Open Thread – Tues 28 March 2023


Autumn (The Spies with the Grapes of the Promised Land), Nicolas Poussin, 1660-64

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

2.2K Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Shy Ted
Shy Ted
March 29, 2023 2:38 pm

The Nashville cops were wearing bodycams and released the footage. The Mareeba cops weren’t wearing bodycams. Said Palacechook.
Policy

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
March 29, 2023 2:38 pm

Ted Cruz Lays Into Mayorkas, and Its Glorious

In the era of a desiccated dry f#rt of a presidency and a GOP delegation that has traditionally been so full of RINOs it could qualify as a wildlife preserve, it is refreshing and heartening to see a Republican decide he has had it eyeball-high with this administration’s play-acting, take out his spine and use it to take a bureaucrat to school.

Such was the case during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on border security. Ted Cruz channeled his inner Popeye the sailor and pretty much said: “I’ve had all I can stands and I can’t stands no more.”

He proceeded to take DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the proverbial woodshed. Specifically, Cruz made Mayorkas face the music over the trafficking of children that is so prevalent at the southern border. According to Fox News, Cruz said:

Mr. Secretary, I want to say to you right now, your behavior is disgraceful. And the deaths, the children assaulted, the children raped, they are at your feet. And if you had integrity, you would resign. The men and women of the Border Patrol, they’ve never had a political leader undermine them. They despise you, Mr. Secretary, because you’re willing to let children be raped to follow political orders. This is a crisis. It’s a disgrace. And you won’t even admit this human tragedy as it is a crisis.

You can view the most dramatic part of the exchange below. It is all worth watching, but I suggest checking out the portion that begins at 8:56. (Yes, there will probably be an embedded ad. Use the skip button when it comes up.)

Robert Sewell
March 29, 2023 2:41 pm

Another US train derailment?
Perhaps some money used as maintenance would be a good idea? Unless of course it’s deliberate sabotage.
So what’s the problem?

John H.
John H.
March 29, 2023 2:42 pm

dover0beachsays:
March 29, 2023 at 2:34 pm
I find the “I’m not religious, I’m spiritual” shtick ludicrous. As far as I’m concerned, spirituality comes from religious belief.

Indeed. Distinguishable but inseparable.

Which religious beliefs? Do religions differ in understanding about spirituality?

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 2:47 pm

Hmmm…testing…tap…tap…tap…

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
March 29, 2023 2:49 pm

Decline in American Values Is the Defining Trait of the Obama Generation

The Wall Street Journal released a poll over the weekend showing, in stark relief, how the values of individual Americans have changed in 25 years. Many pundits have written this week on the implications for the survival of a nation that no longer views itself as exceptional, a society in which most people don’t believe in a higher power beyond themselves, and a world in which the ideas of community involvement and having children no longer inspire citizens to do something larger than their individual concerns.

Make no mistake: this decline in American values has its roots in a lot of bad ideas over several decades but really gained its full flower in the Obama generation.

We now inhabit a nation almost a full generation removed from the famous campaign promise from President Barack Hussein Obama, on Oct. 30, 2008: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America!”

It’s downright painful to compare the America of today to the USA of Sept. 12, 2001, but this is a reckoning every patriot must face head-on. Vodkapundit had a great take on this in his column yesterday, “Is GenX the Last Generation of Americans?“

COVID and the resulting state-sponsored fracturing of American civility seems to have accelerated the trend lines. Lockdowns vs. liberty, masks vs. faces, mandates vs. adult choices, public educators vs. everybody — if there weren’t two Americas before March 2020, it certainly feels now like there are at least that many.

Absolutely spot-on. The state-sponsored fracturing of American civility (among other civic values) accelerated the trend lines — but those trend lines have deeper roots. We simply noticed them more starkly in the pandemic crisis and our insane response to it. There remains no doubt, however, that we have taken divergent paths.

Indeed, the pandemic panic and willful suspension of constitutionally guaranteed natural rights could not have happened without Obamaism having replaced Americanism as our defining national trait.

Contrary to the (duplicitous) Clinton declaration of the end of big government, Obamaism ushered in every deleterious effect of Big Government that we see today.

Of course, some things got their start in the Bush administration, like the expansion of the surveillance state in the War on Terror and TARP. Thank goodness the Patriot Act could never be weaponized against American citizens, amirite?

So what has Obamaism wrought?

– The weaponization of Big Government against domestic political opponents: ✅

– The suspension of individual liberties under the pretense of a national emergency: ✅

– The expansion of government intervention into private health care decisions: ✅

– The ever-advancing erosion of the family unit: ✅

– The reliance on government over individual responsibility for most decisions in one’s daily life: ✅

– The decline of belief in American exceptionalism: ✅

– Undermining American sovereignty in the name of equity, globalism, and the interests of illegal aliens: ✅

– The notion that government has rights and that they exceed those of the individual citizen: ✅

Eyrie
Eyrie
March 29, 2023 2:50 pm

Thanks, Gilas. About what I thought.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 2:52 pm

If I get the “I’m spiritual” remark, I always ask “which spirit are you in touch with?”.

Always a relief if it’s only the gin bottle. Anything else is a worry.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
March 29, 2023 2:54 pm

Useful page just worked with ✅ above

https://www.copyandpastesymbols.net/check-symbol.html

copy and paste Dec Code

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 2:54 pm

She’s waiting for a spot on the Voice – President will do – to open up.

I’m presuming the lady will have no difficulty reversing her earlier policy of not supporting the Voice, in favor of a treaty, in order to accept such a position?

Kneel
Kneel
March 29, 2023 2:56 pm

“…Simulating a complex system, even simplified, while keeping just 4 independent parameters constant. produces significant incremental errors after << 100,000 iterations…"

It’s worse than we thought.

Had they bothered to compare their GAST estimate from their mega-DoF, CO2 belching, supercomputer requiring model against a trivial, single DoF model that only forecasts based on CO2 concentration, and can be run in seconds on a desktop PC, they might have noticed that the result was near identical.

KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!)

But I guess there’s no money in that, is there?

MatrixTransform
March 29, 2023 2:56 pm

Yet we are expected to believe that 3D circulation climate models, with dozens of changing, DEPENDENT parameters, in an even more chaotic system, can accurately predict weather or climate

yep

a couple of decades ago I was responsible for writing a program to make a large mirror predict and track the sun. Borrowed some Ephemeris code from the Jet Propulsion Lab for predicting sun location and this data was then used to drive some motors to position the mirror.

accuracy was critical and the thing was, everything had errors.
wee sinusoidal ones.
and it was difficult to tell where they came from. Was the ephemeris correct? encoder readings wrong, translation of mirror co-ord system into real-world system wrong? Floating point problems?

my forum handle (MT) comes from how I mathematically dealt with the 3D space problem and
the outcome was that although the real-time 3D rotational matrices were the actual fix, they added even more rounding errors. So I had rewrite everything to get around that too.

all of that was pre -64bit FLOPS … diabolical problem.

these days they do short-term weather pretty well with guesses using GFS or ECMWF but I’m still suss on a plethora of climate models that point at any one of hundreds of imagined Thermageddon futures.

… and their predictions so far don’t match real world measurements

incidentally, Captain Cook did his own calcs using log tables and a pencil and got pretty damn close

areff
areff
March 29, 2023 2:59 pm

The Yugo was much maligned but $3000 total cost off the showroom floor was a plus. The next cheapest car at the time (a couple of years later actually) was High Undies’ base model at $7000. You get what you pay for — and for the money it wasn’t bad value. You could do most of the work yourself, as it was basically a Sixties-era Fiat. Mind you, I have a soft spot for Fiats and the Yugo benefits from that affection.

I took care of one for about four months while it’s owner was overseas and didn’t want his runabout car, which he’d bought for peanuts secondhand, sitting unattended in the driveway of a weekend cabin. Finish was appalling — leaks, wind whistling through door gaps and holes in the firewall. Joining freeway traffic was a heart-in-mouth exercise since the 0-60 took about 24 seconds, and it couldn’t get over 80mph except maybe down hill.

Malcolm Bricklin, who imported Yugos, had formerly launched Subaru in the US. He maintained that, if Yugoslavia hadn’t devolved into a land of warring wogs, the quality control issues would have been settled — including the need for far-too-frequent servicing/replacement of timing gear. Let that go and you’d stuff the engine in a heartbeat. Bricklin knew all the deficiencies and, had the wars not erupted, insisted he would have had a viable competitor for the genuinely awful Chevette

Thing is, at that time, for $3000 you could have bought a genuinely great car (secondhand) : the AMC all-wheel-drive Eagle, now, like AMC, sadly gone to God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcdRVWFwb1I

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 3:02 pm

Okay. What about ? ?

C.L.
C.L.
March 29, 2023 3:02 pm

Speaking of decline and Obama, Michelle has the angry look to her these days of a woman who isn’t ageing as elegantly as her husband. The pictures of her in Sydney would scare a butcher out of a butcher’s shop.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 3:03 pm

Harrumph! Those check symbols are as boring as a ledger page. I wanted a grinning cat and got nothing.

Cassie of Sydney
March 29, 2023 3:05 pm

“Speaking of decline and Obama, Michelle has the angry look to her these days of a woman who isn’t ageing as elegantly as her husband. The pictures of her in Sydney would scare a butcher out of a butcher’s shop.”

I’ve been thinking the same C.L. She always has a mean, angry look on her face.

C.L.
C.L.
March 29, 2023 3:07 pm

Titania McGrath: Tweet of the day.

Robert Sewell
March 29, 2023 3:16 pm

Old Ozzie:
?
Heart

?
Star

?
Smiley

TM
Rights

?
Sun

?
Moon

?
Check

?
Music

?
Flower

$
Currency

?
Crown

?
Bullet

?
Circle

?
X Mark

?
Time

?
Hand

?
Card

?
Triangle

??
Quotation

?
Cross

?
Plant

?
Pease

?
Arrows

??
Bracket

?
Number

?
Line

?
Tools

?
Shopping

?
Office

?
Religion

?
Zodiac

?
Sports

?
Japanese

?
Weather

?
Food

?
Drinks

¼
Fractions

C?
Subscript


Superscript

?
Vehicle

?
Gender

Robert Sewell
March 29, 2023 3:17 pm

Nope. The other ones don’t work.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
March 29, 2023 3:21 pm

I have never understood what people mean by “spirituality”.

Spirituality is religion minus the morality plus an extra dose of superstition.

Zatara
Zatara
March 29, 2023 3:21 pm

Another observation about those Nashville bodycam videos. Note the apparent planning, training and drills the school itself had done in preparation for such an incident and the courage of the school administration during it.

Look closely at what’s going on besides the action figures and you will see empty rooms and hear a loud siren going off.

So within seconds of the shooter breaking into the building the warning sirens were activated. Within moments all but 3 extremely unfortunate students and possibly a substitute teacher who were likely caught out of position or slow to react, the classrooms and hallways were empty and the vulnerable were nowhere for the shooter to find even though she had attended that school and presumably knew the layout and the drills.

The school Principle and a custodian appear to have voluntarily risked their lives to face down or delay the shooter and were sadly killed by her.

Again, impressive.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
March 29, 2023 3:22 pm

C.L.says:
March 29, 2023 at 3:02 pm
Speaking of decline and Obama, Michelle has the angry look to her these days of a woman who isn’t ageing as elegantly as her husband. The pictures of her in Sydney would scare a butcher out of a butcher’s shop.

It has a penis.

Take a look at it on the Ellen Degenerate show. They are not folds in the pants.

3:59

https://tinyurl.com/3hyrf8fh

Robert Sewell
March 29, 2023 3:22 pm

ZK2A:

I’m presuming the lady will have no difficulty reversing her earlier policy of not supporting the Voice, in favor of a treaty, in order to accept such a position?

Nope.
Hypocrisy is a White Mans social construct.
There’ll be none of that cultural appropriation here, uncle.
🙂

Kneel
Kneel
March 29, 2023 3:24 pm
thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
March 29, 2023 3:25 pm

Steve tricklersays:
March 29, 2023 at 3:22 pm

Ive got another theory on the surprisingly girthy vagina of Mrs Obama.

She was probably using one of these.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
March 29, 2023 3:26 pm

¼
Fractions

Those usually work straight off the MS Character Map thingie.

Speaking of decline and Obama, Michelle has the angry look to her these days of a woman who isn’t ageing as elegantly as her husband. The pictures of her in Sydney would scare a butcher out of a butcher’s shop.

Apparently Sydney has embraced the Obamas like a man drowning in the desert or something.
See RH bottom of the Terror front page today.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
March 29, 2023 3:30 pm

Stew Peters Show:

DEMENTED Biden Calls For GUN BAN: Transgender TERRORIST MURDERS Christians At School

Trans people aren’t just delusional, they are demonic and Stew has the proof.
Chris Dorr is here to talk about how gun free zones and soft targets attract crazies who want to maim and kill innocent children.
The Biden administration and Democrats want to disarm their political opposition.
It’s time for gun owners to go on offense and pass all of the pro-gun laws that we can.
We are reaping the rotten fruits of a system that has stripped God and morality out of public life
Mass media and government institutions that constantly praise and promote LGBTQ have emboldened trans terrorists.
Joe Biden was a total embarrassment when he blabbered about ice cream instead of the 6 dead Christians slaughtered by a trans terrorist.
The States must embrace the power of the 10th Amendment and be prepared to resist federal gun tyranny.

https://tinyurl.com/mrymj9nr

Kneel
Kneel
March 29, 2023 3:31 pm

Maybe this will work…
via GIPHY

John H.
John H.
March 29, 2023 3:32 pm

DrBeauGansays:
March 29, 2023 at 3:21 pm
I have never understood what people mean by “spirituality”.

Spirituality is religion minus the morality plus an extra dose of superstition.

Good attempt Doc. Most religious people will not like that. Some Zen people will agree but whether or not Zen is a religion is a topic for another million pointless essays.

The truly religious man has nothing to do but go on with his life as he finds it in the various circumstances of this worldly existence. He rises quietly in the morning, puts on his dress and goes out to his work. When he wants to walk, he walks; when he wants to sit, he sits. He has no hankering after Buddhahood, not the remotest thought of it. How is this possible? A wise man of old says, ‘If you strive after Buddhahood by any conscious contrivances, your Buddha is indeed the source of eternal transmigration.’

Rinzai(who ironically spent decades chasing the myth of satori but at least he realized how wrong he was)

If you can’t find it where you’re standing, where do you expect to wander in search of it?

Unknown Zen dude.,

How wondrous this, how mysterious
I carry fuel, I draw water!

Attributed to the probably mythical Pang Zen master.

Kneel
Kneel
March 29, 2023 3:41 pm

“He rises quietly in the morning, puts on his dress and goes out to his work. “

I dunno, sounds kinda TRANS-cendental if you ask me.

Then again, as the Buddhist said to the hotdog vendor: make me one with everything.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 3:44 pm

Attributed to a known king of Israel:

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14

Very, very similar to the Zen master. I like the sense of wonder.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
March 29, 2023 3:59 pm

Rinzai(who ironically spent decades chasing the myth of satori but at least he realized how wrong he was)

Satori is suddenly realising that the world is a wonderful place and that being alive in it is miraculous.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
March 29, 2023 4:01 pm

He’s a good man. I like how he correctly refers to “carbon dioxide” and not “carbon” like all the other brainwashed morons. It’s the little things that count.

Humans and animals to not exhale soot.

——–

Malcolm Roberts:

This week the Safeguard Mechanism Bill will pass after a dodgy Labor deal with the Greens and David Pocock.

More than 200 of the largest companies in this country will have to cut their production. There’ll be less electricity, less essential goods and they’ll all be more expensive.

Just remember, you are the carbon they want to reduce.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZsuBa5-Z38

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
March 29, 2023 4:02 pm

Almost snap, calli.

Vicki
Vicki
March 29, 2023 4:02 pm

My absolute favourite – especially in these times – is John 1:5

“The Light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness understandeth it not.”

H B Bear
H B Bear
March 29, 2023 4:09 pm

Way back in the mid-1980s, communist Yugoslavia exported the Yugo

We had a Yugo as our means of transport for a surf trip through SW France and northern Spain in the mid 90s. Handling was a bit squirrelly in the Pyrenees.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
March 29, 2023 4:16 pm

“The shooter has been identified by his deadname.”

Well, she is dead.

Kneel
Kneel
March 29, 2023 4:23 pm

Here Calli, start here:
https://quantumtocosmos.ca/#/scale?value=26.889999999999997
which shows the size of the observable universe at about 8 * 10^150m , and you can then zoom in (+ in bottom right corner) with suitable objects to give an idea of scale all the way to 10^-34m (Plank length).
Each second click zoom in/out is an order of magnitude difference (10x).
Notice how many clicks you need just to see a human, and then how much smaller you can go.
God is a very clever fellow – and this peak at what He has created is mind-boggling.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
March 29, 2023 4:27 pm
calli
calli
March 29, 2023 4:31 pm

That’s really something, kneel. What’s interesting is the size of the gaps.

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 4:34 pm

The truly religious man has nothing to do but go on with his life as he finds it in the various circumstances of this worldly existence. He rises quietly in the morning, puts on his dress and goes out to his work. When he wants to walk, he walks; when he wants to sit, he sits. He has no hankering after Buddhahood, not the remotest thought of it. How is this possible? A wise man of old says, ‘If you strive after Buddhahood by any conscious contrivances, your Buddha is indeed the source of eternal transmigration.’

One thing about Buddhism that never made sense was that they suggest that one must kill all desire as desire leads to suffering. Yet you need to have the desire to eliminate suffering in the first place. So in effect, you cannot ever eliminate desire.

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 4:38 pm

I would suggest that ‘desire’ is integral and inseparable to the ‘self’ and basically people will either let their ‘senses’ control their desire, or let ‘reason’ control their desire. Pretty simple really.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
March 29, 2023 4:44 pm

Durham bombshell: Prosecutor unveils smoking gun FBI text message, ‘joint venture’ to smear Trump

Special Counsel John Durham revealed he has unearthed a text message showing Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann falsely told the FBI he was not working on behalf of any client when he delivered anti-Trump research.

Special Counsel John Durham is revealing new smoking gun evidence, a text message that shows a Clinton campaign lawyer lied to the FBI, while putting the courts on notice he is prepared to show the effort to smear Donald Trump with now-disproven Russia collusion allegations was a “conspiracy.”

In a bombshell court filing late Monday night, Durham for the first time suggested Hillary Clinton’s campaign, her researchers and others formed a “joint venture or conspiracy” for the purpose of weaving the collusion story to harm Trump’s election chances and then the start of his presidency.

“These parties acted as ‘joint venturer[s]’ and therefore should be ‘considered as co-conspirator[s],’” he wrote.

Durham also revealed he has unearthed a text message showing Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann falsely told the FBI he was not working on behalf of any client when he delivered now-discredited anti-Trump research in the lead-up to the 2016 election. In fact, he was working for the Clinton campaign and another client, prosecutors say.

The existence of the text message between Sussmann and then-FBI General Counsel James Baker was revealed in a court filing late Monday night by Durham’s team. Prosecutors said they intend to show Sussmann gave a false story to the FBI but then told the truth about working on behalf of the Clinton campaign when he later testified to Congress.

“Jim – it’s Michael Sussmann. I have something time-sensitive (and sensitive) I need to discuss,” Sussmann texted Baker on Sept. 18, 2016, according to the new court filing. “Do you have availability for a short meeting tomorrow? I’m coming on my own – not on behalf of a client or company – want to help the Bureau. Thanks.”

Prosecutors said the text message will become essential evidence at trial to show Sussmann lied to the FBI.

You can read the court filing.

Gilas
Gilas
March 29, 2023 4:49 pm
John H.
John H.
March 29, 2023 4:51 pm

Razeysays:
March 29, 2023 at 4:34 pm
The truly religious man has nothing to do but go on with his life as he finds it in the various circumstances of this worldly existence. He rises quietly in the morning, puts on his dress and goes out to his work. When he wants to walk, he walks; when he wants to sit, he sits. He has no hankering after Buddhahood, not the remotest thought of it. How is this possible? A wise man of old says, ‘If you strive after Buddhahood by any conscious contrivances, your Buddha is indeed the source of eternal transmigration.’

One thing about Buddhism that never made sense was that they suggest that one must kill all desire as desire leads to suffering. Yet you need to have the desire to eliminate suffering in the first place. So in effect, you cannot ever eliminate desire.

That is more Hinyana\Tibetan\Theravada Buddhism. Zen is more like a proto-psychology than religion. Of course, opinions vary and Zen is practised in many different ways. I prefer D.T. Suzuki but most Zen fans don’t even read him and probably don’t like him because he is a scholar. Alan Watts very much leaned on his books to bring Zen to the West. Even satori can be fast or slow. Another feature is fat Buddha statues, that’s not about eliminating desire. The famous story of Hakuin who upon obtaining satori spent 20 years being the town drunk. There is the well known phrase: No stone Buddhas!

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 5:01 pm

Thanks Gilas. I think I’ll just drop this in here on my way to the Chemist’s.

😀

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
March 29, 2023 5:01 pm

A crucial element of Zen is understanding the limitations of natural language, with the observation that trying to capture the world in a net of words is like trying to capture an image of the moon in a lake with a fishing net.

Of course, once you realise that there’s more to the world than our language can contain, one possible response is to improve the language. It’s called Mathematics, and it has worked well in Physics.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
March 29, 2023 5:08 pm

I always took the “desire as desire leads to suffering” meant wanting more than you need. As far as religion goes you either believe or don’t.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
March 29, 2023 5:09 pm

The Green Energy Agenda Increases Poverty. It Must Stop.

The push to ditch reliable energy is out of control. Politicians are manipulating the energy market through subsidies, tax breaks, and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) initiatives in regulations and government pensions.

It’s also concerning that the “big three” investment institutions, which collectively hold over $20 trillion in assets, too often coerce the companies in which they have significant investments to bend the knee to their big-government political ideology, such as complying with the Paris Climate Accord.

Sadly, the result of this virtue signaling to prop up unreliable wind and solar comes at high costs for little benefits—if any benefits at all. And more than hemorrhaged taxpayer dollars are at stake: this green energy agenda increases poverty. It must stop.

While the media is constantly ringing alarm bells about the always-changing climate, not enough people are alarmed by the economic trade-offs these unreliable green energy initiatives create. But that requires an honest comparison of the climate change risks versus the economic costs, both of which impact future generations.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) finds that there were an expected 20 million more people without electricity globally, totaling 775 million people, in 2022. Many of these people are in sub-Saharan Africa, who are facing increasing hardship due to rising costs for food, fuel and other necessities. This situation is made worse by the left’s insistence on unreliable sources of energy that have forced many Europeans to use wood for stoves and heat instead of much cleaner-burning natural gas.

Forcing some of the population to depend on energy sources that don’t work ultimately pushes them into hardship and poverty when those methods fail.

Texas experienced this problem in a tragic way two years ago during its historic weather event of freezing temperatures and accumulations of ice and snow that left thousands without power, contributing to an estimated 246 deaths.

Such a tragedy should never have happened in America’s energy capital, but these are gambles that politicians take when offering subsidies to unreliable variable energy providers that make it difficult for reliable thermal energy to compete, even though thermal energy is the most stable and reliable form.

More broadly, if every signatory of the Paris Accord, including India and China, decarbonized by 2050, the temperature differentiation by 2100 would be just 0.17 degrees.

And according to climate change activists, the cost to get there could be as much as $21 trillion through 2050.

Businesses attempting to go green would be forced to raise their prices significantly to make a profit, a normally tough task that’s only made harder by present-day sky-high inflation. But if subsidies and other artificial means of skewing the energy market continue, then businesses that don’t receive subsidies and can’t afford to “go green” simply won’t be able to compete. This would result in a massive reallocation of resources that will contribute to less economic growth, more poverty, and less energy stability.

Not only can over-dependence on unreliables lead to hardship, but it often counteracts the green energy innovation it wants to spur.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
March 29, 2023 5:12 pm

It’s called Mathematics, and it has worked well in Physics.

Thus the observation that if you can’t say it in algebra, you don’t really know what you’re talking about. Followed by the second observation that, currently, that’s almost everything.

Dot
Dot
March 29, 2023 5:22 pm

“The shooter has been identified by his deadname.”

Was/were.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 5:22 pm

I’ve used algebra for knitting patterns – handy when upscaling or downscaling something complex. And lots of geometry, although that’s something altogether different. There is something sublimely elegant in 3:4:5.

I also think that unless you can fold space like a piece of paper, you ain’t goin’ nowhere. Which is probably a good thing – keep the contagion of stupid quarantined.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
March 29, 2023 5:23 pm

Having spent my entire working life as a programmer (now retired), I think this very neatly sums up the whole systems development process perfectly. Although perhaps exaggerated, users never know what they want, so programmers have to guess the solution!

Answer To The Ultimate Question – The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – BBC

Sounds like

The Science behind AlphaGo and AlphaGo Zero

A conceptual and friendly explanation

Douglas Adams also knew a thing or two about programming, and in programming an asterisk is commonly used to translate to “anything you want it to be”. In ASCII, “42” is the designation for an asterisk, so in asking a computer to come up with the ultimate answer to “life, the universe and everything”, it answered as a computer would, 42 = “anything you want it to be” so on top of it being just funny and random and everything else its presented as, it actually has a deeper meaning if you know what to look for.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 5:24 pm

“The shooter has been identified by his deadname.”

Eternally pining for the fjords.

John H.
John H.
March 29, 2023 5:26 pm

DrBeauGansays:
March 29, 2023 at 5:01 pm
A crucial element of Zen is understanding the limitations of natural language, with the observation that trying to capture the world in a net of words is like trying to capture an image of the moon in a lake with a fishing net.

Of course, once you realise that there’s more to the world than our language can contain, one possible response is to improve the language. It’s called Mathematics, and it has worked well in Physics.

The point of koans, though albeit clumsy, was to impress upon the student the limitations of language. That’s why I regard Zen more a psychology\epistemology than a religion. Zen is the opposite of most religions because its emphasis is on the individual experience not doctrinal submission.

There is a movie about Zen: Why has Bodhidharma left for the east. Not much dialogue, beautiful imagery but the movie was constrained by budget issues. Can’t recommend it, very few enjoy it.

Apart from mathematics, which cannot address many of our most pressing questions, the best way to improve language is to achieve greater precision with definitions. Everyday language is a disaster for precise communication of complex topics. Wherever possible, mathematics is far more preferable.

Dot
Dot
March 29, 2023 5:28 pm

I always took the “desire as desire leads to suffering” meant wanting more than you need. As far as religion goes you either believe or don’t.

I think it is also about mindset, frugality and humility and it goes quite deep.

Dot
Dot
March 29, 2023 5:31 pm

I also think that unless you can fold space like a piece of paper, you ain’t goin’ nowhere. Which is probably a good thing – keep the contagion of stupid quarantined.

Boffins are working on that. Harold White has brought down the mass energy requirement for such exotic technologies to almost feasible levels.

hzhousewife
hzhousewife
March 29, 2023 5:32 pm

If I get the “I’m spiritual” remark, I always ask “which spirit are you in touch with?”.

PSHAW………………gin all over my keyboard ! Classic!

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 5:37 pm

sfw says:
March 29, 2023 at 8:08 am

Bit of pot calling the kettle black here this morning.

Tell me something, sfw. As a Vicpol schelp, do you ever get embarrassed telling people that you worked for that disgusting entity. Don’t say it was a job and you had to work as there’s always a choice. You could have resigned.

What are your thoughts about some here promoting and encouraging extreme violence against others who don’t share the same opinions on politics

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 5:37 pm

Albanese to invest $15bn in manufacturing.

Looks like we’re back to government picking winners…or losers.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 5:38 pm

If you can’t reasonably eliminate desire the only viable alternative (apart from dissolution as per Dorian Gray) is to direct it.

And therein lies the rub – for every permutation of desire you will have a guru telling you how to deal with it.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 5:40 pm

dissolution = dissipation

Although one leads to the other.

Dot
Dot
March 29, 2023 5:41 pm

Harold White has brought down the expected mass energy requirement down from the mass of Jupiter to 2200 kg for a craft 10 m x 10 m x 10 m travelling up to an effective 10 c.

So he brought it down by a factor of quadrillion times.

That might be as important as the Alcubierre metric itself!

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
March 29, 2023 5:42 pm

I also think that unless you can fold space like a piece of paper, you ain’t goin’ nowhere. Which is probably a good thing – keep the contagion of stupid quarantined.

The big problem is that motion at our scale appears to be continuous. Which means that if you want to go frm A to B, you have to go through an infinite set of points between them in which you have no interest, and would prefer not to visit. When A is on Earth and B is in the Andromeda galaxy, this takes a painfully long time no matter how fast you travel.

Is motion continuous at the quantum level? Well, we can generally measure the velocity of things like electrons, and if motion was not continuous they wouldn’t have one. But then again, if we measure their position precisely, they hardly have a velocity. So the possibility of moving from A to B while skipping most of the intermediate points isn’t entirely out of the question.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 5:44 pm

C.L. says:
March 29, 2023 at 2:26 pm

I never watch body-cam footage released after mass killings etc but I picked up on somebody’s Twitter page that the video didn’t include the murders or anything close-quarters gruesome.

The resolve, focus, intelligence and commitment to sacrifice themselves for children if necessary was, quite simply, magnificent. They ought to be decorated not only by their Department but by Congress.

I think it could be instinctive in human beings, CL. I can’t imagine a situation where a young child was in some sort of trouble and adults didn’t just jump in.

H B Bear
H B Bear
March 29, 2023 5:46 pm

Looks like we’re back to government picking winners…or losers.

Let’s hope Plibbers has more luck this time than that affordable housing scheme. Can’t ever accuse the Liars from lacking optimism.

Tom
Tom
March 29, 2023 5:46 pm

Nick Jorss, who runs Bowen Coking Coal, might as well be a Greenfilth activist.

Until fossil fuel’s useful idiots like Jorss start calling out the junk science of climate change, they deserve their fate.

Climate change is a religious belief by haters of humanity. It has nothing to do with science or any of the rigorous systems that have delivered our civilisation or its standard of living.

It pisses me off that the loudest voices for destroying our civilisation come from the parasites who have contributed nothing.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 5:46 pm

Basically: earthly desire cannot be sated. Understood this way, the above makes sense.

Both Hayek and von Mises said the same thing. Human wants are unlimited. I really don’t believe that is some sort of huge revelation though.

H B Bear
H B Bear
March 29, 2023 5:47 pm

Never let failure stand in your way.

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 5:48 pm

There is a movie about Zen: Why has Bodhidharma left for the east. Not much dialogue, beautiful imagery but the movie was constrained by budget issues. Can’t recommend it, very few enjoy it.

One of my favorite movies.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 5:50 pm

This vid came out last week or at least I saw it last week. Brave dude. Mother? Well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8VrRr_z1Ro

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 5:51 pm

I find the “I’m not religious, I’m spiritual” shtick ludicrous. As far as I’m concerned, spirituality comes from religious belief.

Indeed. Distinguishable but inseparable.

Words change meaning over time (but you knew that).

“Spirituality” now most often designates a do it yourself alternative to formal religious belief* in the post-Christian West.

* That is, one or another type of Christianity (or Judaism) expressed in dogma, an ethos, and ritual, with an ordianed ministry endued with authority.

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 5:52 pm

ordained

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
March 29, 2023 5:54 pm

Thus the observation that if you can’t say it in algebra, you don’t really know what you’re talking about.

Only in this frame of reference. The Bible talks about a different frame of reference. Time for example is different, possibly two dimensional.

5 Theses on Time (27 Feb)

I read this article a few weeks ago, it’s pretty good, but doesn’t quite capture the differences of time as it applies in the Bible. For example if you read about the almost-sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis it is totally linked to the sacrifice of Jesus.

“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only sonGen 22:16

Because Abraham didn’t withhold his only son, the Lord God Almighty didn’t either ~2,000 years later. The language and descriptive terminology in that passage is almost like there’s a time machine being used from 30 AD on Golgotha back to that place in the wilderness around about 2,000 BC

The problem with us humans is that we don’t have sufficient comprehension, understanding nor imagination to consider other frames of reference. And if those other collections of dimensions are acting upon our own, and are interested in it, how do you think they would seek to do that? Information is the lingua franca between all dimensions, since in essence all the universe is is information, if you think about it from the point of view of a cosmologist. And what is information if not a book.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 5:55 pm

I did think of Saint Augustine when I typed my desire comment, Dover.

And I see Zero the Hero is lurking! Hi!

Chris
Chris
March 29, 2023 5:55 pm

Apart from mathematics, which cannot address many of our most pressing questions, the best way to improve language is to achieve greater precision with definitions. Everyday language is a disaster for precise communication of complex topics. Wherever possible, mathematics is far more preferable.

Tightening the precision of definitions rapidly creates insiders who ‘know’ and outsiders who ‘don’t’. I saw this in Landmark; it operated like a cult for marketing itself, and the insiders ‘got it’ because they adopted the redefinition of key English words into ‘insider’ meanings.
Two things that I found great for improving communication and focusing in on clarity of meanings were the facilitated decision analysis techniques taught at BHP Steel in the early 90’s (the book was Kepner and Tregoe “Rational Process”) and the argument mapping developed by Tim van Gelder and Paul Monk (now a web tool called Rationale Online).
These techniques do not do well with people coming together in bad faith; intellectual charity and collegiality have rather been driven out by the politics of the last dozen years or so.

calli
calli
March 29, 2023 5:58 pm

If you are outside time itself, you can watch it all happening at once. You might even pop in and out of it at will.

Tom
Tom
March 29, 2023 6:01 pm

Hahaha. The Voice is a rerun of the republic referendum.

Trust us. We are your betters. We know what’s good for you.

PS: You’re idiots.

That’s why it will go down — our rulers think we’re idiots and we’re not.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
March 29, 2023 6:04 pm

In ASCII, “42” is the designation for an asterisk, so in asking a computer to come up with the ultimate answer to “life, the universe and everything”, it answered as a computer would, 42 = “anything you want it to be” so on top of it being just funny and random and everything else its presented as, it actually has a deeper meaning if you know what to look for.

There’s a simpler explanation Old Ozzie.

The clue is the Scrabble game. “What do you get when you multiply six by nine?” After which Ford says “there’re no tiles left” and Arthur says “I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the Universe.”

It’s a joke from primary school, about 3rd class, since when you’re learning the times tables it’s easy to get 6 x 7 and 6 x 9 confused…

rickw
rickw
March 29, 2023 6:05 pm

Senator Thorpe: I want to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the lands—

Senator Hughes: How many times has that happened today?

It’s honestly just like the endless “Heil Hitler” in Jo Jo Rabbit and much much more absurd.

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 6:06 pm

callisays:
March 29, 2023 at 5:58 pm
If you are outside time itself, you can watch it all happening at once. You might even pop in and out of it at will.

Sweet. Can I buy that machine off ebay yet?

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:07 pm

The Voice is a rerun of the republic referendum.

Is Peter Dutton one to break the heart of the nation?

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:08 pm

Never let failure stand in your way.

I neglected to mention there’s also $10bn for housing.

rickw
rickw
March 29, 2023 6:09 pm

Albanese to invest $15bn in manufacturing.

All the people who knew how to make shit are retired.

Miltonf
Miltonf
March 29, 2023 6:11 pm

All the people who knew how to make shit are retired.
Rubbish

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:13 pm

The Australia Institute reports that Australians will have to forego their love of big utes and 4WDs if we’re to meet our 2030 emissions target, suggesting the government introduce carrot and stick measures to achieve this.

Over to you, Elbow; shouldn’t be any trouble getting the Greens on board with this one.

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:15 pm

All the people who knew how to make shit are retired.

I don’t think they mean the sort of manufacturing we used to do.

Apparently we need to make a lot of community batteries.

And I mean a lot.

Cassie of Sydney
March 29, 2023 6:16 pm

“That’s why it will go down — our rulers think we’re idiots and we’re not.”

Agree.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
March 29, 2023 6:18 pm

The Australia Institute reports that Australians will have to forego their love of big utes and 4WDs if we’re to meet our 2030 emissions target

I’d rather forego the Australia Institute myself. Don’t go anywhere near a volcano Dr Denniss, some irate pleb might cast you into it, to placate Gaia.

rickw
rickw
March 29, 2023 6:21 pm

Munty seems to be spending a lot of time with family following his trans twerking.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 6:22 pm

“That’s why it will go down — our rulers think we’re idiots and we’re not.”

I hope I’m proved wrong, but I can see this referendum passing, after a campaign of “Be nice to Aborigines – they weren’t classed as human beings, or recognized as citizens until the 1967 referendum, and their souls will be crushed if colonial Australians vote “NO.”.” “Always was Aboriginal land, always will be.”

Miltonf
Miltonf
March 29, 2023 6:23 pm

The Australia Institute reports that Australians will have to forego their love of big utes and 4WDs if we’re to meet our 2030 emissions target

Well they would wouldn’t they. I know anal and his pubic pals in canbra want to but they’re not game to say of course and I’m not sure if they’ve worked out how.

sfw
sfw
March 29, 2023 6:23 pm

JC, what makes you think I was referring to you? After all, you never use gratuitous insults, never go ad hominem, you always play the ball and not the man, don’t you?

I posted a link earlier to St Jacinda that has been disappeared. I’ll try again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49ckcnD7IKc&t=54s

Tom
Tom
March 29, 2023 6:24 pm

The Australia Institute reports that Australians will have to forego their love of big utes and 4WDs if we’re to meet our 2030 emissions target

The Ponds Institute is an endless source of humour.

It’s just a pity that our gullible idiots, like Nein’s A Current Affair, thinks a Greenfilth thinktank like the Ponds Institute wants to destroy the free market and our standard of living.

Miltonf
Miltonf
March 29, 2023 6:25 pm

Closing oil refineries is a start.

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:26 pm

I’d rather forego the Australia Institute myself.

A sentiment not shared by the government, which will reportedly respond within weeks.

They might as well have commissioned the study.

rickw
rickw
March 29, 2023 6:26 pm

All the people who knew how to make shit are retired.
Rubbish

That’s why we have a burgeoning manufacturing industry…… oh wait!

Miltonf
Miltonf
March 29, 2023 6:29 pm

‘It’s Not Going to End Nicely’: Chris Christie Thinks He Will Be the One to Take Down Donald Trump In 2024RINO prick-another fuking lawyer too

Miltonf
Miltonf
March 29, 2023 6:31 pm

That’s why we have a burgeoning manufacturing industry…… oh wait!

I never said we have a burgeoning manufacturing industry.

You said All the people who knew how to make shit are retired. That’s utter crap and you don’t what you’re talking about.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 6:33 pm

Rickw

Generally speaking, a successful nation like Australia has perhaps one outsized industry sector compared to others. Our happens to be mining and we’re world class. I wouldn’t scoff at the successes of the mining industry. We also happen to have the most efficient rural sector in the world.

Top Ender
Top Ender
March 29, 2023 6:34 pm

An Aboriginal elder has felt “insulted” after she was pulled from an official program to welcome former US president Barack Obama in Melbourne.

Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy had been booked to perform a “welcome to country” for the former president’s speaking event scheduled for John Cain Arena tonight.

But Aunty Joy said she was removed from the proceedings for being “too difficult” after she asked for a support person and wanted to give Mr Obama a gift.

She said she was also stopped from performing traditional cultural protocols at a business lunch with Mr Obama on Thursday.

Daily Tele

The Voice will fix it!

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
March 29, 2023 6:36 pm

Hahaha. The Voice is a rerun of the republic referendum.

You mean stating “give us a blank cheque to legislate after you vote yes” isnt the vote winner Elbow the inconceivable thought it would be?

After 2 years of public bastardry/lockdowns and police brutality the plebs arent falling into line?

After overturning one of the most fundamental of human rights, that of bodily autonomy and medical decisions made free from coercion the same truculent turds ask for a leap of faith to ennoble a group of grifters with perpetual powers above and beyond those given to other citizens.

Because ‘muh feelz’.

Yeah, nah

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:36 pm

Mining and farming…both in the sights of the green left.

Australia, your luck has run out.

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 6:37 pm

The Australia Institute reports that Australians will have to forego their love of big utes and 4WDs if we’re to meet our 2030 emissions target, suggesting the government introduce carrot and stick measures to achieve this.

What they actually mean is only the wealthy will be allowed to drive big utes and 4WDs. Wait until this hits air travel.

In the end, what they are going to do is allocate a carbon allowance (tonnage CO2) per person. If you go over it, you may purchase carbon credits. ie: only the wealthy will be unaffected. But the sheep will still vote for these neo-slavers.

sfw
sfw
March 29, 2023 6:38 pm

I and a few others are looking to start an Australian chapter of the ‘Free Speech Union’ that Toby Young and others have done so successfully in England. Anyone want to help or support it?

Early days yet and it may go nowhere but we have to make a start. remember it’s free speech for all, not just those we agree with. This is the home page of the England site. Ask Dover for my email if you want more info. Cheers!
https://freespeechunion.org/

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:44 pm

In the end, what they are going to do is allocate a carbon allowance (tonnage CO2) per person. If you go over it, you may purchase carbon credits.

I’ve noticed the Greens are turning against carbon credits now.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 6:46 pm

Mining and farming…both in the sights of the green left.

Both in the sights of the “Voice.”

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
March 29, 2023 6:46 pm

It pisses me off that the loudest voices for destroying our civilisation come from the parasites who have contributed nothing.

It’s easy to see why. If you are incapable of making a useful contribution to the society in which you live, then you’ll be full of anger and hatred of it. It will force you to recognise your inadequacy, so you’ll do what you can to bring it down.

Anchor What
Anchor What
March 29, 2023 6:47 pm

How long will it take for us to go down the USA route and be rooted?
Lidia Thorpe brands Senator Hollie Hughes a racist for interrupting acknowledgement of country.
From the Daily Mail report:
Lidia Thorpe has sensationally accused a white Liberal senator of racism and said she wouldn’t tolerate being ‘racially vilified in her place of work’.

The racism claims follow the firebrand senator being interrupted while giving an acknowledgement of country.

Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes was picked up by the official transcript muttering ‘how many times has that happened today?’ as the acknowledgement was made.

The comment was too faint to hear on playback footage, but was picked up on the official transcript and was clearly heard by Ms Thorpe, who was speaking on the opposite end of the chamber about the impact of climate change and colonisation.

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:49 pm

I and a few others are looking to start an Australian chapter of the ‘Free Speech Union’ that Toby Young and others have done so successfully in England.

sfw,

Just be aware that our Constitution does not protect free speech per se.

The HCA has only recognised an implied right to free political speech.

You may want to get some good legal advice on how this might effect your proposed activities.

Anchor What
Anchor What
March 29, 2023 6:50 pm

Mining and farming…both in the sights of the green left.
Both in the sights of the “Voice.”

Barry Humphries had this pinned when he performed on stage thirty years ago, using his character Lance Boyle, union rep.

Miltonf
Miltonf
March 29, 2023 6:52 pm

Politics really does attract the most repulsive people imaginable. How can you hate the white settlers when more than half your DNA is European? And what’s with the Viking name?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
March 29, 2023 6:53 pm

What they actually mean is only the wealthy will be allowed to drive big utes and 4WDs.

Zils?

We proles will be on a waiting list for 15 years for the right to buy an electric Trabant.

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 6:55 pm

Politics really does attract the most repulsive people imaginable. How can you hate the white settlers when more than half your DNA is European? And what’s with the Viking name?

Coz to be socially accepted means you got to be a victim of something. The left appear to have a hierarchy of victimhood and sort themselves in that fashion.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 6:55 pm

The racism claims follow the firebrand senator being interrupted while giving an acknowledgement of country.

It’s some time ago, that the Dodson brothers were told that, not being “full bloods”, they had no right to speak on behalf of Aborigines, and were threatened with tribal punishment should they presume to do so……

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 6:55 pm

Roger says:
March 29, 2023 at 6:36 pm

Mining and farming…both in the sights of the green left.

Australia, your luck has run out.

Imagine a manufacturing sector dealing with the same issues and globally noncompetitive. That would work wonders.

Miltonf
Miltonf
March 29, 2023 6:56 pm

All imported from the US.

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 6:56 pm

And sfw, despite that caveat…good luck!

A worthy and timely endeavour.

Top Ender
Top Ender
March 29, 2023 7:02 pm

Any day now, Thorpe will get her name changed to “Auntie Proud Woman Bunga Bunga” and therefore every time the Senate Prez calls on her he’ll have to say that…

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 7:05 pm

sfw, I’m confused about your free speech advocacy. You frequently offer unsolicited criticism of me for my interactions with others. You’re deadly silent, though, on the hourly abuse that Fatboy and Eddles receive, which strongly suggests that you’re cognitively dissonant. It makes your advocacy laughable, as you’re so unaware of your own failings.

I blame Vicpol.  🙂

remember it’s free speech for all, not just those we agree with.

Like, really?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 7:07 pm

Any day now, Thorpe will get her name changed to “Auntie Proud Woman Bunga Bunga”

Does having an Aboriginal great grandmother entitle you to that status?

cohenite
March 29, 2023 7:10 pm

on the hourly abuse that Fatboy and Eddles receive

What abuse do transdick and crotchless receive HP?

H B Bear
H B Bear
March 29, 2023 7:12 pm

But Aunty Joy said she was removed from the proceedings for being “too difficult” after she asked for a support person and wanted to give Mr Obama a gift

Possum skin undies only gets you so far.

H B Bear
H B Bear
March 29, 2023 7:14 pm

the hourly abuse that Fatboy and Eddles receive

We’re only trying to help.

John H.
John H.
March 29, 2023 7:15 pm

Top Endersays:
March 29, 2023 at 7:02 pm
Any day now, Thorpe will get her name changed to “Auntie Proud Woman Bunga Bunga” and therefore every time the Senate Prez calls on her he’ll have to say that…

It should be ShoutyMcShoutface.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
March 29, 2023 7:16 pm

TE’s quoted piece from 6.34:

An Aboriginal elder has felt “insulted” after she was pulled from an official program to welcome former US president Barack Obama in Melbourne.

Felt ‘cheated out of her extortionate quote’ would be more accurate.

Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy had been booked to perform a “welcome to country” for the former president’s speaking event scheduled for John Cain Arena tonight. But Aunty Joy said she was removed from the proceedings for being “too difficult” after she asked for a support person and wanted to give Mr Obama a gift.

No support person for all her other cash-squeezing events, no support person for Obama. She’s got the shits on because she couldn’t scam one of her mates on stage as well for a bit of unscripted publicity.

She said she was also stopped from performing traditional cultural protocols at a business lunch with Mr Obama on Thursday.

They generally frown on cannibalism in this day and age, even at business lunches.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 7:20 pm

Felt ‘cheated out of her extortionate quote’ would be more accurate.

Going rate for a “welcome to country” around here is $1500 – per head.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 7:27 pm

Cronkite:

I’m not suggesting you plant the brakes. Go for it. I’m just highlighting that the former “Vicpoler appears to have all the attributes expected by his former employer. The most disgusting, filthy, and politically biassed organization in the country. Anyone who works for or has worked for Vicpol should be subjected to daily abuse in the same way as those other two I mentioned. And we shouldn’t buy,  “Oh, it was my job to make a living. There are other ways to make a living, and if enough of them resigned, it would make a difference. Perhaps, sfw ought to start an advocacy group encouraging Victorian police members to resign from that filthy organization. That could make a difference.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 7:30 pm

H B Bear says:
March 29, 2023 at 7:14 pm

the hourly abuse that Fatboy and Eddles receive

We’re only trying to help.

Of course. 🙂

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
March 29, 2023 7:30 pm

the hourly abuse that Fatboy and Eddles receive

Note to self – increase abuse rations to 1/2 hourly spays for the Mongolese twins.

John H.
John H.
March 29, 2023 7:31 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alphasays:
March 29, 2023 at 7:20 pm
Felt ‘cheated out of her extortionate quote’ would be more accurate.

Going rate for a “welcome to country” around here is $1500 – per head.

Every participant doing the welcome to country ceremony must prove their credentials by demonstrating they can make their boomerangs come back.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
March 29, 2023 7:31 pm

Aunty Joy was probably dropped because she’s an old bird who still has a bit of respect for others. A Lidia Thorpe type will be found to scream racism and treaty for Nero.
I’ve seen Joy a few times in action and she does a good job for a pointless exercise.
She’s getting a bit unsure on her feet and an assistant makes sense.

Robert Sewell
March 29, 2023 7:45 pm

Pussy cat?
?

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 7:47 pm

I’ve been buying UBS stock around here for the past couple of days.

Here’s why.

1. UBS paid CHF 2 billion for Credit Suisse
2. Additionally, UBS has a backstop of CHF 9 billion from the Swiss National Bank. 
3. In the recent year, Credit Suisse took an CHF 11 billion hit to the accounts.
4. Credit Suisse has around CHF 3 trillion under management in the private banking sector, which is immensely profitable.
5. Credit Sussie has no real significant losses from holding long-term bonds.
6. It won’t take much to right the ship, especially with the SNB back-stopping UBS.
7. Morgan Stanley moved away from having a trading business after the GFC and is now essentially a wealth management operation.
8. Because it’s a low-risk, recurring income business, Morgan Stanley trades at a multiple of around 14 times earnings.
9. UBS currently trades on a multiple of 8.5, and that’s without the massively lucrative private banking business inherited from Credit Suisse

If UBS plays a good hand and doesn’t screw up, it could end up at US$100 a share, up from the current (around) US$19. I bought them in the US and in US dollar depositary receipts.

This could be the trade of the year.

I’m stopping out in the low teens if things go amiss.

Boambee John
Boambee John
March 29, 2023 7:48 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alphasays:
March 29, 2023 at 6:55 pm
The racism claims follow the firebrand senator being interrupted while giving an acknowledgement of country.

It’s some time ago, that the Dodson brothers were told that, not being “full bloods”, they had no right to speak on behalf of Aborigines, and were threatened with tribal punishment should they presume to do so……

We need that rule to be part of the Screech. At least there will be no urban fauxborignes lecturing us incessanttly.

cohenite
March 29, 2023 7:49 pm

According to Watters there have been 4 mass shootings by trannies recently. Since trannies are less than .5% of the population this may have legs.

Boambee John
Boambee John
March 29, 2023 7:50 pm

Top Endersays:
March 29, 2023 at 7:02 pm
Any day now, Thorpe will get her name changed to “Auntie Proud Woman Bunga Bunga” and therefore every time the Senate Prez calls on her he’ll have to say that…

At least it will indicate that she knows what a woman is. Has m0nty=fa come up with a definition yet?

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 7:52 pm

According to Watters there have been 4 mass shootings by trannies recently. Since trannies are less than .5% of the population this may have legs.

I bet it’s even less than .5%

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
March 29, 2023 7:54 pm

Bolt’s tone, repetition and hand movement is starting to replicate that of the uncle who turns up once every eight months, plonks on the comfy recliner and begins telling the family pets what’s wrong with the country before falling asleep.

Robert Sewell
March 29, 2023 8:06 pm

ZK2A:

I hope I’m proved wrong, but I can see this referendum passing, after a campaign of “Be nice to Aborigines – they weren’t classed as human beings, or recognized as citizens until the 1967 referendum, and their souls will be crushed if colonial Australians vote “NO.”.” “Always was Aboriginal land, always will be.”

The Referendum will fail, and the States will bring out their own version of it. The National Cabinet will be instrumental.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 8:06 pm

We need that rule to be part of the Screech. At least there will be no urban fauxborignes lecturing us incessanttly.

I’m surprised that that issue hasn’t been raised before. It may end the spectacle of being lectured about Aboriginal issues by someone with an Aboriginal great great grandfather.

sfw
sfw
March 29, 2023 8:06 pm

Apparently my perceived ‘failure’ to hang shit on Monty and others I find despicable is evidence of ‘not supporting ‘Free Speech’. If that’s how you think then there’s not much that can be done for you.

I have however criticised posters here for straight up abuse, it happens all the time, I prefer reasoned arguments or even better great wit. I have no problem with people who call others names, those who disparage others not on evidence but on personal feelings. If you want to do that, go ahead. It merely reveals you as one who can’t or won’t answer arguments but as one one who has only one answer, calling names.

Anyway, we need an Aussie FSU, even if you believe me to be an ignorant savage, the principle is unequivocally important. Get on board or spend your time here trying to ban people who say (really) dumb things.

132andBush
132andBush
March 29, 2023 8:13 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha says:
March 29, 2023 at 2:36 pm

Daily Mail. Your taxpayers dollars at work.

READ: The entire exchange between Hollie Hughes and Lidia Thorpe

She may be a Photios girl but good on her for calling out the bs.

132andBush
132andBush
March 29, 2023 8:16 pm

Knuckle Dragger says:
March 29, 2023 at 7:54 pm

Bolt’s tone, repetition and hand movement is starting to replicate that of the uncle who turns up once every eight months, plonks on the comfy recliner and begins telling the family pets what’s wrong with the country before falling asleep.

That’s bloody funny.

sfw
sfw
March 29, 2023 8:18 pm

JC, thanks for the UBS musings, something to think about. Thinking that even if UBS got it wrong what’s the chances of the US Gov bailing them out?

Siltstone
Siltstone
March 29, 2023 8:19 pm

The States pursuing their own legislation for State “voices” just reinforces why a Constitutional amendment is not required. No State referendums or plebiscites required. A federal “voice” could start asap if the required legislation passed parliament. ATSIC#2 and associated snouts. Like ATSIC#1 it would be a mess and able to be overturned down the track. That is the reason for the referendum, to institutionalise a ATSIC#2 mess of snouts (including much of the legal fraternity).

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
March 29, 2023 8:19 pm

This bloke should have a statue erected in his honour, as one of the great men of our times (the Courier-Mail):

One of the UK’s biggest lottery winners burned through a mind-blowing $50 million in eight years — splurging on a soccer team, race horses, and extravagant cars — before his luck ran out, documents revealed on Thursday.

Colin Weir, of North Ayrshire, Scotland, spent a stunning $131,000 per week after winning a record-breaking $257.6 million EuroMillions jackpot in 2011, reported The New York Post.

Weir, a former cameraman married to a nurse, bought a 55 per cent share in Glasgow’s Partick Thistle Football Club before he died of sepsis at age 72 in 2019.

However:

But the lottery curse reared its head in 2018, when he divorced his wife, Chris, after nearly four decades of marriage — and she took much of his fortune.

But:

The big spender also plunked down big bucks for a vintage Bentley Arnage, Jaguar F-Pace SUV, and a Mercedes-Benz E Class Estate, according to The Independent.

Along with a $6 million home he reportedly spent millions more to renovate, Weir also snapped up three prized racing thoroughbreds, including an Irish mare named If You Say Run.

If I win $257+ million at 64 (quite some way away, mind) and spend the lot before I cark it at 72, I would consider that a well-timed and perfect run. Traded the missus in to boot.

No downside. Well played, sir. Well played indeed.

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 8:22 pm

Aunty Joy was probably dropped because she’s an old bird who still has a bit of respect for others.

Her job was the Welcome.

She wanted more…an extra religious ceremony and a gift presentation.

These events are tightly scripted.

She pushed the envelope.

sfw
sfw
March 29, 2023 8:22 pm

JC, many senior members of vicpol have done exactly what you suggest and are resigning in big numbers. Many were just waiting for the maximum super benefits to kick in.

Long term this will be very harmful, both to vicpol and the people of Victoria.

Cassie of Sydney
March 29, 2023 8:23 pm

“Anyway, we need an Aussie FSU, even if you believe me to be an ignorant savage, the principle is unequivocally important. Get on board or spend your time here trying to ban people who say (really) dumb things.

Yes we do, and I this is something I support wholeheartedly. The IPA has been largely useless in defending free speech, notably it’s blaring silence when Bettina Arndt was lynched.

Toby’s Young FSU has been a lifesaver in the UK. It’s come to the aid of many people who’ve been lynched by the left. I’m all for an Oz FSU but it needs to have onboard journalists, media identities, senior legal figures, writers and so on, as well as the average person, otherwise it’ll flop.

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 8:23 pm

The Referendum will fail, and the States will bring out their own version of it.

Only if it increases Dictator Dan’s power.

sfw
sfw
March 29, 2023 8:24 pm

Cassie, agree wholeheartedly, get on board.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 8:26 pm

Apparently my perceived ‘failure’ to hang shit on Monty and others I find despicable is evidence of ‘not supporting ‘Free Speech’.

He has to have worked for Vicpol because you really have to be f…ing stupid to arrive at logic. What I said was that he’s being cognitively dissonant because he’s being selective in highlighting how and to whom abuse or harsh words are being directed. 

If that’s how you think then there’s not much that can be done for you.

If that’s how you think then there’s not much that can be done for you.

I have however criticised posters here for straight up abuse, it happens all the time,

Spoken up about abuse of people like Fatboy and Eddles whom you most likely disagree with? Bullshit.

I prefer reasoned arguments or even better great wit.

Counts you out as you’re a blank slate in that regard.

I have no problem with people who call others names, those who disparage others not on evidence but on personal feelings. If you want to do that, go ahead. It merely reveals you as one who can’t or won’t answer arguments but as one one who has only one answer, calling names.

Oh piss off, I will always post the reasons why I consider an argument or a person to be despicable. It’s more than what can be said about some, though not all, of those who take a hammer at those two. Show me where you’ve spoken up, Captain Barney.

Anyway, we need an Aussie FSU, even if you believe me to be an ignorant savage, the principle is unequivocally important. Get on board or spend your time here trying to ban people who say (really) dumb things.

I’m not kidding when I say this, but you have no moral grounds to push free speech or anything like that because of your previous job. You basically worked for a leftwing gestapo and have no moral standing to talk to anyone about free speech. If you had an ounce of decency, you would never have worked for that evil, vile organization. You would also give to charity every single cent you earned from Vicpol and at the very least, you would focus on persuading others to resign. But you won’t do any of that, and you should be the last freaking individual advocating for free speech. You basically worked for the leftwing Gestapo and I bet you kept the black leather coat.

Arrest me now. Go on. 🙂

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 8:27 pm

sfw says:
March 29, 2023 at 8:22 pm

JC, many senior members of vicpol have done exactly what you suggest and are resigning in big numbers. Many were just waiting for the maximum super benefits to kick in.

Long term this will be very harmful, both to vicpol and the people of Victoria.

Total bullshit. You’re just making that shit up.

Roger
Roger
March 29, 2023 8:28 pm

The States pursuing their own legislation for State “voices” just reinforces why a Constitutional amendment is not required. No State referendums or plebiscites required.

If only they’d thought to mention it in their election campaign material.

In the case of QLD, at least.

What a farce of a democracy we have.

Real Deal
Real Deal
March 29, 2023 8:29 pm

Bolt’s tone, repetition and hand movement is starting to replicate that of the uncle who turns up once every eight months, plonks on the comfy recliner and begins telling the family pets what’s wrong with the country before falling asleep.

Yes! I last watched Bolt around the time of the Scott Morrison multiple ministries saga. I thougt he had stirred up a paper wasp nest – waving his arms around, grimacing like he chewed on one of those wasps.

Mugging for the camera like a bad actor. He was unwatchable. I used to like him on 2GB with Steve Price back in the day. Price acted as a kind of editor when he ranted. In his show he comes over as a little unhinged.

sfw
sfw
March 29, 2023 8:29 pm

JC, time to put the bottle down for the evening.

I’d ask you to help us with the FSU but we need clear thinkers, not vitriol.

Cheers
Stephen Williams

cohenite
March 29, 2023 8:30 pm

WTF is a FSU?

sfw
sfw
March 29, 2023 8:32 pm

JC “Total bullshit. You’re just making that shit up.”

You obviously have no idea how ‘Defined Benefit’ super schemes work.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 8:39 pm

You obviously have no idea how ‘Defined Benefit’ super schemes work.

I do actually as I earn a pension from an American employer. You should gives your back.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
March 29, 2023 8:40 pm

Tomsays:
March 29, 2023 at 5:46 pm

Thorpe has tenuous links to be ATSI, her and her mother are odious people. The grandmother at least tried to help people from what I can read.

The fact she hasn’t been censured or even a motion bought by Hughes or any other tells me the Liberals are playing a double game here. Till Hughes stumps up with a motion to censure over Thorpe being a bikie mole, support for desecrating my heritage with the Parliament House fire and slut shaming Hughes herself she will get short shrift from me.

Enough with the cattiness put up or shut up.

cohenite
March 29, 2023 8:43 pm

Its tax time in the US and biden’s irs clowns will be shooting down doors; with just cause because its illegal NOT to declare income from illegal activity such as drug dealing or not including the estimated value of stolen property.

Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
March 29, 2023 8:46 pm

Rockdoctor: If I were in parliament & wanted to help sink the voice, I’d let Thorpe have free rein.
Just a thought.
As you say – the SFL’s may be playing a double game.

Dot
Dot
March 29, 2023 8:46 pm

No one cares the Alcubierre metric has had the mass energy constraint slashed a quadrillion times like a tile sale for the ages?

Hellooooo…..

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 8:47 pm

Thorpe has tenuous links to be ATSI

1/16th Aboriginal ancestry.

m0nty
m0nty
March 29, 2023 8:47 pm

Sweden goes from beautiful Covid-19 pandemic gold to shameful bronze

Anyone got the text to this piece in the Oz?

John H.
John H.
March 29, 2023 8:50 pm

Rockdoctorsays:
March 29, 2023 at 8:40 pm
Tomsays:
March 29, 2023 at 5:46 pm

Thorpe has tenuous links to be ATSI, her and her mother are odious people. The grandmother at least tried to help people from what I can read.

The fact she hasn’t been censured or even a motion bought by Hughes or any other tells me the Liberals are playing a double game here. Till Hughes stumps up with a motion to censure over Thorpe being a bikie mole, support for desecrating my heritage with the Parliament House fire and slut shaming Hughes herself she will get short shrift from me.

Enough with the cattiness put up or shut up.

I’m wondering if keeping her around is good for the No vote. Someone should start a Chinese whisper that she will be part of The Voice. If that doesn’t scare voters I don’t know what will.

John H.
John H.
March 29, 2023 8:51 pm

Snap Salvatore. Missed your comment before I posted mine.

Indolent
Indolent
March 29, 2023 8:53 pm
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 8:54 pm

This one’s for Salvatore…….

Pilbara pub Dampier Mermaid Hotel middle-term accommodation cops $20,000 worth of damage by former occupant
Caleb RuncimanPilbara News
Wed, 29 March 2023 2:44PM

A country town has been rattled and an iconic pub left to clean up a hideous mess left by a guest who trashed its middle-term accommodation.

Syringes, cigarette butts and used takeaway packaging was among the filth which littered the room at the Mermaid Hotel in Dampier, with the owner of the venue Keith Bond saying the damage left him nearly $20,000 out of pocket.

He said that in 45 years of hospitality, he had “never seen anything like it”.

“We went upstairs and found a total disaster,” Mr Bond said.

“The room’s a complete write-off, it will be a couple of months down the track before we can sort it all out.”

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
March 29, 2023 9:02 pm

John & SATP.

Did post a reply, eaten by wordpress for some reasons. Couldn’t be bothered trying to find naughty word.

Largely agree with your replies.

Indolent
Indolent
March 29, 2023 9:03 pm
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
Salvatore, Understaffed & Overworked Martyr to Govt Covid Stupidity
March 29, 2023 9:04 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha says: March 29, 2023 at 8:54 pm
This one’s for Salvatore…….

Thanks Zulu.
I’m well acquainted with the Mermaid.
Learned a few of the wrinkles of the trade in that pub. Spent quite some time there, & am thus acquainted with Mr. Keith Bond.

Paying to fix up the wrecked room will adjust his profitability for the week.

Crossie
Crossie
March 29, 2023 9:05 pm

Bruce of Newcastle says:
March 29, 2023 at 6:18 pm
The Australia Institute reports that Australians will have to forego their love of big utes and 4WDs if we’re to meet our 2030 emissions target
I’d rather forego the Australia Institute myself. Don’t go anywhere near a volcano Dr Denniss, some irate pleb might cast you into it, to placate Gaia.

They are lucky to be in Australia where there are no volcanos, I wouldn’t fancy their chances if they were in Indonesia.

Crossie
Crossie
March 29, 2023 9:07 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha says:
March 29, 2023 at 7:07 pm
Any day now, Thorpe will get her name changed to “Auntie Proud Woman Bunga Bunga”
Does having an Aboriginal great grandmother entitle you to that status?

As if Thorpe gives a toss, she is a law unto herself and will thump anyone who disagrees.

C.L.
C.L.
March 29, 2023 9:10 pm
H B Bear
H B Bear
March 29, 2023 9:14 pm

Silvio Berlesconi was the original Bunga Bunga guy.

Indolent
Indolent
March 29, 2023 9:18 pm

Richard Vobes. Very good.

Who are they really?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 9:23 pm

As if Thorpe gives a toss, she is a law unto herself and will thump anyone who disagrees.

Traditional Aboriginal culture would not be so accommodating…..

Boambee John
Boambee John
March 29, 2023 9:34 pm

m0ntysays:
March 29, 2023 at 8:47 pm
Sweden goes from beautiful Covid-19 pandemic gold to shameful bronze

Anyone got the text to this piece in the Oz?

Surely a member of the upper middle class can afford a subscription?

Miltonf
Miltonf
March 29, 2023 9:43 pm

The whole ‘transsexual’ thing is just another form of marxist shock troops. From Edinburgh to Melbourne to Auckland.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
March 29, 2023 9:51 pm

sfwsays:

March 29, 2023 at 8:22 pm

JC, many senior members of vicpol have done exactly what you suggest and are resigning in big numbers. Many were just waiting for the maximum super benefits to kick in.

Solid men of principal.
Waiting for max super.
FMD.
They’ve been around forever.
“The job isn’t what it used to be. Over it.
Gonna get out as soon as I can (depending on Super RoI)”.

Zatara
Zatara
March 29, 2023 10:01 pm

According to Watters there have been 4 mass shootings by trannies recently.

Tranny shot a cop in the face in Washington State the other day while the cops were serving an eviction order. His tranny rage got him killed.

What to do about all this “rage” from trans types

Stop indulging the deadly, insane children.

Quite.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 10:03 pm

From the Oz – I’ve posted the whole article.

Sweden goes from beautiful Covid-19 pandemic gold to shameful bronze
Jack the Insider Follow @JacktheInsider Jack the Insider

11:54AM March 29, 2023
143 Comments

In a flurry of commentary, it’s gold, gold, gold for Sweden. Sweden without lockdowns won the pandemic. Hooray!

The commentary relied to an extent to an OECD report released last year.

Let’s start with deaths by Covid. In cumulative Covid deaths to March 21, 2023, 23,813 Swedes have died of Covid, a rate of 2257 deaths per million. Over the same period 19,447 Australians have died of Covid at a rate 743 per million.
Read Next

But the goal posts have shifted. Everyone from the World Health Organisation down now count excess mortality as the measure of pandemic lethality. The reasons for it are that in the developing world, where health systems are limited or non-existent and diagnoses and stated causes of death fraught, it is considered a preferred measure.

One thing the OECD report clearly identifies is that of the 38 countries under the umbrella of the organisation predictably, it is the poorer nations that have fared worse. Mexico and Colombia are at the top of the table in excess mortality. A range of factors account for this, including low vaccination rates and poor public health systems.

The OECD report which measured excess mortality over the period of 2020-2021 with the period 2015-2019 as the baseline, had Mexico and Colombia at the top of the table.

In terms of excess mortality, Sweden was ahead of Australia with excess deaths for the period at three per cent and four per cent in Australia.

But when we extrapolate more recent data, not covered in the OECD report, Sweden’s excess deaths are much lower than Australia’s and the envy of Europe.

It’s all a question of lies and damned statistics, I’m afraid. One measure of Sweden’s low mortality rate was a 2017-2019 baseline which put the country’s excess deaths on the bottom of the heap and thus the best performer. But using the same baseline cited in the OECD report, that of the period 2015-2019, compared with 2020-2022, Denmark stands atop of the podium and to paraphrase The Simpsons, Norway wins so-so silver with Sweden collecting shameful bronze.

Both Denmark and Norway had lockdowns.

The very same OECD report revealed a measure of what we might broadly call wellness with the shares of each of the populations in all of the 38 OECD nations “suffering from depression or showing symptoms of depression”.

By that metric Australia went from 10 per cent to 28 per cent by the end of 2021.

In Sweden without lockdowns, presumably there would have been dancing in the streets, singin’ the Dancing Queen etc. Well, no. According to the OECD report, pre-pandemic Sweden’s rate by the same metric was 11 per cent and by the end of the 2021, it was 30 per cent.

theaustralian.com.au03:41
Sweden did ‘better’ than Australia with excess COVID deaths despite no lockdowns
A new report shows Australia, with all our lockdowns and “onerous rules” during the pandemic, didn’t do any… better in health outcomes than Sweden which never locked down, says Sky News host Chris Kenny. “This new OECD study shows that when it comes to excess deaths in the first More

There are other measures of wellness, of course, and the biggie is the strength or otherwise of the economy. Sweden’s pandemic driven recession was longer and deeper than ours, extending for three quarters. While Sweden’s economy grew at a very healthy five per cent in 2021, it narrowly avoided recession again in 2022 with tepid growth in the middle two quarters bookmarked by negative growth in the first and fourth.

Australia’s GDP per capita climbed at a higher rate than that of Sweden in the period 2021-2022.

But by any measure, Sweden’s excess mortality rate in the post-pandemic period is superior to Australia’s.

In the last measurable period in figures published by Australia’s Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s excess mortality for the period of November 2022 to January 2023, there were 22,886 excess deaths (using the 2015-2019 baseline) or a rise of 15.1 per cent.

Depending on which epidemiologist you listen to Sweden’s is around four per cent.

In Australia, this has led to some odd reasoning. LNP Senator Gerard Rennick got to his feet recently to ponder why the Covid vaccines had not prevented excess deaths.

Never mind the Swedish excess mortality stats where vaccine rates are similar to that in Australia, (the stand out exception is Sweden has higher rates of boosters at 65 per cent; Australia’s 54 per cent). But let’s not let facts muddy the waters here.

theaustralian.com.au04:42
More evidence reveals lockdowns did ‘at least as much harm as good’
There is yet more evidence today that locking down society in an attempt to eliminate COVID-19 did “at least as… much harm” as good, says Sky News host Peta Credlin. Ms Credlin said new OECD data for 2020, 2021, and 2022 shows the two countries that locked down More

Even a quick glance at the causes of death on the ABS stats reveals spikes in death due to diabetes, up by 19 per cent and dementia including Alzheimer’s disease up by 17 per cent. Deaths by cancer are down in age standardised terms and death by strokes are down by 8.7 per cent. Death by respiratory illness is up by 5.7 per cent.

Does the senator think Covid vaccines cure diabetes?

I was no fan of lockdowns. With the possible exception of agoraphobics, no one enjoyed them.

In 2020, when we had no vaccines and little science to go on, I accept lockdowns in some form may have been necessary in the understanding that they would have profound social consequences. Imagine for a moment being a woman or a child being trapped in a home where domestic violence was the order of the day.

Schools were closed and truancy rates remain high to this day.

And later there was some heavy-handed state control going on.

Victoria’s long lockdown extended until the state and then Melbourne had zero community transmissions.

That is an extreme, even absurd measure for opening up. Like many others, I would love to see the health advice on how that figure was arrived at, but it remains a deep secret that only a royal commission could and should explore.

Other states closed their borders for no good reason. And in New South Wales, parts of western Sydney were locked down and some ugly measures introduced that were tougher on the people in one swathe of postcodes than others.

It was a tacit admission from governments across the nation that the state and territory public health systems were not up to scratch.

There was state intrusion going on that simply had no basis in medical advice. Melbourne had curfews. No one could take their hourly and then by the grace of Dan, two hourly exercise periods on the streets after 11 o’clock? What the hell was that all about, other than a government following police advice on the best means of controlling the populace?

There was other nonsense, too. Closures of playgrounds in public parks for reasons that made no sense then, let alone now. During these lockdowns, travel beyond a 5 km radius from one’s home was verboten, unless they had a permit. Why five or not four or six or seven?

But attributing the rates of excess mortality to lockdowns and thus declaring one nation’s success or otherwise compared to another is one very large step too far.

It’s not so much a question of comparing apples and oranges. The commentary is comparing apples to narwhals.

But don’t listen to me. Listen to an epidemiologist. And in the interests of fairness, let’s make it a Swedish epidemiologist.

“It’s very difficult to compare countries and the longer the pandemic goes on for the harder it is, because you need a proper baseline, and that baseline depends on what happened before,” Karin Modig, an epidemiologist at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said last month.

“Mortality doesn’t tell the whole story about what effect a pandemic has had on different countries. The excess mortality measure has its weaknesses.”

And some terrible assumptions have arisen as a result.

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 10:20 pm

We need a pure blood voice to parliament.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
March 29, 2023 10:23 pm

We need a pure blood voice to parliament.

Here we go.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
March 29, 2023 10:27 pm

We need a pure blood voice to parliament.

Voice to Parliament, and a Treaty, binding only on those with no European ancestors – no faux Aborigines need apply..

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 10:27 pm

If anyone feels depressed, don’t see Hugh Jackman’s, The Son. It was just an incredibly sad but great movie that leaves you on the edge of your seat.

Jackman did an excellent job.

JC
JC
March 29, 2023 10:30 pm

That wants are unlimited is not the same as desire cannot be sated or give true satisfaction.

Huh, desire cannot be sated is somehow different to unlimited wants. You’re kidding, right?

Razey
Razey
March 29, 2023 10:31 pm

Why should abo’s get a voice to parliament and pure bloods not?

Go!

1 3 4 5 6 7 12
  1. Knuckle Dragger March 29, 2024 9:48 pm National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services And their best Performer is -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQi8BHGAC_M

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