has increased the level of tax breaks offered to workers returning from abroad or moving to Italy. In the Tax decree of 25 December 2019 linked to the Budget Law for 2020, which has now been converted into law, tax benefits for workers returning from abroad (known as the ‘brain return’ benefits) have been brought forward.

16 Sept 2022In 2019 Italy expanded the tax breaks for the “brain return”, opening their application beyond the limits previously provided and offering new opportunities to foreign workers to extend the benefit period and reduce taxable income up to 10%.. 1. Italian tax breaks for foreign workers: conditions. Art. 5 of the Italian “Growth Decree” (Law Decree n. 34 of 2019)

The duration of the tax breaks for foreign workers is 5 years, a period in which the taxable income is cut by 70% so that taxes are due only on 30% of the income perceived.

The tax breaks are extended for an additional 5 years when:• the foreign worker becomes the owner of at least one residential property unit in Italy (which can be purchased directly by the worker or by the spouse, cohabiting partner or children, also jointly owned);
• for the worker who has at least one minor or dependent child (even in pre-adoptive custody).
In these cases, in the further 5 tax periods, the income produced is taxed only for 50% of its amount.

Foreign workers who have at least three minor or dependent children (even in pre-adoptive custody), in the further 5 tax periods of tax breaks tax their income only for 10% of the amount so that they are 90% tax-free.

https://www.itaxa.it/blog/en/italy-tax-breaks-for-foreign-workers/

Robert Sewell
January 6, 2023 11:57 am

Calli:

I’m looking at the pool, mug of coffee warming my hands, wondering how I’m going to keep two small children entertained in the cold weather.

Sounds like you’re already set up for ice skating.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 11:59 am

You wouldn’t think so presently, but social changes often happen unexpectedly.

Think there is already a bit of a retreat from the feminism of the 80s. A lot a women realise they were sold a pup. I expect more would do so if they didn’t require a 2nd income for the mortgage.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 6, 2023 12:03 pm

Dad and the palace staff will be thanking their lucky stars for Sparkles and Spare. Without them the tabloids would be watching Charlie and Camilla like hawks of prey, waiting for and gleefully publishing all those odd things Charles has a habit of committing.

Arky
January 6, 2023 12:04 pm

Sancho of the upticks back at his old games.
Not at all obvious, eh, you tech genius you.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 6, 2023 12:05 pm

If Peanut Head is actually buried in NDIS red tape I almost feel sorry for him. The real issue is the NDIS is an all consuming blob.

Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 12:12 pm
JC
JC
January 6, 2023 12:12 pm

He’s back. Ubuntu is back.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 12:16 pm

Okay, fair enough but I don’t see it happening.

Budget surpluses still matter to voters.

As you said yourself about the rise in US social security payments, they really can’t afford it.

Zipster
Zipster
January 6, 2023 12:16 pm
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Knuckle Dragger says: January 6, 2023 at 9:15 am
… I wouldn’t be surprised if they start recruiting Poms and Kiwis as they have in WA.

+1
Recruiting coppers who have no affinity for the population they’re policing.
This will logarithmically speed up the gestapo-isation.

Dot
Dot
January 6, 2023 12:21 pm

Rural Ireland needs to give the north and the east back to the British.

These satellites will constantly collect information to monitor farmer compliance…

https://www.sott.net/article/475974-Irelands-farms-to-be-surveilled-by-4-satellites-every-5-days-to-check-for-non-compliance

English, Scottish and Welsh farmers also probably want to give the cities to the bugman concept of “Britain” and peel off as English, Scots and Welsh.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 12:22 pm

If Peanut Head is actually buried in NDIS red tape I almost feel sorry for him.

Karma.

He was part of the Gillard Cabinet that brought it in.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 6, 2023 12:26 pm

Ivan Timofeev: In 2022, the world as we knew it ended. Decades of conflict lie ahead

The ‘end of history’ has concluded and the world has returned to conflicts between ‘great powers’. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn nuclear

The preamble to the following sets the scene following quite well.

In 2022, the remnants of the ‘end of history’ era finally became a thing of the past. However, there has not been a return to the Cold War either. Russian policy is mainly concerned about security interests. It is not derived from ideology, although it does include components of the identity of ‘the Russian world’, as well as historical motives for opposing Nazism. Russia does not offer a global ideological alternative comparable to liberalism – nor has China yet taken such initiatives.

The end of the ‘end of history’ is notable for several other details. Firstly, a major power has risked giving up the benefits of the ‘global world’ overnight. Historians will argue about whether Moscow anticipated such harsh sanctions and the departure of hundreds of foreign companies so quickly. However, it is clear that Russia is vigorously adapting to the new realities and is in no hurry to return to US-centric globalization.

Secondly, Western countries have embarked on a very tough ‘purge’ of Russian assets abroad.

Overnight, their jurisdictions ceased to be ‘safe havens’ where the ‘rule of law’ is followed. Now it is politics that calls the shots and Russia is the only harbor to which its citizens can return to relative peace. Stereotypes about the ‘stability and security’ of the West are breaking down. Of course, they are unlikely to begin a similar purge of other assets there. But looking at the Russians, outside investors are wondering whether they should hedge their risks.

Thirdly, it turned out that in the West, they might face not only asset stripping, but outright discrimination on the grounds of nationality. Thousands of Russians ‘fleeing’ the ‘bloody regime’ have suddenly faced rejection and contempt. Others trying to prove that they are even bigger ‘Russophobes’ than their host partners are running ahead of the anti-Russian propaganda train. However, this does not guarantee that the stubborn dogmatists will embrace them.

The conflict between Russia and the West is likely to drag on for decades, regardless of how the conflict in Ukraine ends. In Europe, Russia will play the role of North Korea, while possessing much greater capabilities. Whether Ukraine has the strength, the will, and resources to become a European South Korea is a big question.

Conflict between Russia and the West will lead to a strengthening of China’s role as an alternative financial center and source of modernization. A stronger China will only accelerate its rivalry with the US and its allies. The ‘end of history’ has ended with a return to its usual course.

One of these is the collapse of the world order as a result of large-scale conflicts between centers of power.

It remains to be seen if the next cycle will not be the last for mankind, given the risks of an open military clash between the great powers with a subsequent escalation into full-scale nuclear conflict.

Dot
Dot
January 6, 2023 12:27 pm

Putin can’t win without risking WWIII.

If he’s not careful he’ll be deposed and Ukraine may even gain Rostov on Don, Belarus and Koningsberg.

I’m not joking either.

110,000 dead 100,000 + injured, ??? MIA and 270,000 Russian men GTFO to avoid conscription.

The losses of equipment is staggering; Russia actually has lost control of the Black Sea.

I’m gobsmacked Russia has had its arse kicked so hard. Putin should consolidate on his gains and that’s it.

He won’t even hold around the nuke plant for longer.

If you can’t pull off an invasion, retreat when a smaller enemy fights back and cannot suppress partisans, you need to change what you are doing or give up.

Carpe Jugulum
Carpe Jugulum
January 6, 2023 12:29 pm

lotocoti says:
January 6, 2023 at 11:31 am
———————-
He’s lost The Sunday Sport too.

Now THAT is funny

Johnny Rotten
January 6, 2023 12:34 pm

Zelensky – The Man Behind World War III

From Armstrong Economics –

“Zelensky is just an actor and he has been playing the entire world into handing him money without any accountability. He claims he is fighting for freedom and democracy when he refuses to comply with the Minsk Agreement which falsely was to allow those in the Donbas to vote on their own future. Now he has empowered his government to shut down all dissent. Upon his return from meeting the Biden Administration, he took back some needed advice – restrict ALL media, block ALL websites that expose the truth, and order Big Tech to censor all negative comments about him or Ukraine. This site is not blocked even in China – it will be in Ukraine. So much for freedom, democracy, and free speech.

It was Kyiv that started the war by sending troops to attack the Donbas in 2014 and that was the West’s installed “temporary” government that started the war – not any elected Ukrainian government. Zelensky was elected promising to pursue peace and end corruption. He has done exactly the opposite. So much for campaign promises. They always say whatever they need to win, and then do the exact opposite. When Zelensky was elected, the Russian press cheered. They thought this actor would actually seek peace.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/ukraine/zelensky-the-man-behind-world-war-iii/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 6, 2023 12:36 pm

Blazing row after Philip’s funeral: From Eton to Africa, from Diana to Chelsy, Harry’s jaw-dropping claims and revelations in his new book

. Prince Harry’s long-awaited book includes a series of extraordinarily personal anecdotes about himself and his closest family members.

. From how he lost his virginity to his nickname for his brother Prince William, the tell-all memoir is packed with jaw-dropping claims and insider revelations.

Meanwhile His Slag, Mrs Simpson the 2nd, performs for him

‘I didn’t need to see such things live’: Prince Harry admits he made a ‘mistake’ watching Meghan Markle’s sex scenes with Suits co-star in his bombshell biography

And Emasculated Harry & His Media Tart say they want Privacy

From the Comments

– Harry….where will this all end ? You have spilled your guts Time to settle back and find that privacy you said you yearned for.

– This book, and its contents, were horrendously ill-advised. I’m absolutely embarrassed this was considered a good idea, I don’t see any way back for him being so deeply and personally insulting and revealing such intimate family secrets. It’s a shame. He wants to hurt the crown.

– He had bodyguards while serving?!?!

– What a sad, pathetic individual he has become. Always someone else’s fault. He takes no responsibility for his own actions or behaviour.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 12:36 pm

Old Ozzie

Tax breaks will only work if there are job opportunities paying decent wage rates. I’m not sure that’s going to happen. You need capital formation and businesses starting up. In a place where the population pyramid is upside down it’s really hard too see.

Roger
Roger
January 6, 2023 12:39 pm

If you can’t pull off an invasion, retreat when a smaller enemy fights back and cannot suppress partisans, you need to change what you are doing or give up.

Bakhmut…any day now.

Dot
Dot
January 6, 2023 12:40 pm

It was Kyiv that started the war by sending troops to attack the Donbas in 2014

1. WHY DID THEY DO THAT!?

2. WHOM WERE THEY FIGHTING???!

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
January 6, 2023 12:40 pm

Putin can’t win without risking WWIII.

Unfortunately unless he can manufacture a win (even if in name only) then his choices are victory or death.
Because a Tsar cant lose a war without his head getting very shaky on his neck.

We are almost in a Civil war Spain scenario.
Both sides have their sugar daddies providing weapons/ intel and volunteers (More or less China/Iran vs “the West” but are happy to stay at arms length and test new equipment and tactics.

The war after this war might be the big one if a suitably belligerent faction thinks its found the “secret sauce” to win against the other.

Its why i hope the much vaunted “hypersonic missiles” end up being duds, if they work as claimed they China is likely to think its nullified the USAs naval advantage and Taiwan will look like a good target.
They might lay down a small smackdown of India first just to ensure they stay on the sidelines.

And, again, the pity is with the poor bloody conscripts on both sides

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 12:41 pm

Roger says:
January 6, 2023 at 12:22 pm

If Peanut Head is actually buried in NDIS red tape I almost feel sorry for him.

Karma.

He was part of the Gillard Cabinet that brought it in.

The Liars don’t see this as a problem. By them it would be critical spending to meet un-met needs. You need to think like they do. Just slowing the rate of growth will be considered genius level interference.

Jorge
Jorge
January 6, 2023 12:43 pm

Missiles, weapons, undercover SF, soon it will be knitted socks.

All because plucky little Ukraine. Freedom, dontcha know.

Putin will just sit there and have to take it. He can’t do a thing about it.

Sure, whatevs.

JC
JC
January 6, 2023 12:45 pm

if they work as claimed they China is likely to think its nullified the USAs naval advantage and Taiwan will look like a good target.

I’m not a military strategist by any means. My hunch would suggest that if there was a hot war between the US and China, the US would essentially block their sea lanes with the use of their submarine fleet. Where are the Chinese accessing their oil? All their access points are through narrow sea corridors.

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