Open Thread – Tue 24 Jan 2023


Andromache mourning Hector, Jacques Louis David, 1783


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calli
calli
January 26, 2023 9:27 am

they are some of the most vulnerable women on the planet.

Indeed. If the state intends for their punishment (for whatever crime they committed, however trivial) to be beaten and raped, then the state is also criminal.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 9:28 am

I se our new AOTY is a body image campaigner. Good for her. I assume you all hate her, being a mother of four and with a powerful speaking voice.

She isn’t a blimp and doesn’t but into that “healthy at any weight” crap, she’s okay. She’s right about dude bros and roids too. My beef is with the award existing at all.

“American of the Year” – really, we’d all have a good larf.

JC
JC
January 26, 2023 9:29 am

Fatboy, why would we hate Bumfit?

Cassie of Sydney
January 26, 2023 9:29 am

I’m actually all for body positivity. What I’m not all for is “normalising and fetishising obesity” when we all know it’s unhealthy for you. Being “fat” is unhealthy.

But I suppose the resident fascist needs some positivity.

Frank
Frank
January 26, 2023 9:29 am

“Neurotic 18 Month Old Female Beagle”

Vicious bastards those beagles. Got fanged by one a while back, the little shit suckered me in by being all cute and then went for it once I was in range.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 9:30 am

David Rowe was the pick of the cartoons today.

Can’t see Warren Brown unless I whitelist IMGUR.

Thanks, Tom.

Indolent
Indolent
January 26, 2023 9:31 am

I can’t be sure if that article is genuine or not, Indolent

I did wonder myself. Comments are turned off.

lotocoti
lotocoti
January 26, 2023 9:31 am

being the do nothing cowards they are, all they’ve done is sit back and watch

To be fair, they have wound the Scotchlandian screeching up to eleventy by telling the Wee Krankie her gender reform nonsense won’t be forwarded to the Palace for assent.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 9:31 am

Where is Albo?

Organising a youth pickup 3 on 3 basketball comp.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 26, 2023 9:32 am

Richard Cranium

Just bluster and bloviation, yourself being an outstanding example.

Do you look into a mirror when you talk to yourself, or do you just wander around, babbling incoherently?

calli
calli
January 26, 2023 9:33 am

Although…there may be some very hard cases in those women’s prisons. A bit of rapey-rapey might meet with and equal and opposite amount of choppy-choppy.

Figures
Figures
January 26, 2023 9:33 am

I’m pretty sure that “the unvaxed knew but didn’t tell us” was a parody article.

Hard to tell these days though.

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
January 26, 2023 9:34 am

Just popping in to say thank you to my Italian parents for choosing to build a future in land on the other side of the world and thank you to Australia and its people for sharing the bounty and the blessings. God Bless and Save Australia.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 26, 2023 9:35 am

Ed Casesays:
January 26, 2023 at 9:01 am
Self professed “australians” defending Winston Churchill
on Australia Day.

Richard Cranium believes that “truth” is an un-Australian concept. Sad.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 9:35 am

OldOzzie says:
January 26, 2023 at 9:04 am
Ok Grandkids already in the pool – splashing and sounds of delight as I type, PS Neurotic 18 Month Old Female Beagle (barking at moment) fell in the pool, and sank straight to the bottom, daughter had to jump in and get her up – no survival instinct – unusual for dog

I am now convinced after weeks of scepticism that Beagles are Lil’ Psychos.

The doggy equivalent of a malicious modern day Wednesday Addams.

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
January 26, 2023 9:35 am

Oh and as for the welcome/acknowledgment BS – Bill Maher says it best here

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 9:37 am

Where is Albo?

Read the review of the Liar election campaign, especially the bit where he got Covid, and has just disappeared.

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 9:37 am

Ooh, lots of rumours about Matt Gaetz flying around today, involving an affair with his male staffer.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 26, 2023 9:37 am

I assume you all hate her, being a mother of four and with a powerful speaking voice.

Nope. I am a mother of four with a powerful speaking voice, especially when I hit out with both barrels.

I actually admire women who do speak up.

If this one actually as something to say, then I’ll listen. I may not agree. Or I may.
She doesn’t seem a particularly good choice as Australian of the Year, but she may be OK.
She’s a total unknown to most people though.

P
P
January 26, 2023 9:39 am

‘Being homosexual is not a crime,’ Pope Francis reiterates in new interview
CNA – By Courtney Mares – Rome Newsroom, Jan 25, 2023

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 26, 2023 9:39 am

Also I see the Pope has come out on the side of decriminalisation of homosexuality. Excellent!

Does Mrs m0nty=fa know of your preferences?

Cassie of Sydney
January 26, 2023 9:40 am

“If this one actually as something to say, then I’ll listen. I may not agree. Or I may.
She doesn’t seem a particularly good choice as Australian of the Year, but she may be OK.
She’s a total unknown to most people though.”

Well said Lizzie.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 26, 2023 9:40 am

I’m sensing satire there, PeterM…. As a piece of pot-stirring, it’s pretty good.
Right down to the ‘comments are closed’ bit

Comments open again on that article.
Looking at the other tabs on that site, it does appear to be rather tongue in cheek.

Zipster
Zipster
January 26, 2023 9:40 am

Also I see the Pope has come out on the side of decriminalisation of homosexuality. Excellent!

its already decriminalised, is there something you want to share with us?

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
January 26, 2023 9:40 am

Monty needs all the body positivity he can get.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 26, 2023 9:41 am

The new AOTY is a nice looking lady who needs to go low carb right away.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 9:41 am

Off to recreate Jan 26 1788.

Just need 50 muskets and 200 sausages. I can’t figure out if the convicts were allowed to cook without Phillip signing off if they understood Royal Navy hygiene regulations.

Unauthorised fireworks probably also faced a heavy fine and extra months before a ticket of leave could be granted.

I really hope the old Jack Tar eased up on Guy Fawkes Night.

calli
calli
January 26, 2023 9:42 am

The scales tell me I’m too body positive.

😀

Diogenes
Diogenes
January 26, 2023 9:43 am

Lived in Gorokon

Locals call it Mt Druitt by the sea. Sad story though.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 9:44 am

I’m sensing satire there, PeterM…. As a piece of pot-stirring, it’s pretty good.
Right down to the ‘comments are closed’ bit

Always hard to tell with academics, particularly in the US. You suspect the piss is being taken.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 9:44 am

Ooh, lots of rumours about Matt Gaetz flying around today, involving an affair with his male staffer.

Because he’s a Flamer.

What happened to the inclusive Pope blesses Homosexuals
from half an hour ago?

Cassie of Sydney
January 26, 2023 9:44 am

“Good for her. I assume you all hate her, being a mother of four and with a powerful speaking voice.”

Did you say the same when Margaret Court and Bettina Arndt were awarded AOTY gongs and yet were subjected to vitriolic hate? Both Court and Arndt are mothers with powerful speaking voices. Or are you selective about which mothers with powerful speaking voices you commend and support?

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 9:44 am

Review of the AOTY honours.

Same old cohort of former politicians, judges & public servants just collecting the post nominals.
The usual smattering of arts & “entertainers” recipients.
The disturbing trend continues of the partners of business big wigs getting them (sorry, being a member of a golf club & being on the social committee of a private school isn’t really good enough reason).

But on the positive side, lots of people from far flung post codes.
Lots of real volunteer work recognised.
There must be some country towns in Australia where one or two people must run all the local sports clubs.

Finally, a lot of dead punters.
Seemingly more of “the late…” getting them.

P
P
January 26, 2023 9:44 am

Catholics honoured on Australia Day 2023

Maroubra Catholic and music industry veteran Peter Ciani brought his gift for song to Sydney from Sicily after falling in love with the country on a visit to his sister here decades ago. He has now been honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to music.

cohenite
January 26, 2023 9:44 am

Taryn Brumfitt has laid out her mission as 2023’s Australian of the Year – making sure the nation’s boys and young men have a better relationship with their bodies.

The Simulation is playing games. A sheila advocating for fat chicks and her name without the “r” is Bumfitt. You have to be kidding.

Outstanding comment head prefect. She used to be trim, taut and terrific, had some kids, discovered the internet and made a motza advocating being proud of fat and sloth. Perfect representative for Australia in its current condition.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 9:44 am

m0nty says:
January 26, 2023 at 9:37 am
Ooh, lots of rumours about Matt Gaetz flying around today, involving an affair with his male staffer.

Sure montel, I bet HE pisses on Russian whoahs as well. It’s all true, whatever the left posts on Twitter. Their source was an unnamed impeccable member of the intelligence community with no association with the Democrats nor a long family history of beltway civil service.

No, not at all!

Jorge
Jorge
January 26, 2023 9:45 am

Listened this morning to an ABC interview with our AOY Local Hero. A Sikh who started a food distribution charity.

Against all expectations the bloke sounded terrific. His message to others out there: stop living as an ‘ethnic immigrant’ and get out there, this is a great country which rewards hard work.

That hard work bit notwithstanding, when the interviewer apologised for getting him up so early he said he was still in bed. Big laugh.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 26, 2023 9:46 am

m0ntysays:
January 26, 2023 at 9:37 am
Ooh, lots of rumours about Matt Gaetz flying around today, involving an affair with his male staffer.

m0nty=fa

Are you some kind of homophobe?

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 9:47 am

Dot, embrace trusted bloggers. Happy Muellerween.

Cassie of Sydney
January 26, 2023 9:49 am

“Are you some kind of homophobe?”

When you scratch a progressive like Monty, you’ll always find….

Totalitarian
Fascist
Racist
Homophobe
Jew hater

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 9:49 am

Project Veritas is hyping a big drop at 8pm (NY time).
Expect the surrogates to be hard at the distraction squirrels.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
January 26, 2023 9:49 am

Where’s albo? A39-007 was broken into, bar fridge raided and wheels stolen. Luigi the Unbelievable of the Immaculate Dentata last seen leaving Alice in a RAV4 of questionable ownership.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 9:49 am

Margaret Court and Bettina Arndt were awarded AOTY gongs …
Huh?
In what universe did this happen?

Sure, Court was the first Aussie woman to win Wimbledon, but that was 60 years ago.
What was Bettina Arndt honoured for?
Normalisation of pornography is the only thing I associate with her.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 9:50 am

I’m pretty sure that “the unvaxed knew but didn’t tell us” was a parody article.

No, it is as true as the pain you feel if you were to slap yourself.

It is real, like the “lockdown amnesty” rubbish that some godforsaken Karen of the Great Old Ones begat.

Cassie of Sydney
January 26, 2023 9:53 am

Facebook to reinstate Donald Trump’s account.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 9:53 am

Plenty warned you not to take the Vax, Dot.
But ye wouldnae b’ telt.

shatterzzz
January 26, 2023 9:56 am

Just need 50 muskets and 200 sausages. I can’t figure out if the convicts were allowed to cook without Phillip signing off if they understood Royal Navy hygiene regulations.
Royal Navy Regulations .. Nelson at Trafalgar ..

Nelson: “Order the signal, Hardy.”
Hardy: “Aye, aye sir.”
Nelson: “Hold on, this isn’t what I dictated to Flags. What’s the meaning of this?”
Hardy: “Sorry sir?”
Nelson (reading aloud): „ England expects every person to do his or her duty, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious persuasion or disability.’ – What gobbledygook is this for God’s sake?”
Hardy: “Admiralty policy, I’m afraid, sir. We’re an equal opportunities employer now. We had the devil’s own job getting „ England ” past the censors, lest it be considered racist.”
Nelson: “Gadzooks, Hardy. Hand me my pipe and tobacco.”
Hardy: “Sorry sir. All naval vessels have now been designated smoke-free working environments.”
Nelson: “In that case, break open the rum ration. Let us splice the main brace to steel the men before battle.”
Hardy: “The rum ration has been abolished, Admiral. Its part of the Government’s policy on binge drinking.”
Nelson: “Good heavens, Hardy. I suppose we’d better get on with it full speed ahead.”
Hardy: “I think you’ll find that there’s a 4 knot speed limit in this stretch of water.”
Nelson: “Damn it man! We are on the eve of the greatest sea battle in history. We must advance with all dispatch. Report from the crow’s nest, please.”
Hardy: “That won’t be possible, sir.”
Nelson: “What?”
Hardy: “Health and Safety have closed the crow’s nest, sir. No harness; and they said that rope ladders don’t meet regulations. They won’t let anyone up there until proper scaffolding can be erected.”
Nelson: “Then get me the ship’s carpenter without delay, Hardy.”
Hardy: “He’s busy knocking up a wheelchair access to the foredeck Admiral.”
Nelson: “Wheelchair access? I’ve never heard anything so absurd.”
Hardy: “Health and safety again, sir. We have to provide a barrier- free environment for the differently abled.”
Nelson: “Differently abled? I’ve only one arm and one eye and I refuse even to hear mention of the word. I didn’t rise to the rank of admiral by playing the disability card.”
Hardy: “Actually, sir, you did. The Royal Navy is under- represented in the areas of visual impairment and limb deficiency.”
Nelson: “Whatever next? Give me full sail. The salt spray beckons.”
Hardy: “A couple of problems there too, sir. Health and safety won’t let the crew up the rigging without hard hats. And they don’t want anyone breathing in too much salt – haven’t you seen the adverts?”
Nelson: “I’ve never heard such infamy. Break out the cannon and tell the men to stand by to engage the enemy.”
Hardy: “The men are a bit worried about shooting at anyone, Admiral.”
Nelson: “What? This is mutiny!”
Hardy: “It’s not that, sir. It’s just that they’re afraid of being charged with murder if they actually kill anyone. There are a couple of legal-aid lawyers on board, watching everyone like hawks.”
Nelson: “Then how are we to sink the Frenchies and the Spanish?”
Hardy: “Actually, sir, we’re not.”
Nelson: “We’re not?”
Hardy: “No, sir.. The French and the Spanish are our European partners now. According to the Common Fisheries Policy, we shouldn’t even be in this stretch of water. We could get hit with a claim for compensation.”
Nelson: “But you must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil.”
Hardy: “I wouldn’t let the ship’s diversity coordinator hear you saying that sir. You’ll be up on disciplinary report.”
Nelson: “You must consider every man an enemy, who speaks ill of your King.”
Hardy: “Not any more, sir. We must be inclusive in this multicultural age. Now put on your Kevlar vest; it’s the rules. It could save your life”
Nelson: “Don’t tell me – Health and Safety. Whatever happened to rum, sodomy and the lash?”
Hardy: As I explained, sir, rum is off the menu! And there’s a ban on corporal punishment.”
Nelson: “What about sodomy?”
Hardy: “I believe that is now legal, sir.”
Nelson: “In that case………………. Kiss me, Hardy.”

cohenite
January 26, 2023 9:57 am

Ease up.
She’s had four kids.

As for her award, no comment.

I’m not objecting to her settling into some mummy fat after having 4 kids; she’s earnt that. What she hasn’t earnt is making money telling folks that its ok to be fat and by inference not getting off your arse and doing as much as you can. Case in point: Barnaby’s ex, Natalie, had 4 daughters, but went the other way.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 10:01 am

Bro

Enough with the Xenia Onnatop fantasies.

Rabz
January 26, 2023 10:03 am

But you must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil

This statement retains as much credence today as it did back in Nelson’s time.

Tom
Tom
January 26, 2023 10:05 am

We’ve been too rich to have to deal with reality; wokeness is about living in a fantasy world. Something a society can do only briefly as it squanders its wealth on lunatic dreams.

Spot on, DrBeauGan.

As the late Robin Williams once joked about cocaine: it’s God’s way of telling you you have too much damned money.

Woke is rich people’s fantasy politics — supercharged by hyper-moralistic intolerance.

There is no woke (and all its fantasies like climate change) in the majority of the human population outside of the West — the majority that’s aspirational and building a future that doesn’t include poverty for the family.

Woke is for the world’s richest people with more money than sense — easy to mistake for the end of a civilisation.

shatterzzz
January 26, 2023 10:06 am

back again! .. grass dun before it gets to hot .. thankfully! .. my back garden sits atop a storm-water pipe junction .. it’s bigger than some “parks” around here .. not a task I look forward too .. takes more out of me than a 1km swim ..!
And on Oz Day, the rest of you, enjoy whatever your doing .. any cats going to Parramatta Park and venturing into the food stalls .. keep an eye out for BLACK BEAR BBQ my eldest daughter owns the franchise and both her and my youngest will be on serving duties …..

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 10:07 am

I don’t care if Gaetz is gay. I do care if he is lying, especially if he is joining in with the anti-gay agenda of his party.

Anyway my opinion doesn’t matter, if the scandal breaks it will be his own party driving him out.

cohenite
January 26, 2023 10:09 am

Enough with the Xenia Onnatop fantasies.

What a way to go!

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 10:09 am

For Perf Cats. The price tag on The Claremont hotel refit $12m. You expect they don’t plan to make the back with jugs of Swan Draught to Uni students on a Thursday night. I imagine IT would not be impressed, nor the Perf serial killer community.

cohenite
January 26, 2023 10:09 am

Anyway my opinion doesn’t matter

Correct.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 26, 2023 10:09 am

Happy AUSTRALIA Day to all on the Cat! Don’t forget to fly an Australian flag!

Vicki
Vicki
January 26, 2023 10:10 am

This morning Lizzie referred to an article in Jan/Feb edition of Quadrant Online concerning the “seconds to midnight” situation conservatives are facing re the Woke takeover of society: by N.S. Lyons, “The Woke Revolution is far from over”.

I have taken the liberty, with Dover’s agreement, to transcribe this article for this blog. I think it is essential reading for all conservative thinkers.

Just over a year ago, I wrote a lengthy article detailing all the reasons why no one should assume the far-left “Woke” ideological revolution was over, even if conservatives here in the United States were to ride what seemed a “red wave” of popular political dissatisfaction to a sweeping victory in November’s mid-term elections. Well, those elections are now over, and it turns out there wasn’t even any wave to speak of. It’s worth thinking seriously about what that result signals about where this increasingly global ideological revolution is headed.

We are now more than two years downstream from the fiery Year Zero of the Revolution, 2020, when, amid the most widespread and destructive riots in the nation’s history, nearly every public and private institution in American life (and then beyond, across nearly the whole of the broader Western world) simultaneously pledged allegiance to the same transformational illiberal ideology that had inspired the violence. The results were immediate, shocking in scope, and lasting in consequence: the primacy of racial consciousness and grievance was forcefully reintroduced into society in the name of racial “diversity” and “equity”; police departments were defunded and criminal behavior effectively decriminalized in the name of “social justice,” resulting in a deadly ongoing crime wave; elite medical and educational institutions, along with the American government, began not only to mainstream extremist concepts like the mutilating surgical “affirmation” of children’s alleged transgender identity (among other innovations) in the name of “inclusion,” but to actively seek to criminalize any opposition to these and other practices; in a coordinated effort with the state, the world’s largest technology and media giants imposed a great wave of censorship in an effort to entrench and defend the ideological hegemony of the Revolution and its values; mobbed by zealots, dissenters to the new ideological regime were summarily ousted from their positions and livelihoods; families and friendships were torn apart as the window of acceptable opinion shifted with lightning speed… This is only to scratch the surface of the traumatic upheaval that was thrust onto American society.

This essay appears in the current Quadrant.
Click here to subscribe

But now we know that all of this barely moved the needle in America’s tribal politics. There was either no coherent backlash to the Woke revolution at the ballot box, or its adherents proved just as numerous and motivated as its opponents. Those few tentative suggestions about how progressive policies and messaging might have gone too far, which had begun to sporadically appear as anxiety proliferated on the left ahead of the elections, will now all be swiftly forgotten. With no costs imposed for their behavior, and so no incentive to change course, the revolutionaries’ already self-confident zeal will only redouble.

Which, make no mistake, means that the Woke are now winning decisively. The reason for this is straightforward: of the key institutional high ground – from educational institutions to the media and Hollywood and the publishing houses, to the tech giants (with the recent singular exception of Elon Musk’s Twitter), to the law schools and the legal associations, to the healthcare system and medical schools, to the powerful foundations, big banks, corporate consulting giants, and stock exchanges, to even the churches, not to mention the federal government – essentially all of it is already Woke. This means that a 50-50 stalemate in the arena of democratic politics is no stalemate at all, but the continuation of a totally lopsided war of civilizational attrition.

Even a sweeping political victory in the November elections by conservatives and classical liberals would have, at best, meant merely the beginning of an exceptionally difficult and extended campaign to recapture and bring to heel nearly every elite power center in America – including, somehow, the vast unelected federal administrative state – with each kicking and screaming and throwing legal tantrums the entire way. Now nothing remotely like that is going to happen, and all direct resistance to the Woke is going to continue to be strangled at every turn.

Perhaps the best example to illustrate this reality is US civil rights law. Many of the core priorities of “Wokeness” are not simply ideological claims competing in the level playing field of some fair “battle of ideas.” Their imposition is already the law of the land and enforced by the state. The conviction that any disparity between identity groups is sufficient evidence of discrimination that must be eliminated (“disparate impact”); the necessity of racial discrimination in hiring decisions (“affirmative action”); the requirement that employers relentlessly police private speech lest it in any way be interpreted as offensive to any “protected class,” so as to prevent a “hostile work environment” – all of these are among the many legal requirements mandated by the vast scope of federal antidiscrimination statutes that grew out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Most corporate employers do not force their employees to comply with the use of radical new gender pronouns just because they’ve had some moral awakening; they do it because not doing so places them in real danger of being investigated and held liable for violation of Title IX and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by permitting discrimination on the basis of sex. They do not force their employees into lectures about their “unconscious” racial bias because they are necessarily converts to Critical Race Theory; likely they are primarily trying to protect themselves from being sued for failing to take sufficient action to prevent racial discrimination.

Or as Christopher Caldwell has painstakingly explained, the unintended legacy of the original “emergency measures” of 1964 was to create an entire permanent apparatus of “surveillance by volunteers, litigation by lawyers, and enforcement by bureaucrats.” Then “the fear of litigation privatized the suppression of disagreement, or even of speculation,” and so the phenomenon of “political correctness” emerged as simply “the cultural effect of the basic enforcement powers of civil rights law.” Wokeness is simply the most recent cultural evolution of the totalizing ideology incentivized by this progressive legal framework.

And this legal-cultural pressure doesn’t stay contained to the shores of the United States. In a globalized world, multinational companies conform to their most important markets, meaning they often bend to the long arm of US law globally. Meanwhile many European states and other members of the West have also followed (and in some cases surpassed) America’s cultural lead with similar rights-based legal frameworks. Under the combined pressure of culture and the law, the professional managerial class employed in such companies and institutions are already coming to accept the enforcement of such ideas as simply the global moral norm, while international institutions and NGOs have taken up the cause as well.

This is the kind of unrelenting edifice that would-be anti-Woke counter-revolutionaries face, not an immature gaggle of “snowflake” college radicals. The Revolution, it turns out, has already been victorious in seizing control of the technocratic regime. Without attaining sufficiently overwhelming political power to uproot or at least circumscribe such deeply entrenched structural forces as civil rights law (itself practically holy writ in American society) – or the stranglehold of the higher-education cartel, or the accreditation and licensing bodies, or the philanthropy-industrial complex that distributes tides of oligarchic money through activist NGOs, or the perverse influence of social media technologies, among much else – the advance of Woke ideas cannot be halted in a decisive engagement, no matter how disastrous and unpopular those ideas’ practical manifestations may be with a beleaguered general public.

Nor, frankly, is there much time left to spare if anti-Woke forces hope to turn back the Revolution with a democratic frontal assault. The generational divide in fundamental values is exceptionally stark. Survey research indicates that while a solid majority of Americans over forty still hold broadly classical liberal beliefs, opposing Woke values like the desirability of surveillance and censorship, a growing majority of younger Americans hold nearly opposite views. And the younger they are the more extreme their convictions.

Of the 67 million-strong cohort of “Gen Z” Americans (those born after 1996), 51 per cent report that America is “inextricably linked to white supremacy,” 52 per cent support racial reparations, 60 per cent believe systemic racism is “widespread” in general society, and 64 per cent say “rioting and looting is justified to some degree” by the need to address systemic racism “by whatever means necessary.” 51 per cent believe the “gender binary” is “outdated,” and up to as many as 40 per cent self-identify as LGBTQ+ in some way. Some 41 per cent support censorship of “hate speech,” 66 per cent support shouting down speakers they consider offensive, and 23 per cent support using violence to silence such speakers. 61 per cent have positive views of socialism, and 70 per cent think “government should do more to solve problems.” Notably, survey results of youth in Britain are nearly identical, providing further evidence this ideology is going global regardless of national conditions.

And their influence is growing exceptionally rapidly. In America, Gen Z and the slightly older but similarly-minded Millennials now together account for 31 per cent of voters, up from 23 per cent in 2016. In the recent mid-term elections, the total number of Gen Z-ers casting votes increased by 289 per cent. They broke for the left-wing party of the Democrats by an average of 28 points, while in comparison Democrats lost every age group 45 years and older by at least 7 points, including a 12-point loss among those age 65 and older.

But even this electoral picture understates the encroaching societal sea change. The reality is that what (tepid) societal resistance there has been to the advance of the Revolution so far has come largely from a generation of older people who hold key senior positions of power within our institutions (think judges, for example), but who are now quickly passing retirement age. In just a decade many of them will be dead, and the Wokest generations will almost completely occupy controlling positions of power across the institutional landscape.

The point is this: those who hope to see an end to the Woke revolution need to come to terms with the fact that their strategic approach is failing. The widespread assumption that Wokeness and its many contradictions would collapse as soon as it collided with reality (whether in the workplace or the White House) – and that therefore only some opportunistic political rhetoric and internet mockery were necessary as a response – has proven to be horribly wrongheaded. As should have been amply evident from history, self-reinforcing totalitarian ideologies almost wholly divorced from reality can and have triumphed and sustained themselves for many decades before approaching any sort of collapse – while producing generations of human suffering along the way.

While they certainly should not give up on the political fight, at this point those who oppose Wokeness had best begin also looking for lessons in the experience of those who have confronted such totalitarian ideologies in the past and survived, such as those in Central and Eastern Europe who prevailed against Communism.

This might, for example, include seriously adopting the successful strategy of Czech dissident Václav Benda, who advised anti-Communists to prioritize building a “parallel polis” within, yet separate from, the prevailing regime. Parallel information and education networks; parallel communities of cultural and spiritual preservation; parallel economies and mutual assistance societies; even parallel transnational ties and latent parallel political structures: this was the means by which dissidents were able to “live in truth” together (as Benda’s comrade Václav Havel put it) despite the torrent of lies and social atomization forced on them by their totalitarian regime. And ultimately it was the means by which they overthrew and replaced that regime.

More broadly, those who oppose the Woke tide must recognize that the revolution they face is a many-headed hydra, driven and enabled by a multitude of factors beyond the political. Ultimately its deepest roots are in the social atomization, cultural breakdown, and void of spiritual meaninglessness produced by the nihilism of Western modernity. Unless these wounds can begin to be healed, young people seeking salvation from their growing dislocation and suffering will continue to be driven into the arms of utopian totalitarian ideologies like the Woke cult.

Contesting this hydra only in the political domain will thus inevitably prove insufficient to meet the current crisis. What is needed is instead a wholescale counter-cultural movement, willing and able to fight on every front at once, not only through intelligent power politics, but through a long march of cultural and aesthetic out-competition, spiritual and philosophical revival, systemic economic and technological reform, and institutional recapture and replacement that can ultimately win new generations of support and forge a genuine Counter-Revolution. And this movement needs to come together now – there is little time left to waste.

N.S. Lyons is the author of The Upheaval on Substack.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 26, 2023 10:10 am

Well, we’re just moving into the last hour of the 25th and are playing a few toons for Australia Day.

Especially this one

E pluribus unum.

Tom
Tom
January 26, 2023 10:11 am

Project Veritas is hyping a big drop at 8pm (NY time).

Tucker Carlson’s show starts at 8pm US eastern time (midday AEDT). Can’t wait!

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 10:11 am

I don’t care if Gaetz is gay.

You most certainly do. The gutter press have been pushing this crap for almost three years now, it is a “punishment” for not being permissive on abortion, he’s not hardline anti “gay agenda” anyway.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 10:12 am

At least they didn’t turn it into a retirement home like The Shents or the one next to Swanbourne Station.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 26, 2023 10:12 am

Good to see a handful of meals on wheels people getting Australia Day awards.

Left overs probably – all the big gongs go to the following:

‘Advocates’ (aka parasites feeding off others misfortune)
‘Activists’ (see ‘Advocates’)
‘Organisers’ (see Advocates and Activists)
‘Experts’ (aka tyrants)

and a grab bag of assorted people who hate Australia, its traditions and its foundation principles.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 26, 2023 10:12 am

Happy AUSTRALIA Day to all on the Cat! Don’t forget to fly an Australian flag!
Same to all. I just looked around and we have the flag given to Mrs Eyrie at her citizenship ceremony.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 26, 2023 10:13 am

Used to know some of The Bushwackers back in the day.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 26, 2023 10:13 am

Haha, Twiggy is now corking cows.

Bill Gates Funds a Startup to Stop Cows from Burping Methane to Combat Climate Change (25 Jan)

Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Bill Gates believes one of the solutions to combat climate change is to stop cows from burping. Gates invested in a startup company in Australia that is exploring dietary supplements for cows in an effort to contain ‘greenhouse gas emissions.’ “Australian climate technology company Rumin8 has closed Phase 2 of its seed funding round, led by Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) with participation from Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s agri-food business Harvest Road Group,” according to the company’s news release.

Sure to be at least as successful as his giant extension cord was.

shatterzzz
January 26, 2023 10:14 am

On the subject of both Oz Day and Queen’s (King”s I’m now guessing) awards I can’t and have never
have understood why anyone deserves an award for doing a job they get paid for .. Awards should be for “voluntary” or personal service to others (including animals, planet, whatever ect!) but when your paid to do a job then like the millions of other “wukkas” your wages should be recognition enuf! …… being a politician, sportsfolk or “celebrity” shouldn’t entitle you to “recognition” just “because:” ..!

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 26, 2023 10:15 am

Let’s all hope Bill Gates dies of Thuddenly. Some leave the world a better place for having lived, some for their passing.

shatterzzz
January 26, 2023 10:18 am

David Rowe was the pick of the cartoons today.
It’s a worry..! the laffs keep coming .. LOL!

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 10:18 am

I don’t care if Gaetz is gay.

That’s great, since he is gay.
But, why bring it up?

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 10:18 am

Add seaweed to cattle feed.
Doesn’t change the taste & reduces the methane produced.
Seaweed farming globally will continue to grow.

Roger
Roger
January 26, 2023 10:20 am

Seems the maggot farmer was deemed a bridge too far.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 10:20 am

I’m sure all Microsoft users would wish Bill a slow, lingering and painful death, just like their user experience.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 10:20 am

The Project Veritas story is Pfizer related.
Shortly after the drop at midday (Sydney time) there will be a twitter room where Malone will be one of the speakers.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 26, 2023 10:22 am

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare says:
January 26, 2023 at 9:24 am

He needs me to sympathise that the hotel he’s just booked for us in Korea for next week has closed their gym due to ‘Covid restrictions’. He’s threatened to cancel out if they don’t let him use their gym. So I’m not the only one who can kick up as needs be it seems. He now tells me enthusiastically from a Google search that Prime Minister Han Duk-Soo has decreed that from 30th Jan face-mask mandates are being dropped from indoor public places, so Hairy is hoping that our hotel booking may still stand, with an open gym, and that our flight will also drop any mask mandates.

Korea has taken a long time to catch up on Covid.

Lizzie,

as I said previously –enjoy Korea and they eat Meat!

Having finished watching Netflix, Emily in Paris & Wednesday, have just started watching

Netflix – Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Brilliant attorney Woo Young-woo tackles challenges in the courtroom and beyond as a newbie at a top law firm and a woman on the autism spectrum.

1. Extraordinary Attorney Woo

On her first day at a new job, Woo Young-woo meets an ally, a skeptic and an old acquaintance. She takes on an assault case involving an elderly couple.

Have finished Episode 1 – and now watching Episode 2 and enjoying them

2. The Wedding Dress That Slipped Off

The father of a bride sues a hotel for a wedding that ended in a humiliating disaster. Lee Jun-ho asks Young-woo to share her whale facts over lunch.

Having been in Seoul Hotels over weekends and seen a number of Weddings taking place in those Hotels – this Episode has really resonated

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 10:23 am

Microsoft is much maligned and doesn’t deserve it anymore. 10 years ago they were trash.

They have totally changed Office and stayed with industry leaders with Azure.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 10:23 am

Considering it’s project veritas, Tucker would have been prepped and have a segment ready.

calli
calli
January 26, 2023 10:24 am

Maggot Farmer references just reminded me to put mushrooms on the shopping list. Already have the shortcut bacon.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 10:24 am

Microsoft is much maligned and doesn’t deserve it anymore.

Agree.
Apart from their zoom knockoff.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 26, 2023 10:27 am

Microsoft is much maligned and doesn’t deserve it anymore. 10 years ago they were trash.

Yep. Windows 11 on the new Lenovo office PC is brilliant. Excel 2016 is great.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 10:28 am

I will be celebrating Australia day by making scrambled eggs with the finest organic eggs money can buy, truffle & prawns cooked in home made chilli oil.

Then I need to post on LinkedIn how I’m working on Australia Day #TreatyNow.

Christine
Christine
January 26, 2023 10:30 am

9.14am
“Fat is the new black …”

A cute comment
Black lycra didn’t work

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
January 26, 2023 10:32 am

MPs have called for an urgent investigation into Britain’s soaring death rates as thousands more people than usual are dying each week.

Some 17,381 deaths were registered in England and Wales in the seven days to January 13 – 2,837 above average for the time of year.

This is the highest number of excess deaths since 3,429 in the week to February 12, 2021, when the UK was experiencing its second wave of Covid-19 infections and vaccination had only just begun.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11671587/Massive-spike-excess-deaths-sparks-calls-urgent-investigation.html

shatterzzz
January 26, 2023 10:32 am

Andrew Bolt The HeraldSun

Spot what’s missing from this year’s list of state winners of Young Australian of the Year.

The NSW one is a white female environmentalist. That much isn’t surprising.
Then come the rest. The ACT winner is a Ghanaian Australian man, the Queenslander a Torres Strait Islander woman, the Tasmanian a Muslim woman, the South Australian a male refugee from Kenya, the Victorian a man who identifies as Aboriginal, and the Northern Territorian a Tiwi Islander
That leaves just Western Australia to produce a white male winner but … no. It’s athlete Peter Bol, born in Sudan.

How can white males – more than 40 per cent of our population – not crack even one spot on the list of Young Australians of the Year?

Roger
Roger
January 26, 2023 10:43 am

How do we make sure our kids and their kids continue to enjoy the wonderful life?

You may not have much influence in the wider world, but you do in your family.

Give little ones ballast for life’s journey, starting with…

Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen
Aesop’s Fables
The Jesus Storybook Bible

And if at all possible, home school them.

Plenty of helpful guides available on the ‘net; use common sense in evaluating them.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
January 26, 2023 10:44 am

Loving the Lizzie travelogue: the NE Coast is a bleak but beautiful highlight of the UK.

Tom
Tom
January 26, 2023 10:47 am

How can white males – more than 40 per cent of our population – not crack even one spot on the list of Young Australians of the Year?

Simples.

Self-loathing and guilt about the wealth produced by Australia are strongest among the non-productive parasites who end up running the vast Big Government bureaucracies that hand out the gongs.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 26, 2023 10:48 am

shatterzzz says:
January 26, 2023 at 9:56 am

Just need 50 muskets and 200 sausages. I can’t figure out if the convicts were allowed to cook without Phillip signing off if they understood Royal Navy hygiene regulations.

Royal Navy Regulations .. Nelson at Trafalgar ..

shatterzzz,

Thanks, absolutely Brilliant – sent to Tuesday Lunch Bunch, finishing with And I am not Hardy

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 26, 2023 10:48 am

m0ntysays:
January 26, 2023 at 10:07 am
I don’t care if Gaetz is gay. I do care if he is lying, especially if he is joining in with the anti-gay agenda of his party.

Do you care about DemonRats lying, or only Republicans?

Any thoughts on the Paul Pelosi matter?

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 10:51 am

How can white males – more than 40 per cent of our population – not crack even one spot on the list of Young Australians of the Year?

They should lift their game.

Also last year’s AOTY was a white male.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 26, 2023 10:52 am

Ed Casesays:
January 26, 2023 at 10:18 am
I don’t care if Gaetz is gay.

That’s great, since he is gay.
But, why bring it up?

It seems possible that m0nty=fa is a homophobe.

Or possibly a secret Flamer.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 26, 2023 10:54 am

Korea has taken a long time to catch up on Covid.

Lizzie,

as I said previously –enjoy Korea and they eat Meat!

2. The Wedding Dress That Slipped Off

The father of a bride sues a hotel for a wedding that ended in a humiliating disaster. Lee Jun-ho asks Young-woo to share her whale facts over lunch.

Having been in Seoul Hotels over weekends and seen a number of Weddings taking place in those Hotels – this Episode has really resonated

PS Note the Number of Wedding Shops in Seoul

Ahyeondong Wedding Street

??? ???????

+82-70-8114-7340 http://www.weddingtown.kr

Bukahyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul-si

Ahyeon-dong Wedding Street has over 2000 wedding dress shops.

This area can be easily accessed by subway line 2 and is located on Sinchonno Road between Ewha Women’s University Station and Ahyeon Station. Shops filled with wedding dresses line the street, making it a bridal paradise. The shops have it all, from the newest wedding dress styles to unique, one-of-a-kind designs. Brides can have dresses made-to-order for affordable prices or simply borrow a dress for their special day. This area has become popular with many tourists looking to see the latest wedding attire.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 10:55 am

It seems possible that m0nty=fa is a homophobe.
Or possibly a secret Flamer

Relax. Groogs is on it.

Indolent
Indolent
January 26, 2023 10:56 am

Antifa is now trying it on in Georgia. Hopefully, they’ll get short shrift.

Stacey Abrams adviser said burning police car, smashing windows isn’t ‘violence’ after anti-cop chaos

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 26, 2023 10:56 am

Boambee John says:
January 26, 2023 at 10:48 am

m0ntysays:
January 26, 2023 at 10:07 am
I don’t care if Gaetz is gay. I do care if he is lying, especially if he is joining in with the anti-gay agenda of his party.

Do you care about DemonRats lying, or only Republicans?

Any thoughts on the Paul Pelosi matter

We haven’t had a Deposition from The Hammer yet!

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 26, 2023 10:57 am

Lizzie actually a good site on Seoul – https://en.trippose.com/seoul/

2dogs
2dogs
January 26, 2023 10:58 am

On the subject of both Oz Day and Queen’s (King”s I’m now guessing) awards I can’t and have never
have understood why anyone deserves an award for doing a job they get paid for .. Awards should be for “voluntary” or personal service to others (including animals, planet, whatever ect!) but when your paid to do a job then like the millions of other “wukkas” your wages should be recognition enuf! …… being a politician, sportsfolk or “celebrity” shouldn’t entitle you to “recognition” just “because:” ..!

Been watching “Yes, Minister”?

Frank
Frank
January 26, 2023 10:58 am

“Add seaweed to cattle feed.”

Grass fed vs grain fed is supposed to make a difference too. The latter is where all the farts come from. Well, a beef farmer told me that anyway.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 26, 2023 11:03 am

Innes FitzGerald, ‘Greta Thunberg of sport’, says no to Australia world title run

Wednesday January 25 2023, 2.45pm GMT, The Times
Innes FitzGerald, 16, has set a national under-17 record for running 3,000 metres
SAM BARNES/SPORTSFILE/GETTY
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One of the brightest young talents in British athletics has said she will not travel to Australia for a championship because of her “deep concern” for the environment.

Innes FitzGerald, a 16-year-old from Devon, is being described as the Greta Thunberg of sport after writing to British Athletics to inform them that she will not make the trip to the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, New South Wales.

“The reality of the travel fills me with deep concern,” she said.

FitzGerald is one of the most promising athletes in the country. She has set a national under-17 record for 3,000 metres and last month in Turin finished fourth in the under-20s European Cross Country Championships against athletes three years her senior.

She led the field for a significant part of the race but explained afterwards that her later fatigue may have been caused by the 20-hour journey she had to undertake to get to northern Italy.

To avoid flying she caught an overnight coach to Lille before travelling by train via Paris to get to Turin. Her family took folding bikes to complete the journey between stations in the French capital.

This month FitzGerald missed the British trials for the competition in Scotland. In her letter to British Athletics she said: “To have the opportunity to compete for Great Britain in Australia is a privilege.

“When I started running, the prospect of me competing in the World Cross Country Championships would have seemed merely a dream. However, the reality of the travel fills me with deep concern.

“I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loved ones as a result. The least I can do is voice my solidarity with those suffering on the front line of climate breakdown. Coming to a decision has not been easy, however little compares to the grief I would feel taking the flight.”

In an interview with Athletics Weekly, she explained: “My family is as environmentally minded as I am. We live in a passive house on a smallholding [near Exeter] growing fruit and vegetables. So my dad was happy for us not to fly. Aviation is the most energy intensive activity we can do and explodes a person’s carbon footprint. I don’t want that on my conscience.”

Champions for Earth, an organisation for environmentally friendly athletes, has described it as a “tortured decision to decline” the opportunity to compete on the world stage.

“The Exeter Harriers runner is a champion in more ways than one, winning impressively on the running track and in the world of environmental protection,” the organisation added. “Innes was crowned the 2022 Youth ‘Champion For Earth’ for her commitment to pursuing her sporting goals as sustainably as possible.

“She is looking for sponsors and supporters who can help her with the more expensive public transport, accommodation and eco-friendly kit that she requires. It is clear that Innes has the steely determination and focus, combined with the courage and clarity to face a reality quite different to athletes of previous generations.

“As a young person with Olympic dreams growing up during a climate and ecological emergency, she is balancing the dream of one day becoming a champion of the world, with a determination to be a champion for earth.”

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 26, 2023 11:06 am

PeterMsays:

January 26, 2023 at 9:00 am

I can’t be sure if that article is genuine or not, Indolent

How is that different from all the others?

rickw
rickw
January 26, 2023 11:06 am

How can white males – more than 40 per cent of our population – not crack even one spot on the list of Young Australians of the Year?

The war against white males continues unabated.

Top Ender
Top Ender
January 26, 2023 11:06 am

How can white males – more than 40 per cent of our population – not crack even one spot on the list of Young Australians of the Year?

Pale stale males are the dinosaurs, according to the woke crowd. To be made into crude oil, which must not be extracted.

shatterzzz
January 26, 2023 11:06 am

Don’t know whether this is some sort of “phishing” or real ..
Just got a text from NSW Housing asking
if I was happy with my last encounter with Housing and to rate it .. select .. yes, no, undecided …

Can’t remember the last time I spoke to anyone from Housing about anything .. and a text from a gummint dept. on a public holiday? .. duuuuuuh!
Either a spoof or, maybe, one of those folk who chose to work rather than celebrate doing their bit ..
I, actually, thought the entire dept was on the work-from-home lurk until their official retirement dates came due ..!

Roger
Roger
January 26, 2023 11:08 am

Listened this morning to an ABC interview with our AOY Local Hero. A Sikh who started a food distribution charity. Against all expectations the bloke sounded terrific. His message to others out there: stop living as an ‘ethnic immigrant’ and get out there, this is a great country which rewards hard work.

How on earth did he slip through?

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 11:08 am

Also I see that the new House Republican majority has kicked off its session with a highly populist bill to *checks notes* fund upper-class tax cuts with a 30% GST.

Top Ender
Top Ender
January 26, 2023 11:08 am

To avoid flying she caught an overnight coach to Lille before travelling by train via Paris to get to Turin. Her family took folding bikes to complete the journey between stations in the French capital.

Hilarious!

Zipster
Zipster
January 26, 2023 11:10 am

Three arrested for alleged anti-gay chanting at Liverpool vs. Chelsea
“Merseyside Police will not tolerate hate crime of any form, and we will bring to justice anyone found responsible for committing any offensive chanting,” said Superintendent Paul Sutcliffe and match commander for the game.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 26, 2023 11:11 am

Rather amusing, watching footage of the “Invasion Day” rallies – all those fair – skinned, blonde – haired “Aborigines…

shatterzzz
January 26, 2023 11:11 am

One of the brightest young talents in British athletics has said she will not travel to Australia for a championship because of her “deep concern” for the environment.
They walk amongst us .. or in her case RUN .. there was a time when folk were certified for less .. FFS!

Vicki
Vicki
January 26, 2023 11:12 am

Don’t forget to fly an Australian flag!

I couldn’t find one to buy in my local rural town. But I bought a baseball type cap with the Aussie flag on it, & hung it on our farm gate!

Arky
January 26, 2023 11:14 am

He sounds like a very demanding girlfriend who gets whatever she wants from her sugar daddy.

..
I wish out political leaders were as demanding and strident in our interests. We might then have the submarines, fleets of drones and factories we need to defend this nation in a time when warfare has returned to the long drawn out, highly industrial dependent affair it was in earlier times.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 11:16 am

It’s Invasion Day on social media. I even had to take down my rainbow flag filter from the poofta marriage thing.

Bear Necessities
Bear Necessities
January 26, 2023 11:17 am

Also I see that the new House Republican majority has kicked off its session with a highly populist bill to *checks notes* fund upper-class tax cuts with a 30% GST.

Keep the good news coming Monty!

Vicki
Vicki
January 26, 2023 11:17 am

Grass fed vs grain fed is supposed to make a difference too. The latter is where all the farts come from. Well, a beef farmer told me that anyway.

I think that is probably true. I can honestly say I rarely hear a “blurt” from our cows which, incidentally, are currently far too fat. The only sound that resembles a “blurt”comes very occasionally when one is excreting manure. But the way the Greenies complain, you would think they were farting all day long.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 26, 2023 11:20 am

You realize Monty that nothing is going to get through the Senate?
That’s why they stole it. Easier to steal than all those myriads of House seats.

The real game is the debt ceiling. If RINO McCarthy does a deal, or if the Dems just illegally blow through it, either will be a Rubicon moment.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 11:20 am

Speaking of slipping through, John Hyde picks up a Medal of the Order of Australia.

Roger
Roger
January 26, 2023 11:24 am

Speaking of slipping through, John Hyde picks up a Medal of the Order of Australia.

Thoroughly deserved.

(To be honest, I thought he’d shuffled off this mortal coil.)

lotocoti
lotocoti
January 26, 2023 11:26 am

Anyway, the Biden administration is now going to send M1 Abrams tanks.

Will the Ukies have enough time to get sufficient tank crews trained from scratch to launch their own Spring Awakening?

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 11:27 am

Cows are basically a walking tank farms. My old man ran into a few of (his own) cows while they were sleeping on the road (much like him). Next morning spent hosing green cow shit off the entire car where they had exploded.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 11:28 am

m0nty says:
January 26, 2023 at 11:08 am
Also I see that the new House Republican majority has kicked off its session with a highly populist bill to *checks notes* fund upper-class tax cuts with a 30% GST.

Explain how taxing the Kardashians, Clinton’s, bankers with lodges on the Sesquahana River with a 30% sales tax is inequitable, as opposed to letting them structure their taxes through trusts etc?

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 11:28 am

You realize Monty that nothing is going to get through the Senate?

Ah yes, so it is a pointless exercise designed solely for the new House majority to signal to their voters that they are committed to populism. By proposing a 30% sales tax, paid mostly by the poor. Mmm hmm.

The real game is the debt ceiling. If RINO McCarthy does a deal, or if the Dems just illegally blow through it, either will be a Rubicon moment.

Remember the last time the Republicans shut down the government and didn’t get blamed for it? Neither do I, because they always get blamed for it. Because it’s always them who do it.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 26, 2023 11:28 am

Met him once I think. Lost an arm along the way?

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
January 26, 2023 11:29 am

A young fellow was about to be married and was asking his grandfather about sex.

He asked “How often should you have it?” His grandfather told him that “When you first get married, you want it all the time, and maybe do it several times a day. Later on, sex tapers off and you have it once a week or so. Then as you get older, you have sex maybe once a month. When you get really old, you are lucky to have it once a year, maybe on your anniversary”.

The young fellow then asked his grandfather “Well how about you and grandma now?” His grandfather replied “Oh, we just have oral sex now”. “What’s oral sex?” the young fellow asked. “Well” grandpa said “she goes to bed in her room, and I go to bed in my room. And she yells ‘F*ck you’ and I holler back ‘F*ck you too.’”

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
January 26, 2023 11:29 am

A young fellow was about to be married and was asking his grandfather about sex.

He asked “How often should you have it?” His grandfather told him that “When you first get married, you want it all the time, and maybe do it several times a day. Later on, sex tapers off and you have it once a week or so. Then as you get older, you have sex maybe once a month. When you get really old, you are lucky to have it once a year, maybe on your anniversary”.

The young fellow then asked his grandfather “Well how about you and grandma now?” His grandfather replied “Oh, we just have oral sex now”. “What’s oral sex?” the young fellow asked. “Well” grandpa said “she goes to bed in her room, and I go to bed in my room. And she yells ‘F*ck you’ and I holler back ‘F*ck you too.’”

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
January 26, 2023 11:30 am

I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.

– Groucho Marx

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 11:34 am

By proposing a 30% sales tax, paid mostly by the poor. Mmm hmm

This is quite impossible and it perverse that leftists even oppose a sales tax. Canada has a GST anyway and Keating wanted one in 1985. Latham proposed one in 1998 or thereabouts at 28% to replace most other Federal taxes when he wrote Civilising Global Capital.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 11:35 am

John Hyde- Dry and conservative.

Except he didn’t conserve anything and he’d likely approve of Albanese saving money by not informing voters by post of the Referendum proposals and refusing to fund a No Voice.

Cassie of Sydney
January 26, 2023 11:36 am

“They should lift their game.”

Hmm, tell that to the dead white father who drowned last week whilst saving his daughter from being drowned after she’d been swept out to sea.

Actually, you might have a point, but your point isn’t confined to “white males”. Please get on the next flight to Alice Springs and tell the young marauding indigenous males who, when not walking around supermarkets stealing and threatening decent people with bats, are bashing, raping and assaulting indigenous women and children. Please, please, please go and tell those young males to ‘lift their game‘, because you wanna know know what? They need to lift their game. And until you do this, eff off.

Roger
Roger
January 26, 2023 11:37 am

Met him once I think. Lost an arm along the way?

Yes, farming accident I believe.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
January 26, 2023 11:37 am

But the way the Greenies complain, you would think they were farting all day long.

I agree. The Greenies do fart all day long and 24/7. Green verbal manure is all that they can produce.

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 11:38 am

Geez Dot, no wonder you aren’t an economist any more if you deny that sales taxes are regressive.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 11:40 am

Keating’s Option C and subsequent demolition of Dr John’s birthday cake beautifully
illustrates the problem of democracy for solving political problems. It might still be the best approach though.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 11:40 am

John Hyde, conservative.
From Wiki:

Among his campaigns was to stop the two-airline monopoly and various subsidies to the aircraft, shipping and car industries (former Navy Minister and “Dry” Bert Kelly, author of “The Modest Member” and “The Modest Farmer” columns in various papers, had described the aircraft and shipping industries in Australia as “Our flying and floating feather beds.”).

Keep on conserving, eh, conservatives?
Hyde also supported Whitlam’s 25% across the board Tariff Cuts.

More at Wiki, for those with a strong stomach.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hyde_(Australian_federal_politician)

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 11:43 am

Of course, only the rich should pay tax. Standby for some Emmanomics from our guest lecturer, mUnty.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 26, 2023 11:43 am

Remember the last time the Republicans shut down the government and didn’t get blamed for it?

Things are a little different now Monty.

Majority of Americans OPPOSE raising the debt ceiling without spending cuts, new poll shows as Republicans and Democrats continue talks to avoid a US default (24 Jan)

A majority of Americans would rather see a government shutdown than watch the federal government increase its borrowing limits without cutting spending, according to a new poll.

Joe Q. Public is getting entirely pissed off with the government, which they know very well is controlled by the Dems.

You missed the point I’m making about the debt ceiling though. Which is that if McCarthy tries the usual he’ll get toppled faster than you can say Tea Party. Which is what the rule changes were about. Hearts and minds tend to follow a suitably gentle grip on one’s orbs.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 11:44 am

Great Googlin’ Grooglery.

Cassie of Sydney
January 26, 2023 11:45 am

Invasion Day rallies have began, in Sydney the police move along a group who turn out to support Oz Day. From the Daily Telegraph…

SYDNEY

Crowds gathered early in the morning on Gadigal land at Belmore Park in Sydney’s CBD ahead of the march at 9.30am.

It wasn’t long before a fight broke out in the crowd with a small group of people holding up an Australian flag and signs which read: “Always was always will be Australian land”.

During the rally they were asked by Gomeroi woman and Indigenous activist Gwenda Stanley to leave the area.

“Australia Day is dead and done. Get over it,” she shouted from across the park.

Speaking to NCA NewsWire, Ms Stanley called them “infiltrators and agitators.”

“Our conflict is 235 days of genocide in this country and he thinks he’s got a right to stand there and he thinks he has some sort of power in our day,” she said.

“Australia Day is dead and gone. Get over it. This is our day now. It’s gone. It’s done and dusted.”

Police also intervened and asked the group to disperse and said they would be issued with a direction, if they didn’t obey the request.

Protester Kim Jacobs, who was holding up an Australian flag, justified his dissent as democratic.

“I guess I’m one of those awkward people who have a point of view and felt shame to express it,” he told a police officer.

“I have no wish to cause problems with the police and do not wish to cause violence.”

As he left, a bystander was heard saying: “You’re everything that’s wrong with this country”.

The theme of Thursday’s rally is “sovereignty before voice” in response to the Federal Government’s Voice to Parliament proposal.

The rally opened with a smoking ceremony, followed by traditional dances and an acknowledgement of country made by Uncle Dave Bell.

A heavy police presence was also seen on park grounds.

Speakers made calls for Indigenous sovereignty and criticised the referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Activist and Dunghutti, Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung woman, Auntie Lizzie Jarrett told attendees to vote no.

“Liberal, Labor, the system is not for Black People,” she said as the crowd cheered in response.”

The Daily Telegraph refers to the few who protested in support of Australia Day as “The right-wing nationalists were told to move on from the crowd“. That’s you and me folks. Oh well, I’m proud to be a “right-wing nationalist”.

One thing is for sure. This country is effed. No country can withstand this assault on our national psyche.

Oh and vote NO to the Voice. I will be.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
January 26, 2023 11:46 am

“Merseyside Police will not tolerate hate crime of any form, and we will bring to justice anyone found responsible for committing any offensive chanting,”

The offensive chant (reader discretion is advised):

Chelsea rent boy
Chelsea rent boy
Chelsea… (repeated ad nauseam)

The chant is soccer sledging on the fact that virtually the entire Chelsea team are bought in internationals.

So, racist as well as homophobic: the Merseyside fuzz are missing a trick.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 26, 2023 11:47 am

from a Google search that Prime Minister Han Duk-Soo

NOT, I hasten to add, the same personage as Dr Duk Duk Doc

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 11:48 am

Majority of Americans OPPOSE raising the debt ceiling without spending cuts, new poll shows as Republicans and Democrats continue talks to avoid a US default (24 Jan)

Hahahahaha! That is an online poll by the Daily Mail. You could hardly get a less credible source. Dear dear Dot, you are so off the pace.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 11:49 am

Please get on the next flight to Alice Springs and tell the young marauding indigenous males who, when not walking around supermarkets stealing and threatening decent people with bats, are bashing, raping and assaulting indigenous women and children.

Take it easy with the Anti-Aboriginal Men hate.
Aboriginal women are involved in the violence too, both as Perps and instigators.
But here’s the bottom line:
When The State systematically removes children from their families, no matter what fig leaf the apologists and huffers and puffers want to
put on it, the life outcomes of 99.999% of those children affected are going to be extremely sub-optimal.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 11:49 am

Want to raise a quick 100bill?
Tax all assets that have been in free port facilities for more than 12 months at 10% retrospectively.

Tax the poor less.
Tax the rich less.
Tax the asset bases of the wealthy.
So many of the worlds wealthy have asset bases that are effectively shielded from tax.

If you don’t understand the difference between rich & wealthy, get some Chris Rock into you.

Arky
January 26, 2023 11:49 am

The US will make back every cent and then some spent on the Ukraine in future arms sales.
No one is going to want T80, T90 after watching them blown to shit by Abrams in footage after footage after footage.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 26, 2023 11:50 am

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11671587/Massive-spike-excess-deaths-sparks-calls-urgent-investigation.html

for the keen eyed, the clue is in the title……..

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 11:50 am

You missed the point I’m making about the debt ceiling though. Which is that if McCarthy tries the usual he’ll get toppled faster than you can say Tea Party. Which is what the rule changes were about. Hearts and minds tend to follow a suitably gentle grip on one’s orbs.

One wonders if McCarthy’s goons are behind these Gaetz rumours.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
January 26, 2023 11:52 am

How can white males – more than 40 per cent of our population – not crack even one spot on the list of Young Australians of the Year?

They are obviously just going about their business trying to make Australia a better place. Apart from the 1% who are just a bunch of ‘layabouts’. And they are either on Centrelink or are part of the Guv’ment Scheme/Scam/Gravy Train.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 26, 2023 11:52 am

Monty – Why don’t you search ‘poll debt ceiling’ and come back to us after you read the news reports from the last few days?

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 11:52 am

Cassie – I would wait until people are in the privacy of a voting booth with a pencil in their hand before forming a judgement just quietly. As always (quite frequently recently) I may be wrong.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 11:52 am

Speakers made calls for Indigenous sovereignty and criticised the referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Activist and Dunghutti, Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung woman, Auntie Lizzie Jarrett told attendees to vote no.

“Liberal, Labor, the system is not for Black People,” she said as the crowd cheered in response.”

Onya, Auntie Lizzie Jarrett.

Miltonf
Miltonf
January 26, 2023 11:52 am

The Daily Telegraph refers to the few who protested in support of Australia Day as “The right-wing nationalists were told to move on from the crowd“. That’s you and me folks. Oh well, I’m proud to be a “right-wing nationalist”.

Which shows that the meja is indeed the enemy of the people.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 11:53 am

One wonders if McCarthy’s goons are behind these Gaetz rumours.
Gaetz is a Flamer.
So is Kevin McCarthy.

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 11:53 am

A more pertinent question is how come there aren’t any ten-pound Poms among the AOTY nominees? Stop bludging you whiny twats.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 11:54 am

m0nty says:
January 26, 2023 at 11:38 am
Geez Dot, no wonder you aren’t an economist any more if you deny that sales taxes are regressive.

By definition, they’re not.

This was taught routinely in economics until activist hacks tried the definition changing game.

It is also a simpleton’s game. The incidence and burden of taxes are two different things.

In the short term the relative price of everything will change with minimal distortion, if any at all.

In the long term the capital to labour ratio rises and real wages rise as consumption taxes do not disincentivise savings.

The simple assertion also does not consider income smoothing over a lifetime. Consumption taxes can in effect be progressive.

As excise taxes are not generally applied, they are indeed in effect regressive; tariffs more so as the effective rate of protection can be many times larger than the rate.

It must be hard to be wrong all the time monty. Be nice to yourself and stop it for a while.

JC
JC
January 26, 2023 11:54 am

Other than a shovel and cutting them in half, can you kill snakes with poison? Wifey got lucky; she was walking up the last set of steps in the semi-dark when she noticed one right in front of her, on the steps, with its head up, ready to take a crack. Since the laws protecting first nation snakes were passed, the peninsula has been riddled with them.

I moved it with a rake as that’s all I had. FMD they move quickly though.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 26, 2023 11:55 am

Grass fed vs grain fed is supposed to make a difference too. The latter is where all the farts come from. Well, a beef farmer told me that anyway.

Interesting observation if true because it parallels my experience with human digestion – eat the right fuel (meat) and the digestion causes little trouble, eat the wrong fuel (plant fibre) and the volume goes up, the transit time goes down and the wind blows.

Grain fed cattle also exhibit the same metabolic effects as grain fed humans – they get fat… thats why we do it! Horses, similarly, fed too much grain get ‘fat and inflamed’, developing the same suite of chronic illness that humans do: obesity, thryoid disorders, insulin resistance, inflammatory arthritis etc.

In nature, grains are only to be found for a small part of the year, hence it could be inferred that (for humans or animals) they should not form a regular part of the diet.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 11:56 am

No one is going to want T80, T90 after watching them blown to shit by Abrams in footage after footage after footage.

These are feints from which Ukraine will never recover from, like facing actual T-34s in combat.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
January 26, 2023 11:57 am

feelthebernsays:
January 26, 2023 at 11:49 am
Want to raise a quick 100bill?
Tax all assets that have been in free port facilities for more than 12 months at 10% retrospectively.

Tax the poor less.
Tax the rich less.
Tax the asset bases of the wealthy.
So many of the worlds wealthy have asset bases that are effectively shielded from tax.

If you don’t understand the difference between rich & wealthy, get some Chris Rock into you.

I have a much better idea. Smaller Guv’ments with balanced Budgets and not being able to borrow money unless in a time of a National Emergency – Like a War.

JC
JC
January 26, 2023 11:57 am

Eyrie says:
January 26, 2023 at 10:15 am

Let’s all hope Bill Gates dies of Thuddenly. Some leave the world a better place for having lived, some for their passing.

Another day, another death wish from Hallward Hughes.
Hey Hallward, how many dolls do you have with pins stuck in them, you deranged twat?
The ‘Aviationist’.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
January 26, 2023 11:58 am

The infallible magisterium of the GayBC pronounces on Australia Day:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-26/pope-says-homosexuality-not-a-crime/101894596

I liked the reference to ‘Mr’ McElroy. If only it were true.

Roger
Roger
January 26, 2023 11:58 am

Speakers made calls for Indigenous sovereignty and criticised the referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Activist and Dunghutti, Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung woman, Auntie Lizzie Jarrett told attendees to vote no.

This is fast turning into a rock show.

Elbow…break out the Radio Birdman t-shirt!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 26, 2023 11:58 am

I’m bemused that Brittany Higgins didn’t get AOTY.
Surely she’d be a shoo-in.

Chris
Chris
January 26, 2023 11:59 am

The extremely large calibre revolvers developed at the time made much of their dervish stopping power. Apparently quite a few found out they were under gunned the hard way,

Webley 455 eh ?

Or 476 Adams conversion…

If anyone has one they would care to part with I want one RIGHT NOW.
Black Powder Cartridge Revolver competition is begging to consume a little more of my life.

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 11:59 am

Which shows that the meja is indeed the enemy of the people.
Well, yeah.
Murdoch’s bankers haven’t kept him afloat for 60 years so he can be the voice of Truth, y’ know?

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
January 26, 2023 12:00 pm

In nature, grains are only to be found for a small part of the year, hence it could be inferred that (for humans or animals) they should not form a regular part of the diet.

I like some grains. Those that are used to make Beer for instance.

Pogria
Pogria
January 26, 2023 12:00 pm

JC,
poisoning isn’t the go. Scatter white ping pong balls around. The snake thinks they are eggs and will swallow one. Can’t digest the plastic, ball gets stuck, snake dies.
There are stories online about snakes having ping pong balls removed to save their lives. I don’t know why. If you do go that way, DO NOT tell anyone why you have ping pong balls scattered in the garden. Wokesters would rather see you dead than a snake.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 26, 2023 12:01 pm

If there was any real interest about equitable outcomes re tax, high on the list would be reviewing the US/Australia tax treaty.
Australian tax payers should not rebating tax to billionaires who tax advantage of US opportunity zones.
Or billionaires who own sporting sporting franchises in US.

Miltonf
Miltonf
January 26, 2023 12:01 pm

No country can withstand this assault on our national psyche.

It’s called cultural marxism and it’s been relentless for 50 years- it’s become so unreasonable, insane and downright nasty that it may back fire.

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 12:01 pm

Monty – Why don’t you search ‘poll debt ceiling’ and come back to us after you read the news reports from the last few days?

#1 result: Rasmussen LOL.
#2 result: Poll: As debt battle looms, 55% of Americans say GOP House is ‘dysfunctional’

Republicans can shut down the government if they want, but that didn’t help Newt Gingrich or any of the other recent times they did it.

Bluey
Bluey
January 26, 2023 12:02 pm

Arkysays:
January 26, 2023 at 11:49 am
The US will make back every cent and then some spent on the Ukraine in future arms sales.
No one is going to want T80, T90 after watching them blown to shit by Abrams in footage after footage after footage.

My understanding of the supply of Abrams is it’ll be new build. Not a chance it’ll show up before next year. And not to put to fine a point on it, I’d expect they’d be facing combined arms not just rolling in to do tank vs. tank.
IF Abrams ever even arrive in the first place.

Chris
Chris
January 26, 2023 12:03 pm

I have a much better idea. Smaller Guv’ments with balanced Budgets and not being able to borrow money unless in a time of a National Emergency – Like a War.

PM immediately declares ‘War on Structural Underprivilege and Microaggression’.
Orders nuke assets from rogue states, pays, ALP receives 7% commission.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 12:03 pm

Cope more bluey. Russia literally is using T-34s.

Roger
Roger
January 26, 2023 12:03 pm

Other than a shovel and cutting them in half, can you kill snakes with poison?

Very difficult as snakes eat live prey.

Roger
Roger
January 26, 2023 12:04 pm

Good suggestion, Pogria!

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
January 26, 2023 12:05 pm

That’s you and me folks. Oh well, I’m proud to be a “right-wing nationalist”.

By the time we get to referendum, we’re going to need a bigger Godwin’s Law.

You’re literally Right Wing.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 26, 2023 12:07 pm

Other than a shovel and cutting them in half, can you kill snakes with poison?

Small aperture netting, such as ‘cat netting’, liberally strung in likely traffic areas (entry to under house spaces, nooks and crannies) is pretty effective in trapping snakes … what you then do is up to you.

PS – apparently this is illegal in some places

m0nty
m0nty
January 26, 2023 12:07 pm

By definition, they’re not.

This was taught routinely in economics until activist hacks tried the definition changing game.

Look at the world, Dot, not a book. You might as well deny that water is wet because things that it touches get wet, not water itself. You are playing rhetorical games – which is all economics is, if done poorly.

bons
bons
January 26, 2023 12:07 pm

Consumption tax is indeed a progressive and easily administered form of revenue raising, except
Except Fed and State Govts will not honour pledges to remove other taxes and not introduce new ones. GST being the example.
Rent seeker and crony exemptions will make the system a nightmare for business and a joy to bureaucites.
Tax changes without a mechanism to force Govt to act honestly are simply tax increases.

rickw
rickw
January 26, 2023 12:10 pm

PS – apparently this is illegal in some places

It used to be sold as snake netting in some places, now exactly the same thing is sold as bird netting.

flyingduk
flyingduk
January 26, 2023 12:10 pm

And, a cry for help from this forum of excellent advice:

I towed a 1600kg camper trailer 600km a few days ago and noticed one of the wheels got much hotter than the other. Not enough to catch fire, but certainly worrying. It has electric brakes, although I could not feel any ‘drag’ and unplugging from the car did not cure it.

Its done very little mileage (5y old and recently bought off an old chap who became chronically unwell not long after he got it from new).

My next thought is to pull the wheels and look for dragging, but its more likely a bearing I would think. Can a near new bearing get that hot?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
January 26, 2023 12:13 pm

Ping pong balls as snake-killing apparatus.

That is a sensational concept.

lotocoti
lotocoti
January 26, 2023 12:13 pm

No one is going to want T80, T90 after watching them blown to shit by Abrams in footage after footage after footage.

You might have to wait a while for that hot, tank on tank action you’re hoping for.

JC
JC
January 26, 2023 12:13 pm

Pogria

I can’t believe these things are protected when  pound for pound, they’re some of the deadliest snakes around. I think what I saw was a young tiger snake, but I can’t be sure as it was dusk. They’re quite aggressive and don’t demure from taking a bite.

The damned thing wasn’t in the garden, it was on the step halfway up to the front door. Being summer, we were both wearing shorts.

I’m buying a long-handled shovel later today.

As an aside, if you walk along the Yarra River right across from Melbourne High, on Alexander Avenue in South Yarra. There’s a sign that says, “Beware of snakes.” This is as close to an inner city as you can get, and they let snakes coexist, and we don’t kill them. WTF?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 26, 2023 12:14 pm

NATO’s best tanks are going to Ukraine, what will it mean on the battlefield?

Kiev will get what it demanded from the West, but will it be enough?

Tank supplies to Ukraine from NATO members is the top news story this week. Kiev has been calling for these weapons from its western sponsors since the beginning of the Russian offensive, and it looks like now, eleven months into the fighting, these demands are being met.

The US has announced it will send 31 Abrams main battle tanks. In a hastily scheduled speech on Wednesday, President Joe Biden noted that they are complicated to operate and maintain, so the US will provide Kiev with “parts and equipment necessary to effectively sustain these tanks on the battlefield.”

It was also confirmed, the same day, that the German government will send Leopard 2A6 tanks from its own stock and will allow other nations, such as Poland, to transfer German-made machines, to Ukraine.

On January 14, London announced plans to ship its Challengers 2s to Kiev, while it now seems inevitable that Paris will supply AMX-56 Leclerc vehicles.

Russian experts and journalists have been locked in a heated debate over the differences between these western main battle tanks and the Russian T-90s, comparing their armor, guns, accuracy, active and passive protection systems, maneuverability, fire-control systems, ammunition, and many other attributes.

At the end of the day though, these discussions lack any practical value. The battlefield is the only litmus test for the advantages and drawbacks of any type of weapon or military equipment. Reliable statistics on combat use are all that is required for a comparative analysis of modern main battle tanks, if it is to be credible.

Another thing to remember is that all tanks are vulnerable to modern anti-tank systems, so the question is, how many NATO tanks are going to make their way to Ukraine?

How many tanks does Kiev need?

To simplify calculations, we’ll be using an armored division, the main structural and tactical unit of armored forces in the former Soviet republics, as our yardstick. According to Soviet manuals, an armored division must have 296 tanks, 230 infantry fighting vehicles, 54 self-propelled artillery systems, over 2,000 regular vehicles, and almost 12,000 soldiers and officers.

How many divisions does Kiev need? At least one per each of the three main fronts — in Lugansk, Donetsk, and Zaporozhye. The line of contact in the special military operation zone right now is 815 km long, making three divisions too modest an amount to make a difference, but let’s disregard this for the time being.

Three armored divisions combined would have a total of about 900 tanks. Apart from that, another armored division may be necessary on the Belarusian front, which could see some very heavy fighting. In case of an escalation there, an armored division or a similar unit in reserve is a must, which drives the number of required tanks up by 300 to 1,200.

Finally, no commander-in-chief can do without his own reserve, the so-called reserve of the supreme high command. Without at least one armored division, this reserve cannot really count as such, which means another 300 tanks for a required total of 1,500.

Another thing to consider is probable Ukrainian losses during offensive operations. The average daily losses of an armored unit in this case stand at 10 to 15%. About 15 to 20% of incapacitated tanks are typically irrecoverable losses, while the rest require repairs (general maintenance for 30 to 50%, medium-level repairs for 15 to 30%, and an overhaul for 10 to 20%).

Simply put, at least another 300 tanks are required to offset losses during combat operations. This gives us a figure of 1,800 tanks, which must be considered an absolute minimum.

These are very approximate and somewhat simplistic calculations, yet they give us ballpark figures.

How many tanks will Kiev get?

So far, NATO countries have earmarked tanks for Ukraine numbered in the dozens. This is only a fraction of the hypothetical minimum.

Great Britain and Poland have officially pledged an armored company each, respectively consisting of up to 14 tanks. Germany will supply a similar amount, while the US is preparing the supply of 31 Abrams heavy weapons.

At a recent meeting of the US-led Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, officials from 12 countries discussed sending a total of about 100 tanks to Kiev, if Berlin were to give the green light, which, according to an ABC report, it has done.

Rheinmetall could additionally supply a total of 139 tanks to Ukraine, including 88 Leopard 1s and 51 Leopard 2A4s, yet the German manufacturer concedes that only 29 of them could be shipped before the summer of 2023.

What impact will NATO’s tanks have?

Will all these tanks see combat any time soon? Let’s consider the example of the M1 Abrams, which is seen as one of the symbols of US military power.

A small number of these tanks manned by poorly trained crews and lacking full-scale maintenance and supply infrastructure support would most likely yield negative results. They will fail to change Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield, while images of burning American tanks will likely hurt US public opinion.

Thus, one of America’s premier weapons, the pride and joy of its defense industry, will be humiliated on the battlefield for a long time. This is something the Pentagon can’t allow to happen under any circumstances.

Therefore, before any actual fighting happens, evacuation teams, tank repair units, and spare part supplies must be in place, while crews must receive superior training to handle American tanks.

Last but not least, the first deployment of US main battle tanks in Ukraine must be accompanied by a significant Ukrainian army success, at least at the tactical level, which would necessitate no fewer than 200–300 (maybe even 400–500) tanks.

Otherwise, supplying the M1 Abrams to Ukraine makes neither military nor political sense. Transferring them one company (10 to 15 tanks) at a time would only mean that this equipment will burn on the battlefield without making any significant impact or even catching anyone’s attention.

So far, according to known data, Russia has not had any significant trouble dealing with enemy equipment. This is something on which both the Russian Ministry of Defense and most Western analysts seem to agree.

Since the launch of the military operation, according to Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman, Russian forces have destroyed 376 planes, 203 helicopters, 2,944 UAVs, 402 anti-aircraft missile systems, 988 MLRVs, and 3,898 field artillery guns and mortars.

As well as 7,614 tanks and other armored vehicles.

No room for complacency

It’s very likely that the first NATO tank companies will be used as training units for Ukrainian crews, while Poland will initially provide maintenance and repair capacity for servicing German or American tanks.

One shouldn’t think, however, that training will stretch over a very long time. It can take just weeks to do a full training program, while teaching T-64/84 crews to fight in the M1 Abrams or the Leopard 2A5 could be completed in a matter of days.

What matters in the reports about the West mulling tank supplies to Ukraine is not the tanks themselves as much as the breaking of a taboo, which, until recently, prevented the transfer of heavy western-made armored vehicles to Ukraine.

Once this taboo is broken, there is every reason to assume that, sooner or later, Kiev will receive not only the 1,800 western main battle tanks it badly needs, but much more than that.

At that point in time and maybe even earlier, Ukraine will be able to create a strike force on the Zaporozhye front for example. If a force like that succeeds in breaching Russian defenses, it could cover the 82 km to Melitopol in less than three days, which would dissect the whole depth of the Russian defense in this region.

With this in mind, the Russian armed forces must achieve tangible military and political results long before western arms supplies reach their full potential.

By Mikhail Khodaryonok, military observer, retired colonel, and air defense specialist

Ed Case
Ed Case
January 26, 2023 12:14 pm

Snakes are often attracted to rats and mice, which are attracted to catshit.
The solution:
take a small tin of Tuna [ring pull top], turn it upside down, punch 3 holes in it in the shape of a small triangle with the tip of a nail using a hammer as the driver.
Leave for 3 days, open, and place in the cat’s bowl.
Pretty soon, no cat.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 26, 2023 12:15 pm

H B Bearsays:

January 26, 2023 at 10:20 am

I’m sure all Microsoft users would wish Bill a slow, lingering and painful death, just like their user experience.

It looks like you’re writing a letter.
It looks like you’re writing a letter.
It looks like you’re writing a letter.

132andBush
132andBush
January 26, 2023 12:15 pm

How can white males – more than 40 per cent of our population – not crack even one spot on the list of Young Australians of the Year?

This can’t be true because according to every advertisement I see for ANYTHING I live in a country more resembling a cross (or a Venn diagram) between Asia, Africa and China.
Rendering every Caucasian I come across a figment of my imagination.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 26, 2023 12:17 pm

flyingduk says:
January 26, 2023 at 12:10 pm

And, a cry for help from this forum of excellent advice:

I towed a 1600kg camper trailer 600km a few days ago and noticed one of the wheels got much hotter than the other. Not enough to catch fire, but certainly worrying. It has electric brakes, although I could not feel any ‘drag’ and unplugging from the car did not cure it.

Its done very little mileage (5y old and recently bought off an old chap who became chronically unwell not long after he got it from new).

My next thought is to pull the wheels and look for dragging, but its more likely a bearing I would think.

Can a near new bearing get that hot?

yes – I would replace bearings and repack with copious grease

(from Road testing New 4Wds towing New Campers to test, across Australia including Simpson – Hated Trailers)

132andBush
132andBush
January 26, 2023 12:18 pm

^ between Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 26, 2023 12:19 pm

Just wait until sulfur-crested cockies get there. Carnage!

Escaped pet parrots threaten New Zealand’s vulnerable native birds – why a ban is the best solution (25 Jan)

In 2000, authorities eradicated a population of about 150-200 rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) in T?maki Makaurau Auckland after they were illegally and deliberately released. Sales of this species have continued since, but Auckland became the first and only region to ban sales last year.

Our study investigated the extent to which owners were reporting pet birds as lost through online websites in Aotearoa. What we found was staggering.

During our monitoring period of three-and-a-half years, 1,205 birds and at least 33 species were reported as lost, and 92% of them were parrots.

I like the idea that Aussie parrots are going to eat New Zealand. The Cafe pair of rainbow lorikeets brought their newest offspring to see me yesterday for the first time: within 5 minutes it was sitting on my hand next to mum and dad and munching a bit of bread. They’re everyone’s friend, except kiwis.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 12:19 pm

Russian losses as of today, not sure if it includes Wagner Group murderers and rapists sacrificed in North Korean/Maoist style human wave attacks.

killed ~123,080
wounded ~369,240
prisoner of war ~1,000
tanks ~ 3,161*

900,000 emigrated out of Russia by November 2022.

19,478 detained for war opposition prior to December 2022.

Putin is a failure and possibly the worst Russian leader in history.

He’s ruined the lives of at least 1.4 mn Russians for his bizarre quest in his mind to stand in history equivalent to Caesar or Bonaparte – and possibly permanently wrecking another country he considers part of Russia and Russia’s historical motherland.

He is a damned fool.

*Someone might want to explain how “all” of the pictures and videos of Russian tanks being destroyed are “fake”.

rickw
rickw
January 26, 2023 12:20 pm

My next thought is to pull the wheels and look for dragging, but its more likely a bearing I would think. Can a near new bearing get that hot?

Yes, if you change the bearings in your trailer you should take them for a run to ensure that they’re not overheating. The hot one has possibly been over tightened.

132andBush
132andBush
January 26, 2023 12:22 pm

flyingduk says:
January 26, 2023 at 12:10 pm

And, a cry for help from this forum of excellent advice:

If it’s been sitting for a number of years the grease can go “hard” and hub will run hot.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 26, 2023 12:22 pm

Vale Clippy.

Dot
Dot
January 26, 2023 12:24 pm

m0nty says:
January 26, 2023 at 12:07 pm
By definition, they’re not.

This was taught routinely in economics until activist hacks tried the definition changing game.
Look at the world, Dot, not a book. You might as well deny that water is wet because things that it touches get wet, not water itself. You are playing rhetorical games – which is all economics is, if done poorly.

You are demonstrably wrong again here is an American university study looking at the empirical data, just as the theoretical models (actually I learnt from Joe Stiglitz, his text is excellent) predict;

https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/are-sales-taxes-really-regressive

You are wrong in theory and you demonstrably wrong as proven with empirical data.

Take your lumps champ.

Black Ball
Black Ball
January 26, 2023 12:26 pm

Have a great day Cats and Kittehs. BBQ and a few frothies are the menu for today.

Chris
Chris
January 26, 2023 12:27 pm

The Cafe pair of rainbow lorikeets brought their newest offspring to see me yesterday for the first time: within 5 minutes it was sitting on my hand next to mum and dad and munching a bit of bread. They’re everyone’s friend, except kiwis.

I love the colourful little guys visiting our yard in Perth. They are a colony population from escapes/releases.
We have serious problems over Corellas and interspecies competition for nest sites in the West, but I have heard no complaints about the lorikeets.

Black Ball
Black Ball
January 26, 2023 12:27 pm

Plus reading this forum 🙂

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  1. Don’t read Dr Michael Vickery (Aussie) then. He’s the equivalent of David Irving but for the Khmer Rouge, my mates…

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