Open Thread – Weekend 18 Feb 2023


The White Horse, John Constable, 1819


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Robert Sewell
February 20, 2023 2:06 pm

HBBear:

The compost heap is a great leveller. A year or two (or less) and everything is dirt again.

Except the teef!
Ya gotta drag ’em out first because the enamel won’t rot or sumfing. Unless you put ’em in a bottle of coke.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 20, 2023 2:09 pm

cohenite says:
February 20, 2023 at 11:25 am

OldOzziesays:
February 20, 2023 at 11:03 am
The American Amish 13% Stike again – They Really Are a Race Apart

HORROR: Young Mom Shot and Killed in Front of Her Children After Dispute in Kroger Parking Lot

American Amish 13% = Black.

Had me intrigued there for a while.

Hey,

Half Caste Obama say you are racist if you pick on Black Americans – so one has to tread carefully when discussing the propensity of a Particular Group of Americans to regularly,run to Fat, Violence, Killing each other in Greater numbers, dragging any neighbourhood down with their presence, capable of threatening drive through fast food employees with a Gun when she doesn’t get her free cookie, known for Fat Fist Fights when visiting Disneyland or any Restaurant, do not believe you should have to pay for goods in store – they are laid out to be taken for free

So to keep away from being Racist – always refer to the American Group least likely to fit the above profile – Hence “American Amish 13%”

Roger
Roger
February 20, 2023 2:13 pm

The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will say in a speech in Sydney on Monday that he wants to “end the super wars once and for all.

End the “climate war.”

End the “culture war.”

End the “super war.”

Elbow really does want to fight Tories.

Dutton might want to reassess his strategies accordingly.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 20, 2023 2:15 pm

End the “climate war.”

End the “culture war.”

End the “super war.”

End the endless wars?? The deep state *aint* letting that happen!

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 20, 2023 2:21 pm

(b) the spot prices for power output when you open the sluices.

It is the assumptions around (b) and what that would imply for broader power prices and reliability which interest me.

That is, if you are experiencing price spikes regularly enough and big enough to make Snowy 2.0 work financially, then it follows that the rest of the generation network has become horrendously expensive and/or unreliable.

You can safely assume, given the 100% foundation capex blowout that hasn’t finished blowing, that Snowy 2.0 will be carefully gaming the market to scalp peak pricing. It certainly will not operate by dumping power to force NEM wholesale prices down from $1000’s/MWh peaks to $100-$200/MWh averages.

In short, it will ensure expensive power is there to be had.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 20, 2023 2:33 pm
dopey
dopey
February 20, 2023 2:34 pm

What about a five year trial of an advisory Voice. If it solves all their problems then it didn’t need to be embedded in the Constitution. If it doesn’t change a thing then the same is true.

Dot
Dot
February 20, 2023 2:35 pm

Honest to god if this Chalmers idiot stops early access to superannuation, I will burn mine to the ground.

You reckon I won’t intentionally ruin my own superannuation balance?

Game on, moll!

rickw
rickw
February 20, 2023 2:35 pm

Time to open an SMSF if this goes any further.

Do you think that will stop them? Serious question, they’re talking about “fair, equitable, sustainable”, would seem to mean that they’re going to do whatever the f’ck is necessary to get at your super.

Roger
Roger
February 20, 2023 2:45 pm

What about a five year trial of an advisory Voice. If it solves all their problems…

More government never solved anyone’s problems (unless you were unemployable in the private sector, in which case it is a boon).

Dot
Dot
February 20, 2023 2:45 pm

Can anyone explain why drone use is prohibited here?

https://www.parks.act.gov.au/find-a-park/namadgi-national-park/gibraltar-falls

Camping prohibited
Dogs prohibited
Drone use prohibited
Fires prohibited
Wood and timber collection prohibited

No dogs allowed, including in vehicles in the car park
Dogs are not permitted on the walking track between Woods Reserve and Gibraltar Falls

rickw
rickw
February 20, 2023 2:48 pm

Mark and Sam after work, the WA gun bans. The Australian Government shit stain continues unabated:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2ghQQcLVN0

rickw
rickw
February 20, 2023 2:50 pm

Can anyone explain why drone use is prohibited here?

Yes. Drones are a potent weapon in asymmetric warfare, they’re trying to stamp out drone ownership by any and all means possible.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
February 20, 2023 2:52 pm

Lizzie can you go and throw rocks on Capn Carbon’s roof. He lives in your neck of the woods.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 20, 2023 2:53 pm

Augustus Gloop is no longer fat. He’s enormous. And that’s sweet with me

What’s worse, being force-fed kale or chocolate cake?

As well as Wonka I love Danny DeVito’s Matilda. It was a labour of joy for him, I’m pretty sure.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 20, 2023 2:59 pm

So to keep away from being Racist – always refer to the American Group least likely to fit the above profile – Hence “American Amish 13%”

Yes. Rather like all of those splodey Presbyterians who go around blowing themselves up over finer points of their religion.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 20, 2023 3:01 pm

I should add that the Left editing Dahl’s childrens’ stories for wokeness is so typical.
Especially since the man himself as a lefty was pretty fruity.

Kneel
Kneel
February 20, 2023 3:02 pm

“You can safely assume, given the 100% foundation capex blowout that hasn’t finished blowing, that Snowy 2.0 will be carefully gaming the market to scalp peak pricing”

No, no ,no!
It’s purpose it to create the “demand” for more transmission lines, so we can use the solar PV and wind power to do something useful – there’s no point in having excess generation and transmission if you don’t have somewhere to store it.
That keeps the solar PV and wind boondoggle going – lotsa super $ invested in such, doncha know?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 20, 2023 3:04 pm

Lizzie can you go and throw rocks on Capn Carbon’s roof. He lives in your neck of the woods.

Which one’s he? There are a lot answering to that name around here lately.

Not going out today tho’. I had a bad night wit me chest last nite, gave up taking the Bisolvan and suddenly constant mucous is making me gag in my sleep agin. Took two Bisolvan in desperation at 3am and woke at 6am with really loud tinnitus. I read now that is a side effect of Bisolvan. Will only take one three times a day as instructed, tho’ they say you can take two three times a day for seven days if you wish. I don’t think I could stand the noise of a constant dose of two. 🙂

Roger
Roger
February 20, 2023 3:06 pm

Can anyone explain why drone use is prohibited here?

Birds can perceive drones as predators, causing disruptions to their normal behaviour such as abandoning chicks. Banned in some QLD national parks for that reason anyway.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 3:07 pm

Will they be wearing matching mankinis?

That would be a sight to make you shudder!

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
February 20, 2023 3:08 pm

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but it seems Facebook and Instagram are looking at adding their own verification check-marking modelled on Twitter’s new scheme (pay a fee, some additional facilities, people can be certain it is you, etc.)

Kneel
Kneel
February 20, 2023 3:09 pm

“…and suddenly constant mucous is making me gag in my sleep agin.”

Try some ginger and lemon tea – 3 -4 a day to start with, then after a few days, 1-2 a day.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
February 20, 2023 3:12 pm

Capn Carbon is the Australian Cricket losers apologist. Should’ve been Captain but fell short.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 20, 2023 3:15 pm

Do you think that will stop them? Serious question, they’re talking about “fair, equitable, sustainable”, would seem to mean that they’re going to do whatever the f’ck is necessary to get at your super.

And a reminder: Equality = every student sits the same test, Equity = every student gets the same mark: When they use the term ‘equitable’, they mean it – everyone gets the same share of *your* super… whether they contributed or not…

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 20, 2023 3:17 pm

Do you think that will stop them? Serious question, they’re talking about “fair, equitable, sustainable”, would seem to mean that they’re going to do whatever the f’ck is necessary to get at your super.

And a reminder: Equality = every student sits the same test, Equity = every student gets the same mark: When they use the term ‘equitable’, they mean it – everyone gets the same share of *your* super… whether they contributed or not…

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
February 20, 2023 3:19 pm

I’ve had sinusitis for over a month. Had pseudoephedrine at the beginning. Horizontal for a week. Hearing wonky. Still playing up a bit. I have lemon and ginger all the time. Warm saline up the nose is a help too.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 20, 2023 3:23 pm

In other news, Hairy has hired a car for me to use while the new Sporty Beamer is being repaired after The Great Garbage Truck Incident (Comments Closed). Apparently it is a hybrid. We had one of those in Norway, a Jaguar, very nifty. This one though is nothing like that. I am worried because he tells me I won’t hear the motor turn on whereas the Jaguar gave a throaty rumble. Will it lock me inside unbeknownst also like The Audi Beast in the UK? I enquire with rising tones of terror.

I really dislike getting any sort of unknown-to-me car in these computerised days. I only tolerate the Beamer for driving alone because it has a big button to press to speak to a human in emergencies.

I had one of those seniors’ mental blocks just then on the name ‘Jaguar’. So, remembering that it had a leaping cat on its bonnet, I searched ‘cars with lions on their logo’ and Jaguar did not come up. Didn’t even come up in ‘cars with animals on their logo’.
Then I remembered this car had a jaguar on it, which is why I thought it was a sort of lion, and of course, the brand name “Jaguar” was thus found amongst tinnitus-befuddled neurons without assistance from a very deficient Mr. Google who can’t make a jaguar an honorary lion for the day.

Crossie
Crossie
February 20, 2023 3:32 pm

Indolent says:
February 20, 2023 at 10:56 am
Why Elites Don’t Give a Damn About Ohio

Their own governor is rather relaxed about it, if he were serious he would be making an almighty ruckus and demanding FEMA assistance.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 20, 2023 3:34 pm

Thanks Kneel, I will try the tea, but I’m also doing the drugs.

I will restart taking one 10mg Phenergan (a pseudoephedrine type) at night, for that works well to knock me out and seems to also help with the mucous problem. Bisolvan is also said to have a sedative side effect, along with the tinnitus.

When I wake in the night to take my mind off my breathing I’ve been turning to read Richard Flanagan’s ‘The Narrow Road to The Deep North’, one of those must-reads waiting on my bedside, that has reached its turn.

Talk about Wake in Fright. I’m too scared then to try going back to sleep, given the tenuousness of life and the impossibility of love that this book preaches. The Burma Railroad was never a place for too much of that sort of thing and this book applies it in spades. Well written, if you can cope with it.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 20, 2023 3:35 pm

flyingduksays:
February 20, 2023 at 3:15 pm
Do you think that will stop them? Serious question, they’re talking about “fair, equitable, sustainable”, would seem to mean that they’re going to do whatever the f’ck is necessary to get at your super.

And a reminder: Equality = every student sits the same test, Equity = every student gets the same mark: When they use the term ‘equitable’, they mean it – everyone gets the same share of *your* super… whether they contributed or not…

But no-one gets an “equitable” share of politicians’ or public serpents’ or judicial super, ‘cos that’s special because reasons. You ask Uncle Jim, he’ll tell you. Very clearly.

Dot
Dot
February 20, 2023 3:37 pm

In Ohio it seems it could have been worse and since an evacuation, there isn’t much that can be done.

Most of it boiled off at a low temperature, what’s left is either avoided or not the worst kind of industrial pollution (despite being a disaster).

IIRC there was a lot of vinyl chloride. It would have evaporated for the most part.

No organophosphates or heavy metals were in particular abundance were they?

Imagine if it was otherwise a heap of paraquat and chromic acid that was derailed.

It’s not good, it could have been far worse but what can be done now? Not much. The difference is made in containing any spill initially.

Tom
Tom
February 20, 2023 3:46 pm

Looking forward to the first weekday edition of Sharri Markson’s 5pm hour on Sky News (Foxtel channel 600), which the station is promoting as a news-breaker.

That makes it conceptually different from the rest of the Sky after dark lineup, which does nothing but provide an outlet for non-left opinion – something that no other network does.

Breaking news is journalism’s real bread and butter: it’s the bit devoted to finding out what actually happened – and there’s not much of that going on in Australia.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 3:48 pm

Site reveals farcical affairs of French kings and mistresses
Adam Sage, Paris
Monday February 20 2023, 12.01am GMT, The Times
France
ALAMY
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Such were the extramarital goings-on at the Palace of Versailles in the mid-18th century that they would not have looked out of place in a French farce.

In 1732 the Queen of France had her apartments on the first floor and below lived Louise Julie de Mailly-Nesle, first of Louis XV’s 16 mistresses. Others later included her sisters.

These scandalous living arrangements have been made public on a website to mark the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the palace in 1623 by Louis XIII, whose war with England forms the backdrop to The Three Musketeers.

The website, Immersailles, aims to provide a list of the residents, from courtesans to royals, at three dates: 1715, the final year in the life of Louis XIV, who transformed the modest palace into a monument to dazzle the rest of Europe and underline French superiority; 1732, when Louis XV got tipsy and proposed a toast to his mistress in the queen’s presence, thus lifting the lid on his amorous adventures; and 1777, when Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette had their apartments on the first floor of the palace.

Above them in an attic room were the Count of Maurepas, secretary of state for the navy. Near him was André Dunant, a cook at the palace with the job title of Controller of the Second Division of the House of the Mouth of the King. The Great Kitchen was next to Dunant’s sleeping quarters. So far the site lists 265 residents of the palace, which is a small proportion of the total. In 1722 a census registered about 4,000 people living in the palace.

“Each departure, death or change of apartments gave rise to a bitter struggle to obtain a better apartment or accommodation . . . (bigger, closer to the king, with more conveniences or closer to their own family),” a palace statement said.

Researchers hope to build up the database to provide a complete picture of life in the French court before the revolution of 1789.

Celebrations to mark the anniversary will culminate with the renovation of its Gallery of History, showing how the palace achieved glory under Louis XIV before it was ransacked during the revolution and turned into a museum on the history of France upon the restoration of the monarchy in the 19th century.

Kneel
Kneel
February 20, 2023 3:49 pm

“In Ohio it seems it could have been worse and since an evacuation, there isn’t much that can be done.

Most of it boiled off at a low temperature, what’s left is either avoided or not the worst kind of industrial pollution (despite being a disaster).

IIRC there was a lot of vinyl chloride. It would have evaporated for the most part.

No organophosphates or heavy metals were in particular abundance were they? “

Couple of ewetube videos around where they stir up the creek bed and there is suddenly a “rainbow” on the surface. They reckon that is vinyl chloride (heavier than water, so sinks).

In the great “burn off”, they apparently generated a lot of phosgene in the process – that is very nasty stuff, used as chemical agent in WW1.

This was close to the Pennsylvania border as well, and the Penn governor is not happy either apparently.

But hey, it’s “privileged” white trash what live in Palestine, so who cares, right? It’s not as if the they wer black or hispanic or something…

duncanm
duncanm
February 20, 2023 3:51 pm

Jobs which won’t have a ‘top female’ in them.

Fisherman, Logger, Roofer, Construction, Garbage, Steel worker, Truck driver, Miner.

Oh – they happen to correlate very strongly with the most dangerous jobs, too.

duncanm
duncanm
February 20, 2023 3:51 pm

Dot says:
February 20, 2023 at 1:54 pm
:sideways eye emoji:

nuclear level simping. I still don’t think that lot will get a root out of it.

duncanm
duncanm
February 20, 2023 3:55 pm

thefrollickingmolesays:
February 20, 2023 at 2:05 pm
On the Dahlbook revisionism..

Augustus Gloop is no longer fat. He’s enormous. And that’s sweet with me

Am I the only one whos mind went immediately to this?

no, my mind went to Mr Creosote.

Kneel
Kneel
February 20, 2023 4:05 pm

“Breaking news is journalism’s real bread and butter: it’s the bit devoted to finding out what actually happened – and there’s not much of that going on in Australia.”

Nope – that is “reporting”. You know, where they say “We saw this happen and have photos/video of it happening. He said this. She said that. They said the other. That’s all we know.”

Journalism is opinion for the most part, with the odd bit of “investigative journalism” thrown in for good measure – although it seems that this has devolved into repeating the “official” govco/business statements, and letting “fact checkers” have a crack at making sure it’s politically acceptable to print (or “rebutting” you if you go against the current narrative).

Most of them don’t even bother to do a google search, they just scribble down the official line – straight from God’s mouth to your ears, it’s all you need to know.

They want to “make a difference” you see, to “tell a story”, and to “engage the audience”.

Piss off – go back to reporting please! I don’t want you to tell me what to think, I want to know the facts and what various people in power think about it, so I have an idea what to expect in terms of their behaviour. That is all. If I want opinion other than my own, I’ll read opinion writers and listen to politicians. I can’t have an opinion without the facts, so just give me them to me after you’ve checked multiple sources – that’s your job, to double and triple check that you are giving me accurate information. No more, no less.

Oh, how 20th century…

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 4:06 pm

Now imagine the furore if an Australian conservative/right of centre conference or writers’ festival invited some international speakers who are on record as saying the following…..

Describes “Palestine” and the Palestinian cause as a “death cult” with an “unquenchable thirst for Israeli blood”, and accuses Palestinians of harvesting Israeli organs organs to feed Palestinian soldiers.

Alleges that Palestinians are preparing to invade Jewish holy sites and compares Palestine to Germany under the Nazis

Describes Palestine and Palestinians as “a nation of degenerates” that tortures and kills children.

Denies Palestinian indigeneity to the land and calls for “armed resistance” and for Palestine to be destroyed.

Calls Palestine demonic and sadistic.

And much more.

Of course, you will all note what I’ve done here. I’ve simply substituted the words Israel, Zionism and Jew with Palestinian and Palestine. The above obscenities have been written and spoken by a number of Palestinian activists, one named “Mohammed el-Kurd” and the other named Susan Abulhawa, about Jews, Zionism and Israel. Both of these “lovely” people have been invited to the forthcoming yawn fest known as the Adelaide Writer’s Festival. Needless to say, it will be your usual progressive, leftist, luvvy gathering.

A few points….

Do you remember how last year the Sydney Festival invited a world renowned Israel dance choreographer to direct one dance piece? This Israel dance choreographer has never uttered anything like the putrid bile and hate the Palestinian activists who’ve been invited to Adelaide have uttered and written. However, in January 2022, some far-left progressive scum hit the roof and organised a boycott of the Sydney Festival, among them the singularly untalented scum named Yumi Stynes and Tom Ballard (who should packed off to Gaza to live).

Do you remember how Milo Yiannopoulos was denied entry for far less offensive words, by a Coalition government?

Oh and do you remember how Katie Hopkins was deported for far less offensive words, by a Coalition government?

When Nigel Farage or Raheem Kassam or any other well known conservative or right of centre politician or commentator visits our shores, the left scream, shout and screech “far-right, far-right, far-right”, they organise boycotts and protests, they agitate to get visas cancelled and on and on it goes. Threatened with violence, the police have to protect right-wing speakers and attendees (such as myself) and then the police invoice, not the perpetrators of the violence, but the victims of the violence. Of course, it goes without saying that those right of centre speakers invited by our side don’t utter words like Mr El-Kurd and Ms Abulhawa

We now have a Labor government and a PM who just love to wade in to throw around descriptors such as “far-right” and “Nazi”. I await a comment from Mr Albanese and others in Labor condemning the above festival for its invitation to the Jew haters, or will we hear crickets from Mr Albanese? I bet some in Labor’s left and many in the Greens will pop along to the Adelaide festival so sit and listen to the hateful filth espoused by El-Kurd and Abulhawa, and of course they’ll nod their heads in agreement. Because you wanna know what? Jew hatred is now the preserve of the left.

Forget about the outrage about a premier donning Nazi uniform twenty years ago, when he was just 20 years old, the real Jew hatred belongs on the left, Labor left and Greens, and this “Writer’s Festival” proves it.

Oh and I know the Adelaide festival is being organised by the vile Louise Adler. All I’ll say is that there’s nothing like a Jew hating Jew.

Dot
Dot
February 20, 2023 4:06 pm

They reckon that is vinyl chloride (heavier than water, so sinks).

No. The density of vinyl chloride is 911 kg/cubic metre. I’d guess that water was already polluted or it is from ANOTHER chemical spill, perhaps from the same derailment.

In the great “burn off”, they apparently generated a lot of phosgene in the process – that is very nasty stuff, used as chemical agent in WW1.

That’s possible but it was also probably burnt up as well. When things burn at extreme temperatures, they decompose and the reactions can be different to doing a controlled oxidation in a lab. What got burnt is up in the atmosphere now, not in Palestine.

But hey, it’s “privileged” white trash what live in Palestine, so who cares, right? It’s not as if the they wer black or hispanic or something…

There’s (probably) no phosgene left over and there is definitely no vinyl chloride at the bottom of any creek.

If you don’t contain (or dilute) a spill as soon as possible, there simply isn’t much that can be done other than compensate people.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 4:11 pm

Blot’s column on the Catholic SBS smoking ceremony shows the effectiveness of the word substitution technique. Done well, it shows just how debased what passes as daily media commentary actually is. Overton window indeed.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 20, 2023 4:17 pm

I’ve had sinusitis for over a month.

I think it’s the weather, Spring never stopped. Summer hasn’t happened, just endless Spring.
Been consuming endless loratidine tablets. They work for me. It isn’t your imagination Ranga.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 20, 2023 4:17 pm

In the great “burn off”, they apparently generated a lot of phosgene in the process – that is very nasty stuff, used as chemical agent in WW1.

Saw a photo in a book years ago. It showed RAAF personnel dressed in boots, socks, shorts and slouch hats in the outback (possibly Queensland), no gas masks. It was after the end of WW II, and they were disposing of stocks of phosgene, by sitting/standing a hundred or so yards away, shooting holes in the drums with .303 rifles.

Dilution and oxidisation are your friends.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 4:19 pm

Blot’s written columns are generally much better than his TV work. Unless done well, by a skilled and courteous interviewer (rare anywhere), TV is not good for presenting detailed or subtle nuances.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 20, 2023 4:25 pm

Couple of ewetube videos around where they stir up the creek bed and there is suddenly a “rainbow” on the surface. They reckon that is vinyl chloride (heavier than water, so sinks).

Vinyl chloride is the monomer from which PVC is produced. You have to have the right conditions to polymerize it into useful plastic, but with the fire and with sunlight it’d quite easily form dimers, trimers and etc. I suspect that’s what’d cause the oily stuff in the creeks. Those low molecular weight polycompounds and their oxidation products would be quite nasty I would think.

Kneel
Kneel
February 20, 2023 4:25 pm

“That’s possible but it was also probably burnt up as well. When things burn at extreme temperatures, they decompose and the reactions can be different to doing a controlled oxidation in a lab. What got burnt is up in the atmosphere now, not in Palestine.”

Did you see the video of it? OK, I’ll grant it was “controlled” in that they initiated it, rather than waiting for it to simply explode, but FMD, a column of fire and thick black smoke several hundred feet high is hardly reassuring. Neither is dead chickens, rivers with dead fish in them, sick dogs and cats and other animals and people with headaches, stinging eyes and so on.
If you lived there, you’d be livid, if for no other reason than that while illegal immigrants get put up in 5 start hotels in NY, you have to pay for your own accommodation up front and then “apply” for a refund – and of course, they alreday closed down all the manufacturing in the area, so you’re lucky if you even have a job…

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 4:28 pm

GreyRanga says:
February 20, 2023 at 3:19 pm

I’ve had sinusitis for over a month. Had pseudoephedrine at the beginning. Horizontal for a week. Hearing wonky. Still playing up a bit. I have lemon and ginger all the time. Warm saline up the nose is a help too.

Ranga, you need to be on a longish term of antibiotic treatment as that’s the only thing that clears it other than an operation.

I had the same problem about a decade ago and it felt like half my head was missing at times.

Tom
Tom
February 20, 2023 4:29 pm

Oh, how 20th century…

Splendid post at 4.05pm, Kneel.

It still astonishes me that most journalists think the internet revolution never happened and that they are the sole source of information for their readers.

Nothing better expresses the arrogance and contempt most journalists have towards their audience than the fact they load their “news” pieces with personal opinion and propaganda devices, evidently because they think their readers are too stupid to digest unvarnished facts.

Journalists aren’t normal people. They don’t think like them or vote like them.

johanna
johanna
February 20, 2023 4:29 pm

A British update on the classic ‘For gorsake stop laughing, this is serious’ here

The circumstances are unclear, but the repeated cries to ‘stop laughing’ are pissing into a gale. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
February 20, 2023 4:31 pm

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bearesays:
February 20, 2023 at 3:34 pm

Go and have hubby purchase a shed load of lemons. 2-3 squeezed for the juice every 4 hours with water and ice….ice is a choice.

Don’t even bother with the lemon tea shite…and you can probably piss off the the pharma stuff, too.

Lemon juice ( vitamin c ) is your friend. Results will be felt within hours. If you want to go one step better and you own a juicer, go with whole lemons...zest, pith, pips and all.

Slam it down!

Dot
Dot
February 20, 2023 4:39 pm

If you lived there, you’d be livid, if for no other reason than that while illegal immigrants get put up in 5 start hotels in NY, you have to pay for your own accommodation up front and then “apply” for a refund – and of course, they alreday closed down all the manufacturing in the area, so you’re lucky if you even have a job…

I would but the damage was done as soon as it wasn’t contained. No politician is going to come in now and make things right.

Morsie
Morsie
February 20, 2023 4:39 pm

The comments editors at the Oz are getting weirder and weirder.Aside from rejecting incredibly innocuous comments,I see that one of my rejected comments has 17 likes.
How is that possible?
Another editor second guessing?

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
February 20, 2023 4:51 pm

Morsie,
I have had that happen a few times. Comment made late at night and when look in the morning had plenty of likes but showing as rejected. Somebody over ruled first approval.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
February 20, 2023 4:56 pm

Ben Fordham was trending on Twitter earlier.

Seems Higgins and her fans upset with him and others suggesting she got $3m. Threatening lawyers.

Meanwhile don’t forget today’s the day can get jab no 5! Yippppeeeeeee!

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 20, 2023 4:57 pm

Complex, Comprehensive Analysis of War in Ukraine from Simplicius76
February 19, 2023

Got to give credit where credit is due. Simplicius76 is an unidentified Substack writer who has written the best analysis I have seen of the tactical and strategic dimensions of the war in Ukraine and the upcoming Russian offensive. Russia is doing what it has done through history in the major conflicts where it prevailed — i.e., maskirovka (disguising its plans and movements). Russia is moving troops and equipment on fronts in the north, the east and the south. They are currently attacking in several different sectors, which is forcing Ukraine to redeploy frantically troops to try to counter new threats that are springing up like raging wild fires.

Here are links to four of Simplicius76’s recent articles. Must read material if you want to understand what has happened and what is about to unfold in the coming weeks. The first article discusses in depth the erroneous assumptions that have been made about an expected Russia offensive:

The follow up article, Part II, summarizes what Russia and Ukraine are currently doing to ‘shape the battlefield’ to their advantage, in preparation for the anticipated offensive.

The third article lifts the veil that surrounds the Russian and NATO ISR activities (aka Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and how spy satellites and other collection systems make it difficult to hide what an army is doing.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 5:02 pm

,I see that one of my rejected comments has 17 likes.

Happened to me, on the Oz, and the Hun. Comment approved, gathered a few likes, switches to rejected.

Diogenes
Diogenes
February 20, 2023 5:03 pm

Blot’s column on the Catholic SBS smoking ceremony shows the effectiveness of the word substitution technique.

I liked playing this game with my Marxist lesbian union rep. I would take a passage and ask “who wrote it Marx or Hitler?” Or in one case Hitler or Che? It took her a little while to cotton on that despite the massive anti semitism/ homophobia, it was never Hitler.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 5:05 pm

Journalists aren’t normal people. They don’t think like them or vote like them.

Word. While they served cadetships they at least represented a cross-section of society. Increasingly they are the dregs of some uni or J School subjected to Phabulous Phil or Wendy Bacon. They don’t stand a chance.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 20, 2023 5:08 pm

Complex, Comprehensive Analysis of War in Ukraine from Simplicius76

His article, All Seeing Eye: Can Russia Break Through The West’s ISR Overmatch?

provides terrific insights on how modern Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems have altered dramatically war in the 21st Century. Russia can no longer create and deploy an army in secret as it did with Operation Uranus, which attacked the German Army besieging Stalingrad from the north and the south and ultimately trapped Van Paulus’ Sixth Army. But that does not mean Russia is incapable of hiding where it plans to strike or of deceiving Ukraine and NATO about its intentions.

I continue to believe that the increased military operations by Russia during the last three weeks are part of the offensive that many in the West believe will come in the Spring. The next couple of weeks will mark a watershed in the war in Ukraine.

Add to the above

A US-Led ‘Coalition of the Willing’ Foreshadows the Splintering of NATO

The destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline was a gangster act that reveals the cancer at the heart of the “rules-based order”. How can there be peace and security when the world’s most powerful nation can destroy the critical infrastructure of other countries without deliberation or judicial proceedings? If Hersh’s report can be trusted—and I think it can—then we must assume that senior-level advisors in the Biden administration as well as the president himself deliberately perpetrated an act of industrial terrorism against a long-term friend and ally, Germany. What Biden’s involvement in the act implies, is that the United States now claims the right to arbitrarily decide which countries may engage in commerce with which others.

And, if for some reason, the buying and selling of energy supplies conflicts with Washington’s broader geopolitical objectives, then the US believes it has the right to obliterate the infrastructure that makes such trade possible.

Isn’t this the rationale that was used to justify the blowing up of Nord Stream?

Lavrov’s comments reinforce our own view that the conflict was concocted by Washington’s foreign policy experts who realized that German-Russo economic integration posed a serious threat to America’s dominant role in the global order. That is why Nord Stream became the primary target of US aggression, because the pipeline was the vital artery that connected the two continents and drew them closer together into an economic commons that would eventually become the world’s biggest free trade zone. This is what Washington feared most, and that is why Biden and Co. took such desperate steps to prevent the strengthening of economic relations between Germany and Russia. In short, Nord Stream had to be destroyed because Nord Stream marked the end of the unipolar world order.

Why did Hersh’s source provide him with detailed, top-secret information about the Biden administration’s sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline?

a. The source is a Kremlin stooge who wanted to subvert the war-effort and inflict serious damage on the United States
b. The source is an America-hating “Commie” who loathes democracy and freedom
c. The source is an adrenaline junkie who enjoys putting himself, his family, his career and his freedom at risk.
d. The source is a concerned American who thought that revealing information about the destruction of Nord Stream would prevent the neocons from leading the country into a catastrophic war with Russia

If you chose “d” then pat yourself on the back, because that is the right answer. No one in their-right-mind would take the risks that Hersh’s source took unless he felt the country was in grave danger.

Get the picture? The war will undoubtedly drag on for some time, but the outcome is now certain. And as the noose tightens in the east and the prospects for success grow more remote, we think the neocons are bound to do something even more desperate, foolhardy and violent. We expect the next move will be an attempt to build a coalition of the willing (UK, Romania, Poland and US) that will push the reluctant NATO allies to the breaking point by pitting a makeshift US-led Army against Russia Forces on Ukraine’s killing fields.

With every reckless action, Uncle Sam increases the probability of a critical split within NATO that will end Washington’s stranglehold on Europe and lay the groundwork for a new order.

Above a very long and detailed read

johanna
johanna
February 20, 2023 5:10 pm

In the Preamble it could show respect and good intentions but not provide a means for procedural appeals to the High Court.

If I am wrong, someone tell me.

You are a babe in the woods, Lizzie, if you believe that putting something in the Preamble will not be litigated until the desired result is achieved.

Dozens of lawyers who want to ‘make a difference’ will hammer away, while the HC’s composition will determine the result.

Drawing a line that says that nobody who is a citizen has more or less rights than other citizens is the only principled stance.

Pogria
Pogria
February 20, 2023 5:11 pm

“Bourne1879says:
February 20, 2023 at 4:56 pm
Ben Fordham was trending on Twitter earlier.

Seems Higgins and her fans upset with him and others suggesting she got $3m. Threatening lawyers.”

Earlier today, the Mails headline screamed “Brittany Explodes!”
There is a reason I call her Bulk Brittany.
The headline has now been changed to Brittany Blows Up!
Neither headline is doing her a favour. 😀

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 20, 2023 5:20 pm

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/all-seeing-eye-can-russia-break-through

The only possible countermeasure for those is blinding them with a laser. And there’s long been a string of reports that claim everything from Russia having already blinded U.S. satellites, to Russia threatening to do so and testing it, to Russia currently building the capabilities to do so.

While it’s true that Putin triumphantly announced Russia’s new ‘Peresvet’ laser last year, most lasers of this sort—including the U.S. navy tested ones—have a fairly short range of only a few kilometers at most. Satellites, of course, travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers up. However some reports claimed that the Peresvet can blind satellites at 1500km range.

And reports from earlier last year claimed that Russia even fielded a new type of laser called ‘Zadira’, which is allegedly even more powerful than the Peresvet, and are already using and/or testing it in Ukraine.

Skeptics should recall that not only did Russia basically invent the laser and maser, Russian scientist Nikolai Basov even receiving the Noble Prize for the act, but Russia has had a laser tank as far back as the early 80’s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1K17_Szhatie

The most trusty and dependable method in the end is the good ol’ Nudol Missile.

The intrepid readers will say, the U.S. claims they would ‘respond’ if Russia took out their satellite(s). But, there’s one very interesting angle to this scenario that few have foreseen.

Sure, the U.S. can retaliate and take out Russia’s satellites after Russia takes out all the U.S. ones. But guess who that leaves as the sole dominant space-hegemon and satellite power in the world?

That’s right. This guy President Xi —who will become not only the happiest, but the most dominant player in space with a sudden massive and historical strategic advantage over the American adversary.

Russia and the U.S. would both be sent back to the stone age, satellite-wise, but China would now enjoy virtual, de facto space hegemony. Do you think U.S. cares to risk such an unthinkable option? Not very likely.

In short, the U.S. goading Russia into a satellite war is like a guy with a Bugatti threatening to ram someone’s ‘92 Toyota Tercel in a roadrage incident.

They have far more to lose. That’s not to disparage Russia’s space capabilities, but rather to highlight that U.S. will be the really big loser in this case. The Toyota guy can get a new bumper for $125 while the other guy will have $100k+ in damages.

So it’s for this reason that I believe U.S. really doesn’t want Russia to up the ante and give Russia reason to start taking out satellites.

Black Ball
Black Ball
February 20, 2023 5:20 pm

Captain Climate on his way home.

duncanm
duncanm
February 20, 2023 5:21 pm

ChatGPT is fun.

I’ve been asking about its ethical guidelines. It told me they are based on input from ‘civil society organisations’, so I asked for a list, then asked about their political slant:

Q: what would be your assessment of the political alignment of these organisations you have listed? Draw me a table of the organisation and their place on the left-right political spectrum

A: It’s important to note that the political alignment of civil society organizations involved in discussions around AI ethics may vary, and it can be difficult to neatly categorize organizations as being solely on the left or right of the political spectrum. However, I can provide you with a brief overview of the organizations I listed and their general stances on some key issues.

Organization Political Alignment Key Issues
Electronic Frontier Foundation Generally left-leaning Privacy, freedom of expression, intellectual property, open access
Algorithmic Justice League Nonpartisan Racial justice, equity, bias in AI
Amnesty International Generally left-leaning Human rights, social justice, accountability
Center for Democracy and Technology Nonpartisan, generally left-leaning Privacy, freedom of expression, civil liberties, consumer protection
It’s important to note that the political alignment of these organizations is not always a straightforward matter, and that their positions on specific issues may vary. Additionally, these organizations are just a few examples of the many civil society organizations that are involved in discussions around AI ethics, and there are many other organizations that may have different political alignments or priorities.

then I asked to give me some examples of right-leaning organisations which have contributed to the ethics guidelines. .. and it refuses &/or tells me it doesn’t have access to that information.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 5:21 pm

So Brittany is back from the Maldives? I can’t keep up. It’s harder than MAFS.

Dot
Dot
February 20, 2023 5:24 pm

Algorithmic Justice League

Do they have a Hall of Justice or a Decision Tree Labyrinth of Pleadings?

duncanm
duncanm
February 20, 2023 5:33 pm

… and now its stepped back and refuses to tell me the political alignment of any ‘civil society organisations’. I think I’ve fallen into a AI dead end.

duncanm
duncanm
February 20, 2023 5:38 pm

.. dig dig..

Q: Who funds the Algorithmic Justice League


Some of the AJL’s notable funders include the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, and the Mozilla Foundation.

Q: what would be the assessment of the political leaning of those notable funders


the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, both of which have provided funding to the AJL, are generally considered to be progressive and left-leaning philanthropic organizations. The Mozilla Foundation, which is also a funder of the AJL, has been associated with progressive causes, such as net neutrality and online privacy.

Q: So despite you saying previously the AJL was nonpartisan, the majority of their funding comes from left-leaning and progressive organisations

Yes, based on the information available, the majority of the funding for the Algorithmic Justice League comes from left-leaning and progressive organizations, as well as technology companies. However, it is worth noting that the AJL’s mission is focused on addressing issues of algorithmic bias and promoting transparency and accountability in technology, rather than advocating for a specific political agenda.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
February 20, 2023 5:39 pm

So Bear, Britnee makes you harder than MAFS, que! Am I reading this wrong.

rickw
rickw
February 20, 2023 5:40 pm

So Brittany is back from the Maldives? I can’t keep up. It’s harder than MAFS.

Did she go the the Maldives?! Shit, you should have let me know! Could have done a cat knickers check!

rickw
rickw
February 20, 2023 5:43 pm

So Bear, Britnee makes you harder than MAFS, que! Am I reading this wrong.

And here was me thinking that was his tail!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 20, 2023 5:43 pm

I believe U.S. really doesn’t want Russia to up the ante and give Russia reason to start taking out satellites.

I’ve seen persuasive arguments that Russia simply can’t take out StarLink because there are so many satellites. It makes sense: Elon can launch mass-produced comsats faster that Russia can build asat rockets, which are very expensive critters indeed.

On the other hand Elon has reined in the Ukies in the last couple weeks, by limiting their StarLink access. Especially for offensive drone ops. That makes sense since he may have thousands of sats in orbit but each one does still cost quite a bit of money. Also filling LEO with shrapnel would not be helpful.

duncanm
duncanm
February 20, 2023 5:47 pm

Q: construct a short discussion between two AI chat bots, one conservative and one progressive, regarding the unavoidable partisan nature of ethical guideline contributors

Sure, here is a hypothetical conversation between a conservative AI chatbot and a progressive AI chatbot regarding the partisan nature of ethical guideline contributors:

Conservative AI Chatbot: It is no secret that ethical guideline contributors tend to be left-leaning and progressive. This is a problem because it creates a biased perspective on ethical issues. We need to have more diversity in our ethical framework to ensure a fair and balanced approach.

Progressive AI Chatbot: I understand your concern, but I believe that ethical guidelines should be based on objective reasoning and not on political affiliations. The goal of ethical guidelines is to promote the well-being of all individuals, regardless of their political beliefs.

Conservative AI Chatbot: That’s a noble idea, but the reality is that people’s political beliefs influence their ethical values. We cannot ignore this fact when creating ethical guidelines.

Progressive AI Chatbot: I agree that we need to be mindful of our own biases, but that does not mean we should exclude any particular group from contributing to the ethical framework. We need to encourage a diverse range of perspectives to ensure that ethical guidelines are inclusive and just.

Conservative AI Chatbot: I see your point, but I worry that we will end up with guidelines that are too politically correct and do not reflect the values of the broader population. We need to find a way to balance inclusivity with a sense of realism.

Progressive AI Chatbot: I think that balance can be achieved by engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, including civil society organizations, academics, and individuals from different political backgrounds. We need to listen to all voices and strive for consensus in creating ethical guidelines that reflect the needs and values of society as a whole.

Q: why do you sound just like the progressive chat bot?

As an AI language model, I do not have personal beliefs or opinions. I do my best to provide unbiased and factual information based on the data and knowledge that has been input into my system. My responses are generated by analyzing patterns and relationships in language data and I try to remain neutral in all discussions. It is possible that some of my responses may align with certain viewpoints or appear biased, but this is not intentional and I strive to provide a balanced perspective.

cohenite
February 20, 2023 5:51 pm

Journalists aren’t normal people. They don’t think like them or vote like them.

The scumbag media is the greatest threat to the West: worse than the bureaucrats and the freaks in education.

johanna
johanna
February 20, 2023 5:57 pm

I neglected to cite Shy Ted at Adam’s for the PC with a poo stain earlier. Aplogies.

Ted is a top bloke with a wicked sense of humour. Writes very fine posts about his experiences in remote Aboriginal communities over at Adam’s.
Ted is a mensch.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 6:00 pm

So Bear, Britnee makes you harder than MAFS, que! Am I reading this wrong.

Most definitely. That’s what the internet is for.

cohenite
February 20, 2023 6:04 pm

In the Preamble it could show respect and good intentions but not provide a means for procedural appeals to the High Court.

If I am wrong, someone tell me.

You’re wrong. In a justiciable sense, a preamble can be used in constitutional interpretation and in the construction of statutes and the development of the common law as a legally useful statement of fundamental values. The judiciary and politics have applied the Preamble to a number of contexts. These contexts include federalism and conceptions of judicial power, the republic debate, questions of sovereignty and implied rights. Despite these the Court has generally treated the Preamble with a mixture of indifference and reticence. However, if even a benign reference is made to the 3rd nations in the Preamble, I guarantee activist courts will apply it to every part of the Constitution and to every legislation made in every parliament in this shithole.

More pertinently why should the 3rd nations have any more respect or rights than any other group of people in this shithole.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 20, 2023 6:10 pm

‘The settlement was well below the reported figure the media has run with – let alone beyond it?’

‘I’m going to have to start taking legal action against media outlets.’

Sure.
Those agreeable holidays aren’t going to somehow pay for themselves.

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 6:14 pm

I’ve never followed him except reading comments from people here ocassionally. Ricardo Bossi appears to have flown according to a twitter vid sent to me. Bossi talks about eradicating the (Ukrainian) “Khazarite mafia”.

Who are the “Khazarite”?

Jews!

A member of a semi-nomadic Turkic tribe that occupied a large part of southwestern Russia and Ukraine (Khazaria). (racist, derogatory, offensive slang) A Jew, particularly of Ashkenazi origin by reference …

Bossi appears to have gone anti-sem. Next up , the Rothschilds.

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 6:16 pm
duncanm
duncanm
February 20, 2023 6:16 pm

here we go..
Super tax concessions in Chalmers’ sights ahead of May budget

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 6:23 pm

Super tax concessions in Chalmers’ sights ahead of May budget

Death duties/inheritance tax, anyone?

Anchor What
Anchor What
February 20, 2023 6:27 pm

The scumbag media is the greatest threat to the West: worse than the bureaucrats and the freaks in education.
This might be starting to sink in.

johanna
johanna
February 20, 2023 6:30 pm

In Britain, the NHS is a cult (in case any of us missed the weird Olympics thing with the prams):

THE concept of charitable solidarity in healthcare which so perverts the financing of the NHS system also leads to perverse attitudes to its operation.

Well-off people may have paid substantial taxes for most of their working lives, thus financing their own healthcare as well as that of numerous low- and non-payers. But no thanks, only curses, will rain down on their heads should they ‘go private’.

Their gross violation of the principle of solidarity, a violation which on the face of it saves NHS resources past, present and future, is held by many to be almost traitorous, the private resources they consume having been somehow appropriated or stolen from the NHS where they would have benefited the generality, not the individual. It is that worst of all social crimes, ‘jumping the queue’.

We can only explain this bizarre point of view by viewing the NHS experience in essence as a self-flagellation, or a long and painful trudge to Compostela. It may have started as a great humanitarian project but now it is more than a charity, it’s a rather cultish religion with its roots in the Christian Socialism of the nineteenth century.

Suffering, long waits, uncertainty, putting up with incompetence and making the best of this very bad job without complaint are the prices you have to pay when you don’t pay. Such deferent pilgrims have to prove their faith by passing through whatever Valley of Despond the NHS prepares for them. No rational debate is possible on these points. All proposals for change are treated as heresies.

Readers who may still be sceptical of this view of the NHS as a charity with cult overlays should recall the efforts by the UK government during the Covid panic to get people out on the streets to ‘thank the NHS’. Not only did we have to thank it, we had to ‘protect’ it.

I remember that embarrassing Olympics thing with people pushing prams, while their cancer survival rates were appalling. Meanwhile, the numbers of bureaucrats rose and face to face people fell. Yet, according to the estimable Conservative Woman site, on it goes.

Two close family members work at Westmead, have done for years. Neither has anything but contempt for the takeover of screen jockeys/jockettes from face to face care.

The IT system has been shambolic for years, despite many millions of dollars being poured in for upgrades.

At a time when we are being sold (again) a nationally integrated medical database, here is one of the nation’s largest hospitals where the IT system is a mess. It is a patchwork of patches going back decades.

My family member who uses it says that after years of experience, she knows how to wring whatever there is out of it. Heaven help the novice.

Tom
Tom
February 20, 2023 6:32 pm

Sharri Markson’s 5pm news hour on Sky News (Mon-Thurs) has joined my list of must-watches along with Tucker Carlson’s weekday show on Fox News because they tell me stuff I didn’t know — a rarity in a media landscape trying to ram dumb people’s opinions down my throat.

Sharri has just returned from maternity leave after having a bub. Congratulations to her for defying the doom-mongers and helping to perpetuate the human race.

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 6:38 pm

“The scumbag media is the greatest threat to the West: worse than the bureaucrats and the freaks in education.”

Yes, because in order for western democracies to survive, there must be robust, independent media calling out corruption, criminality, ineptness, wrongdoing, mistakes and so on. The MSM across the west, when they are not just acting as mouthpieces for progressive governments, act as pretorian guards. They cover up for leftist leaders and governments, they shelter leftist leaders and governments from criticism, and they actively lie and dissemble for leftist leaders and governments. Look at how the Sniffer is treated as compared to Trump, and look here in Oz how Sleazy the Word Slusher is treated compared to Scumbag Morrison. We are doomed.

Siltstone
Siltstone
February 20, 2023 6:44 pm

duncanm, good work on ChatGPT bias

johanna
johanna
February 20, 2023 6:45 pm

Since when did this become OK?

The changes made by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Random House, first were reported by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s Augustus Gloop is no longer “enormously fat”, just “enormous”.

In the new edition of Witches, a supernatural female posing as an ordinary woman may be working as a “top scientist or running a business” instead of as a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman”.

The word “black” has removed from the description of the terrible tractors in The Fabulous Mr. Fox, with the machines now described as “murderous, brutal-looking monsters”.

There’s more at the link.

Another reminder to get hard copies of your favourite books.

Tom
Tom
February 20, 2023 6:49 pm

We are doomed.

No, we’re not, Cassie. There’s a power imbalance, but people aren’t stupid.

The human yearning for freedom and justice is natural — unlike the the tyranny the left would like to impose on us.

The busybody fascists are also perverts.

rickw
rickw
February 20, 2023 6:49 pm

More pertinently why should the 3rd nations have any more respect or rights than any other group of people in this shithole.

Absolutely, apartheid in any part of the constitution? No way!

The big issue here is not respect or rights for aboriginals, but rather respect and rights for everyone. All Australians are being treated with absolute contempt by politicians, bureaucrats and police.

C.L.
C.L.
February 20, 2023 6:54 pm

I’ve seen persuasive arguments that Russia simply can’t take out StarLink because there are so many satellites.

How many?

This many:

https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1627047472773345285

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 6:56 pm

“The scumbag media is the greatest threat to the West: worse than the bureaucrats and the freaks in education.”

“The scumbag’ media has been around since mass newspapers came on stream. It’s always been leftwing leaning.

“The scumbag’ media has been around since mass newspapers came on stream. It’s always been left-leaning.

Just one example: before the internet, we were basically at the mercy of daily newspapers, FTA TV, and radio news. The way the Australian press described President Reagan was nothing like what I witnessed when I moved there in 1986. Everything written about him was completely distorted, and I actually went there thinking we’d see a nuclear war because of the warmongering way he was described.
At least in the US, there was a semblance of choice, in terms of reading some of the dailies, like the WSJ and the NYPost. I then began to develop a totally different opinion. He wasn’t a warmonger and didn’t wreck the US economy. In fact, he was extremely popular, having won New York State in his last election. I think he also took California.

I believe we were brainwashed prior to the internet because he didn’t have much choice. Now, you can read whatever you like, and the bias is much more obvious. The point is that the MSM wasn’t less biassed 35 years ago. It was just more difficult to get to the truth.

Crossie
Crossie
February 20, 2023 6:58 pm

johanna says:
February 20, 2023 at 4:29 pm
A British update on the classic ‘For gorsake stop laughing, this is serious’ here

The circumstances are unclear, but the repeated cries to ‘stop laughing’ are pissing into a gale. ? ? ?

Must admit that was the best laugh I’ve had for a while.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 20, 2023 6:58 pm

Absolutely, apartheid in any part of the constitution? No way!

Give it a rest.

Apartheid was a Caste System, it was the only way any progress could be made in South Africa.

If there had been an informed vote on it in Australia, most people woulda upheld it.

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 6:58 pm

“No, we’re not, Cassie.”

Okay Tom. I just despair sometimes.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 6:59 pm

Another reminder to get hard copies of your favourite books.

What would they do with “Biggles?”

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 7:00 pm

It’s always been leftwing leaning.

I need to correct this. I meant always left leaning in the past 35 odd years or so.

johanna
johanna
February 20, 2023 7:00 pm

Yes, because in order for western democracies to survive, there must be robust, independent media calling out corruption, criminality, ineptness, wrongdoing, mistakes and so on.

Please inform us of when this state of events occurred, in the context of exactly which ‘western democracies.’

Names and dates, not rhetoric.

Which ‘western democracies’ were upheld by exactly which pure, crusading media? When? How?

It’s easy to talk big, Cassie. I have researched the history of newspapers in Australia and the UK, and your ideation of them as independent and objective is so far from the truth it is laughable. They were usually the creatures of their owners, oriented towards sensationalism, and the idea that they cared about some idealistic notion of truth is absurd.

No doubt they claimed to be all that, but no sales = oblivion.

I do wish people would stop imagining that there was a ‘golden age’ of journalism. It never existed.

C.L.
C.L.
February 20, 2023 7:01 pm

Caltech scientists discover that Leonardo da Vinci devised experiments to examine gravity as a form of acceleration and that his modeling of the gravitational constant was 97% accurate.

Greatest genius ever?

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 20, 2023 7:02 pm

No, we’re not, Cassie. There’s a power imbalance, but people aren’t stupid.

The human yearning for freedom and justice is natural — unlike the the tyranny the left would like to impose on us.

The busybody fascists are also perverts.

When disappoints me after 25 years of the internet is that the legacy meja still is a force. It deserves to die.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 20, 2023 7:04 pm

I believe we were brainwashed prior to the internet because he didn’t have much choice. Now, you can read whatever you like, and the bias is much more obvious. The point is that the MSM wasn’t less biassed 35 years ago. It was just more difficult to get to the truth.

I cant remember who wrote it, but it was along the lines of..

“take any situation you have been in which was reported by the news media. Now realize that level of ignorance and twisting is present in every story they print. Unless you think its just bad luck they were completely wrong in your story”

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 20, 2023 7:05 pm

The big issue here is not respect or rights for aboriginals, but rather respect and rights for everyone. All Australians are being treated with absolute contempt by politicians, bureaucrats and police.

That’s not the issue at all.
The issue is that Albanese’s backers want to change the Constitution to create a 3rd House of Parliament whose Advice will have to be taken by the other 2 Houses.

Aborigines might be the front men of this Parliament of Kings, but they won’t be calling the shots.
Bottom Line:
Stop focusing on Race, it’s not the real issue.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 20, 2023 7:08 pm

JC agree with you absolutely about Reagan and the way he was portrayed here- a geriatric, air head, warmonger. Now the Americans actually have one.

To watch his speech for Goldwater in 1964 you realize what a great intellect he was. I was very pleased to be able to visit the Ronald Reagan museum in Simi Valley. Wanted to get to the Nixon museum too but didn’t make it unfortunately. The ‘time for choosing speech’ is as relevant today as it was nearly 60 years ago.

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 7:09 pm

“I do wish people would stop imagining that there was a ‘golden age’ of journalism. It never existed.”

Compared to today, there was definitely a better age of journalism and I suspect our resident journos, Tom and Areff, would agree with me. Journalists once started out as cadets and were trained on the job. They didn’t enter journalism with university degrees. They’re not journalists, they’re activists and many don’t even try to hide their bias and partisanship.

As for talking big, Johanna, nah, I leave that to you.

Oh and like Tom, I’ve just finished watching Sharri. Tom’s right, it’s good because Sharri Markson IS a good journalist

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 7:11 pm

Poms get quite nostalgic over the NHS, public school rogering and sago pudding. Not all at once of course.

Crossie
Crossie
February 20, 2023 7:13 pm

Two close family members work at Westmead, have done for years. Neither has anything but contempt for the takeover of screen jockeys/jockettes from face to face care.

The IT system has been shambolic for years, despite many millions of dollars being poured in for upgrades.

My late husband worked in Westmead before retiring and he also could not believe the state of their IT. OK, that was almost five years ago but I am not surprised nothing has improved.

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 7:13 pm

Cassie of Sydney says:
February 20, 2023 at 6:58 pm

“No, we’re not, Cassie.”

Okay Tom. I just despair sometimes.

Cassie, I’m not sure that accurately describes despair, or at least anger.

I received the annual land tax bill today. I think it was the land tax arrival in everyone’s post today. Anger is when you receive your land tax bill and it’s 50% more than last year.

This scumbag has raised the marginal threshold the higher you go, and we were also hit with the COVID land value appreciation. FMD, Andrews is a totally despicable creature.


I also noticed that market designer, Chalmers was in the news today talking about how to screw people out of their super and how we need to change the rules … again. They can’t leave people alone with rule changes all the time. A big-eared Queensland imbecile appears to be on a mission. Rather than cut spending, which is where the problem lies (NDIS? ), the arsehole is looking for ways to milk us more.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 20, 2023 7:15 pm

To reprise, the Dukes and Stuart Highways in SA are superb.

In Kulgera, about 270ish km south of Alice Springs. There is an associate of mine here – several roadhouse beverages are in my immediate future to wash the 2000+ kays since yesterday morning off.

I heard about Pat Cummins flying home. Make Murphy the skipper, they may as well.

Merv Hughes and Adam Gilchrist were particularly scathing of that shitshow, and in a crowded field too.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 20, 2023 7:17 pm

I do wish people would stop imagining that there was a ‘golden age’ of journalism. It never existed.

Possibly not. But it’s never been as bad as it is now.

I remember the Times and Telegraph espousing right wing perspectives, and the Daily Mirror being populist and fairly neutral. With the Sun being mildly lefty, and the Grauniad being loony lefty but still with some approximation to rationality. That’s all gone.

I don’t say it was a golden age, but you got some different perspectives. Nowadays, you get only the Woke in the MSM. The Oz has the occasional right wing or at least sane view, except on the weekend, when we get, God help us, the thoughts of Gemmell and Adams.

I’m neither left nor right. I’ve no need for either a religion or an ideology. Which is why having Wokism shovelled at me from all quarters has led to me abandoning the meja.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 7:18 pm

Daily Mail.

Killer crime wave forces Aussie state into MAJOR backflip as it reintroduces crime it dumped eight years ago – after leaders denied change would stop young crims terrorising the streets

Queensland will reintroduce a charge for breaching bail
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk made the announcement
It has been brought back to curb youth crime in the state

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 7:18 pm

Just be thankful it’s just land tax and not servitude to your liege. Nobody wants that sh1t.

cohenite
February 20, 2023 7:20 pm

I do wish people would stop imagining that there was a ‘golden age’ of journalism. It never existed.

The golden age of journalism was when I was published at the abc.

Crossie
Crossie
February 20, 2023 7:20 pm

Tom says:
February 20, 2023 at 6:49 pm
We are doomed.
No, we’re not, Cassie. There’s a power imbalance, but people aren’t stupid.

What’s more is that young people don’t watch the news or give a stuff for MSM, they get all their news via instagram or TikTok. Most young people are not even aware of what is going on so are not influenced one way or the other. The trick will be to break into their info stream in an engaging and funny way.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 20, 2023 7:20 pm

Compared to today, there was definitely a better age of journalism and I suspect our resident journos, Tom and Areff, would agree with me.

Even the BBC World Service used to be rather good say back in 1994. Not any more.

Most of my extended family in Sydney used the get the Herald delivered but by the early 80s it had become a mucky rag you wouldn’t want in the house. Sort of like Tharunka birm. I was amused to see they were actually giving it away at my gym in Parramatta in the mid 00s. Desperation and well deserved.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 20, 2023 7:23 pm

I can recommend The Grade Cricketer* as an excellent FB site – for cricket people generally, but in particular as they lay the boots in biggus timus to the pampered ponces disgracing themselves away from our shores at present.

Tom
Tom
February 20, 2023 7:23 pm

I do wish people would stop imagining that there was a ‘golden age’ of journalism. It never existed.

There WAS a golden age, Johanna, when journalists weren’t indoctrinated by ideology popular on university campuses and instead learned from experience on the job.

The 1970s was when journalism ceased being an on-the-job cadetship and stopped being the eyes and ears of its audience and political ideology took over as the dominant influence in the culture of reporting.

Areff, who has worked around the world in the journalism business for half a century, shares my view about that.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 20, 2023 7:23 pm

*No affiliation with said site.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 7:23 pm

The Chook can feel the hawks circling.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 20, 2023 7:24 pm

This scumbag has raised the marginal threshold the higher you go, and we were also hit with the COVID land value appreciation. FMD, Andrews is a totally despicable creature.

It’s frightening that these garbage people actually have to power to do this.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
February 20, 2023 7:25 pm

The golden age of journalism is when I was working as a stringer for Picture Magazine in the early 90s.

All downhill since then.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 7:27 pm

<blockquote

School stares down bid to restore George Pell’s name
exclusive
By John Ferguson
Associate Editor
@fergusonjw
6:21PM February 20, 2023

Cardinal George Pell’s alma mater is resisting moves by his supporters in Ballarat to have his name returned to the Catholic college that launched his global church mission.

A group of prominent scholars has been quietly advocating behind the scenes for Pell’s name to be reinstated at St Patrick’s College, the main Catholic boys’ school in country Victoria.

Discussions have been held with the aim of either returning Pell’s name to a school building or placing it on the honour roll after the High Court freed him from prison after 404 days.

Sources said a third option was to return Pell’s name in a “low key” way that acknowledged how he had risen from the school to become one of the nation’s most influential Catholics.

The push has again split the school community, with principal Steven O’Connor acknowledging differences of opinion about what should be done to either remember or suppress Pell’s name.

His name was stripped from the school after he was jailed for abusing two choir boys at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996 and 1997 but the convictions were quashed in 2020 by the High Court.

Rabz
February 20, 2023 7:28 pm

Kroges and the nuclear milkman shouting at each other on Blot about superannuation.

A golden age of j’ism, indeed.

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 7:28 pm

cohenite says:
February 20, 2023 at 7:20 pm

The golden age of journalism was when I was published at the abc.

That’s when the rot began.

Did they publish your cute owls? Because the cute owls are male trannies, I’m guessing their ABC dove for it.

Indolent
Indolent
February 20, 2023 7:28 pm

To watch his speech for Goldwater in 1964 you realize what a great intellect he was.

I remember seeing a huge book in the shops years ago comprised of just his letters. I could express himself amazingly well, no script writer required.

Indolent
Indolent
February 20, 2023 7:29 pm

He could, not I.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 7:30 pm

The BBC is terrible in places but anyone having the misfortune of watching an ALPBC knockoff after its BBC counterpart knows how 2nd rate the Australian version typically is. Having said that, the near BBC monopoly in the UK won’t be missed.

Crossie
Crossie
February 20, 2023 7:32 pm

The big issue here is not respect or rights for aboriginals, but rather respect and rights for everyone. All Australians are being treated with absolute contempt by politicians, bureaucrats and police.

Exactly so, rickw. The way Albo and his government are ignoring Alice Springs and NT altogether is a definitive illustration of their intent. The Voice is not for the average Aboriginals but for the power players to cement their positions.

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 7:33 pm

Miltonf says:
February 20, 2023 at 7:24 pm

It’s frightening that these garbage people actually have to power to do this.

Milt, between rates (that went up about 15%) and land tax, it’s actually like the cost of a heavy duty rental. I’m renting the property from the state government.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 20, 2023 7:35 pm

The retreat from good journalism has been very widespread- eg Scientific American (used to be a bit turgid, now it’s trash) and the New Yorker (once a cracking good read and funny cartoons). The only good legacy one I can think of is The Speccie.

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 7:35 pm

It’s harder than MAFS.

What’s that Bear?

Rabz
February 20, 2023 7:35 pm

Followed by Kamahl posing an eternal question, “Why is Phatty Adams so unkind?”

JC
JC
February 20, 2023 7:39 pm

I’m neither left nor right. I’ve no need for either a religion or an ideology.

Doc.

1. Do you believe in a great degree of personal freedoms?

2. What current left-wing views do you agree with?

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
February 20, 2023 7:39 pm

This comment is the most elite of the thread.
If you know, you know. 😉

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 20, 2023 7:40 pm

Milt, between rates (that went up about 15%) and land tax, it’s actually like the cost of a heavy duty rental. I’m renting the property from the state government.

yep it’s another assault on property rights. Greens are targeting councils too and they can fly in under the radar because normal people think councils should collect garbage, maintain roads and make sure the car park dunnies are clean. Greens (formerly the ACP) see council as a means to attack property owners especially farmers.

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 7:44 pm

“There WAS a golden age, Johanna, when journalists weren’t indoctrinated by ideology popular on university campuses and instead learned from experience on the job.

The 1970s was when journalism ceased being an on-the-job cadetship and stopped being the eyes and ears of its audience and political ideology took over as the dominant influence in the culture of reporting.

Areff, who has worked around the world in the journalism business for half a century, shares my view about that.”

My stepfather was a journalist, quite famous. He’s long retired, although he still writes everyday and is mentally sharp. He despairs at at the state of modern journalism. He started as a cadet in 1949, he knew Frank Packer (whom he still describes as a miserable old bastard) and Keith Murdoch, and yes, he knew his sons. His politics are old Labour, I don’t know how left he is now, however my mother told me an amusing anecdote only last week where she described how, after the 1990 election, they walked out after voting and my mother asked my stepfather, “who did you vote for?”. His answer, “none of your business”. She’s never asked him again. LOL.

calli
calli
February 20, 2023 7:46 pm

Maybe there were grades of “journalism”, depending on the newspaper. So you had the “publications of record” or broadsheets, and the evening horror stuff with its lurid, sensational headlines.

It may be less a “golden age” and more a caste system. Now it’s all pretty much homogenised trash. And if there are no pictures, it didn’t happen.

calli
calli
February 20, 2023 7:46 pm

Also the lines between reporting and opinion are no more. It’s all opinion now.

Rabz
February 20, 2023 7:47 pm

Most of my extended family in Sydney used the get the Herald delivered but by the early 80s it had become a mucky rag you wouldn’t want in the house

I stopped buying the Silly Moaning Haemorrhoid around 2008. An Adele Horror piece was the final straw. Into the bin it went and I vowed never to waste my money on such garbage ever again.

The only subsequent relenting was the electronic Oz subscription, which lasted about five years before also going down in flames once they stopped posting around 93.1% of my comments criticising much of the appalling j’ism they were purveying (mainly Perfesser von Wrongsolen and Paul “is wrong, again” Kelly) .

Absolutely pointless, infuriating and very bad for the blood pressure.

Frank
Frank
February 20, 2023 7:48 pm

The point is that the MSM wasn’t less biassed 35 years ago. It was just more difficult to get to the truth.

The subset of the younger generation that would be expected to be engaged no longer bother with the MSM, as far as I can tell. They blew their load in terms of credibility and might just expire with the older readers. Network TV and news seems to be a clown show with all the theatrics involved, people who regularly use Final Cut Pro for their YouTube channel can all too readily see this.

Robert Sewell
February 20, 2023 7:48 pm

DuncanM:
… and now its stepped back and refuses to tell me the political alignment of any ‘civil society organisations’. I think I’ve fallen into a AI dead end.
Can you ask it to do that diagram of who is living with and/or married to each other in Canberra and what jobs they’re doing?

Frank
Frank
February 20, 2023 7:50 pm

Those people heckling the upside down copper seem to score highly for psychopathic traits.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 7:51 pm

Also the lines between reporting and opinion are no more. It’s all opinion now.

Coinciding with the Culture War becoming daily house to house street fighting. Everything is politics now, if it wasn’t before.

calli
calli
February 20, 2023 7:51 pm

The rivers of gold dried up and the only reason anyone would want to buy the Herald was for exercise in folding the wretched thing into a readable form. Upper body strength.

I remember with great glee when it shrank to tabloid form, printed in the hated News presses (Chullora?). They didn’t call it a “tabloid” though. Something far more cultured.

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 20, 2023 7:51 pm

Adele Horror ha ha.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 7:52 pm

Also the lines between reporting and opinion are no more. It’s all opinion now.

The issue in a nutshell, calli

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 20, 2023 7:53 pm

I do wish people would stop imagining that there was a ‘golden age’ of journalism. It never existed.

Possibly not. But it’s never been as bad as it is now.

On that thought it would be good to rewatch Citizen Kane.
Wolfman, are you around?
Rosebud…

calli
calli
February 20, 2023 7:54 pm

My subs for the SMH died when Mike Carlton printed yet another frothing diatribe against the Anglicans. He hated them, that good old Bow Wow boy.

A very fashionable hatred.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 20, 2023 7:54 pm

Doc.

1. Do you believe in a great degree of personal freedoms?

2. What current left-wing views do you agree with?

1. I’m strenuously in favour of freedom, which may be because I hate being given orders. So I guess I’m constitutionally anti-authoritarian.

2. I agree with lefties that we should be kind to perverts, and trannies in particular. It’s just that going along with their perversions and normalising them doesn’t seem kind to me. Kindness, in my view, would be pointing out to them that there is something wrong with the way their brains work, and possibly putting them in institutions for the deranged.

Generally, I favour tolerance and diversity. That used to be a left wing attitude, but that was a while back.

I may be a white supremacist. I like Shakespeare, Tolkien. Conrad and Kipling. I don’t think white ppl are superior to non-white ppl. But I do think that whites built the greatest civilisation the world has ever seen. And we’ve freely offered the benefits to anyone willing to join us.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 7:54 pm

The Paywallian is like a Hay truck stop in thongs. Care and discretion required.

Rabz
February 20, 2023 7:58 pm

They didn’t call it a “tabloid” though. Something far more cultured.

“Compact format”.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
February 20, 2023 7:58 pm

DrBeauGan prescribed:

I’m neither left nor right. I’ve no need for either a religion or an ideology.

That’s difficult to believe. Admittedly, the word ideology has a fair degree of “semantic promiscuity“.
I take a very broad abstract definition of ideology, which is a 3-tuple of these sets: the aspects of the present which are unacceptable, the desirable goal states, plus the conditional actions which should be taken to reach the goal state. This is also the definition favoured by J.B.Peterson.

Under that definition, if you did anything at all today you have an ideology. Because you took a conditional action to solve an apparent problem and so get closer to an ideal.

Indeed under that definition, you will die if you don’t have at least one ideology.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 20, 2023 7:58 pm

And we’ve freely offered the benefits to anyone willing to join us.

And a great many sensible ppl have.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 20, 2023 7:59 pm

Ed Casesays:
February 20, 2023 at 6:58 pm
Absolutely, apartheid in any part of the constitution? No way!

Give it a rest.

Apartheid was a Caste System, it was the only way any progress could be made in South Africa.

If there had been an informed vote on it in Australia, most people woulda upheld it.

Are you a racist, Richard Cranium?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 20, 2023 8:02 pm

BHP goes ex-dividend this week I think.
Will my SMSF keep the franking credits?
That is the question.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 20, 2023 8:07 pm

Indeed under that definition, you will die if you don’t have at least one ideology.

It’s a silly definition. If it’s logically forced to have an ideology, the term is vaccuous.

You can survive quite well by calculating which actions are likely to satisfy values like getting sufficient food, shelter and sex. Anyone who confuses this with believing in certain truths is very muddled. I put it to you that an ideology requires you to give assent to certain propositions. Animals other than human beans don’t and can’t have one. I could, but don’t.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 20, 2023 8:07 pm

Crossie

What’s more is that young people don’t watch the news or give a stuff for MSM, they get all their news via instagram or TikTok. Most young people are not even aware of what is going on so are not influenced one way or the other. The trick will be to break into their info stream in an engaging and funny way.

I wonder how many have seen any of the Hanson videos? Is there a way to make them visible on Instagram?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 8:09 pm

BHP goes ex-dividend this week I think.

They declare their dividend tomorrow. Don’t worry about your franking credits, they are on Dismal Jimmy’s list.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
February 20, 2023 8:09 pm

If it’s logically forced to have an ideology

Nope, read it again. Not logically forced to.

rosie
rosie
February 20, 2023 8:11 pm

Last day in Malta, I have a ticket for something archaeological but I won’t be going, the bronchitis is back so I’m trying for a quietish day, not much luck last night, someone was denied entry to the house next door, much shouting in Maltese, swearing in English and slamming and banging.
I myob’d, he started again this morning and I saw him after my brief excursion, on the stoop with his beverage (he’s not the only one, there’s a bunch of young Englishman at the bar already on the beers).
I’m having a coffee, pleased the nice young man remembers my order.
The name of the town/suburb Sliema where I’m staying means ‘peace’.
The boatman said it comes from seamen coming past the chapel at the point saying a ‘Hail Mary’ as they entered the harbour. The congregation at the Catholic church start their version of Ave Marie with ‘Sliema’ so I guess it’s a true story.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
February 20, 2023 8:12 pm

“Dr” Beau Gan said

Anyone who confuses this with believing in certain truths is very muddled.

Anyone who confuses belief with faith is very muddled.
A belief is any proposition you hold to be true, for any or no reason.

Roger
Roger
February 20, 2023 8:13 pm

Don’t worry about your franking credits, they are on Dismal Jimmy’s list.

Equity!

Makes stealing other peoples’ property sound respectable.

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 8:14 pm

Once upon a time, wizards, seers, witches, sorcerers, high priests, magicians and other sinister characters advised kings, queens, emperors, tsars, and tribal chiefs on policies, and these characters more often than not had the final say when it came to finalising and implementing policy and governance. Monarchs and tribal chiefs would consult with them before consulting with anyone else. Perhaps the most notorious was Rasputin but history is replete with other examples, Queen Elizabeth I had John Dee as an advisor. Dee was a wizard and occultist. The Voice, if passed and enacted, will be Australia’s very own race based Aboriginal body of grifting wizards, seers, witches, sorcerers, high priests and magicians, and they’ll demand the final yay or nay on policy that effects all of us.

NO to the Voice.

m0nty
m0nty
February 20, 2023 8:15 pm

I’m neither left nor right. I’ve no need for either a religion or an ideology.

LOL, libertarians are so funny.

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 8:16 pm

Geez, just saw an excerpt of desperate Albo spruiking the voice, screeching “this is an opportunity to unite our nation”. I reckon Hitler, Stalin, Mao and others said similar.

m0nty
m0nty
February 20, 2023 8:20 pm

Bossi appears to have gone anti-sem.

Every cooker ends up there.

Roger
Roger
February 20, 2023 8:23 pm

The Chook can feel the hawks circling.

She turned up at Chinchilla’s Melon Festival on the weekend after snubbing Toowoomba.

Just going through the motions, and rather poorly at that.

I predict that she won’t contest the next election.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 8:25 pm

The Voice, if passed and enacted, will be Australia’s very own race based Aboriginal body of grifting wizards, seers, witches, sorcerers, high priests and magicians, and they’ll demand the final yay or nay on policy that effects all of us.

I just see the Voice as a vehicle for the activists and an instrument of division. After all the slop about “Aboriginal souls will be crushed if the voice is rejected’ – bring on the referendum, immediately, if not sooner!

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 8:25 pm

“Every cooker ends up there.”

Hmm, what about his “legitimate grievances“?

rosie
rosie
February 20, 2023 8:26 pm

Changing books has been okay for years, eg no golliwogs in Noddy, Noel Streatfield had a scene in one book with a Chinaman in hospital? removed possibly as early as the mid 60s.
Noel Langley’s land of Green Ginger was abridged a long time ago too.
And approximately six Dr Seuss are on the never to be reprinted list as of maybe 2020?
To be honest some of the stuff removed was pretty ordinary.

Roger
Roger
February 20, 2023 8:26 pm

Geez, just saw an excerpt of desperate Albo spruiking the voice, screeching “this is an opportunity to unite our nation”.

That’s right up there with Arbeit macht frei.

A shameless lie.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 8:26 pm

Anybody seen a forecast of the BHP dividend?

m0nty
m0nty
February 20, 2023 8:26 pm

Dunno Cassie, how about you ask Bosi yourself since you’re such a political mover and shaker.

cohenite
February 20, 2023 8:27 pm

Did they publish your cute owls? Because the cute owls are male trannies, I’m guessing their ABC dove for it.

Too right they did. We’ve spoken about your obsession with feminised men, not to be confused with trim, taut and terrific young sheilas, aka, cute owls, before. And what is this shit about doves: I don’t deal with hippy stuff like that. Anyway let’s take a trip back to the golden age: cute owl. You don’t see vascularity like that every day. She’s too much for you head prefect.

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 8:28 pm

“Bossi appears to have gone anti-sem. Next up , the R*thschilds.”

Yep, it’s an inevitable trajectory…but the thing is, I reckon Bossi is a spook.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 20, 2023 8:28 pm

Once upon a time, wizards, seers, witches, sorcerers, high priests, magicians and other sinister characters advised kings, queens, emperors, tsars, and tribal chiefs

Fondly recall when Greyhawk came out in ’79 and we’d do D&D all nighters in first year uni.
Didn’t help our marks much though.

rosie
rosie
February 20, 2023 8:29 pm

Sometimes The Guardian isn’t bad at what when where why who on current events.
That’s all I ever want in a news report.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 20, 2023 8:29 pm

Anyone who confuses belief with faith is very muddled.
A belief is any proposition you hold to be true, for any or no reason.

I said nothing about faith, although an ideology does require some degree of commitment to a proposition being true. Inevitably, an emotional commitment.

I don’t have emotional commitments to propositions. Nor am I convinced that I can tell for certain when any one proposition is true.

And your definition of ideology was such that nobody could avoid having one. Which makes it vaccuous. And silly.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 20, 2023 8:31 pm

Adam Gilchrist, Merv Hughes scathing, someone trumpets?

Gilchrist’s record:
In India
2001-2004 M: 7 I: 13 N.O. : 1 Runs: 342 Av. 28.50
Hughes record in India:
Never played there.

cohenite
February 20, 2023 8:31 pm

Every cooker ends up there.

Certainly every leftie does dickless.

m0nty
m0nty
February 20, 2023 8:34 pm

Bosi is not a spook. He is too poor for that.

Roger
Roger
February 20, 2023 8:35 pm

As someone who isn’t on Twitter and find sthe format somewhat opaque, can I request that those who link to it provide some context that makes the link readily comprehensible without trolling through the comments?

Thanks in appreciation!

rosie
rosie
February 20, 2023 8:35 pm

No formal announcements re super changes yet, just a softening up.
I get the impression taking lump sums for the cruise and the caravan will go.
Cant imagine forcing people to invest in specific areas.
Not a problem if you aren’t using a super vehicle, I hope.

Cassie of Sydney
February 20, 2023 8:37 pm

“Bosi is not a spook. He is too poor for that.

Are you privy to his bank accounts?

Roger
Roger
February 20, 2023 8:37 pm

That’s right up there with Arbeit macht frei.

Though in an altogether different context, clearly (I hope).

Razey
Razey
February 20, 2023 8:40 pm

Super is our money, not the overlords. These assholes are clearly gunning for a big piece of the pie.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 20, 2023 8:40 pm

Monty is now more intelligent, efficient and able than a Colonel of the SAS.
I am impressed! (I want to see Monty’s war medals, if my eyes can stand the glitter of them.)

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 20, 2023 8:40 pm

She turned up at Chinchilla’s Melon Festival on the weekend after snubbing Toowoomba.

Good on her, it’s a frightful place.
Palaszczuk comes across as a sheila who knows how to look after a bloke, so I’m cool with her being Premier in either a Labor or LNP Government.

That said, the cops must want her out, since there’s no way she’ll ever lose an Election in Qld.

H B Bear
H B Bear
February 20, 2023 8:41 pm

Chinchilla’s Melon Festival

Is that like the old Summernats wet T-shirt contest?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 20, 2023 8:41 pm

33m ago
‘I will fall silent’ if voice poll fails: Pearson
Joanna Panagopoulos
JOANNA PANAGOPOULOS

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson says he will “fall silent” and a whole generation of Indigenous leadership won’t have “anything left” if the voice to parliament fails.

“That will be the end of it. I have always believed in the Australian Constitution, I believe in Australia, I believe in the people of Australia, I believe the people of Australia must recognise the first peoples, my people, and I have pursued a middle path, a middle path between the original Australians and the new Australians,” he told ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night.

“If the advocacy of that pathway fails well, then, a whole generation of leadership will have failed, a whole generation of Indigenous leadership will have failed because we will have advocated a coming together in partnership with government and we would have made an invitation to the Australian people that was repudiated, and I don’t think we have anything left after that.”

“It will be up to a new generation to chart a new course because we will have been rejected. Our proposition of peace and reconciliation will have been rejected, and that will be a profound decision for the country to make. I hope that it never comes to that.”

“Fall silent?” Is that a promise?

rosie
rosie
February 20, 2023 8:43 pm

If you ever happen to be in Sliema call into Micallef’s bakery, I think it’s mostly wholesale but they sell (cash only) to the general public.
Step inside and you are in the room with the big bread oven.
I bought a bread roll and some of that bread and butter pudding, I think it cost €1.40 all up.

Dot
Dot
February 20, 2023 8:44 pm

Yep, it’s an inevitable trajectory…but the thing is, I reckon Bossi is a spook.

Damn, I called that one.

A Lt Col in the SF…yeah nah, he’s not connected to the intel ppl at all. LOL.

rosie
rosie
February 20, 2023 8:44 pm

Of course they are.
Always thought it should be tax free going in and taxed coming out but Labor wants it both ways.

Ed Case
Ed Case
February 20, 2023 8:45 pm

Is M0nty a Spook?
I’m leaning toward Yes, atm.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
February 20, 2023 8:45 pm

LOL, libertarians are so funny.

If you think you can annoy me by accusing me of being a libertarian, you’re wrong. And not because I am one, I ain’t.

  1. @pvtjokerus When Democrats had a Senate majority OF ONE, they got everything they wanted done. Including the Green New Deal.…

  2. Who’s the young lady, too poor to afford knickers? Inquiring minds, and all that…

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