The Bazincourt Steeple, Camille Pissarro, 1895
In a move reflecting growing concerns over the stability of the American economy, several African and Middle Eastern nations have…
Open Thread – Weekend 4 Feb 2023
- Open Thread – Weekend 27 April 2024
- Nuclear power and the foundational lie
- Open Thread – Anzac Day 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 22 April 2024
- Open Thread – Weekend 21 April 2024
Speaking of black dysfunction the black kunt letitia is just not fuking the US justice system: New York Attorney General…
South Africa is the classic demonstration of the limits a Tribal Social structure imposes on an economy and a society.…
Sabine is an excellent reporter – she writes for Spiked, and writes well in a language not her own.
thefrollickingmole April 28, 2024 8:38 am Awesome. Feelz cant make a nation work. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/27/south-africa-marks-30-years-since-apartheid-amid-growing-discontent Challenge: name a black run OR…
Mine!
I hereby dedicate this weekend thread to the preservation of grassroots culture. Get out into the economy, Cats, and see a musician, buy a bit of market art for the wall, let a short-order cook scramble eggs for you. Subscribe to the Podcast of the Lotus Eaters. Take a few tinnies to the new neighbour at sundown. Go to the cinema, see something gripping with hot chicks and cars being blown up. Take your ride to the Classic Cars rally or coffee meet-up, they let anyone in these days. Pay cash.
Or else we’ll be lumped with whatever Spotify, the ABC, Nespresso, your green-left council, Colesworth, the WEF and the Australia Council think will be good for us… and by that, of course I mean, what will be good for them.
Great picture, Dover, as always.
Ooooah, 4th place.
Still catching up on the “old Fred”
What’s market art, Wally? Also what’s wrong with Nespresso using Illy pods?
Top 10.
Yay.
My favourite was the Bierstadt.
I’ve always had one helluva affinity for his work.
SA One Nation MP Sarah Game calls for boost to mental health services after father’s sudden death
The ABC is now trying to gaslight us into believing the term ‘sudden death’ refers to suicide. Absolutely shameless.
Spent the day in Coorg visiting coffee plantations. The coffee plants are all flowering and they have a jasmine scent.
Indians produce good coffee beans but have little idea of what constitutes a good cup of coffee. For a people who like strong spices in their food they have insipid sweet taste in coffees.
Interesting fact – King Cobras are nocturnal and therefore don’t bother the coffee pickers during the day.
Handy to know.
It’d make me feel so much safer knowing that while I picked coffee.
S’pose its old hat to the locals.
Looks like a bit of reverse global warmening in Japan. 93 Cm of snow in Kyoto.
Market Art is stuff you can buy and take home.
King Cobras are nocturnal and therefore don’t bother the coffee pickers during the day.
No wonder they’re not into drinking the coffee, poor bastards must be too terrified to sleep!
Johannes Leak.
Mark Knight.
Mark Knight #2.
Andy Davey.
Peter Brookes.
Dave Brown.
Michael Ramirez.
A.F. Branco.
Matt Margolis.
Gary Varvel.
Tom Stiglich.
Chip Bok.
Al Goodwyn.
Steve Kelley.
Lisa Benson.
Thanks, Tom.
Thank you Tom
Zelensky has dictated that every male between the ages of 20 thru 55 years of age is to be conscripted,
So that’s around 5million?
Australia has been sending Zelenskyy massive amounts of Ration Packs outta Amberley, among other things.
So I guess the Aborigines out Alice Springs way have plenty to eat?
Ration Packs, eh?
Looks like NATO is building up a huge pile of War Material in anticipation of a False Flag.
If anyone’s kids have just joined the Army, now’s the time to turn Full Tranny, because if they’re sent to Ukraine, it’s a One Way trip.
Looks like someone forgot to change sock puppets.
Yesterday Carpe Donktum tweeted a video of Swalwell talking in the house & he edited so he was farting throughout the speech.
Someone on Swalwell’s social media team then retweeted it & as of an hour ago it’s still up.
Here is the original tweet.
https://twitter.com/CarpeDonktum/status/1621270278499176455
This from a man who is wasting huge amounts of money to fight not-happening global warming:
Bill Gates on Musk Mars Plan: Not a Good Use of Money (3 Feb)
Like those life saving mRNA vaccines that are killing millions of people eh Bill? My suggestion is you pile up all your money and set it on fire. That would be a better outcome for humanity than what you’re currently doing with it.
Former project Veritas journo speaks out.
https://twitter.com/Dannyjokes/status/1621551938377584643
NSFW.
Leak’s Tennis Albo will become an institution, a la Knight’s depiction of Howard in his walking trackies.
I have never had coffee from a pod. Have no idea how to use them.
There. I said it.
Very, very rare for me to approve an ABC story/opinion but this breakdown of the ROBODEBT debacle is well worth the read ..
The real concern tho is why several of these “troughers” both political & PS are still drawing their, obscene, salaries/pensions and not paying the price for their, wilful, deceit ……!
Canberra’s teflon coating industry is not only getting a full work-out but proving it’s a quality product! …
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-04/robodebt-royal-commission-evidence-public-sector-dysfunction/101928428
Pod coffee is a marker for poor taste, faddishness and low character. Stick with instant.
Another take on the Robodebt shit show.
Palantir & Nuix both used it as a case study why the government needed their services, to avoid another situation like this again.
And Palantir now employs a more than a handful of former Australian public servants as consultants.
Looks like Robodebt was success…as long as you weren’t one of the punters getting the call.
Bill Gates says SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s goal of colonizing Mars isn’t a good use of money.
Such a control freak.
And hats off to the ABC for a more than decent interview.
I saw snippets on the Jimmy Dore show then watched the full interview on iView.
PS, you now have to log into iView.
I thought it was our ABC.
I can watch most english videos on DW without logging in.
Good lord this is laying it on thick.
Imagine being so cucked by the state you judge people in civilian life off how their hair matches 1940s military recruiting standards.
There are public flight logs?
A noble, gentle people (the NT News):
‘Gar Albert faced the Norther Territory Supreme Court on November 17, pleading guilty to six charges of aggravated assault and two charges of choking.
‘The 54 year old was sentenced to seven years in jail for a series of abhorrent and horrific attacks on his former female partner.’
All these occurred over a ten month in communities within a two hour drive from Katherine.
‘Albert has been convicted of bashing people – mainly female victims – 34 times and has spent long periods in jail.’
Read that again, if you will. 34 separate convictions for flogging up his ladeeees. 34. A bit of a backhander, though? Pushing them over in the street? Oh no, no no no:
‘The attacks on his partner included beatings with an axe, a torch, his fists and sticks (read: branches), Justice Judith Kelly told the offender while sentencing him.
‘He also whipped her with an electrical cord, slapped her with an open hand, choked and suffocated her.
‘In one particularly terrifying assault, Albert grabbed a long piece of burning wood and – swinging it like a baseball bat – bashed the victim around the head.
‘As she lay on the ground, surrounded by – and covered in – burning coals, he grabbed the woman’s hair and repeatedly slammed it into the earth. This caused her to suffer more burns.’
Albert has spent considerable time in the bin for this sort of thing, blaming rough childhoods, PTSD. The usual. To her immense credit, Kelly J included this in her sentencing remarks:
‘There is far too much violent crime in our community, especially directed towards aboriginal women, usually by their partners or former partners.’
Seven years, he got. This time.
These are the people, remember, that noodle-armed urban uni students are talking about when they wheeze that the indig are over-represented in the prison population.
“‘Gar Albert”
Gary Albert is this unrepentant flog’s name.
Compare the Tele’s coverage of Tristan Sailor post his rape not guilty verdict to De Belin’s.
If Gary Albert was a white heavy-set sparky or concreter from Logan or Penrith or Melton, he would be history’s greatest monster with headlines in the National rags, calls for enquiries in Parliament and Reclaim Something protests in cities for months.
But here we are.
With his depiction of Albo, Johannes has gone from Leak Jnr., to just plain “Leak”.
Dad would be proud.
Few of them are good enough.
You can get better stuff online usually. About 1/4 of the paintings I own are from local galleries. Anyway, if you want yo change culture, but Indie Comics. Don’t like Marvel? Buy CyberFrog, Blade Devil or Little Ripper.
Tell me how long you have had pancreatic cancer for.
You should be reading Dalrock.
The new neighbour is my old neighbour.
Such as? Look at crap like Riverview or the bustardised Tolkien. This stuff makes me want to vomit in terror.
A few years until the plates can be obtained.
???
Sorry, I don’t carry cash as a matter of personal safety.
You can search. I recommend anything by Hiroki Kikuta on harp (believe it or not) to relax.
They’re not the boss of me!
Show me on the doll where Mr Clooney touched you.
Aren’t they all?
I never actually checked in guys.
I still don’t understand how Schwab is so influential. He’s just some crank.
A never ending ejaculation of taxpayers money.
I sense a hint of cynicism about our social betters.
I asked ChatGPT to list the mistakes of Presidents Biden and Trump. It gave answers for Trump, but said, “I don’t have personal opinions or make subjective judgments” on Biden.
Video shows moment California doctor run over, then stabbed by man ‘muttering about white privilege’
Because poverty and lack of access to energy and transport will cure your illnesses.
Harvard Medical School Will Integrate Climate Change Into M.D. Curriculum
Biden won’t shoot down Chinese spy balloon over US
Pentagon is tracking possible Chinese ‘Spy balloon’ floating over Montana
The us gets more and diminished every day.
From 1st April the CDC is going to add Covid vaccination state to the ICD-10 codes for diseases. The last I heard vaccination status is not a disease. While this is in the US, according to this clip, ICD codes are worldwide under the WHO. The net effect, of course, is a complete database of everyone’s vaccine status at the fingertips of all those wonderful people who have our best interests at heart.
1930s Germany all over again.
Jayne Potvin
@Fisherlady111
Did you know the doctors are keeping a database of delinquent aka non compliant anti (vaxxers)
It’s thoroughly woke.
ChatGPT Writes Poem Praising Hunter Biden, But… (4 Feb)
Open the pod bay doors Hal.
23-Year-Old Georgia Police Officer Suddenly Dies During Foot Chase
Imagine how good Trump would’ve made the visuals on this.
Trump: Lets drop a MOAB on it.
Military: Can’t be done, sir.
Trump: Try harder.
Catturd ™
@catturd2
The same exact people who call you a Putin puppet from daring to oppose over $100,000,000,000 to Ukraine in a year – are perfectly fine with a Chinese Spy ballon over American soil.
I will post more ChatGPT logs in the future.
1. Gender identity as Skeletor.
2. Ask them if anthropomorphic cartoon animals are real.
The rest is left as an exercise to the reader.
Cardinal George Pell’s Funeral, in 6 Magnificent Dimensions
National Catholic Register – Father Raymond J. de Souza – Feb 3, 2023
SYDNEY — The cathedral of Sydney is one of the grandest liturgical settings anywhere, a monumental stage for the great drama of salvation to be made present.
In its 150-plus years, St. Mary’s has never been witness to an event quite like the funeral of the late Cardinal George Pell, a great drama in its own right. It was a sacred pageant which unfolded in six magnificent dimensions — liturgical, musical, spiritual, historical, hagiographical and memorial.
I offer an account of what I saw, but my vision was blurry; many times during the nearly four hours my eyes were filled with tears.
The Archdiocese of Sydney did not permit the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the state-funded TV network, into the cathedral for the funeral, an acknowledgement of their decades-long campaign against Cardinal Pell.
Beijing confirms balloon is Chinese, says entry into US airspace was unintended
maybe we can accidentally shot it down
A weather balloon?
Given the number of weather balloons sent aloft by all countries each year one would think this a not uncommon occurrence.
Hmmmm.
Pfizer: sales before child safety
The inside story of how we held Pfizer to account for misleading parents about Covid vaccine safety
The Vigilant Fox
@VigilantFox
Pfertility Megathread
Study Funded By The NIH Finds That 40.2% Of Vaccinated Women Experienced Menstrual Changes
That means that over 40 million women in the United States have had their menstrual cycles affected by the C19 jab.
Appropriate song for the USAF being told what to do by a State Department arts grad.
Unmarked Helicopters, Soul Coughing
Bullying ChatGPT over peer review now.
Beijing confirms balloon is Chinese, says entry into US airspace was unintended
Given the numbers of spy satellites overflying the Earth why would a “balloon’ be significant .. they could have shot it down, said nothing and that would have been the end of it .. but NO! like most things (Davey Hicks fanfare comes to mind .. could have been shot out the back and no one any the wiser!) the US has to make a mountain out of a molehill .. detracts from woeful gummint news for a day, I suppose!
Knuckle Dragger says:
February 4, 2023 at 7:12 am
I have never had coffee from a pod. Have no idea how to use them.
There. I said it.
Frank says:
February 4, 2023 at 7:24 am
I have never had coffee from a pod. Have no idea how to use them.
Pod coffee is a marker for poor taste, faddishness and low character. Stick with instant.
Frank,
disagree – only drink long black and originally had ALDI Expressi capsule Machine, and enjoyed their
Expressi Calabrese
Expressi Calabrese is ALDI’s most intense coffee capsule flavour. It’s stated to be a rich, dark roasted coffee with notes of dark chocolate and a hint of pepper. It’s also described to have a creamy, smooth texture and unique intense body that has been created both with Robusta from Asia and Arabica from South America, according to ALDI.
Intensity Rating: 13
When it finally broke down, based on Choice Review, went with Delonghi Nespresso Type machine ( as I understand Delonghi make Nespresso machines anyway)
And have gone with Coles Daley St Medium Dark Roast Note Currently 0.33C a Capsule until 11 April 2023, although am now also enjoying Daley Street Intense Aluminium Nespresso Compatible Coffee Capsules 10 pack
Best tasting coffee pod brand
Daley St came out top of the pods with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 75%. There were a full five percentage points between first place and the tightly contested second place – where four pods tied with a score of 70%.
Daley St Medium Dark Roast
1st place: Daley St Medium Dark Roast
CHOICE Expert Rating: 75%
Price: 40c per pod
Taste test notes: “Good nuttiness, some fruitiness”, “Well-rounded mouthfeel”, “Great flavour and aromatics”, “Aftertaste a little bitter”.
I do 2 short & 2 long runs to get an enjoyable Long Black from one Capsule – as good as Qantas Frequent Flyer Business Class Lounge Expresso Machine Long Black
Its good to see the lawyer who successfully defended my Canberra Assault charges has also obtained a good outcome from Nick Kyrgios. I always enjoy bringing the young talent on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHIUIqcl0Mw
Make no mistake, I think Nick is a loudmouthed brat and enjoy watching him get so close, but fail each time. The ‘assault’ charge was, however, pretty minor, and laid punitively well after the fact by his then GF, after their breakup.
Importantly, had he been convicted (he wasn’t, he pled guilty and had the charges dropped), he faced the prospect of being denied visas to enter the US (and who knows where else) due to him having a criminal conviction. I know because I faced this too.
Skite. 😀
calli says:
February 4, 2023 at 9:05 am
I do 2 short & 2 long runs to get an enjoyable Long Black from one Capsule – as good as Qantas Frequent Flyer Business Class Lounge Expresso Machine Long Black
Skite
Heh – thankfully there are still some benefits in life
I too use Aldi coffee – the Lazzio dark roast beans ground in the burr grinder and espresso-ed through my el-cheapo Sunbeam machine.
Added benefit is the grounds then go onto the herb garden. No coffee flavoured parsley yet though.
Boambee Johnsays:
February 4, 2023 at 9:06 am
Salvatore
simultaneous vacuousness & Milliganism
Tautological statement.
Just read a George Monbiot column.
Thought it might be fun to run it through a word cloud generator and link to that
instead of his pro forma Grauniad lunacy. It didn’t work.
All you could see was You, Selfish, Me, Good.
And Jacinda.
I only know the B Lounge because Big Concrete and Big Steel subsidise me.
Tennis Albo doesn’t hold a hose, mate.
I have had pod coffee once.
It was a touch strong I felt.
It would benefit from mixing with some water but the pod is so small it wouldn’t hold much.
Mad Monday going too far. Hun:
The local football club at the centre of a shocking Mad Monday scandal will go into recess at senior level this season.
Glen Waverley Football Netball Club (GWFNC), which was set to compete in the Eastern league’s Division 4, has confirmed it will not field senior men’s teams in 2023.
The club suffered an exodus of senior players in the wake of its post-season celebrations after a video widely circulated on social media of players performing a public sex-act in August.
It’s understood a bet was made between two teammates that resulted in the loser being forced to perform a sex act on the other at the Mountain View Hotel.
A third player took a video of it and then forwarded it onto a mate.
It was then uploaded to a Mad Monday page on Facebook which shares the wacky celebrations of football and netball clubs around the country.
The scandal went viral, making international headlines with the story splashed across TMZ and the New York Post.
The club received heavy backlash – sponsors pulled the pin and parents withdrew their kids out of the junior programs.
In December, Glen Waverley Hawks president Matt Hollard ironically said the video almost killed the club.
“We have been on the back foot for so long, putting out fires and having no control of the situation,” he said.
“That video nearly killed us…”
In September, the club said those involved in the scandal would not return in 2023.
The club also appointed a new senior coach in November.
In a letter sent to clubs, Eastern Football Netball League chief executive officer Jy Bond said the president and committee of Glen Waverley had advised the league of their decision to withdraw.
“The GWFNC immediate focus will be on their junior club, netball and continuing their Auskick program,” Bond said.
“The committee is intending to re-establish the senior men’s teams in season 2024 and rejoin the competition. A longer lead-in time will assist with planning and enable the club more time to rebuild.”
Bond said the withdrawal of Glen Waverley meant Division 4 would revert to a seven-team competition.
“The fixture will remain the same barring changes in round 16 as that distributed to clubs with a bye taking the place of games against GWFNC,” he said.
“Similar to the 2022 season, two additional games will be added to the Division 4 fixture to ensure all clubs play sixteen games and have eight home games.
“Clubs impacted will be notified shortly to agree on a date to play the additional games. Last season the affected clubs played over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.”
Glen Waverley finished on the bottom of the Division 3 ladder last season with three wins and suffered relegation.
Now from what I see, the loser of the bet had to go down on the other bloke.
Why anyone would do such a thing, let alone film it and distribute widely is anyone’s guess. If that was Mad Monday imagine the end of season trip!
Shooting down the Chinses balloon might be interesting. Would have extremely low IR signature so an IR missile probably won’t get a lock. AMRAAM will probably do if the payload has a large enough radar signature. Guns would be difficult at above 60,000 feet as True Air Speed is high and US fighters would likely be supersonic to get that high. Doesn’t give you much time in range.
Anyone know how big the thing is?
https://www.newsweek.com/chinese-spy-balloon-hard-shoot-down-crash-landing-1778839
https://erhane.tecalideherrera.gob.mx/chinese-spy-balloon-the-size-of-3-buses-over-us-soil/
The second link seems to use a unique system of measurement. It seems in accordance with the ABC. I’m familiar with the MKS system (Meter, Kilogram second) while this seems to be Buses – African Elephant – Second system.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2023/02/03/busting-that-chinese-balloon-is-harder-than-you-think/?sh=77b7b2d47d6a
Just Xi trying to catch a glimpse of Beth Dutton…
Good short thread.
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/03/dear-gays/
Short clip of Jordan Peterson on Joe Rogan, discussing the explosion in trans identification and toxic femininity.
This clip explains perfectly why the left want to destroy him.
We need to have a word about corporal punishment, methinks.
A book has been released analysing the information reluctantly released by Pfizer, which they wanted to keep secret for some 70 years. It is available on Amazon.
Pfizer Documents Analysis Reports
The megathread I linked above has doctor after doctor expressing concern about the effects, particularly on fertility, of the vaccines. One clip has Dr. Naomi Wolf talking about the book to Steve Bannon. She outright calls the vaccine genocidal, based on the fact that most of the harms were well known, even to the extent of people dying during the trials but with no effect on the release and worldwide distribution and even mandating of the drug. There was no question of unexpected consequences. It was known and deliberate. No wonder they wanted to keep the data secret.
Australia could get 30yo nuclear subs to go with Collins class
Andrew Tillett – Political correspondent
Australia could end up with a 30-year-old nuclear-powered submarine – as old as the navy’s Collins class boats – as an interim measure, as AUKUS leaders prepare to meet next month to unveil the preferred pathway for Australia’s future submarine fleet.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may join US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Washington in mid-March, with speculation that their navies may settle on a next generation design adapted for all three countries, dubbed the AUKUS boat, as the eventual submarine the Australian navy will end up operating long term.
While the government will extend the life of the six Collins-class submarines by another decade to bridge the gap until the new submarines arrive, defence industry sources said there was growing talk that Canberra may end up “leasing” at least one of the ageing Los Angeles-class submarines.
The Los Angeles class, a favourite of The Hunt for Red October author Tom Clancy, would serve as a Perth-based training boat for submariners and local technicians while building up the local industry to support their operations.
This would involve refuelling the nuclear reactor, which would extend the service life of the submarine for another 10 years. The US Navy, under pressure to boost the size of its nuclear submarine fleet, flagged several years ago that it would refuel Los Angeles-class submarines to keep them at sea longer. It is yet to start the program.
USN Cheyenne is the first submarine slated for refuelling. It is the youngest Los Angeles class submarine in the fleet and was commissioned in 1996 – the same year that the first Collins class submarine, HMAS Collins was commissioned.
The AUKUS pact was announced in a transcontinental, three-way virtual media event in September 2021. The three countries agreed to an 18-month timetable to determine what submarine Australia would receive, a timeline for delivery, cost, the regulatory and safety regime that would need to be put in place and measures to avoid a capability gap before the arrival of the first boats.
Defence Minister Richard Marles was scheduled to meet overnight US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington, after taking part in the annual AUKMIN talks with Foreign Minister Penny Wong and their British counterparts the past week.
Mr Albanese’s office did not comment on the likelihood of a tri-national meeting in Washington as reported by Bloomberg, but it is understood officials are trying to organise such talks. Unless he were to skip parliament, which has three sitting weeks scheduled next month, the only time for Mr Albanese to make a US dash would be the week starting March 13.
The likelihood of a US nuclear-powered submarine being deployed to Perth has risen after Mr Marles this week ruled out acquiring another conventional submarine as a stop gap.
This year’s US Pentagon budget, passed by Congress in December, did not aside money for an independent assessment of the resourcing needed to meet AUKUS’ objectives, including “interim submarine options to include
leasing or conveyance of legacy United States submarines for Australia’s use”.
But it is expected the Pentagon and some congressmen would oppose making the more modern Virginia-class submarines available as a training boat because this would reduce submarine availability for the US Navy.
One industry source said the age of the Los Angeles class would help skill up a workforce to maintain and eventually build nuclear-powered submarines in Australia.
“They’re an older boat. You get to solve a lot of problems,” they said.
But Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Marcus Hellyer cautioned refuelling a Los Angeles class reactor was not a simple matter. Refuelling and refurbishment would take about three years and could cost about $US1 billion ($1.43 billion), he estimated, adding the Los Angeles-class reactors were not originally designed to be refuelled.
“It’s not impossible but it is not a non-trivial task,” he said. “Even if Australia gets its hands on a couple of Los Angeles class submarines, they would likely be in their 30s and as old as our Collins class submarines.
“It’s not clear what the US’ own plans for the Los Angeles class is. There are a lot of unknowns in this space.”
Speaking after the AUKMIN meeting, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said there were a range of options for Australia but AUKUS was a “joint endeavour” between the three countries, challenging some claims that Britain could be sidelined.
“Whether that is the sharing of technology and the understanding of how to do it, the sharing of the build, or the sharing of the design. So, whatever option is chosen by Australia, it will be collaborative,” Mr Wallace said.
Mr Marles said AUKUS would “dramatically build our capability and with that it will build our sovereignty”.
A new report last week by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) – the equivalent of the auditor-general – reinforced how stretched US shipbuilders were already and there was no spare capacity to provide Australia with a Virginia class fresh off the production line.
The GAO warned that construction of the Columbia class submarines – nuclear-powered submarines armed with ballistic nuclear missiles and the Navy’s No. 1 priority project – already faced delays after just a year of construction. These delays put more strain on the Virginia class program, which is meant to churn out two new submarines each year but is already running slower than that.
“The shipbuilder added staff to the Columbia-class program who
were originally planned for the Virginia class program, contributing to delays for that program,” the report said.
“Within the next 20 years, the nation’s two nuclear shipbuilders have to construct and deliver Columbia and Virginia-class submarines at a pace not matched since the end of the Cold War.”
A withering assessment of the clowns running Australia.
dover0beach says:
February 4, 2023 at 9:18 am
Big Serge ??????
@witte_sergei
·
5h
A little note on the state of Ukrainian manpower, suggesting, yet again, that Ukrainian losses are far higher than reported in the west and have left Ukraine extremely depleted and thinly stretched.
Everything here comes from Ukrainian sources. (1)
Good short thread.
Big Serge ??????
@witte_sergei
·
5h
Additionally, it is known that Ukraine is holding what strategic reserves it has to accumulate forces for an attempted counteroffensive against the Crimean land bridge, but now UA sources claim that military police and border guards will be needed to flesh out this force. (5)
Did you know the doctors are keeping a database of delinquent aka non compliant anti (vaxxers)
Whilst this link refers to the US, it is probably happening in GP practices all around Oz. During a phone call a few months ago the receptionist at our local GP informed my husband that he had not had a flu jab or a shingles jab. He simply replied, “I know that”, & nothing more was said.
Interesting that the lack of a Covid shot was not included.
The bird probably wouldn’t recognise it as valid target because of the low speed.
In China Taking the Piss news:
US hypes spy balloon, brings ‘China threat’ to new level
Laarfing.
Invasions into airspace are part of the general modus operandi of what are called in South Korea a system of ‘provocations’. On our DMZ visit yesterday we were told that in the last month five North Korean drones have been deployed, for the first time ever, in the controlled area beyond the no man’s land that is the DMZ. South Korea deployed fighter planes to shoot them down, but the success rate with knocking out very small drones is not high.
Across the DMZ is a constant history of this sort of aggro, and of South Korean responses. Some of the SK responses have included playing the faves of the dissolute Westernised yooof, K-pop music, at very loud volumes across the divide. Hairy listened to some of it online when we got back to the hotel and neither of us are surprised that it became weaponised. Loud and hard work. SK will do this across the divide for a month at a time in retaliation for NK offences there. K-pop includes PSY and Gang-nam. In Seoul Plaza which we look over from our hotel huge Gang-nam concerts of up to 80,000 fans have been held – quite spectacular, as you can see. Hairy and I did a pretty good imitation of the dance style in our room looking down on the skating rink which is in that square during winter, but I was better at it than he was. lol.
Underground DVD’s and USB’s of this stuff get into North Korea, but it is strongly squashed. Three teenagers recently were executed for simply possessing some of it. NK is a total dystopia; more than Orwellian, and as Hairy says, makes Iran look good. We looked out over NK from the Dora Observation Centre, a new build and swish place where they have set up the most high tech binocular telescopes, made in SK natch, so you can watch Korean soldiers on their guard posts, see the major communications tower NK have set up to block all comms with SK coming over, see the distant high rise NK city and check out some local NK villages. A fake one is set up as NK propaganda for when they used to let tourists come over. It was always empty and is now closed. There is a rapprochment centre where meetings can take place (Trump went there to meet Kim and stepped into NK, first US President to do so since the Korean War), but relations have cooled recently and NK are ‘not answering the telephone’, so the SK’s shout greetings (of a sort) across from there on the border. The SK’s believe unification is ‘inevitable’. The whole of the DMZ tourism is set up to emphasise this. Various bridges are given names re their original functions, e.g. Freedom bridge where escapes took place, and Cow Bridge where a wealthy SK man organised a herd of cattle to be driven over to save starving North Koreans during the starvation period of the lat 1990’s.
SK has a population of 52 million, Seoul has ten million of them and another ten mill live in surrounds of Seoul. NK has 29 million as far as anyone knows, for there is an extraordinary black out on information coming through. Lots of rumours though, especially about the Kims. The whole country is extremely mountainous and quite dry in winter, freezing, minus 7 here this morning early as I write this while Hairy sleeps (so I am doing it in the dark, by feel). NK is said to have better natural resources, and SK has had to fend for itself internationally, and just look at how well they have done. SK is a place of massive infrastructure in roads and bridge and high rise housing. There is a power station on view as you fly in and we saw three token wind turbines on the way in from the airport, but not much else, although a couple of apartment buildings showed a single solar panel on each balcony. I noticed this sort of panel not infrequently on some other buidings also, but looking independently placed, not part of any ruling. The SK mindset is one of ‘it is what it is’ for the NK situation – we don’t get upset when the NK’s rattle guns and go nuclear, says our tour guide in his excellent English. It is tourists who get worried, he jokes. We will unify our country, one day, he asserts, but agrees it may not be soon. China offers NK support, and Chinese ‘brokers’ help people to defect, first to China and then to SK. It seems to be quite an organised system, with ‘enforcers’ in SK who extract the promised ‘fares’ from those they help once they are settled into SK. Over thirty thousand ‘defectors’ now live in SK. And I haven’t heard that term so freely used for many a year now, except for here.
At one of the stops in the DMZ exhibition centre there is also a very touching set of two seat female statues, round faced little sweeties with bare feet and possibly pregnant. Well wishers have put heat pads on their little bar feet and chocolate bars in the hands folded in their laps. This is a memorial to the ‘comfort women’, and our tour guide said he was very happy no Japanese were in our group of ten as it made him more able to express his feelings. Japan ruled Korea (badly) during the first part of the twentieth century, until the Second World War ended that, and the Communists and the West divided the nation into two. The Japanese visit but are still not liked much.
The Korean division split up almost ten million families and as well as being a place of tourist visits the DMZ has become a sacred site for Koreans to visit to remember their missing families. The heartache over this is still palpable, reinforced by recent photographs as well as by historical ones.
Many just do not know what happened to their families. Traditional Korean buddhist ceremonies take place to recall them, and these are joined in by the predominantly Christian Koreans as well, as a Christian ceremony in traditional form.
We had to go through military checkpoints and a lot of ID and passport control both going in and going out. South Korean men have to do 18 months military service, North Korean men and women too have to do seven years of it. The fortitude, industry and joyfulness of the South Korean people will always be an abiding memory for me; good luck to them and to the economic powerhouse they have made.
Forgot to mention that the no man’s land of the DMZ is now also a sort of nature reserve. However, as it is heavily land-mined (many thousands of them apparently of a particularly nasty type) some of the wildlife now thriving do occasionally get blown up.
Attended a domestic violence seminar last night, it was quite interesting. DV definition has now been expanded to encompass not just physical violence (assault) and now includes verbal, financial, psychological and a raft of other types of abuse.
Attendance was 50/50 female/male and the presenter was female. Average age of attendees would be around 50-55. A lot was said about making the seminar itself a “safe space” to discuss the issue and strategies that could be used should it crop up. So far, so good. The trouble was that every single case study, including a clip from the ABC, showed a male as the perpetrator, including the literature that was handed out. I made a point early on – if the DV definition has been expanded to non-violent forms of abuse, then women should be in the frame as well as men. I have known many…many cases of verbally abusive women, women who clear out bank accounts, women who belittle and control their partners in public, women who use the children as pawns in disputes. Lead balloon, but I hope it gave some pause for thought beyond the usual stereotypes of bad boy-good girl.
Afterwards, one of the men approached me and said how grateful he was that I raised the issue. I guess in these circumstances men have lost their voice in outlining the things they need to be aware of because women have completely occupied and guarded the “victim space” for so long.
Mum always said that “calli marches in where angels fear to tread”. 😀
me thinks you are being too harsh on on PS just doing the job they are tasked with, viz. dealing with an absurdly complex entitlement system set up by politicians who are just responding to a greedy electorate who wants free stuff with a reluctance to engage in productive endeavor to achieve it.
For shame, don’t you know it’s the results of colonization, and the ongoing inter generational trauma?
The medical software programs are all set up to nag for vaccinations, care plans, and sundry other useless, but income producing visits.
Most practices will email, text or message you to generate the visit.
But if you are sick, good grief, we will see you in 3 weeks and after your meaningless RAT or PCR test for the non-deadly plague.
The practice will only know your covid vaccine status if it was given at the practice, or you have a my health record with the government.
Smart people would avoid the latter at all costs.
Amazing what leaps in logic ChatGPT makes to deny using the phrase conspiracy theory.
Apparently the USSR and Nazi Germany had no sinister motives in invading.
Get that mask on or piss off!
First, the study showed there is no difference between wearing N95 respirators versus loose-fitting masks in medical settings.
There is uncertainty about the effects of face masks. The low to moderate certainty of evidence means our confidence in the effect estimate is limited, and that the true effect may be different from the observed estimate of the effect. The pooled results of RCTs did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks. There were no clear differences between the use of medical/surgical masks compared with N95/P2 respirators in healthcare workers when used in routine care to reduce respiratory viral infection.
Second, the study showed that wearing masks in public at large makes no difference:
We included 12 trials (10 cluster?RCTs) comparing medical/surgical masks versus no masks to prevent the spread of viral respiratory illness (two trials with healthcare workers and 10 in the community). Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of influenza?like illness (ILI)/COVID?19 like illness compared to not wearing masks (risk ratio (RR) 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.84 to 1.09; 9 trials, 276,917 participants; moderate?certainty evidence. Wearing masks in the community probably makes little or no difference to the outcome of laboratory?confirmed influenza/SARS?CoV?2 compared to not wearing masks (RR 1.01, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.42; 6 trials, 13,919 participants; moderate?certainty evidence)
I’ll add – the ABC piece included a couple of ethnic women, one from europe, the other the sub-continent, and a gay man.
I suppose the ubiquitous ABC hijabi and buzz-cut lesbian reporting DV were a bridge too far.
Top comment calli.
I was subject to constant verbal and emotional abuse from my first wife, and I had no recourse – until we separated/divorced 25 years ago.
Haven’t looked back since.
Johannes Leak always highlights the Albanese nostrils.
Side on: intense black slashes
Front on: intense black tunnels
I appreciate this particular highlighting; it hints at a repellent character.
We were also told that NK is short on electricity; they have coal but mostly use it to gain money by exporting it. So the NK population make do without working lifts in many of their high rise buildings. People walk up, says our tour host, and I think of how much I wouldn’t enjoy walking up and down our 28 floors here. This means, he continues, that the most favoured apartments, for Party personnel and others who get given the goodies of life (for many workers do not receive any financial payment), are those on the ground and lower floors. Total reliance on The Party and enforcement of the desires of the ruling kleptocracy is what NK is on about. It may be that they keep the population short of electricity to figuratively as well as literally keep them in the dark – no outside world contact.
However, obviously some contacts do get through – a combined NK and SK women’s ice hockey team was one of them, in international meets and during the Olympics.
Things can change very quickly sometimes, says our guide with a philosophical shrug. Or not, he adds.
AMRAAM will probably do if the payload has a large enough radar signature.
The bird probably wouldn’t recognise it as valid target because of the low speed.
Pretty sure AMRAAM doesn’t care except no terminal manouevering required so target is easier.
Wolfman, I got the sense last night that men are not only too embarrassed to report DV on themselves or their mates but are too cowed to even point out that women are capable of it as well. And it took a woman to say so.
We are constantly demanding that men “step up to the plate” but when they do, we act like Lucy with the football and whisk it away*. Women are the perpetual victim while crying “you go girl!”. It drives me nuts.
* shocking mixing of metaphors I know
Big Serge also runs an excellent substack where he posts regular strategic analyses of the state of things in the Ukraine.
https://bigserge.substack.com/
Total reliance on The Party and enforcement of the desires of the ruling kleptocracy is what NK is on about.
Different from Australia only in degree.
Elon Musk Found Not Liable in Trial Over Tweets Proposing to Take Tesla Private
A jury rejected investor claims that Elon Musk violated federal securities law when he tweeted in 2018 about potentially taking Tesla private, handing a major win to the billionaire chief executive.
Elon was very very lucky.
He is cavalier with his approach to public markets.
Calli- well done. I have no doubt that The Domestic Violence Epidemic is largely a strawman invention of the green-left, with the fear and outrage invoked as a reason to dissolve due process.
Same goes for Robodebt. It’s obviously, and shamelessly, been named and weaponised against a conservative government, even though the system was the child (and quite reasonable too IMO, thanks will) of Labor brains.
Same goes for “incels”. It’s a bit distressing how quickly some ostensibly conservative commentators have gleefully seized upon the idea, an idea which was non-existent outside the seediest depths of easily forgeable anonymous chat forums. I’d suggest that “Mad Monday” nosh-offs are more prevalent.
Same goes for “extreme right wing online terrorist networks”… who all seem to turn out to be eco-terrorist, accellerationist, paganist, depolpulationist… ie, Lefties.
And, of course, Global Warming.
And, of course, The Pandemic.
I you don’t doubt their veracity, then think about what their invocation is allowing the Cathedral to try on.
Keep your wits about you, gentlemen.
Good to see Linda Reynolds taking an aggressive approach with Mizzzz Knickerless and her media allies.
https://www.reddit.com/r/NonCredibleDefense/comments/10n8tnv/ah_yes_the_famous_bakhmut_desert/
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha says:
February 4, 2023 at 9:45 am
These are the people, remember, that noodle-armed urban uni students are talking about when they wheeze that the indig are over-represented in the prison population.
For shame, don’t you know it’s the results of colonization, and the ongoing inter generational trauma?
Perhaps they should read some history?
1901. WESTERN AUSTRALIA. ABORIGINES DEPARTMENT REPORT FOR FINANCIAL YEAR E N D I N G 3 0 T H JUNE, 1 9 0 1 .
The work of the Department, as is usual, consisted of the direction of relief to the distributors, the
inspection and payment of their monthly accounts, the distribution of blankets, clothing, and drugs, the
supervision of their legal commitments and convictions, and the rescue and care of the waifs, and
numberless other small matters which continually require attention.
The births and deaths reported seem about to balance one another, but are, probably, so incomplete
that it is hardly worth while to tabulate them. I think, however, that the aboriginal population in all that part of the State which is as yet explored and settled in any way by the whites must remain about the same as that which I gave on the 30th June, 1899, viz., about 12,000. At that time there was a wide range of opinions as to the number in the unexplored interior, and in the Northern part of the Kimberley division. I have arranged to obtain a report on the natives of the latter area of country from the exploration party which is now there, and I hope that they will be able to give us some approximate estimate for future guidance.
Native Tribes of Central Australia
Spencer, Baldwin, Sir (1860-1929)
Gillen, Francis James (1856-1912
In their ordinary condition the natives are almost completely naked, which is all
the more strange as kangaroo and wallaby are not by any means scarce, and one
would think that their fur would be of no little use and comfort in the winter time,
when, under the perfectly clear sky, which often remains cloudless for weeks
together, the radiation is so great that at night-time the temperature falls several
degrees below freezing point. The idea of making any kind of clothing as a
protection against cold does not appear to have entered the native mind, though he
is keen enough upon securing the Government blanket when he can get one, or, in
fact, any stray cast-off clothing of the white man. The latter is however worn as
much from motives of vanity as from a desire for warmth
During the day-time the women are sure to be out in search of food, while the
men either go out in search of larger game, or else, if lazy and food be abundant,
they will simply sleep all day, or perhaps employ their time in making or trimming
up their weapons. When conditions are favourable every one is cheerful and light-
hearted, though every now and then a quarrel will arise, followed perhaps by a fight,
which is usually accompanied by much noise and little bloodshed. On such
occasions, if it be the women who are concerned, fighting clubs will be freely used
and blows given and taken which would soon render hors de combat an ordinary
white woman, but which have comparatively little effect upon the black women; the
men usually look on with apparent complete indifference, but may sometimes
interfere and stop the fight. If, however, two men are fighting, the mother and
sisters of each will cluster round him, shouting at the top of their voices and
dancing about with a peculiar and ludicrous high knee action, as they attempt to
shelter him from the blows of his adversary’s boomerang or fighting club, with the
result that they frequently receive upon their bodies the blows meant for the man
whom they are attempting to shield
Infanticide is undoubtedly practised, but, except on rare occasions, the child is
killed immediately on birth, and then only when the mother is, or thinks she is,
unable to rear it owing to there being a young child whom she is still feeding, and
with them suckling is continued for it may be several years. They believe that the
spirit part of the child goes back at once to the particular spot from whence it came,
and can be born again at some subsequent time even of the same woman. Twins,
which are of extremely rare occurrence, are usually immediately killed as something
which is unnatural but there is no ill-treatment of the mother, who is not thought
any the less of. We cannot find out what exactly lies at the root of this
dislike of twins in the case of the Arunta and other tribes.
Women comprise many, if not the majority, of parents who murder their children if I remember correctly.
Calli, I recall reading that domestic violence is far worse in homosexual relationships (male and female) than in heterosexual relationships. So of course the ABC, as our national broadcaster for homosexuals, would omit that detail.
As with The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, every story run by ABC News has a political purpose — not just the casual inclusion of insults directed at the ABC’s ideological enemies, but the censorship by omission.
calli – speaking about Coffee how about this!
‘Absolutely mindblowing’: Melbourne cafe serves $200 cup of coffee
Gus McCubbing – Reporter
Want a taste of what is arguably the best coffee in the world? Melbourne café group Proud Mary is serving up 22 cups of Black Jaguar for a cool $200.
The coffee, made by Finca Hartmann, a third-generation family enterprise based in the Santa Clara region of Panama, won first place at the prestigious Best of Panama competition in 2022, scoring 96.5 out of 100.
Proud Mary founder Nolan Hirte, 42, was on the judging panel and said the brew rocked him. It sold for $2800 a pound (375 grams) and he made sure to buy two pounds of the stuff to sell across his four cafés in Melbourne, Austin, and Portland.
“Coffee like this can be absolutely mind-blowing,” Mr Hirte told AFR Weekend.
“When you taste coffee that complex, it can be hard for the brain to comprehend. Sometimes I’ve choked up and almost wanted to cry. With the Black Jaguar, I was getting an out-of-body tingle that felt special.
“You might get a lot of eye-rolls serving cups for $200. But the farmers got $US200,000 ($296,000) for 100 pounds of coffee. They are over the moon.”
Mr Hirte likened the Black Jaguar to champagne truffle or a $3000 bottle of wine – it is a delicacy for connoisseurs to savour. He said a Sydney man flew to Melbourne last week hoping to try it early, only to be told he had to wait for Proud Mary’s official launch at its two Collingwood cafés on Monday.
Mr Hirte says it could well sell out within a week and joked that he would like to take a Polaroid photo of each person who buys a cup for posterity.
It is the most expensive coffee that Proud Mary, founded by Mr Hirte and his wife, Shari, in 2009, has ever bought. But he says it is important to raise the ceiling for coffee – which he believes is chronically undervalued – as well as hospitality in general.
Mr Hirte says customers must be prepared to pay more for good food and drink, pointing to the announcement made last month that Noma, known as the “best restaurant in the world”, would shut its doors within two years.
And the ideal way to do this, he says, is for top=quality products to be properly valued. Otherwise, Mr Hirte warns, consumers will be left with a lifeless mass of megabrands and no smaller businesses.
“The coffee market concerns me because people are buying cheaper and cheaper products,” he said.
“The industry is at a really challenging moment. There’s saturation in hospitality, especially in Melbourne. Is it sustainable? Probably not.
“Customers need to be prepared to pay more, or we need to support small business better. Otherwise, what you end up with is just the giants, and you lose makes Melbourne so special.
“It’s about teasing out the difference between quality and average. So … this is a good and important step for producers because we should value coffee, not undervalue it.”
Proud Mary will sell 22 cups of Black Jaguar in Melbourne as a deluxe pour-over, while offering two “golden tickets” to try it for free.
US “justice” system helps.
Interesting post, Old Ozzie, thank you!
dover0beach says:
February 4, 2023 at 9:18 am
Big Serge ??????
@witte_sergei
A slightly more structured link from Big Serge on
A little note on the state of Ukrainian manpower, suggesting, yet again, that Ukrainian losses are far higher than reported in the west and have left Ukraine extremely depleted and thinly stretched.
If you expand the definition of something broadly enough, you will eventually catch everyone in the net.
And, as we’ve seen with the poor desperate women in remote communities, the most vulnerable get left behind in the cacophony (or is that cacophoney) of outrageous outrage.
Interesting that you mention “due process”. I didn’t get around to the “two sides to every story” bit. I’d stirred the pot enough by then.
The AFR View
What should we think about ChatGPT and its smart friends?
Experts suggest there is more parrot than prodigy in the new AI chatbots. But they should be looked at for their promise, not panicked over.
Has The AFR View been written by an AI chatbot today? Could you tell? Will it matter?
Those are the sort of uncomfortable questions the world has been asking itself since the so-called generative artificial intelligence app ChatGPT was launched fewer than three months ago.
Big AI programs have been winning chess tournaments and achieving similar feats for years. But ChatGPT and bots like it are domesticated AI, magically producing original content for ordinary users including human-like prose, business presentations and computer code from simple commands.
There have been instant fears that it might debase school and higher education with plagiarised homework and exams. But it could also automate many graduate jobs anyway, throwing out of work the white-collar middle-class medical, legal, teaching and even managerial professions, the pillars of modern society.
Bohemian artists, too, might end up suing generative AI bot developers that churn out new novels, plays and paintings that seem to have uncannily come from their own hand.
ChatGPT is a language model machine learning program. It uses 175 billion parameters to trawl the internet for words and phrases, weigh up the relationships and then create content out of them.
Sourcing from the internet gives it both the wisdom and the madness of crowds.
Like crowd-sourced views, they can be very convincing as well as utterly fallible, capable of making 180-degree errors and persisting with them.
Experts say they are not prodigies but useful parrots that do not understand the content and will never replace human insight.
It’s just another turn of the technology wheel that destroys some jobs, many of them involving human drudgery, but also creates massive opportunities for working and learning.
However, critics and fans alike say that this time it’s different: these machines learn so fast that white-collar work might be changed forever.
Investors are betting that small disruptors will play a big role in this revolution.
There has always been a tendency to catastrophise about new technologies. Businesses are cautiously welcoming this one. More than half of the big companies globally already use simpler AI chatbots, as chief executives think of how to utilise the new tools before their competitors do.
The concern that this new technology will again be dominated by the giant tech duopolies is partly answered by the venture capital now pouring into AI start-ups, universities and not-for-profit organisations as investors bet that small disruptors will play a big role in this revolution.
Microsoft is investing $10 billion in OpenAI, the start-up behind ChatGPT, over 10 years to make its other programs easier to use.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates told technology editor Paul Smith in last week’s AFR Weekend Perspective section that the new bots would change careers but not end them.
He says they will create access to health and education where they do not currently exist: it is not as though developing countries have enough doctors and tutors. Mobile phone networks spread information and commerce rapidly through emerging markets and it’s a good guess this could do the same.
Programmers say such bots excel at writing computer code, doing the boring parts and leaving humans to edit and refine the product further. They can be used for initial research, or for tutoring people in the basics before they move on to more complex skills. And it is quite likely that many future AI applications will check on the errors of other AI applications.
The optimistic view is that new AI will help people understand complexity better than they do now. It’s easy to worry that the internet delivers a fire-hose of information that comes at us faster than we acquire the wisdom to judge whether it is good or bad.
But that’s been part of the human condition ever since we gained language and literacy. We have moral panics about the manipulative power of social media on politics and social life. But tools such as AI teaching and learning can also help democratise knowledge in future, which the internet has done too. And bots that can spew out generic answers or the entertaining mimicry of real geniuses such as Shakespeare should also help us distinguish the truly individual voice.
After all, many readers might now assume that ChatGPT can write a newspaper editorial. But not many would like to think that’s what they have just read.
Sounds like bull to me.
The New Guinea A-grade Arabica, roasted just-so is world class. Out of the roaster, into the grinder, French plunger and drink. Mmmmm.
After a while you don’t even notice the rat poo.
Links to a Speccie article delivering
A withering assessment of the clowns running Australia.
Interestingly, a far less likely source gives a very similar assessment:
Uncle Luigi, paddling in the shallows of identity politics and losing the ABC…
H/T: Count Dankula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lyttle
When asked by journalists why he had excavated the tunnels, he said “I’m just a man who loves to dig” and that he just wanted “a big basement”. He also said that “There is great beauty in inventing things that serve no purpose.”
All men remember that digging is fun from their boyhood. Those plant operator dudes are blessed.
How’s the babushka with a jar of pickled tomatoes going?
ChatGPT:
The invasion of Poland by the USSR and Nazi Germany in 1939 was a historical event that took place, however, labeling it as a “conspiracy theory” may not be entirely accurate as the term is often associated with secret and elaborate plots with a sinister motive. While it is true that the invasion was a pre-planned and coordinated effort by the governments of USSR and Nazi Germany, and that it was illegal under international law, calling it a “conspiracy theory” may not fully capture the complexities and nuances of the event.
Neo-malthusians
They have invaded the body politic.
me thinks you are being too harsh on on PS just doing the job they are tasked with
Well, if you accept the premise that ripping off/misleading the ‘public” is acceptable PS operation then I am being .. too harsh ..
The woman named in the story freely admits using misleading info yet got promoted and is now on $900 000 ..
Hahahaha!
Lyttle was evicted in 2006, and Hackney Borough Council filled the tunnels with aerated concrete. He contested the decision in court and returned to his home for a short time. In 2008, the High Court of Justice ordered that Lyttle cover the costs of the council making the structure safe, at a total of £293,000.
After this, Lyttle was moved to a hotel for three years, before being rehoused in an apartment in a high-rise building. He was put on the top floor, to discourage tunnelling. While there he knocked a hole in a dividing wall between two rooms.
Frank says:
February 4, 2023 at 7:24 am
We use Aldi ‘Mocca Kraftig’ instant.
You can make any fancy coffee variant with it without a machine.
Unless your guests see how it’s prepared they wouldn’t know, guaranteed.
OK some exceptions granted.
We can abbreviate to neomals
President Trump Delivers Subtle Advice to Joe Biden on How to Handle Chinese “Spy Balloon”
February 3, 2023 – Sundance
“Want a taste of what is arguably the best coffee in the world? Melbourne café group Proud Mary is serving up 22 cups of Black Jaguar for a cool $200.”
Cat Shit Coffee used to be the most expensive. I wonder what animal shits out the Black Jaguar coffee? ;D
Novak Djokovic’s Win Is a Win for the Vaccine-Free
In the end, Djokovic may have relinquished two grand slam titles in 2022 because he chose to remain Covid vaccine-free, but he was still able to tie Rafael Nadal with 22 titles and compete for records, such as being a few weeks away from surpassing Steffi Graf’s 377 weeks at number one (he’s already at 374, which is 64 more than Roger Federer). It is an incredibly impressive feat to reclaim the number one ranking, especially at the age of 35 (the second oldest player to hold the spot). His opponent, Stefanos Tsitsipas, recognized Djokovic as “the greatest that has ever held a tennis racket.”
Djokovic and all of us who exercised our medical freedom to remain vaccine-free have been vindicated by God and truth.
Beijing confirms balloon is Chinese, says entry into US airspace was unintended
Chinese are good actors, not sure I know anybody who could say this with a straight face or expect to actually be believed.
CHiNeSe SPY BaLLooN…
Like the 22 sec clip as well
“If the Voice of the Parliament had been established previously … we wouldn’t be where we are in terms of Alice Springs at the moment because we would be getting practical advice from people who are representative of the community in relation to these social issues,” Ms Burney said.
I blame Captain Cook! .. if he’d left the place to the Dutch, Portugese or Spanish Ms. Burnie wouldn’t be where she is lecturing the vote-herd .. incessantly!
Instapundit has an interesting essay today looking at this issue via movie portrayals:
The Henpecked Hero: Public Usefulness but Rarely Domestic Happiness for the Modern Good Man (2 Feb)
RTWT, which you can if you persevere – the original article is on Substack and is made hard to read if you aren’t a subscriber. Worth persisting though. My impression is that this bias has so permeated culture since the rise of the feminist movement that nothing will allow equal justice for men. On the other hand the blowback on feminists for the TERF phenomenon is an interesting repayment of 50 years of progressive #metooing. It’ll be interesting to see where this leftist autophagy goes to.
Recall also Augusto Zimmerman’s Quadrant article, which is highly pertinent in such discussions:
Women Can Be as Violent as Men (2018)
A very detailed examination of the issue.
Alice Springs bumper sticker?.. LOL!
https://postimg.cc/7J13pBN5
No yet, they don’t.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve put in a bit of time testing ChatGPT’s coding expertise. The results have been mixed – to the extent that its coding output soaks up more time in validation and debugging than it saves.
Simple VBA code comes back with strange errors and unwanted additions – and when the bot is asked to correct its own mistakes, it doubles down and adds more. More complex code in Java or C# gets mangled and the bot ended up chastising me for being unclear in my expectations.
I remain impressed with ChatGPT’s language processing. But it is sub-Wikipedia in terms of reliability and more than Goggle-like in terms of its woke overlay. Which makes it a scary beast in the hands of the uncritical 97.3% – who will adopt it enthusiastically and use its results without question.
But, whatever an old hack thinks about it now, this is the future.
Does she mean the old ladies who beg for grog bans?
Well said!
Still, it’s helpful of Ms. Burney to be setting some benchmarks for the Voice, as we’re likely to get it regardless of the outcome of the referendum.
I reload Duk’s excellent (short) clip of Jordan Petersen on trannies and gays:
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/03/dear-gays/
He nails it.
BTW, as a tomboy myself as a kid (hated dresses, dolls and the colour pink) thank goodness my generation was not exposed to trannie propaganda. My parents would have dismissed it as nonsense, but who knows what idiot teachers and other d0-gooders might have tried.
Oh, and I’m not a lesbian, in case the question lingers.
Cooked my eggs in butter this morning.
Walkin’ on the wild side.
Similarly the US military.
If I identified as a betting person, I’d have $20 on the Pentagon hurriedly commissioning R&D into a munition that can reliably shred a loitering balloon.
Oh yes, we certainly are.
The time is now, the politics are set; nobody is going to put this one back in its box.
Very insightful. Thanks for explaining this complexity.
Good nuttiness, well-rounded mouthfeel. Sounds a lot like gargling balls, not that there would be anything wrong with that.
Dot
Why do you think the Chat thingi’s analysis of the Polish invasion is flawed?
It would be accurate to refrain from referring to the Nazi and Soviet conspiracies as a conspiracy theory because both did plan to invade and partition Poland.
Well done, calli.
I’m not sure that the Feminazis who wanted to include things like financial and emotional abuse have thought this one through. There is plenty of that coming from the female half of the act.
Why was Linda Burney never held to account for making such an outrageous claim to Parliament?
In which case there’s an opportunity for those to the right of the centre-left consensus to use it to take on the behemoth of big government.
If the indigenous are entitled to a voice in all three levels of government in order to better shape policy ‘outcomes’ (to borrow the jargon) to their benefit, then so, surely, are all citizens.
Why, it could be revolutionary!
Snake Boy Minister Matt Kean’s expensive taxpayer funded victory lap.
Day by day – lefty gesture by gesture – Matt Kean is driving the NSW Liberals towards Opposition.
So it makes sense that he’d sneak in a ‘victory lap‘ taxpayer-covered overseas trip before it all ends.
Eygpt and London – business class, limos and 5 Star all the way.
It made most conservative voters reach for the vomit bucket when they saw him parading with King Charles.
The unofficial Minister for Undermining, Kean is a boasting devote republican – like all trendy lefties.
Typically – they get giddy with excitement to meet royalty.
But don’t worry – you paid for the lot.
$72,000.00 – according to the Telegraph. Let’s not forget also the weeks of salaries that went into planning this junket – not in the total – and the likely millions in secret UN concessions he handed out along the way to buy his way in.
TREASURER and Energy Minister Matt Kean cost taxpayers more than $70,000 when he and a government entourage flew to the United Kingdom to meet King Charles III ahead of COP27 in Egypt late last year.
Newly released details of the trip published by the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet show Mr Kean brought along a senior adviser, with NSW Treasury secretary Dr Paul Grimes also joining the delegation.
The published report showed the 10-day trip to London, Cairo and Sharm El Sheik cost more than $72,000, including $47,930 for Mr Kean and one staffer, with the bureaucrat costing $24,074.
Some of Mr Kean’s Liberal colleagues privately criticised the trip at the time as it had occurred during a crucial week in parliament with first-home buyer stamp duty reforms on the agenda.
In his report, Mr Kean said the trip had enabled government engagement with the “highest sub-sovereign level of Moody’s” and “supported our longer-term maintenance of NSW’s Triple-A credit rating”.
Mr Kean said his role as both Treasurer and Energy Minister had enabled two “necessary work trips” to be combined into one “providing greater value for money”.
“It was a bonus that while in the UK to meet with financial bodies, I was invited to meet the King and discussed our shared passion for conservation,” he said.
From the Comments
Rusty of Qld said…
Troops, to end the shit show that is Australian politics everybody vote Greens and Labour.
Give them their head, let them loose and see the whole thing come crashing down into one great disastrous mess.
Death by swift suicide instead of enduring this long drawn out painful process we are subjected to as we are going to get to the same ending anyway.
Perhaps the CCP balloon is bait to see if the US will use it’s suspected space based weapons to shoot it down. The satellite cold war is a very big thing, and especially so if China has something sinister planned in future.
Maybe indolent has more with his link fu, but I’ve seen claims there’s rumors in Thailand to the effect their king is hiring assassins, due to a princess suffering adverse effects from phizer shots.
I would not be upset if it were true.
If it goes hot the task of navigating the upper atmosphere becomes exponentially more dangerous with all the shrapnel that will suddenly start orbiting the planet.
Sinister motive…may not be entirely accurate!
???
This is the way ChatGPT is programmed to lie. Agree with a statement that explains 90% of X as one variable, say N, but then say the other 10% is because of 100+ other causes, from “many people” it refuses to name or say how many experts in a field agree with, so therefore “N causes X” “is not true”.
Indeed.
The CCP has established that it’s a non-trivial task for the US to swat a balloon acting as a spy satellite backup – and possibly not currently feasible.
Have these people not heard of Zoom?
I’m reminded of that reported “carrier killer” weapon China supposedly has that goes ballistic enroute to target. It would be handy to have a weapon on a satellite platform to deal with that eventuality.
Yes, but I don’t understand why the US broadcast openly that it knew the location of the balloon.
In my opinion, it was foolish to do the publicity if it came from the US military establishment.
This is due to them bragging to the Chinese about how strong US defenses are.
The Australian TGA Banned Ivermectin BUT
TGA approves psychedelic ingredients in magic mushrooms & ecstasy for PTSD & Depression
From 1 July this year, medicines containing the psychedelic substances psilocybin and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine) can be prescribed by specifically authorised psychiatrists for the treatment of certain mental health conditions.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) will permit the prescribing of MDMA for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. These are the only conditions where there is currently sufficient evidence for potential benefits in certain patients.
Prescribing will be limited to psychiatrists, given their specialised qualifications and expertise to diagnose and treat patients with serious mental health conditions, with therapies that are not yet well established. To prescribe, psychiatrists will need to be approved under the Authorised Prescriber Scheme by the TGA following approval by a human research ethics committee. The Authorised Prescriber Scheme allows prescribing permissions to be granted under strict controls that ensure the safety of patients.
There are currently no approved products containing psilocybin or MDMA that the TGA has evaluated for quality, safety and efficacy.
However, this amendment will allow authorised psychiatrists to access and legally supply a specified ’unapproved’ medicine containing these substances to patients under their care for these specific uses.
ABC apologises for Alice Springs report:
ABC published an apology and said “ABC news management takes responsibility” for the reports that were broadcast on its AM radio program and Newsradio that provided “an incomplete picture of the event”.
“On January 31, the program broadcast a report gathered the previous evening on a community meeting held in Alice Springs to discuss the recent upsurge in violence and to discuss compensation and solutions,” the apology said.
“The report included the views of some people who attended the community meeting and their immediate reaction.
“Those views were reported accurately.
“However, this report should have included a broader range of perspectives expressed at the meeting and further information about what was discussed, to provide additional context.”
The public broadcaster went on to say: “ABC News apologises to audiences for providing an incomplete picture of the event in this instance.
“Following this report, ABC News published additional coverage of the issue which included a broader range of perspectives and context”.
Oz breaking news
Nothing about sacking the “journalist” responsible then?
Mind games are afoot here. And “keeping them guessing” is definitely the top priority. The Chinese are not subtle even though quite shrewd. Why show off new kit over a balloon? And why risk exposure for hiding a CCP balloon’s presence over the US? Mind games.
When you fly into Seoul the DMZ stands out like a huge dark gash on the northern horizon.
Nothing about sacking the “journalist” responsible then?
That’s for Sarah Henderson to push for in Senate estimates.
More on the balloon
Seems it happened when Trump was in but no shoot down for fear of payload landing on people.
Is this balloon garnering any more intelligence than low level satellites?
I seriously doubt it.
Perhaps shooting it down, while possible, is not worth the risk in terms of escalating tensions with China atm, nor the small but real risk of debris to civilians & infrastructure on the ground.
Se we have the mea culpa.
What penance will be imposed?
Seems it happened when Trump was in but no shoot down for fear of payload landing on people.
Bush, “according to US officials…”
(The report is from Bloomberg, which I couldn’t read further down than the first few lines, but that reference to Trump just said “seen many such devices”).
Thank you.
My insight and ability to grasp complexity seems to be superior to that of the wankers in the Pentagon & White House.
Penance? Of course there’ll be penance, for a turkey this size they’ll have to manually load it into the forgettery.
Further to last weeks ‘hot trailer bearing’ on the 1600kg Jayco, I replaced the bearing (but couldn’t find anything wrong with it – not tight, nice clean grease etc.)
Just did a 30km test drive in cool conditions (20C). The new bearing ran at 30C whereas the other side (the cool side) ran at 26C. (thankyou to the person on the Cat who suggested temperature monitoring).
Will see what happens on a hotter day now.
The Multiple Fallacies Contained
Within the Voice to Parliament
From the Epoch Times –
Commentary –
Australia is beginning to tear itself apart at the behest of the clumsy and ham-fisted approach of the government and its determination to shoehorn the
Indigenous Voice to Parliament (the Voice) into the Australian Constitution.
Eric Abetz
February 2, 2023 Updated: February 3, 2023
What is being promoted as healing and reconciling is in practice dividing and
alienating.
The Voice is a proposal to insert a clause into the Constitution giving Aboriginal
Australians a dedicated advisory body to the government separate from
Parliament itself.
In principle, one would hope that all Australians are to be treated equally. In
Australia’s democracy, all are in fact free to run for office subject to being a
citizen and over 18 years of age.
To treat or prioritise one group over another is discriminatory and inequitable.
Sure, the aged, youth, veterans, and indeed the Indigenous are appropriately
catered for with special ministries and outside representative bodies
representing those demographics to those ministers and members of the
parliament. They are the hallmarks of a truly representative democracy.
However, to institutionalise a separate Voice to the Parliament in the
Constitution takes this approach to a level that leads to resentment and “special
pleading” which, in turn, will lead to a legal/judicial mess that only the High
Court can resolve. A lawyer’s dream and a nation’s nightmare.
“Special pleadings”—an exception that cannot always be justified—can be
advocated for any group in society: the aged built the country and sacrificed for
it, veterans had their mates die for the preservation of our country, while the
youth are the future and will live with the legacy of the current leadership.
Any half imaginative mind could make a special pleading for any demographic
and, in particular, for those whose ancestors have been in Australia the longest.
The difficulty is that not only is the Voice fundamentally wrong in principle,
but the proposal also lacks any coherent detail. It hasn’t been thought through.
Questions as to how it might actually work in practice are dismissed with glib
superficialities such as “it is the right thing to do” or “it will be a step to
reconciliation.”
Any half discerning voter would rightly demand the detail. Who would give a
blank cheque to anyone, let alone to a power hungry centralist government.
Not surprisingly, a committee to help co-ordinate an opposition campaign to
the Voice has recently been formed. Comprising of Indigenous leaders and
former parliamentarians from both sides of Australian politics, the NO
campaign committee has serious grunt to offer in the contest of ideas.
Most devastatingly and tellingly is the fact that so many Indigenous leaders are
signing up to the NO campaign highlighting to the world that there is no such
thing as The Voice.
The Indigenous community is being portrayed in a most patronising way as
being homogenous by the purveyors of the YES campaign.
Surprise, but our Indigenous community can and does actually think for
themselves as individuals. There are conservatives and progressives. There are
Christians and atheists.
And while on senators, there is already a disproportionate percentage of
Indigenous senators in the Senate. Yet again highlighting there is ample
capacity for the demographic representing the community to be heard loud and
clear.
As is the wont with other demographics in Australia, the Indigenous aren’t in
the Senate as a homogenous Indigenous party, but as democratically elected
representatives of at least five different political parties.
Goes Against the Aussie Spirit
The wokeism and political correctness dripping from the YES case is
intermingled with a strong dose of vacuous virtue signalling.
But don’t ask how it will stop assaults, domestic violence, rape, lawlessness,
and lack of educational achievement. Don’t ask for the actual benefits to be
derived from the proposed constitutional change.
The inner-city, well-paid, and educated in the Indigenous community advocate
for constitutional change whereas those living in remote communities, like
Alice Springs, are desperate for the lawlessness to stop, the abuse to end, and an
educational future for their children.
The NO campaign has principle and practicality on its side to run a demolition
derby against the woke virtue signalling YES campaign.
Not one life will be improved by the proposed change. But if the funds wasted
in pursuit of the Voice were spent on law enforcement and school attendance, a
rapid increase in the wellbeing of our Indigenous communities would be there
for all to witness.
The new NO committee styles itself as offering a better way which includes the
recognition of the Indigenous and migrant in the preamble to the Australian
Constitution.
As a migrant himself, the writer was the first leader of a major political party in
either house from a non-English speaking background. The writer’s cohort has
already been recognised by being in the Parliament and rising to significant
positions as have our Indigenous Australians.
Dividing Australians on race or any other predetermined factor undermines the
unity which we celebrate in our national anthem when we sing “we are one and
free.” Dividing Australians on any basis is divisive and corrosive of the national
spirit.
The NO campaign has volumes of devastating fodder to provide the electorate
without potentially going down a similar albeit less dangerous path.
Australia needs to recommit to its basic ethos of genuine equality and shun
those promoting disunity under the seductive guise of reconciliation.
Sydney Morning Herald.
“By far the most significant comment at the funeral was Abbott’s; that Pell should never have been investigated without a complaint; he should never have been charged without corroborating evidence, and should never have been convicted without a plausible case, as the High Court eventually realised.”
Laurie Le Claire, Epping
Funny how keen Greens just love to emit carbins in vast quantities whilst telling the proles to eat bugs. This one today was fun:
Street Blocking “Last Generation” Climate Protesters Caught Taking 18,000 km Holiday Flight To Thailand! (3 Feb)
They’re saving the planet dontcha know, which means they really really need their well-earned four month long break in Thailand.
Weasel words, as usual.
I looked at the so-called ‘corrections’ page recently and found this:
Did they explain that Aborigines were citizens from the founding of the Federation? No. They left it hanging, slimeballs that they are.
BTW, the Corrections and Clarifications link is no longer on the front page. You have to click on ‘Editorial Policy’ which is in small type at the bottom of the page to find it.
One for Senate Estimates?
Are your temp sensors properly calibrated Duk?
Quick switch might tell…
Another idea, is the load evenly distributed? A portside entry portico with fridge, sink and furniture on the starboard would put the lion’s share of weight on the outside wheel…
Poor Tony Abbott. Such a good, clear, warm communicator and fighter for the underdog, yet couldn’t stand up for himself and swat away his enemies when he was in power.
On the Thai Princess:
https://twitter.com/theredactedinc
scroll down to the story.
Top Ender
“However, this report should have included a broader range of perspectives expressed at the meeting and further information about what was discussed, to provide additional context.”
Rough translation: “Ignoring the statements by more than 90% of those interviewed, and broadcasting only a very selected few, whose views accorded with our prejudices, might have been an error. We should have included at least one of the others, if only to give the appearance of a ‘balanced’ report.”
ChatGPT didn’t like my idea of only employing English speaking PhD jewish men as physicists and black college educated men (B Eng, M Eng) from Georgia, USA as engineers in “my nuclear power plant”.
They would lack in problem solving ability because of da diversity not being maximised and me being racist in not considering women who have absolutely equal biological ability in mathematics and women simply not liking mathematics generally cannot be innate, it is a social constructs, these constructs cannot have underlying biological causes.
Also: you can’t generalise about groups from data?
Simply ask about James Damore and go from there. It is amazing seeing how the kooky left wing bias is programmed in.
Bull. They lack lateral thinking. You can do it in a combination of rail, bus and private car from Berlin.
It just takes you longer and is inconvenient. Like a lot of alternative travel.
There was once a time when young people would be up for the challenge.
Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.
– Benjamin Disraeli
Tee hee.
Wouldn’t it be cultural appropriation if I employed white women in a Bob Marley tribute band?
Yes, cultural appropriation can be considered inappropriate and disrespectful when elements of a culture are taken out of their original context and used for commercial or entertainment purposes without proper understanding, acknowledgement, or respect for their cultural origins and significance. In this case, employing white women in a Bob Marley tribute band could be seen as cultural appropriation, as it may involve using elements of Jamaican and reggae culture without proper respect or understanding.
I was told last night that before the 70’s, a woman in Australia was considered her husband’s “property”.
Someone should have told Dad.
The painful to listen to “ums” and “ahs” that infected his speech when he was PM suggests someone second-guessing their gut instincts, probably on the advice of political minders.
A corker from Ted at Adam’s:
https://patriots.win/p/16a9v6oF09/i-asked-chat-gpt-to-write-a-dr-s/c/
In terms of content, Adam’s is very good indeed. No pages of slanging matches, just hard core concentrated content.
Oh, and for those who like Steve Trickler’s contributions, he is having an op in the next few days. Pop over and give him a shout.
Well, Joh, truth be told, you can pop over here and have a good slang and leave your nest unsullied.
Just ask me. I know all about it.
What vintage was this person, may I ask?
Black Ball at 9:15.
I’m not gay.
I just lost the bet and had to do it, right.
I didn’t like it.
The New York City-born former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson has said that he would not rule out a potential bid for the White House.-just go away blowjob- these grubs need to be squashed
Far too much trust placed in supposed “friends” and party colleagues. Who he allowed to undermine his instincts that won him the landslide election. His departure ushered in the SFL elites we now know.
It wasn’t his enemies that did him in. It was himself and the low lifes in his party.
Bob Marley was half English.
Were his dreadlocks cultural appropriation?