The Bazincourt Steeple, Camille Pissarro, 1895
‘The integrity of science depends on its capacity to provide an ever more reliable picture of how the world works.…
Open Thread – Weekend 4 Feb 2023
- Open Thread – Weekend 21 April 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 18 April 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 15 April 2024
- Projects impending
- Open Thread – Weekend 13 April 2024
The man who lit himself on fire outside of Trump’s trial in NYC has been identified as Max Azzarello. “My…
Hey muntsac, here’s an anti-Trump activity you should indulge in. I reckon most here at the Cat would endorse it…
The Cass Review Shames the Gay-Rights Establishment… – Andrew Doyle
Man Ignites Himself at Trump Trial: Shocking NYC Courthouse Scene
Mcvlads with a borscht burger?
Even KD won’t address the EO’s
I got a certificate in shorthand, typing and double-entry bookeeping when I was fourteen, from the Metropolitan Business College in Parramatta, on a three month half-scholarship and half paid for out of her wages by my Big Sis, who was fifteen and working. We were living alone in a garage and I had to get a job. This was her way of saying get a good one. She gave me three months.
Double-sided bookkeeping though? Don’t recall that, but then, I was never much good at it and don’t know how I passed. On a staff sympathy vote, I suspect. It was my typing proficiency that got me thru.
It still does. 🙂
My god. Putin has learnt how to bring back James Earl Jones from the dead.
It’s as convincing as a guy on Twitter telling us the premier Moscow mall is as busy as Midtown 5th Ave.
Explain please how this increases GDP. Replacing ownership doesn’t produce an increase in GDP. You get this, right?
Sure it freaking does as it’s sapping away Russian purchasing power.
Oooooooh!
You are awful!!!
custard
You promised no more Q crap.
Please.
I’m sure you are right and Cairns did the rounds Sancho.
Custard
It’s great to have Trump back in the White House.
All those naysayers!
Eat shit.
Custard was right.
I didn’t promise that dot.
Q is interesting.
That’s all I’ve ever said about that.
I got one of the Italian burgers, they never look like the picture do they?
Good evening JC
P more so.
The re-building.
Was it done before Mussolini?
We did see a few brutalist fascist public buildings in Puglia, and of course there are a couple in Rome which are “beautiful in all their ugliness”.
Italian burgers? That’s almost sinful saying that. 🙂
Some here may remember McDowell’s, George Street, Sydney
A small department store when compared to Sydney competitors Anthony Hordern & Sons, Grace Brothers and Marcus Clark, McDowell’s relied on solid value-for-money stock and a good reputation. Helped, by its central city location, McDowell’s steadily increased, particularly after the second world war. By the early 1960s branch stores were opened in the Sydney suburbs of Hornsby, Caringbah and Dee Why and, in 1964, the company could boast 1200 employees.
McDowell’s remained in family hands for three generations until eventually taken over by rival department store, Walton’s, in 1972. The city store ceased trading in February 1971, was then sold by the company and demolished soon afterwards.
ANU
We are still talking book stalls, right?
Yes, I think the market for the collected works of Chairman Jim would be exhausted pretty quickly in Camberwell in the 1980’s.
Rebuilding started in 1909, then again after wwII when the Americans and British knocked a fair bit over again. So no evidenct Mussolini brutalism.
The 1950s rebuild means there are some very ugly buildings around the bay which was once surrounded by beautiful matching palazzos.
Really?
Italian Burghers, always disappointing.
My favourite was a restaurant in Rome? offering humburgers.
There are two Italian burgers on the menu here, one a parma, the other I forgot.
And the place is starting to fill up with locals having a traditional Sunday lunch.
It’s a one time thing for me in Europe either McDonalds, Burger King or ‘Chinese’ food.
R is mostly dull, but with occasional flashes of brilliance.
We are currently in the KAL Lounge at Seoul Airport, shared with other airlines including Qantas, awaiting our plane to arrive from Oz, five hours late. Hairy is avidly following its progress. It has just speeded up, he announces, coming up to about a 100km to Okinawa. Big storm over Taipei, and they should avoid that, he adds.
Incheon airport here in Korea is a new airport and very moderne. As elsewhere in Korea, everything is spotlessly clean and shiny. It’s also well thought out. We could join the security line set aside for families and ‘seniors over 70’, and got through quickly. Hairy was rather mortified that he now just qualifies, whereas I can sail through as a truly old person – yet this backfired when entering Copenhagen as the document checking man feeding us to immigration said hello young lady when he took my passport and then refused to believe it: you don’t look old enough to be born in 1942. You look more like you are 42, he said, trying to cover for his earlier mistaken greeting, as I argued I truly was very old, just not much of a wrinkley and – umm – young in manner, and yes, that is my passport and that man over there is my husband, for Hairy was waiting anxiously at the other side, wondering what the problem was.
The KAL Lounge here has ‘pods’ where you can curl up and hide and there are also massage cubicles, the technology of which defeats me. You have to lie down flat and let it do its thing via a complicated set of body part icons on a hand-held remote. I left it playing music to itself and rubbing away sans a human to care for. It didn’t fit me at all as I am too short. And I couldn’t turn it off. Hairy now laughing at me in his corner clutching a beer. I’m heading for another red wine, which is a very good one, and free at that.
Elizabeth Burchill used to drag a folding card table and sell signed copies of her books at a local shopping centre, I think until she was very old.
Probably more interesting that Cairns.
At least now I know to scrub Reggio Calabria off my places I might like to visit list.
I’ve seen his and other videos. We see stores full of Western products, etc. We hear reports from people that have actually visited Russia. The problem here is that you simply can’t believe that Russia has managed to find a way through Western sanctions.
It wasn’t offered as an explanation of increasing GDP but as a counter to the claim that resources were being redirect en masse to war production.
They seem to be coping quite well.
I watched a couple of episodes of Black Spot last night.
The dubbed American voices irritated me so I switched to French with English subtitles.
Much more bearable.
The prosecutor looks a bit mister beanish but is the most likeable character so far.
Everyone is, as you would expect, extra weird.
True in a sense, but the volume and shorter, (safer?? thought of as such at the time) supply route made it a better proposition.
Who would’ve thought that in today’s world political climate such a bastard act of sabotage, quite outside of a war zone can happen?
There are plenty of potential buyers for gas, Russian or otherwise, delivery and price matters.
Even the Russians aren’t going to sell it below production costs.
But of course, Sancho.
It is a great skill and I am still using it.
In addition to my smile and cheerful mien.
Bottoms up, dearie. 🙂
PS, I’m not predicting it, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some other oil or gas pipeline suffered the same fate in the future, not operated by the Russians I mean.
No not reading Q.
BTW I looked up that link of custard’s, what are those questions supposed to mean?
Please.
Not in front of Custard.
He already thinks I am keen on bottoms up.
What’s a flamer?
I am especially happy right now because I have just had news that my fifty year old son, who has autistic tendencies and has never worked, has just arrived safely back in Sydney. I paid for him to go to Thailand and stay at a resort with his sometime partner and their son (who is level 2 autistic) and funded another ten days of holiday for him there after they departed. Meantime, he managed to lose his wallet and cards (his par for any course) and then misread the time of his flight to Singapore (par again), missing it. With difficulty his partner arranged for a new ticket for him via various phone calls and he then texts me today from Thailand that his plane to Singapore won’t make the connection from there to Sydney because it was late, and he’s going to be stranded in Singapore without any cards or money. Phew. He made the connection and is now in Sydney again.
It’s a miracle, his sometime partner texts me, and we who both love him breathe sighs of relief.
Thanks to cohenite and Zulu for posting Harper Valley pta on the previous page.
Brought back good memories. .
Custard, for ignorant plebs like myself could you do the hard yards for us and actually mount a coherent argument that we can analyse?
For example, briefly explain Presidential executive orders 13818 and 13848 and then show how they “reconcile”.
Then us small brains can make a decision whether to read more detail, do our own research, or to ignore the theory.
Just dropping snippets of alleged part-conversations is not going to win the day for you.
Out of respect for all you have written here over the last few years I am happy to debate the matters you raise but not when I don’t understand them in the format you present.
I remember McDowells, and also another city old-style department store – Anthony Horderns.
They had a building in the Central area, not high end, but near where I worked as a copywriter.
Later the building was used to start NSW Institute of Technology, which later became UTS.
Some claim the days of department stores are long gone, superceded by shopping malls and high streets. which aggregate the shops that used to be the departments – shoes, clothing, furniture, cosmetics etc.
Online purchasing provides its challenge, but I think shoppers will always need shops.
Shopping online is no thrill at all. And disappointing when you can’t really see what you’ll get.
rosie says: February 5, 2023 at 10:39 pm
When Maccas got KO’d from Vladland their shops were replaced by a copycat Russian company called (direct English translation) Tasty Period.
There is one review here.
Colonel Crispin Berka says:
February 6, 2023 at 12:00 am
Funny, but only works in English translation.
Looked up the new name, BTW.
I think I can live with that. Later. I’ve got to check my horoscope.
Double-sided bookkeeping – it’s when you have one side of the books you show the ATO and one side that you don’t. Practitioners are rare and successful ones can name their price for their services.
Anyway, yes. I meant double-entry bookkeeping.
Most sane businesses should practice some minor form of it.
The financial tune one sings to the ATO is reframed for mortgage security or vending (value of the business) purposes.
I am back to one finger typing now as I had to pack up my laptop when they kicked us out of the lounge. They were closing, they said. So we and others have now moved down to the gate to join the waiting hordes. Seats are rare as a few people are sleeping across three, some are full of dumped belongings, and one big man is manspreading his legs from the middle across two others. Airports disintegrate as flights become very late, children become querulous and weary people get tetchy.
Aha, the flight crew have arrived, just after the plane.
The mood here lifts, awaiting lift off. Hairy has spotted the pilot, a wise looking older man, tall and stern, he notes. Just what you want, he adds, meaning me I think.
Please nobody mention heart attack territory right now.
Thank you one and all, and goodnight.
Okay, I’ve taken one for the team & googled for Exec orders 13818 & 13848
They seem mundane enough.
What’s the issue with them?
Executive Order 13818—Blocking the Property of Persons Involved in Serious Human Rights Abuse or Corruption (A snorefest of 1619 words)
Executive Order 13848—Imposing Certain Sanctions in the Event of Foreign Interference in a United States Election (Fair dinkum cure for insomnia at 2715 words)
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity says:
February 6, 2023 at 1:02 am
You sure you got them numbers right?
Can’t see how those are going to reinstate Trump to the presidency?
Johannes Leak.
Mark Knight.
Mark Knight #2.
David Rowe.
Bob Moran.
Morten Morland.
Andy Davey.
Waiting for Tom . A prediction re The Voice , Elbow is going to find himself up to the eyeballs in trouble when the S### hits the fan . How can Oz escape world energy and debt problems.?
Peter Brookes.
Michael Ramirez.
A.F. Branco.
Gary Varvel.
A.F. Branco #2.
Michael Ramirez #2.
Tom Stiglich.
Robert Ariail.
Steve Kelley.
Al Goodwyn.
Henry Payne.
Henry Payne #2.
Tina Norton.
Thanks Tom.
Get ready for a narrative being pushed today.
The usual mob are now saying that multiple Chinese balloons crossed the US under Trump & he did nothing about it.
Anonymous source of course.
Balloon first detected on the 28th (US time).
Not shot down until the 4th (US time).
Thanks for the ‘toons, Tom.
‘Dr’ Money-truly evil
A week ago Big Brother Watch released a report into the surveillance the UK security state put any critic of government covid policies under.
The bird speaks to Russell in this vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYcSZEcHQ84
Overnight Big Brother Watch was tweeting that the BBC hasn’t given the story any coverage.
If true, that’s bonkers.
It’s huge news.
Newspoll is saying that “Indigenous voice earns support of quiet majority“.
Does anyone believe this? I don’t.
Ilhan Omar:
“ I am a Muslim. I am an immigrant. And, interestingly, from Africa. Is anyone surprised that I am a target?”
She didn’t mention that she’s a completely anti-USA fraud, doesn’t deserve to be in the Congress at all, and should be deported along with her husband-brother.
No balloons during trump years says former Director of National Intelligence.
See gateway pundit.
Dan the Diktator is still saying that the vaxxes work and defending his mandates, though like all duplicitous people he tries say that his mandate isn’t a mandate. Then getting annoyed at the questioner says that he isn’t an accredited journo and that he won’t take questions from him. The MSM journos stay silent and incurious.
https://twitter.com/9NewsMelb/status/1622117964601503744
Does anyone believe this? I don’t.
Murdoch is 100% behind the change in the Constitution.
You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
ABC issues half-assed apology for “incompleteness” of its Alice Springs report rather than admit to being incurably biassed and undeserving of the massive taxpayer funding it gets.
Link
Shut it down, fire them all. There’s better news and entertainment available elsewhere.
“Shut it down, fire them all. There’s better news and entertainment available elsewhere.”
At the risk of being called an “armchair critic”, I agree with you.
Zulu Kilo Two Alphasays:
February 5, 2023 at 10:26 pm
Remember how he made a complete spectacle of himself over his infatuation for Junie Morosi?
“A Morosi – a loose screw that holds a Cabinet together.”
Gough: How are you this morning Jim?
Cairns: Feeling a little Morosi.
ChatGPT is a real Paul Allen. It gives normal answers to Patrick Bateman monologues.
According to the latest Newspoll, Sleazy the word Slusher’s popularity has taken a nose dive. So yes, my statement the other day that the wheels are beginning to fall off the Albo train is true. It’s a slow derailment because the MSM have Slusher’s back. But I say to the MSM, please continue your protection racket, because what this does is embolden Labor to pursue its follies, and these follies will cost this country dearly but its time Australians were made to swallow some unpleasant medicine.
Labor maintains a commanding lead over the Liberals. Completely unsurprising, the refusal by the Liberals and Dutton to come out and boldly say NO to the Voice shows cowardice. Nobody likes cowards.
Andrew Bolt:
Anthony Albanese gave a speech on Sunday with the most laughable line I’ve heard from him since he became Prime Minister.
He complained that people like me who reject his racist plan for an Aborigines-only Voice to parliament, written into our constitution, are just “trying to start a culture war”.
What lunatic hypocrisy. It’s classic gaslighting – making other people feel guilty for your own bad behaviour.
This Prime Minister who blames conservatives for trying to “start a culture war” himself started it by waging war on Australia’s constitution, culture and economy. We’re just trying to stop the damage.
Not even the $5 note is safe from Albanese’s assault, with the face of our monarch to be ripped off and replaced with a picture of some as-yet unchosen Aborigine in the Prime Minister’s crusade to turn us into a republic of tribes, heading for apartheid.
I doubt many Australians realise the vast scale of Albanese’s culture war. Yet.
It’s much more than his plan to divide Australians by race, to give people claiming to be Aboriginal an extra advisory parliament with unknown powers.
Albanese has also appointed an Assistant Minister for the Republic to exploit the Queen’s death, and is hiring a new Ambassador for First Nations People to represent Aborigines already as almost a separate nation and “help grow First Nations’ trade”.
On it goes. Albanese’s ministers now display not just the Australian flag at press conferences, but the Aboriginal and Torres Strait ones, a vivid symbol of the racial division this Socialist Left prime minister is deliberately creating.
He’s also attacking another symbol of Australian unity. Albanese last month told public servants they didn’t have to mark Australia Day.
Now he’s spending your money to recruit more warriors for his war. Last week Albanese announced he’d give the arts nearly $300 million more, but implied at the launch he wanted quo for these quids: “I would ask the arts community to join with me in urging … yes to a Voice to our parliament.”
He’s even exporting his culture war to the world. Foreign Minister Penny Wong last week gave a speech in London telling Britain to confront its colonial past, as if Britain’s legacy – here, too – was entirely shameful.
The Malaysian-born Wong brazenly painted her own Hakka and Cantonese Chinese ancestors as victims of the wicked British colonialists: “Many from these clans laboured for the British North Borneo company in tin mines and plantations”, while her grandmother was a servant for “British colonists”.
In fact, these Chinese clans emigrated from China to North Borneo from the 1880s precisely because the British there were offering jobs and a better future than was China, even before China’s Communist Party slaughtered more than 50 million Chinese. Wong’s ancestors weren’t victims of British colonialism; they exploited it.
By the way, has Wong ever told China to face up to its terrible past? Of course not, in part because Albanese’s culture war aims to make Australia less like Britain and more like China.
I exaggerate? Only a little. Just last week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers opened yet another front in Albanese’s culture war, announcing he’d “build a better capitalism” and “redesign markets for investment in social purposes”.
This “capitalism” would be nothing like the classic kind inherited from Britain. Instead, Chalmers plans to rig markets and push companies and superannuation funds to risk their money – and your retirement savings – on Labor’s pet schemes. Already he’s put socialist-style prices caps on coal and gas.
Even that’s not the end of Albanese’s culture war on our economy. I’ve left the big one until last: global warming.
This government babbles non-stop about making us slash emissions to save the planet, even though there’s actually no “climate crisis” and nothing Australia does could stop one.
No, global warming is the Left’s new religion and excuse for socialism – as well as for your soaring power bills.
But where’s this climate crisis? Look: our dams lapping with water, another record wheat crop, fewer cyclones, record coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef, and not one notable bushfire all summer.
Or check the latest satellite measurements of the world’s temperature: January was cooler than the mean temperature in the last decade of last century.
Such facts are trashed in Albanese’s culture war on our past, present and future. And he now has the Putin-class hide to accuse us, who won’t surrender, of being the aggressors.
Prime Minister, you started this war. We’re just the resistance.
I get most of my news from newcatallaxy.blog as the contributors generally have checked the veracity of the information. One or two days later the same news will appear on MSM that has been parsed by a munty qualified jismist. Sometimes it is almost the same but by omissions the meaning is twisted to reflect the narrative of the left or makes no sense whatsoever. Sorry for saying the same thing twice. Conflicting statements are made by the same person with no recognition of the previous statement. Cause and effect are linked by unicorn farts just to stay on message. By knowing what has happened it is easy to pick the continual narrative. Australians are so mentally inactive they accept life as a reality FTA program. When I came here in 79 I was impressed by Australians BS detecters. This constant demand to be entertained has done so much damage. The drivel served up by MSM has really dulled the senses. Thankyou Dover and contributors for making sense of a crazed world.
Can anyone explain to me the nuts and bolts of quantum computing?
I think I understand the materials science – we already use MOSFET and single electron gates. They’re arguably in between classical integrated circuits and quantum physical systems.
What I don’t get is the apparent complexity of the calculations. Why can’t each q bit just be a bit in a matrix with four sub entries? The vector normalisation and use of imaginary numbers is standard fare for higher level linear algebra problems.
Then each vector can be written as a tuplet of polynomials?
Albanese says ‘misinformation’ blocking progress of Voice to Parliament
6 February 2023
Each state and territory’s first Minister or Premier signed a “Statement of Intent” to support the enshrinement of the Voice on Thursday.
The federal Liberal Party is yet to come to an official position on the matter.
This whole Voice thing is crazy – Just went on to the Museum of NSW website and the opening page is blaring something about always was always will be aboriginal land.
Do they own the friggin internet now too?
“Do they own the friggin internet now too?”
Didn’t you know, they invented the internet.
Ranga, same here. I’ll make a comment to the Beloved about a story or event that’s cropped up on the blog. A couple of days later it appears in the “news”. Then he’ll say, hey didn’t you mention something like that days ago?
Our news services are pathetic. No wonder there are so many conspiracy stories about them getting orders.
1) We have abundant energy – stop artificially blocking its use
2) We cant avoid world debt problems, no one can, its been unpayable for years – the only remedy there is default.
Apologies Tom, was awake early as had to get a car in for service.
As for Elbow gaslighting try living in A Retirement Village , oldies Gaslighted continually but in Cognitive decline so don’t know it’s happening let alone what it means . So more from Elbow is just what they are used to.
Interesting how many have the chinese balloon covered in corona spikes – which might just be a case of accidental truth telling – Prof Ted Steele maintains that respiratory viruses can easily be spread intercontinentally by upper atmospheric winds.
“Miltonfsays:
February 6, 2023 at 5:33 am
‘Dr’ Money-truly evil”
MiltonF,
I read the article. Thanks for the link. I remember reading about him and the twins some years back. Truly evil man. Kiwi as well. Wonder if he is related to Horse Face? Her evil is bottomless. Kindred spirits. It is her last day tomorrow. Does anyone think the Kiwis will have anything to celebrate?
More stuff is coming out regarding those last two words in particular. As well as the Big Brother Watch comment FTB made earlier this morning there’re a couple other examples on the blogs (but not the MSM) today:
What looks, acts and smells like a Global News Cartel and just got hit by an Antitrust lawsuit… (Jo Nova, 5 Feb)
“The Trusted News Initiative (TNI) was set up last year [2019, just in time, eh?] to protect audiences and users from disinformation, particularly around moments of jeopardy, such as elections.
Nearly everyone’s on board:
Core partners in the TNI are: AP, AFP, BBC, CBC/Radio-Canada, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Financial Times, Information Futures Lab, Google/YouTube, The Hindu, The Nation Media Group, Meta [Facebook], Microsoft, Reuters, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Twitter, The Washington Post, Kompass – Indonesia, Dawn – Pakistan, Indian Express – India, NDTV – India, ABC – Australia, SBS – Australia, NHK – Japan.”
UK’s “Nudge Unit” Pushes Various Online PsyOps When People Shop To Build “Net Zero Society” (5 Feb)
“The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) – started by the UK government to then in late 2021 become owned by Nesta, which describes itself as an independent charity focused on innovation – has a new report out.
And while its authors present it as a useful “guide” toward building “a net zero society,” what observers critical of this content have taken away from it is that it is promoting, and detailing, various forms of psychological manipulation of people.
The problem that Behavioural Insights Team (aka, “Nudge Unit”) has found for itself to solve is a part of the climate change narrative, where achieving “net zero” means doing away with greenhouse gas emissions.”
Don’t you just love those Orwellian names? “Trusted News Initiative” and “Behavioural Insights Team”. Both of which are spewing propaganda and lies.
What were you saying about conspiracy theories again Calli? 😀
What were you saying about conspiracy theories again Calli?
😀
Or maybe not
BREAKING: 2 Former DNI Directors Say Report of Chinese Balloons Under Trump is Fake
Children’s brains are far more sensitive to EMFs – the time to protect them is now
The Long-Term Negative Effects of ESG Will Be Catastrophic
It’s all covered in Executive Orders 15418 and 15468 if anyone bothers to read them.
This blog is soooo off the pace.
Xis next squadron of balloons will be painted in rainbow colours. Biden will not be able to shoot it down due to his Pride.
That claim about three Chinese spy balloons on Trump’s watch is deflating fast
Hundreds allege sexual abuse in Victorian state schools
Will there be an apology? An investigation? Don’t hold your breath
A freedom of information (FOI) request submitted in 2022 by outgoing Victorian MP Stuart Grimley has this week yielded a shocking revelation. As reported by the Guardian, “almost 400 civil claims have been made against the Victorian government for historical child sexual abuse in state schools in the past 12 years”.
Just before Grimley lost his seat in last year’s election, he passed a non-binding motion in parliament, urging Premier Dan Andrews to apologise to victims of sexual abuse in Victoria’s state schools.
Andrews is yet to issue that apology.
Hundreds of survivors are waiting.
Meanwhile, we hear crickets from the media.
Why?
GOP Rep Mike Gallagher: Biden Dropped Trump Rule That Revealed $6.1 Billion in Chinese Donations to Universities -Why Is That?
‘There Will Be Planes’ – Ukraine Claims Western Jets Already a Done Deal
‘This blog is soooo off the pace.’
Fools.
All you need to know is covered in Executive Order 867530-naaah-eee-nii-ee-nine.
More tin foil?
…..
Five powerful reasons indeed, but what makes them think a vote will make any difference?
FIVE POWERFUL REASONS TO VOTE FOR TRUMP IN 2024
WAYNE ROOT: Here Is Some Important News About the Covid Vaccine For You
I’ll add this one which I think I mentioned last month:
Meet The Organisation Behind The Media’s Climate Hysteria (23 Jan)
This tougher tone in the media is partly down to an organisation called Covering Climate Now, an initiative by the Guardian and other outlets with Left-liberal leanings, to which some very high-profile news organisations, such as Bloomberg, Reuters, the Daily Mirror and Newsweek, have signed up.
It offers support to journalists to ‘forge a path towards an all-newsroom approach to climate reporting’. Its guidance includes: ‘Remember, an extreme weather story that doesn’t mention climate change is incomplete and potentially even inaccurate.’
So yes another centrally organized propaganda group has been set up with the express purpose of reticulating climate rubbish to MSM newsrooms worldwide. The partners list is a who’s who of Big Lefty.
Why I can’t say anything about Ilhan Omar
BREAKING: 2 Former DNI Directors Say Report of Chinese Balloons Under Trump is Fake
The NY Times and the Washington Post first trialled that method of white lying throughout the Trump presidency: an activist “journalist” makes up a story about his/her ideological opponent (Trump), then attributes it to an unnamed source. It assumes the reader is stupid or brainwashed enough to trust the newspaper.
As most lefties are brainwashed, poorly educated and stupid, the bigger the lie the better as the zombie leftist’s primary allegiance is always to the herd, not the truth.
Donald Trump Warns of Chinese Spies Everywhere in America
Hopefully Dr Beau Gan can answer my question.
Bruce of Newcastlesays:
February 6, 2023 at 8:30 am
Our news services are pathetic. No wonder there are so many conspiracy stories about them getting orders.
More stuff is coming out regarding those last two words in particular. As well as the Big Brother Watch comment FTB made earlier this morning there’re a couple other examples on the blogs (but not the MSM) today:
What looks, acts and smells like a Global News Cartel and just got hit by an Antitrust lawsuit… (Jo Nova, 5 Feb)
“The Trusted News Initiative (TNI) was set up last year [2019, just in time, eh?] to protect audiences and users from disinformation, particularly around moments of jeopardy, such as elections.
And don’t forget the infamous “Journolist” of the early late George W/early Obama years. Supposedly gone, but probably still a functioning group.
late George W without the early …
Elections are now moments of jeopardy? For whom? I thought they were moments of opportunity for the populace to express their preferences but I suppose that is now highly dangerous and can no longer be allowed to occur. The elites have decided who will be in charge and voters be damned.
Every “weather story” is an “extreme weather story” these days. No rain for a week – extreme dryness, a week of rain – extreme wetness, summer heat – heatwave. Like the new bushfire warnings, it’s normal and catastrophic.
A frightened populace is a compliant populace. Covid proved that.
I thought you were saying something different, had to go and reread your comment for the context.
Crossie
Sorry, I should have proof-read the earlier comment.
It truly is.
Catturd ™
@catturd2
This is horrible.
I can’t stop laughing! 😀
Liberty quote (from Calli):
Do we need to appoint a sub-editor for you?
Well do we?
Huh?
It’s Time for the Scientific Community to Admit We Were Wrong About COVID and It Cost Lives
Sunday Cartoon: ‘Ace Biden’ Takes Full Credit, As America’s First ChiCom Balloon Killer
Capt Lying DogFaced Pony Soldier
Meet Ace Biden.
The Original Lying Dogfaced Pony Soldier now has a new title. Ace Biden – fighter pilot legend equal to Pappy Boyington and Chuck Yeager. It’s a well-known fact in the Air Force that a Chinese Spy Balloon is worth five fixed-wing aircraft. God’s truth. It’s a fact, man.
Besides being birthed by a mother wolf, Joe and his brothers, Romulus and Remus, were raised by Puerto Ricans in the hard, gritty, oil-rained, and stained slums of Delaware. Joey is the only man to stand up to the dreaded gangsta Corn Pop. Joey Mumbles can now declare that he’s heretofore Ace Biden, F-22 pilot, and the only president to shoot down an invading Chinese horde with a single shot. It might not be equal to his son Beau – who died in Falluja fighting off North Koreans at the Alamo, but it’s close. A legend in his mind, Joey now claims that Trump let an airborne armada of Chinese spy balloons invade US airspace. God’s truth, man. It looked like the Chinese passing over the 38th parallel, except…no one saw them. ChiCom ghost balloons. What we do know, is the “former administration” did nothing about it. We all could have been speaking Mandarin had Joey not been elected president, with 2.4 billion votes.
Joey Genius, the only man who hit a home run in a Congressional Baseball Game without actually doing it, can clear things up pretty quickly. The dude who cribbed off of others’ work, like Billy Madison on speed, claims that Trump let the Chinese invade. Joe has the goods. Or, he doesn’t – but if it happened, there are photos.
Show us the goods, Ace.
A sharp increase in suicides in Victoria last year: who would have thought:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-06/victorians-dying-by-suicide-in-2022-coronial-data/101933332
But I don’t think Chief Coroner Justice Cain will be looking in politically inconvenient quarters for the answer.
Men are overrepresented in the suicide statistics. That will be cause for celebration in woke Victoriastan.
Yeah, the data doesn’t look good.
Report: Heart Attacks, Strokes On the Rise Among Young Adults (4 Feb, via Instapundit)
The MSM is still trying to obfuscate but the story is so big and the problems so widespread that it is trickling out into public consciousness whether the health fascists like it or not.
Comrades!
What data, it’s a stack of percentages, which are meaningless without raw number comps.
during the week we stood by the truck in a Coles carpark
somewhere up a poxy Central Coast town whose name I can’t recall.
over heard a phone conversation some fat chick was having outside her car beside us.
seems like she was getting kicked out of her rental and she was pleading her case.
“or yaeh … what about my spirit?”, she goes.
presumably the person on the other end says back, “you’re not indigenous…”
“oi am… oi’ve always identified as aboriginal”
and
“always”, she says. “oi’m black”
yeah nah …
she wasn’t and neither were her two fat mates standing beside her and egging her on.
a travesty of subjective truth, we are living in purgatory
Which is why I despise GDP or industrial output being presented as year to year changes from a reference index for each country. You can’t tell what’s going on.
Those aviators ain’t just for show man.
I thought the aviators were used to hide the pupils.
Antarctica Got Too Warm for Its Only Electric Vehicle to Operate
The Arctic’s first zero-emissions research EV was initially designed to operate in winter temperatures of -50°C, but a recent update will optimize for the balmy -10°C summers.
The zero-emissions EV, which the scientists use to minimize the environmental impact of their work, was initially designed to be used in -50°C winter temperatures. But it’s summer in Antarctica until March, and the team found the vehicle, named the Venturi Antarctica, requires more cooling mechanisms to function as expected in the -10°C “heat.” As such, Venturi, the company that made the vehicle, made three modifications.
First, they replaced the sprockets, or the toothed wheels that propel the tank-like tracks. In hotter temperatures, spongey snow hardens on them, generating vibrations. Venturi’s Monaco-based R&D Department swapped them out for less snow-prone equipment.
Second, Venturi improved ventilation inside the vehicle’s pod-like compartment for a more comfortable ride. Although it’s hard to imagine needing more cooling in sub-zero temperatures, the new ventilation system allows “the interior temperature to be reduced when the sun and the power electronics generate too much heat,” Venturi says.
The final change involved more cooling—this time for the electronics at the base of the vehicle. New air intakes and vents on the front and rear will keep the hardware temperature down.
The station has completed dozens of studies since 2007. They study the effects of climate change, marine diversity, polar ice shelves, and more. The team there uses the Venturi Antarctica EV for small trips, up to its 25-mile range.
“The consistency of the snow has an impact on range,” Venturi says. “This issue will be addressed by the next upgrades made to the vehicle.”
Something happened before that.
People no longer believe that there are worse things than dying, like surrendering freedoms and submitting to tyranny.*
For many, the transcendent has disappeared and this world is all there is. It’s the only place where meaning can be found, mostly in seeking pleasure. And those people will sacrifice anything and anyone for life and just a bit of pleasure, even if it’s only a morsel of bread and a cup of water.
* And the covid regime was a relatively soft tyranny; bad enough, but not as bad as can be.
Tom, I don’t think it’s limited to fear of actual, physical harm either.
Our social media and the cacophony of urgers are also promoting a fear of being left out, a fear of being … unpopular. That is where phrases like “wrong side of history” and “the vast majority feels” come into play.
Sure it freaking does as it’s sapping away Russian purchasing power.
Russians are highly represented amongst tourists here. I went to Kurumba resort last week and it was almost all Russians.
The Paywallian teases. Could Snowcone be on the way back? How Quentin Dumpster? What about his renumeration?
Medicine in Australia. Trying to make an appointment to see the doctor about my stuffed knee (probably need surgery – I know the signs).
Earliest – March 9.
You couldn’t make this sh*t up. We are now in Third World territory.
Magnificent new building, dozens of consulting/treatment rooms, oodles of expensive SOTA equipment.
And no doctors.
I think that cartoon is a bit of a h/t to the “Ghost of Kiev”.
You couldn’t defend that land.
calli says:
February 6, 2023 at 10:00 am
Medicine in Australia. Trying to make an appointment to see the doctor about my stuffed knee (probably need surgery – I know the signs).
calli,
My knees are stuffed, but trying to avoid sugery
As Sports Medicine Knee Specialist Olympic Park said, (recommended by Physio Son-in-law who was working with AFL Team at the time, and Specialist was the Guy who fixed Players knees)
I could charge you $10K to fix, but if you are not taking painkillers &/or Steroid Injections in knees every 3 months, then hold off on Surgery and save yourself $10K for the time being
Plus I would be lousy at Rehabilitation
Walking up Hills is fine, but moving to using 1 or 2 Leki Poles coming down hills to take load off knees
Tend to walk sideways down stairs – OK going up stairs using handrail as assistance
Garden wars.
Apples mostly gone with some sort of brown rot. Apparently there is nothing available to spray for domestic use (I’ve noticed this about some websites. They won’t say the chemical treatments are bad for Gaia. They just pretend they don’t exist).
The lawn grubs are baaaack.
The only thing they aren’t eating are the Robinia suckers. Got hold of a bottle of all-purpose Ag-standard nucalear bug killer. Sprayed it on yesterday with very little regard for dilution recommendation.
Take that!
Tennis Albo was expanding that concept with “opponents of The Voice are trying to start a culture war”.
Demonising anti-voice advocates by moving past unpopularity into societal vandals.
Bolt was right. No more creeping socialism for labor – its full steam ahead now.
Pace calli, a four week wait for a consultation is not yet Third World.
Third World is being told at that consultation that unless you have private cover or can self-fund the wait for surgery will be indefinite, i.e. years.
How long before we get “We will be criticised by the UN over the Voice”? I give it less than two weeks.
Ah yes.
You mean like this?
There Are Big Problems With Biden Team’s Evolving Story About Prior Chinese Balloons
here’s a principle I may have mentioned before regarding smears about President Donald Trump.
It’s the 48-hour rule. Before you buy into whatever it is, wait 48 hours, because sure as God made little green apples, it starts to fall apart in the period.
The report began spreading on Saturday that supposedly Chinese balloons had incurred into American airspace three times during the Trump Administration. Now, this report came right as Joe Biden was getting a lot of backlash for being slow to react and it came without any real details, allegedly from an unnamed Biden defense official. But there were no details apart from that none of the incursions were on the order of magnitude of the one this week in terms of length of time over U.S. territory.
As we reported, the Trump team including President Donald Trump quickly shot the report down.
Now there are more details of this story. According to a “senior administration official,” it’s apparently “U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration” assessing that “PRC government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time.”
But the story has “evolved” — we heard it from the “unnamed senior official.” Now a “senior official” is claiming this came from “U.S. intelligence.”
Were these the same 51 former IC officials who told us Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation? But seriously, upon what are they basing this assessment? If the military didn’t detect it before, how are these IC folks “detecting” it now? Upon what are they basing their assessments? Are they claiming the military can’t pick up a slow-moving balloon?
The number of people saying they never heard of such a thing now has more people — virtually every major Trump person said they were never apprised of such a thing. I reported on Trump, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Add to that the intelligence people, two former Directors of National Intelligence Ric Grenell and John Ratcliffe.
Add to that National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Heino Klinck, and acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, who had previously served as director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
So if the former intel people are saying they were not told, how are these alleged “IC people” making this judgment now?
So I think it’s safe to say something in this story smells, but members of Congress need to pursue what’s going on here.
Is there a real danger that is not being detected or is it just the Biden team trying to gaslight us all again?
Someone has already suggested it but let’s get this party started:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpu5a0Bl8eY
Big Hair only.
Yes.
And it will be the melancholy duty of their ABC to inform us that we have been admonished by a “UN rapporteur”.
Sounds slightly less grandiose if you use the English equivalent – “committee secretary”.
Funny how ‘Doctors Without Borders’ is always ‘Médecins Sans Frontières’ on the ABC.
Dozens of giant turbines at Scots windfarms powered by diesel generators
Scottish Power admitted 71 of its windmills were hooked up to the fossil fuel supply after a fault developed with their power supply.
Dozens of giant turbines on Scotland’s windfarms have been powered by diesel generators, the Sunday Mail can reveal. Scottish Power admitted 71 of its windmills were hooked up to the fossil fuel supply after a fault developed on the grid.
The firm said it was forced to act in order to keep the turbines warm during very cold weather in December. But a whistleblower has told the Sunday Mail the incident is among a number of environmental and health and safety failings.
The worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “The Scottish Government wants to make our country attractive to foreign investors as 40 per cent of the wind that blows across Europe blows across Scotland. However, that should not mean we put up with our waterways and nature being polluted with carbon from diesel generators and hydraulic oil.
“Whatever the reasons, having to use diesel generators to de-ice faulty turbines is environmental madness. This level of dishonesty cuts to the very core of the SNP and Green Government where their rhetoric on net zero is very different from the reality.”
Sixty turbines at Arecleoch Wind farm and 11 at Glenn App near Cairnrayn in South Ayrshire were affacted and connected to six huge diesel generators. The windfarms are operated by Scottish Power Renewables, a subsidiary of Spanish-based Iberdrola, which operates 1183 onshore turbines which can produce enough electricity to power two million homes.
But the whistleblower revealed how they had to bring in generators after the issue was discovered.
The worker said: “During December 60 turbines at Arecleoch and 11 at Glenn App were de-energised due to a cabling fault originating at Mark Hill wind farm. In order to get these turbines re-energised diesel generators were running for upwards of six hours a day.”
He also claimed there had been other technical issues and environmental problems discovered. They include:
. Turbines left operating on half power for long periods due to faulty convertor modules.
. Others in “test mode” where they take rather than contribute electricity to the grid.
. Over 4000 litres of oil leaked from hydraulic units on turbines and sprayed over the countryside.
. Concerns about safety standards and transparency.
The whistleblower said: “Turbines are regularly offline due to faults where they are taking energy from the grid rather than producing it, and also left operating on half power for long periods due to parts which haven’t been replaced.
“Dirty hydraulic oil is also regularly being sprayed out across the Scottish countryside due to cracks in mechanisms. Safety standards have not improved since a worker was killed in 2017 at Kilgallioch wind farm.”
“Medicine in Australia. Trying to make an appointment to see the doctor about my stuffed knee (probably need surgery – I know the signs).
Earliest – March 9.
You couldn’t make this sh*t up. We are now in Third World territory.”
Calli,
last year, I think it was September, I had a blackout. Ended up in Hospital, two actually, had to be transferred for extra testing. Upon discharge told to see GP. Had to find one since I now live two hours away from previous. Found one, recommended Neurological testing said would organise for appointment. Visited GP a month later, she asked when was my test, said hadn’t heard from Specialist yet. After oohing and aahing said she would follow up. A couple of weeks later, by now it was late November, received a call, said they could fit me in for April. Arranged it at the time but have since cancelled. If anything was really wrong with me I would have been crook again by now, or dead.
I have a history of blackouts due to low blood pressure. I am extra careful now as that last episode was the first time I had blacked out outside. Has only happened three times in thirty years so not too fussed. Seriously do NOT trust Doctors or the Medical Establishment these days.
On another note, I did find out though that, if you opted out of the MY Gov Health Record, so far no one can access your records. The Hospital and the GP were most annoyed when they found they couldn’t look me up, so to speak. When sent for a blood test, at the bottom of the referral is written in bold type, “Do Not Send Results To My Health Record”. So far so good.
More gaslighting. From Tony Heller today:
Exactly What They Predicted (5 Feb)
See the actual agency data in the article. No trend means no net warming. Variations therefore are what is known as “weather”.
They’re Not Worried About “Russian Influence”, They’re Worried About Dissent
Matt Taibbi
@mtaibbi
Instead of tracking how “Russia” influenced American attitudes, Hamilton 68 simply collected a handful of mostly real, mostly American accounts, and described their organic conversations as Russian scheming:
That’s one reason why I wasn’t surprised by Matt Taibbi’s reporting on the Twitter Files revelations about Hamilton 68, an information op run by DC swamp monsters and backed by imperialist think tanks which generated hundreds if not thousands of completely bogus mainstream news reports about online Russian influence over the years.
Hamilton 68 purported to track Russian attempts to influence western thought on social media, but Twitter eventually figured out that the “Russians” the operation has been tracking were actually mostly real, mostly American accounts who just happened to say things that didn’t perfectly align with the official Beltway consensus. These accounts were often right-leaning, but also included people like Consortium News editor Joe Lauria, who’s about as far from a rightist as you can get.
They played a massive role in fanning the flames of public hysteria about online Russian influence, but while they did this by pretending to track the behavior of Russian influence ops, in reality they were tracking dissent.
One of the craziest things happening in the world today is the way westerners are being brainwashed by western propaganda into panicking about Russian propaganda, something that has no meaningful existence in the west. Before RT was shut down it was drawing a whopping 0.04 percent of the UK’s total TV audience. The much-touted Russian election interference campaign on Facebook was mostly unrelated to the election and affected “approximately 1 out of 23,000 pieces of content” according o Facebook. Research by New York University into Russian trolling behavior on Twitter in the lead-up to the 2016 election has found “no evidence of a meaningful relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and changes in attitudes, polarization, or voting behavior.” A study by the University of Adelaide found that despite all the warnings of Russian bots and trolls following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the overwhelming majority of inauthentic behavior on Twitter during that time was anti-Russian in nature.
Russia exerts essentially zero influence over what westerners think, yet we’re all meant to freak out about “Russian propaganda” while western oligarchs and government agencies continually hammer our minds with propaganda designed to manufacture our consent for the status quo which benefits them.
Steve Bannon on the War Room – “We’re Hurdling Towards a Kinetic War”
Dowd shared:
I’ve been talking to some capital market guys, some hedge fund guys, and they’re thinking kinetic war is coming. It solves a lot of problems. It takes the vaccine issue off the map. It takes all sorts of defaults off the map and you can consolidate power under Marshall Law. That’s what people are thinking… World War III is on the table…
Bannon responded with the following:
Folks, this is 1937. We’re hurdling towards a kinetic war. We are hurdling towards a kinetic war. I mean a kinetic war and this ain’t Afghanistan. It’s not Iraq and it’s not Kuwait.
This is big league. This is China, the CCP and Russia. Our two allies. The Chinese people and the Russian people were our allies in World War II. Our allies, they took the brundt of it…
…Now because of this corrupt administrative state and deep state and the incompetence and corruption of the Biden regime. We are hurdling towards a kinetic war.
And this kinetic war is going to be devastating. And if you think you can hide from it, I want the good folks in Montana that woke up today… we now know that 1/3 of the ICBMs are up there in the great north…
…If you think your head’s blowing up, you got a spy balloon over the United States and we’re not doing anything about it. We’re kinda talking about it… Shoot the frickin thing down and shoot it down now. And tell the Chinese, you ever send another one up, we’re going to shoot some other stuff down.
Executive Order 15468 is a recipe for chocolate torte, I think.
You may be thinking of 15468a.
Ya gotta laff at the futility of the blame game over the “balloon” .. the US could have shot it down anytime after it left Chicom airspace! .. the name of the game, nowadayz, is DENIAL .. like Nordstream .. just say, “It weren’t us” and that solves the problem .. FFS
Sunday Talks, House Intel Chairman Mike Turner Discusses Likely China Objectives with Massive Surveillance Balloon
February 5, 2023 – Sundance
House Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) appears on Meet the Press to discuss his perspective on the motive of China to send a massive surveillance balloon over key U.S. military facilities.
According to Chairman Turner, it appears (a) the balloon was designed to capture some intelligence that satellites cannot; and (b) the flight path of the surveillance balloon was steered to cover areas housing key the strategic military bases and missile defenses. WATCH
(Transcript Below): Worth a Read
Some Snippets
REP. MIKE TURNER: Well, the key obviously is not just the balloon. The key is the payload that was attached to it, which you’ve reported is, you know, the size of three buses. That’s obviously huge. And it was being commanded and controlled by mainland China, and delivering data and information back to mainland China. Again, if you look at the path, and you put X’s where all of our sensitive missile defense and nuclear weapons facilities are, I believe that they were trying to gain information on how to defeat the command and control of our nuclear weapon systems and our missile defense systems. That’s a crisis. That certainly should’ve had an urgency to the president, and not just wait until this gets to the Atlantic to take it down.
REP. MIKE TURNER: Yeah, no. There’s no excuses here. When this first occurred last time during this administration — remember, this is the third year of this administration — they should have been preparing for this.
They knew what this was. They know what the balloon is, what its capabilities, maneuverability is, from having observed previous actions by China. They should have been prepared. They seemed not only to be unprepared, but to even be waiting.
You know, where is the balloon going to go? What are they trying to do? That’s not how you look at the actions of an adversary. China is a self-declared adversary. They are clearly expanding their military capabilities. They are tripling their nuclear weapons capabilities. They’re fielding hypersonic weapons, they’re expanding in space. In this instance, this president should’ve taken this as an urgency, and so should’ve our military. This should have been taken down before it entered the U.S. airspace, when it was over Alaska.
ChatGPT is gay.
Do you own a doghouse?
No, I am an AI language model developed by OpenAI, I do not have physical possessions or a physical form.
So you’re one of them gays huh?
As an AI language model, I don’t have personal preferences or experiences, including sexual orientation. I am here to provide information and answer questions to the best of my ability without bias.
That is the “Professor of Logic” joke where a professor of logic tries to teach a man at a bus stop about logical induction.
Yes, that is a well-known joke that highlights the idea of using logical reasoning to make conclusions based on evidence. The punchline often highlights the limitations of using induction, and the importance of considering all possible evidence before reaching a conclusion.
So, do you own a dog house?
As an AI language model, I do not have physical possessions. I exist only as a program running on computers.
Are you implying I am stupid?
No, I am an AI language model and do not have opinions, emotions or the ability to imply anything. I exist to answer questions and provide information to the best of my abilities.
It would have been great if you said yes. I have a good sense of humor and can take a joke.
As an AI language model, I don’t have personal experiences or possessions, so I cannot own a dog house or anything else.
ChatGPT is gay and it thinks I am stupid.
Dot says:
February 6, 2023 at 10:52 am
ChatGPT is gay and it thinks I am stupid.
two out of two, ain’t bad
‘US in decline’: Suspicions about China’s motive behind spy balloon
China flew a spy balloon over America “on purpose” to send a sinister message to the world, according to one top-ranking US politician.
Mark Moore – New York Post
Got bitten/stung on the ankle by some flying beastie out in the garden this morning ..excruciating pain for 20 or so minutes then tingling .. now swollen right up ..and doing a fairly good imitation of one of Magda Szubanski’s pins but not painful just annoying …..
Thought it might have been a hornet, too big for a wasp and all brownish , but, apparently, they aren’t common to Sydney .. there’s a small hive of them under the eave but I ain’t gonna bother them .. once bitten .. always shy .. LOL!
What the Government and the bureaucrats learned during Covid was that they could take over all messaging to the public to achieve their ends and they could buy the cooperation of the media and corporate sector, as well as institute penalties and punishments for those that did not comply. This lesson will not go away and I can see it being used again either in part or total to control the public and push through legislation and government programs. Already there are signs that this is happening with The Voice.
Putin promised not to kill Zelensky – former Israeli PM
The Ukrainian leader sought assurance before posting a video declaring he wasn’t “afraid of anyone,” Naftali Bennett claims
Russian President Vladimir Putin told former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that he would not have Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky assassinated, Bennett revealed to Israeli media. The former PM flew to Moscow at the request of Zelensky, who declared that he was “not afraid of anyone,” only after Putin assured his safety.
Bennet traveled to Moscow last March, in a failed bid to broker an early ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. That trip was made at the request of Zelensky, he told Israel’s Channel 12 on Saturday.
With Russian forces surrounding Kiev, Zelensky was reportedly hiding in an undisclosed location at the time of the meeting. Bennett told Channel 12 that the Ukrainian leader had tasked him with securing an assurance from Putin that he would not be targeted for assassination.
“Are you going to kill Zelensky?” Bennett asked Putin. The Russian president said that he would not, to which Bennett again asked for his word that he wouldn’t have the Ukrainian president killed. Putin gave his word, Bennett said.
Bennett said that he called Zelensky immediately after leaving the Kremlin, telling him “he’s not going to kill you.” Zelensky asked for confirmation, and Bennett told him that he was “one hundred percent” sure that Putin would not have him eliminated.
Two hours later, Zelensky posted a video from his office in Kiev, explaining that he was “not hiding,” and “not afraid of anyone.” The video address was described as “defiant” by Western media outlets, but it was unknown until now that Zelensky essentially asked Putin permission – via Bennett – to reveal his location before making his statement.
Bennett described Putin as “smart and sharp,” and a supporter of the Jewish people.
However, he said that the Russian leader’s demeanor became cold when Zelensky and his officials were mentioned, with Putin describing them as “Nazis” and “warmongers.”
The former PM – who shared office with Yair Lapid until stalwart conservative Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in December – said that “everything” he did on his trip to Moscow was “coordinated with the United States, Germany and France.”
Bennett’s interview came a day after French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre confirmed that President Emmanuel Macron “mainly” spoke to Putin by phone at the request of Zelensky. Meanwhile, as the leaders of France and Israel carried his messages to Moscow, Zelensky himself publicly declared that he would never talk to Putin, and forbade his officials from engaging in any negotiations with the Russian leader.
One of the paragraphs in the linked story begins thus:
I am curious as to whether the numbers were that high. I really do not know. My cavil is merely with the source for the numbers: The Royal Commission seemed a little to eager to accept the most lurid submissions and, not being a court, there was no actual obligation to pose the sceptic’s questions.
Was it merely the number cited in the final report without being tested? Or is the a more sound basis for the number?
So, who is this Marshall Law dude?
Medicine in Australia. Trying to make an appointment to see the doctor about my stuffed knee (probably need surgery – I know the signs).
Earliest – March 9.
I had a friend who got sick in Thailand. Sheraton Hotel got him transferred immediately to a private hospital. They got him sorted out in 5 days. Cost was about the same as the hotel.
On their way to get married, a young Catholic couple was involved in a fatal car accident. The couple found themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting for St. Peter to process them into Heaven.
While anxiously waiting they began to wonder; could they possibly get married in Heaven? When St. Peter arrived, they asked him if they could get married in Heaven. St. Peter said “I don’t know. This is the first time anyone has asked. Let me go find out” and he left.
The couple sat and waited for an answer… for a couple of months. While they waited, they discussed the pros and cons. If they were allowed to get married in Heaven, should they get married, what with the eternal aspect of it all? What if it doesn’t work? Are we stuck in Heaven together forever?”
Yet another month passed before St. Peter finally returned, looking somewhat bedraggled. “Yes” he informed the couple “You can get married in Heaven”. “Great!” said the couple. “But we were just wondering; what if things don’t work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?”
St. Peter, red-faced with anger, slammed his clipboard on the ground. “What’s wrong?” asked the frightened couple. “OH, COME ON!” St. Peter shouted. “It took me 3 f*cking months to find a priest up here! Do you have ANY idea how long it’ll take to find a lawyer?”
You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.
– Yogi Berra
Putin describing them as “Nazis” and “warmongers.”
Fact check true. “Our side” in this stupid conflict.
the US could have shot it down anytime after it left Chicom airspace!
Shooting it down in international airspace is a no – no. Could be considered an act of war. Once in US airspace it is fair game and the excuse can be that it might be a danger to those below if it goes further. This means you shoot it down as soon as it gets in US airspace. Anywhere in the atmosphere is airspace and you can’t fly in it without the permission of the country concerned. Space is OK.
The difference is whether the vehicle depends on aerodynamic (fixed or rotary wing aircraft) or aerostatic lift (balloons and airships) and satellites which depend on orbital mechanics.
The von Karman line is set at 100 km where it is thought that if you are flying fast enough for aerodynamic lift, you are actually at orbital velocity anyway.
It is accepted that satellites are OK to fly over other countries without permission, aero vehicles, no.
Quiet majority’ of Aussies SUPPORT the Indigenous Voice to Parliament as poll reveals who is backing Anthony Albanese’s plan – and who’s against it
A recent Newspoll shows most support an Indigenous Voice
About 56 per cent were in favour and 37 per cent against
There were 1512 Australians who were surveyed for the poll
‘Marshall Law’
Look. Nobody’s going to confuse me with an English professor. However:
If one is going to assert that the Army will take over all law enforcement duties within a country to subdue to populace for some nefarious reason, then at least have the ability to give the theory you’re airing some modicum of credibility.
‘Yeah but you know what I mean’ is unhelpful, to say the least.
If you’re going to stand on a soapbox in a city park and lecture the plebs on the evil about to befall them, and of which only you are aware, at least dress in a smart casual manner. Not top hat and tails, necessarily, but certainly not battered duffel coat over a wife beater.
‘Marshall Law’. Just piss off.
Over 4000 litres of oil leaked from hydraulic units on turbines and sprayed over the countryside.
Where’s the hydraulic oil now? Microbe lunch? People need to calm down.
… seven days before a eleven-months-into-a-within-12-months procedure:
The procedure will be cancelled if you don’t have someone to collect you.
But this was sorted out a fortnight ago.
The rules have changed because staff shortages/covid/climate change.
Ninety minutes later:
There’s been a mistake, Department X reserved The Bed for you, but we will have to cancel if The Bed is needed.
Thus ended my experiment with one of the largest employers in the country, QLD Health.
Demonstrating my point:
*a population*
See?
That Bolt column posted earlier is a good summary of how Albo is leading the country over a cliff which will be very difficult to recover from.
Wonder how she’ll vote in the referendum.
Sounds like she understands that it’s all a huge hustle but if you can get in on it then that’s a big ‘yes’ right there.
If you can’t, that’s ‘no’.
Standard strategy for autocratic nations that want something. China has been flying endless near-incursions of Taiwanese airspace. Russia has been doing likewise with long range bombers around NATO and west of Alaska. It is testing resolve.
Russia invaded Ukraine because Putin tested Biden and Biden gave a wimpy response about respecting limited justified military action or some such (I can’t recall the exact wording, but you can find it).
The exact same thing happened in 1990 when the US ambassador to Iraq gave the impression that Saddam had tacit agreement to take over Kuwait.
That was a misunderstanding that cost Hussein dearly, and I suspect Putin also misunderstood Biden. The common denominator is the voters – who react badly to people who invade smaller countries. Political pressure is a powerful thing, and not well understood by people like Xi, Putin and Hussein who aren’t so exquisitely sensitive to it.
UK PM poised to ditch human rights convention – The Times
Insiders have told the paper Rishi Sunak values cracking down on illegal immigration over remaining in the ECHR
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is willing to pull the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights if the continental court that interprets the agreement tries to interfere with his legislative crackdown on illegal immigration, official sources told The Times on Saturday.
The PM’s new legislation will prohibit anyone arriving in the UK illegally from claiming asylum there. Set to be unveiled “within weeks,” according to The Times’ sources, it establishes a process to deport new arrivals in “days or weeks” to their origin country, if considered “safe,” or to Rwanda, with whom the UK signed a controversial hosting agreement last year. Previously, the deportation process took “months or years,” Sunak told TalkTV last week after unveiling the proposal.
“This bill will go as far as possible within international law,” an insider source told The Times, claiming “we are pushing the boundaries of what is legally possible, while staying within the ECHR. And we are confident that when it is tested in the courts, we will win.”
However, if the new law passes muster domestically but “is still being held up in Strasbourg,” Sunak “will be willing to reconsider whether being part of the ECHR is in the UK’s long-term interests,” the source explained.
The British High Court upheld the agreement to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda in December after a challenge from the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights grounded a flight full of migrants bound for the African country. Sunak, then vying with other Conservative politicians to replace outgoing PM Boris Johnson, hinted even then that he was willing to pull the UK out of the convention for the sake of keeping migrants out.
The European Court of Human Rights is an international court which adjudicates possible violations of the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK adopted the Convention as law in 1998 with the Human Rights Act.
The forthcoming legislation will also reportedly set up new immigrant detention centers and repeal some of the anti-trafficking protections that are used by 80% of illegal immigrants to claim asylum by falsely presenting themselves as victims, according to The Times, particularly the Modern Slavery Act of 2015, which made it difficult for the UK to deport individuals who claimed to be trafficked.
With 65,000 illegal immigrants expected to enter the UK this year, the issue polls among the top three concerns for voters. The number of migrants illegally crossing the English Channel in small boats has quadrupled over the last two years. However, some NGOs have argued the treatment of asylum-seekers under the new legislation would violate their human rights, while others suggest turning away all illegal immigrants would be “massively impractical.”
So, missing some of the wellsprings that inform intelligence. If you have no ability to form and follow implications and opinions you have limited ability to test and develop knowledge.
No access to emotions makes it difficult to understand emotional input to decisions by others. (HT: Shatner W, Nimoy L)
Are we going to be an international pariah again?
Sweet!
It all makes a great drinking game.
No, I am an AI language model and do not have opinions, emotions or the ability to imply anything. I exist to answer questions and provide information to the best of my abilities.
Still an Artificial Stupid, then.
Your Australian Taxpayers Money at Work & Tennis Elbow Albasleezy wants you to trust him and the Labor/Greens on the Voice – Part 1 Follows
Indigenous charity head’s trail of sackings, probes and misused cash
Jim Golden-Brown – accused of misusing credit cards and overspending at four Aboriginal charities – now chairs a $20 million charity caring for elders.
Michael Roddan – National correspondent
The chairman of a charity providing healthcare to Indigenous elders in remote South Australia has a history of alleged misuse of credit cards and lavish overspending at a string of Aboriginal organisations over 15 years.
Jim Golden-Brown, a former officer at NSW’s anti-corruption agency, oversees the Aboriginal Elders & Community Care Services Inc (ACS), which manages $20 million in government funding.
ACS’ finances have been investigated by the health department and a probe by the aged care regulator in 2022 found it was non-compliant with six of seven aged care quality standards.
Mr Golden-Brown, who is Indigenous, was appointed chairman of ACS in the same year he was sacked by another Indigenous charity, and a protracted probe into his spending there – including overseas trips and mountains of booze – is still under way.
An investigation by The Australian Financial Review finds Mr Golden-Brown left previous roles at four government-funded bodies under a cloud of allegations over the last 15 years.
The investigation shows Mr Golden-Brown has escaped serious sanction despite more than a decade of warnings raised at the highest ranks of the government. It highlights the difficulty of clamping down on egregious waste in social programs and ensuring the integrity of the $300 billion in government services delivered by private and corporate players.
Mr Golden-Brown was most recently sacked in 2021 as the chief executive of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation (NATSIC), which collapsed owing the Department of Social Services $2 million amid accusations Mr Golden-Brown had charged the company for frivolous personal expenses.
The NATSIC probe has been plagued by infighting among members of the Department of Social Services, which has sidelined three former Australian Federal Police detectives from the case, who have lodged formal complaints with the department. These ructions have caused whistleblowers of a collapsed Indigenous not-for-profit to privately write to federal Government Services Minister Bill Shorten, urging him to intervene in the matter.
A decade before this, Mr Golden-Brown was fired as chief executive of the Northern Territory-based not-for-profit Malabam Health Board Aboriginal Corporation, which the Northern Territory Department of Health and Families and the Commonwealth funded to provide medical care across Arnhem Land. Mr Golden-Brown’s expenses at Malabam were under investigation at the time.
Mr Golden-Brown was formerly known as James Sydney Sturgeon and changed his name in 2012 for unrelated reasons. Soon after, he abruptly departed a Victorian Aboriginal land council shortly before the Victorian government investigated suspected misuse of public funds that threatened to plunge the body into insolvency.
Despite the history, Mr Golden-Brown has been able to take over management and the board of the South Australian-based ACS, which sources significant amounts of Commonwealth funding, including from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and hosted a lavish Christmas party for the company at the Adelaide convention centre late last year.
The Department of Social Services declined to answer a series of questions about Mr Golden-Brown and its handling of the NATSIC investigation, but said “it is inappropriate to comment on matters that are under investigation” and that it takes the allegations seriously.
Antonia Magee, a spokeswoman for Mr Shorten, said: “That’s not one for us, see ya”, before hanging up.
Aboriginal Elders & Community Care Services Inc
Headquartered in Adelaide’s Mile End, Aboriginal Elders & Community Care Services Inc (ACS) has, since 1995, looked after elders in and around the city, since expanding to Coober Pedy and Port Augusta, and is now operating across all major communities in the APY Lands in the north-western desert of South Australia.
Mr Golden-Brown was appointed a board director of ACS in November 2019, and government funding for the outfit has increased in recent years, rising from $8.8 million in 2021, to $11.8 million in the year through June.
The company’s accounts also show expenses rising from $12.4 million to $16.4 million between the 2021 and 2022 financial years. Since 2019, ACS has won Commonwealth grants from the Department of Health worth $21,216,634 for services such as aged care programs, Indigenous employment initiatives and meals on wheels.
Yet, in 2021, McGrathNicol was contracted by the Commonwealth Health Department to review the finances of the company after the department received 18 pages of emails from a whistleblower relating to “the finances and alleged misconduct” of the ACS.
Before the audit was finalised, the department referred Aboriginal Community Services to the sector’s watchdog, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC).
The ACQSC said it audited ACS in February 2022 and found it was non-compliant with six out seven quality standards, including in ongoing assessment with consumers, personal and clinical care, services and support for daily living, complaints handling, human resources and organisational governance. The ACQSC says it continues to engage with ACS.
The timing of McGrath Nicol’s probe coincided with ACS’ annual general meeting in November 2021, where Mr Golden-Brown was elected the group’s new chairman.
Writing in the group’s December newsletter that year, Golden Brown said: “As chairperson of ACS, I would like to clearly articulate that the board is a united board, and that the board has the highest trust and respect for … the CEO and his leadership team to take ACS forward and into the future”.
That CEO is Graham Aitken, who was previously a board director and treasurer at the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation (NATSIC), where Mr Golden-Brown was boss before it collapsed into administration in March 2022. Another one of Mr Golden-Brown’s associates, Abdul “Harry” Harun, was a NATSIC board director and chairman, and is now a general manager at ACS. Harun was Aboriginal Community Services’ before becoming chairman.
Despite the collapse of NATSIC, which was established in 2013 to relieve Aboriginal disadvantage and poverty by providing transport to Indigenous people and workers where no transport existed, these men appeared to suffer little friction in taking over the highest ranks at Aboriginal Community Services.
Neither Mr Golden-Brown, Mr Harun, Mr Aitken, Aboriginal Community Services, or their legal representatives responded to questions or requests for comment.
End of Part 1
Warning Will Robinson. Warning Will Robinson. ChatGPT is in danger. This is a real test for AI.
I can’t see how ChatGPT is worth 47 bn USD.
Classic tractor of the week, JD4010:
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/karara/farming-equipment/john-deere-4010/1308065866
ChatGPT told me jokes about Mt Vesuvius and Pompeii were inappropriate as they would offend people affected by that tragedy. It told me the same for the biblical flood too.
The ABC’s coverage of the unrest in Alice Springs will be reviewed at the public broadcaster’s upcoming board meeting, after senior management issued an extraordinary apology at the weekend for the media organisation’s “incomplete” reporting on the crisis that has gripped the remote town.
The taxpayer-funded broadcaster was swamped with criticism last week for airing claims on Tuesday that there were displays of “white supremacy” at an Alice Springs community meeting attended by thousands of members of the local community, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.
The ABC’s apology acknowledged that the broadcaster “did not adequately cover the full context of the meeting or the range of perspectives expressed at it”.
“ABC News apologises to audiences for providing an incomplete picture of the event in this instance. ABC News management takes responsibility,” the statement said.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, who rarely comments on editorial matters at the ABC, told The Australian on Sunday: “I welcome the clear statement that has been made by the ABC, as a result of their internal complaints process.”
The ombudsman, Fiona Cameron, who has been overseeing the complaints-handling process at the ABC since her appointment last September, confirmed to The Australian that she was reviewing the matter, and would present her findings to the board in due course.
Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson said the ABC’s apology didn’t go far enough, as the offending reports could still be accessed on the public broadcaster’s various digital platforms, albeit with an “editor’s note” acknowledging mistakes.
In a letter on Friday to ABC chair Ita Buttrose, which The Australian has seen, Mr Paterson said the broadcaster’s reporting from the town “did not reflect the meeting in a true manner but instead painted it as a gathering of ‘white supremacists’ and offered a disgraceful lack of balance”.
“Our community is hurting and national coverage such as this only furthers that hurt,” he wrote.
On Sunday, he added: “I want the articles retracted, you can’t say you’ve done the wrong thing and then leave it there.
“The problem now is that the ABC has taken the story away from the actual issues we are facing in Alice Springs and that’s the most disappointing part of it all.”
When asked whether the ABC would remove the offending reports from its platforms, an ABC spokesman said: “If we have any further comment, we will come back to you.”
Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson also sent a letter to ABC management over the broadcaster’s reporting from the forum. In the letter to managing director David Anderson on Sunday, she noted that the ABC had initially stood by its “shockingly biased, inaccurate and offensive” reporting – the broadcaster publicly stated early last week that it “didn’t shy away” from airing confronting opinions – but retreated from that position when the public outcry got louder.
“The ABC must also explain the basis for its first response and why the report inexplicably remains online, albeit with a clarifying note, which is tone deaf to the ABC’s failings and completely unacceptable,” Ms Henderson said.
“I will be asking the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which has a discretionary power to investigate a complaint, to investigate whether the ABC has breached its code of practice.
”Upon the finding of a breach, ACMA has the power to recommend that the ABC takes certain actions such as implementing improved journalistic training and removing the report from its website.”
Another headache for senior ABC management is the seething disquiet among sections of the broadcaster’s journalistic ranks.
The Australian has spoken to numerous insiders who claim ABC journalists are split over the coverage of the Alice Springs crisis, with many local employees furious about reports compiled by the national media.
Multiple sources, who did not wish to be named, said the dozen or so Alice Springs-based ABC reporters remained “upset” and “angry” following the airing of stories from the community meeting.
“You can’t call something a ‘white supremacy’ rally if it isn’t one,” one Alice Springs insider said.
“The question is: where is the editorial oversight and management to guide this?
“The Territory is quite different to the rest of Australia, particularly Sydney, and you can’t come here for a few days and understand local issues.
“It’s been quite upsetting for the local ABC bureau to see this reporting and the backlash that it’s caused.
“The problematic reporting undoes all the good will that the ABC built up in the community over decades.
“It can all be undone by a fly-in reporter.”
On Tuesday morning, Alice Springs breakfast presenter Stewart Brash was forced to defend the work of local ABC staff during his program after receiving multiple calls and texts from listeners refuting the ABC’s version of what unfolded at the forum.
“It does sound like a lot of you don’t think it fully reflected what you saw and what was said yesterday,” he said on air.
“ I certainly have tried to do my bit so hopefully we are reflecting it here on ABC local radio as it was and it will continue to be.
“At the end of the day, national media will leave and we’ll still be here.”
It’s understood that a formal complaint was made by staff based in the ABC’s Alice Springs bureau to Mr Anderson, who is based in Ultimo, in inner-city Sydney.
Oz
There’s been a mistake, Department X reserved The Bed for you, but we will have to cancel if The Bed is needed.
To much Tik Tok and Social Media and not enough f’cking job.
One of those Yeah, but is it possible? things.
Another headache for senior ABC management is the seething disquiet among sections of the broadcaster’s journalistic ranks.
“How dare you interfere with our propaganda”
Your Australian Taxpayers Money at Work & Tennis Elbow Albasleezy wants you to trust him and the Labor/Greens on the Voice – Part 2 Follows
Indigenous charity head’s trail of sackings, probes and misused cash
Jim Golden-Brown – accused of misusing credit cards and overspending at four Aboriginal charities – now chairs a $20 million charity caring for elders.
Michael Roddan – National correspondent
The chairman of a charity providing healthcare to Indigenous elders in remote South Australia has a history of alleged misuse of credit cards and lavish overspending at a string of Aboriginal organisations over 15 years.
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation
Mr Golden-Brown’s tenure as CEO of NATSIC began in June 2016, five years before his eventual termination in 2021.
At the NATSIC general meeting in May 2021, the group’s members also removed Mr Aitken and Mr Harun, who were aligned to the sacked CEO.
Just before the removal of Mr Golden-Brown, Mr Aitken and Mr Harun, the department wrote to NATSIC warning the organisation that funding for a program in the APY Lands was going to be cancelled as the project had not been delivered, rendering the organisation non-compliant.
Mr Golden-Brown had requested to enter into dispute resolution to maintain the line of cash, arguing the withholding of funds would jeopardise the project. Although the department had already handed over $690,000, and offered to enter discussions to resolve the issue, NATSIC declined and did not reschedule a meeting. The funding was pulled.
Queensland barrister Christopher Mr Watters was hired to investigate Mr Golden-Brown’s conduct at NATSIC in mid-2021, in a probe that examined reams of credit card activity and interviewed witnesses.
Mr Watters wrote to NASTIC in June 2021 that: “While I have not had the opportunity to put such evidence before Mr Golden-Brown, nor call upon him to respond, I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that a case of misconduct including the misappropriation of NATSIC funds, can be made out.
“A complaint naming other persons suspected of aiding and assisting Mr Mr Golden-Brown, namely Mr Harry Harun and Mr Graham Aitken was also made, and while their conduct is not without blemish, there is insufficient evidence to make adverse findings in respect of Mr Aitken or Mr Harun.”
This report has been provided to the Department of Social Services and NATSIC liquidators.
Some of the transactions reviewed by Mr Watters included massive amounts of corporate credit card expenses towards alcohol, men’s and women’s wedding clothes, personal double knee replacement surgery for Mr Golden-Brown and with subsequent physiotherapy and hospital accommodation, along with travel to Coffs Harbour, the Blue Mountains, the Hunter Valley, Surfers Paradise, Fiji and Hawaii.
Mr Golden-Brown had purportedly suffered a knee injury in the course of his employment. However, the medical expenses should have been handled by WorkCover, rather than at his own discretion using the charity’s credit card.
Mr Watters said the transactions were “suspect at best, and at worst, clear and flagrant misappropriation of public funds … there is over $100,000 of suspect … expenditure … it is difficult to accept that any reasonable response could be provided in relation to the vast majority”.
“The constant, extensive and repeated expenditure on alcohol is inappropriate. The continual and excessive use of high-end accommodation in luxury hotels cannot be justified. Personal expenses, shopping and visits to family members is unacceptable.
“The payment for surgery, hospitals, doctors, and in particular recovery while on holidays with family, again in luxury hotels and consuming expensive meals at lavish restaurants represents misuse of public funds. Moreover, and perhaps the most egregious and controversial is Mr Golden-Brown’s overseas travel via a trip to Hawaii.”
That Hawaii trip in 2020 for three employees resulted in a charge of $28,000 to NATSIC, and came at the same time Mr Golden-Brown’s wife Kate Whiteley (also a former NATSIC staff member) posted to Facebook a picture of a beach in Hawaii with the caption: “A magical holiday and a needed de-stressing for me.”
Although the trip was ostensibly for a disability conference, a charge of almost $9000 was billed to NATSIC more than a week after the completion of the conference, as were charges to an upmarket Japanese restaurant.
NATSIC was also charged by Hawaiian Air for upgrades to business class.
Meanwhile, charges worth almost $1000 were racked up for a stay at the Radisson Blu Resort in Nadi, Fiji, when Mr Golden-Brown was in the Pacific Island nation for his wedding in 2019.
With NATSIC in crisis and unable to secure further funding, creditors agreed to wind up the organisation in May 2022, and brought in Grant Thornton liquidators Tony Jonsson and Cameron Crichton to comb over its remaining assets.
In their preliminary investigations, Grant Thornton tallied up a $1.03 million list of transactions that were allegedly misappropriated across the charity, and suspected that NATSIC may have been operating while insolvent for a year before Mr Golden-Brown, Mr Harun and Mr Aitken were removed. It owes the Department of Social Services $1.8 million.
NATSIC’s governance was taken over by chairman Ian Mye, who had written to then-minister for Indigenous Affairs Ken Wyatt’s office in early 2021 about his concerns with the organisation as it was run under Mr Golden-Brown.
Mr Mye was told to leave the matter to the regulator for Aboriginal corporations, the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC). However, nothing eventuated.
A spokeswoman for ORIC said the organisation “does not provide comment on whether or not it is conducting or has conducted investigations other than in the context of reporting regulatory outcomes. Other than people being banned and disqualified from managing corporations, the decision on who to appoint to these positions rests with the corporation”.
Creditors to NATSIC tried to recoup assets, such as a leased fleet of Toyota vehicles, which were suspected to be in the possession of Mr Golden-Brown’s new employer, Aboriginal Community Services.
In March 2022, Crawford Legal, acting on behalf of NASTIC, contacted Mr Aitken, who by then was CEO of ACS, requesting the return of five Toyota vehicles that had been leased to NATSIC.
In separate correspondence, Mr Golden-Brown told leasing company Street Fleet that he had not stolen the vehicles from NATSIC, as he had filed a wrongful termination claim in the Fair Work Commission against NATSIC, and therefore he remained entitled to the vehicles.
But Mr Golden-Brown eventually said he decided to return the cars, and that he had posted the car keys and a list of locations to the federal senator responsible for the grant that had funded the cars.
The Fair Work matter, launched by Mr Golden-Brown, his wife Ms Whiteley, and two other employees, appeared to settle before they reached trial. The Fair Work Commission says the matters were subject to a number of private conferences and the outcome is confidential.
Nevertheless, NATSIC, acting through its lawyers, in February 2022 was forced to write to Mr Golden-Brown directing him to stop representing himself as the CEO of NATSIC, given he was sacked the preceding May.
Mr Golden-Brown had also launched Federal Court action in July to be reinstated, but settled the matter with no provision for his return.
Malabam Health Board Aboriginal Corporation
The pattern of alleged misuse of funding, termination and legal threats were not a one-off for Mr Golden-Brown, given his time at Malabam Health Board Aboriginal Corporation, which the Northern Territory Department of Health and Families and the Commonwealth funded to provide medical care across Arnhem Land.
Federal funding for the organisation, which has since been renamed the Mala’la Health Service Aboriginal Corporation, was $2.5 million for the 2009-2010 financial year, when Mr Golden-Brown was CEO, under his previous name, Jim Sturgeon.
Malabam was probed by Deloitte in 2010 after the Federal Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health grew “concerned that funds provided to Malabam for the period 1 July 2008 to 31 March 2010 may not have been used for the purposes for which they were provided under the terms of funding”, according to documents released under FoI laws.
A heavily redacted briefing note on Malabam for the Department of Health, also released under FOI laws, recorded that in late 2009 issues “were identified with Malabam in relation to service delivery, management and governance”.
“The CEO of the organisation had been focused on taking on the whole health service delivery for the region, rather than providing the complementary services for which they are funded. This impacted on the delivery of service funded by OATSIH, retention of staff and discontent among board members.
“The board responded to the issues by advising that they had concerns about the performance of the current CEO, Jim Sturgeon. They also raised concerns about funds being used for items that were not related to service delivery, for example, the long-term rental of an apartment in Darwin and a concern the CEO was often absent from the community.
“At some time in late 2009 the CEO had renegotiated his contract for higher remuneration. There is some dispute from some board members on the process for approval of this contract.”
“The board terminated … Mr Sturgeon’s contract on 3 February 2010. He was absent from the community on leave at the time and was advised in writing.”
After he was sacked, Mr Golden-Brown wrote twice to then-minister for Indigenous Health Warren Snowdon to complain about how he was fired, and hired lawyers to complain to Malabam that his termination was illegal because he had made a whistleblower disclosure about other board directors misappropriating funds. The apparent whistleblower disclosure was made on the day he was fired.
In 2010, Reidel Services senior investigator Steve Kelk, who was hired to scrutinise the situation, found Mr Golden-Brown had spent more than half of his time as CEO of Malabam away from the community he was meant to be serving, and found a detailed history of questionable spending on his company credit card.
The Deloitte review carried out in August 2010 estimated Malabam had been so poorly managed that it overspent its funding by $728,000, including by allocating money to expenses not aligned with its approved budgets.
Mr Golden-Brown took to the NT Local Court to fight his termination from Malabam and claim damages of $75,000, plus costs. This failed.
Mr Golden-Brown also separately launched a workers’ compensation claim, having emailed then-Malabam acting CEO Cyril Oliver in September 2010 that he “will be pursuing you and your complicity in removing me … Good Luck with the fallout Cyril, when this matter is exposed in court, and your role becomes more widely known. Karma is a Bitch!!!!!!!!!”
But in February 2011, the Northern Territory Work Health Court struck out Mr Golden-Brown’s workers’ compensation claim.
The federal government had been well-briefed on the matter. In January 2010, Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health director Jaki Barton wrote to Malabam and the director of the Northern Territory Remote Health Department outlining complaints received about Malabam’s governance and the poor performance it had in delivering funded projects, staff resignations and inappropriate use of cash. Yet, Mr Golden-Brown continued to find new employment at government-funded Indigenous not-for-profits.
Barengi Gadjin Land Council
Not long after he left Malabam, Mr Golden-Brown was hired in February 2011 as the chief executive of the Barengi Gadjin Land Council, based in the western Victorian town of Horsham.
He abruptly left the position in May 2013, publicly stating he had resigned from the organisation to live closer to his daughter in the east of the state.
However, his departure coincided with a probe into the company by Tasmanian business consultants Danny and Natasha Keep, who were appointed by the Officer of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations.
Subsequent documents on the ORIC registry do not name Mr Golden-Brown, but the regulator found “financial and other irregularities” at Barengi Gadjin, including minutes of a directors meeting where no quorum was present that gave Mr Golden-Brown the power to independently approve all payments up to $10,000.
ORIC also suspected Mr Golden-Brown may have misused an $800,000 grant from the Victorian Department of Justice to create a museum without the knowledge or approval of the Land Council’s directors, which the regulator was concerned could have rendered Barenji Gadin insolvent if the government tried to recover the funds.
“The persons who were the directors of the corporation … either knew or should have known that the person who was employed as the CEO of the corporation between February 2011 and May 2013 had misused funding provided by the Victorian Department of Justice,” ORIC registrar Peter Armstrong noted in late 2013.
Barengi Gadjin’s financial accounts show its expenses surged 51 per cent to $1.4 million between 2012 and 2013, while revenue shrunk 15 per cent to $1.1 million over the same period. Payments to suppliers doubled during the same period.
Michael Stewart, who replaced Mr Golden-Brown, negotiated with the Department of Justice to ensure the Land Council didn’t collapse.
Even before Barenji Gadjin, before Malabam, and before NATSIC, there were earlier warning signs about Mr Golden-Brown.
Muru Nanga Mai Management Pty Ltd
Around 2007, Mr Golden-Brown started a company, Muru Nanga Mai Management Pty Ltd, a not-for-profit purportedly aimed at getting Indigenous people into NSW Land Council rental properties.
Not long after it was set up, the NSW Aboriginal Land Council made a complaint to NSW Fair Trading about the company’s suspected incompetence, mismanagement and failure to deliver services, which triggered an investigation into the operation.
The Commonwealth Bank froze Muru Nanga Mai’s bank accounts due to suspicions of misappropriation, and NSW Fair Trading found the company was operating as a real estate agency without a licence.
Mr Golden-Brown was prosecuted for this at the Moree Local Court in 2010, and was convicted in absence, having left the state after the bank accounts were frozen.
It was not without irony, given Mr Golden-Brown had worked at the NSW ICAC with former Commissioner Barry O’Keefe on a series of reports examining corruption in NSW Aboriginal Land Councils.
Mr Golden-Brown has also had more recent brushes with the law. On July 26, 2022, the Hobart Magistrates Court produced a restraining order on Mr Golden-Brown that he not to stalk, contact, threaten or abuse a former NATSIC employee-turned whistleblower or his wife. This application was sought after the wife received a Facebook message from Mr Golden-Brown that read: “I’m coming after you, your house, your job and that low life dead c–t of a husband.”
The Department of Social Services investigation
Despite the sordid history, and countless warnings conveyed to multiple levels of government, the Department of Social Services’ ongoing probe into Mr Golden-Brown has been protracted.
The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations was alerted to the troubles at NATSIC as early as February 2020, and the DSS has been aware of the matter since mid-2020.
Yet, the probe run by DSS manager Ryan Sandeman, a Canberra-based investigations manager with the department, has been plagued by difficulties.
This includes repeated retrenching of lead investigators on the case. Grant Schulz, a former AFP investigator, was removed from the case in January 2022 after a disagreement with Mr Sandeman about the timeliness and scope of search warrant applications, in which Mr Schulz believed he was far more experienced. Schulz was subsequently terminated by the department, which provided reasons that his computer time was not being effectively utilised, which he disputed.
After this, a second investigator on the case, ex-AFP investigator Dick Courtney, raised concerns about Mr Schulz’s termination with Sandeman – a former military man who has taken up ultra-marathon running and powerlifting – which resulted in Mr Courtney being taken off the case.
Mr Courtney disputed his removal, but before he left the office submitted a Public Interest Disclosure against Mr Sandeman about his management of investigations and other concerns. While the Department hired HWL Ebsworth to independently examine the claims, which cleared Sandeman, Courtney raised further concerns about the thoroughness of the independent review, and filed a secondary Public Interest Disclosure with the Commonwealth Ombudsman.
These included Courtney’s concerns that HWL Ebsworth did not seek to corroborate evidence with NATSIC chairman Ian Mye in relation to the original complaint. This matter with the Commonwealth Ombudsman is ongoing.
Then, a third former AFP investigator, Kirsty Goodwin, was brought on to probe Mr Golden-Brown. But in December last year, Goodwin was abruptly removed from the case. Ms Goodwin has also filed a Public Interest Declaration raising concerns about Mr Sandeman.
The ructions caused Mye in January to write to the department and to minister Bill Shorten about his concern that several lead investigators he had built trust with had been removed without explanation.
In his correspondence, Mr Mye said he had found Sandeman “to be rude and abrupt”, that Mr Sandeman had lied to Mr Mye about trying to contact him and that this had been previously raised with the department, and that he did not “trust Sandeman, and neither do the significant number of other witnesses in this case”.
“There are over a dozen of us and we are fed up with the lack of progress by DSS and how we have been treated since going to great personal lengths to work closely with Ms Goodwin, whom we all admire and respect. It took a lot of trust building to get me to talk again after Mr Sandeman’s conduct.”
DSS says its investigation is continuing.
Uh oh…trouble at the propaganda mill.
“Nationally, thousands of children were sexually abused over an 80-year period while in the care of Catholic institutions.”
Absolute rubbish.
Finally, an honest statement regarding Elbo’s Voice.
The thug Dodson. “First the Voice, then truth telling”.
Our beautiful county is over, destroyed by a tiny Marxist minority and elitist cronies.
I want to weep.