Purgatory Canto 33, Gustave Dore, mid-1800s
Still waiting to hear if https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kash_Patel#Post-government_career gets a guernsey in Trump’s cabinet. Wasn’t he touted not long ago as favourite…
Open Thread – Tues 21 Feb 2023
- Open Thread – Mon 25 Nov 2024
- The more you gets the less you eats
- Open Thread – Weekend 23 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 18 Nov 2024
Very cynical, Wally. 🙂
Sancho, absolutely. I expected better from my bilateral knee replacement. However, apart from the rehab in hospital, I wasn’t able…
accusing them of eating their patients Eating Fido? That’s terrible! Dog chow mein, yum.
I have been a journalist all my life. My instinct is that Hildebrand is being paid to be a political…
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!
Where is everyone?
And what will Sir have to drink?
G&T
Malaria Martini?
Tough crowd.
Definitely never going to live this down hahahahahaha!
Going to jump in early and announce the death of English actor Lee Whitlock at age 54.
Diagnosed with terminal cancer in August 2021 (I found an online fund-raiser for him).
Have to confess that not only have I never heard of him, nor watched anything he is in, I’ve never before even seen him.
Not to deflect from the tragedy of his demise. Poor bastard.
My daughter works for a large chain of store’s which has regular leadership gatherings. Flown to Melbourne, 2 nights staying in good hotel, all meals covered. 500 of them, 95% female.
This time all given a voucher to buy a book on leadership and teamwork. Thought it an odd one as it was by a sportsman and she did not think would be interesting. He will be at the corporate get together.
Ritchie McCaw of the All Blacks and she loved the book. She has to think of a question to ask him. Anybody got any good ideas?
Name your favourite Medieval Helmet.
I like the Spangenhelm.
I see these protests are being recast as against Big Pharma, no it’s pay and conditions.
Similar problems regarding shortages of GPs and the French government is trying to bypass gp referrals for physiotherapy and speech therapy.
French doctor strike
That settles it then, Drills. He was a complete unknown, if the Driller from FNQ had never heard of him. I read they’re running this year’s Academies from FNQ because it’s such a have for raw talent and 10s.
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity says:
February 21, 2023 at 1:17 am
The reason for that is that most of these actors appear in overseas TV shows only, that are not shown here.
Very few are starring or even having a significant part in movies.
My daughter could name hundreds, if not all, that I never heard of, because she is watching those shows and generally interested in showbiz.
One has to be interested, no point complaining about it if you didn’t want to know them in the first place.
Johannes Leak. Brilliant.
Mark Knight.
Mark Knight #2.
David Rowe.
Bob Moran.
Christian Adams.
Morten Morland.
Patrick Blower.
Michael Ramirez.
Matt Margolis.
Tom Stiglich.
Gary Varvel. Brilliant.
Gary Varvel #2.
‘Mr President, media reports say Trump is going to Ohio !’
‘What ? Clear Air Force One for takeoff immediately. Mr Zelensky and I will be photographed on the steps of the Cathedral at Kiev. And yes, I’d like a gay pride flag somewhere nearby if that can be arranged.’
Jorge, your White House fantasy assumes the president is capable of forming and communicating intelligent thoughts.
He wasn’t chosen for that reason. In fact, his senility simply removes a complication for those actually running the show.
Do you get the impression Tom that a puppet, a sort of ventriloquists’ dummie is what we have here with Albersneezie. We have had a corker in the form of Queensland’s Palaczszchuck .
Bourne, ask him why aren’t fifty percent of the All Blacks women.
Comments about the Cricket team, re. the returning of players
————————————————
Reply
Article at The Australian (I no longer subscribe):
AEMO warns of urgent need for more firming power to avoid shortfalls!
We have been warning for years while AEMO did nothing, governments did nothing, climate madness persists.
D’ya think Labor might be putting up a front of “don’t touch your super until you retire” as a sort of distraction from their real ploy which is to dictate that more money goes into stupid wind, solar and pumped hydro schemes?
Fantastic Leak.
Worth buying a print & framing, then sending to my accountant (soon to be former accountant) who is 100% on board with more taxes on “people who have too much in super”.
I am not on board for more taxes on super.
But I would be more on board if the first cabs off the rank were all former politicians & public servants getting their tax payer funded pensions capped at 100k per year.
Some of them are dragging in 350k plus per annum with the first 100k or so tax free.
I’m sure they could have a dignified retirement on 100k per year.
D’ya think Labor might be putting up a front of “don’t touch your super until you retire” as a sort of distraction from their real ploy which is to dictate that more money goes into stupid wind, solar and pumped hydro schemes?
No.
I think the Ponzi Scheme [which is what compulsory Super is] is close to collapse.
Someone mentioned Toddles?
Sure, he’s not the problem, the problem started when they made a wicketkeeper Captain.
Paino was a total failure, so they doubled down on stupid and made an opening bowler captain.
All that’s left is to make the 12th man captain now.
But it now looks like that’s the reason they took Handscomb on the Tour, which is a slap in the face for Pat Cummins and hasn’t done anything for team morale.
The sensible thing to do would’ve been to appoint Dave Warner Captain.
The rot started with Clarke.
Yes. The choice of words for the superannuation preamble is very deliberate, superficially benign, but intended to facilitate whatever the top men in Big Super want. For one, they must have increased % contributions and minimised withdrawals both for the fee ticket clipping, but more importantly so they can keep plowing investment into illiquid assets they re-value themselves to underpin their ‘compare the pair’ investment returns / Ponzi scheme.
Yes, bern.
You’ll notice the people wanting to dip into the average JoBlow’s super are all looking down the barrel of defined benefits and plenty in retirement. It’s a strange idea of “equity” and “fairness”.
From the dead thread. Referendum.
Which “gap”? Are there insufficient Indigenous agencies? What, exactly, are they doing? There should be no “gap” if they were doing their jobs.
I’m more interested in the “message” the failure will send to our politicians. Bugger off racist losers comes to mind.
No one’s buying Racism as a reason for voting No at the Referendum.
Sorry.
It’s race baiting. And it’s a great distraction from economic woes and government pickpocketing. What else would you call it?
Online shoppimg is amazing – Sunday evening, checking why I was having problems with some TV streaming apps, found that the Sydney Saturday Night Humunous Instant Clap of Thunder & Simultaneous Massive lightning Storm, that shook the house, had taken out my D-Link Australia 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch – other units on same powerboard were OK and working
At 7pm Sunday evening, ordered a new D-Link Australia 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch on Amazon Prime, delivered Monday afternoon at 3pm
And checking with new power adapter, confirmed original D-Link was gone
Analysis
‘One fact stands out’: Chalmers targets tax breaks for super
John Kehoe – Economics editor
Super tax breaks are clearly on the Treasurer’s agenda in the lead up to the May federal budget.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers wants to first nail down the objective of superannuation, but inevitably a more ferocious debate awaits him on the $50 billion of annual tax breaks for super.
Chalmers admitted as much in a significant speech on Monday about the future of the $3.3 trillion superannuation pool.
“When I think about how best we can use the budget to support Australians towards a better retirement – one fact stands out,” Chalmers said.
“Right now, we’re on track to spend more on super tax concessions than the age pension by around 2050.
“I’m not convinced that’s a sustainable way to get to our destination – good retirement incomes for more Australians, now and into the future.”
Pressed further on the tax concessions, Chalmers said: “I think it is important that we recognise that our big task is to make superannuation sustainable, then this kind of conversation shouldn’t be off the table.”
Super tax breaks are clearly on the treasurer’s agenda in the lead up to the May federal budget, as he faces spending pressures from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, aged care, defence and health.
Super tax breaks are undoubtedly generous, particularly for multi-million dollar balances and retirees with balances of up to $1.7 million and paying no tax on their investment earnings.
‘Not necessary or appropriate’
The Treasury consultation paper released by Chalmers goes further, noting “beyond a certain level of income, additional government support through tax concessions is not necessary or appropriate”.
Treasury also says super should not be for minimising tax on wealth accumulation or tax-effective bequests.
As a starting point, Chalmers has proposed the objective of super should be to “preserve savings to deliver income for a dignified retirement, alongside government support, in an equitable and sustainable way”.
“Equitable” and “sustainable” means how super is taxed and how much the tax breaks cost the budget.
Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy last year suggested reining in tax breaks for the wealthy and spending restraint on social programs.
Now, Chalmers has opened the door. It immediately triggered a warning from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton that Labor is hatching a plan to increase taxes on superannuation in the budget.
“All of that is code for taxation, which is exactly what Labor governments do because they spend a lot of money, they waste a lot of money, and then they come after more of yours,” Dutton said on Monday.
The question is whether Chalmers’ kite flying is signalling the potential imposition of a cap on tax-effective super balances of, say, around $5 million, as pushed by the super industry? That would face minimal resistance.
A $5 million cap on super balances would affect only 11,000 people and raise relatively minimal revenue for the government – perhaps $1 billion a year.
That won’t fix the fiscal sustainability challenge Chalmers has identified.
Or is Chalmers canvassing a more fundamental shake up of taxing super contributions and/or earnings?
The fiscal gains from taxing super contributions are likely to be limited.
Tax breaks to exceed age pension
The much bigger future cost to the budget is the tax breaks on super earnings, which are projected to jump from 1 per cent of GDP to almost 2 per cent of GDP by 2060, according to Treasury’s Intergenerational Report.
The tax breaks on super earnings alone will double from about $25 billion a year to around $50 billion, in today’s dollars in real terms.
Hence, overall super tax breaks will exceed the cost of the age pension by midway through this century, as Chalmers identifies. Almost 70 per cent of retirees will remain on the full or part pension.
Mike Callaghan, a former Treasury official who led the retirement income review for the previous Coalition government, says it is crucial that the system is made more equitable and sustainable.
Callaghan believes the tax exemptions and concessions on super earnings in the retirement phase should be wound back.
“The super tax concessions on earnings is the part that is going to be costing the budget a lot more,” Callaghan said on Monday.
Super accounts in the pension retirement phase with balances below $1.7 million pay zero tax on their investment earnings (and no tax on withdrawals to avoid double taxation).
In contrast, working-age superannuants and retirees with balances above the $1.7 million pay a maximum 15 per cent on their investment earnings, but in reality pay about 7 per cent after imputation credits and capital gain discounts are included.
Callaghan says a fairer system would be for all super earnings – both during working lives and in retirement – to pay a modest tax.
Many retirees would hardly notice a tax on investment earnings because it would be automatically deducted, as it is for working-age people during the accumulation phase, he says.
Super withdrawals could remain tax-free to avoid double taxation.
Ultimately, Chalmers will need to decide if he is only interested in fiddling with a cap on large balances, or a more major tax shake up of super.
Chalmers’ vision may have electoral appeal but his thesis is shaky
The treasurer can argue making superannuation more “equitable and sustainable” is in the national interest. But he can’t pretend his vision isn’t political.
Aleks Vickovich – Wealth editor
Jim Chalmers said legislating an objective for superannuation would “end the super wars once and for all”.
But in the very next breath, the treasurer outlined a vision for the superannuation system that was inherently ideological, firing off a salvo at the labour movement’s longstanding retirement policy foes.
“The objective of super is to preserve savings to deliver income for a dignified retirement, alongside government support, in an equitable and sustainable way,” the Albanese government declared in a consultation paper as it prepares to legislate a purpose for the contentious sector.
It is a single sentence with serious implications for the way Australia’s $3.3 trillion in retirement savings is managed – and one the treasurer’s staff have been working on for months.
Much will be made of the clear effort to “preserve” super savings (against efforts to free it up for a house deposit or other costs), and to foster a “dignified” retirement (that is, one that can fund a reasonably high quality, perhaps even aspirational, lifestyle).
But, arguably, the most important part of the sentence is the idea that super should be both “equitable and sustainable”.
The consultation paper suggests the government only means equity and sustainability in the “fiscal” sense. That is, that the system’s elements (such as generous tax treatment) don’t have a deleterious effect on the long-term budget bottom line.
But you would be forgiven for thinking it meant “equitable and sustainable” in the more conventional sense of environmental and social justice, given Chalmers has once again called on super to be deployed to social causes.
“We need productivity-enhancing investment – in climate and energy, housing, the digital revolution and more,” Chalmers told an industry event hosted by publisher Conexus Financial on Monday.
“If we fail to act – in areas like affordable housing, climate, the care economy and digital – we will face the prospect of an economy that won’t sustain the growth that we need.”
The Treasurer may well be right that the energy transition and ending homelessness are positive for the economy. But it sure doesn’t sound like the only sustainability he is on about is that of the federal budget.
Perhaps envisaging he might get this kind of feedback, Chalmers reiterated the conclusions of his now infamous essay on capitalism 2.0 for The Monthly – that business doesn’t have to choose between doing well and doing good.
“We are capable of being the best in the world when it comes to aligning our economic and social objectives in a way that doesn’t compromise our returns, doesn’t compromise our profits,” he said.
It’s a “have your cake and eat it too” message that may have some electoral appeal, certainly with a Labor base that may not be too pleased with the government’s refusal to ban new coal and gas projects.
But on pure investment grounds, the thesis is shakier.
Social housing, for example, is an untested asset class. While some say there is a decent monetary return to be made, arguably it is not a natural return on capital. In other words, the return is contingent on a government subsidy – and that means future governments could remove such a subsidy, affecting the outlook for these assets.
Similarly, some call for divestment of fossil fuels, and enshrining “sustainability” in the legal objective may make it easier for super funds to do so.
But had they heeded such calls a year ago, they would have given up a 20.45 per cent return from the S&P/ASX 200 Energy index that saved their super from plunging any more than it had to in a double whammy bond and sharemarket downturn.
Environmentalists and some regular super consumers might be happy to sacrifice their super returns on ethical grounds. But, super trustees have a legal obligation to ensure their decisions are in the best financial interests of members, not just in line with their values.
The previous government narrowed that duty to prevent the sector wasting their members’ savings on spurious investments like bankrolling website The New Daily – an “asset” that suffered a 92 per cent fall in revenue in the year to June last year.
Chalmers insists his vision for super is “uncontroversial” and benign.
But he also admits he wants to “elevate and broaden” its social role, acting on the vision of his mentors and former Labor treasurers Paul Keating (the super system’s architect) and Wayne Swan (who, as Cbus chairman, tellingly helped to deploy $500 million of members’ money to the government’s so-called Housing Accord).
Chalmers can argue that might be in the nation’s best interests. But he can’t pretend it’s anything other than a fresh declaration in the superannuation wars.
Chalmers caught lying (surprise!):
He said he was consulted on removing the monarch from the $5 note, but the decision was the RBA’s.
FOI docs reveal the decision was entirely his, but he let public servants cop the flak.
Altogether a very slippery character, like his boss.
Biden’s Tweet About Ukraine Capturing His Heart Infuriates Americans
As we reported earlier, Joe Biden made a “surprise” visit to Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, and of course, give him a lot more of our money — $500 million this time.
It also turns out that he informed Russia he was going before he informed us, which says something.
We tend to be last when it comes to transparency from the Biden team, even after Russia. He wants to appear tough to us in the wake of his weakness in letting a Chinese spy balloon float over the U.S. for a week. But he told Russia ahead of time so they would back off of anything near where he was going to be.
“We did notify the Russians that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday. “We did so some hours before his departure for de-confliction purposes.” But he wouldn’t tell the media how they notified Russia or what Russia’s reaction was.
Unfortunately, if Biden thought that was going to make him appear tough, that’s not going to do the trick, especially not when so many Americans wonder when he’s going to focus more on American issues, and less on Ukraine while handing over our money to them.
Biden antagonized more Americans with this tweet that went viral, with most of the responses chastising him for his lack of care for Americans and the issues at home.
President Biden
@POTUS
United States government official
Kyiv has captured a part of my heart.
I knew I would be back.
Many noted that he’d been to Ukraine more than he’d been to East Palestine or the border. He’s yet to even comment on the derailment disaster in East Palestine and his administration has been largely a failure in their response. Meanwhile, the ongoing crisis at the border is not only harmful to all the people and cities who have to deal with the influx of illegal aliens, but it’s also largely of Biden’s own making because of his poor policies. Biden also tweeted this as he refuses to talk about raising the debt limit to spend even more of our money. So he’ll spend like a drunken sailor (on his political agenda) and give our money to Ukraine, but meanwhile forget safeguarding American interests, like our Social Security. He acts like his duty is to Ukraine, rather than to the United States.
Many also wondered just how much of his “heart” Ukraine holds onto, because of his family’s relationship to business interests there and his prior interactions. Part of that concern is because there seems to be no end in sight to our money that he is willing to pour into a place known for its corruption with no real accountability (to us) for where everything is going.
Biden Makes ‘Surprise’ Visit to Ukraine, Immediately Sets Off Multiple Controversies
Americans woke up on Monday morning to the news of a surprise visit to Ukraine, by the President of the United States.
Press outlets swooned as Joe Biden was seen walking around the streets of Kyiv with Volodymyr Zelensky, the latter donning his signature olive drab. There were even air raid sirens blaring in the background to really make the scene pop.
I’m sort of in the middle on Ukraine aid, believing that some investment in diminishing Russia’s military by proxy is a net positive (but I want less overall and a lot more accountability).
What I’m affirmatively against, though, is being gaslit, and this entire visit is pure gaslighting.
There is no Secret Service protocol that allows the president to be left strolling out in the open during an actual air raid.
Those sirens were clearly turned on with no actual threat in the area in order to make Biden look tough and courageous. The fact that Zelensky would participate in such a stunt, effectively interfering in US politics, is disappointing. Never mind that all that money he’s getting isn’t coming from Biden. It’s coming from the US Congress via the taxpayers who remain an afterthought in all this pomp and circumstance.
Besides, while mainstream media outlets gladly took the bait, praising Biden as “brave” for surviving a supposed air raid,
I’m not so sure the optics of this do either Biden or Ukraine any favors. There is actually a war going on in the Eastern portions of Ukraine, but the seriousness of that is undermined by having Biden and Zelensky take a sightseeing tour. It’s hard to simultaneously make the case that Ukraine is on the brink of destruction while a US president walks around town as if nothing is going on.
Ironically, I actually think this trip by Biden hurts Zelensky’s cause because it feeds domestic divisions back in the United States.
That leads me to the second controversy that has sprouted from this, which is that Biden somehow had time to fly to Ukraine but hasn’t been able to travel 290 miles to visit East Palestine, OH, which is currently in the midst of a major ecological disaster.
Again, perception matters, and the perception this puts off is that the president is far more concerned about rebuilding Ukraine than he is about helping American citizens who have found themselves with poisoned groundwater
Equity provides a cloak of respectability for theft.
Did a double take at the radio news this morning when they had a short line about extensive blackouts predicted across the east coast from 2027. Due to the closure of 5 coal power stations taking out 13% of the supply.
Is reality finally hitting home?
Yesterday was President’s Day in the US, commemorating George Washington’s birthday.
Might explain the timing of the visit.
Chalmers is threatening to touch the baby boomers’ money. The ALP will lose the next election for sure.
No Petros. It’s your money they’re after.
Ed Casesays:
February 20, 2023 at 9:53 pm
I’m voting No because I don’t want to entrench Apartheid in the Constitution?
Who writes these zingers?
Some Gimp in the bowels of John Curtin House?
The liars sold John Curtin House some years ago, when the stench of financial scandal got too much even for them.
Ed Casesays:
February 20, 2023 at 9:56 pm
So, how much did Brittany Higgins receive from the Commonwealth?
Dunno why, but i’m thinkin’,
just thinkin’ mind you …
$576,000.
Same as Rachelle Miller.
And what was the “real” reason for the Miller payout?
Annnnd, ACTION! – Traveling by Train Joe Biden Makes Surprise Visit to Kyiv, Ukraine
February 20, 2023 – Sundance
The theatre and pantomime of Ukraine as orchestrated by the White House and State Dept. and summed up in the phrase “World War Reddit” continues. I will admit, the air raid sirens were a nice touch.
Joe Biden made a surprise trip into Kyiv, where the word “surprise” is intended to fall upon the eyes and ears of the American public, not the Ukrainian government or the Russians who were given advanced notice that Joe Biden was traveling to Kyiv to meet with President Zelenskyy.
The White House admits in their on-the-record briefing {Read Here} that Russia was informed of the trip prior to Biden’s departure from Washington DC. So, the New York Times framing of the transportation aspect, “after a trans-Atlantic flight to Poland, Mr. Biden crossed the border by train, traveling for nearly 10 hours to Kyiv, as other American officials have in recent months,” was clearly done as part of the theatre around the visit.
Additionally, as every media article about the visit includes (for additional “color” of the performance) air raid sirens were sounded as Joe Biden and President Zelenskyy stepped out into the streets.
From the screenplay as written. I suggest reading in your best Richard Attenborough dramatic voice:
“Mr. Biden arrived early Monday morning to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the two stepped out into the streets of Kyiv even as an air-raid siren sounded, a dramatic moment that underscored the investment the United States has made in Ukraine’s independence.“
[…] “Mr. Biden joined Mr. Zelensky for a visit to St. Michael’s monastery in downtown Kyiv, where the sun glittered off the golden domes as the air-raid alarm wailed. Trailing two soldiers bearing a wreath, the two leaders walked along the Wall of Remembrance, with portraits of more than 4,500 soldiers who have died since Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and first fomented a rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
The air-raid alarm had stopped by the time Mr. Biden got back into his motorcade and departed the monastery. The alarms sound almost daily in Kyiv, but the blare of the siren added to the bristling tension of the moment. (read more)
Everything, and I do mean e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g, about the Russia-Ukraine war narrative, via western media, is a scripted performance using the best deployed messaging and narrative engineering systems as deployed by Hollywood and corporate media. No western nation can generate propaganda as well as the United States.
White House Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, Daleep Singh, told everyone in February 2022 what the strategic policy of the Biden administration was toward Russia in the aftermath of the Ukraine conflict beginning. Few were paying attention:
…”Ultimately, the goal of our sanctions is to make this a strategic failure for Russia; and let’s define a little bit of what that means. Strategic success in the 21st century is not about a physical land grab of territory; that’s what Putin has done. In this century, strategic power is increasingly measured and exercised by economic strength, by technological sophistication and your story – who you are, what your values are; can you attract ideas and talent and goodwill? And on each of those measures, this will be a failure for Russia.” (LINK)
From the Comments
– I watched Zyyman lovingly embrace Brandon, and damn if his hand didn’t slip Joe’s wallet out of his pants pocket.
– Surprised the Zeester wasn’t wearing rubber gloves as any activity in the backside area of the Demented Fraud could result in unexpected treats being transferred to one’s hands
– Dementia Joe collection of his 10% ?
Why does Zelenskyy continue to wear the Nazi uniform instead of a suit ?
– Lol, like Putin I would rather have the strategic land rather than social media likes. I can’t believe this Singh guy actually has this important job.
– The white house resident and still fake president, staging a fake surprise visit to the Ukraine. Is there anything, in this imbecile’s play acting, that isn’t fake or staged?
Look over there! Baby Boomer!
Yes, some of us have a bit put aside, but the vast majority have a lot less than you think. Home ownership is a great boon when you have very limited income.
James O’Keefe Resigns from Project Veritas
February 20, 2023 – Sundance
There is likely to be much more to come out about the situation as it genuinely unfolded; however, in the interim the main thrust of the news says James O’Keefe “resigned” from Project Veritas.
{Background 1 and Background 2}
Neil McCabe of One America News Network (OANN) broke the news on Twitter [SOURCE] However there are several voices saying O’Keefe was ousted by the board.
It is impossible to imagine Project Veritas without its founder, James O’Keefe.
The news today follows the announcement on February 9th that James O’Keefe was being put on leave by the Project Veritas board of directors {link}and then another announcement on February 15th by Project Veritas claiming the board of directors had no issues with O’Keefe {link}.
According to media reporting, O’Keefe read his resignation letter to the board of directors and to the people at Project Veritas. However, there have been no statements from James O’Keefe since the initial issue surfaced over two weeks ago.
Without James O’Keefe there is no Project Veritas. It really is that simple.
Regardless of what internecine issues and Machiavellian board maneuvers created this fracture, James O’Keefe will succeed wherever he lands.
James O’Keefe is the living legacy of his mentor Andrew Breitbart.
CTH stands with James O’Keefe.
I’m sure there are some who’ll disagree but reading this I’m siding with the DVA if the bloke is well enuf to travel & work OS then he’s quite capable of making his own arrangements and paying for the care of the dog ..
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-21/psychiatric-assistance-dog-left-at-dva-office/101997488
Ed Casesays:
February 21, 2023 at 7:07 am
No one’s buying Racism as a reason for voting No at the Referendum.
Sorry.
Richard Cranium still shilling for the Liars’ referendum.
Dum, dum!
The state of UK police…
The body of UK mother, Nicola Bulley, has been found, after she’d been missing for nearly three weeks, she’d disappeared, vanished off the face of the earth. Her body was found only a mile from where she disappeared. People do vanish, but there’s almost always a logical reason behind why people vanish, and we’ll find out what happened to Nicola Bulley in due course. Like all disappearances, it’s sad. However, the Lancashire Police’s tardy and somewhat sluggish investigation inspired, in the best British tradition, a lot of amateur sleuthing and various whodunnit theories, some worthy of Agatha Christie. The whole of Britain has been on edge about the case, savouring any leads that have come to light. In a bid to try and find Nicola, Lancashire Police revealed intimate and personal details about Bulley’s drinking and state of mind, intimate details the salacious tabloid media and public did not need to know. It’s also classic victim-blaming which is odd because this is the same police force that refuses to “dead name” perverts who put on frocks and lipstick and call themselves “women”, the same police force that insists a pervert’s right must be respected, even the rights of double rapists. So, we now have a situation where police respect the rights and dignity of faux women, aka autogynephiles, but they don’t respect the rights and dignity of a real biological woman who disappears whilst walking her dog.
Lancashire police’s tactics have rightly caused outrage because the UK police, now a completely politicised and paramilitary arm of the left, are very efficient when it comes to hunting down Twitter offences, online misgendering, hate speech and all the other “crimes” the left love to police, but when it comes to real crime, be it out of control robberies, stabbings, murders and odd disappearances like that of Nicola Bulley, they aren’t so good. Priorities, priorities.
grooming gangs…
‘The rot started with Clarke’
Ricky Ponting was a stupid kid who could bat, but kept running his trap in the wrong places which resulted in – among other things – him getting punched out by a punter at the Bourbon and Beefsteak, and then dropped.
He later matured into a brilliant leader and captain.
I suspect that those in charge believed Clarke would go down the same or a similar path, but his deep love of hair product meant he remained a flog at the elite level.
Protestors gather in Oxford to demonstrate their disapproval of draconian 15-minute neighbourhoods
So Jim’s going to tax super contributions now, and that will help in the future – how exactly?
>20X increase in perinatal death rate at funeral home used by UCSF in H2 2022
Unfortunately here in Australia we are stuck with jurisdictions dominated by public employee unions and their left-wing allies in government and don’t have the Escape Route in America of Blue-state model policies are prompting economic refugees to get out of practically every Democratic state, leaving fiscal calamity behind
EDITORIALS- Where even the Walmarts are closing
by Washington Examiner
It feels like eons ago, but there was a time when liberals would shriek if a new Walmart planned to come to their area. Now, ironically, they are shrieking because the Walmarts are leaving.
Store closings are not necessarily rare; we found 160 in the past couple of years. A retailer with 5,000 stores across the nation has to be flexible and go where the business is. But there is a revealing pattern. In the suburbs of Chicago, three underperforming stores will close almost simultaneously. The company declined to give specifics to local media, but this is a reminder of the Chicago area’s decadelong decline. Its population and tax base have been shrinking for nine straight years. Crime has soared, too, in part because the area is close to adopting universal no-cash bail and making it impossible for police to enforce the law against thieves. Businesses don’t like that.
Census estimates show that Illinois lost 300,000 net residents over the past nine years, almost the equivalent of the population of Orlando, Florida, which has probably been one of the more popular destinations for those fleeing.
Liberals face a reckoning for what Walter Russell Mead dubbed their “blue-state model,” by which he meant jurisdictions dominated by public employee unions and their left-wing allies in government.
Blue-state model policies are prompting economic refugees to get out of practically every Democratic state, leaving fiscal calamity behind. Once-dynamic states, cities, and towns are dwindling as they shed residents and tax revenues.
Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and similarly mismanaged cities “coasted,” as the Atlantic put it, “for decades on the knowledge that firms and workers were being pulled inexorably toward their downtowns.” But then, left-wing Democrats’ hypocritical rule-by-COVID-panic convinced many businesses that it wasn’t worth paying for large downtown offices as workers shifted to remote or hybrid-remote work. Various reports reveal that companies are cutting their downtown office space and letting leases expire. Commercial real estate prices in Manhattan have fallen more than 7% in a year, yet half the available space stands empty.
Cities in blue states where Democrats have a lock on government unreasonably limit personal freedom and business operations while letting criminals run free and allowing parks to become drug trade encampments. Public schools, meanwhile, remain as terrible as they ever were, or worse. Is it any wonder that the middle class should become fed up and move away to Texas, Idaho, or Florida?
Liz Wheeler
@Liz_Wheeler
This is actually the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. These are the steps child sex predators use to groom children juxtaposed against… a groomer. My skin is crawling.
Objectively, they deserve to lose it. What the effect would be worldwide is another matter.
How A Country Loses Its Currency Reserve Status
Well, he kept one promise.
HUGE: House Speaker McCarthy Handed Over 41,000 Hours of Jan 6 Video to Tucker Carlson
Correct, and this is the driving force behind the demonisation of ‘middle aged white men’. They do it for the same reason they demonise the soldiers of the other side during war – to overcome the natural human resistance to hurting/stealing from others.
CDC confirms 100% of reported Covid-19 Vaccine Deaths were caused by just 5% of batches produced & the majority were sent to red Republican States across the USA
Indolent,
Private Schools are now backing up these groomers.
eg; “Pennsylvania English Teacher Says His Sex Ed Course is Designed to ‘Desensitize Children’ to Sexual Imagery and Genitalia”.
Dr. John Campbell
mRNA in blood after 28 days
The US DOD tweeted this:
Diversity is a strategic imperative critical to mission readiness and accomplishment. We were on site for the 2023 inaugural @DoD_ODEI Summit as DEIA experts led forums to advance the DEIA and DoD mission — because our people matter.
Im confused – if diversity is a strength, why do we wear uniforms?
Washington ‘fanning the flames’ in Ukraine – Beijing
The statement came in response to claims that China was ready to help arm Russia
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has shot back at Washington’s accusations that Beijing is considering providing “lethal support” for Moscow in Ukraine. The diplomat said the US was in no position to tell China what to do.
“It is the US, not China, that has been pouring weapons into the battlefield,” the diplomat said at a regular press briefing on Monday. He added that, unlike Washington, Beijing had been “supporting talks for peace” since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed in an interview with CBS that Washington had information that China was “considering providing lethal support” to Russia. He emphasized that such a decision would have “serious consequences” for relations with Beijing.
That was followed by a comment from US envoy to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who told CNN that Washington would view China sending weapons to Russia as a “red line.”
The US, meanwhile, has sent Kiev billions of dollars worth of military aid, including main battle tanks.
Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference that his country had been working on a peace proposal for the Ukrainian conflict – one which “some forces” might oppose, he added.
Those calling for continued fighting “don’t care about the life and death of Ukrainians,” he warned.
Wang Wenbin added on Monday that Beijing stood by its principles and is “committed to promoting peace talks” in a “constructive role.”
Dim Chambers is a drooling jug eared collectivist cretin who is completely out of his depth*, who clearly knows nothing about basic economics and in any sane world would be rightly unemployable.
Just putin’ it out there, Cats.
*That said, he’d be out of his depth in a rain puddle
But Indolent, the person in the Liz Wheeler post can’t be a groomer or abuser because he/she/it is not a member of the clergy, a religious or a political conservative. Just ask Gillard’s royal commissioners.
Thanks so much for the person who introduced us to Giles Yeo. He’s enough to renew our faith in education, and even humanity.
This is a short lecture on human adaptability to a grateful audience.
This, right here, is a clear statement of Australia’s problem. The casual agreement that not taking accumulated wealth from that wealth’s earners and owners is ‘spending’.
The underlying corollary – that it all belongs to the State and any flows to it’s purported owners are the outworkings of State munificence – underpins the current philosophy of Cornucopia Government.
Why struggle?
Government will provide.
Wow – the optics of the above are almost too ridiculous to let past. Let me guess, upon the conclusion of the Munich Security Conference, the chinaman will address a braindead lamestream meeja throng proclaiming, “peace in our time”.
That should do the trick, just as it did back in 1936.
flyingduk says:
February 21, 2023 at 8:42 am
The US DOD tweeted this:
Diversity is a strategic imperative critical to mission readiness and accomplishment. We were on site for the 2023 inaugural @DoD_ODEI Summit as DEIA experts led forums to advance the DEIA and DoD mission — because our people matter.
Im confused – if diversity is a strength, why do we wear uniforms?
So you can look like this
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/us-military-going-to-the-dogs/
or
Transgender Biden administration health official to be sworn in as four-star admiral
The Russians & Ciniese are Quivering in their Boots Laughing
Speaking of police and wokeness:
Under DeSantis, Crime In Florida At 50-Year Low (20 Feb)
I suspect Florida police are the least woke in the country, with the exception of Broward County.
oops – 1938
CDC confirms 100% of reported Covid-19 Vaccine Deaths were caused by just 5% of batches produced & the majority were sent to red Republican States across the USA
That’s great news.
Really great.
That means 95% of vaccine batches are 100% safe. You just have to pick the right state to live in and you’re home and hosed.
(Also great to see the Nigerian Princes at Exposé are now accepting crypto.)
Homeschool.
Homeschool, homeschool, homeschool, homeschool, homeschool.
If in doubt, homeschool.
Homsechool.
Possible super targets for jug-ears.
.1 Contributions surcharge above, say, $15,000 p.a. contributions;
.2 Limit on tax refunds from franking credits of, say, $5,000. They won’t ban refunds altogether because that will catch OAPs with a few BHP shares and who rely on a small refund to pay a few bills.
.3 Previously entirely tax free incomes in pension phase will have a “progressive” tax threshold.
More like “we’re all going to diieee next week because of cow farts!”
WOW – George Soros Totally Melts Down in Speech on Climate Change at Munich Security Conference (19 Feb)
Every international confab is now a religious service for green wokeness.
I just want to be able to pull out at 55 without a wealth destroying penalty.
I have already accepted it will be punitive and exorbitant.
I thought the the whole point of instituting compulsory superannuation was get everyone to provide for their own retirement or as close to everyone as possible. Of course the super tax concessions will outpace pensions as the scheme works and there are fewer old age pensioners.
Today is Shrove Tuesday
On this eve of Ash Wednesday, we farewell the “Alleluia” – not to be part of our liturgical prayer until the Easter Vigil.
You should be running Treasury.
Never had a job outside politics.
Not until 2027, apparently.
Err, preservation age is closer to 60 now.
Bruce, this is one of the comments at the George Soros link that made me laugh. I’m starting to think these monsters really do think they will live for ever purely due to their wealth.
Well, it is slightly more possible than 100 metres.
Paul Joseph Watson
Oh sh*t, they’re actually doing it.
Fifteen minute cities, what crazy elitist bullshit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpfhBPDUs9A
” Refuse to pay the fines, smash the spy cameras, DO NOT COMPLY! ”
Become ungovernable.
Did they take into consideration all the EV cars they are pushing which will need extra power? Did they also take into consideration the annual immigration figure of a quarter of a million people that will need housing and to power the housing, not to mention the cars they will require? Somehow I don’t think so.
Notice the way the Canbra treasury pubic parasites call a tax concession a spend.
My simple modelling says rolling blackouts starting in 2025/26 – after the closure of Eraring pulls a whopping 2,800MW out of dispatchable system.
Nasty little Bowen pretends that grid-scale and communidy batteries will save the day. But I suspect that Big Battery is going to wait for panic pricing in the NEM before bellying up to the trough.
I want to pull out and I am willing to pay a punitive tax.
What’s the minimum age? Yes I should know, but I haven’t been paying attention to admin stuff, just investing.
If I can’t get it before I am going to keel over and die, I will burn my funds to the ground and take welfare.
More Electric Vehicle Lunacy
After the American Version
The Lunacy of Electric Vehicles – How’s your day going? – in 17 Secs
https://twitter.com/NoDMsPerfavore/status/1626285317597667330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1626285317597667330%7Ctwgr%5E4aff3409de2a5bb28d26610dc0faea569d76cd2b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fjimthompson%2F2023%2F02%2F17%2Fford-halts-production-of-its-f-150-e-truck-but-dont-worry-its-just-a-problem-with-the-battery-n704983
PS – The little things some people notice – Explains so Much!
We have the European version Eletric Smart Car being charged with Petrol generator on Roof
Gasoline generator on electric car
Pubes in Melbourne are pushing the wef 15 min assault on freedom too. The loser dj on a loser nein am station was pushing it yesterday.
Think of all the sea walls that will need to be built to protect the elites’ beachside mansions. I can see a building boom coming, we may need to import a few more million people to work in the industry.
An odd practice unknown in the early church and in the East to this day, because every Sunday is a commemoration of the resurrection and is not a penitential service.
$400m or thereabouts announced for community batteries last month.
They’re gonna need a bigger stash of OPM.
Protestors gather in Oxford to demonstrate their disapproval of draconian 15-minute neighbourhoods”
What’s interesting is that Antifa scum turned up in Oxford to protest the locals who were protesting the draconian 15-minute neighbourhoods. They were screaming Nazi, Nazi, Nazi at the locals. Righto, so now you’re a Nazi if you protest 15-minute neighbourhoods. Antifa and the police are the left’s paramilitary wings. I would not be surprised if there was some sort of unofficial collaboration between the two.
Two weeks ago I witnessed a similar collaboration between police and far-left scum at Cardinal Pell’s funeral.
Anyway, the so called Covid lockdowns were a template for this. I don’t know why anyone is surprised. It was all inevitable. How do we stop this? I never thought I’d say this but I now believe the ballot box to be useless because both major parties are signed up to this.
Maybe we should all move to Florida.
Snowy 2.0 could win Prize for Most Globally Stupid Green Engineering Project
By Jo Nova
The Snowy 2.0 Pumped hydro scheme will cost families big money, spread pests, endanger fish, and kill trees but it will allow some renewables investors to make a profit, and that’s all that matters right?
Overseas readers are invited to submit more stupid schemes, with points for delays, cost, incompetence, environmental damage and sheer lack of any public benefit.
Ted Woodley does the best synopsis of the Snowy 2.0 debacle I’ve seen, pointing out how it sets all the worst kinds of records, being delayed 300% with costs up 1000%.
It was supposed to be built in four years and cost $2 billion, but will end up taking 12 years (at least) and probably cost $20 billion by the time the cost of the extra transmission lines is added in.
As readers here know, the boring machines are the slowest on Earth, one having made it only 200m and being paused for months under a pile of sand.
It was supposed to pay for itself, and make electricity cheaper, but is already chewing through a $1.4 billion taxpayer “injection”, with more to come and even the Snowy Hydro team admit public electricity prices will rise because of Snowy 2.0.
And above all, it was supposed to be renewable and save the environment, but it’s just a big inefficient battery that will infect the top lake with feral perch and other pests, and sacrifice some forest for high voltage transmission lines. It will breach all the usual environmental regulations but that’s OK say The Greens who’ll destroy the environment any day if it keeps their big business and banker pals happy.
To put this is perspective, the invasive redfin perch “is a declared notifiable pest under the Biosecurity Regulation 2017. It is illegal to possess, buy, sell or move this pest in NSW.” But the Snowy 2.0 Scheme will pump the eggs and larva by the gigaton. If you do it, you’re breaking the law, but if the Snowy 2.0 scheme does it, they are environmental heroes.
Ever get the feeling the Environmental Movement is just a mafia cabal?
The Australian Greens love Snowy 2.0 so much they want Snowy Hydro 3.0 with $40 billion in Commonwealth funding.
Jo says — make all the renewable energy generators pay the costs themselves, since they are the only beneficiaries, and obey the laws we all obey, and if the project collapses, which it will, we’ll all be richer. That’s how the free market works…
Six years of bungled billions; time to cut losses on Snowy 2.0
Ted Woodley, The Australian
Just picking out the costs and environmental damage:
Record three: underestimated cost – $2bn to up to $20bn
Record six: inducing the NSW government to grant exemptions from environmental legislation
The Austrians finally have a good idea.
So who pays their expenses?
Any inquiring minds left in UK journalism?
Seems the only solution is to start a “business”.
If this is ever shut off, then it’s straight to making delta punts and signing up for welfare.
Antifa are probably deep state or even spooks. BLM less so but probable.
Why the sudden push / interest in engineered kitchen benchtops and silicosis?
This is a serious health problem, but surely its a long-term failure of WHS regulation and enforcement? The dangers have been known for how many hundreds of years in general, and certainly engineered stone since it came into fashion.
Follow the money – who’s to gain? Or is this a deflection from regulatory failure?
Turdbull – Malcolm Turnbull announces Snowy Mountains 2.0
More 1 Day ago
‘A $20 Billion white elephant’: Malcolm Turnbull’s Snowy 2.0
Even the Sydney(Pravda) Moaning Herald March 15, 2022 – Note up $10 Billion in a Year to above 2GB Article
Five years on, Snowy 2.0 emerges as a $10 billion white elephant
Five years ago on Tuesday, then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced, with great fanfare, the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project:
“The Turnbull Government will start work on an electricity game-changer … This plan will increase the generation of the Snowy Hydro scheme by 50 per cent, adding 2000 megawatts of renewable energy to the National Electricity Market (NEM).”
Senate Estimates papers confirm the announcement was cobbled together in less than two weeks after the concept was floated by Snowy Hydro.
Inspiring stuff. But not one of these grand claims has turned out to be true. Worse, Australian taxpayers and NSW electricity consumers will be up for billions of dollars in subsidies and increased electricity costs, all while Kosciuszko is trashed. Let’s have a quick recap.
Snowy Hydro now expects completion in 10 years, not four, by 2026. Some experts consider even this extended timeframe to be optimistic.
If the above isn’t an example of “world class public infrastructure administration”, then I don’t (want to) know what is.
We are governed by the most staggeringly incompetent ignorant illiterate innumerate anti-scientific imbeciles to have existed in human history.
Quote of the day.
“Right now, we’re on track to spend more on super tax concessions than the age pension by around 2050.
This is a lie.
What hes saying is we are on track to not tax as much as we would if we treated it like income.
Those “concessions” are the tax being foregone for the deposits we are forced, by law, to make to super schemes.
And tax foregone because the profits made by the money locked into those schemes isnt taxed at a higher rate.
Quite how taking more money at the deposits or consolidation stage “costs” the government anything is a bald faced lie.
Meghan ‘has been upset and overwhelmed by her depiction on South Park for DAYS’ after irreverent US cartoon described Duchess as ‘sorority girl, actress, influencer, victim’ in scathing episode
. Meghan Markle has reportedly taken issue with her depiction in South Park
. The episode introduces her as a ‘sorority girl, actress, influence, victim’
. It also mocks the couple’s grievances as they go on a ‘worldwide privacy tour’
Given the US Military’s penchant for awarding ribbons for just about anything – one for signing up, another one for your first buzzcut, 2 more for doing 10 pushups etc etc etc.
Check out the rack* on this 4 star and tell me this was a ‘merit hire’.
https://www.wtae.com/article/dr-rachel-levine-first-transgender-four-star-admiral/38003702
* sorry, couldn’t resist.
Ponting had already demonstrated personal growth well before being made captain.
Clarke’s selection was cynical pro-Blue garbage, well before he showed any sign of being a suitable leader, and was probably the catalyst for him to never become one.
By making him captain, Cricket Aus hastened the departure of Hussey, Hayden and Symonds along with. ironically, Clarke himself, who should have been rested far more often to manage his back injury.
So, after more than 50 years of operation, compulsory superannuation still won’t deliver a decent retirement income to nearly 70% of retirees? Bear in mind that a goodly proportion of the 30% will be government employees with more generous schemes funded by taxpayers.
The whole thing is a massive con which delivered rivers of gold to unions and well paid sinecures to the favourite sons and daughters. Now that the hoard is being eyed off by Sauron’s minions, where is Smaug? For that is the final stage of the fraud – using workers’ money, which was compulsorily acquired, for their own ends.
Theft, pure and simple.
Beware of government owned corporations bearing expansion plans.
For Cat Ladies – Son recommended I watch
Netflix’s The Law According to Lidia Poet: Why Fans of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes Should Watch
Combining the historical value of 1800’s Italy with modern themes of today, The Law According to Lidia Poet is a must watch for mystery enthusiasts.
Said it was better than Enola Holmes
Preview – The Law According to Lidia Poët
have started watching and yes good.
Isn’t wage theft a crime?
I upticked that.
Shameless self-promoter that I am.
😀
I remember Wayne Swan starting that – although he might only have been saying to us what civil servants and politicians had been saying for much longer only out of our earshot.
Same sort of thing with ‘invest’ although that one is much older. I was a school kid in the 70’s and was shocked when our commerce teacher explained to us that ‘invest’ did not simply mean ‘spend’.
Who is to gain?
Big Laminex, of course.
ABC business correspondents haven’t been so coy.
Ian Verrender has been calling tax cuts for business “a government hand out” for years.
Comrades.
The government has no money.
Apologies Roger. I should have acknowledged you as the author to avoid the temptation for shameful self- promotion.
[Worth buying a print & framing, then sending to my accountant (soon to be former accountant) who is 100% on board with more taxes on “people who have too much in super”.]
This is not a good, or sensible, accountant.
Project Veritas Is Dead
As RedState reported earlier, James O’Keefe has departed from Project Veritas after what he said is a vote among the board to oust him as CEO.
It was clear that this separation wasn’t amicable, and by the video posted of him reading his resignation letter, O’Keefe isn’t done, he’s just done doing it under the Project Veritas banner.
Watch the 2 Min 16 Secs Video linked follwoing
Charlie Kirk
@charliekirk11
BREAKING VIDEO: James O’Keefe addresses Project Veritas staff as he exits from the organization he founded following a high-profile board dispute. “Our mission continues on. I’m not done. The mission will perhaps take on a new name…”
According to O’Keefe, this plan to get rid of him featured board members attempting to find any reason they could to push O’Keefe out, including going to Project Veritas employees to collect grievances about him.
O’Keefe presented a text message conversation between a board member and a PV journalist, where the journalist was offered a raise if Project Veritas was restructured without O’Keefe at the top.
The timing of this ousting is not a good look seeing as how Project Veritas had just dropped its biggest sting of all time. It had gotten a Pfizer executive to admit that the company was altering the Coronavirus in order to sell more vaccines, something Pfizer got incredibly rich off of during the pandemic.
The board’s actions are incredibly odd and very sudden, at least in the mind of the public. In fact, it’s the public the board now has to worry about.
What’s been going on behind Project Veritas’s walls is unclear. The private conversations that were had between board members and external players are still a mystery and may remain one for some time. However, the board’s swiftness in expelling O’Keefe, mixed with the timing, plus the reading of this resignation letter that throws the board’s motives into an unsavory light, has effectively buried Project Veritas going forward.
For one, O’Keefe and Project Veritas are pretty synonymous.
Secondly, the nature of O’Keefe’s departure is going to sour the public view of Project Veritas. O’Keefe is largely a beloved figure by the right-leaning public and his treatment at the hands of the board will instinctively cause O’Keefe’s fans to sour against the brand. They will view the board, now in full control, as villains.
The bottom line is that O’Keefe had the lion’s share of trust from the public, and with his ousting that trust will go with him. The shady method by which the board ousted this conservative hero simply makes it look untrustworthy.
It really doesn’t help matters that this move came after the Pfizer sting, which is going to cause some intense speculation in and of itself.
Put all this together and it’s safe to assume that Project Veritas is dead
After a left-wing faction in the Fox News newsroom actively barracked for Biden and called races early in the 2020 election debacle to help the Democrats, I’d thought Tucker Carlson would resign and go do something else –e.g., launching another news service like the Daily Caller.
Instead, he convinced Fox management to give him the staff and resources to launch a new content/documentaries division for the network –and we’re now seeing the longterm downstream benefits for him and the network.
Carlson has long campaigned for the release of the J6 security footage, which had been deep-sixed by the Deep State and Nancy Pelosi.
Carlson’s two daily shows, Tucker Carlson Tonight and Tucker Carlson Today, will be top-rating must-watches for the next few months.
The Carlson method is not only good for journalism, it’s delivering Fox huge ratings and profits.
We FINALLY have actual footage of a crazed Liberal in the wilderness annnd OMG-LOL it’s real (watch)
Don’t mind us, we’re just reaching for serious amounts of eye bleach after watching this ‘man’ scream about being a liberal and a political science major. Or something. Honestly, we aren’t entirely sure what he/she/they/it/whatever is really screaming here except for several curse words.
After the very high-pitched female-like scream.
No really.
Note: This is filled with curse words and insanity so if you are out in public you might want to consider using earbuds or headphones.
CAMILLE PAGLIA STAN?
@AgingWhiteGay
No real man I know has ever acted the way this biological female has .
Seriously, though, duncanm, the whole silicosis thing is a failure.
The effects have been known for ages, and the fix is simple.
Cut the stuff in unmanned booths using CNC cutting tools and proper dust extraction/suppression.
FMD, most of it consists of taking a 3.6 metre length of the stuff, cutting one oblong hole (two tops) and an arris along one edge.
Not difficult.
Hehe, if this happens it will be epic!
Harry and Meghan ‘hoping to sue’ after being ‘stung so badly’ by South Park episode (20 Feb)
If they do they’ll be the biggest laughing stock on the planet. Only someone as humourless as Meghan could not realize that. And Harry of course, although his problem seems more that he has roughly the intelligence of a sea anemone.
Just slipped it in before Lent, too.
😀
Further to my comment yesterday about the PC rewriting of the Roald Dahl classics – surprise, surprise!
70 bucks is a bargain for the full set with no censorship/rewrites.
Get hard copies of all the books, fillums and music you love, peeps!
I know D.V.A. can be pretty horrific to deal with – I’m a Gold card holder and I’ve never had any problems – but, if this bloke can hold down a job, and travel, why is looking after his dog someone else’s responsibility?
This is a serious health problem, but surely its a long-term failure of WHS regulation and enforcement?
Absolutely.
Regulators failing to ensure CURRENT regulations arent being followed.
Work wet or work with high power extraction/PPE.
Mines department were belling the cat on this about 5 years back.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/atoms/files/silica_health_surveillance_guidance_1.pdf
Plus an excuse for a beautiful topical song.
Moaning Meghan Markle & Vacant Prince Frostbite Penis Harry summed up in 45 secs by South Park
Apparently Princess Harry & Meghan are taking legal action to prevent this Canadian interview episode from airing.
Good luck. South Park plays by it’s own rules.
What a pair of humourless narcissistic idiots.
Did Al Bore, Rusty Crowe and Tom Cruise (among many others) sue Parker and Stone?
Joe Biden’s Surprise Trip to Ukraine Is an Insult to East Palestine
On Monday morning reports quickly came in regarding a “secret trip” Joe Biden took to Kyiv, Ukraine, which NBC News described as “a historic moment that carried huge symbolism ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.”
The gushing over Biden continued with quotes from Kyiv residents who are so grateful Biden showed up.
“It gives a sense that we are not alone, we do have support, the biggest part of the world and greatest leaders are with us,” Evheniy Lazarenko, a manager at an IT company in Kyiv, told NBC News.
Another resident, Anna Myryasheva, reportedly told NBC News that Biden’s visit gave her “joy and hope.”
“It is remarkable that international partners are coming to see everything with their own eyes, despite the danger. As a person who lives in Kyiv, and expects heavy shelling soon, I feel great today,” she said.
Well, it must be nice for the people of Ukraine to feel like they’re not forgotten by the Biden administration, which has been funneling money to the war-torn country for nearly a year, while on the other side of the globe, residents in and nearby East Palestine, Ohio have been ignored for weeks.
But hey, kudos to Biden, right?
I’m sure the White House saw this as an opportunity to help strengthen Biden’s image as the commander-in-chief ahead of his eventual 2024 announcement, but this publicity stunt feels incredibly inappropriate given the current environmental disaster in Ohio to which Biden turned a blind eye.
If only his son Hunter had some business interests in East Palestine, maybe then federal assistance would not have been flat-out refused for weeks. As recently as this past Thursday, support from FEMA had been rejected.
“The DeWine Administration has been in daily contact with FEMA to discuss the need for federal support, however, FEMA continues to tell Governor DeWine that Ohio is not eligible for assistance at this time,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office said in a statement.
Had it not been for Donald Trump announcing on Friday that he’d be going to East Palestine the following week, it’s very possible that help from FEMA would still have been rejected.
“Biden and FEMA said they would not be sending federal aid to East Palestine. As soon as I announced that I’m going, he announced a team will go,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
But hey, Joe Biden took a trip to Ukraine and we’re supposed to be impressed that he clearly cares about what’s going on there more than what’s happening to his own constituents.
It’s funny because I remember Joe Biden saying he would “be a President for all Americans,” yet, right now, he seems to identify as the president of Ukraine, which has seen more money, aid, and attention from the Biden administration than American citizens in East Palestine ever will.
“Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of Joe Biden.
Yeah, imagine how the people of East Palestine feel. Ukraine got the blank check, East Palestine got the blank stare.
At least President Trump is going there on Wednesday, and at least we know that there is a president who can give the folks there some joy and hope.
To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.
– Aldous Huxley
An attractive blonde from Cork, Ireland, arrived at the casino. She seemed a little intoxicated and bet twenty thousand dollars in a single roll of the dice. She said “I hope you don’t mind, but I feel much luckier when I’m completely nude”.
With that, she stripped from the neck down, rolled the dice and with an Irish brogue yelled “Come on, baby, Mama needs new clothes!”
As the dice came to a stop, she jumped up and down and squealed. “Yes! Yes! I won, I won!” She hugged each of the dealers, picked up her winnings and her clothes and quickly departed.
The dealers stared at each other dumbfounded.
Finally, one of them asked “What did she roll?” The other answered “I don’t know – I thought you were watching”.
I’m in Madrid, it’s a little after midnight here.
I’m in a teeny tiny two room apartment semi below ground in Embajadores. The lounge must be eight feet by six feet.
Plane was late but still a mile better than Ryanair and I managed to find and jump on the Atocha Express bus straight away, late at night it’s a much better/ safer option than the metro, though I did switch to the metro at Atocha, where it is still very busy late at night, the Madrid metro is quite easy to manage.
I wasn’t quite sure which direction on line 3 Embajadores was and asked people waiting for the lift, got told to corre as it was still sitting at the platform and a dude inside stuck his leg put to stop the door closing for me.
I made it.
My hosts are keen throw cushioners (and investors in air fresheners and incense, possibly to cover cigarette taint) and the apartment has an interesting and colourful lamp to prove it.
I might turn it face to wall tomorrow and put all the smelly stuff outside, atm it’s just gathered at the front door.
This is great
https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-hobby-attracts-the-most-tedious-wankers/423543/72
Roger says:
February 21, 2023 at 9:21 am in reply to my comment:
On this eve of Ash Wednesday, we farewell the “Alleluia” – not to be part of our liturgical prayer until the Easter Vigil.
Appreciate your reply. I can only offer the first two paragraphs here taken from Gregory the Great Homily 16 on the Gospels.
Today is Pancake Day.
Imagine Meghan’s lawyer trying to tactfully warn her that truth is a defence in defamation proceedings.
Jeffery Sachs | EUROPE is DOOMED
Race pimps – disgusting vile creatures that should have been defenestrated decades ago.
Shorter Indigenous life expectancy should mean lower pension age, court told
Landmark case from Indigenous man seeking to access pension three years early hears Australia fails to account for age gap from ‘racial disadvantage’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/20/shorter-indigenous-life-expectancy-should-mean-lower-pension-age-court-told
First Nations Australians should be granted access to the pension at a younger age due to a gap in life expectancy “which is closely connected to race”, the federal court has heard.
The full federal court on Monday commenced hearings in a landmark case brought against the commonwealth by 65-year-old Indigenous man, Uncle Dennis, who is seeking to access the pension three years early.
Figures produced by his barrister, Ron Merkel KC, on Monday suggested a 65-year-old Indigenous man would live for a further 15.8 years on average, compared to 19 years for a non-Indigenous man.
“There is a long historical disadvantage which is embedded structurally into Aboriginal and Indigenous society in Australia that is the direct cause of this life expectancy gap,” he told the court.
“The relief we’re seeking is to remove historical racial disadvantage and discrimination, to correct the wrongs of the past against Indigenous people … Those wrongs have produced a gap in life expectancy which is closely connected to race.”
…
The case was brought by the Human Rights Law Centre alongside the Victoria Aboriginal Legal Service (Vals) and firm DLA Piper.
“The gap in life expectancy is a direct result of decades of racist colonial policies,” she said. “Lowering the age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to access the age pension is a simple and practical measure that will meaningfully respond to the history and systemic discrimination that causes our people to die before their time.”
That’s interesting, P. Note that Gregory states that the “six Sundays [of Lent] are withdrawn from abstinence.”
Terry McCrann on Jim Chalmers:
Oh dear. I suppose it was inevitable. Our trainee treasurer – who wants to remake and reform our entire world in between his fiscal fiending – is now channelling his inner Willie Sutton.
But whereas famed Depression-era Sutton thought small – asked why he robbed banks, he famously responded: “because that’s where the money is” – our 21st century downunder version is thinking much bigger.
Jim Chalmers is going after the biggest pool of money in Australia, bigger even than what’s in our banking system – your, and I emphasise that word, your superannuation. Oh sure, it’s dressed up to pretend to be all about you. You could not ask for a more anodyne – indeed, what in our formerly sane world was called a ‘motherhood’ – statement. The ‘consultation’ process has started on legislating the “objective of superannuation”.
But that should immediately set the first amber light flashing. Hang-on, why should we have to legislate an objective for superannuation? Isn’t it self-evident? To build up at least a sufficient pool of saving for retirement? And why not, individually, the biggest possible pool that you want to put aside for your future?
The answer of course is that the real bigger and wider ‘objective’ for that pool of money is one that you poor schmucks can’t understand, far less appreciate. We, know better than you how your money should be invested. And if as a consequence, you get hosed, well, by then, we won’t be around to cop any blame; you can warm yourself on those future cold winter nights in old age with the comfort that you helped build a better world. Or something. This amber warning light should turn red with the qualifying additional words from Chalmers: that super should provide retirement incomes in an “equitable and sustainable way”.
Again, ostensibly pure motherhood – or should that be ‘entity-carrierhood’? But not just opening the door to government and regulatory direction and manipulation and indeed confiscation – but ripping the door entirely off its hinges. Indeed, Chalmers all-but said exactly as much in a speech Monday.
The reforms would enable investment by funds in projects that “boost housing supply, manage climate change and spur digital transformation”.
Again, can’t they do that now? If it makes sense as an investment? To grow the superannuant’s balance – your money? In the dim distant past, I think it was an earlier politician named Kelly, who famously said “I feel a dam coming on”, any time a political leader started making flowery promises about “doing things’’ for the collective you (with of course, your money).
Now I suggest, it’s more the case of: Venezuela, here we come. As the ‘objective’ for your retirement money gets ‘broadened’ to include the solar panels and windmills of what passes for Jim’s mind, houses, fibre, and who knows what else a future energetic trainee treasurer might think we need. I really don’t think the SMSF – or its deputy director Peter Burgess – did themselves, or more importantly their members, any favours, by rushing out a statement endorsing the government’s actions.
Do they really think it was Jim Chalmers saying: “I’m the treasurer and I’m just doing this to help you”?
Critical to understand is the even more insidious – idiotic and indeed quite simply totalitarian – mindset that underlies all the discussion of super by Labor (and Green) politicians and Treasury and other bureaucrats. Simply, that it’s not really your money. Because of the tax incentives. No, every single dollar that goes into super, apart from some trivial co-contributions, is your money.
Yes, you are left with more to put in because of the tax concessions. Yes, and so what? You pay a lower rate on that income? That mindset actually believes that any tax rate less than 100 per cent is a ‘concession’.
No, because they took the advice of their lawyers that the trial process would not reflect well on them – at least in some cases. Others may just have shrugged it off, I dunno.
I do hope Harkle go ahead. It will be the best free (to us) entertainment for yonks.
Trains in Spain run mainly on the plain.
Not in tunnels.
Spanish Transport Bosses Quit After New Trains Too Big for Local Tunnels (20 Feb)
Maybe we could send Malcolm Turnbull over to help them out?
WTF?
https://www.transparentcable.com/collections/all/products/magnum-opus-speaker-cable
MAGNUM OPUS Speaker Cable
This item is available through your local dealer.
From: $72,000.00
Clarke could flog for Australia. And did.
I think Jeremy Clarkson is now in the silver medal position.
What a dishonest argument.
I realise that all risk-pooling requires some sort of averageing, but it also requires identifying risk factors at lower levels.
If you are an alcoholic in a remote community (except when you travel to access booze), what do you have in common with an urban person with a decent job whose great-grandmother happened to be Aboriginal?
Another money grab at taxpayers’ expense.
Oh, and I agree with Zulu about the guy with the ‘assistance dog’ who wanted it looked after at public expense while he went overseas for work. If it really is more than a pet, he wouldn’t be able to leave it for a month. Pay your own kennel costs, pal, or leave it with a friend/relative.
A test for all.
‘Name one adverse issue faced by this nation that does not have Malcolm Turnbull at its root cause’.
I don’t have the in depth knowledge you do but it looks like the country will be left with no capacity to absorb a shock such as a catastrophic failure in another big generation plant.
Forget rolling blackouts, it would just be a blackout.
In fact I think we’re not far from it already.
Fine if it’s not taxed at the contribution and accumulation phase. You don’t get 3 bites at the cherry. How it should have been done in the first place by the French polishing clock fancier.
For those interested, Bettina Arndt has just published a splendid wrap of post-trial developments so far in the Higgins/Shiraz/Gallagher matter.
https://bettinaarndt.substack.com/p/evasive-uncooperative-and-manipulative?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=448263&post_id=103978759&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
First-rate stuff.
Are we talking “potentially great” adverse issues or just standard f*ckups?
Bruce, when I read about the Spanish train fiasco, I was reminded of a similar event in NSW. Train carriages ordered from o/s turned out not to be sufficiently aligned with platform heights/clearances. It’s the kind of basic homework that you would expect when preparing a tender.
I suppose that railways have not been the career of choice for our best and brightest, but even so …
15 minutes on the Eastern Freeway doesn’t get you too far at peak times.
They might also touch on “sincerely held views and opinions” as a defence.
Not to mention that, even if they won the court case, all that will happen is that extracts of the South Park episode will be on high rotation for weeks during the hearings.
Blueysays:
February 21, 2023 at 7:54 am
Did a double take at the radio news this morning when they had a short line about extensive blackouts predicted across the east coast from 2027. Due to the closure of 5 coal power stations taking out 13% of the supply.
Is reality finally hitting home?
13%? Liddell and Eraring between them are nearly 35% of NSW’s power; and both will be gone by 2025.
You may find this article of some interest:
How to Pregame Lent 2023: Septuagesima, Carnival and Shrovetide
Thanks again for your thoughtful comment.
Harry and Meghan ‘hoping to sue’ after being ‘stung so badly’ by South Park episode (20 Feb)
I seem to be hopelessly out of tune with the rest of the world – but I think that if anyone had a reason to sue it would have been Her Majesty, the late Queen, for the shameful portrayals of her family life – and especially of her own personal family life – even if she was “impersonated” by Helen Mirren. Portrayals after death may be excused, but portrayal of the very gracious and loyal Queen Elizabeth during her lifetime, in my opinion, was shameful. And the hurt which must have been caused by the pop “The Crown” series was exceptionally
….cruel
The AFL’s injury sub rule?
exactly.
Even mandating wet cutting or decent masks solves the issue.
Anchor What:
Liddel and Eraring won’t close. They’ll be refurbished and kept ready for use because a ‘fault’ will be found in the renewables sector that necessitates keeping them open.
They will not be demolished.
given the history of Southpark.. they’d better watch out. Cartman and his pals will double-down on the humiliation of the ‘ranga and his mistress.
I seem to be hopelessly out of tune with the rest of the world – but I think that if anyone had a reason to sue it would have been Her Majesty, the late Queen, for the shameful portrayals of her family life – and especially of her own personal family life – even if she was “impersonated” by Helen Mirren. Portrayals after death may be excused, but portrayal of the very gracious and loyal Queen Elizabeth during her lifetime, in my opinion, was shameful. And the hurt which must have been caused by the pop “The Crown” series was exceptionally”
Quite so, I gave up on The Crown early in the series, finding it contrived and somewhat soapy however apparently, a few years before his death, Prince Phillip wanted to sue the producers of The Crown because it its obscene lie that the death of Phillip’s sister, Princess Cecily of Hesse, was the fault of Phillip. Apparently there is a scene where Prince Phillip’s father, Prince Andrew of Greece, personally attributed blame on Phillip for Cecily’s death (her husband and two sons also died in that plane crash, and Cecily was eight or nine month’s pregnant). This wasn’t just an outrageous smear, it was a complete and utter lie. Phillip would have won a defamation case but he ended up not suing, probably because royals rarely ever take legal action.
The Ginger and the Whinger are grifters and very disgusting people.
areff at 10:58
The Sharaz- Gallagher link is interesting. Wouldn’t want to be a Mean Girl. kd wrong will have to be protected at all costs.
I do like how South Park has made Harry and Meghan flappy-headed Canadians. They’re a lot like Terrance and Philip, really.
areff says:
February 21, 2023 at 10:58 am
For those interested, Bettina Arndt has just published a splendid wrap of post-trial developments so far in the Higgins/Shiraz/Gallagher matter.
https://bettinaarndt.substack.com/p/evasive-uncooperative-and-manipulative?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=448263&post_id=103978759&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
First-rate stuff.
areff,
from that article
Complaint to ACT Bar Council – Bruce Lehrmann redacted_Redacted.pdf – 5 pages
Calli:
If $9,315,065.5 Million dollars per day won’t ‘close the gap’ how much is required?
I think the biggest fear the Voice has is that the Mug Punter will work out what this scam is costing them.
THE NEWS OF THE DAY IN 12 MINUTES
Several years ago, the Australian Broadcasting Company started a show called “Insiders,” featuring three liberal hosts. In an inspired moment, Sky News, which is more or less the Fox News of Australia, started its own program called “Outsiders” with three conservative hosts. I frequently appear as a guest on Outsiders, most recently on the show that aired yesterday. Ringleader Rowan Dean was out this week, so regular hosts Rita Panahi and James Morrow were joined by James Macpherson.
It was a fun 12-minute segment that covered some of the stories we have been writing about on Power Line. Sky News uploaded the segment to YouTube, so here it is:
An explanatory note: a couple of minutes before I came on, the hosts played a clip of Kamala Harris waxing eloquent about her love for yellow school buses–one of her weirder recent moments. Hence the laughter about the reported size of the Chinese spy balloon.
15 minutes on the Eastern Freeway doesn’t get you too far at peak times.
300m if I’m not mistaken.
13%? Liddell and Eraring between them are nearly 35% of NSW’s power; and both will be gone by 2025.
We have been seriously examining our options, as many are probably doing. Given the above + the energy shortages caused by the war with Ukraine + the possibility of China closing our fuel route via the South China Sea lane – we may be in a sticky situation sooner than we think.
Although we have a 10kw solar system at the farm, this may not be as “energy secure” as it appears. We are also wired up to the grid and and sell our excess power. All well and good, but when the grid suffers faults and linesmen are doing repairs, for example, we are disconnected like everyone else. This vulnerability also means that we can be disconnected for reasons only the electricity company knows.
When disconnected, we do have a generator which operates on petrol. But what happens when petrol becomes scarce or unavailable? The alternative is to buy a battery for the solar system while they are available. More damn expense. We are currently facing the replacement of a paddock flail mower which has died beyond recovery and a new pump for the bore. But I guess we are not “Robinson Crusoe”. God knows how people will cope if these halfwits persist in their Green fantasies.
I suppose that railways have not been the career of choice for our best and brightest, but even so …
They managed to get the gauge right!
Joe Biden Fiddles With World War In Ukraine As U.S. Border, Railways Burn
Where is Biden as his country is in flames? Hiding from his crimes against Americans and our Constitution by urging atrocities in Ukraine.
Americans received a pristine view of Democrats’ disastrous America-Last policies this morning as Joe Biden paid a surprise visit to Ukraine while his own country literally burns with manmade disasters he continues to inflame.
Biden’s Federal Emergency Management Agency denied any money to help clean up a burning chemical disaster zone in the Republican state of Ohio, but Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that Biden will get a blank check to slosh around hundreds of billions from U.S. taxpayers to prolong the carnage of war in Ukraine — and the profits from it from insane deficit spending that also threatens U.S. national security.
Not only is key U.S. infrastructure on fire stateside, but Biden, in violation of his oath of office, also set the U.S. border figuratively on fire immediately upon assuming the presidency by lifting former President Trump’s effective enforcement of U.S. national security laws. Cities and towns across the United States are overwhelmed with mass human trafficking and the outsourcing of U.S. border control to international drug cartels allied with the top U.S. foreign adversary, Red China.
It’s no surprise that American support for expanding the U.S. proxy war with Russia is declining. They can see that their neighbors have to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for health insurance even if they never see a doctor because they’re really paying off the health expenses of illegal migrants, and that their neighbors are dying from the fentanyl trafficked with the human flood of misery across the border.
And where is Biden as his country is in flames? Hiding from his crimes against Americans, our laws, and our Constitution by urging continued atrocities while doing a dog and pony show in Ukraine.
While forcing his own people — and those whose migration keeps the cartels supplied with the billions to buy military-grade weaponry — to suffer murder, rape, and other heinous crimes, Biden is abroad encouraging ongoing violence in Ukraine.
War is hell, especially for the vulnerable — women, children, and the elderly. But Democrats and their military-industrial complex believe death, rape, starvation, and continued demolishing of Ukranian homes and towns are a worthy trade for a shiny new excuse to open U.S. coffers wide to high-dollar campaign donors with no oversight.
It’s no coincidence, surely, the dollar spigots are also flooding toward the very same country that supplied millions to politically influence Biden’s family — and, according to his family, to influence Biden himself.
As is tradition.
Mummy and daddy who are well off are financing them. These creeps know they will not be subjected to these 15 minute neighbourhoods because they are the elite but those protesting serfs need to be put in their place.
And under “anti islanding” rules your battery is also disconnected. We had a battery as part of our build. Power goes out, battery and solar are useless. Sunny day, no power because the inverter is turned off by the grid operators.
A long time pal of mine, dyed in the wool Labor, but old style (hates greenies) told me that of all the mining companies he had to deal with in Queensland, Glencore was the worst. He was then a senior Ministerial adviser who had previously been in Treasury and PM&C.
I notice that Glencore suddenly have TV ads about how important mining is and how much they care about da Environment.
The, we find:
Not to mention, ‘carbon capture and storage’ is a boondoggle. For a start, it destroys about 50% of the value of what is extracted. It has never been successfully done, despite many years of wishful thinking and lost investments. It’s a dud.
Not sure what Glencore’s endgame is, but whoever deals with them should use a very long spoon.
Miltonfsays:
February 21, 2023 at 9:15 am
Notice the way the Canbra treasury pubic parasites call a tax concession a spend.
They produce a document called the Tax Expenditure Report every year.
Just brought the uncensored Roald Dahl collection for the Little Bloke!
Sunny day, no power because the inverter is turned off by the grid operators.
It’s actually built into the inverter to stop back feed into the grid. If you isolate from the grid and provide an equivalent incoming by a small genset it can be made to work. But you also need to have a load bank and some monitoring to bring the bank on and off. It all gets very complicated very quickly.
I do like how South Park has made Harry and Meghan flappy-headed Canadians. They’re a lot like Terrance and Philip, really.
I honestly felt for Ike, watching re-runs of The Queens funeral four months after the event!
Probably partially mitigates rather than solves.
But, yes, I reckon they could treat it like asbestos. Large amounts have very stringent controls, but small, stable amounts can be removed with lesser controls.
Example. I have had a small section of old flue and the back of an old switchboard removed without the need for moonsuits.
I reckon they could do the major cutting offsite in a sealed booth using automated cutting gear, with concessions for small on site trimming using wet-saws and proper PPE.