Open Thread – Tues 21 Feb 2023


Purgatory Canto 33, Gustave Dore, mid-1800s


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Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 24, 2023 8:33 am

I stained my circa 1970 (Michael Dysart) exposed Oregon beams black — does that count?

We got them too!
But shouldn’t have.
Clearly someone back in the 60’s or 70’s wanted the ‘Baronial Dining Hall’ look, so up went the Oregon beams. Looking at the adjacent rooms I can imagine they tore down some magnificent art deco cornice to do so. Even painted white it is pig ugly … and dusty with the cornice gone.
What to do?
Tearing it down will wreck the ceiling.
Battening and sheeting under it will lower the ceiling height by 300 mm.
Aha! Clad the beams with plaster and cornice the rectangles. Voilá! Coffered ceiling.
Sometimes you can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Rabz
February 24, 2023 8:35 am

The Tories have been exactly the same but worse

I watched some of the interview with the Farage the other day on triggernometry and the (temporary) blank look on his face when he was asked “what is the point of the tory party” was priceless. He then stated among several other points that, “they stand for nothing”.

Remind anyone of a certain agglomeration of useless political jellyfish we’ve been gifted with here?

132andBush
132andBush
February 24, 2023 8:36 am

I also note that even as Elbow and Chalmers hatch their plot to raid superannuation in breach of an electoral promise, Rowe makes the cartoon about Dutton.

What is he on about?

There is a Bell curve representing the talent/incisiveness of cartoonists.
On the extreme RHS is Leak.
On the extreme LHS is Rowe.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 8:37 am

Satellite broadband deal to make Council more resilient

Wednesday, 22 February 2023

Our community has experienced its fair share of environmental threats and challenges over the past few years.

These events have reminded us of the need to plan and prepare for future challenges, as set out in our recent Resilience Strategy(Opens in a new window), and ensure our services and facilities remain operational in times of need.

A reliable broadband connection is crucial to that goal, so Council has signed a game changing deal for satellite broadband.

Northern Beaches Council has become the first council and first government agency in NSW to sign a contract with telco Vocus Satellite – Starlink.

Engineered by SpaceX, Starlink provides high-speed connectivity via a constellation of low earth orbit satellites the size of pizza boxes.

Satellite broadband doesn’t require the traditional infrastructure of cables and fibre optics which can be disrupted during floods and fires.

If a fixed line goes down our systems and applications can continue to work.

Our child care centres, for example, will be able to continue to communicate with parents if fixed lined networks are disrupted.

Council will also avoid heavy costs associated with network engineers troubleshooting unreliable network connections or black spot locations. It will also reduce network downtime thanks to dual reliable links installed at critical locations.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 8:37 am

Number of the beast.

Surveillance State: Tony Blair and Ex-Tory Leader Call for Chinese Communist-Style Digital ID (23 Feb)

“Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the ex-leader of the Tory Party William Hague have called for a “technological revolution” in how the state monitors citizens, including the imposition of a digital ID that would include swaths of personal data, in a scheme being likened to Communist China.

Demonstrating yet again the distinction without difference between the two main parties in Westminster, former Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair and his former Conservative opponent at the parliament dispatch box, William Hague penned a joint article for The Times of London, arguing in favour of the formation of a national Digital ID, that would include passport and driving licence details, as well as tax records and right to work documents.”

Blair has long had form on this stuff, but for Hague to jointly propose it really illustrates how the Tories are now so effectively united with the British Labour Party that they’re basically Marxists too. For a supposed rightie to advocate such a dystopian system as this is gobsmacking.

Pogria
Pogria
February 24, 2023 8:42 am

Anchor Whatsays:
February 24, 2023 at 8:29 am
From Calli above:
Entire streets of Baulkham Hills done in red textured extruded bricks (State Brickworks?).
Yes, there are typical red brick houses, but other colours and styles as well. There used to be Norbrik down on Old Windsor road, gone in favour of developments which include the new private hospital and some quite interesting multi-level buildings using engineered timber frames.

The comments on this thread regarding architecture and house styles has been extremely interesting. I have enjoyed and learnt quite a bit. The links have been good value. The only thing I can add is my pet hate. The seventies gave birth to the most dreadful brick colour of all time. It was nicknamed “Dog Shit Brown”. Fortunately, a lot of these houses were painted over in lovely neutral colours. Unfortunately, over the last ten years the good old “Dog Shit Brown” has made a comeback in many new builds partnered with “Prison Grey”. A drive around the many new estates springing up is a sad experience indeed.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 24, 2023 8:44 am

Our 3 bedroom penthouse apartment is in an Art Deco building of 3 whole-floor apartments with their own entrances, all entrances facing south with main rooms to the north. In the 1970’s a wide and long covered verandah was added to all 3 apartments along the whole of this north aspect, with original sets of sash wooden windows removed and replaced by two sets of sliding doors. These verandah floors were tiled to maintain heat; recently we replaced ours with limestone. We can open up the windows and the external door on the south side get as much north-south flow through of harbour breezes as we want with doors open to the northern views, so find we only have to use minimal cooling and heating. We didn’t buy specifically with this in mind, but due to changes made in the 70’s we haven’t had to alter much for it to be an excellent passive solar home full of natural light. We did add external motorised sun shades on the sunny side for shade as needed.

Orientation and flow-through seem to be the main requirements for creating energy savings. Our brick building probably helps provide useful mass to hold heat and defray sun. The ceilings were high so luckily we could panel over the ugly white vermiculite they had been sprayed with, thus providing a second level of insulation from the gabled roof. It doesn’t have to be a new build to rework into solar.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 24, 2023 8:47 am

Whenever you see the term ‘Architect designed house’ it’s code for ‘leaks a lot, looks good but not practical, lots of maintenance required’.

Not something you can accuse Frank Lloyd Wright of. Most of his rooves (roofs?) are steeply pitched and many don’t have gutters. You might be thinking of modern houses with enclosed walled balconies built over lower floor living areas. Usually the problem there is poorly installed waterproof membranes. FLW loved the concrete cantilever. Most of his upper floor balconies protrude from the structure and don’t sit over living areas below.
I like Frank.

Cassie of Sydney
February 24, 2023 8:47 am

I would urge everyone here to pop across to C.L.’s blog and read his masterly piece…”The Nero Protocol”.

Tom
Tom
February 24, 2023 8:52 am

Rowe makes the cartoon about Dutton.
What is he on about?

David Rowe is as dumb as a box of rocks.

He has never had an an original thought in his life.

He just scribbles what the herd orders him to scribble (by osmosis) to advance the hegemony of the tribe.

Good German.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 24, 2023 8:53 am

Cassie of Sydneysays:

February 24, 2023 at 8:47 am

I would urge everyone here to pop across to C.L.’s blog …

Is it safe?
Is the troubadour there?

Perfidious Albino
Perfidious Albino
February 24, 2023 8:53 am

To be fair to particulates, Dan Andrews is responsible for at least as many deaths as road accidents, that’s when he’s not having actual road accidents…

Roger
Roger
February 24, 2023 8:53 am

The Ramsey Foundation has just been sold a pup.

Who are the individuals behind this improper usage?

They appointed a proud such and such woman as a director.

An activist since her youth, she sits on about half a dozen other boards.

She wouldn’t be Robinson Crusoe in corporate Australia, either.

Rabz
February 24, 2023 8:56 am

Australian researchers have made estimates about the deadly impact of air pollution based on a New Zealand study

So in other words, the “estimates” are utter bullsh*t that bear no possible resemblance to reality now or ever.

Give it rest, you utterly discredited fraudulent w*nkers.

Cassie of Sydney
February 24, 2023 8:57 am

“Is it safe? Yes.
Is the troubadour there?” No.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 24, 2023 9:02 am

Fortunately we have battalions of council planning officers these days to protect us from the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Imagine trying to get planning approval for the Fallingwater house in Australia in 2023.

Indolent
Indolent
February 24, 2023 9:02 am

Not just in relation to this article but generally, we are becoming desensitized to the fact that governments are working directly against us. It’s almost at the stage of not even bothering to comment on it any more.

Hiding a Disturbing Truth: UK Gov. refuses to include Child Deaths in overdue report after last report proved COVID Vaccinated Children were 137x more likely to die than Unvaccinated Children

sfw
sfw
February 24, 2023 9:03 am

Sancho, I think you’re wrong about his roofs(?) it seems to me that most had flattish roofs, here’s a link to pics of many of them.
https://www.google.com/search?q=frank+lloyd+wright+houses&sxsrf=AJOqlzUMgKUlhQ5_i41aT4zPYCGlulQaZQ:1677189344990&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjU_IOZ0az9AhUj-TgGHds7CxcQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1600&bih=761&dpr=1

I can see how his floorplans changed house design for the better, I just don’t like the extensive use of dark timbers almost everywhere, the stupid timber cutouts over some of the windows are just that, stupid. His first major house commission was for Darwin Martin, it is a remarkable layout and like nearly all his buildings, ran way over budget often in orders of magnitude. Darwins wife hated living in the house, it was too dark and oppressive for her.

Seems that later in life he moved away from the dreary sombre browns he clearly liked in his early years.

Is it roofs or rooves? Anyone know?

Roger
Roger
February 24, 2023 9:03 am

Pete Buttigieg is asked by @sav_says_ why it took him 3 weeks to come to East Palestine

Cut him some slack…he only just heard about it.

His full time job is being a gay house husband and father.

Indolent
Indolent
February 24, 2023 9:03 am
Indolent
Indolent
February 24, 2023 9:06 am
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 24, 2023 9:08 am

Travertine, we replaced dull old brown tiles with Travertine. It’s a form of limestone. Holds in heat.
We had ours laid in something called French Pattern, which is very attractive. And redid all glass enclosures with less framing than the 70’s stuff. Glass railings on the open part of the verandah. Also made a glass conservatory out of an on-title open terrace area.

Our reno’s have been mostly cosmetic, except for knocking out walls to get the open plan living/kitchen.

Indolent
Indolent
February 24, 2023 9:09 am

The gut seems to be associated with pretty much everything.

Study suggests that people who regularly use laxatives may have an increased risk of dementia

Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
February 24, 2023 9:12 am

From Westprint Maps.

At a computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release stating, “If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash at least twice a day.

Every time they painted new lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.

Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this, a hallmark of all Microsoft products.
Occasionally, executing a manoeuvre such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

Only one person at a time could use the car unless you bought “CarNT,” but then you would have to buy more seats.

By comparison with Windows, Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast, would happily run on old and new types of instructions, and be twice as easy to drive – but because it cost $2 more it would only be used by five percent of the population.

The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “general protection fault” warning light.

The airbag system would ask, “Are you sure?” before deploying, and then caution “This action cannot be undone”.

Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the antenna.

GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of Rand McNally Road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even though they neither need nor want them. Attempting to delete this option would immediately cause the car’s performance to diminish by 50 percent or more.

Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

Every week at the massive GM plant there would be a designer’s conference to try figure how to make the GM products as good as those coming from the tin shed which produces the American Motors products.

You’d have to press the “start” button to turn the engine off!

Indolent
Indolent
February 24, 2023 9:16 am

It’s quite obvious they were trying to create a fire fight causing deaths which could then be blamed on the “insurrectionists”. It didn’t work, so they had to make it all up.

CONFIRMED: As We Suspected All Along, New Video Proves Capital Police on January 6 Started Firing on the Innocent Crowd Without Warning and Against the Law, Injuring Numerous Individuals

Bruce in WA
February 24, 2023 9:19 am

Is it roofs or rooves? Anyone know?

It’s roofs these days … but OK to pronounce as rooves (an archaic plural), apparently.

Indolent
Indolent
February 24, 2023 9:20 am
OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 9:20 am

Sancho Panzer says:
February 24, 2023 at 9:02 am

Fortunately we have battalions of council planning officers these days to protect us from the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Imagine trying to get planning approval for the Fallingwater house in Australia in 2023.

Sancho,

the tri level clinker brick Program Project House I mentioned that we had built on the side of a cliff,
I had had plans passed in 1975 by Warringah Council for an extension to the side with a Squash Court with Swmming Pool on top over water gully so that the Swimming Pool was level with top floor and intergated into exsiting house & at the same time as we drove in under the House – a ground level slab cantileved out over the cliff creating new rooms where we drove in with internal stairs and car parking to the side on the slab extension over cliff

I was working clearing out cliff face to start to set up for concrete piers, when my Wife arrived home and said I have found a Large Suuny Slightly Sloping Block House in Seaforth & we are moving – Turned out to be great move – existing house faced south with no sun in winter

Both very happy in Seaforth, but would have loved to have built Squash Court with Pool on Top – loved formwork & working with Concrete

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 24, 2023 9:21 am

Next door are driving us crazy with jack hammering noise. The place was sold recently, after considerable renovation/extension and adding a pool. It got six million dollars, but is only on half the land we have (ours shared by 3 of course but so are the rates!). The new owners immediately put in a DA to take the top floor off it completely. What we didn’t realise is that essentially they had decided to completely gut the place, so now there is just a sandstone shell and they are digging down beyond the original ground floor towards China. This is almost nothing of the place they purchased left. It is true the position is good , five mins to harbour beaches and ten to ferry, although their views are not much, but I do wonder what they expect their ROI to be. This sort of thing is happening all over our neighbourhood, which must say something.

Must be going to put in a wine cellar as well, I say to Hairy, as we peer into the abyss from our kitchen window. Far too much money has been sunk into that place already, is his view. However, the market is holding well here, stock is low, and some insane prices are achieved, even now. Who knows?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 9:24 am

TheirABC says that tiny particulates are worse than the road toll

So in other words, the “estimates” are utter bullsh*t that bear no possible resemblance to reality now or ever.

They wants electric cars. They wants! Preciousss!

(Although it’s interesting that a small civil war appears to’ve broken out between the Greens who want EVs and the Greens who want cars totally banned.

Prioritize tackling toxic emissions from tires, urge experts (Phys.org, 22 Feb)

“Experts from Imperial College London are calling for more to be done to limit the potentially harmful impact of toxic tire particles on health and the environment.

The researchers, from Imperial College London’s Transition to Zero Pollution initiative, warn that even though electric vehicles remove the problem of fuel emissions, we will continue to have a problem with particulate matter because of tire wear.”

Going to be hard to drive an electric vehicle without tyres.)

calli
calli
February 24, 2023 9:29 am

Whenever you see the term ‘Architect designed house’ it’s code for ‘leaks a lot, looks good but not practical, lots of maintenance required’.

All project builds are designed by architects. Some of them are very, very good. The guy we engaged to do the roof and final drawings in CAD plus the spec was the designer for one of Sydney’s most successful mid-range builders. Terrific eye for design tweaks and cost blowouts.

I wanted something that “hid” in the environment, but without a beastly flat roof. Something that, at first glance, looked conventional but once inside…not so much.

It’s a great privilege to design your own home in a unique location.

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 24, 2023 9:33 am

Does anyone really think that these chairs would be comfortable?

He sometimes took furniture designed to fit the house a bit too far.
That it, and the Robie House both survived, is a bit of a miracle.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 9:35 am

Pete Buttigieg is asked by @sav_says_ why it took him 3 weeks to come to East Palestine

“I’m Taking Some Personal Time”: Buttigieg Refuses to Answer Daily Caller Reporter’s Questions on East Palestine, But Creepily Snaps Her Photo (21 Feb)

So not only was he having yet another WEB, but when called on that he takes a photo the journo for unknown reasons. He’s certainly showing his inner self lately, in a most nauseating manner.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 24, 2023 9:36 am

Australian researchers have made estimates about the deadly impact of air pollution based on a New Zealand study

Another modelling study?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 24, 2023 9:38 am

I was working clearing out cliff face to start to set up for concrete piers, when my Wife arrived home and said I have found a Large Suuny Slightly Sloping Block House in Seaforth & we are moving – Turned out to be great move – existing house faced south with no sun in winter

We moved early on from the inner-city to Lindfield on Sydney’s north shore, a sloping bushland block good for goats, with a 50’s modern house which we quickly renovated to style, easy living with four kids and good schools, but we didn’t have a pool. We planned all sorts of piered pools, looking at many of those surrounding us, but then a house on a level block with a pool already in caught our eye. After that, going up the property ladder until retirement, we were never without a house with a pool.

bons
bons
February 24, 2023 9:40 am

All is now explained. Angela Davis attended university in Germany.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 24, 2023 9:41 am

Re the Property Ladder. I brought home a pub beer coaster from the UK. Apparently very popular.
It’s a picture of a ladder with a lot of broken rungs on the bottom.
The words say ‘Getting on the Property Ladder? Yeah – right.”

duncanm
duncanm
February 24, 2023 9:41 am

Whenever you see the term ‘Architect designed house’ it’s code for ‘leaks a lot, looks good but not practical, lots of maintenance required’.

my childhood home was a Pettit and Sevitt lowline (flat-roof with box gutters).

Always leaking, possums taking residence, and constant leaf clearing.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 24, 2023 9:41 am

The gut seems to be associated with pretty much everything.

I seem to recall reading that the gut has as many neurons as the brain (? hence the value of your ‘gut feeling’?)

There certainly is a correlation between gut and brain function, with the ‘leaky gut’ syndrome produced by modern inflammatory foods also feeding into depression and mental acuity.

Perhaps this explains the old saying” ‘A good set o brains is all very well, but nothings so much value to a man as a good set o bowels’

johanna
johanna
February 24, 2023 9:42 am

Sancho Panzer says:
February 24, 2023 at 9:02 am

Fortunately we have battalions of council planning officers these days to protect us from the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Imagine trying to get planning approval for the Fallingwater house in Australia in 2023.
5

Uh, oh, no way. It would be out of character with the rest of the street.

flyingduk
flyingduk
February 24, 2023 9:43 am

PS … sheltering in place today, head under the covers and blinds drawn, hoping to survive another day of Western Vics heatpocalypse – its already up to 22C and could go over 30 later, so I guess its a lost cause.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

feelthebern says: February 24, 2023 at 4:34 am
Finally.
The Oz is reporting on Albo’s & Swan’s tax payer funded pensions.
The IPA has done some work & the Oz has reported it.
Now let’s see if the narrative changes.

100%

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Just as well this Buttgig bloke is in a political appointment.
Were he working in a similar private sector role, his boss would have bushed him ages ago.
Were he in a similar level military role, in time of hostilities, he’d be re-appointed in rank (to corporal) & posted to the Eastern Front as grunt.

Tom
Tom
February 24, 2023 9:52 am

He’s certainly showing his inner self lately, in a most nauseating manner.

Bruce, I think the words you are searching for about Pete Buttegieg are “inner fascist” — delivered with the left’s trademark passive aggression.

PS: I hope Americans are learning the wokeism is not only giving them government they didn’t vote for, but government by incompetent buffoons.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 9:54 am

The Paul Ramsay Foundation, one of Australia’s leading philanthropic foundations, announced it was backing the Yes campaign with a cornerstone donation of $5m to Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition (AICR), which will act as a fundraising and governance body for the Yes movement.

So about 1/20th of the daily expenditure on Aboriginals as a group?
$90 mill a day for no improvement.
Problem must be needing more money then.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
February 24, 2023 9:58 am

I’ve watched Grand Designs, which was good at first before it went too ecological, but have never wanted to engage with a new build. I’m more in the love or list it mould. Our property purchases have always been with renovation in mind, but not the build-a-lot sort of renos, more the cosmetic, new kitchen and bathrooms plus tweaks. We did well out of that. But there does reach a price point when a significant rebuild is the only way to really improve the capital value given the location, or maybe you should go the whole hog and pull down the lot or as near to the lot as planning permission allows. At that stage, I’d prefer to buy someone else’s excellent renovation rather than get fussed doing a major one myself.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 10:02 am

Okay about time other people noticed the name Nuland always appearing most pro-war voice in Washington re Ukraine

Musk accuses top US official of ‘pushing war’ in Ukraine

The Twitter tycoon singled out Victoria Nuland as the most pro-war voice in Washington

Nobody is pushing” the conflict in Ukraine more than US State Department official Victoria Nuland, Twitter CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday. Nuland, who helped to orchestrate the pro-Western coup in Kiev in 2014, has backed military strikes on the Russian territory of Crimea.

Nuland’s declaration last Thursday that Russian military bases in Crimea are “legitimate targets” for Ukrainian forces was interpreted by the Kremlin as proof of “US involvement in the Ukraine conflict.” In a post on Telegram, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Moscow would respond to such attacks “using weapons of any kind.”

“Nobody is pushing this war more than Nuland,” wrote Musk, who has previously warned that nuclear war could break out unless Ukraine abandons its claims to Crimea and both sides agree to peace talks.

Nuland’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict predates Russia’s military operation, ordered one year ago by President Vladimir Putin.

As assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs in 2014, Nuland helped organize the coup that saw Ukraine’s democratically-elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, replaced with the pro-Western Pyotr Poroshenko, who then began a campaign of military repression against the people of Donetsk and Lugansk.

During the coup, Nuland handed out cookies to protesters in Kiev and promised pro-Western politicians military aid and a billion-dollar loan guarantee program. In an infamous leaked call between Nuland and then-US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, the two discussed which person should replace Yanukovich from a list of opposition politicians.

After leaving the State Department during Donald Trump’s presidency, Nuland is now serving as President Joe Biden’s deputy secretary of state for political affairs. In recent months, she has endorsed regime change in Russia, celebrated the US’ alleged destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, and called for the indefinite flow of arms into Ukraine.

Musk is not the only prominent American to condemn Nuland’s role in instigating the conflict in recent days. In a campaign video released on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump called Nuland and “others like her” in the Biden administration “warmongers and ‘America Last’ globalists.”

Nuland was “obsessed with pushing Ukraine towards NATO,” he declared, claiming that the conflict would have “never happened if I was your president.”

Christine
Christine
February 24, 2023 10:05 am

‘Stacia’ to venture up the range. Feel the love.
Qld has the worst “news”paper and the worst woman-in-power

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 10:07 am

Haha, Clover Moore has discovered Gaia’s holy chariots!

Sydney Mayor: “…We Must Help Motorists Make the Shift” to EVs (22 Feb)

“We can’t expect electrification of vehicles to be the silver bullet. If we simply swap internal combustion vehicles for EVs we’ll have done more to save the car industry than the planet.

That’s why our first priority is creating a city for walking, cycling and public transport – this is the most effective way to reduce emissions from transport. We must improve accessibility while reducing the amount of driving that is necessary.”

Last time she advocated cycling it didn’t go well:

Clover Moore is a cycling statistic (2010)

As Sydney’s Lord Mayor tumbled from her bike and broke an ankle on Ride to Work Day last week, the State Parliament, where she is also an MP, was hearing about other victims of Sydney’s cycling obsession.

I hope her experience with EVs is better. Maybe don’t use the self driving feature, Clover, and watch carefully for any smoke coming from the battery.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 10:09 am

Hungary blames US for European decline – media

The US has asserted its interests at the expense of the continent, Viktor Orban reportedly stated

The policies of the administration of US President Joe Biden have become a key factor in Europe’s decline amid the Ukraine conflict, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed, as reported by local media.

According to the newspaper Magyar Nemzet, Orban made the remarks at a closed meeting with members of the ruling right-wing Fidesz-KDNP coalition on Wednesday. During the session, he reportedly identified the main opponents of the alliance, which include “pro-war international interest groups, which consist of the Biden administration, pro-war Brussels bureaucrats, and pro-war politicians.”

The report says Orban claimed that “Europe has weakened over the past year because the Biden administration is asserting its interests in Brussels without limits at the expense of European interests.”

The Hungarian prime minister is said to have added that the response to the Ukraine conflict and “the tsunami of sanctions” have taken a toll on Europe’s economy, while the US, which has enough cheap energy, has steered clear of these challenges.

Orban went on to say that Europe has lost its independence, and economic and military power in just one year, insisting that Hungary must protect its own interests to weather the storm, as quoted by the newspaper.

To achieve this, Budapest must “defend the pro-peace position against the Biden administration and Brussels,” protect the Hungarian economy by fighting inflation, and strengthen its military, he reportedly said.

The prime minister is also said to have stated that Budapest does not support anyone in the Ukraine conflict, because “there can be no winner in this war.” Moscow cannot win because of the assistance the West is providing to Kiev, while Russia is a nuclear power, and “a nuclear power cannot be cornered,” he reportedly explained.

Hungary has on numerous occasions urged Russia and Ukraine to immediately agree to a ceasefire, while repeatedly expressing opposition to the sanctions the West has imposed on Moscow. On Sunday, Orban claimed that the restrictions have failed to end the hostilities, but have instead damaged Europe’s economy.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 24, 2023 10:12 am

Islamic State bride loses bid to restore UK citizenship
By AFP
AFP
5:09PM February 23, 2023
55 Comments

A woman stripped of her British citizenship after travelling to Syria as a teenager to marry an Islamic State group fighter on Wednesday lost her legal battle to reverse the decision.

The ruling from Judge Robert Jay means that Shamima Begum, 23, cannot return to the UK from her current home in a refugee camp in northern Syria.

While the court determined that it was for the minister to make the decision, it also said that some of Begum’s arguments had merit.

Begum was aged 15 when she left her east London home for Syria with two school friends in 2015. While there, she married an IS fighter and had three children, none of whom survived.

In February 2019, she said she was left stateless when Britain’s then interior minister Sajid Javid revoked her British citizenship on national security grounds after she was found in the Syrian camp.

A UK tribunal ruled in 2020 that she was not stateless because she was “a citizen of Bangladesh by descent” at the time the decision was made by virtue of her Bangladeshi mother.

The UK Supreme Court last year refused Begum permission to enter the UK to fight her citizenship case. She subsequently took her case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which ruled on Wednesday.

In rejecting her appeal, Jay said “under our constitutional settlement these sensitive issues are for the secretary of state to evaluate and not for the commission”.

There was, however, “considerable force” in Begum’s arguments and that Javid’s conclusion that she had travelled voluntarily to Syria “is as stark as it is unsympathetic”, he added.

“Further, there is some merit in the argument that those advising the secretary of state see this as a black and white issue, when many would say that there are shades of grey,” he added.

Gareth Peirce and Daniel Furner, lawyers representing Begum, said the ruling meant “there is now no protection for a British child trafficked out of the UK”.

They added that “every possible avenue to challenge this decision will be urgently pursued”.

The interior ministry said it was “pleased that the court has found in favour of the government’s position”.

Begum could now appeal the decision by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in the Court of Appeal.

The 23-year-old is one of hundreds of Europeans whose fate has challenged governments following the 2019 collapse of the Islamist extremists’ self-styled caliphate.

Lawyer Samantha Knights, representing Begum, told the five-day SIAC hearing last November that her client had been “influenced” along with her friends by a “determined and effective” IS group “propaganda machine”.

There was “overwhelming” evidence she had been “recruited, transported, transferred, harboured and received in Syria for the purposes of ‘sexual exploitation’ and ‘marriage’ to an adult male”, she added in written submissions.

James Eadie, representing the government, said Javid had “properly considered” all the factors before making his decision. The case was about “national security”, not trafficking, he argued.

Amnesty International called the ruling “very disappointing”. “The power to banish a citizen like this simply shouldn’t exist in the modern world,” said Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrant rights director Steve Valdez-Symonds.

“Shamima Begum had lived all her life in the UK right up to the point she was lured to Syria as an impressionable 15-year-old,” he added.

The UK has government successfully argued that under Bangladeshi law, a UK national born to a Bangladeshi parent is automatically a Bangladeshi citizen, but Dhaka said that was not the case for Begum.

Under the Bangladeshi “blood line” law, nationality and citizenship lapse when a person reaches the age of 21 unless they make efforts to retain it, which Begum has not done. She was aged 19 when the decision was made.

Begum’s apparent lack of remorse in initial interviews drew outrage, but she has since expressed regret for her actions and sympathy for IS victims.

In a documentary last year, she said that on arrival in Syria she quickly realised that IS was “trapping people” to boost the caliphate’s numbers and “look good”.

Some 900 people are estimated to have travelled from Britain to Syria and Iraq to join IS. Of those, around 150 are believed to have been stripped of their citizenship, according to government figures.

johanna
johanna
February 24, 2023 10:12 am

I see that Lizzie is droning on about her favourite subject, herself, followed by her annoying neighbours,

Try living in a unit in Western Sydney, as some of my family do.

You have NFI.

cohenite
February 24, 2023 10:13 am

Leak outstanding this morning and may rowe get anal warts.

Bongino is really developing his thesis about the chunk preparation for all out war. He speaks again about balloons and EMPs and how Ukraine really is a training ground for the chunks and they won’t make the mistake of gradualism that putin has made in his war effort, but after they do their research will go 110%:

This would not be happening if Trump had not been cheated out of his election. There are a lot of traitors in the West who are useful idiots for thinking they will be immune to what happens.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

Crikey, I feel downright like a poor cousin. I live in two rooms above a pub (by choice).
I love reading about all these styles of dwelling y’all (oops, make that “you lot“) live in, makes me feel so .. cosmopolitan, reading about various decorative & aesthetic measures, none of which have been given a thought at my place, the only consideration was “functionality”

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 24, 2023 10:19 am

In Shitweasel news:

Chris Bowen
@Bowenchris

Offshore wind is energy rich & jobs rich
It is key to achieving our plan to move our grid to 82% renewables by 2030 & will create thousands of jobs
Yesterday, the @albomp Government kicked off the work on declaring the Hunter Offshore Wind Zone

Bowen gives us the details of the Great @albomp Government Declaration:

Mr Bowen said the project would help Australia transition to clean energy.

“It’s important for our plans to get our national energy grid to 82 per cent renewable by 2030 and reduce our emissions by 43 per cent by 2030,” he said.

With multiple coal-fired power stations in the Hunter, including Liddell, Eraring and Bayswater, scheduled to shut down in future years, Mr Bowen also highlighted the need for new sources of energy.

“This is important because it creates energy,” he said.
“It is important for our energy security future.”

That’s jolly important, Minister.
Particularly with 4,400 MW of dispatchable capacity leaving the market in the next two years with the closures of Liddell and Eraring – and another 2,600 MW by 2032, when AGL pulls the plug on Bayswater.

A 5,000-square-kilometre area near Newcastle has been proposed as the location.

“The zone has the capacity to create up to eight gigawatts of power — enough to power six million homes,” he said.

“It has the capacity to create 4,800 construction jobs and 2,400 ongoing jobs.”

Huzzah! 8,000MW of clean green wind power; that’s heaps, isn’t it?
Based on the UK North Sea offshore experience (the UK being the world #1 offshore wind hot spot), Bowen’s 8,000MW of capacity will maybe possibly deliver up to about 45% of the time (initially and declining with age).
So an average capacity of about 3,600MW of sent out power replacing ~7,000 MW. (Assuming the wind offshore Newcastle has similar characteristics as the notoriously breezy North Sea.)

But it will be cheap. Won’t it?
Again, the current UK experience is approximately A$7.9m capex per installed and connected MW. So, assuming Australia can replicate the UK’s project delivery capability at no additional cost, Bowen’s 8,000MW will cost a very frugal $63 billion.
Oh, and about A$200,000/installed MW O&M costs – running or not running – or $1.6 billion per year.
So, yes, straight into the Too Cheap to Meter class.

But, but, but, our “energy security future“?
Again based on UK experience, a large-scale greenfield offshore wind project, from a zero technical baseline and with zero established delivery capacity, is looking at 5 to 10 years.
So, a bit late for Liddell and Eraring, but hopefully just in time for the closure of Bayswater.

Back of the napkin economics.
Key to the Plan.
In good hands.
Top Men.

[Disclosure: May contain traces of sarcasm.]

cohenite
February 24, 2023 10:20 am

Begum’s apparent lack of remorse in initial interviews drew outrage, but she has since expressed regret for her actions and sympathy for IS victims.

The lady is expert in taqiyya. You give no benefit of the doubt to muzzies, chunks and the left generally and pansies who can’t handle cute owls.

Roger
Roger
February 24, 2023 10:22 am

Gareth Peirce and Daniel Furner, lawyers representing Begum, said the ruling meant “there is now no protection for a British child trafficked out of the UK”.

Evidently 15 year olds don’t have moral agency.

But they should be able to vote.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

This would not be happening if Trump had not been cheated out of his election.

Amen.

cohenite
February 24, 2023 10:27 am

Dr Faustussays:
February 24, 2023 at 10:19 am
In Shitweasel news:

Good analysis. Which begs the question: which grifters/morons/traitors are briefing turtlehead when the evidence for the utter nonsense of what he is proposing is so available.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 10:30 am

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha says:
February 24, 2023 at 10:12 am

Islamic State bride loses bid to restore UK citizenship
By AFP
AFP
5:09PM February 23, 2023
55 Comments

A woman stripped of her British citizenship after travelling to Syria as a teenager to marry an Islamic State group fighter on Wednesday lost her legal battle to reverse the decision.

Meanwhile back in Downtown Syria

ISIS women force boys to impregnate them – media

Female detainees in Syrian camps have reportedly used teen males as sex slaves to help populate the so-called Caliphate

Women ISIS devotees held in Syrian detention camps have forced boys as young as 13 to serve as sex slaves to impregnate them and help boost the population of the “Caliphate,” the Daily Beast reported on Thursday.

At least ten boys at Camp al-Hawl in northeast Syria were conscripted to have intercourse with dozens of women, the US media outlet said, citing unidentified Syrian Defense Force (SDF) officials. The Syrian government has detained about 8,000 ISIS-affiliated women and children since the terrorist group’s defeat in 2019. Adult male ISIS members are held in separate camps.

“We are being forced to have sex with the ISIS women, to impregnate them,” two teens identified as Ahmet, 13, and Hamid, 14, told a guard at Camp al-Hawl. “Can you get us out of here?” One of the boys was required to have sex with eight ISIS women in just a few days.

Security forces confirmed that teen boys at Camp al-Roj, also in northeastern Syria, had been subjected to similar exploitation, the Daily Beast said. In fact, one of the boys collapsed and was hospitalized after being given a Viagra-like substance to make him perform. Mothers at al-Roj, seeking to protect their sons from sexual enslavement, have begged camp authorities to transfer their boys to rehabilitation centers.

Many of the ISIS women have refused repatriation to their home countries for themselves and their children. Others, such as “ISIS bride” Shamima Begum of the UK, were stripped of their citizenship and barred from returning.

Roger
Roger
February 24, 2023 10:33 am

Which begs the question: which grifters/morons/traitors are briefing turtlehead when the evidence for the utter nonsense of what he is proposing is so available.

These, among others no doubt.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 10:34 am

Offshore wind is energy rich & jobs rich
It is key to achieving our plan to move our grid to 82% renewables by 2030 & will create thousands of jobs

Buggy whip industry led recovery.
By forcing people to return to horse drawn transport the jobs boom for carrigeworks, grooms, stablehands, studs and chaff manufacturers will lead us to the sunlit uplands of prosperity.

This utter front bum is actually praising inefficiency as a positive selling point for unreliable energy.
God help us if he ever discovers these.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 24, 2023 10:34 am

Sancho, I think you’re wrong about his roofs(?) it seems to me that most had flattish roofs …

This is in danger of reviving the great “Flats vs Gables” debate.
Yes, he did do some flatter profiles, but he also didn’t bother with gutters on some of them.
When you think about it, why does a house in a rural setting in a temperate climate need gutters anyway? As long as you are keeping water out of the foundations and away from doorways they are largely unnecessary.
It is the combination of flat roofves and box gutters with no overflow release which is usually the problem.
A flattish roof running to the outside with free run-off and no gutters shouldn’t create an issue.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 10:35 am

SitRep 2/23: Putin, Prigozhin, PMC’s and PMR’s

Simplicius The Thinker – 17 hr ago

Well, strap in to your seats, folks, things are heating up and we’re in for a wild ride.

Putin’s big address came and went. And depending who you ask it was either a dud or full of eerie portent.

The speech mostly focused on banal domestic and economic matters, hardly mentioning the SMO—at least not with the fiery rhetoric some of us expected.

However, there was an important theme laid out by Putin which confirms certain things we mentioned previously.

Namely, that the focus of Russia will be on the human development of its people, its culture and values, and that Putin will not allow the country’s spirit and operations to be overshadowed by the SMO, or to fall into the trap of letting Western Atlanticist powers use the SMO to degrade the social fabric of society.

In short, in many ways this speech seemed to signal a firm taking of a stand on one side of the two poles of: full blown war, militarization of society, restructuring of the social/national consciousness around war and militarism.

And that of the second option: continuing the status quo of society ‘as is’, and not letting the war detract from important socio-economic and human-index development.

A Long & Very Detailed Summary follows as per Comment below

Atila the Hun
9 hr ago
Liked by Simplicius The Thinker
Man, do you ever sleep, eat or go to the toilet?

How can you produce such a quantity of awesome content (and so well written to boot) almost daily?

Amazing!!

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 10:38 am

Oh no, the flat roofs deabte again? Please.

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 10:42 am

“Medium” called this chick with a dick a “Grandmother”.

https://www.womenarehuman.com/transgender-farmer-veteran-killed-two-and-fed-their-bodies-to-pigs/

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 10:46 am

Try again, naughty quoted words Dahled.

Woah, Dilbert guy hasnt just touched the 3rd rail of politics, hes stripped off his clothes, smeared himself in peanut butter and is dancing la cucaracha on top while screaming “come and get me suckers”.
Negro fatigue.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/dilbert-cartoonist-scott-adams-tells-white-people-to-get-the-f**k-away-from-black-people
(if you want to use the link put back in the 2 asterisked letters in the naughty word.)
From there, Adams urged white viewers to completely segregate themselves from Black Americans.

“I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people,” the 65-year-old author exclaimed. “Just get the duck away. Wherever you have to go, just get away. Because there’s no fixing this. This can’t be fixed.”

Reiterating that whites need to “escape,” Adams said that he had already done so by moving to an area “with a very low Black population.” He then cited Black CNN anchor Don Lemon to justify his assertion that there’s a “correlation” between a “mostly Black” neighborhood and “a bunch of problems he didn’t see” in majority-white areas.

“So I don’t think it makes any sense as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens anymore,” Adams huffed. “It doesn’t make sense. There’s no longer a rational impulse. So I’m going to back off on being helpful to Black America because it doesn’t seem like it pays off.”

He continued: “The only outcome is I get called a racist. That’s the only outcome. It makes no sense to help Black Americans if you’re white. It’s over. Don’t even think it’s worth trying.”

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 10:52 am

Namely, that the focus of Russia will be on the human development of its people, its culture and values, and that Putin will not allow the country’s spirit and operations to be overshadowed by the SMO, or to fall into the trap of letting Western Atlanticist powers use the SMO to degrade the social fabric of society.

He’s trashed his own country, with or without Ukraine being annexed.

Go through the casualties, materiel losses, emigration, high tech workers lost, demography of emigres, KIA and wounded. How many of the new generation tanks has Putin produced?
How many MBTs have been lost?

They’re vulnerable to China now.

Sit reps!*
Pakistani sources!*
Unsealed indictments!*
America is the real loser!*
Stay safe!*
The west wants to carve up Russia!* ++
Taiwan will be peacefully invaded and we can’t help!* ++

The right is playing itself with copium.

No I am not arguing with 95% of the ideas. Nor am I saying the Dems are correct or top blokes.

Don’t paint yourself into a corner. I think the Democrats are playing the right like fiddles. A lot of it might just projection from the Bush II era but it is working.

*Freedoms were trashed under COVID. Copium won’t change that.

++ Almost certainly Chinese propaganda.

Roger
Roger
February 24, 2023 10:52 am

Local reno has installed three rain chains on the street side of the property.

Now, while we’re in a warm temperate zone rather than sub-tropical, being Queensland we do get thunderstorms and low pressure systems that can dump a lot of rain in a short period.

In such conditions they won’t be enjoying the gentle trickle of a rain chain but an avalanche of water pouring from the abbreviated down pipes.

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 24, 2023 10:53 am

It has the capacity to create 4,800 construction jobs and 2,400 ongoing jobs.

Some sorcery may be required for that too-cheap-to-meter ruinable energy
to support those ongoing jobs whilst remaining too-cheap-to-meter.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

When you think about it, why does a house in a rural setting in a temperate climate need gutters anyway?

So that people in the have have something to drink Kemosabe.

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 11:03 am

Roofs —> Roofing systems
Gutters —> Roofing system rainwater drainage collection manifolds

Tom
Tom
February 24, 2023 11:11 am

Haha. The Doctors’ Wives Party is forced to show its hand. The Paywallian’s current lead story online:

Teal warns PM against knee-jerk super changes
Independent MP Zali Steggall says she will be ‘highly critical’ of the Albanese government if it targets the wealthy without consultation.

Imagine Teal freakout when the Liars get around to introducing the negative gearing changes that cost them the 2019 federal election.

duncanm
duncanm
February 24, 2023 11:14 am

Have any of the clowns proposing the hunter offshore wind zone ever been out in that area and looked at the coal ships parked up and down the coast, or had a look at how much shipping goes in and out of Newcastle?

They’ve put their zone in one of the most highly trafficked parts of the NSW coast.

I presume its there to try to catch the night-time katabatic coming out of the Hunter, as well as the daytime sea breezes, otherwise Gosford/The Entrance would have made more sense.

duncanm
duncanm
February 24, 2023 11:18 am

impressionable 15-year-old,

.. can be brain-washed into Syria and fight for ISIS – please, she’s just a child.

.. but choosing gender reassignment is a-ok, she knows what she wants.

Chris
Chris
February 24, 2023 11:18 am

But there does reach a price point when a significant rebuild is the only way to really improve the capital value given the location, or maybe you should go the whole hog and pull down the lot or as near to the lot as planning permission allows. At that stage, I’d prefer to buy someone else’s excellent renovation rather than get fussed doing a major one myself.

Hell yes, Lizzie.
The effort in your life to build a ‘dream home’ is colossal, and the ultimate outcome to my mind less satisfactory than buying well and adapting – first adapt your expectations and behaviour, then start adapting the house.
I owner-built a major extension/renovation while living in it and bringing home babies 2 and 3. It was highly satisfactory but SO much work. Next home, we did little bits at a time. After many years its so much ours, and my mind is not forever on the NEXT thing that wasn’t done in the build, and must be soon.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
February 24, 2023 11:18 am

OldOzzie said

Colonel & DrBeauGan,
Try – https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/02/putins-presidential-address-to-russias-federation-assembly-in-full.html

Nah, Michael Smith jumping the gun again. That is not the full transcript. It also finishes at the last place I remember reading.
Luckily the Kremlin have finished uploading their translation at http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/70565

custard says: February 21, 2023 at 10:24 pm

?? Putin ended his message to the Federal Assembly with the words “the truth is behind us.”

The official translation is “The truth is on our side.” Very different meanings possible from those different English wordings.

custard says: February 21, 2023 at 10:38 pm

Right now it would seem I would identify with the words of Putins speech tonight vs the actions of the pResident of the WH.

Imagine that the leader of the free world today was in Kiev, with air raid sirens in the background and they (the USA) don’t control the airspace or have troops on the ground, or is it really that he isn’t the President?

It was unclear if the 2nd paragraph was your quoting the words of Putin (as the 1st paragraph would usually suggest) or whether those were your own thoughts.
Certainly there is nowhere in the official translation where Putes says anything about air raid sirens, nor Biden by name or the USA President by title.

The air raid siren sounding exactly when Biden walked out and (according to other reporters) occurring at no other time in that city that day, was an absurd theatre effect for show and not an indication of real threat.
As for not having air defense or troops on the ground, without doubt they have troops on the ground if only for training and logistical support. It was even admitted in the MSM news here yesterday that Australia has troops on the ground in Ukraine for training their grunts. If AU has b-o-g then US and UK probably have b-o-g. Decent SAMs could not be far off.

So that whole supporting argument was bogus and cannot be used to argue for a conclusion that is (anyhow) obviously false to all rational observers. Custard, have you noticed that Trump is not USA President any more? It ended by nefarious means but it did end.

Diogenes
Diogenes
February 24, 2023 11:22 am

Have any of the clowns proposing the hunter offshore wind zone ever been out in that area and looked at the coal ships parked up and down the coast, or had a look at how much shipping goes in and out of Newcastle?

The logic is … “If you look at the map in the article it is exactly where the coal ships park waiting for their slot. But we will not be exporting any coal any more so this is no longer a problem”

The area overlaps the northern half of PEP11 – which was cancelled because partially of its impact on whales and visual pollution. There is going to be a lot more blasting for umpety ump windmill platforms as opposed to a few wells and well heads .

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 11:23 am

Possibly, the oldest lived to 122. Lived in the French south.

Get a load of when she picked up the smoking habit. Smoking could have killed her!

Until marriage, Calment was not allowed to smoke, says Robine. “We have to remember where we were, at the end of the nineteenth century in a little town in the South of France,” he says.

“Of course it was absolutely forbidden, and impossible, for a girl, and specifically in a bourgeois family, to do that.”

Yet just after getting married, Calment’s husband offered her a cigarette. And though she was extremely happy to do something that she wasn’t allowed to do before, “when she was smoking for the first time, she did not find it nice, and she quit smoking.”

Interestingly enough, Calment didn’t smoke for most of her life, but picked up the habit at around age 112 while living in a nursing home.

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 24, 2023 11:24 am

Saliva Ukrazi!
the paint was “high-standard, non-toxic, solvent-free, eco-friendly, fast-dry edible paint designed for making road art”.
Who knew lickable road art was a thing?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 11:24 am

SitRep 2/23: Putin, Prigozhin, PMC’s and PMR’s

Did he mention this story?

AJC urges US to list Russia’s Wagner Group as terrorist entity (Israel National News, 23 Feb)

One year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) is urging Congress to designate Russia’s Wagner Group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

AJC noted that Wagner Group is a private paramilitary that it said has links to Russian white supremacists and neo-Nazi far-right extremists. According to AJC, “The Wagner Group has a long record of committing atrocities against civilians in Ukraine and in African countries.”

The Moscow chief rabbi also said this a few days ago:

Exiled Chief Rabbi of Moscow warns of ‘worsening situation for Jews in Russia’ (20 Feb)

Putin, he says, respects the Jewish community in Russia, but also that “there is deep, engrained antisemitism within Russia”. Deep history is inescapable unfortunately. It seems to be a difficult thing to rid a country of, especially in that part of the world, since Ukraine is the same.

Diogenes
Diogenes
February 24, 2023 11:24 am

The air raid siren sounding exactly when Biden walked out and (according to other reporters) occurring at no other time in that city that day, was an absurd theatre effect for show and not an indication of real threat.

Also has the benefit of helping security as the “proles” would be forced off the streets.

sfw
sfw
February 24, 2023 11:28 am

Without gutters (spouting in Vic) the water splashes on the soil and usually makes the exterior dirty, that’s not much of a problem but it does happen. In the alpine areas there’s no guttering as the snow will rip it off.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 11:29 am

Frontline Ukrainian soldiers’ life expectancy just ‘four hours,’ US Marine claims

The average life expectancy for a soldier fighting on the front lines in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is just four hours, according to an American who is fighting against Russian forces in the Donbas.

Former US Marine Troy Offenbecker detailed the intense fighting, some of the deadliest since Russia launched its invasion a year ago, in an interview with ABC News.

Fighting in the war-torn city of Bakhmut has gotten so gory that it’s been dubbed “the meat grinder,” Offenbecker told the outlet.

“It’s been pretty bad on the ground,” he said.

“A lot of casualties. The life expectancy is around four hours on the front line.”

The struggle to gain control of the eastern city, which had a prewar population of about 73,000, has been the most persistent fight within the war. In recent weeks, Russian forces have strengthened their attacks in eastern and southern Ukraine ahead of an anticipated large-scale offensive to earn a Russian victory.

Russian forces have encircled “fortress Bakhmut” for months, as the city is important to Kyiv because it’s located next to a supply route, but have been met with fierce opposition from Ukrainian troops.

Offenbecker, who fights with the International Legion, a military unit of foreign fighters, said the artillery is “nonstop.”

“[Russia] have maybe run into a shortage of shells lately, but the past couple of weeks it’s been nonstop. All day and night,” he said.

“With the amount of shelling, the amount of armor that they’ve brought in, I think it’s started,” he said. “It’s just hard because the winter hasn’t been as cold as it usually is. They can’t move as much armor as I’m sure they would like to with the ground.”

From the Comments

I’m not surprised. And this reality will ultimately bring us to a crossroads when Ukraine starts to run out of manpower resources despite whatever tech we give them.

I fully predict Zelensky coming to DC and telling Biden that US/NATO must send boots on the ground to prevent the Ukrainian army from collapsing or perhaps provide air cover for Ukrainian forces. Then what?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 11:35 am

Will the American-Ukraine Consensus Start to Crack?

Polling and trends demonstrate that Western publics’ support is gradually waning.

I am in Ukraine today,” President Joe Biden declared in his dramatic trip to Kiev earlier this week, “to reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.” For most of this first year of the Ukraine war, the American public remained strikingly supportive of Biden’s Ukraine policy. But soft spots have been showing—and risk becoming cracks in the support base Biden needs to sustain that commitment.

Late 2022 polls showed 75 percent support for Russia sanctions, 57 percent for Ukrainian military aid, and only 35 percent seeing the conflict as “none of our business and we should not interfere.”

Support for military deployments to Eastern European NATO allies reached as high as 69 percent when specified “as a deterrent to keep Russia from invading those countries.” As to direct military intervention into the war itself, the public has consistently stood behind the line drawn by the Biden administration against this: in March 68 percent opposed sending troops, in August 60 percent, and in October 66 percent.

On questions geared to the then-upcoming midterm congressional elections, 69 percent were supportive of a candidate favoring continued Ukrainian military aid, while only 25 percent for a candidate advocating lifting Russian sanctions. A post-election poll showed a similar margin of 64 percent wanting their Congressional members to support Ukraine aid, while only 36 percent oppose.

Within all that, though, party differences had begun to emerge. Whereas in May only 17 percent of Republicans said Ukrainian support was “too much” support, by September this was up to 32 percent; Democrats had only gone from 8 percent to 11 percent. By January 2023, Republicans were up to 47 percent taking the “doing too much” position, Democrats only 10 percent

Even before becoming House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy issued his “no blank check” warning. Reducing Ukraine aid was among the pledges he made to hard-right caucus members in order to become Speaker. House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee Chairmen Michael McCaul and Mike Turner are playing the waste-fraud-abuse card—that they do support Ukraine, but just want more oversight on how the money is spent.

Others, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, are more blatant and bombastic, posing questions like “Is Ukraine now the 51st state of the United States of America?,” even alleging an elaborate cryptocurrency conspiracy in which military aid for Ukraine actually funded Democrats’ campaigns.

We also see “generational laddering” with younger generations—which are becoming the largest demographic voting bloc—less supportive than older generations.

On approval of sanctions, Gen Z stands at 45 percent, Millennials at 55 percent, Gen X at 76 percent, and Baby Boomers at 86 percent. On Ukrainian financial aid, 53 percent/54 percent/60 percent/75 percent. On military aid, 44 percent/48 percent/61 percent/81 percent. On supporting Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” 43 percent/52 percent/62 percent/66 percent.

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 11:36 am

All things being equal, a Republican candidate needs to win these six states to win the presidency.

Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, and Georgia. 

Penn, Michigan, Arizona, and Georgia are all cheating states. You can forget it unless the GOP stops the vote fraud and cheats more than or equal to the Democrats.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3870203-these-6-states-will-determine-the-2024-presidential-election/

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 24, 2023 11:36 am

Is UKR going to attack Transnistria? A lot of talk about this now.

A massive arsenal so close to the border would be a huge temptation.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 11:41 am

Bruce of Newcastle says:
February 24, 2023 at 11:24 am

SitRep 2/23: Putin, Prigozhin, PMC’s and PMR’s

Did he mention this story?

No he did not, but he did address where things were at re Wagner

And lastly, it’s also plausible that command saw fit to ‘discipline the unruly child’ of Wagner for the sin of becoming too popular. It’s true that Wagner had begun to turn into a bit of a movement, both globally and in Russia. With soldiers who were once strictly ‘clandestine’ (even refusing to wear patches in the early part of the SMO, to keep a low ‘covert’ profile), they now regularly vamp for the cameras and partake in a sort of growing iconography surrounding their brand

Russian commanders realize that the nominal Russian forces, whose strict OPSEC precludes them from the mindless TikToking subculture of the frontlines, are invariably at a disadvantage when it comes to these ‘popular’ brigades with more allowances. This creates a distortion in the perceptions of the Russian armed forces, as Wagner, the Chechens, and even random LDPR volunteer battalions all garner online fame, glory, and valor, while the unsung Russian troops increasingly appear the pariahs.

So it’s perfectly plausible and reasonable that Russian command might’ve decided to pull the plug on Wagner, curbing them a mite to send a message, to prevent them from growing too comfortable in their burgeoning popularity, and begin throwing their weight around. After all, remember a time when all you’d see were Chechen videos, with ‘Akhmat Sila!’ everywhere? Then suddenly it all disappeared. The Chechens are still there, but it’s clear they were given an order to tone down so as not to steal too much thunder, or create misconceptions about who’s pulling all the weight.

Sure, to the outside or inexperienced observer, this may seem like crass and even callous behavior from the MoD; after all, Wagner was, and is, having extreme success in Bakhmut—as some say, the only current tangible frontline success on the Russian side. However, the nuances of politics and commanding an army go far beyond the surface-level purviews of some localized progression; from the MoD’s perspective, they are looking at things within a broad, holistic and long term standpoint. And there are innumerable implications that must be taken into account in light of global, geopolitical considerations.

That’s not to say I personally side with the MoD, if there even is a real squabble here. I’m simply analyzing both sides’ unique perspectives to make the point that the truth is far more nuanced, granular, and complex than what many are making it out to be, simply because most people want things to be easy and straightforward. It’s much more convenient to point a finger and move on, than to actually analyze the multifaceted truth.

Anyway, as of this writing a new late update from Prigozhin himself has percolated down the channels to tilt things in another direction:

Chris
Chris
February 24, 2023 11:44 am

When you think about it, why does a house in a rural setting in a temperate climate need gutters anyway?

So that people in the have have something to drink Kemosabe.

I have new experience to report. The shed I just had to rebuild? It collapsed because after 25 years NOT collecting the rainwater, the structure and footings were degraded.
That rainwater tank that provided so much domestic water rusted out and was not replaced 25 years ago, and the gutters and downpipes were let go. The shed used to be dry in winter, but became dank. The ground would dry out but then stayed wet around the poles.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 24, 2023 11:46 am

That’s why our first priority is creating a city for walking, cycling and public transport – this is the most effective way to reduce emissions from transport. We must improve accessibility while reducing the amount of driving that is necessary.”

Clover wants to break Sydney up into “15 Minute” neighbourhoods? Don’t tell m0nty=fa, Melbourne might be next on the list.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
February 24, 2023 11:47 am

lotocoti says:
February 24, 2023 at 11:36 am

Is UKR going to attack Transnistria? A lot of talk about this now.

A massive arsenal so close to the border would be a huge temptation.

lotcoti,

read SitRep 2/23: Putin, Prigozhin, PMC’s and PMR’

But, the CIA/SBU are not sitting idly by. As we said last time, it’s turning out that Transnistria (PMR) is in fact culminating into a dangerous thorn of hybrid activity. A raft of escalatory reports have come in today which weigh dangerously on the direction things are headed in.

We reported last time how the Moldovan president suddenly and belligerently announced that Russian troops need to be ‘expelled’ from Transnistria. Followed by the announcement of military exercises to be held Feb 21. – Feb. 23. Today, this was followed by Arestovich again releasing a statement (in deja vu of last year), that if only given the word, the AFU can seize the Russian garrison in Transnistria “in 3 days.”

Interestingly, TV station TVR in Romania broadcast a segment explaining that French Leclerc tanks in Romania are also there to ‘protect Moldova’ if necessary. This was also broadcast on TVM Moldova station.

“Recall that the first column with French military equipment, consisting of armored personnel carriers, arrived in Romania on October 23. The second column of French military equipment, consisting of a company of Leclerc tanks, arrived by rail in Brasov on November 16. In total, the French army brought 13 Leclerc tanks to Romania. Military equipment is intended to replenish the technical means of the NATO Battle Group Forward Presence (BGFP).”

Now, there are reports the AFU moved border guard units to within 2km of the Transnistrian border.

This isn’t far away from Kobasna, the location of the ‘largest ammo depot in all of Europe’(47.76043303138093, 29.20634523295087)—the same we mentioned last time, which Ukraine threatened to attack in April of last year:

It contains over 20,000 tons of armaments, something the depleted AFU would kill to get their hands on. Now, some of this might sound like hype, but there are too many moving pieces that attest to real goings on. Photos of Ukrainian BTRs appeared near the border:

But Moldova’s PM Dorin Recean reportedly affirmed Zelensky’s statement that ‘Russia plans to seize Chisinau airport’.

Later in the day, a flight track of NATO P-8A Poseidon (out of Sigonella base in Italy) with electronic data gathering suite seemed to show a very peculiar fixation on the region:


But, most troubling of all, was this late rumor:

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 24, 2023 11:50 am

Via Zulu

Gareth Peirce and Daniel Furner, lawyers representing Begum, said the ruling meant “there is now no protection for a British child trafficked out of the UK”.

We have already seen that there is “now no protection for a (white) British child trafficked” in the UK. See also Mooslime rape gangs.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 24, 2023 11:54 am

Via Dr F

Yesterday, the @albomp Government kicked off the work on declaring the Hunter Offshore Wind Zone

Offshore oil and gas, baaaaad!

Offshore wind oprobably much more environmentally intrusive) exxxxccccccelennnnt!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 11:55 am

Frontline Ukrainian soldiers’ life expectancy just ‘four hours,’ US Marine claims

Join the club.

Russian troops handed four-hour life expectancy inside Ukraine’s bloodiest frontline (6 Feb)

Russia’s superiority in artillery is offset by them having to assault well-armed and dug-in Ukrainians. The result is a Somme 2.0 bloody mess. That’s why I think casualty rates are pretty similar, despite what you read on various sites.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 24, 2023 11:57 am

cohenitesays:
February 24, 2023 at 10:27 am
Dr Faustussays:
February 24, 2023 at 10:19 am
In Shitweasel news:

Good analysis. Which begs the question: which grifters/morons/traitors are briefing turtlehead when the evidence for the utter nonsense of what he is proposing is so available.

Graduates in the Yartz, Social “Sciences”, Law and Economics (including those who failed first year Economics).

m0nty
February 24, 2023 11:59 am

Is UKR going to attack Transnistria? A lot of talk about this now.

No.

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 24, 2023 12:04 pm

they now regularly vamp for the cameras and partake in a sort of growing iconography surrounding their brand

History Legends has noted some is designed to mislead.
Much like Patton’s First US Army Group.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 12:16 pm

Is UKR going to attack Transnistria? A lot of talk about this now.

Dover – I linked some stories a couple days ago. Moldova’s brand new Prez has demanded the 3 Russian BTGs get out of Transnistria, and Z immediately offered to help evict them, as you would expect. Whether that occurs or not I have no idea. A background story was that the Moldovan Security and Intelligence Service a few weeks ago found some bear-shaped paw prints sniffing around, which I suppose wouldn’t make them especially tranquil.

I doubt the Moldovans much like the Ukrainians, but that alleged firing of cruise missiles over Moldovan territory from the Black Sea might be behind such a warning. Plus the nefarious plans the MSIS dug up. It may be a bit of a message to Putin: we are small but we have leverage, so please behave.

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 24, 2023 12:22 pm

Russian troops handed four-hour life expectancy inside Ukraine’s bloodiest frontline (6 Feb)

Somebody got that headline a bit wrong.

a Ukrainian journalist who spoke to soldiers in the city’s front lines of combat reportedly claimed they told her: “The average lifespan for mobilised fighters in Bakhmut is four hours.”

calli
calli
February 24, 2023 12:26 pm

Flat roofs and box gutters. Add bushland.

You know the inevitable result.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 12:31 pm

after all, Wagner was, and is, having extreme success in Bakhmut

You could call it success I suppose. About 3-4 km of territory in 3 weeks or so. It certainly has been extreme though, casualties have been heavy. Wagner has pretty much run out of crims to assault the Bakhmut trenches with, and is severely short of ammo, which Prigozhin has been publicly complaining about. A couple of rebuilt VDV brigades have also been knocked out of the fighting in the last couple weeks. The place is still being defended and is in supply, according to the news I read this morning. Calling that “extreme success” would have old King Pyrrhus rolling in his grave methinks.

lotocoti
lotocoti
February 24, 2023 12:37 pm
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 12:43 pm

Lotocoti – As I said the average life expectancy is “4 hours” on both sides. Upthread OO put up the story you refer to and I had read the other one a couple weeks ago. Both sides are into outrageous hyperbowl of course.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 24, 2023 12:46 pm

duncanmsays:
February 24, 2023 at 11:14 am
Have any of the clowns proposing the hunter offshore wind zone ever been out in that area and looked at the coal ships parked up and down the coast, or had a look at how much shipping goes in and out of Newcastle?

Not a problem, they will ban the export of coal. No more shipping obstructing the wunnerful kleen power!

Then screech about the loss of billions in company tax and coal royalties. These are not the sharpest tools in the shed.

Boambee John
Boambee John
February 24, 2023 12:49 pm

Diogenes at 1122

Snap re coal exports.

Robert Sewell
February 24, 2023 12:54 pm

Bruce O’Nuke:

Well one thing is for sure, the way the Tories are going in the UK they are going to be utterly obliterated at the next election. Whereupon Labour will make things even worse.

Sometimes the voter has to be hammered into the ground before they can even think of waking up.
They’ve obviously forgotten the 70’s because the people who caused that economic crisis have been voted back in again.

P
P
February 24, 2023 12:56 pm

POPE BENEDICT’S LAST TESTAMENT
by Dan Kuebler
2 . 23 . 23

… Benedict stands strong in his conviction that the faith is not irrational or unreasonable. He recognizes correctly that to reject faith and pursue scientism—the belief that science can answer all our questions—leaves irrationality and unreason as the “explanation” for everything. Such a move leaves us with no reasonable foundation upon which to build our science, let alone our societies. For Benedict, it is precisely because the creative reason stands at the origin of everything—“in the beginning was the Word”—that we can trust our human reason to point us toward true knowledge and understanding, not only in the realm of science, but in the realms of philosophy and theology as well.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 1:00 pm

Not a problem, they will ban the export of coal. No more shipping obstructing the wunnerful kleen power!

Well until Chinese marines land on Nobby’s Beach. They now own Rio’s coal mines in the Hunter and a big chunk of the Port Waratah coal loaders. Plus the Libs knocked back Shenhua building a mine here a couple years ago. I don’t think Mr Xi will be very happy with such a ban.

Btw what happens when a loaded coal ship collides with a windmill?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
February 24, 2023 1:11 pm

Dr F at 10:19.
Correct my maths here.
I assume a MW/hr equals a megawatt produced/consumed for one hour.
There are 8,760 hours in a year (24 x 365). If you had an 8,000 MW generator running full bore (yeah, I know) that equals 8,000 x 8,760 = 70 million maximum capacity megawatt hours in a year.
Forget capital costs.
They say 2,400 ongoing jerbs.
Assume $150k each for those jerbs.
That’s $360 meg per annum.
$360m divided by 70m megawatt hours = $5.14 per megawatt hour just for recurrent labour.
Is that right?

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity

The shed I just had to rebuild? It collapsed because after 25 years NOT collecting the rainwater, the structure and footings were degraded.
That rainwater tank that provided so much domestic water rusted out and was not replaced 25 years ago, and the gutters and downpipes were let go.

Can relate.
Though the effect here of just letting her go over the side is a helluva lot of erosion of the paving.

Which beats flooding the place because the gutters block the water from escaping.

Where my sister lives she once got rainfall at 11 o’clock one night at the rate of an inch every ten minutes, & that rate kept up for about four hours.
Houses were flooding by the water climbing up out of the gutter & flowing under the eaves into the house, some houses flooded by water coming in the crown of the roof.

duncanm
duncanm
February 24, 2023 1:19 pm

Btw what happens when a loaded coal ship collides with a windmill?

.. or an empty one dragging its anchor ?

Not that its even happened before in Stockton bight. /sarc

RuthM
RuthM
February 24, 2023 1:24 pm

It would be interestng to find out if the $5M donation by the Ramsay Foundation is in line with the terms of the Trust.
Such things have been known to happen, where the Trust terms have been ignored.

feelthebern
feelthebern
February 24, 2023 1:24 pm

One of biggest benefits of a private equity firm taking over a firm like Slater & Gordon is being able to in-house a lot of the litigation funding.
You can fund litigation more cheaply & have less cost leakage to the outside funders.
Who would have thought the private equity guys & the management consultants would have been the answer to the once proud S&G?

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 1:30 pm

Calling that “extreme success” would have old King Pyrrhus rolling in his grave methinks.

In the “history rhyming” department.

The Germans originally saw their Verdun operation purely as a method of bleeding the French white.
By forcing them to defend such a “prestige” target they could use their massive advantage in artillery to just plain old slaughter blokes sent to defend it, while keeping up pressure with limited attacks and conserving their own men.

Problem being one of those limited attacks captured a “prestige” place, and the boxheads ended up in exactly the same position they had the French in.
An area too “prestigious” to pull back from, but just an abattoir to hold.

In the end casualties instead of the previous 1-7 advantage ended up near enough to 1-1.

I cant help but wonder if there are shades of that here.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 1:38 pm

Ive though of a way of possibly cutting through on the in-voice issue.

And its using the ABCcesses own “whine for more funding for everything” model of reporting.

Take this story

Housing crisis has become ‘truly national’, councils and housing groups say, as they call for $400m funding injection

And make the observation its 4 & 1/2 days worth of current Aboriginal funding.

or this one
More than $31 million worth of illegal tobacco seized, destroyed in rural Victoria

1/3 of one days Aboriginal spending.

It should be used as the new spending yardstick

hzhousewife
hzhousewife
February 24, 2023 1:42 pm

It would be interestng to find out if the $5M donation by the Ramsay Foundation is in line with the terms of the Trust.
Such things have been known to happen, where the Trust terms have been ignored

Excellent comment.
I am VERY disappointed in the Ramsay Foundation.

rosie
rosie
February 24, 2023 1:44 pm

$31 million worth of tobacco.
About 10 packs of ciggies then.

mem
mem
February 24, 2023 1:54 pm

The Labor Party is up to one of its oldest tricks; hit the populace with multiple agendas at once so that it can split opposition and at least get a couple of these agendas over the line. Let’s see, we have The Voice, changes to our Super Funds, demolition of our coal mines and the introduction/ construction of wind and solar farms to produce intermittent energy, changes to immigration, changes to education funding and policies. (I am sure I have missed one or two). Each of these taken on their own are big ticket items and require careful consideration as to their costs and benefits. But no its all rush, rush, to create pressure like the scam artists on the phone.”

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 1:57 pm

BTW, we have seen a lot of Prigozhin lately, he doesn’t appear to be that person in the photo you’ve linked to in the past.

No that’s Dmitry Utkin, who is co-founder of Wagner.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 2:00 pm

2 chuckles.
Robotics.
https://youtu.be/IrrADTN-dvg

Economics
comment image

Montys dietician
comment image

P
P
February 24, 2023 2:10 pm

New digital identity system to get go-ahead
Tom Burton
Feb 23, 2023 – 5.56pm

sfw
sfw
February 24, 2023 2:24 pm

Apparently Westpac estimates migration here at 400,000+ in 2022, get ready for what’s left of our cities to become ever larger multi culture cesspits.
https://twitter.com/TimReardon2/status/1628828628594364417

shatterzzz
February 24, 2023 2:25 pm

Fair depiction of Luigi’s gummint .. LOL!
https://postimg.cc/DStCRMm7

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
February 24, 2023 2:39 pm

Tranny activists aren’t going to be happy about this one bit. And J K Rowling is looking completely vindicated.

‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Earns $850 Million, Sells More Than 12 Million Units in First Two Weeks (23 Feb)

Well over a billion Aussie in two weeks…for a video game. Wow I guess that’s where all those eyeballs went to that no longer watch woke Hollywood movies.

Robert Sewell
February 24, 2023 2:44 pm

Joanna:

It’s just part of the endless war on people having cars and being able to go wherever they want to. This crap gets resucitated over and over again. Not surprisingly, the people who support this also love 15 minute cities and urban ‘planning’ in control of our lives.

The same people who want to deprive us of our mobility want to deprive us of our freedom. There’s no reason for it apart from their need to control others.
Imagine what it would be like if there were 20 Billion humans on the planet – we’d all be herded into arcologies and bred like chooks in a battery farm – and there’d be no way to escape.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 2:46 pm

Apparently Westpac estimates migration here at 400,000+ in 2022, get ready for what’s left of our cities to become ever larger multi culture cesspits.

And just like that (I memed)

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 2:53 pm

Australia look out. The Ashes are next after the curry roasting………………………

https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/cricket/62866119

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 2:54 pm

sfw says:
February 24, 2023 at 2:24 pm

Apparently Westpac estimates migration here at 400,000+ in 2022, get ready for what’s left of our cities to become ever larger multi culture cesspits.

You don’t live in the city, SFW, so how does it concern you?

Crossie
Crossie
February 24, 2023 2:55 pm

The seventies gave birth to the most dreadful brick colour of all time. It was nicknamed “Dog Shit Brown”. Fortunately, a lot of these houses were painted over in lovely neutral colours. Unfortunately, over the last ten years the good old “Dog Shit Brown” has made a comeback in many new builds partnered with “Prison Grey”. A drive around the many new estates springing up is a sad experience indeed.

Pogria, when our house was built in the late 70s we went around new developments to choose the bricks. I also was horrified that anyone would choose that ugly brown colour for their home. We finally settled on light clinker bricks and were able to match them quite well when we extended some years later.

Like you I find the current fashion of shades of grey in the new suburbs so depressing though I suppose the lighter the shade the less the buildings absorb heat. I keep thinking they could still attain the same effect even with other colours as long as they were pale. Individuality has been sacrificed for utility.

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 2:57 pm

Imagine what it would be like if there were 20 Billion humans on the planet – we’d all be herded into arcologies and bred like chooks in a battery farm – and there’d be no way to escape.

Rubbish –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zT4Y-QNdto

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
February 24, 2023 2:59 pm

Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation wants 125 times more cash than $4m offered by Fortescue Metals Group
Rebecca Le MayThe West Australian
Fri, 24 February 2023 2:00AM

The Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation is preparing to enter the final stage of its epic court battle with Fortescue Metals Group, estimating its financial compensation claim for mining the Solomon Hub could amount to $500 million a year — dwarfing the miner’s previous best offer of $4 million a year.

The parties have been at odds over the sum for well over a decade and will return to court next month, in what YAC chief executive Michael Woodley describes as the “pointy end of the spear” to finalise a deal.

Multiple courts have affirmed Yindjibarndi native title over about 70 per cent of the lucrative iron ore project, but talks over an indigenous land use agreement that was meant to follow have failed to reach a compromise.

Mr Woodley told The West Australian that YAC held firm on its demand for a 10 per cent royalty.

That compares with the Pilbara standard of 0.5 per cent and the State getting 7.5 per cent for crushed and screened ore.

Mr Woodley said YAC had previously engaged accounting firm KPMG to crunch the numbers on how much Fortescue would owe at that 10 per cent rate, concluding it amounted to $3.6 billion over seven years or about $500 million per year.

“It was a hard thing to calculate even for a forensic accountant,” Mr Woodley said.

“It’s more of a guesstimation and I don’t want to make assumptions until we nail down what that is.

“They’re making some good end-of-year profit from it.”

The demand is a far cry from Fortescue’s previous best offer — a capped, unindexed cash settlement of $4 million a year over the life of the mine, which is estimated to last at least another 20 years.

A Fortescue spokesperson said the company continued to be ready to settle the dispute by paying compensation.

“However, a 10 per cent royalty exceeds any other agreement we are aware of, including the highest royalties payable to the State Government,” they said.

Mr Woodley also responded to Fortescue boss Andrew Forrest writing in an newspaper opinion piece on Thursday that he had “always been happy to resolve the court case personally” with Mr Woodley, who was “very aware that we will settle today if the terms are fair and equitable” compared to the miner’s seven other major native title agreements in the Pilbara.

“I know Fortescue’s former CEO Elizabeth Gaines made several attempts at in-person meetings to resolve this, and my great hope is that we can resolve this without assistance from the court,” Mr Forrest wrote.

Mr Woodley said those words appeared to show a new willingness to compromise, but YAC was “realistic”.

“We’ve always said the door was open with these negotiations and that’s on record from the first time we started to have the conversations — we’ve been consistent with that all the way,” he said.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 3:00 pm

This is a cool little story.
Shame the asshole wasnt able to face justice though.

Vermont police use cigarette DNA to solve woman’s murder, 52 years on

In 1971, Rita Curran, a 24-year-old schoolteacher, was found strangled to death in her apartment in Vermont. The college town of Burlington, where Curran taught second grade, was devastated. Police interviewed Curran’s neighbors, investigated hundreds of tips and collected evidence including a single cigarette butt found near her arm, but were unable to name her killer.

Curran’s murder, unsolved for more than five decades, became one of Vermont’s most notorious cold cases. That changed this week, when police detectives announced the identity of her murderer – a male neighbor, police say, who later became a Buddhist monk and countercultural guru before dying of an overdose in 1986.

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:05 pm

Is the Biden Administration Just Completely Brain-Dead?

From Armstrong Economics –

Now that I see that the J erkoff cretin is lurking around, how about some curry for him and his/her/it stragglers on a happy friday ………………lol

“Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons on all its ships. The US arrogantly told China not to support Russia or that they would impose sanctions on China as they have done with Russia. That is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Once you make such a public demand on China, they now MUST act against it or their leadership will lose face.

I have dealt with governments for some 40 years +. Warnings of this nature have ALWAYS been communicated privately – NEVER publicly for that is confrontational and will necessitate the opposite side to vote against your demand. I cannot imagine that even I know far more about diplomacy than anyone in the Biden Administration. That suggests to me that this is deliberate. They just cannot be this stupid. They seem to be deliberately moving Russia and China together against the arrogant West in the very same manner that resulted in the Peloponnesian War with Sparta taking down Athens for its arrogance.

As the world teeters on the edge of World War III between Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran against the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Europe, diplomatic efforts to reach a peaceful settlement are seriously lacking. Europeans should be storming their own parliaments demanding the end to supporting Ukraine and honoring the Minsk Agreement to forestall a potential conflict the likes of which Europe has not seen since the end of the second World War and will certainly not survive.

The Biden Administration appears to be taking the advice of Adolf Hitler given the complete lack of any diplomacy whatsoever. China has offered a peace settlement but the Biden Administration wants war. China had no choice but to respond to Biden:

‘The US is in no position to tell China what to do’

The United Nations has become a joke. The Security Council can take action to maintain or restore international peace and security under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. Sanctions measures, under Article 41, encompass a broad range of enforcement options that do not involve the use of armed force. The UN has refused to remain unbiased and should have imposed sanctions on Germany, France, the UK, and the United States for their bad faith in negotiating the Minsk Agreement and for their unwarranted sanction of Russia that even began before the 2022 invasion. The UN no longer represents an independent body of nations but has been usurped with lofty ideals of becoming the one world government thanks to Schwab’s World Economic Forum and the pressure from the American Neocons directing US foreign policy.

The United Nations took its marching order from the United States and suspended Russia from the Human Rights Council on April 7th, 2022. They have courted world war with the vision of emerging as the new one-world government. They self-proclaim: “Now, more than 75 years later, the United Nations is still working to maintain international peace and security, give humanitarian assistance to those in need, protect human rights, and uphold international law.” Sanctioning private individuals claiming that will put pressure on Putin was a blatant violation of international war. Under this theory, then the Republicans could confiscate all the personal assets of Democrats until the Democrats agree to their terms. This is absurd.

The United Nations has REFUSED to be impartial and to prevent World War III. They are a total failure and a disgrace to humanity. Here is the simple pattern they should have investigated if they really cared about preserving world peace.

(1) In 2014 US installs an interim government in Ukraine which is unelected and immediately sends troops to attack the Donbas for wanting to separate from Ukraine after its own revolution
(2) West engages in the Minsk Agreement whereby Merkel has come out and acknowledged it was in bad faith and intended only to allow Ukraine to build its army while making a fool out of Putin for trusting the West
(3) Zelensky is elected promising to end corruption and the civil war with Russia
(4) VP Kamila Harris at Munich Security Conference tells Ukraine they should join NATO
(5) On February 23rd, 2022, Zelensky announces that Ukraine should rearm itself with nuclear weapons
February 24th, 2022, Putin intervenes to support the Donbas when the West ignores their human rights. If the United States even exists after World War III which they are promoting, then we would no doubt have a similar investigation into the deliberate policies that have rejected any possible peaceful negotiations and promoted war for the total destruction of Russia.

When not just diplomacy fails we get war, but when the United Nations acts in its own self-interest against all the member states that fund it and ignores the very foundation upon which it claims any authority. That seems to be in line with the World Health Organization to dictate its policies to the world.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/is-the-biden-administration-just-completely-brain-dead/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

Cassie of Sydney
February 24, 2023 3:05 pm

“I see that Lizzie is droning on about her favourite subject, herself, followed by her annoying neighbours,

Try living in a unit in Western Sydney, as some of my family do.

You have NFI.”

Oh dear, what a bombastic and ill-considered statement. Lizzie grew up in Western Sydney. She has one son who has lived in housing commission.

As for nasty line “droning on about her favourite subject, herself“, maybe you should remember that old adage, “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones“.

Robert Sewell
February 24, 2023 3:06 pm

Cassie Of Sindney:

I would urge everyone here to pop across to C.L.’s blog and read his masterly piece…”The Nero Protocol”.

Linky thing.
Well worth everyone’s time – and a few interesting nuggets of information that link together quite nicely…

Robert Sewell
February 24, 2023 3:11 pm

The Ramsay Foundation:
A collection of scum and villainy, all looking for the next skin suit.

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 3:12 pm

Wodney Woddenhead never answered the question about what he thought of crooked Martie doing 11 years in Leavenworth. Why?

He’s sharp when it comes to correcting gram errors though. He thinks that covers up for making an argument. Dickhead. Loser.

rickw
rickw
February 24, 2023 3:13 pm

Where my sister lives she once got rainfall at 11 o’clock one night at the rate of an inch every ten minutes, & that rate kept up for about four hours.
Houses were flooding by the water climbing up out of the gutter & flowing under the eaves into the house

Australian gutters, like a lot of things in Australia, are completely stupid. Actually designed to flood your house in a big rain event!

What I do is rivet and silastic a pop upside down inside the gutter. Checking that the height of the pop is at least 25mm lower than the rear side of the gutter. After it’s installed I then run the biggest hole saw that will fit in the pop through it cutting a hole in the bottom of the gutter.

It’s not very obvious, and if the water level in the gutter gets high enough it starts flowing into the pop and straight out the bottom of the gutter.

Robert Sewell
February 24, 2023 3:14 pm

Indolent:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1628748660677681152
Is he standing on something to appear taller? It seems so.
Nasty little bastard.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
February 24, 2023 3:15 pm

$360m divided by 70m megawatt hours = $5.14 per megawatt hour just for recurrent labour.
Is that right?

Yes – on those assumptions.
And, using a more reasonable range of capacity factors $10 to $15/MWh.

Then add on to that the non-labour opex and capital cost recovery on a coupleplus $billion spent on a supply base, heavy lift cranes, workboats, and harbour infrastructure.

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:16 pm

A man and his wife were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The wife says to her husband “For our anniversary this year, you can ask me one question, any question you want to. I will answer it truthfully”.

The husband replies “Okay, this has been bothering me for a long time, but I haven’t had the courage to ask before… but I have noticed that all of our eight children look similar to one another except one. I can’t figure out how he got to look so different. Did he have a different father than the rest?”

The wife stops. She is unable to look her husband in the eyes. Slowly she replies “yes. Yes he did have a different father”. Her husband was taken aback. “Oh! Okay… I must know. Please tell me. Who was that child’s father?” Again she cannot look her husband in the eyes. She is very distressed, and after a long silence she slowly said “YOU”.

P
P
February 24, 2023 3:17 pm

In 1957, Bacharach and lyricist Hal David met while at the Brill Building in New York City, and began their writing partnership. They received a career breakthrough when their song “The Story of My Life” was recorded by Marty Robbins, becoming a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Country Chart in 1957

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

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:18 pm

Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

– Bob Marley

Lysander
Lysander
February 24, 2023 3:19 pm

Well, I’m still watching videos of (very handsome astrophysicist) Prof David Kipping! 😛

In the latest one, he explains if the birth of Earth, to its death, were compressed to a single calendar year, “modern man” would arise on 17 May at 3.48pm and be gone by 4.20pm…

(I also love his explanation on how everything else will die at CO2 decreases…)

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 24, 2023 3:21 pm

Buttplug is just typical of the entitled, spoilt trash that constitute the American establishment. Buttplug snr is some kind of Marxist don.

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 3:24 pm

This is pretty funny. Angela Davis is/was a black power agitator and a senior member of the Black Panthers. Black Panthers was a black semi-terrorist group coming out of the 60s.

She just found out she has some Mayflower bloodline which is as lily white as you could get.

https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/angela-davis-gets-a-huge-surprise-on-finding-your-roots/

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:26 pm

Three disabled guys -a blind guy, an amputee, and a guy in a wheelchair- are flying back with the USA team from the Paralympic games in the Middle East when their plane crashes in the Sahara Desert. The three disabled guys were the only survivors. They waited patiently for someone to rescue them, but no one showed.

They start to get real thirsty, so they decide to seek out water. The amputee leads the way, with the blind man pushing the guy in the wheelchair and, eventually they find an oasis.

The amputee leader goes into the water first, cools himself down, drinks a load of water, walks out the other side and… lo and behold – he has NEW LEGS!

He gets excited and encourages his friends to do the same.

The blind man offers to push the guy in the wheelchair, but he gets refused because the guy in the chair wants to be independent and insists the blind man goes first.

So he goes into the water, cools himself down, drinks a load of water, walks out the other side and… lo and behold – he can SEE!

Now the guy in the wheelchair’s getting really excited. He starts pushing with all his might, goes into the water, cools himself down, drinks a load of water, and wheels out the other side and… lo and behold – NEW TYRES!

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:28 pm

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.

– Bob Marley

sfw
sfw
February 24, 2023 3:28 pm

JC, does not living in any particular city mean that you can’t be concerned about the city’s slow descent into a cesspit? Especially when you grew up there and still have family and friends there? I love all of my country, I don’t live in every part of it but I still love it.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
February 24, 2023 3:31 pm

Digital identity is just authentication, not authorisation, but it’s hard to ignore slippery slope arguments.

via AFR today:

The move will pave the way for linking public and private services to enable a single, easy way to register a new baby, enrol for school, wind up the affairs of deceased parents, to enrol to vote and to begin employment.

Linking the public and private sector for total monitoring of any significant transaction from cradle to grave. Is there a word for that?

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:32 pm

Biden Guarantees Pensions of Ukraine – Not Americans

From Armstrong Economics –

QUESTION: Marty; Why would Biden allow the billions he is sending to fill the pensions of government workers in Ukraine?

YD

ANSWER: This video has been going viral. However, this was from the beginning – of April 28th, 2022. The pensions are all the Ukrainian politicians – not the people. This is the kickback for destroying their own country. As long as they are being paid by the United States, they will allow this civil war to continue unabated. This money going to Ukraine is filling the pockets of Ukrainian politicians against their own people.

This was not from Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv. He met with Zelensky as a slap in the face to Putin. During his visit, Biden announced yet another additional half-billion dollars in U.S. assistance — on top of the more than $50 billion already provided — for military equipment and other aid. With this addition, he will be handing Ukraine twice the military budget of Russia. By allowing the money to go into the pockets of Ukrainian politicians, this is not helping the people of Ukraine.

Back in April 2022, Biden gave $1 billion in economic security. “This is money the government can help use to help stabilize their economy, to support communities that have been devastated by the Russian onslaught, and pay the brave workers that continue to provide essential services to the people of Ukraine,” Biden said on April 21.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the economic aid will keep Ukraine’s government running by paying employee salaries and pensions and supporting other social programs. Close to $2 billion was included in the March 2022 aid package to support “either macroeconomic needs in Ukraine, continuity of government efforts such as energy and cyber security, or needs in neighboring countries.”

Biden has been supporting the economy of Ukraine, not just providing aid to the military. Ukraine has been given more economic aid for its economy that any state in the Union.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/ukraine/biden-guarantees-pensions-of-ukraine-not-americans/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

Miltonf
Miltonf
February 24, 2023 3:33 pm

Anal and co including their Canbra pubic serpent pals are at war with us

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 3:35 pm

sfw says:
February 24, 2023 at 3:28 pm

JC, does not living in any particular city mean that you can’t be concerned about the city’s slow descent into a cesspit?

How does a city becoming larger in terms of population become a cesspit? You never explained that.

Especially when you grew up there and still have family and friends there? I love all of my country, I don’t live in every part of it but I still love it.

That’s pretty big of you.

You need to add a little color to your assertions.

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 3:38 pm

Wodney, how come there’s at least one uptick to your stupid comments even before they’re posted?

Still waiting for your Leavenworth response, you dishonest cretin.

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:40 pm

Lysandersays:
February 24, 2023 at 3:19 pm
Well, I’m still watching videos of (very handsome astrophysicist) Prof David Kipping! ?

In the latest one, he explains if the birth of Earth, to its death, were compressed to a single calendar year, “modern man” would arise on 17 May at 3.48pm and be gone by 4.20pm…

(I also love his explanation on how everything else will die at CO2 decreases…)

I am reading a book that states that the Universe will finally die. However, that is projected to happen in another Trillion years or so when the hydrogen is finally consumed. As I may well live another 20 years if I am lucky, I am not all that concerned……………lol

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:45 pm

JCsays:
February 24, 2023 at 3:38 pm
Wodney, how come there’s at least one uptick to your stupid comments even before they’re posted?

Still waiting for your Leavenworth response, you dishonest cretin.

As these days I just skip over your juvenile jibberish, I must have missed whatever seems to bother you. Please stay bothered as it suits you you short arse italian/oz. Happy friday living in Sictoria.

As for my upticks – they are given ………………lol

More Armstrong Economics to come…………………………more lol.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
February 24, 2023 3:49 pm

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher is expected to tell state digital ministers she wants legislation for a new digital identity scheme to be introduced in the spring

What what what?
Who are these “digital ministers” ?
Did any of you vote for a Digital Minister?
Can we download software updates for our digital Minister?
Could we uninstall these digital ministers?

rickw
rickw
February 24, 2023 3:49 pm
JC
JC
February 24, 2023 3:51 pm

As these days I just skip over your juvenile jibberish, I must have missed whatever seems to bother you. Please stay bothered as it suits you you short arse italian/oz. Happy friday living in Sictoria.

Well that’s a lie isn’t it, Woddenhead.

……………………………….LOL

You should be deported.

rickw
rickw
February 24, 2023 3:52 pm

Maybe lathe of the week?! Big lathe, most likely a Russian Stanko, most accessories with it but where’s the gap piece?!

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/telegraph-point/power-tools/lathe-steady-2-x-chucks/1308865280

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:53 pm

Corruption inside the Deep State

From Armstrong Economics –

“History repeats because human nature never changes. During the Roman Republic, the name of the moneyer would appear on the coinage just as today the Secretary of the Treasury’s signature appears on our paper currency – i.e. Steven T. Munchin. To this day, our coins are denoted by which mint produced them – Philadelphia, Denver, or San Francisco.

The collapse of the monetary system following the capture of Emperor Valerian I in 260AD by the Persians, set off a collapse in public confidence whereby the people suddenly saw Rome as vulnerable. What is fascinating is that the “hyperinflation” of Rome which took place in just 8.6 years, was aided by the corruption within the Deep State of the Roman Empire. This raises the question: We will see the same thing take place during our final 8.6 years into 2032 which begins by May 2024. The debasement of the coinage was NOT on the decree of the Emperor. This was the greed of those in the Deep State.

Following the assassination of Emperor Gallienus, that is when Claudius II came to power and the debasement reached it lowest point during his reign. The Goths invaded Rome and brought the plague with them from the East. Emperor Claudius II died of the plague. Claudius’s brother, Quintillus tried to succeed him, but Aurelian and his troops marched against him. His troops deserted him and he committed suicide.

Therefore, Aurelian became emperor in 270 AD and he returned to Rome in 271 AD, where he had to pacify a terrified city. He immediately halted the rioting and restored order to the capital. The controller of the mint in Rome began a rebellion over the monetary reforms laid out by Aurelian. He ordered that all the debased currency be purchased back and replaced with a new currency of higher content in silver. The rebellion was led by Felicissimus. It appears that those who had been running the mint were embezzling the intended silver and issuing the debased coinage at least in part on their own authority.

Obviously, any reform to the monetary system that called for an increase in silver content would have been unprofitable for those running the mint for personal gain. In the rebellion, as many as 7,000 soldiers died when Aurelian was forced to trap and execute them and their allies, some of the senatorial ranks, in a terrible battle on the Caelian Hills. Thereafter, Aurelian then introduced mintmarks to identify if any mint was cheating the silver content.

When Diocletian (284-305AD) reorganized the coinage when he came to power as well as the political structure of the Roman Empire. With respect to politics, he divided the empire in two creating two emperors with their eventual successors given the rank of Caesar. This became the Tetrarchy.

The monetary reform introduced the new bronze coinage silver plated known as the follis terminating the radiate antoninianus which had begun as a double denarius during the reign of Caracalla (198-217AD). Diocletian required each mint to engrave their coins with an identifiable mint mark, and also letters or marks to indicate the individual workshops (officina) within the mints. Thereby, any collusion to debase the coinage would be identifiable to a specific group within each mint.

Each mint mark from Diocletian onwards consists of a group of letters identifying the mint (normally in the exergue) and usually (but not always) letter(s) and/or mark(s), sometimes in the exergue, sometimes in the field, These identified the individual workshop within the mint. In the West, workshops were numbered either in Latin numerals I, II, III or in the initial letters of Latin ordinals such as P(rimus), S(ecundus), T(ertius). The problem with Latin surfaced when trying to distinguish between S(ecunda) and S(exta) or between Q(uarta) and Q(uinta). They had to develop in the West a mixed system of Greek and Latin to give P(rima), B, T(ertia), Q(uarta), E, and S(exta) valid meanings. Western mints sometimes used the Greek system at varying times.

Here we can see a silver Argentius (2.87 grams) with the “R” Roman mint mark. Lugdunum used “PL” for their mint mark as illustrated by this follis of Maximianus – Diocletiuan’s co-emperor.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/corruption/corruption-inside-the-deep-state/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 3:54 pm

As long as they are being paid by the United States, they will allow this civil war to continue unabated. This money going to Ukraine is filling the pockets of Ukrainian politicians against their own people.

???

WTF?

(If it’s a civil war, does that mean Russia does not belong there – and has as much legitimate interest as New Zealand?

Also how do non-existent countries have civil wars?)

Robert Sewell
February 24, 2023 3:54 pm

Old Ozzie:

The Twitter tycoon singled out Victoria Nuland as the most pro-war voice in Washington

I was unable to find out if she had children. Can anyone help?

Lysander
Lysander
February 24, 2023 3:56 pm

The Australia Card never got off the ground precisely because of suspicion of government.

However, if you package up all your private and sensitive data into a new rectangular black shiny thing that you carry everywhere with you, you don’t need an Australia Card because the gubbermint can get “more on you” than a stupid card could ever do.

Hell!? Why not even put one on your wrist so they can get live health data too!

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 3:56 pm

A good Day for England…………………………….

https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/cricket/62866119

Australia in trouble in India. Too much curry and and Delhi Belly perhaps…………………………….

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 3:59 pm

Corruption inside the Deep State

From Armstrong Economics –

“History repeats because human nature never changes. During the Roman Republic, the name of the moneyer

This fool should shut up.

He didn’t know about Merovingian and Holy Roman Empire Gold specie.

“Currency expert”

No. He must have sat on his arse all th me time as a kid.

“Socrates has the entire history of the world on its database”

Liar. How ridiculous.

The height of arrogance, running a hedge fund without an education, no experience and fraudulently losing $1 bn of client funds – then declaring yourself an expert on finance and economics years later, with an imaginary AI model you claim to have created in incapable hardware and software on ancient PCs, when you didn’t pass a single electronics subject at a NYC TAFE.

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 4:00 pm

Once upon a time in a land far away, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog as she sat contemplating ecological issues on the shores of an unpolluted pond in a verdant meadow near her castle.

The frog hopped into the princess’ lap and said “Elegant Lady, I was once a handsome prince, until an evil witch cast a spell upon me. One kiss from you, however, and I will turn back into the dapper young prince that I am, and then, my sweet, we can marry and set up housekeeping in your castle with my mother, where you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children, and feel forever grateful doing so”.

That night, as the princess dined sumptuously on a repast of lightly sautéed frogs legs seasoned in a wine and onion cream sauce she chuckled to herself and thought: I don’t farking think so………………

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 4:00 pm

I was unable to find out if she had children. Can anyone help?

I will need some beer.

Gabor
Gabor
February 24, 2023 4:00 pm

As a city becomes larger both in area and population, parts of it can become a slum if the finances to keep up with the services is lacking.
Bigger doesn’t always mean better.
Plenty of examples all over the world.
Even in NSW and QNL, there are many areas less well serviced than some others, not familiar with Melbourne.

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 4:01 pm

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

– Buddha

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
February 24, 2023 4:01 pm

Simple slogan for the Opposition on superannuation and government interference…..

“It’s your money not the governments!”

The only problem is that the bulk of people’s money is invested in “Industry Funds” controlled by the unions. The fund managers are subject to the whims of directors, mostly union appointees or Labor friends.

Their fiduciary responsibility has already been compromised by investment in lefty duds such as renewables and constant advertising costs. Not to mention sponsorships of sporting clubs and events which guarantee directors access to the private box. Money well spent for fund members – not!

The real target of the trainee treasurer and albosleazy is self managed funds. Those, for the moment, outside the control of union funds. Some years ago it was estimated that you needed at least $200k to have a smsf to cover regulatory costs. That, no doubt, would have risen over the years.

But there is no doubt this government wants to get rid of all smsf and concentrate control of industry funds. The pool of funds is too much to resist and it was always going to be the case once unions got involved.

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 4:02 pm

Here’s your problem with the cesspit assertion, SWF.

1. It’s not a given that living in a large city makes it a cesspit. London, Paris, and New York are densely populated cities that do not resemble a cesspit.

2. Australia’s fertility rate is well below replacement. It was 1.6 in 2020 vs. 2.1, which is considered replacement.

Australia has perhaps the most generous welfare benefits in the developed world. Can you explain how you would square the welfare/immigration circle with an upside down age pyramid?

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 4:03 pm

Selling adenochrome, JC.

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 4:05 pm

LOL Dot

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 4:06 pm

And for Dotty Dot of Dottiness in her/its/whatever Ivory Academic Tower, the Real World awaits……………

Biden & Putin Duel with Words

From Armstrong Economics –

“President Vladimir Putin shot down the balloons claiming he would declare war on NATO, martial law in Russia, or announce a new major wave of military mobilization because Russia is losing. What is really sad is to find the total lack of any unbiased account from any mainstream media around the world whatsoever proving that the media is all behind this agenda to create World War III. They have been given instructions from their respective governments and how dare they offer any actual investigative analysis.

Most are reporting that Putin has merely recycled the same lines about his rationale for invading Ukraine nearly one year ago. They have ignored the entire Minsk Agreement or the fact that Zelensky told the press the day before the invasion on February 23rd, 2022 that Ukraine would no longer be neutral and was preparing to rearm itself with nuclear weapons. We invaded Iraq claiming that was what Saddam was doing when he made no such public statement.

They all pretty much reported that Putin offered no vision of how the war he launched might end. They have exonerated everyone in the West and Zelensky as some savior of Democracy when he outlaws all criticism of him at home and orders the Donbas will no longer be part of the Russian Orthodox Church but be subservient to his new Patriarch of Kyiv.

Putin’s only measured response was to announce that Russia is suspending its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty. Even that was merely a formal statement for he then said that Russia would not start testing nuclear weapons unless the United States did first.

What I have been reporting from reliable sources is that the view in Russia has shifted from a war with Ukraine to a war against the United States and NATO. Putin said:

“The US and NATO openly state that their goal is the strategic defeat of Russia,”
He added. “And what, after that are we just supposed to let them to travel around our (nuclear) facilities?”

“They want to inflict a strategic defeat on us and climb all over our nuclear facilities,” Putin said.

“So I’d like to make the announcement today that Russia is suspending its participation in the START Treaty.”

Still, Putin is not the war-monger that the Western Press is told to print. He has had 30 years to invade Europe and has not. The Russian people are not interested in conquering Europe. This is old Neocon propaganda stories that have been pushing the entire theory of Regime Change all along. They objected to Reagan’s meeting with Gorbachev and claimed back then that it was a trap and that Gorbachev should not be trusted.

Putin has demonstrated that he was not looking for World War III and made it clear that Russia is not withdrawing from the treaty entirely, only suspending participation. We must not forget that it was the United States claiming neutrality while sending arms to Britain using passenger ships that got the US into WWI. NATO and the US are by no means neutral, this entire Ukrainian War was begun in 2014 by the US’s interim unelected government in Kyiv which began the civil war and sent troops to invade the Donbas in 2014.

Joe Biden seems to actually think he will be running in 2024. The display for him in Poland with all the lights was clearly a ploy from Roman times and the light coming from the head of Sol to save the Roman Empire in its time of desperate need during the reign of Aurelian 270-275AD who built the Wall Around Rome to hold off the barbarian invasions. The Rays of light were to symbolize the Roman god Sol, the Sun, who rose every day and was thus invincible (SOL INVICTUS).

Even the Statue of Liberty used the same symbol – INVICTUS. Interestingly, this paved the way for Christianity for even our Christmas Day was the feast day of Sol. The lights behind Biden were deliberately placed for the very same message, that we will be INVINCIBLE. Biden was pitching his reelection in 2024 as well. He declared:

“The decisions we make over the next five years or so are going to determine and shape our lives for decades to come.” In that sense, he is correct. This will be a major war like no other before and it will indeed reshape the future. But the victory lap before the battle is typical to boost morale and convince people they are about to die for a very good cause.

Biden added: “The choice between chaos and stability, between building and destroying, between hope and fear, between democracy, [which] lifts up the human spirit, and the brutal hand of the dictator who crushes it.” All of this is propaganda. Putin is no more a dictator than any other world leader. In fact, we all live in a real dictatorship for Republics are the worst form of government ever conceived. Biden has never allowed the people to vote on this war. We are to die with no right to even object to this war.

The bias of the press is just amazing. Even Bloomberg wrote: “Putin falsely blamed the West for starting the conflict and said the Kremlin wouldn’t be the first to test nuclear weapons.” They simply refuse to even state the truth about anything. They ignore the fact that the West agreed to the Minsk settlement only to buy time confirming the West wants this war. The press all have their orders – whip up the people for World War III. The truth no longer matters.

Biden declared that Russia would never win the war and never addressed Putin’s remarks about suspending the treaty. He also threatened China declaring that he will sanction every company that supports Putin’s invasion. Biden has failed to consider any honoring of the Minsk Agreement and Xi Jinping has been trying to broker peace but Biden will have nothing to do with any peace agreement – he is reading his teleprompter and only wants war.

Biden has decreed all of this because the Neocons behind the curtain are demanding war – the ultimate goal they have been seeking since they stood against Ronald Reagan even talking with Gorbachev. They have opposed any relationship with Russia. They imposed sanctions on the export of pipe ever since Russia and Germany came to an agreement back in 1955.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/politics/biden-putin-duel-with-words/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 4:08 pm

…………………………………LOL

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 4:08 pm

Vlad Putin vs the Real World

“Hostomel was a feint”

Stop malding and coping.

I thought Russian victory was inevitable before last May, but that son of a bitch, reality, said otherwise.

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 4:11 pm

“The decisions we make over the next five years or so are going to determine and shape our lives for decades to come.” In that sense, he is correct.

Amazingly, this boilerplate is always correct, no matter when it is made.

My Shibe doggo says:

Such prediction.
Much forecasting.

sfw
sfw
February 24, 2023 4:12 pm

Didn’t realise that the sun is past the yardarm.

Dot
Dot
February 24, 2023 4:13 pm

JC

Plagiarism check on Armstrong’s “forecast” re ancient Rome.

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 4:13 pm

A male patient is lying in bed in the hospital, wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth.

A young student nurse appears and gives him a partial sponge bath.

“Nurse” he mumbles from behind the mask “Are my testicles black?”

Embarrassed, the young nurse replies “I don’t know, Sir. I’m only here to wash your upper body and feet”.

He struggles to ask again “Nurse, please check for me. Are my testicles black?”

Concerned that he might elevate his blood pressure and heart rate from worrying about his testicles, she overcomes her embarrassment and pulls back the covers. She raises his gown, holds his manhood in one hand and his testicles gently in the other. She looks very closely and says “There’s nothing wrong with them, Sir. They look magnificent”.

The man slowly pulls off his oxygen mask, smiles at her, and says very slowly “Thank you very much. That was wonderful. Now listen very, very closely: “Are – My – Test – Results – Back?”

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
February 24, 2023 4:13 pm

Didn’t realise that the sun is past the yardarm.

On retirement, the sun is always past the yardarm.

Johnny Rotten
February 24, 2023 4:14 pm

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.

– Aldous Huxley

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 4:15 pm

sfw says:
February 24, 2023 at 4:12 pm

Didn’t realise that the sun is past the yardarm.

You didn’t realize because you’re content with assertions. That’s the problem with cops. They think an assertion is enough as they don’t have to answer to mere plebs.

JC
JC
February 24, 2023 4:25 pm

Bruce Springsteen is doing a Euroweenie tour and will be in Rome in May for a concert in a Roman amphitheater.

Bruce Springsteen
Circus Maximus, Rome, Italy
Sunday, 21 May

There are 420 tickets left.

We’ll be heading to Lisbon from the US in May to meet up with pals. I thinking of pulling the trigger on the tickets.

Get a load of the old Maximus. What an experience.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
February 24, 2023 4:25 pm

Ramsay foundation actually have a “vibe” officer.

In the link above if you doubt me.

Not sure if it’s the trendy term for lesbian outreach or not.

calli
calli
February 24, 2023 4:27 pm

sfw says:
February 24, 2023 at 4:12 pm
Didn’t realise that the sun is past the yardarm.

It most certainly is. A G&T (Bombay Sunset just to annoy the purists). And I’m polishing the silverware which was looking remarkably dingy.

I promise not to mistake the Silvo for the drink.

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