Open Thread – Tues 7 Feb 2023


Daedalus and Icarus, Charles Le Brun, 1645


Subscribe
Notify of
guest

2.2K Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Pogria
Pogria
February 7, 2023 12:01 am

I’d like to thank my mother and my father and my manager and my dog and my cat for making this possible.

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
February 7, 2023 12:21 am

Wow! Stumbled on the new fred.

Pogria
Pogria
February 7, 2023 12:25 am

Pick yourself up Toad.

Rossini
Rossini
February 7, 2023 12:35 am

If everyone decided that they were “black fellas” how broke would Australia be?

Beertruk
Beertruk
February 7, 2023 1:10 am

Ohhh…top ten.

Beertruk
Beertruk
February 7, 2023 1:12 am

Dover…where do you find these painings?
I haven’t seen a bad one yet.

rickw
rickw
February 7, 2023 1:39 am

Present!

Gabor
Gabor
February 7, 2023 2:15 am

seeing the other blog mentioned and waiting of a batch dough to rise, I had a look see.
Shy Ted has a good ‘rant-reminiscence’ up there, pity he doesn’t want a wider audience.
Wasted on the other three members there.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
February 7, 2023 2:48 am

Started a new thread while I was going through security.
‘Yes well, that’s the sort of blinkered philistine pig-ignorance I’ve come to expect from you non-creative garbage.’

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
February 7, 2023 3:02 am

I was genuine with my comments towards rosie with the EQ warning….just be careful and on notice. No harm in saying that. She just brushed it off….typical of her, really. The same hoodwinked rosie, that will no doubt offer up her body for the next round of jabs. The same rosie that has linked to nearly every Big Pharma corrupted MSM news outlet on the planet, along with the Facebook fact checking sites, also corrupted by Big Pharma. She’s a certifiable dip-sh*t.

As for all the clowns piling on Dutch, your ignorance is of no concern to me. He’s got the runs on the board, you don’t.

For those genuinely interested, check it out.

7/04/2019 — HOW TO FORECAST AN EARTHQUAKE — Fundamental principles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txQFnGZvuHo&t

Also, those saying “I did a quick google search”. Have you not figured out yet how balked that search engine is? FMD. I’ve yet to see anyone link to a stern rebuttal. It is a bit hard with 12 years of history on the board .

Give it your best shot. Place your faith in the USGS and affiliates….all the ones that comment after events and not prior. They continue to say EQ’s cannot be forecasted and thus, is of no benefit to people in potential harms way. They are useless bastards.

I note the absolutely useless cow, Dr. Lucy Jones is still a go to source for MSM. She’s absolutely 100% useless. She wouldn’t last 10 minutes in a debate when it comes to EQ forecasting. She’s a pig and a liar.

Dutch, the tree lopper, has that much evidence now in the public domain, Lucy would sh*t herself. She would never take the risk to be exposed as the clown she is, like all those in the USGS, Geo-Science Australia etc etc.

We wait and watch for the EQ activity to head west into Europe over the next week. If nothing major happens, GOOD!

Be on alert, rosie.

rosie
rosie
February 7, 2023 3:16 am

Catania postcard.
Another palazzo this time dating back to the 1100s, though it’s been remodelled renovated probably many times and is now in a ‘pitiful condition’ though my little apartment is well enough.
Walk from the station wasn’t inspiring but a couple of hundred metres further along from me is the Cathedral square and the area around is pretty attractive.
There was a big procession last Saturday night for the feast of Saint Agatha and something else at 2.30 today which I missed by that much, only just in time to see sawdust being spread and water being sprayed to remove candle wax.
I shall probably fork out for a tourist bus to Mt Etna, the only public bus leaves at 8.30 am and returns at 4.30 and is too cold up there to hang around all day.
Catania had it’s big quake in 1693 which is probably why the most interesting architectural feature at my palazzo is a baroque balcony on the piano nobile, I’m one floor up on the pokey stairs and then the staircase is barred though there is clearly another abandoned apartment above me.
I walked up to the supermarkets, at the base of modern buildings about a km away and shortcut back through medieval streets to get back, one street google said I could use, the Commune of Catania said I couldn’t so I backtracked, lots of broken boarded up buildings, a few occupied, and at least two of those by young ladies of the late afternoon with the doors to their tiny neat ground floor bedsits open.

rosie
rosie
February 7, 2023 3:26 am

Earthquakes are always a risk in Italy.
I’m not going to be concerned about the prognostications of a ‘trusted internet blogger’.
I’m well aware of your previous ill wishing that was deleted and don’t believe you when you now claim to be genuinely concerned.
That’s all.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
February 7, 2023 3:43 am

rosiesays:
February 7, 2023 at 3:26 am

“Earthquakes are always a risk in Italy.” Correct, however warnings can be issued.

“I’m not going to be concerned about the prognostications of a ‘trusted internet blogger’.”

Bloody hell, you are a retard.

Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:02 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:03 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:04 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:05 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:07 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:08 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:09 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:10 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:11 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:12 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:14 am
Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 4:15 am
Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
February 7, 2023 4:31 am

One day a man was walking along the beach when he tripped over a lamp. He turned around and kicked the lamp out of anger. A few seconds later, a genie popped out of the lamp.

Reluctantly, the genie said “Even though you kicked me, I still have to give you three wishes. However, because of what you did, I will also give twice what you wish for to the person you hate the most: your boss”.

So the man agreed and made his first wish. “I want lots of money” he said. Instantly 22 million dollars appeared in the man’s bank account and 44 million appeared in his boss’ account.

For his second wish, the man wished for a couple of sports cars. Instantly a Lamborghini, Ferrari and Porsche appeared. At the same time two of each car appeared outside of his boss’ house.

Finally the genie said “This is your last wish, you should choose carefully” and to this the man replied “I’ve always wanted to donate a kidney…”

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
February 7, 2023 4:32 am

You and I come by road or rail, but economists travel on infrastructure.

– Margaret Thatcher

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 7, 2023 4:49 am

FTX administrators formally request for all political donations to be returned.

Anchor What
Anchor What
February 7, 2023 6:06 am

What the hell happened to Canada?
Powerline
The long march of the zombie left will get all of us in the end.

JC
JC
February 7, 2023 6:10 am

Either GDP means anything or it doesn’t.

You just decided to insert this sentence because it sounded cute? For what purpose?

If Germany or the UK can have lower GDP growth than Russia and you’re still going to argue it’s doing better than we should stop using GDP as a measure of anything.

Yes, I most certainly would argue that Germany is doing better because Germany doesn’t have a massive massive military spend like Russia. I honestly don’t understand how you won’t even entertain this.

Further, you keep on talking about war production and ignoring how much the countries like Germany, etc. are actually expending in Ukraine either through the donation of war materiel or through direct contributions to keep their civil service in operation.

Of course, I’m ignoring it because it’s insignificant compared to Russia’s spending.

And this still ignores the point of the tweet which is that the sanctions have failed to cause the sort of internal political pressure, either in the mass of the population or among the political elite, that brought them to the negotiating table.

Yeah, getting through the sanctions is just a walk in the park for Russia.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 7, 2023 6:22 am

I’m not expecting the FTX request for donations to be returned to get much corporate media coverage.
If somehow it does, it will turn into a pox on both their houses situation pretty quickly.
Remember who got the FTX money.

https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1622339655013392384

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 6:50 am

Too cheap to meter.

Wind-Power Makers Suffer Huge Losses, Want To Abandon Major Project (7 Feb)

“The greenies’ dream of “clean” (except for millions of dead birds) energy from wind farms is dying in the face of the poor economics (even with tax subsidies) and unreliable technology. The big players in constructing wind turbines are facing massive losses and write-downs and cancelling big offshore wind projects. Brace yourself for demands for even more subsides to the failing industry.

The green energy subsidiary of German electrical equipment giant Siemens just reported Thursday that it lost nearly a billion dollars in the last quarter.

The big problem for Siemens and other makers (see below) is equipment failure and the need to lay out huge warranty expenditures. Reuters:

The company last month flagged increased failure rates of unspecified components of its installed onshore and offshore wind turbines, triggering higher warranty provisions that have also plagued Danish rival Vestas (VWS.CO).”

I suspect there are several things going on here. One is that turbines are getting too big for the strength of the available materials, so the equipment fails as the materials fail. That means high maintenance costs plus collapsed and burning turbines – hence higher insurance costs. Second is off shore wind – the pounding by waves is very hard on equipment, and when trying to save weight for a wind turbine it is easy to under engineer it. We see that time and time again with failed wave and tide generators.

The net result is that capital costs go up, maintenance costs go up, therefore the required electricity price also has to go up. And that is out of the control of the company, so they go bankrupt.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
February 7, 2023 7:04 am

Top Ender says:
February 7, 2023 at 3:10 am
EXCLUSIVE: Lisa Wilkinson’s ‘Logies speech’ apology letter leaks:

Great timing Dover.
As TE links us to Lisa’s “crash and burn” story, you put up the Icarus painting.
Well done.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 7:20 am

As for all the clowns piling on Dutch, your ignorance is of no concern to me. He’s got the runs on the board, you don’t.

Forecasting earthquakes eh.

How accurate have you got to be with depth, coordinates and the date and time?

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 7:22 am

What is the legitimacy of Church Militant and Barnhardt? They seem like crypto Protestant heretics.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 7:23 am

….once you can accurately forecast an earthquake, why can’t you you forecast them all?

Indolent
Indolent
February 7, 2023 7:23 am
Indolent
Indolent
February 7, 2023 7:24 am
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 7:25 am

We’re saved!

Footballers To Wear Green Armbands To Save The Planet! (6 Feb)

Football fans are being encouraged to ‘score green goals’ for their teams and win prizes by taking up climate-friendly behaviours.

More than 80 clubs – including Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United – are backing Green Football Weekend, which runs from 3-5 February. Every action supporters take will earn points for their club, helping one win the ‘Green Football Cup’.

Will Kneel for Climate Change displace Kneel for BLM? Only time can tell.

Indolent
Indolent
February 7, 2023 7:29 am
Indolent
Indolent
February 7, 2023 7:32 am
feelthebern
feelthebern
February 7, 2023 7:46 am

With regards to the lady paying 19% interest in 1995, the Oz does some fact checking.
Seriously, if the ABC did a 5 second google search re interest rates at the time they would have avoided this.

Home ‘truths’ rankle

Nothing like a boomer with an unsolicited critique of millennial indulgences to provoke the ire of the little brats. This time it was the ABC enduring the rudest glare of all after a business reporter filed a piece asking which generation had it worse off buying a home.

Quoting Kerrie Boylett, of Sydney, the article said she’d purchased a home in 1995 for $150,000 while her income was a pittance and variable interest rates topped 19 per cent.

To survive, she lived like a character out of Dickens: no holidays; no dining out; a cheap car; cheaper food; a miserable kitchen with nothing but a washbasin. No mention of holey jumpers and thin stews but both would be consistent.

Boylett’s mistake was telling the ABC that millennials “need to also make sacrifices in the journey towards home ownership”. Oh boy. Much like Bernard Salt’s withering attack on smashed avocado and five grain toast in 2016, Boylett’s frustration on modern larks took aim at all the sacred cows.

“They [millennials] want, you know, the latest mobile phone, the latest iPad, they want a nice car, they want to go on holidays, they still want to go out to restaurants – they pay $20 or $30 for a drink if they go out, have a nice time,” she said.

“You’ve got to say right, am I prepared to keep my phone for four years? Am I prepared to cut back?”

The pile-on was swift. Amy Remeikis, Guardian Australia’s political reporter, put it thus: “She’s absolutely right – my phone is the reason I can’t afford to buy and not that homes are about $1m.”

Oddly omitted from this lengthy piece is Boylett’s striking similarities to a woman of the same name and vintage who retired as a general manager at Merivale last year.

So trusted was this Boylett, a fixer of sorts within the Merivale empire – she posted bail for at least one questionable individual, witnessed signatures on sensitive court documents, and filed paperwork for trademark applications – that she was seemingly the only non-family member to be written into the will of Merivale founder John Hemmes, who died in 2015.

Ironic then that Merivale remains the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the Federal Court on behalf of its hospitality workers, many of them in the age bracket of millennials; it’s alleged they were robbed of wage entitlements by the company over several years.

Not lost on this column either is that a drink at some Merivale establishments sits in the price range bemoaned by Boylett herself.

Why weren’t these arguably relevant details mentioned in the ABC article? Margin Call asked Aunty for an explanation but received no response.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 7, 2023 7:47 am

3000 earthquake deaths now.

If the Master Earthquake Predictor had predicted this, he might have done some good.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 7:49 am

Matt Walsh eh. Get married under the Duluth model. Send more men into the meat grinder.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
February 7, 2023 7:53 am

Kneel for Climate Change

I hope it happens.
Then the hoodwinked masses will finally be able to see that they have been indoctrinated into the latest religion of no substance.
L Ron Hubbard would be so envious of what John Kerry has been able to achieve.

alwaysright
alwaysright
February 7, 2023 7:56 am

Kneel for Climate Change

Someone didn’t get the memo about mentioning climate change and extreme weather in every post.

Lift you game.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 8:00 am

If the Master Earthquake Predictor had predicted this, he might have done some good.

Could’ve been possible. I checked the USGS on Sunday and there were two tremors in that area last week, around Richter 4.5-5.0 as I recall. That’s pretty rare, and I think they’ll say they were what set off this big one.

But remember a few weeks ago pundits were saying a 98% chance of a major earthquake on the California coast? It didn’t happen.

As they say prediction is hard, especially about the future.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 7, 2023 8:07 am

The Chinese coverage of the Don Farrell zoom seems different to the Australian media coverage.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202302/1284937.shtml

Cassie of Sydney
February 7, 2023 8:10 am

“EXCLUSIVE: Lisa Wilkinson’s ‘Logies speech’ apology letter leaks: Major twist as Channel 10 star’s excuse for awards ceremony catastrophe is exposed – before she quit as Project host”

Anyone with a smidgen of basic nous would never have walked onto a stage and given the speech that the Amphibian from Mosman gave when accepting her Logie. But not La Amphibian, she had her equally grotesque husband have spent decades drinking from a cup overflowing with narcissism, self-adulation, self-absorption and conceit.

But to be a little fair to the La Amphibian, this whole travesty is a sad indictment of this pathetic country. Whilst the US and the UK also have their fill of nauseating B-grade mediocrities like La Amphibian and her buffoon of a husband, I don’t too think many of them would have given the middle finger to the judicial process. But La Amphibian did. Why? Well firstly, she thought she could, and that says a lot about contemporary Australia, and secondly, after L’Affaires Pell, Porter, Laming and others, these mediocre “celebrities” have trashed our legal process with the willing connivance of our MSM. Many of our so called journalists have either stood back baying with the likes of La Amphibian or laughing with them at the destruction reaped on our legal process. The truth is that Australia lynches people in broad daylight and few raise an eyebrow. James Allen spoke of this late last year, no where else in the Anglosphere, not even in woke Canada, has the presumption of innocence been trashed like it has in this country. And yes, whilst some here might say that Pell ended up being cleared by the High Court, to this I say what “sure, but you know as well as I do that he was always innocent, it was obvious even at the beginning, we knew the absurd allegations against him were orchestrated for a political and ideological narrative, and for this he ended up enduring 406 days in prison, 406 days too many”. Once upon a time I used to read about historical travesties like Salem and the Dreyfus Affair, I never thought I’d live in a country where such travesties are becoming almost the norm.

The whole fabulous story La Higgins story has, from day one, had a political stench around it that is palpable. We could smell it here. I remain astonished and gobsmacked at how willingly the Liberals walked into this miasma, perhaps it was because they were being led over a cliff by a buffoon named Scott Morrison.

I don’t wish bad things on my foes, but I’ve come to the conclusion that perhaps the only way some of this imbalance will be remedied is when awful things happen to the likes of La Amphibian and others. I should bottle it as “Cassie’s homeopathic justice”. It’s worth noting the silence from one of the uber mean girls, a failed former premier of NSW and a failed candidate for Fowler, be it about the aborted Lehmann trial or George Pell’s death. Strange, because she’s always had a lot to say in the past, in fact she’s always had trouble keeping her mouth shut. I wonder why the sudden silence? Ahhh yes, I know why, because Ms Keneally’s son has now been charged with a serious offence. But you see, unlike La Keneally or the Amphibian from Mosman, I’ll do the right thing and let the judicial system run its course without me screeching, shouting and screaming from the sidelines……”guilty, guilty, guilty, hang him, hang him, hang him”.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 8:11 am

On Jacinta Price’s interview and why righties should never appear on any of their “news” programs.

Satanism is not the worship of self. That’s narcissism. Satanism is something else entirely. Satinism is the worship of slinky textiles.

I did a quick google of Ms Single Mum Boomer yesterday and caught her out in a couple of porkies. Not so much her history, but the history of interest rates and savings. Don’t know why I bothered as I never believe anything published by the ABCD anyway.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 8:14 am

China Balloon – A Layered Scandal

COMMENTARY – By Robert B. Charle

The courage quotient in this White House, Biden’s Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, and State Department, is stunning – for its absence.

Are we to imagine no one thought of the possibilities here? Are we to imagine we only consider planes or missiles a threat?

So, the Biden team finally shoots the Chinese spy balloon down over the ocean, while China mumbles, lies, and carries on. But this is where the “scandal within scandal” begins. Under the gun to explain themselves, Biden and his team belatedly says “three Chinese balloons” were over the U.S. under Trump. Almost every highly cleared Trump intelligence and national security appointee (more than a dozen) flatly deny that.

This leads to the next hard-to-believe deflection. Biden’s team says the Chinese balloons Trump did not shoot down were only discovered after he left office. What?

Yes, they say it happened then but was only “discovered after” Trump left, which is probably why no one had heard about it. This is hard to credit. Are we to believe that NORAD’s 24/7 operations center was asleep – that China dared cross Trump, and we only saw the spy balloons after reviewing the tape?

All this sounds increasingly absurd, throws water on solid facts, damning, indefensible, and which should require – in an accountable republic – high level resignations.

Here are the big, real questions.

First, if any spy balloon from China really floated over the United States during Trump’s time and not one appointee was briefed, do we have an “intelligence deep state” – which is either pro-China or which so feared Trump’s penchant for action that they withheld that? Exactly who knew what, when, and said nothing?

Second, if the balloons were over the U.S. under Trump, and NORAD or the intelligence community did not see them in real time, why not? That is a major intelligence failure. How did that happen?

Third, either way – and regardless of which scandal is worse – the Chinese spy balloon in U.S. airspace should have immediately been brought down. Would we wait on a fighter, and say debris worried us?

China has learned a key lesson, and it cannot be unlearned. Biden will hesitate, deflect, do almost anything to avoid confrontation with China, even allow penetration of U.S. airspace. None of this will make Taiwan feel good, or Japan, Australia, the Philippines – or any U.S. ally.

Communist China’s deliberate penetration of U.S. airspace is not a non-event, not inconsequential, not something to pretend did not happen. And it should have instantly triggered a shootdown.

Who will be held accountable for this fiasco? What will China do next? This is not a small error, passing oversight, or victory – nor was the disastrous U.S. exit from Afghanistan. This is another layered scandal.

Robert B. Charles is former assistant secretary of state under Colin Powell, former Navy intelligence officer, veteran of the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses, former House Oversight counsel, and currently national spokesman for AMAC.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 8:16 am

when awful things happen to the likes of La Amphibian

The punishment has already begun. She wakes up every morning and looks in the mirror.

Unfortunately mirrors can’t articulate their despair.

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
February 7, 2023 8:26 am

The mirror cracked.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 7, 2023 8:27 am

From todays Oz:

Call for wealthy to pay more for aged care ….. Wealthy Australians would be forced to pay more for aged-care services under a proposal from major aged-care providers and peak bodies.

How about all of us, as adults, pay for our own aged care? There are many ways to do it, starting with a lifetime of being an adult and predicting the need and saving for it. There are also indirect ways to earn it if you failed to predict and save. Being a decent person and building up ‘credit’ by looking after your extended family and kids so they repay the favour when you age is one, indeed thats how it was always done.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 8:28 am

Eeeeeew! I don’t see Pirate Man as the guy singing Tirra-Lirra. Might be the pool maintenance chappie.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 8:29 am
Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 8:31 am

I remain astonished and gobsmacked at how willingly the Liberals walked into this miasma, perhaps it was because they were being led over a cliff by a buffoon named Scott Morrison.

I have a mate who reads the same blogs as many conservatives here do but he loves Morrison and Perrottet.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 8:33 am

The “Trump had balloons too, wahhhhh” bleat is one of the sillier bottie department covering lies from the WH.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 8:36 am

It’s not surprising to see a satanic ritual at the Grammy’s. Satanism is the worship of the self. Much of modern pop music is satanic in this sense. Leftism is satanism. The only change is that now they’re being more explicit about it.

Matt Walsh would be an expert.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 8:36 am

Congress’ FTX Problem: 1 in 3 Members Got Cash From Crypto Exchange’s Bosses

The session began with 196 U.S. lawmakers who took direct contributions from Sam Bankman-Fried and other former FTX executives, and many of them are still trying to get rid of it.

More than one in three of the 535 senators and representatives in the U.S. Congress showed up to the new session with FTX baggage, having received campaign support from one of the senior executives of the fraud-ridden crypto giant.

CoinDesk has identified 196 members of the new Congress – many of whom were just sworn in last week – who took cash from Sam Bankman-Fried or other senior executives at FTX, a crypto exchange that filed for bankruptcy in Delaware in November after CoinDesk revealed unusually close ties between FTX and Alameda Research, an affiliated hedge fund. The names in Congress range from the heights of both chambers, including new Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), down to a list of recipients new to high-level politics.

After the lawmakers received the money, it became clear – according to the work of journalists, the criminal charges and admissions of guilt from FTX insiders – that the funds sprang from this colossal financial swindle. CoinDesk reached out to all 196 lawmakers to ask what they would do with the money.

Most of the politicians who responded said they handed it over to charities to remove the taint of contributions from executives such as former FTX CEO Bankman-Fried, whose federal fraud charges also include an accusation that he violated campaign-finance laws. Others have revealed they had conversations with the U.S. Department of Justice about setting aside the money until it can be dropped into a fund to compensate FTX victims.

However, the campaigns channeling tainted money to favored charities may not escape the reach of FTX’s bankruptcy case. And even the organizations they give to could be roped in.

“Making a payment or donation to a third party (including a charity) in the amount of any payment received from a FTX contributor does not prevent the FTX debtors from seeking recovery,” FTX warned in a December statement. The company is now controlled by CEO John Ray III, whose primary job is to recover money for the company’s fleeced creditors, though it isn’t yet clear whether political donations – nominally made directly from the individual’s personal accounts – will be subject to clawbacks.

The company said it’s inviting any recipients of donations from FTX executives to return the money soon, according to the statement. If the money was stolen, it was never theirs to give. Several of the campaigns told CoinDesk that they’re in touch with the bankruptcy team or government authorities and are trying to determine how to give the money back.

The current chaos at FTX means giving the money back is easier said than done. Of the recipients who responded to CoinDesk’s inquiries, 38% said they were holding the money and waiting for guidance on how to give it back. Only five politicians said they had already successfully returned the money.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 8:42 am

The Grammys seem to want to alienate most of their potential viewers:

Ted Cruz blasts shocking Satan-themed performance at Grammys: ‘This is evil’ (6 Feb)

WTH? Jill Biden Presents Song of the Year at 65th Annual Grammy Awards (5 Feb)

Having the walking sofa present the award for best song is probably worse than the first abomination. And yes her dress looks like a sofa.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 7, 2023 8:45 am

‘Dr’ Jill cheap old slag.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 7, 2023 8:46 am

Appropriate really that the cheap old tart should be there.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
February 7, 2023 8:49 am

EXCLUSIVE: Lisa Wilkinson’s ‘Logies speech’ apology letter leaks: Major twist as Channel 10 star’s excuse for awards ceremony catastrophe is exposed – before she quit as Project host

It is not irony – if you are aware enough to recognise the MSM for what it is.

It is instead instructive that just as that leathern ogre, Wilkinson, was being toasted (according to the wits of TV people) as the consummate professional j’ismist reporting on legal matters that, in the very act of accepting, she proves she is anything but.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 8:51 am

I want someone much smarter than me to explain to me how “La Amphibian” (LOL) was on…a million buckeroos a year.

I would have just sacked her for her repugnant vibe.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 7, 2023 8:51 am

Steve tricklersays:

February 7, 2023 at 3:02 am

I was genuine with my concern-trolling comments

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 8:52 am

TREASON! Rep. Waltz Says DOD Told Him China Spy Balloons Crossed US During Trump Years But Gen. Mattis DID NOT TELL TRUMP – Thought He Was Too Aggressive (VIDEO)

By Jim Hoft

Waltz then dropped this bomb. Rep. Waltz said that General Mattis was Secretary of Defense at the time and decided not to inform President Trump because the Pentagon thought Trump was “too provocative and aggressive!”

This is a treason if true. Mattis put the US in danger, offered comfort to the enemy, allowed Chinese spying on US installations, and then hid this from his superiors, including the President of the United States.

House Republicans MUST call on General Mattis to immediately testify under oath!

This is also quite a statement if true since President Trump is the first US president in over 40 years NOT to start a war!

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 7, 2023 8:53 am

From feelthebern at 8:07 am

An industry insider surnamed Qiu told the Global Times that it’s a good time to resume coal imports from Australia. “In January, the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) of Australian coal stood at 2,450 yuan ($361.3) per ton, while the CIF of coal produced in North China’s Shanxi Province was 2,700 yuan per ton,” said Qiu.

If true, that right there is an extraordinary insight into China’s structural energy predicament.

The Australian mine margin on coal into China at US$361/tonne CIF would be +/- A$350/tonne.

Chinese coal mines are notoriously inefficient beasts, but either someone(s) is gouging the Chinese economy at Stratospheric levels, or the Chinese resource economy should give up and go home.

Pogria
Pogria
February 7, 2023 8:56 am

Dear old Madonna is beginning to look like the Bride of Wildenstein. snork

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 8:56 am

TREASON! Rep. Waltz Says DOD Told Him China Spy Balloons Crossed US During Trump Years But Gen. Mattis DID NOT TELL TRUMP – Thought He Was Too Aggressive

Waltz is a skunk if he’s not lying now. Why did he not bring this up earlier?

A soldier who sees a traitor take over a post and does nothing about it until his buddy is accountable for it is scum, not a man and that’s not soldiering.

So HE didn’t tell Trump either? When is he going to self delete, for the good of the nation? He’s literally calling for Mattis to be hanged or given a lethal injection. Geese and gander!

P
P
February 7, 2023 8:56 am

The ‘Four Chaplains,’ selfless heroes of WWII, honored on 80th anniversary of their deaths

The Four Chaplains — Father John P. Washington, a Catholic priest; Rev. George L. Fox, a Methodist minister; Rabbi Alexander D. Goode; and Rev. Clark V. Poling, a Reformed Church in America minister — gave their life jackets to save others when their ship was torpedoed in the frigid North Atlantic in 1943.

Washington, Fox, Goode, and Poling, all first lieutenants, met in 1942, having been inspired to sign up as military chaplains after Pearl Harbor. Their vessel, the Dorchester, a troop ship bound for a U.S. military base in Greenland, was struck by a U-boat torpedo in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 1943. Washington had celebrated Mass just hours before the hit and began to offer absolution.

The chaplains calmly assisted and encouraged numerous civilians and soldiers, offering them their own life jackets as the terrified crowd sped to the lifeboats.

JC
JC
February 7, 2023 8:56 am

Imagine his work schedule. There’s not enough days in the week.

Last 3 months were extremely tough, as had to save Twitter from bankruptcy, while fulfilling essential Tesla & SpaceX duties. Wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone.

Twitter still has challenges, but is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it. Public support is much appreciated!

He’s turned Twitter around. Where’s Fatboy?

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 8:57 am

Pop culture has always danced with the Devil, Bruce. They think they’re being out there and with it, but it’s just a re-hash from sixty years ago.

Tell me baby, what’s my name?
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name?
Tell me baby, what’s my name?
I tell you one time, you’re to blame

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 7, 2023 8:58 am

My twitter experience has never been quicker & less spammy.
I actually get ads in my feed that interest me.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 8:58 am

The teals face a tricky super question

Don’t be surprised if you see the teal independents, who represent Australia’s six richest electorates, steering well clear of the looming tax debate.

Karen Maley – Columnist

One of the trickier questions facing the teal independents this year will be whether to throw their weight behind the Labor government’s move to impose a cap on how much money people can hold in their super funds.

Now, it’s clear that for thousands of affluent individuals, superannuation has turned out to be an extremely generous savings scheme.

Roughly 11,000 people have more than $5 million in their superannuation. At present, retirees with more than $1.7 million in super (this will rise to $1.9 million on July 1) can leave their excess funds in their accumulation account and enjoy a generous concessional tax rate of 15 per cent – which is well below the top marginal tax rate of 45 per cent.

Now with Treasurer Jim Chalmers continuing to emphasise the importance of budgetary discipline, the Labor government is anxious to find ways to boost tax revenues.

And one relatively easy solution is to limit the generous tax concessions on super, which favour the wealthy.

According to some estimates, putting a $5 million limit on the amount of money people can hold in super would raise some $1.5 billion in extra tax revenue.

Indeed, it’s clear the government’s strategy is to use the debate over the purpose of super as a way of building some sort of consensus for curtailing tax concessions.

Now this represents a problem for the teal independents who largely represent prosperous electorates – such as Wentworth which covers Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and Melbourne’s blue-blood seat of Kooyong – where there is a much higher concentration of people with large super nest eggs.

It’s unlikely that very many people with $5 million or more in superannuation are Labor voters. Indeed, it’s more likely that most voted either for the Coalition or the teal independents at the May 2022 federal election.

This puts the teal independents in an invidious position. On the one hand, they’ll be reluctant to antagonise their wealthy supporters. But on the other, it’s difficult to mount much of a case for retaining such generous tax concessions.

Those opposed to imposing a cap on super tax concessions tend to argue that it will erode faith in the super system, and that it’s unfair to change the rules now given that people have organised their financial affairs assuming that the concessions would remain.

But it’s difficult to have too much sympathy for these arguments. After all, it’s not as if people incurred huge costs in organising their affairs to take advantage of the ultra-generous tax concessions from super. For most people, their extra costs would have been limited to seeking advice from a financial adviser or tax accountant.

What’s more, these people have already reaped substantial financial benefits because they’ve enjoyed years of paying a low tax rate on their large super balances.

It’s certainly true that many people chose to take advantage of the generous super tax concessions by channelling any surplus funds they had into super instead of, for instance, paying off their home loans.

But even this financial strategy will have paid off for them, given the widespread rise in asset prices.

As a result, we’re likely to see the teal independents try to steer well clear of the looming super debate.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 7, 2023 8:58 am

Catania had it’s big quake in 1693

Which means it’s due for another one.
Clog-wog says so.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 9:01 am

Fatboy and custard should owe me 10k each in silver coins but they are damp squibs.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 9:03 am

Pogria says:
February 7, 2023 at 8:56 am

Dear old Madonna is beginning to look like the Bride of Wildenstein. snork

Whoa – That face has been to the Crash Repairers one too many times

MatrixTransform
February 7, 2023 9:04 am

I note that the Nanna Cognicenti have created a massive incredulity vortex on The Cat again.

I wonder if they can get grasp of just how much energy is let loose in an earthquake

does it all get turned into heat, noise, motion and tension?
where does it go?
where does it come from?

just remember people, that Germ Theory was considered bunkum not long ago.
that girls can have a penis
and that banning plastic straws will save the planet from therma-geddon

doesnt matter if Dutchsince is 1/2 wrong or 1/2 right

or in some other proportion … there’s information in that too

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 9:04 am

Better a dumb clog wog living with beautiful female clog wogs with wavy dirty blonde hair and hourglass figures than the existence of boring, child mutilating, famous author eating, cat lady harridan, commie porridge wogs.

It’s shyte being Scottish. Who knew that was going to be prophetic?

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 9:06 am

England needs to cut Scotland off. Scottish independence would actually be very cool and interesting.

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 9:10 am

England needs to cut Scotland off. Scottish independence would actually be very cool and interesting.

It certainly would be interesting to see how they pay for it.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 9:10 am

I wonder if they can get grasp of just how much energy is let loose in an earthquake

I’ve experienced a 7.6. The surface rolled like a wave, you could see it as the telegraph poles went up and down. Surreal stuff. It moved a fully loaded parked coffee truck fifty metres down the road.

People waiting at the PMV stop simply sat down and waited. Otherwise it would knock you off your feet.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 9:11 am

Former DNI Ratcliffe Refutes Biden Administration Agitprop On China Spy Balloon

MARIA BARTIROMO:

John, the Biden administration is trying to minimize this explosive situation in this past week. And the Department of Defense is claiming that there were three balloons, Chinese spy balloons, that entered the United States airspace during the Trump administration, and that they were not shut down and they were not disclosed.

Can you please tell us the truth and if that’s true?

RATCLIFFE:

Well, it’s not true. I can refute it. Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper refuted it yesterday. Secretary — former Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo has refuted it.

But, Maria, the American people can refute it for themselves. Do you remember during the Trump administration when photographers on the ground and commercial airline pilots were talking about a spy balloon over the United States that people could look up and see even with the naked eye, and that a media that hated Donald Trump wasn’t reporting?

I don’t remember that either, because it didn’t happen.

As I said to you earlier, this was unprecedented. We have never had a circumstance where an adversary has had spycraft over our country, our continental United States, posing a threat for the better part of a week straight.

And that’s why I said to you before, the — not only is it unprecedented, but the damage from this is incalculable, both from an intelligence standpoint and the possible payloads. You talked a little bit earlier about the different types of payloads that a stratospheric balloon could carry. Those possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

But what we do know is, none of those are possible to be deployed against the United States if a stratospheric balloon isn’t allowed to traipse across our countryside for four straight days, something that has never happened before.

But, beyond that intelligence damage, Maria, the other thing is that the damage that it wasn’t just 320 million Americans that were watching this balloon paralyzed for a week. It was Russia. It was Iran. It was North Korea. It was American adversaries who also were surprised that this type of thing could happen and are, frankly, thrilled at the possibilities of what they could do to deploy the same type of stratospheric balloon or device over the continental mainland and have this kind of slow, weak, timid, late, frankly, terrible response by the Biden administration.

Eyrie
Eyrie
February 7, 2023 9:15 am

Damning of NASA leadership and management.

https://nypost.com/2023/02/04/angry-ex-astronaut-details-the-problem-with-nasa/

Don’t fly on NASA ships.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 9:17 am

But, Maria, the American people can refute it for themselves. Do you remember during the Trump administration when photographers on the ground and commercial airline pilots were talking about a spy balloon over the United States that people could look up and see even with the naked eye, and that a media that hated Donald Trump wasn’t reporting?

I don’t remember that either, because it didn’t happen.

Seems like that Rep Waltz (R, FL) is a lying sack of crap.

Why is Gateway Pundit publishing his BS and gossip girl bile towards Mattis?

What an attention whore.

Cassie of Sydney
February 7, 2023 9:17 am

Lisbon had a big earthquake in 1755. Must be due for another one.

As somebody mentioned either above or on the old fred, the Anatolian tectonic plate is one of the most active tectonic plates on the planet. Everyday it’s being squashed between the much larger African and Asian plates, earthquake tremors are not unusual anywhere in the Middle East.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
February 7, 2023 9:17 am

Totally normal awareness raising about a totally normal occurrence… one in three people will develop shingles… because of weakening immune systems, which is totally normal.
http://www.knowshingles.com.au

WolfmanOz
February 7, 2023 9:22 am

I’m no fan of Greg Sheridan but he’s written a superb piece today in the Oz re that abomination “The Voice”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/identity-politics-the-real-risk-invoice/news-story/c1ecabe7de9f7d55d4221a3641581f6f

The proposal for a constitutionally guaranteed advisory assembly to be chosen on grounds of ethnicity is so radical a departure from Australian constitutional practice, so bad an idea, such a bold repudiation of the liberal principle of equal citizenship for all, that if it were subject to searching debate and scrutiny it would probably fail.

It will likely pass only if debate is censored. With legislation looming, the opposition must decide its position soon. If the Albanese government bluffs Peter Dutton’s opposition into the coward’s castle of a conscience vote, that is, not taking a formal position, Australia won’t get a debate.

The way voice campaigning has unfolded is alarming in several respects. First is the incoherence of the Yes case and its almost universal refusal to acknowledge that any argument against it is legitimate.

I don’t expect voice advocates to agree with arguments against their position, but they frequently suggest the only reasons anyone could oppose it are racism, cynical political exploitation, careerism or ignorance.

Thus we saw Noel Pearson’s ugly attack on senator Jacinta Price, accusing her of being recruited as a blackfella to punch down on other blacks. Presumably, that’s the future tone of the voice.

The changing justifications for the voice suggest its advocates are hiding its radicalism.

First, advocates claimed that to oppose the voice in principle before a clear proposal was put was premature and insulting to Aboriginal Australia, although of course advocates of a voice suffered no such admonishment.

Then the Prime Minister proposed his wording for a constitutional amendment. The opposition asked for the proposed structure and content of the new institution. Australians are being asked to vote for a radical new institution, what will it look like? Where’s the detail?

Shame, voice advocates replied. The detail is in the report by Tom Calma and Marcia Langton. Opposition politicians were flayed by ABC interviewers who cited detail from Calma-Langton.

The government “won’t be too pleased” to find only 28 per cent of Australians “strongly” support the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, says Sky News host Peta Credlin. Ms Credlin said according to Newspoll, 23 per cent of… Australians strongly oppose the Voice. “Even though soft supporters give the More
OK, so is the Calma-Langton model the one the government will adopt? Can we come to grips with its structures and limitations?

No, no, no, the advocates switched quickly. The detail doesn’t matter. The detail will be decided by parliament. The detail, pace Calma-Langton, will take months to work out in consultation with Aboriginal groups after the referendum.

So how can opponents of the voice be dishonestly ignoring the Calma-Langton detail, yet the detail will be determined after the election? What were all those years of consultation about the voice for, if it all has to start again?

The Albanese government doesn’t need to include the structure of the voice in the wording of the referendum, but it does need to explain what version of the voice it plans to create.

The purposes and scope of the voice keep slip sliding around. First it was to be an institution for Aboriginal Australians to be consulted on legislation that affected them. It’s a vanishingly tiny proportion of legislation that affects only, or even primarily, Aboriginal people.

Most legislation affects all Australians, which means the voice will have a say on health, education, defence policy etc. That’s undemocratic because all other Australians get to vote only once, whereas those who can vote for the voice get two votes.

That is at the heart of why I think the voice is such a radical and bad idea. It rests on the notion that parliamentary democracy is not capable of representing certain minorities. This is an attack on parliamentary democracy in principle.

Everyone agrees that Aboriginal communities should always be consulted by government on matters that affect them. There’s no need at all to put that in the Constitution. One likely motive for constitutional change is a power grab by groups who think they can capture, or benefit from, a newly constitutionally privileged institution.

The voice is thus a weakening of parliamentary democracy and a rejection of the core principle of political liberalism, that all citizens are equal in civic status regardless of race, gender, religion, background etc.

Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says he believes Senator Lidia Thorpe “had some warning” about the Greens’ position on the Indigenous Voice a fortnight ago. “Adam Bandt has said today that … he tried to get her… to stay, he said it was okay to stay in More
As Malcolm Turnbull wrote in his memoir: “Our democracy is built on the foundations of all Australians having equal civic rights – all being able to vote for, stand for and serve in either of two chambers in our national parliament …

“A constitutionally enshrined additional representative assembly for which only Indigenous Australians could vote for or serve in is inconsistent with this fundamental principle.”

(Turnbull, perfectly conscientiously, later changed his mind on the voice, but I am convinced by this argument.)

The remit of the voice grows like Topsy. Now it’s a voice not just to parliament but to executive government, and now to cabinet as well. No one has the faintest idea what our ultra-activist High Court would do with all this.

However, two other elements of the voice, apart from the question of contradicting racial civic equality, are of growing concern.

One is the element of Cuban-style soft Stalinism about the demand for public unanimity on the voice. ABC and SBS news reports on the voice frequently contain naked editorial endorsement of the voice, as though there is no other legitimate position. It’s like the Chinese Communist Party denouncing ideological deviationism. It is truly shameful that the government plans to end the age-old practice of posting to Australian households a pamphlet containing the Yes and the No cases, will not fund either case but will provide government money for an education (re-education?) campaign, and will make only pro-Yes organisations tax deductible.

This is deeply undemocratic. The proponents of the voice are scared of having a real debate. Price and senator James McGrath typically had a small segment explaining why they will vote No censored by YouTube.

If Dutton’s opposition follows the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of Liberal voters and MPs and opposes the voice in principle and in practice, then ABC panels on the subject and the like will have to include opponents as well as supporters, and there is at least a chance of democratic debate.

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament is the “wrong vehicle” for closing the gap, according to Nationals Leader David Littleproud. “It’s another layer of bureaucracy,” he told Sky News Australia.

Some Liberals argue that a conscience vote would allow them to avoid becoming the issue. This is just an excuse for raw cowardice. If the Liberal Party doesn’t have a view in principle about the most important, radical and ultimately unpredictable constitutional change proposed in modern Australia, it ought to just go out of business.

Strategic victory is seldom secured by tactical manoeuvres accompanying complete strategic surrender.

The other worry is that the voice will likely entrench the most destructive elements of identity politics into the heart of Australian life. Identity politics is killing Western societies.

It pits group against group. It is not about unity but constant grievance and performative pantomime, of grievance discovery, perpetual escalating apology, relentless identification of new villains and whipping up new hatreds.

The proponents of the voice say it’s only the first step to a treaty, presumably involving reparations, and truth-telling commissions, as though Australian history classes are currently anti-Aboriginal.

The voice would move Australian culture and politics several standard deviations to the left, permanently institutionalising the destructive dynamics of identity politics into every part of our national life.

This would be damaging for Australia. And, incidentally, disastrous for the Liberals.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 7, 2023 9:23 am

This puts the teal independents in an invidious position. On the one hand, they’ll be reluctant to antagonise their wealthy supporters. But on the other, it’s difficult to mount much of a case for retaining such generous tax concessions.

More evidence that the govt regards ALL your money as theirs. I’m putting this in the same basket as calling tax increases ‘savings’ for the budget.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 7, 2023 9:26 am

The Great Prediction:

‘Sooner or later there will be a ~M 7.5 #earthquake in this region (South-Central Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon). #deprem,’ Frank wrote on Twitter on January 3.

My personal predictionator mad skills focus on the Melbourne Cup. After years of research my AI computer tells me:

1) There will be a winner;
2) The winner will be one of the horses in the starting line up.

Happens 97.3% of the time.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 9:27 am

My Date With The Plate involved four – Australian, Eurasian, Philippine and Pacific.

They’re always grumbling with each other.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 7, 2023 9:27 am

I’ve experienced a 7.6. The surface rolled like a wave, you could see it as the telegraph poles went up and down. Surreal stuff. It moved a fully loaded parked coffee truck fifty metres down the road.

We had multiple ‘aftershocks’* in the 7s in Aceh, my dominant memory is how loud they were – the earth would literally start groaning in the distance before the ground started to move.

* fun fact, the run off quakes that follow a large quake are usually, but not *always* smaller – they can be larger, in which case the first quake becomes a ‘foreshock’.

Top Ender
Top Ender
February 7, 2023 9:33 am

Ol’ Madonna Louise Ciccone was only good at one thing – doing a pretty good singing and dancing routine – on occasion.

Now in her mid-60’s, she won’t be able to keep running that shtick forever.

Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 9:34 am

the Anatolian tectonic plate is one of the most active tectonic plates on the planet.

Any year in the past half-century that hasn’t included an earthquake in Turkey with thousands of deaths was a very quiet year.

But we now live in an era of hysteria about non-existent problems like climate change so the satanists will no doubt be able to link this week’s rumble with the sorcery in their rotten souls.

There’s little room in the modern world for learning and actual sciences like volcanology.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 7, 2023 9:34 am

Totally normal awareness raising about a totally normal occurrence… one in three people will develop shingles… because of weakening immune systems, which is totally normal.

1) the article states ‘our immune systems naturally weaken over time’ – that is correct, its why cancers etc tend to increase with age, and also why vaccines tend not to work well (or at all) on the elderly.
2) the same mechanism that allows the varicella virus (which causes shingles) to escape immune control, also allows cancer to escape immune control

Hence, if the Vaxxes ARE causing shingles (they are –https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/varicella-zoster-reactivation-after ), they are also causing cancers.

Cassie of Sydney
February 7, 2023 9:35 am

“The voice would move Australian culture and politics several standard deviations to the left, permanently institutionalising the destructive dynamics of identity politics into every part of our national life.

That’s the plan Stan.

Cassie of Sydney
February 7, 2023 9:36 am

“The voice would move Australian culture and politics several standard deviations to the left, permanently institutionalising the destructive dynamics of identity politics into every part of our national life.

That’s the plan, Stan.

Jorge
Jorge
February 7, 2023 9:44 am

The last person you’d expect to be in such a dire predicament. Wishing him the best.

AFL goalkicking legend Michael Roach fighting for life after suffering heart attack

The 64-year-old remains in intensive care after undergoing triple bypass surgery.

Richmond great Michael Roach is in a fight for his life after undergoing open heart surgery last week.

The 64-year-old suffered a heart attack on Tuesday and had a stent inserted. But he then required a triple bypass surgery.

He had some complications post-surgery and remains in intensive care.

Doctors are optimistic of working through those issues with Roach’s family hopeful of him being discharged from intensive care as early as Monday night.

There are concerns for Michael Roach after the former Richmond champion suffered a heart attack.
There are concerns for Michael Roach after the former Richmond champion suffered a heart attack. Credit: Getty Images
It’s come as a shock to his family.

The Richmond icon was riding his bike as recently as last week and regularly walks around Melbourne’s botanical gardens with former teammate and current commentator Brian Taylor.

Nicknamed ‘Disco’, the Tigers’ high-flyer is much loved by fans after playing 200 games and being a crucial part of the premiership-winning side in 1980.

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 9:44 am

I’m putting this in the same basket as calling tax increases ‘savings’ for the budget.

That’s the basket where you’ll also find tax cuts for business called a handout.

JC
JC
February 7, 2023 9:45 am

Matt Walsh would be an expert.

Dot, you don’t like Walsh! I’m curious as to why.

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 9:47 am

The remit of the voice grows like Topsy. Now it’s a voice not just to parliament but to executive government, and now to cabinet as well.

Pat Dodson wants an indigenous rep on the “national cabinet.”

Cassie of Sydney
February 7, 2023 9:47 am

“Matt Walsh would be an expert.

Dot, you don’t like Walsh! I’m curious as to why.”

Yeah, what’s wrong with Matt Walsh?

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 9:49 am

What we are is but a blink of an eye.

It’s a long piece, but that gives you a sense of how fast everything happened in the last “ten minutes”. Worth a look.

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 9:51 am

If Dutton’s opposition follows the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of Liberal voters and MPs and opposes the voice in principle and in practice…

If Dutton’s interview on ABC RN AM this morning was a true indicator of his thoughts, and not a tactical parry, his concerns are all with the Voice in practice, not principle.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 9:54 am

Anyone else following this Eliza Bleu drama or have you decided not to waste your life?

She’s a Fed. Glows brighter than warm plutonium.

Texting is trafficking.
“Revenge porn” is trafficking.
Advocated for a lower age of consent.
Ridiculous blue hair, huge (fake?) knockers in a buttoned up leather jacket and neotenous blue eyes. Hmmm yah real trad con.
Reckons her “secks traffickers” ran multiple IF accounts of her
Daughter of a U.S. (Senator?) politician
Always played a victim
Getting moderately right wing accounts banned on various platforms
Was a creepy stalker for a popular emo band that normies could tolerate about 15 years ago.
Was a pro to give a blow.
Chat Star account, others, bragged about being a call girl for ballas and rappers. (Is this X meme applies).

Pogria
Pogria
February 7, 2023 10:06 am

Calli,
that was fascinating. Absolutely spellbound. Will watch it again so I can pause and read the information bytes it has.

Interesting to see how many Ice Ages there have been, but now we are all going to die if the Caps melt! nooooooooo

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 10:06 am

Pat Dodson wants an indigenous rep on the “national cabinet.”

An illegitimate rep on an illegitimate body.

Why not? ScoMo burned down the Aust-stag, and the rest has flowed seamlessly according to an old pattern.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 7, 2023 10:10 am

Pat Dodson wants an indigenous rep on the “national cabinet.”

I’ll bet good money Mick Dodson gets the job.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 7, 2023 10:14 am

Pat Dodson wants an indigenous rep on the “national cabinet.”

Better make it one from each state.
It’s the only way to be sure.

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 10:21 am

Better make it one from each state.
It’s the only way to be sure.

Shouldn’t it really be one from each “nation”?

areff
areff
February 7, 2023 10:21 am

Neil Mitchell has some hysteric (Dr Bronwyn King) on air just now, a long-COVID activist, rabbiting on about heart problems and other attributed symptoms.

Not once did Mitchell ask her how often she has been vaxed, simply soaking up her palaver about “hundreds of thousands” of long-COVID “victims”

It’s just a hunch but I reckon, were you ask these victims if they’ve ever had carpal tunnel syndrome and other manifestations of virulent imaginitis, the Venn diagram would be a near perfect overlap.

duncanm
duncanm
February 7, 2023 10:24 am

EXCLUSIVE: Lisa Wilkinson’s ‘Logies speech’ apology letter leaks

Neither Ms Wilkinson nor the Network Ten Senior Legal Counsel present at the conference with the DPP on June 15 2022 understood that they had been cautioned that Ms Wilkinson giving an acceptance speech at the Logie Awards could result in an application being made to the court to vacate the trial date,

List “didn’t understand” the warning, neither did Ten’s legal council

I guess Shane Drumgold just wanted a bit of idle chit-chat with Lisa, then?

Is there a transcript of the conference with the DPP? As much as I despise the pirate and his wife, maybe this is yet another example of the DPP’s incompetence and political posturing.

C.L.
C.L.
February 7, 2023 10:24 am

ABC calling Turkey “Türkiye” for some reason.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 10:25 am

Ukrainian Paradoxes

Are the borders of country 5,000 miles away more sacrosanct and more worth taking existential risks than our own airspace and southern border?

By Victor Davis Hanson

One of the strangest things about the American response to Ukraine has been the willingness of the Left and the establishment Right to discount completely that the war is heading toward a rendezvous with ever-deadlier weapons and staggering fatalities—even as we witness increasing nuclear threats from a weakened and adrift Vladimir Putin. They insist that Putin is merely saber-rattling. And he might be. Supposedly, in his diminished and discredited state, Putin would not dare to set off a tactical nuclear weapon (as if diminished and discredited leaders are not more likely to do so).

Proxies Versus Balloons

But while we discount the nuclear dangers of a paranoid Putin reacting to the arming of our proxy Ukraine, the brazen Chinese, in violation of American airspace and international law, sent their recent “weather “ surveillance balloon across the continental United States with impunity. Only after public pressure, media coverage, and the Republican opposition did the Biden Administration, in the 11th hour, finally drop its increasingly incoherent and disingenuous excuses, and agree to shoot the balloon down as it reached the Atlantic shore—its mission completed.

Given the balloon may have more, not less, surveillance capability than satellites, may have itself been designed eventually to adopt offensive capability, and may have been intended to gauge the American reaction to incursions, the Biden hesitation and fear to defend U.S. airspace and confront China makes no sense.

Contrast Ukraine: Why discount the dangers of strategic escalation in a third-party proxy war, but exaggerate them to the point of stasis when a belligerent’s spy balloon crosses the U.S. heartland with impunity? Are the borders of Ukraine more sacrosanct and more worthy of our taking existential risks than our own airspace and southern border?

When and How Did Russia Enter Ukraine?

Russia did not just enter Ukraine on February 24, 2022. So where were the voices of outrage in 2014‚ from Joe Biden and others in the highest positions of the Obama Administration when Putin first absorbed Crimea and eastern Ukraine?

Why do the most fervent supporters of blank-check aid to the Zelenskyy government grow indifferent when we ask how Russia in 2014 managed so easily to reclaim vast swaths of Ukraine? Is it because of the 2012 hot-mic conversation between Barack Obama and then Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev in Seoul, South Korea, in which Obama promised: “On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space. . . . This is my last election . . . After my election, I have more flexibility.”

Obama’s “ flexibility ” on missile defense in eastern Europe was an understatement—given he completely canceled a long-planned major U.S. commitment to Poland and the Czech Republic, a system that might have been of some value during the present conflict with Putin. And certainly, Putin did give Obama the requested reelection “space” by not invading Crimea and eastern Ukraine until 16 months after Obama was reelected in his “last election.” Once he did so, the bargain was apparently sealed, and each party got what it wanted: both space (i.e., temporary good Russian behavior) and flexibility (i.e., canceling an air defense system).

So it was almost surreal how the bipartisan establishment forgot why and how Putin entered and annexed thousands of square miles of Ukraine so easily, and apparently on the correct assumption of an anemic American response. Did James Clapper in 2014 smear Obama as a “Russian asset” as he did Donald Trump in 2017?

In the “Russian collusion” and “Russian disinformation” hoaxes, the purveyors of those hysterias forgot the role of “reset” appeasement in empowering Putin to attack Ukraine in 2014—in the same manner as the Biden Administration’s ignominious retreat from Kabul was the context for Putin’s 2022 attempt on Kyiv. The common denominator in both cases was Moscow’s apparent conclusion that foreign policy under the Obama-Biden continuum was viewed as indifference to Russian aggression.

Who Did Not Arm the Ukrainians?

Why, after 2014, didn’t the Obama Administration arm the Ukrainians to the teeth? The surreal element of the first Trump impeachment was the reality that Trump was impeached for delaying offensive arms shipments (on the understandable and later proven assumption that the Biden family and elements of the Ukraine government were both utterly corrupt).

If Trump was impeached for delaying the offensive arms he approved and eventually sent, what was the proper reaction to Obama-Biden, who vetoed them altogether? And if the fallback argument is that Trump’s delay targeted his 2020 presidential opponent, then we arrive again at the same absurdity. For Joe Biden, by staging the Mar-a-Lago raid to charge Trump with the same “crimes” he knowingly at the time had committed, should then likewise be impeached for targeting his possible future political opponent.

But be clear: there is far more demonstrable evidence that the Biden family was corrupt and leveraging the Ukrainian and Chinese governments than there is of Donald Trump pilfering “nuclear codes” and “nuclear secrets.”

Part of the American people’s bewilderment over the left-wing zeal to send $100 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine and to damn anyone who asks for clarification of our long-term strategy in ending the war is precisely the contrast between Putin’s lethargy between 2017-2021 and his restless aggression in 2014 and again in 2022, the bookend years to the hated Trump Administration.

Why Are Our Arms Depots Depleted?

If we wish to wonder why Vladimir Putin believed that the Biden Administration’s response to his aggression would be like the Obama-Biden reaction in 2014, then we need only look to the August 2021 American collapse in Afghanistan. That summer, Joe Biden made the decision to yank precipitously all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, abandoning a $1 billion embassy, a multimillion-dollar refitted airbase, and hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. military equipment, including 22,174 Humvee vehicles, nearly 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,363 machine guns, and 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs 358,530 assault rifles, 126,295 pistols, and nearly 200 artillery units.

Recent reports, denied by the United States, allege that Putin is negotiating with the Taliban to buy some of the abandoned American arsenal to help replenish Russia’s enormous materiel losses in Ukraine. What helped the Soviets win World War II were the American gifts of 400,000 trucks and Jeeps. Over 60,000 American armored vehicles, Humvees, and trucks, now in the hands of the Taliban would be a valuable addition to Putin’s arsenal.

If Russia were to mobilize and use all its resources—10 times the GDP of Ukraine, 30 times the territory, 3.5 times the population—it would likely require a far greater sacrifice of Ukrainian blood and Western treasure. And the war that may have already cost over 200,000 dead and 300,000 wounded will likely prove the most lethal since the Vietnam War, in which over 3 million soldiers and civilians died on both sides of the conflict.

In sum, there would be broader support for Ukraine’s military aid if advocates were transparent on the following 10 issues:

6) Unfortunately, we cannot believe any of the predictions emanating from our top intelligence and military leaders about the course of the Ukrainian war, given they were simply wrong about the Afghanistan collapse, wrong both about the initial resiliency of the Ukrainians and later the supposed imminent collapse of the Russians, both biased and wrong about Hunter Biden’s laptop, implicated in the Russian collusion hoax, and once again misled the American people about the time of arrival, the nature, and the purpose of the Chinese balloon, and the various garbled reasons why it was not immediately shot down.

7) Those who feel international negotiations about the status of Crimea and the Ukrainian borderlands are tantamount to surrender, and therefore taboo, must prepare the American people for their envisioned victory of ejecting every Russian from pre-2014 Ukraine, by assessing the dangers of a nuclear exchange, the eventual cost in arms and weapons of $200-500 billion, and a price tag of economic aid to rebuild a ruined Ukraine that will vastly exceed our military aid.

8) Those who advocate Ukraine’s entry into NATO, must remind the American people that should Putin then mount a second offensive into Ukraine, American troops, along those of 29 other NATO nations, would be sent to Ukraine to fight nuclear Russia and its allies.

9) We should apparently accept as regrettable, but tolerable that the war in Ukraine has united China and Russia, ensured they are both patrons for nuclear North Korea and soon-to-be nuclear Iran, and are near to drawing Turkey and India into their orbit—or nearly half the world’s population.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 7, 2023 10:27 am

Scottish independence would actually be very cool and interesting.

Translation:
very cool – Freezing
and interesting- As in “I hope that noise in the dark is not a cannibal porridgewog looking for his next meal”

C.L.
C.L.
February 7, 2023 10:27 am

Today:

Patrick Dodson now wants Voice seat at the “national cabinet” to control all parliaments. Albanese says the ‘door is open.’ Penny Wong says that “shouldn’t be a problem.”

P
P
February 7, 2023 10:29 am

Superwoke ChatGPT busted for bias
It’s a tool and like any other tool it can be misused

Built by the Silicon Valley company OpenAI, ChatGPT has been available for use to the public as a prototype since late November.

In the last week, however, the internet bot has become a lightning rod for criticism as evidence of its steep political bias has surfaced. To be clear, the technology itself is not biased. Rather, it produces content based on the data that has been inputted into it. Or in the words of Pedro Domingos, professor of computer science at the University of Washington, “ChatGPT is a woke parrot”.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 10:30 am

ABC calling Turkey “Türkiye” for some reason.

They should start calling Australia “New Holland”.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 10:33 am

Terra Australis if you please.

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 10:34 am

ABC calling Turkey “Türkiye” for some reason.

Yet Paris is never Paree.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 7, 2023 10:34 am

ABC calling Turkey “Türkiye” for some reason.

it’s like the way George Dunnycan used to pronounce Mediterranean names with a Latin flourish

areff
areff
February 7, 2023 10:35 am

Anyone with an idle moment should call Mitchell and tell him, breathlessly and wheezing, about all the bizarre symptoms of long COVID — spots before the eyes, chooks becoming sudden objects of sexual attraction, pus pouring out from between the toes, that sort of thing.

Derangement ain’t derangement unless its 110% derangement.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 7, 2023 10:36 am

Like Chile has to said ‘chil-eh’ to prove you are cognoscenti.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 10:37 am

The Morning Briefing: That Noise You Hear Is the ChiComs Laughing at Pudding Brain Biden

If the Chinese balloon thing was a mini dress rehearsal for World War III, we may want to form some Mandarin study groups.

Those of us who live here in reality have long dreaded finding out how the cabal that runs Joe Biden’s brain would react to any kind of international tension. The way Team Pudding Brain went about things these last several days wasn’t a comfort. My colleagues were all over it, so let’s peruse some of what they covered.

“Nothing to see here, move along” is the general Democrat approach to most things, but it’s really not a grown-up way of dealing with the bad guys sniffing around your backyard.

Or your entire country.

There’s not a lot of intellectual firepower in the Executive Branch right now. They act reflexively rather than thoughtfully. Predictably, they went to their favorite deflection when they’re screwing up — Trump whataboutism.

This is from Rick:

Do you know how investigators can tell if someone is lying? The perp keeps changing his story.

On Saturday, a Biden administration official told several news outlets that Chinese spy balloons briefly traveled over the United States at least three times during the Trump administration. There was only one problem with that statement: it left out some essential information.

As PJ Media’s Matt Margolis carefully documents, just about every major defense and intelligence official from the former Trump administration denied that there were any such incursions by Chinese spy balloons.

So, once again, the Biden administration was forced to change its story. They are now claiming that U.S. intelligence knew of the spy balloons, but sort of forgot to tell anyone — including Donald Trump.

OK, this is more like a little kid trying to lie his way out of trouble after getting caught standing next to a lamp that just broke. He spins and spins until it’s almost comical. Unless national security is at risk, of course. Matt’s got more on the flailing:

Rabz
February 7, 2023 10:38 am

explain to me how “La Amphibian” (LOL) was on…a million buckeroos a year.

Hate to break it to you, Dot, but even though the foul ol’ slag isn’t currently* blighting telescreens across the nation, she’s still on…a million buckeroos a year.

Given Ten’s allegedly precarious financial position this is yet another example of what might be termed “extremely poor commercial practice”.

the same basket as calling tax increases ‘savings’ for the budget

Or referring to tax cuts as “subsidies”.

* And hasn’t been since the logies speech imbroglio

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 10:38 am

Terra Australis if you please.

We can be thankful there is no indigenous name for the continent.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
February 7, 2023 10:39 am

ABC calling Turkey “Türkiye” for some reason.

They’re making one helluva rod for their back with that.
Türkiye is right next door to Hellas, then Shipqueri, & god only knows how to pronounce the local lingo moniker for half of Europe (er sorry… Evropa)
They’d also better start referring to, Nippon, Chungukuo & lotsa other places most of us have never heard of.

Or they can grow the heck up.

Rabz
February 7, 2023 10:39 am

“ChatGPT is a woke parrot”

Gifted with magnificent plumage while pining for some virtual fjords.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 7, 2023 10:41 am

Eliza Bleu

Thot?
Born again virgin?
Grifter?

All of the above?

MatrixTransform
MatrixTransform
February 7, 2023 10:41 am

Terra Australis

Terra Incognito seems quite apt in both a modern and antiquated sense

Tom
Tom
February 7, 2023 10:42 am

ABC calling Turkey “Türkiye” for some reason.

The ABC: when too much hatred of Australian culture and tradition is barely enough.

But it’s OK — we have SBS for that.

Rabz
February 7, 2023 10:42 am

ALPBC calling Turkey “Türkiye” for some reason

Sacré bleu! The pretentious imbeciles will start referring to Turin as Torino at this rate.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 10:43 am

China’s Role in the Gas Stove Debate

China’s balloons are overt shots across the bow of what remains of the free world, but it is important to watch out for the torpedos.

One such torpedo is the whole gas stove controversy.

As the Washington Free Beacon notes, the non-profit Climate Imperative is a well-funded group that has its sights set on eliminating gas stoves. It has a budget of around $1 billion, thanks to Laurene Powell Jobs and John Doerr, a pair of billionaires themselves. As a non-profit, it has a board, or what it calls an “advisory council,” and one of that board’s members is Wang Yi. Yi is a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. What is not commonly known about Yi is that along with a lengthy list of academic credentials, he is also a member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress of the P.R.C — in other words, the Chinese government.

The Beacon reports that the committee, when the full legislature is not in session, works to advance the goals of the Communist Party. Wang also advises the Chinese government on climate change through the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, which operates with the approval of the CCP. The group is tasked with advising the government on climate and development.

Climate Imperative, with Li as a council member, has made contributions to the Building Decarbonization Coalition, which works to transition buildings from gas to electricity. The Beacon also reports that Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Institute has worked with China’s National Development and Reform Commission to transition away from oil and gas to electricity. The Rocky Mountain Institute published a study alleging a link between gas stoves and childhood asthma.

As PJ Media reported last year, Vivek Ramaswamy has pointed out how effective China has been in exploiting ESG and related efforts to undermine the United States as a world power. This includes leveraging racism and racing ahead in energy development. China wields its economic power to avoid restrictions placed on U.S companies:

BlackRock became the first foreign owner of a domestic, wholly-owned asset management subsidiary business in China. This occurred after BlackRock lobbied for different standards for Chinese companies that want to list in the U.S. BlackRock continues to apply stringent ESG standards for U.S. energy companies such as Chevron and Exxon. But the company is also a major shareholder in PetroChina, which is buying up the same projects that BlackRock has effectively forced American companies to abandon.

Naturally, China has an interest in finding ways to hamstring the U.S. economy. And if it can do so with our cooperation, so much the better.

Yes, we should be watching the skies for Chinese spy balloons. But while we crane our necks skyward, we also need to keep an eye on our waterline.

C.L.
C.L.
February 7, 2023 10:47 am

The ABC places its order at a New York deli…

Per favor?
I’m part Spanish.
NO SOUP FOR YOU!

Rabz
February 7, 2023 10:50 am

Was the ethnic background of the soup nazi ever revealed? He was rather swarthy if I remember correctly.

Not to mention George’s regrettable infatuation with a blonde of the national socialist persuasion.

C.L.
C.L.
February 7, 2023 10:52 am

A reminder that crows are cleverer than Joe Biden:

https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1616486615123116032

Zipster
Zipster
February 7, 2023 10:54 am
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 10:54 am

I think the Turkey thing is because Erdogan was unhappy that his country is known by the name of a dorky bird.

Turkey doesn’t want to be ‘Turkey’ anymore (2 Jun)

Turkish public broadcaster TRT World complained that the Cambridge Dictionary defines the word ‘turkey’ as “something that fails badly,” or “a stupid or silly person,” among other things.

Pretty accurate I would’ve thought.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 10:54 am

I want to the ABCD to use Londinium, Hibernia and Caledonia.

It’s only fair to the third nations traditional owners.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 10:55 am

Premium
Went Woke, Going Broke: The Fall and Rise and Fall of Disney

I’m just old enough to have witnessed the fall of Disney — twice.

The first time Disney fell, it was a decade-long creative malaise, particularly in the studio’s once-revolutionary animation division. Walt’s death in 1966 “left things in disarray at the company,” which featured a revolving door of executives and creative talent.

The ’70s and ’80s saw the company trying to produce darker, more adult-oriented fare, but “by the late 1980s, after many of the era’s movies flopped, the company began shifting back to its roots.”

I don’t need to tell you that Disney’s roots were in family-friendly animation. The studio rediscovered that with 1989’s The Little Mermaid, which launched a corporate and creative renaissance.

Now we’re watching Disney fall again. This time, however, the blame isn’t the loss of the company’s visionary founder.

It’s suicide.

The latest sign that Disney is “an empire in collapse,” as the Critical Drinker (Will Jordan) put it in his latest video, is the “blatant anti-white propaganda” in this clip from The Proud Family on Disney+.

The show’s producer is Latoya Raveneau, who identifies as a “biromantic asexual.” Last year she admitted to pushing a “gay agenda” by “adding queerness” to children’s programming wherever she can.

“This Disney clip is pure critical race theory,” Florida New College trustee Christopher Rufo tweeted, “including the insane conspiracy theory that Lincoln did not free the slaves.” Disney+ showrunners were “super welcoming . . . to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda,” Raveneau said.

It’s a small step from adding queerness to adding anti-American agitprop, particularly since “queerness” is nothing but politically weaponized sexuality. Students of The Frankfurt School understand and approve.

Watching that clip, I get some small sense of what it must have felt like to be any reasonably knowledgeable Soviet citizen subjected to a daily barrage of state propaganda.

Dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn summed up the USSR’s madness like so:

We know that they are lying, they know that they are lying, they even know that we know they are lying, we also know that they know we know they are lying too, they, of course, know that we certainly know they know we know they are lying too as well, but they are still lying.

Solzhenitsyn continued by saying, “In our country, the lie has become not just a moral category, but the pillar industry of this country.”

A country built on a lie couldn’t last. How long can an entertainment company?

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. This story isn’t really about Disney’s growing role in the cultural rot attacking our children at school, on streaming services, or in butcher-shop “medical” clinics catering to teens with delusions of transness.

This is the story of a company that’s been falling for a lot longer than most people may realize.

Pixar brought a Disney-level magic to computer animation with a string of joy- and tear-inducing hits like Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo. Disney, riding high on its animated follow-ups to The Little Mermaid, saw something of a kindrid spirit in the startup studio and acted as its distributor.

Disney finally bought Pixar in 2006. Since then, Pixar has produced more sequels and less quality. Pixar used to be a carat mark of quality filmmaking, but I barely even heard of Pixar’s last three movies — Luca, Turning Red, and Lightyear, apparently. Lightyear is memorable only because it was so woke and so boring that it’s one of Pixar’s few flops.

Disnified Pixar managed to take the beloved Toy Story franchise and wreck it — and that’s been the story of Disney for a decade or longer.

The Mouse bought Marvel in 2009, right after the success of Iron Man led to the powerhouse Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). And yet, after the initial creative force that culminated with the Avengers mega-story arc ran out, so did Marvel. There hasn’t been a must-see MCU movie since Endgame in 2019.

They bought Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise in 2014, and I can’t even talk about that.

Disney’s in-house studio hasn’t produced much classic animation in years. Their live-action movies tend to be unimaginative (and often woke) remakes of their classic animation titles.

In other words, much of the growth at the Mouse House, dating back all the way to 2006, consists of buying up other studios’ intellectual property or rebooting their own.

And they’ve been busy squeezing the creative life out of all of them. The buzz-kill wokeness in productions like She-Hulk, The Proud Family, and The Last Jedi might be as much about a company desperately searching for any kind of cultural relevance as it is about politics.

Disney ran out of creative juice once more, in the mid-naughts. They tried to buy their way out of the jam, but as the declining value of Star Wars, the MCU, Pixar, and Disney itself all show, Walt’s magic is gone once more.

But woke is easy — certainly much easier than doing anything creative. Woke is predictable. Woke pleases loyal internet minions and all the right people at all the right Hollywood parties and award shows.

What woke doesn’t do is sell tickets or streaming services — that’s why Disney was one of the worst-performing stocks of 2022.

I’ve seen Disney fall and rise and fall again. Will they re-rediscover their roots in time to rise once more?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 7, 2023 10:58 am

Shouldn’t it really be one from each “nation”?

That will be the next demand..

Zipster
Zipster
February 7, 2023 11:00 am

Eliza Bleu

Thot?
Born again virgin?
Grifter?

All of the above?

304

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 11:04 am

I’ve seen Luca. It’s an average animated movie for children. Nothing much else from Disney is particularly exciting. My kids have it on streaming for the old catalogue, not the new stuff.

The only decent thing from the “Dark Period” was Tron.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 11:05 am

I’ve seen Disney fall and rise and fall again. Will they re-rediscover their roots in time to rise once more?

I think it’s terminal. Kill it now before the disease spreads any further.

A new Disney animation (6 Feb)

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 11:05 am

Oh, and they’ve destroyed the Star Wars franchise and pooped all over Pixar.

Cassie of Sydney
February 7, 2023 11:07 am

Hmm, will the ABC now refer to “Judea and Samaria”? Because they are the correct names for the “occupied territories” or so called “Palestine”.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 11:09 am

That was disgusting, Bruce. Just what children need…more angry children. The repetition of “slaves built this country” is not just a puerile lie, it’s propaganda and conditioning.

Mickey Mouse has morphed into child abuse.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 7, 2023 11:11 am

feelthebernsays:

February 7, 2023 at 10:14 am

Pat Dodson wants an indigenous rep on the “national cabinet.”

Better make it one from each state.
It’s the only way to be sure.

Please.
States are a colonial construct.
We need one from each of the 300 nations.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 11:14 am

For those who would prefer to read rather than watch, Breitbart has an article up about it now:

Watch: Disney+ ‘Proud Family’ Kids Series Pushes Reparations, Claims USA Was Founded on White Supremacy (6 Feb)

“The Disney+ animated kids series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is pushing reparations for slavery, claiming in its latest episode that America was founded on “white supremacy” and “still has not atoned” for its racism.

In the episode titled “Juneteenth,” which began streaming last week, 14-year-old Maya (Keke Palmer) learns that the founder of her hometown Smithville was a slave owner and organizes a student protest around a monument to the man.

Two clips from the episode have since gone viral thanks to the Twitter account @EndWokeness. In one scene, Maya’s protest provokes the riot police to show up, much to the horror of her two dads (Billy Porter and Zachary Quinto).”

The two dads thing is cute. My woke bingo card just melted.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 7, 2023 11:15 am

Mind blowing how evil big business has become.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 7, 2023 11:16 am

and suicidal

Lysander
Lysander
February 7, 2023 11:17 am

Moana is a pretty good flick from Disney… great music, a fairy good storyline/mythical tale about the indigens of the pacific without the lecturing.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 7, 2023 11:18 am

The whole frankfurt school push completely discounts skill and hard work. I can’t think of a more evil man than Marcuse.

C.L.
C.L.
February 7, 2023 11:19 am

It’s not really about Disney, though, is it?
It’s about America.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 7, 2023 11:21 am

correct CL and it’s a project that started in earnest tin the early sixties

Zipster
Zipster
February 7, 2023 11:24 am

Apple is paying a heavy price for its big bet on China
he company’s big bet on China’s mighty manufacturing nous turbocharged its ascendancy to consumer technology supremacy.

How times change. Today, Apple’s extensive Chinese production capabilities are increasingly viewed as its most glaring weakness. Yet it is as if few analysts, or indeed the company itself, failed to understand just how dangerously reliant it was on China. Perhaps, like so many, they became intoxicated by the fairytale of China’s economic miracle lasting forever. Or maybe, as long as China’s cavernous factories and cheap labour continued to fuel Apple’s extraordinary growth, Wall Street and the company’s board of directors were prepared to overlook such an obvious Achilles’ heel.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 7, 2023 11:27 am

Please.
States are a colonial construct.
We need one from each of the 300 nations.

It’s what it’s going to boil down to – each member of the voice, will, of course, need a fully staffed office, a car with driver, and unlimited air travel..

Vicki
Vicki
February 7, 2023 11:28 am

Apple is paying a heavy price for its big bet on China

I imagine that this will be a common story for many, many western corporations who invested heavily in China.

calli
calli
February 7, 2023 11:28 am

It’s about America.

Progressivism, Marxism, Fabianism. Worldwide.

They once hated Big Business – no longer. They have taken it over.

Small business is the last bastion, along with the Church (which is already partially consumed).

Zipster
Zipster
February 7, 2023 11:28 am

elites=perverts, satanist and megalomaniacs

Sam Smith, Kim Petras Bring Satan, Cages and Whips to Grammys in Fiery ‘Unholy’ Performance

“Sam graciously wanted me to accept this award because I’m the first transgender woman to win this award,” she said,

C.L.
C.L.
February 7, 2023 11:28 am
thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 7, 2023 11:29 am

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0058%3Abook%3D5%3Asection%3D1314a

The whole section is worth a read, particularly how tyrants maintain power.

And it is a mark of a tyrant to dislike anyone that is proud or free-spirited; for the tyrant claims for himself alone the right to bear that character, and the man who meets his pride with pride and shows a free spirit robs tyranny of its superiority and position of mastery; tyrants therefore hate the proud as undermining their authority. And it is a mark of a tyrant to have men of foreign extraction rather than citizens as guests at table and companions, feeling that citizens are hostile but strangers make no claim against him.

Importing citizens who have no “history” to compare what you are doing to the nation now.

These and similar habits are characteristic of tyrants and preservative of their office, but they lack no element of baseness. And broadly speaking, they are all included under three heads; for tyranny aims at three things, one to keep its subjects humble* ?for a humble-spirited man would not plot against anybody?, second to have them continually distrust one another** ?for a tyranny is not destroyed until some men come to trust each other, owing to which tyrants also make war on the respectable, as detrimental [20] to their rule not only because of their refusal to submit to despotic rule, but also because they are faithful to one another and to the other citizens, and do not inform against one another nor against the others?; and the third is lack of power for political action*** ?since nobody attempts impossibilities, so that nobody tries to put down a tyranny if he has not power behind him?. These then in fact are the three aims to which the wishes of tyrants are directed; for all the measures taken by tyrants one might class under these principles—some are designed to prevent mutual confidence among the subjects, others to curtail their power, and others to make them humble-spirited.

*The in-voice appears to be aimed at keeping those evil pale stale males humbled.
** The smashing of churches/ clubs and the atomisation of what were normal human interactions.
*** UNIPARTY!!!!

Zipster
Zipster
February 7, 2023 11:29 am
Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
February 7, 2023 11:31 am

1) the article states ‘our immune systems naturally weaken over time’ – that is correct, its why cancers etc tend to increase with age, and also why vaccines tend not to work well (or at all) on the elderly.
2) the same mechanism that allows the varicella virus (which causes shingles) to escape immune control, also allows cancer to escape immune control

Hence, if the Vaxxes ARE causing shingles (they are –https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/varicella-zoster-reactivation-after ), they are also causing cancers.

I find this really interesting regarding the coming cancer crisis.

As someone with rather rudimentary medical knowledge (basically workplace first aid and CPR), I was already telling people in late 2020 to early 2021 that these injections would leaf to cancer.

I figured it was a logical conclusion based on the available information.

I was the crazy one though…

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 11:33 am

My problem with Walsh is his dismissal of young men’s concerns about how legally and financially perilous marriage is in modern US society (and int he west generally). Rather than agree with this concerns he just told them to “take the chance” and refused to acknowledge that women were even incentivised to divorce or have acted selfishly. Always equivocating “people” – but that’s not what the data says. He acknowledged an overall problem but was sold on the “let’s outbreed the left” meme. He didn’t address any individual argument the men who asked him intelligent questions had. He had to bring up the stupid video game playing meme. He couldn’t help it. Hey nice beard and lumberjack shirt. I suppose you were chopping down trees and touching grass bro when we were playing minecraft? No? Okay then.

What happens in America:

Fair and mutually agreed to divorce petitions re: assets and payments are rejected even if both parties are well off and have 50/50 parenting, as it isn’t “in the best interests of the child”.
The US States make money off child support and are incentivised to make child support payments abnormally large. They also keep more proportionally from low income families being divorced.
Fifty per cent of marriages end in divorce, women initiate 80% of divorces. There are lower estimates but they are even higher, extremely high for university educated women (90%) when the lower average is taken.
Pre nuptial agreements are being weakened in America as they already have been here.
It is worse for US military men, they have a separate divorce law – once qualified, a portion of their retirement pay is paid to the former spouse for life regardless of fault or if they remarry, even multiple times. The way the US military treats soldiers in messy divorce proceedings is quite disgusting. A lot of veterans tend to think this is a major cause of veteran suicides. Thank you for your service eh?
Failure to pay child support is a crime in the US punishable by gaol (all States AFAIK) which does not end when you go to gaol. This leads to a vicious spiral. Gaol. Get out. Struggle to get a job because of criminal record. Go back to gaol when you can’t pay your obligations. Meanwhile, the baby mama gets welfare for being a single mother, likely the whole time. How is this fair at all?

These are all valid concerns and he just failed to even acknowledge them. The only American conservative in the mainstream ever to address these somewhat was Ann Coulter, and it was on a somewhat frivolous Fox TV talk show where she was ripping single mothers.

That’s even forgetting the hell you might face if you dare compliment, talk to, approach or reject a woman. False accusers like “Mattress Girl” receive no punishment, rarely gaol and even rarely a long sentence. God forbid if we punished false accusers in divorce proceedings. Federal judges in Australia have written lamentationally about this recently.

I doubt you are even conservative if you handwave these away. Dennis Prager tried to make an argument once that marriage was a right of passage to adulthood that also gave you a higher income. He’s been married three times so he doesn’t take it seriously or can’t choose good conservative women. He’s also advocated that “divorce can be good” (!?). In modern society there are not many “rites of passage” than can still lead to suicide. There’s a few reasons why married men stay back at on Fridays until 10 PM and are mortgaged up to the eyeballs. If the show does not go on, questions are asked. Remember it is financial abuse to deny your wife money. Wedding vows mean nothing now. For richer or poorer, until I’m not happy. Sure love.

The profanity of modern marriage and divorce is possibly the biggest problem in the west, it divides men and women and it is crushing the fertility rate (and it all starts with misandry and putting women on a pedestal). That on top of absurd taxation of building a new home (46% of the cost of a new home in NSW, typically).

Conservatives have to take this seriously but so should everyone else.

It is a full court press against young men who want to work, pay their way and live a normal life in the west. Now admittedly Walsh has really done well on these issues sometimes.

You have been told for decades how you are evil by lunatic feminist teachers.
Also, if you don’t mind, you can cut your pee pee off. Your parents don’t get a say either.
Your education, trade and income is because of privilege. You didn’t build that.
Women get all kinds of subsidies and favouritism in employment law and scholarships.
If women don’t want to do certain jobs, it is because you were sexist to them.
If you’re successful with women you’re a predator, if not, you’re an incel. Unless you’re a male femimist larping as being a lothario, but no one believes that.
You are holding the can for any children, regardless of her income or her parent’s wealth, even if she lives with them with the kids.
You will get treated worse in a family law court.
You must pay for everyone else’s fatherless children.
You have to pay for your baby mama’s children (or go to gaol in America).
After paying high sales and income taxes, you need to pay 40% + in taxes on a new home.
Your wife can leave you at any time for any reason at all and take at least half of your assets.
It is abuse not to give her money.

This does not go into sociological issues like female entitlement, weak fathers creating modern day Disney Princesses and women’s expectations being skewed because they manage money less well than men – an example being what the perception of an average wage is. Or that women don’t want to get married now or their preference for age of marriage and first child is pushing the envelope of fertility. A man cannot expect to have more than one child anymore.

Sure. Not everyone is like that. There are good people everywhere. I don’t disagree. I am simply stating percentages and the legal and social context of how young men have to live.

Telling men to march into the American Duluth model of family law without any caveats or addressing any issues shows a complete lack of care and indifference to his paying listeners and subscribers. A mentality that they are cattle. I am sorry if this was not his intent but maybe he needs to be strapped in, eyeballs spread open watching Divorce Corp on a loop with Beethoven’s 9th playing in the backgrounds until he gets it.

Lysander
Lysander
February 7, 2023 11:36 am

A friend on twitter is asking if the Voice contravenes Section 9 of the Racial Discrimination Act?…The RDA says..

(1) It is unlawful for a person to do any act involving a distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent or national ethnic origin…

Once it’s in the Constitution, that will “outrank” the RDA but not before that…

Jorge
Jorge
February 7, 2023 11:37 am

ABC news radio this morning casually mentioning that there were three Chinese balloons during Trump. Everybody knows that. Calm down.

This is how propaganda works. Chocolate ration has been raised.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 11:38 am

Not to mention George’s regrettable infatuation with a blonde of the national socialist persuasion.

Possibly the best episode of Seinfeld.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 11:38 am

“The Disney+ animated kids series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is pushing reparations for slavery

You hope Disney and their executives get cleaned out like Kulaks and Boyars but it won’t happen.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 7, 2023 11:39 am

That’s the basket where you’ll also find tax cuts for business called a handout.

Or describing not charging road tax on diesel used off road as a subsidy.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 11:39 am

Oh great just what we all need: another woke chatbot.

Google to release ChatGPT-like bot named Bard (6 Feb)

Google said Monday it will release a conversational chatbot named Bard, setting up an artificial intelligence showdown with Microsoft which has invested billions in the creators of ChatGPT, a language app that convincingly mimics human writing.

I think they mean “convincingly mimics lefty writing”, which isn’t exactly the same thing.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 11:41 am

Yes, yes, THESE concerns. Always easier to proofread after you have posted.

Vicki
Vicki
February 7, 2023 11:42 am

ABC news radio this morning casually mentioning that there were three Chinese balloons during Trump. Everybody knows that. Calm down.

I was amazed that Australians were nonchalant when China fired an “experimental” ballistic missile with a trajectory over Sydney on 21 (or 27?) September 2021.

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 11:44 am

Once it’s in the Constitution, that will “outrank” the RDA but not before that…

Then we’ll really have a racist Constitution.

Vicki
Vicki
February 7, 2023 11:51 am

As someone with rather rudimentary medical knowledge (basically workplace first aid and CPR), I was already telling people in late 2020 to early 2021 that these injections would leaf to cancer.

What is staggering are the medical professionals who eagerly accepted vaccination themselves. A friend, who is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine, and was involved in the approval of novel drugs during his career, is currently battling a myeloma. He was an eager proponent of AZ and was vaccinated almost immediately after it was released in Oz.

rickw
rickw
February 7, 2023 11:51 am

one in three people will develop shingles… because of weakening immune systems, which is totally normal.

My 30 y/o cousin has just developed shingles.

Lysander
Lysander
February 7, 2023 11:51 am

Anyone know what happened to this case?

Dennis James Fisher, a 64-year-old Indigenous Australian man, seeks early access to the age pension on account of his lower life expectancy. Fisher will satisfy the pension age requirement when he reaches the age of 67. Fisher attempted to claim his age pension, but it was refused because he has does not qualify due to the age requirements, and therefore, he will not qualify until June 23, 2024. Fisher argues due to his lower life expectancy as an Indigenous Australian, he should be able to gain early access to the pension.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 7, 2023 11:52 am

duncanm

List “didn’t understand” the warning, neither did Ten’s legal council

I guess Shane Drumgold just wanted a bit of idle chit-chat with Lisa, then?

Is there a transcript of the conference with the DPP? As much as I despise the pirate and his wife, maybe this is yet another example of the DPP’s incompetence and political posturing.

Unless the DPP explicitly green-lighted the speech, an alleged experienced j’ism and media counsel for a media organisation should have understood the risks.
I’m with Cassie.
The Toad knew what she was doing and thought that she would not only get away with it, but thought she would be fêted far and wide for “stunning and brave”.
The only reason she is in the shit now is not because she prejudiced a fair trial for Lehrmann, but because she drew a backlash which made people doubt Britnah’s story, thus killing the prospect of a slam-dunk guilty verdict.

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 11:53 am

Glad I got Novavax (not really but anyway) over the mRNA crap, I got chicken pox as a young adult and if absolutely smashed me.

Imagine if you had actual shingles and mRNA vaccine shingles at the same time!

Dot
Dot
February 7, 2023 11:54 am

Fisher argues due to his lower life expectancy as an Indigenous Australian, he should be able to gain early access to the pension.

Well. Men should get early access too.

Lysander
Lysander
February 7, 2023 11:57 am

It kind of reminds me of the time I wrote to the WA Attorney General (Quigley) congratulating him on his stance and policies supporting gender fluidity and equity.

I followed in my letter that, having worked harder than most Australians and having likely paid a lot more taxes than your average person, as a 40-something I now wanted to identify as an old age pensioner.

He responded “I thank you for your correspondence. The matter you have raised will not be responded to any further.”

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 7, 2023 11:57 am

dover0beach says:
February 7, 2023 at 11:21 am

Here’s another video, this is from Moscow’s largest mall.

Good to hear the Aussie Voice explaining

As he says, how many shops are closed – “10 maybe but there are 400 other Shops” and all the brands closed are available in the other shops – Nike, Converse, North Face shops just renamed

Looks Busy to me and outside the Hypermarket, trolleys looked pretty full.

rickw
rickw
February 7, 2023 11:57 am

I was the crazy one though…

That would be “mentally unwell” per WA and soon to be everyone else’s rules.

No guns for you!

rosie
rosie
February 7, 2023 11:58 am

How about predicting precisely where in Turkey there was going to be a big earthquake?

That might be useful.

Roger
Roger
February 7, 2023 12:01 pm

Fisher argues due to his lower life expectancy as an Indigenous Australian, he should be able to gain early access to the pension.

Well. Men should get early access too.

The RFDS just released a study which they say shows that rural and regional Australians die earlier than metropolitan Australians due to a lack of access to health care for otherwise manageable issues like heart disease and diabetes.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 7, 2023 12:03 pm

I find this really interesting regarding the coming cancer crisis.

Recall when AIDS first appeared there was a weird plague of Karposi’s Sarcoma, which is a rare cancer. Apparently it was held in check in most people by the immune system, but when the HIV sufferers lost their immune system it reasserted itself.

So yes lowered immune system activity can certainly see a rise in cancer, at least in that particular example. How it pans out with the covid mRNA vaccines we won’t know for a while yet…if at all, since the medical fascists won’t want the data in the public sphere.

On the other hand cancer treatment technology is leaping ahead, so hopefully treatment will win the arms race between the cancer and the treatments.

1 2 3 11
  1. No. An older leccy meter will not run slower as it gets older. It will just be more inaccurate. If…

2.2K
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x