The fact Australia, even in its second innings, is nearly all out on only 230 is very worrying. Bring back…
Open Thread – Easter Weekend 8 April 2023
- Open Thread – Mon 25 Nov 2024
- The more you gets the less you eats
- Open Thread – Weekend 23 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 18 Nov 2024
“Disrupting the peace” is a very subjective term. I wish the coppers would arrest the many “locals” in Perth disrupting…
I was just released and I’ll have more to say — including in a lawsuit against Macduff and @TorontoPolice for…
With leaders like Bojo, no wonder Labour won a landslide. Can’t work out who is worse.
Yes, Biden, his people and Boris Johnson should be taken to the ICC and charged with war crimes.
And let’s not forget the predictions that the NDIS would turn into a money pit.
Just back to the “Voice From the Heart” crap. Are we airtight when it comes to supervising referendum voting as much as regular election? If they cheat in the US, they will try to cheat here. I suspect supervision would be somewhat looser in a referendum vote compared to a regular election.
Report: Amazon Studios dropped audience ranking of series because ‘audiences found queer stories off-putting’
The Hollywood Reporter and its at-large editor and veteran reporter Kim Masters are the last places one would expect to see anything even hinting that catering to LGTBQWERTY sensibilities might explain poor performance with audiences. Hollywood may be the gay-friendliest place on Earth, after all.
That must be why it took almost 2,500 words in this long article on troubles at Amazon Studios before the subject of discarding the system of audience ratings was introduced.
Amazon’s Prime Video is the greatest rival of Netflix and spends enormous amounts of money seeking “tent pole” series that will cause people to want to subscribe or renew their subscriptions. Yet Netflix dominates Prime when it comes to the most popular streaming series.
It seems that the problem with letting audiences tell them what they like (and presumably making decisions on what to make and release) is this:
Another complaint is that Sanders [head of television programming] relies heavily on feedback from focus groups, which tend to favor broad and less inclusive programming. Several Amazon insiders say the reliance on testing and data led to a clash late last summer, when an Amazon executive said in a marketing meeting for the series A League of Their Own that data showed audiences found queer stories off-putting and suggested downplaying those themes in materials promoting the show. Series co-creator Will Graham became greatly concerned about bias built into Amazon’s system for evaluating shows, which multiple sources say often ranked broad series featuring straight, white male leads above all others. One executive calls A League of Their Own “a proxy for how diverse and inclusive shows are treated.”
Graham launched into an interrogation of the system, questioning multiple executives about it. Amazon took the issue seriously and dropped the system of ranking shows based on audience scores.
Abbott posits that audiences are not necessarily avoiding gay content so much as wanting to be entertained:
Viewers don’t have to worry about a 10-minute background on the character’s victimhood and oppression. They don’t need to worry that 10 minutes in, there will be a short sermon on climate change and transgenderism. They don’t need to worry that the main character will go French-kissing his boyfriend every other scene so we know how awesome and amazing it is to be gay.
For anyone looking for some holiday reading, a couple of good ‘uns came out on Gutenberg recently.
First, a collection of Father Brown short stories (G K Chesterton, no relation to the abomination on TV):
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70175
And secondly, a 1927 P G Wodehouse which I’ve never seen in book form, The Small Bachelor:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70041
It’s full of excellent one liners.
Enjoy!
Wrong take. The whole point of this stuff is to punish anyone that resists the regime’s foot-soldiers. It’s what is going-on now with trans. Transgenderist violence is being tolerated by police and encouraged by media and politicians because they want someone that is attacked to finally lash out in self-defense so they can unleash the security apparatus on the opponents of transgenderist ideology.
Come on, JC. The Uber driver was an active duty Army Sargent. Not Miss Daisy with a .38 in her handbag. And the guy with the AK47 was a dunderhead thug with a prior history of intimidating people with rifles at BLM protests.
Moreover:
These are political prosecutions and the US now has a two-tier justice system.
No shit. Anyone notice that, like, every third show or movie these days there’s a lezzo or gay couple exchanging passionate kisses? It’s so off-putting.
Dr Faustus says: April 6, 2023 at 12:27 am
You’d misremembered an MRI as being a CT, but was there any reason for phrasing it that particular way in the 2nd sentence?
Are we airtight when it comes to supervising referendum voting as much as regular election?
Dickhead Dan not losing his seat would suggest that there’s already monkeying going on with regular elections. It may not matter a jot what people actually vote for in the referendum.
“I’m voting Labor, cos I think Bob Hawke’s got charisma.”
feelthebern says:
April 8, 2023 at 8:54 am
A friend of mine, someone I’ve known since kindergarten, is in the last stages of their 7-8 year battle with cancer.
It’s a tragedy from start to finish.
And the cancer treatment industry in Australia is rort.
A few months back they were offered a new drug that cost $20k per month.
Don’t know which State your friend’s in, but in NSW there are two ways to obtain treatment with drugs which are not yet on the PBS or the Authority Supply List ie. essentially free xcpt for the PBS Script fee:
1) Through the compassionate supply program (CSP) instituted by the Pharma companies. Almost every OncoPharma player has one.
2) By entering a clinical trial of the drug suggested. Usually a multi-centre Phase-3 RCT, of drugs not yet mature enough for a CSP.
And before whingeing about the 2-3 year time-lag between awareness of the new-you-beaut drug and final approval by the TGA..
Most drugs’ early results are biased towards higher efficacy.
The reality, following clinical experience outside of the qualifying RCTs, is that efficacy gains are marginal, at best, and certainly no reason for the high costs of the tweedle-dum-dee options hitting the market these days..
See the avalanche of drugs with names ending in ..nib and ..mab as salutary examples.
This is now so common that it’s a wonder any new oncomeds are approved.
The Libs/ Nats/ and any other party opposed to the Voice or this Voice should be doing townhalls/ etc. from now until the evening before the Referendum.
Two Views of the same subject
New batch of classified US documents appear online
Washington | A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail US national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China surfaced on social media sites on Friday (Saturday AEST), alarming the Pentagon and adding turmoil to a situation that seemed to have caught the Biden administration off guard.
The scale of the leak — analysts say more than 100 documents may have been obtained — along with the sensitivity of the documents themselves, could be hugely damaging, officials said.
A senior intelligence official called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes”, in a reference to the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence.
The latest documents were found on Twitter and other sites on Friday, a day after senior Biden administration officials said they were investigating a potential leak of classified Ukrainian war plans, include an assessment of Ukraine’s air defence capabilities. One slide, dated February 23, is labelled “Secret/NoForn”, meaning it was not meant to be shared with foreign countries.
Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, said the leak of the classified documents represents “a significant breach in security” that could hinder Ukrainian military planning. “As many of these were pictures of documents, it appears that it was a deliberate leak done by someone that wished to damage the Ukraine, US, and NATO efforts,” he said.
One analyst described what has emerged so far as the “tip of the iceberg”.
Early Friday, senior national security officials dealing with the initial leak, which was first reported by The New York Times, said a new worry had arisen: Was that information the only intelligence that was leaked?
By Friday afternoon, they had their answer. Even as officials at the Pentagon and national security agencies were investigating the source of documents that had appeared on Twitter and on Telegram, another surfaced on 4chan, an anonymous, fringe message board.
The 4chan document is a map that purports to show the status of the war in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the scene of a fierce, months long battle.
China, Indo-Pac, Middle East
But the leaked documents appear to go well beyond highly classified material on Ukraine war plans. Security analysts who have reviewed the documents tumbling onto social media sites say the increasing trove also includes sensitive briefing slides on China, the Indo-Pacific military theatre, the Middle East and terrorism.
The Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday that the Defence Department was looking into the matter. But privately, officials from several separate national security agencies acknowledged both a rush to find the source of the leaks and a potential for what one official called a steady drip of classified information posted on sites.
The documents on Ukraine’s military appear as photographs of charts of anticipated weapons deliveries, troop and battalion strengths, and other plans.
Disinformation effort
Pentagon officials acknowledge that they are legitimate Defence Department documents, but the copies appear to have been altered in certain parts from their original format. The modified versions, for example, overstate US estimates of Ukrainian war dead and underestimate estimates of Russian troops killed.
On Friday, Ukrainian officials and pro-war Russian bloggers suggested the leak was part of a disinformation effort by the other side, timed to influence Ukraine’s possible spring offensive to reclaim territory in the east and the south of the country.
A senior Ukrainian official said that the leak appeared to be a Russian ploy to discredit a counteroffensive. And the Russian bloggers warned against trusting any information in the documents, which one blogger said could be the work of “Western intelligence in order to mislead our command”.
Behind closed doors, chagrined national security officials were trying to find the culprit. One official said it was likely that the documents did not come from Ukrainian officials, because they did not have access to the specific plans, which bear the imprint of the offices of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
A second official said that determining how the documents were leaked would start with identifying which officials had access to them.
Ukraine shrugs off leak
The first tranche of documents appeared to have been posted in early March on Discord, a social media chat platform popular with video gamers, according to Aric Toler, an analyst at Bellingcat, the Dutch investigative site.
In Ukraine, Lt. Col. Yurii Bereza, a battalion commander with Ukraine’s national guard whose forces have fought in the country’s east in recent months, shrugged off news of the leak.
He noted that information warfare has been so intense that “we can no longer determine where is the truth and where is the lie.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Vs
Here’s why the leaked ‘secret plan’ for a Ukrainian military offensive doesn’t add up
The release looks like an attempt to distract Russia’s attention from what’s really going on
By ‘Military Chronicle’ Telegram channel
On Friday, photos appeared of a document allegedly containing details on a planned imminent Ukrainian offensive on territories controlled by Russia. The ‘leak’ coincided with suggestions that the NATO Defender 2023 exercises – planned for the end of this month – could be a cover for an operation to supply and support Ukrainian units. However, upon closer examination, doubts arise concerning the document’s authenticity.
When did it appear?
The supposed secret plans to support an offensive by Kiev’s forces hit the internet the day before Anthony Blinken made a statement on the subject. The US Secretary of State said the operation will begin “within a few weeks.”
What information does it contain?
There hasn’t been a leak of this nature since Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine began, over 13 months ago. It is noteworthy that the published plans contain not only a schedule for supplying Ukrainian units with NATO weapons and ammunition, but also information about the structure of the brigades and battalions allegedly preparing for the offensive.
The document, dated March 1, says Kiev’s brigades need 253 tanks, more than 380 infantry fighting vehicles and APCs, 480 vehicles, 147 artillery pieces, and 571 HMMWV armored vehicles to carry out the offensive.
Which information is most suspect?
The probable locations of Russian units, indicated on the combat map in red, appear to have been collected from open sources. Several pro-Kiev resources that track military operations contain almost identical information.
Also, the ratios of killed and wounded for the Ukrainian and Russian Armed Forces which initially appeared in these ‘secret plans’ have since been changed. When first posted, the losses for the Ukrainian side were underestimated at about 16,500 –17,000 people. Then (probably to be more realistic), they increased almost fivefold, up to 65,000 – 75,000. At the same time, the numbers given for Russia’s purported losses of vehicles and equipment coincide with data published by Kiev’s Ministry of Defense.
– What else is wrong with the published AFU offensive plans?
– What’s the upshot?
You have a point. However, I reckon Australian progressives are far less imaginative and, frankly, ruthless than their US counterparts. I don’t think it’d cross their minds to make a serious effort to rig the poll.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency here debars non-compliant companies from tendering for government contracts.
Interesting about Matt Taibbi and Twitter not wanting links to Substack.
I will have to check later but there are plenty of Dr’s and good independent journalists and researchers who use Twitter to link to more detailed Substack articles. These include
Dr Phillip Altman and a few other Dr’s such as Robert Brennan.
Dystopian Down Under aka Rebekah Barnet
Aussie 17 who writes as Pharma Files as he was previously in the industry.
Steve Kirsch the US multi millionaire who has done many detailed vaccine articles.
Bari Weiss was also deeply involved in the Twitter files. I read somewhere that she had 300,000 Substack subscribers at US$8 per month and was becoming a bit of a media outlet in her own right by supporting others.
Plus many more.
Top rate journalists like Taibbi, Weiss and Glenn Greenwald are clearly making more on Substack than they would have been paid mainstream media.
PS imagine what Joe Rogan could make on Substack if he did a articles.
Sydney seat of Ryde won by Liberal party candidate Jordan Lane two weeks after state election.
They’re Russian disinfo docs. Ukraine would have already fallen with those combat deaths. Russia has been claiming stats like this from the start and it makes no sense.
It’s also managing expectations, Russia is admitting claimed vehicle losses on munis Rus are correct – which roughly correlates to claimed Russian losses.
What I actually said:
What GreyRanga said:
I never implied they were. You have mischaracterised my stated opinion.
Yes, that’s what I said.
Trial by Jury will stop 15 Minutes Cities?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tZ2lPvKeNQ
UKRAINE WAR
The Nord Stream blasts cover story is crumbling
Cockamamie yarns like the one involving the yacht suggest not nefarious cunning but simple incompetence
Reports that nongovernmental pro-Ukrainians were behind the Nordstream gas pipeline explosions last year appear to be losing traction, as illustrated by a new Reuters report quoting skeptical remarks by a Swedish official.
As originally put forth on March 7 by the New York Times (quoting unnamed US officials with access to intelligence) and by a consortium of German media (quoting unnamed police sources), the theory held that the otherwise unidentified culprits had carried out the Baltic Sea operation from a rented 50-foot charter sailing yacht named Andromeda.
Some analysts (including me) found the tale highly improbable from the start and suggested – or, in the case of investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, flat-out asserted – that it was a cover story concocted by spooks to counter Hersh’s February 8 report, based on the Pulitzer Prize winner’s own anonymous sourcing, that US divers working for the CIA did the deed.
This week, Washington Post reporters revisited the yacht tale, apparently trying to keep it afloat even as they acknowledged the story’s holes.
One big hole: The reporters learned that the perps would have needed more of a base than a single sailing yacht for their operations at sea:
‘International game of Clue’
But the most puzzling part of the Post story – and clearly the reporters themselves found this truly odd – is that, as the writers put it, “the Nord Stream mystery has turned into an international game of Clue,” but with reluctant players. The Post report goes on:
For all the intrigue around who bombed the pipeline, some Western officials are not so eager to find out.
At gatherings of European and NATO policymakers, officials have settled into a rhythm, said one senior European diplomat: “Don’t talk about Nord Stream.” Leaders see little benefit from digging too deeply and finding an uncomfortable answer, the diplomat said, echoing sentiments of several peers in other countries who said they would rather not have to deal with the possibility that Ukraine or allies were involved.
Even if there were a clear culprit, it would not likely stop the provision of arms to Ukraine, diminish the level of anger with Russia or alter the strategy of the war, these officials argued. The attack happened months ago and allies have continued to commit more and heavier weapons to the fight, which faces a pivotal period in the next few months.
Since no country is yet ruled out from having carried out the attack, officials said they were loath to share suspicions that could accidentally anger a friendly government that might have had a hand in bombing Nord Stream.
In the absence of concrete clues, an awkward silence has prevailed.
“It’s like a corpse at a family gathering,” the European diplomat said, reaching for a grim analogy. Everyone can see there’s a body lying there, but pretends things are normal. “It’s better not to know.”
– Hersh chimes in again
– The journalist’s job
I understand one of the reasons for the slow vote count generally is that the electoral commission insisted on temps being fully vaccinated & boosted.
SOUTH CHINA SEA
China intensifies nuclear strike threat in South China Sea
Round-the-clock nuclear sub patrols with new long-range missile capable of hitting US mainland raises stakes in contested waterway
China’s nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) are now prowling the South China Sea round-the-clock, ensuring a second-strike capability against US and allied forces in the event of a Taiwan contingency.
This week, Reuters reported that China is now keeping at least one nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) at sea at all times, potentially stretching US defenses, putting more targets at risk, and pressuring the US and its allies to develop new capabilities to counter the threat.
China’s six Type 094 SSBNs are now operating near-continuous patrols from Hainan to the South China Sea and are reportedly armed with a new longer-ranged submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) that can hit the US mainland.
The Reuters report notes that this new missile is believed to be the JL-3, which reportedly has a 10,000-kilometer range and allows China to hit the continental US from protected bastions in the South China Sea.
This February, Asia Times noted that each of China’s 13 naval shipyards has more capacity than all seven US naval shipyards combined, placing the US at a seeming loss against China’s ascendant shipbuilding capabilities. Budget cuts and other issues have recently seen US naval shipyards lay off skilled workers, causing US warships to linger longer in shipyards for repairs.
Asia Times noted last November that China’s SSBNs are essential for its second-strike nuclear capability, with fleet upgrades allowing China to be more confident of its “no-first-use” nuclear policy. This ties in with China’s nuclear force structure, which is designed to withstand an adversary’s first strike and retaliate against strategic targets rather than credibly threaten the first use of nuclear weapons.
To paraphrase David Axe’s April 2020 article for Forbes, a shooting war in Taiwan may see US SSNs moving into the South China Sea to hunt China’s SSBNs, which he suggests could trigger catastrophic nuclear retaliation. As the guarantors of its second-strike capability, China’s SSBNs ensure that a nuclear war is unwinnable, making it a suicidal, mutually assured destruction policy option.
Asia Times noted last month that the US and its allies might use Australia’s planned satellite mesh to track China’s submarines.
The mesh features advances in sensor technology such as high-resolution satellite imaging and synthetic aperture radar that combined with hydroacoustic monitoring and open-source intelligence will render the oceans “transparent” by 2050, negating any stealth advantages submarines now offer.
ewww…… vomit inducing
The problem is that I suspect the Libs are being less than sincere here, and I also suspect much of the public will feel similarly.
Where’s the insincerity?
Dutton has made it clear that the Liberal Partyy won’t be campaigning on the issue of Racism, are in favour of Symbolic Constitutional Recognition, will continue to engage constructively with Albanese and are committed to improving life outcomes for Indigenous in rural and remote areas.
I’d rather the Libs made the case on the basis that it’s very risky to add the Voice provisions to the constitution, but that would take some political courage.
The Chicken Little strategy, you say?
It would take a tin ear and a lot of stupidity to do that.
Dutton has gone straight to the heart of the issue, women’s welfare and children’s futures.
Yeah, the choir is screaming Raaacism!! but they can’t keep that going for another 8 months.
She has Nazis on her side, literally.
Another m0nty=fa lie.
It is now exclusively a movement of grievance, hate and division.
Enough about the Alphabet People.
Culture wars like this trans moral panic were invented by the rich elites
Another lie. The “rich elites” are the biggest pushers of both the Culture Wars and the trans weirdness.
Marjorie Taylor Greene actually believes that Hillary Clinton kills babies and wears their skins as a suit.
Yet another lie.
Trans people are just trying to live their lives in peace.
Some might be, many are not.
Lots of commentary about the inVoice has been infesting this august blog.
I will “share” my humble heuristics when considering such issues..
If it metaphorically sounds like sh!t, looks like sh!t, smells like sh!t and feels like sh!t, I then will hold the unscientific opinion that it’s a malodorous, viscid, malformed lump of excrement that does not deserve further time or consideration.
The rest is noise and 1000% irrelevant.
An added bonus is that any cogent human should instinctively oppose anything that a malevolent slag like Langton supports.
The problem with the “Right” is that it thinks that discussing the garbage that leftards excrete helps change their minds.
An utter waste of time, arguing with morons on the turf they have chosen.
we’re screwed
However, I reckon Australian progressives are far less imaginative and, frankly, ruthless than their US counterparts. I don’t think it’d cross their minds to make a serious effort to rig the poll.
Never had any experience with the AEC, eh?
Monty actually believes that “Marjorie Taylor Greene actually believes that Hillary Clinton kills babies and wears their skins as a suit”. Hmmmmmm.
FMD FMD FMD. Can bold the entire article. Hun:
State MPs sacked by voters would be paid by taxpayers for up to 18 months to look for a new job, under a proposal sent to the state’s public sector pay-setting body.
The new pollie welfare scheme, which would be worth up to $290,000 based on current backbench salaries, is billed as a way to improve democracy in Victoria by getting better candidates and “removing a significant disincentive for MPs to leave parliament”.
It is based on Deakin University research, commissioned by the Victorian parliament and its former member’s association, into how well MPs transition to “life after parliament”.
The research, which surveyed 93 former MPs, found most ex-parliamentarians struggled to find work, with some unemployed for years.
The recommendation for a new resettlement payment would give former MPs the equivalent of six months of their salary – worth about $96,000 today – when they lose their seat or resign at an election.
Those payments would be “terminated” once the ex-pollie secures paid employment.
But if they remain jobless they could apply for a further two rounds of the $96,000 stipend, provided they could prove they have been actively searching for work – similar to requirements for federal jobseeker recipients.
There would also be exemptions for former MPs who have “medical, mental health or caring responsibilities that preclude them from obtaining employment”.
The radical proposal is now before the Victorian Remuneration Tribunal, which sets pay for politicians, at the same time as the panel considers how much to hike MP salaries this year.
Backbenchers are currently paid about $192,000 a year, while Premier Daniel Andrews has a package worth about $465,000 – the highest of any state leader in Australia.
A submission from Greens Leader Samantha Ratnam to the tribunal says a pollie pay rise “should not exceed 1.5 per cent given our generous base salary and the public sector wage cap that the Victorian Government has imposed on the rest of the Victorian Public Service”.
The remuneration tribunal is likely to consider the government’s wage cap policy, which has since been increased to 3 per cent a year, as well as a range of factors including inflation and general wages growth.
Last year, the tribunal granted state politicians a pay bump of 2.75 per cent – equivalent to a $5000-a-year hike for backbenchers.
In 2021, most MPs pledged to donate increases to charity following a backlash over their pay packets rising while businesses battled through lockdowns.
The proposal to increase “separation payments” for former MPs is likely to spark controversy.
The Deakin University researchers say that current payments for state politicians who lose seats after a single term, which is set at three months basic salary or about $48,000, is simply not enough.
If MPs lose their seats after two terms or more in office, they get six months’ salary.
The researchers say six months’ salary should be the minimum payment and that the separation scheme should be based on need, not time served.
Their survey of 93 former MPs found 53 per cent took at least six months to find a job after leaving parliament, while 29 per cent took between six and 12 months, and 12 per cent took 18 months of more.
It found that most MPs, regardless of their positions, recounted “a period of physical and mental exhaustion after their time in parliament as a result of the high demands of the job”.
A one-term former MP told the researchers that after four years out of the normal workforce there is a “stigma” attached to CVs because of a political career and that “public service ruins your life”.
Another “estimated that they applied for at least 100 jobs in 12 months before securing a role that paid less than half their backbench salary”.
The timing of elections in November was also cited as a reason for change, because the job seeking market winds down over Christmas and the New Year.
A separate submission to the remuneration tribunal, by the Speaker and President of the parliament, argues for the retention of a generous allowance for regional MPs staying in Melbourne overnight during sitting weeks.
They say the allowance provides country-based politicians “the certainty of having accommodation which they can utilise when the need arises for them to be in Melbourne”.
The tribunal has been considering phasing out the allowance in favour of a separate travel expense scheme.
The trough never endeth of OPM. FMD
You think UKR would have already fallen with 70K combat deaths? I don’t know if they are near the mark but they are very definitely plausible. As to the latter claim, that rests on your assertion that they are Russian disinfo docs. The numbers match minusRUS because they just regurgitate UKR defence numbers and if the docs are authentic the Pentagon is simply doing the same and not parsing the numbers themselves.
Just been checking the comments under Ms Langton’s Voice rant at The Australian.
A sample of ten negative comments from a couple of hours ago has garnered over 6ooo “likes”.
Six thousand!
The article featuring Marcia Langton threatening no more “welcome to country” if the referendum on the Voice is defeated, has nearly five hundred comments – TWO are remotely supportive of Ms Langton, the remainder are along the lines of “Good riddance to WTC.”
Hahaha!
Liberal Outrage After Abortion Pill Blocked Nationwide By Order From Texas Judge (8 Apr)
Suck it up lefties. I don’t think the Left reacted in quite the same way when that Hawaiian judge kept on putting national injunctions on stuff Trump tried to do – which were then serially overturned by appeals courts.
From Geeeellllooonnnggg:
A former Geelong footballer has accused a trio of players of a historic gang rape as he sues the Cats for failing to protect him from sexual abuse.
The ex-player claims he was just 15 or 16 when he was cornered in the shower at the club’s Aberdeen House, a residence for country recruits, and sexually assaulted by three older athletes in the early 1980s.
The man, a prominent Indigenous Elder now in his late 50s, filed Supreme Court action against the Cats this week for a trial by jury, claiming the club had a “duty to take reasonable care of his welfare, safety and supervision” while he was living at the football house as a minor.
“My client has shown a lot of courage and strength in coming forward about his abuse,” said Arnold Thomas & Becker lawyer Angela Di Carluccio.
“He is a proud and well respected Indigenous man who has fought hard in his life to overcome his trauma and to contribute positively to his community.”
The former sportsman, who does not wish to be named, had played for the club’s Under 19s side but left the game soon after the alleged assault.
In documents before the court, he claims the Cats were “vicariously liable for the abuse” because they employed the three alleged perpetrators.
Those three players have not been named in the writ, and have not been added as co-defendants.
“(Geelong FC) placed senior players in a position where they had authority, power, trust, control and the ability to achieve intimacy over the plaintiff, which afforded them the opportunity to abuse (him),” the document states.
“The Plaintiff was vulnerable by reason of his age, displacement from family and dislocation from his home.”
The writ, which has been served to the club, also alleges that Geelong FC failed to protect minors from abuse, to separate minors from adults at Aberdeen House, to supervise the house parent and provide channels to report incidents.
As a result of the alleged assault, the ex-player claims to have suffered a psychiatric injury that led to a loss of earnings and earning capacity, and medical and like expenses.
Ms Di Carluccio said the Cats had “a duty to care for his welfare and safety” while he lived at the property.
“There was a failure to properly supervise Aberdeen House or separate my client from players who were adult men,” she said.
A Geelong FC spokeswoman said the club was unable to comment.
During a recent sale of Aberdeen House, the vendors reported that people in the community would walk up to them and tell them of the Cats’ link to the property, and that they “went to some wild parties here”.
A listing agent selling the home in 2021 told the Geelong Advertiser it was purchased by the club during its 1963 premiership year, and operated as a residence for country players.
The agent said the property was retained by the Cats until the late 1980s or early 1990s, and previously had a unit in the backyard where the house mother resided.
Political hacks with few skills that are marketable in the real world.
What a load of utter horse shit.
Those North American Commune-ist RadFems
want to obliterate everything related to Conservatism.
“You are right, Luzu, on the Israel thing which is why I hardly ever comment on it. I said one thing once about how the Palestinians might (might!) have a valid point of view about their ongoing survival as a nation, and Cranky has pretended that I have been an anti-Zionist zealot for years. She continues to lie and lie about it.”
Nope pervert apologise, I don’t “lie and lie about it”. Everyday you are caught out here for your lies and your unashamed bias. You said, here on these pages and in plain English, that Palestinians and other Muslims who incite violence against Jews and who murder Jews have “legitimate grievances”. Your words, not mine. You’ve revealed yourself here time and time again to be nasty little Jew hater.
Your screed above is pathetic, and shows not just your putrid ignorance but the fact that you are a dangerous ignorant ideologue.
Posie Parker came here to cause trouble, and trouble eventually arrived. She declares she is not a feminist, and I believe her. She is not defending freedom, she wants to remove it. She has Nazis on her side, literally.
Another bare faced lie. I attended Keen’s Sydney rally, a rally designed as a space for women to speak up about the need for spaces for biological women. We didn’t incite violence against those protesting us. The threats of violence came from the protesters and at least here in Sydney the NSW police did their job. Kellie-Jay Keen does not have Nazis on her side. You believe what you want to believe in order to suit your narrative, which makes you both sinister and dangerous.
Anything to say about what happened to Riley Gaines? I note your silence, which speaks volumes about you. You laughed out loud here about the violence and mayhem in NZ, in which women were punched, oh that’s right, you’re all for throwing punches at people whose opinions you don’t like. As I wrote above, you’ll justify anything to suit your sinister ideology and that includes violence against women and children. You are a disgrace and have lost any credibility you had here, not that you ever had much to begin with.
Now piss off.
“I can take the abuse, but don’t pretend you are in the majority on anything. You are cranks, losers in life whose chickens are now coming home to roost electorally. Welcome to irrelevancy.”
Odd how the pervert apologist likes to spend a lot of time here among us “cranks and losers”.
And here’s a fact, the TRUTH will never ever be irrelevant.
tells you everything you need to know
Monty is repeating the risible ‘TERF is an imported blighty (USA) phenomenem’ narrative as though trans ideology wasn’t imported from exactly the same places.
Not to mention the briefest perusal of Australian feminist/ lesbian sites or social media indicates that they also reject being told they ‘have to’ have sex with trans and are perfectly capable of independently intellectually rejecting trans (male) invasion of female spaces.
Black Ball says:
April 8, 2023 at 12:30 pm
From Geeeellllooonnnggg:
A former Geelong footballer has accused a trio of players of a historic gang rape as he sues the Cats for failing to protect him from sexual abuse.
The ex-player claims he was just 15 or 16 when he was cornered in the shower at the club’s Aberdeen House, a residence for country recruits, and sexually assaulted by three older athletes in the early 1980s.
50-year old hear-say evidence is now the new standard of judicial equity and propriety.
A new standard consistent with the Pell and Lehmann clusterf@cks.
Sodom-Gomorrah society, at its most corrupt, had higher morals than the West today.
The sooner it collapses into its putrid swamp, the better.
Take a good look at the map of Australia. Victoria is clearly the anus of the country.
Ageing blackfellah, who could play footy a bit, goes after an AFL club to pay for the retirement he never saved for.
Gold diggers come in both sexes and all ages.
A Spike in Mysterious Deaths – Why are Young People Suddenly Dropping Dead Worldwide?
cbn
Peace has been redefined.
It now means unfettered access to women’s sports, changing rooms, toilets, prisons, refuges, and when it suits, their bodies.
What does that make Tasmania?
Well said, Cassie!
I think that, in his own mind, it gives him a sense of moral superiority.
Which is why he must routinely put the worst interpretation on what his interlocutors write and then attribute that interpretation to all who post here – “you lot”.
It’s intellectual dishonesty.
Holy Saturday – 8th April – The Lord’s descent into hell (Banner)
Old Ozzie at 11:38.
And when they find such a “tent pole” series like “Clarkson’s Farm” they promptly announce they are cancelling it after the current filming is done, because … wait for it … Clarkson gave a bit of stick to one of Netflix’s high profile signings, Meghan Markle.
A smart TV person would have let that rivalry run, which would ultimately force the wokerati at Netflix to keep paying Ginge and Whinge who are rapidly becoming box office kryptonite.
In addition, they want me to affirm and agree what they are not, to make me disregard the truth of my own senses. No, they can get fukced, I will never agree.
50-year old hear-say evidence is now the new standard of judicial equity and propriety.
A new standard consistent with the Pell and Lehmann clusterf@cks.
It’s not hearsay at all, neither were the other 2 you mention.
Are you auditioning for Idiot of the Year?
You’ve made a great start today.
Via Black Ball
The research, which surveyed 93 former MPs, found most ex-parliamentarians struggled to find work, with some unemployed for years.
That’s because once they have been out of office for a few months their previous contacts are worthless, and they have no other sellable skills (tongue bathing is a skill in limited demand).
I was kind of making this point the other day.
The latest Newspoll shows it going down in WA and narrowly ahead in Queensssland and Tassie.
And that is after months of wall-to-wall “Yes case feelz” and a “No case” vaccuum.
I reckon there is a “shy No voter” in the polling numbers which might be 1-2%. Who would risk being outed as a racist by telling some pollster on the phone you are voting “No”?
Any half decent No campaign will bring out the natural conservatism Australians have always shown in referenda votes.
I always thought that was SA.
Vic is the right cheek, WA the left.
Phillip Adams from memory made the observation about the big bottom at the arsks end of the world.
Sky News still running the “first ever President to be charged” line, then invite Joe Siricusa on to elaborate.
No mention so far of the corruption involved at DA and DoJ level.
Hold on there!
I’m OK with the lezzo ones as long as they aren’t Lizzo lezzos.
Cassie of Sydneysays:
April 8, 2023 at 12:43 pm
“I can take the abuse, but don’t pretend you are in the majority on anything. You are cranks, losers in life whose chickens are now coming home to roost electorally. Welcome to irrelevancy.”
Odd how the pervert apologist likes to spend a lot of time here among us “cranks and losers”.
Speaking of “cranks and losers”, I suspect that it is rather lonely over at Phat Pussy, with usually only Steve from Brissy and Homer the Idiot for company. That he has so much time to spend here is telling.
The ban on them lobbying for a few years after leaving politics is killing their main easy money income stream.
Speaking of “cranks and losers”, that’s a beautiful Fra Angelico painting on the banner.
What you don’t see is the solid, heavily banded door broken down.
Anchor Whatsays:
April 8, 2023 at 1:24 pm
Sky News still running the “first ever President to be charged” line, then invite Joe Siricusa on to elaborate.
No mention so far of the corruption involved at DA and DoJ level.
The dopey DemonRat Manhattan DA needs a crime to link to his misdemeanor charges to have a case. The DoJ and the FEC have both stated in the last couple of days that the “election funding” crime has been investigated and dismissed.
Well, work is hard, and usually requires some sort of practical skill set.
What was that 1967 referendum question?
Do you approve the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled ‘An Act to alter the Constitution so as to omit certain words relating to the people of the Aboriginal race in any state and so that Aboriginals are to be counted in reckoning the population’?
Did it work? Did it improve their lot in life? Apparently not. Why?
Because later it was Whitlam who said things were in need of improvement. He ordained that aboriginals should have “self-determination” instead of assimilation.
Did welfare (which they themselves term sit down money) cure the problems? Apparently not.
Did ATSIC work as part of self-determination? No. It had to be disbanded.
Did the Land Rights judgement (based on an islolated island culture, not mainland walkabout culture) heal the problems, or just introduce another way of getting cash?
Did the Big Sorry kiss it all better, as was promised? Apparently not.
Has positive discrimination in government employment and other areas made it all good? No.
Will The Voice make it (finally!) all good? Probably not. It will just be another step on the path to Treaty, Yeah! and Reparations aka more sit down money.
Unfortunately, yes.
Well, technically he hasn’t “accused a trio of players” because he doesn’t name them.
This is purely a “quick settlement shakedown”.
If he goes to Court and names the players it gets awkward when they flatly deny it and sue for defamation.
I am completely comfortable with a fat slob sitting in his basement pretending to be a tech-whizz calling me a “crank and loser”.
I am completely comfortable with a fat slob sitting in his basement pretending to be a tech-whizz calling me a “crank and loser”.
That’s no way to talk about head prefect. I’m disappointed in you. After all he’s just lost a lot of weight and is down 2 sizes in chinos.
That’s been the agenda since 1975 – “reparations” and “compensation” paid “in perpetuity.”
Sure, sure, trans just want to live their lives in peace:
It’s not hearsay at all, neither were the other 2 you mention.
One of Pell’s alleged accusers was dead and had retracted his accusation. That’s not just hearsay, that’s a nullity.
Are you auditioning for Idiot of the Year?
You’ve made a great start today.
You and dickless have that trophy wrapped up. To be fair dickless is well in front of you.
If it wasn’t obvious to the most naive among us..
It looks like we indeed have a two-tiered justice system, just like any corrupt 3rd World tyranny.
rosiesays:
April 8, 2023 at 1:02 pm
Trans people are just trying to live their lives in peace.
Peace has been redefined.
It now means unfettered access to women’s sports, changing rooms, toilets, prisons, refuges, and when it suits, their bodies.
You forgot “unopposed violence”.
Marcia Langton mentioning no more welcome to country was a massive own goal.
Never seen so many likes on so many comments on an Oz article.
Ed Case says:
April 8, 2023 at 1:15 pm
50-year old hear-say evidence is now the new standard of judicial equity and propriety.
A new standard consistent with the Pell and Lehmann clusterf@cks.
It’s not hearsay at all, neither were the other 2 you mention.
Are you auditioning for Idiot of the Year?
No, you’re already the World Champion in that category.
Barron’s did a big spread on Morgan Stanley and it’s CEO, Australian James Gorman, this weekend. Gorman took over as CEO just around or after the financial crisis. He’s now running what many believe to be the best run bank in the US.
Anyways. Here’s a pic of Gorman in his office. I reckon the Aussie rules footy may be the only one sitting in an American CEO’s office in America.
Yes. She thought she could do a Blazing Saddles, only the townsfolk advised her to shoot.
Berka you’re being selective with my comment. I qualified my comment with the threat of death or Siberia to be compliant.
Just checked and it seems my comment on the Herald Sun article about CHO VIC pushing boosters did not get accepted. I guess their moderators are well briefed on what not to allow. They know they are misleading us. Comment was:
“What CHO’s and media always forget to include when giving us statistics.
How many of the hospital admissions were admitted for other reasons and then found to have Covid. So not really a Covid admission.
Average age of those dying with Covid and their comorbidities.
Facts matter”.
Rather than “hearsay” perhaps “unsubstantiated” is a better description.
That’s so rude, Cronkite.
The Marcia Langton article is actually very long. However the online editor went with this lead title :
“‘Vote ‘No’ and you won’t get a welcome to country again’”
No wonder it is now over 1,100 comments.
Wonder if Marcia told all her people no more WTC fees if lose.
Sorry I thought the “leaked” docs were claiming tens of thousands of Ukrainian casualties in Bakhmut as Wagner Group has claimed.
There’s a chance they’re legit because they’re not quoting absurd casualty rates.
They’re not embarrassing at all.
Putin has been humiliated.
He has ruined Ukraine and permanently damaged Russia.
Where are the police reports?
Yes, he hasn’t accused anyone, really.
Visiting mt Gambier for first time. Pretty place. So many fine stone buildings. Australia is wonderful. Too good to ruin.
Weather very ordinary though. Very like Melbourne.
The ABC exposes the pure dishonesty of their news staff yet again.
I listened to the report of the expulsion of the two black Tennessee Democrats-complete with Kamala Harris emoting that this is not democracy.
At no stage did the report mention that the two were the leaders of the protesters and walked the yelling mob inside the House – then proceeded to the front of the sitting chamber with loudspeakers and jeered up the gallery in open defiance of the Speaker.
The ABC merely said the two had taken part in a protest for gun control.
Scum in – crap out.
Spike protein accumulates in the brain and causes infarcts, bleeds, inflammation – Pfizer & Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines cause severe neurological injuries
Alternatively, his presence here is some form of psychodrama. The deeply ingrained self loathing is mitigated by the trolling, classical displacement. Doesn’t bode well for any form of learning taking place, if that itch doesn’t get scratched then it turns inwards and he has to confront his own repellant nature. The poor wretch is trapped in an endless and possibly escalating cycle as a means of avoiding his own predicament, the only appropriate response is pity accompanied by the vain hope he might manage his psychological demise in a more manly way. Quietly. Pray for him.
The ABC is a canker on this country like Canbra.
Mad world.
https://nypost.com/2023/04/02/vito-perrone-says-he-was-denied-top-school-job-for-addressing-women-as-ladies/
But of course the ABC is inflicted on us by Canbra and nothing good comes out of Canbra.
Nice hills you’ve got there Mt.Gambier.
A couple of hundred wind turbines and huge transmission towers would be just the ticket. Adelaide needs them ruinables.
The referendum is up to those who turn up every 3 years to vote according to their first political thought….in 3 years.
Under those circumstances, feelz easily beats thoughtful consideration of facts.
The only hope for the no vote is for Albo to trip over a few more times and scare the horses.
Yes ‘wind power’ what a sick joke.
perhaps he just needs some gender affirming care and turn him into the pussy he truly is
The other thing is Beery, how much integrity does the aec have? As rickw pointed out it’s unreal that Andrews retained his seat when he couldn’t even show his face there. As Farmer G said the seat of Rippon now includes Wendoree – Centrelink trash central.
Looks like a bit of an own goal by Marcia.
If this continues, the referendum will be stone dead by the time it comes around. Every time the activists open their mouths, they lose votes. BTW, Lydia has been quiet lately. Has she been gagged?
Of course, if it fails, it will be “just more proof of systemic racism” bla bla bla.
I can live with that in return for supporting the principle of one vote, one value, and no group being privileged because of race.
That draft letter to the public service was brilliant. Every Departmental Secretary, every head of a statutory authority (including TheirABC) and their immediate minions will be chilled to the bone at the prospect of what is foreshadowed.
The Secretary of Treasury may have to hold up the Budget for who knows how long while The Voice combs through every line item. As the government runs out of money to pay employees and bills, as well as negotiating with elected representatives, it will have to satisfy the insatiable demands of The Voice.
The stupid overreach of applying it to the executive will kill it, IMHO. And if, as Marcia promised (although the well paid service providers probably have not been consulted) it is the end of Welcome to Country – Woo Hoo!
Switzerland stops the Covid vaccinations: All vaccination recommendations have been withdrawn, doctors can only administer the controversial vaccines in individual cases under certain conditions – but then bear the risk of liability for vaccination damage.
Lidia has been quiet lately. Has she been gagged?
Only by a bikie’s schlong
A lot more than the various US equivalents, but that not saying much at all. I’ve been very concerned for some time, worried it could be much worse than we know, and we know there has been occasional questionable practices.
Undoubtedly the AEC would be as left leaning as anywhere else in the public sector. What ideologue wouldn’t put their finger on the scales if they could?
But I speak to people who should know better, but vote on familial lines even when they question it.
People need to suffer greatly to vote properly, and with dodgy elections, they need to suffer much more.
If wall to wall Labor lasts for more than a couple of years, something is very, very wrong in the AEC, because Labor always implode.
I’m at the point where I encourage the radicals to go harder, and to not let anything hold them back.
The faster the change for the worse, the bigger the blowback.
I think you will find it was inflicted on us by Melbin, that being the location of the Federal government at the time.
Anyway, once again I remind you that Canberra is merely where MPs from all over the country meet. The results would be no different if they met somewhere else. It is a way to avoid blaming who they are by blaming where they are.
Sloppy.
Make sure you visit the Blue Lake, although it turns grey during April so you might have missed the brilliant colour which gives it its name. Also Cave Gardens in the middle of town and Umpherston Sink hole: truly beautiful.
There’s a lot to see in Mt Gambier, depending on the time you have. The excellent Lady Nelson tourist centre has a replica of the ship captained by Lt Grant and their volcano exhibit is well worth a visit.
We have spent several months off and on in the Mount, partly because we have family there but also because we love it.
“Transgender MMA fighter beats ‘her’ opponent in 39 seconds, fracturing her skull.”
Lidia has been campaigning against the Voice – she sees a treaty as taking priority.
Is the AEC corrupt?
I caught one girl with 4 bundles of 50 LNP votes at the bottom of the ALP stack and I’ve seen them do plenty of shit at the count.
Labor to the last man, I’ve seen Returning Officers take the ALP corflutes home at the end of the day.
Victorian ALP knows their goose is cooked at the next election.
They also know how unemployable they are.
Their value on the open market is about half minimum wage. (i.e. they’d be about half as good as a backpacker at pushing a broom in a coffee shop)
What an absurd statement. Compared to people in backward Muslim countries, for example? Nonsense. This, like the ‘sheeple’ stuff posted by those who clearly regard themselves as above the sheeple, is obviously very personally satisfying to those who post it.
I am above the common masses, I have a unique insight – before you know it, we are into some sort of rule By People Like Me.
It is exactly the same rhetoric as the Far Left – the place is a fascist dictatorship, but we have the Solution!
Only those who have no idea what life is like for at least half of the world’s population would spout rubbish like that from the comfort and security of Australia.
Tony Abbott’s WA senate seat (and thus the possibility of a workable Senate), and arguably his whole term (where he had to effectively wait to wield any sort of axe for damn near 6 months), was caused by an “AEC error”.
I agree that we are vastly better at the whole election thing than the USA, which is frankly Third World for the most part, but if push comes to shove, we have some receipts, and they are not encouraging.
Mark from Melbourne
Tony Abbott’s WA senate seat (and thus the possibility of a workable Senate), and arguably his whole term (where he had to effectively wait to wield any sort of axe for damn near 6 months), was caused by an “AEC error”.
And that was not the first occasion in which an “AEC error” involving the loss of significant numbers of votes affected adversely a Coalition electoral campaign.
Rabz doctrine, replace with a system comprised of political partisans supervising the electoral clerks, while also keeping a beady eye on each other.
“Tony Abbott’s WA senate seat (and thus the possibility of a workable Senate), and arguably his whole term (where he had to effectively wait to wield any sort of axe for damn near 6 months), was caused by an “AEC error”.”
It wasn’t just the WA senate seat, it was also Palmer and his motley crew in the senate that actively worked against a workable senate. From 2013 through to 2016, Clive Palmer behaved disgracefully, using his minions in the senate to actively undermine the Abbott government, particularly with that first budget back in May 2014. I have a long memory and this is why I found it difficult to understand how people were willing to forget Palmer’s skullduggery during those aforementioned years and throw in their luck with the Palmer’s UAP last year.
Ed Case @ 3.19
Eff off Ed
If you saw her doing that, what did YOU do ?
Cheered her on probably.
You’re such a damn weirdo, I still can’t quite figure out your raison d’etre.
Pretty funny if we voted down the Republic for being “radical” then we adopt apartheid.
Have to love click bait.
The reality.
What the official federal public health site in Switzerland says.
Is vaccination recommended for spring/summer 2023?
In principle, no COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for spring/summer 2023. Nearly everyone in Switzerland has been vaccinated and/or contracted and recovered from COVID-19. Their immune system has therefore been exposed to the coronavirus. In spring/summer 2023, the virus will likely circulate less. The current virus variants also cause rather mild illness. For autumn 2023, the vaccination recommendation will be evaluated again and adjusted accordingly.
It certainly wasn’t a good look. And lots of went on in Indi.
“Marcia Langton mentioning no more welcome to country was a massive own goal.”
Yes. I’ve never experienced anything as ridiculous as a ‘welcome to country’ on arriving in Brisbane from Canberra. The whole aboriginal thing has gone completely out of hand.
I’m currently in Canberra, for family reasons, it’s very windy and I’m wondering where all the wind turbines are in our oh so green capital. Plenty of hills round about.
Have to say it’s very navigatable with pretty of amenities and quite a pretty city. Can’t believe how much building is going on, mostly apartments and town houses, and the population seems to have changed dramatically over the years. Local shopping strip has two Indian groceries and no other.
We used to visit very regularly when my father had jobs up here, and I spent a few weeks here, on and off in the 90s so I have a mild affection for the place.
I expect I’ll be backing and forthing over the next few years again.
Much better than the trek to regional Queensland.
rosiesays:
April 8, 2023 at 1:02 pm
Trans people are just trying to live their lives in peace.
Peace has been redefined.
It now means unfettered access to women’s sports, changing rooms, toilets, prisons, refuges, and when it suits, their bodies.
And they want to put peaceful bullets in peaceful guns so we (including innocent children) can die a peaceful death.
JC at 1:59.
He’s not kicking that around Central Park.
Flat as a shit-carter’s hat.
It was an obvious mistake to make Marcia Langton one of the most prominent national figures of the Yes campaign. They’ve tried to post softened images of her face but that scowl is impossible to hide in anything other than an airbrushed still image. And there’s nothing that can be done when she starts talking. Absolutely nothing.
And it’s not like she’s the kind of person you could pull aside and say ‘Marshy, listen. Can you not mention your multiple grievances with white Australia just for these next few months while we seal this deal? D’ya reckon you could you do that?’
The scowl you’d get in response would turn you to stone.
Come on, man!
Would I ever refer to JC as a “tech whizz”?
Sheesh!
I imagine most people who have experienced welcome to country at every weekly staff meeting, library story hour etc are heartily sick of them.
My mother’s somewhat sjw parish recently offered one at the start of Sunday mass, not the overwhelming possible feedback they were expecting.
In my parish, never going to happen.
In Rugby League it seems we are going to have a Pacifika team I.e a team based on race.
Big article in the Oxz but no comments allowed. Seems to be SOP for the sports editor Jessica O Halloran.Loves to put out her opinions but seems to never allow comments.
We really seem to be going backwards.30 years ago a team based on race would be viewed as an abomination
Yes.
This is known as the St. Ruth Business Model.
I’d sooner attribute that to incompetence or indifference rather than malice.
Palmer ran in Fairfax in 2013.
He was leading the count, then the AEC took 3,000 primary votes off him and gave those to the Liberal Candidate.
Anyway, Palmer didn’t cop it in the shorts like Mirabella, he kept on getting recounts of everything until the AEC caved and declared him Elected.
That’s why the Abbott Government wasn’t sworn in until 3 months after the Election.
FMD.
Speaking of basements, I just went down to ours to get something.
The builder has just installed a yuuuuge steel beam to support two stories of bricks above because … never mind, long story.
Anyway, I have now hit my head on it for the third time.
God, I wish I was short.
(Not really).
johannasays:
April 8, 2023 at 3:03 pm
Looks like a bit of an own goal by Marcia.
Of course, if it fails, it will be “just more proof of systemic racism” bla bla bla.
Calling someone a “Racist!” = “You’ve just caught me out as being a dickhead.”
“Australians have become the most compliant and uninformed people in the world.”
I wonder how much of that is due to the vast increase in immigration?
Made out of local limestone.
Which bears the quite imaginative and cryptic name … “Mount Gambier Stone”.
We really seem to be going backwards.30 years ago a team based on race would be viewed as an abomination
Rubbish.
The West Indies cricket team was all black, did anyone say anything about that?
Morsiesays:
April 8, 2023 at 4:04 pm
In Rugby League it seems we are going to have a Pacifika team I.e a team based on race.
Big article in the Oxz but no comments allowed. Seems to be SOP for the sports editor Jessica O Halloran.Loves to put out her opinions but seems to never allow comments.
We really seem to be going backwards.30 years ago a team based on race would be viewed as an abomination
And the leftards then campaigning against race based anything are now campaigning for race based sporting teams and political apartheid.
Dragnet screams:
Eff off Ed
If you saw her doing that, what did YOU do ?
Cheered her on probably.
You’re such a damn weirdo, I still can’t quite figure out your raison d’etre.
Lemme guess, Draggy:
Returning Officer, or just a drone ticking off the roll?
That’s so rude, Cronkite.
I know. That’s why I stuck up for you. I don’t know what Sancho was thinking. He’s usually so decorous.
Bent down to pick up some keys I dropped while using a public restroom last week, upon straightening back up managed to crown myself on a steel sharps disposal unit on the wall. Blood and mild dizziness ensued. Only later did it occur that if you want to find some aids or hepatitis infected waste that would be the best place to look. Not something you want to introduce to the circulatory system. Worse still, you would find yourself having to convince some doctor that you caught it off a toilet seat.
Oh come onsays:
April 8, 2023 at 4:05 pm
Tony Abbott’s WA senate seat (and thus the possibility of a workable Senate), and arguably his whole term (where he had to effectively wait to wield any sort of axe for damn near 6 months), was caused by an “AEC error”.
I’d sooner attribute that to incompetence or indifference rather than malice.
It takes an impressive level of incompetence or indifference to lose around a thousand Senate ballot papers, equivalent to several reams of paper, and fairly heavy.
Ed Casesays:
April 8, 2023 at 4:13 pm
We really seem to be going backwards.30 years ago a team based on race would be viewed as an abomination
Rubbish.
The West Indies cricket team was all black, did anyone say anything about that?
And the Indian team is all Indians, and the Pakistan team is allPakistanis.
And the South African team was once all white.
Think hard, Richard Cranium, and you will get the point.
The KIA ratio from the purported docs is about 5:1 in favour of RUS.
I’m no deity, but I’ll flick you some shortbread. And some short soup. And my special sticky short ribs.
Knock you down to size, Lofty. 😀
Oh come on.
Hey, you may well be right and shenanigans were afoot. But I tend to think these kinds of things are isolated incidents that occur when an opportunity presents itself to certain AEC staff members. I find it difficult to imagine the AEC swinging a referendum result from a No to a Yes. It’d take national coordination amongst many people. We just don’t have the kinds of election fortification techniques that the Democrats have developed. Again, we lack the imagination and the ruthlessness. I could be wrong, but I’d be somewhat surprised if I was.
Gee, you were quick off the mark Net Zero!
At least I have a positive attitude.
Ed at 4.17
Nah, I’ve been a scrutineer a few times
Now tell us which polling booth in which electorate in which year you witnessed this incident.
(Obviously the last paragraph is a rhetorical flourish since I know there will no honest reply)
Hate, to tell you Dover, but that’s not an argument. Especially, considering how many oligarchs have mysteriously fallen out of windows since the start of the invasion.
Having a good time at the Classic Fighters air show at Blenheim, New Zealand.
Standouts are a Great War Bristol Fighter, an Avro Anson WWII twin-engined bomber, a Mustang, two Spitfires, and two Sopwith Pups. All up about 50 aircraft.
The aerobatics teams were from the NZ Air Force with five Trojans, and nine Yaks from a private team. Parachute display drop, and a lot of ground re-enactors.
On interesting point is the Kiwis seem a lot less fraught with OH&S than Australia. You can stand five metres away from an aircraft as it starts up and taxis out, and they allow flying over the heads of the crowd too.
JC
Vertigo?
Yes, that’s the idea. I’ll believe it when it goes the other way.
As they’re accidentally falling out of the window. It’s lateral after that though. Rich Russians appear to a serious problem with windows. Incredible.
Here’s the very leftwing NYPost reporting on 10 year olds being arrested last year for protesting the war.
https://nypost.com/2022/03/02/russian-primary-school-kids-arrested-in-russia-for-anti-war-protests-politician/
JC, no one in Russia cares about oligarchs falling out of windows; in fact, it probably cheers them up after the experiences of the 90s. The FT consistently posts drivel like this; the idea that a Cultural Revolution is simmering under the lid is just ridiculous.
That sounds eerily familiar with the sudden unexplained suicides of those who get too familiar with the Clintons. In fact, I hazard a guess that over the years the Clinton’s bodycount is significantly higher than the handful of Russian oligarchs. Seems like the US has their murderous elites too, just like Russia.
If no one cares that the kleptocrat is killing opposition then that says a lot about the Russian people. Do you care?
That’s right, Dover. I’m not an argument.
Makka
Focus on Russia, and leave the whataboutthat for some other time.
As I’ve said before, the AEC is the repository of people who are so incompetent, even the Federal Police won’t take them.
It is the Last Chance Saloon of the federal bureaucracy.
The oligarchs are not opposition. We have no idea who is killing these oligarchs (could as easily be intramural violence between oligarchs or the like, as it is FSB), whether they are related, or even whether they just are suicides or a mixture of both. This began with the premise that Russia was in the midst of a Chinese-style ‘Cultural Revolution’. It isn’t.
A friend of mine does it every election for the Libs. He told me he regularly catches vote counters screwing up. I said to him that I guessed their screw ups usually benefit one political party or ideology. Nope, he said, it’s pretty random. It’s a story of not very capable people who don’t give a rat’s doing the job.
JC,
You should be far more disturbed by the blatant corruption, perversions , theft and outright treachery emanating for the US Administration and it’s army of minions in the media and US swamp infected institutions. Who gives AF about a few Russian oligarchs buying the farm? Nobody- but you.
Good ol’ Arkancide. “He hung himself after blowing his brains out twice”.
Although gifting a Statue of the intended victim laden with explosives is a new and imaginative touch.
“Oh, how cute and it really does resemble my good self”
BLAM! 🙂
Frank at 4:17.
Frank: “So, Doc, I was bending over in a public toilet and when I straightened up I hit my head on the sharps container.”
Doc: “Sure …. Anyway, I’m not here to judge how you caught it …”.
That’s gold.
Vote early vote often.
No.
Pleaszzze
Why is the FT wrong but your assertion correct?
Oh come on. It doesn’t matter what they’re saying about you as long as they’re talking about you is one of the first rules of politics isn’t it?
I am 1/2″ taller with the lump on my bonce.
Having a good time at the Classic Fighters air show at Blenheim, New Zealand.
You haven’t seen that little Clark glider transportable bulldozer there? I think the restorers were aiming to take it to some of the warbird shows.
Dragnet explains:
Nah, I’ve been a scrutineer a few times
Sure you have, Draggy.
And you never saw any hint of sharp practices or wrongdoing either, right?
Yes.
Targetting 5-6 marginals in the Reps is possible.
Swinging a statewide or national vote gets a little harder.
I am concerned very, but how does this diminish what’s going on in Russia?
If you’re concerned about the situation in the US, why aren’t you concerned with what’s going on in Russia.
But people keep using my name in vain. It’s not right.
Very few people are able to count anything complex, not on their first try.
It is a skill that has to be developed.
It’s not as simple as many would first think.
Counting how many cattle in a random herd/mob is simple – however accuracy in almost any other counting is beyond most people until they’ve developed the skill.
It is an skill that atrophies quite easily over even a short time.
Nope, he said, it’s pretty random. It’s a story of not very capable people who don’t give a rat’s doing the job.
It’s a story you pulled outta your arse, right?
The only problem with the AEC is in the scrutineering of a valid vote. I’ve heard in recent years of allowance being made for intentof the voter. To my mind it can only be what the rules are not up to a biased returning officer of any persuasion and not surprisingly they are mostly left wingers.
OCO would you rather be ignored?
… however accuracy in almost any other counting is beyond most people until they’ve developed the skill.
It is an skill that atrophies quite easily over even a short time.
You’ve suffered a lot of concussions, haven’t you.
Because there is simply no evidence of a simmering cultural revolution in the wings. This is simply neocons pushing the idea that if only we push a little harder there will be regime change in Moscow.
Because Russia doesn’t matter in comparison. What’s to diminish? The US is the biggest problem in the world right now. It’s becoming a clusterfk of unimaginable proportions with consequences across the globe.
Because the US is our locked in ally, we exist within the US sphere of influence, as a society and politically we are heavily influenced by the US goings on. By comparison , Russia has nothing to do with us or me.
Sorry Cats, we’ve not given this absolutely hilarious assassination the credit it deserves.
However, as previously pointed out, why would you bother?
Outlived his usefulness, would be my guess.
Although I do get a quiet chuckle out of imagining various self obsessed imbeciles “receiving the package” so to speak. Much like “receiving the pineapple”, without any messy subsequent consciousness.
“amebicides” – spellwrecker’s latest suggestion for imbeciles. Gee, thanks, you [redacted].
How does that work if the vote’s valid? Maybe we could teach the Democrats a trick or two after all. Imagine that – instant vote curing! You can trust us to do the right thing.
Its existence.
Massive vote rigging is us (again) …
Nah, Rickw…
Marcia Langtons WTC comment has brought out all the ill feeling towards such events.
It is not just the reaction at the Oz as it is spreading fast on Twitter which has far more reach than the Oz.
NYPost story was untrue then? Everyone is wrong except your two word assertions?
Seriously, you really are up to your neck in defending that rotting kelptocrat in the Kremlin. This is the man who wanted to challenge NATO and is now witnessing NATO enlargement because of his actions.
Twitter may just be a bit more representative with Musk on board. You wouldn’t say that for Paywallian moderated comments.
Russia most certainly does matter because not a day goes by without one of the kelpocrats threatening nuclear armageddon. The two-bit punk sitting in the Kremlin does matter because if someone is threatening to obliterate you, you need to believe him/them.
I think you’re over-egging the pastrami. 🙂
Marcia doing her bit:
‘Vote ‘No’ and you won’t get a welcome to country again’
If the voice referendum fails, Marcia Langton imagines most non-Indigenous Australians ‘will not be able to look me in the eye’.
Look at those eyes. What a loss.
The research, which surveyed 93 former MPs, found most ex-parliamentarians struggled to find work, with some unemployed for years.
Hardly surprising.
FT Piece.
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https://www.ft.com/content/b1657ee3-eb9d-41c7-851e-5900c74bd934
Varya Galkina, a smart and studious 10-year-old, began getting into trouble with her schoolteachers in Moscow last September, a few weeks into the new academic year.
First, they noticed she was regularly skipping the new Russian patriotism classes that had just been added to the national curriculum. Then they spotted that she had set a pro-Ukraine symbol as her profile picture on WhatsApp.
Varya was a star pupil, so her mother, mathematician Elena Jolicoeur, thought little of the fuss — until one morning in October, when she received a sudden call from school: her daughter had been detained by the police.
Elena, reeling, jumped in her car and raced to find her daughter. The detention of a child seemed like nonsense. “It was as if I’d entered some sort of alternate reality,” Elena recalled. “Like we’d gone mad, in our corner of the world.”
But the patriotic indignation that led Varya’s teachers to denounce her to the police was no aberration. Cases of denunciation have proliferated in Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
People across the country have been reported to authorities for expressing dissenting views in private or in closed settings. Teachers have reported pupils; students have informed on professors and fellow classmates; neighbours, colleagues and even family members have filed complaints.
Although still unusual enough to warrant local media coverage, informing is rapidly becoming commonplace, fuelled by calls from the Kremlin and propaganda outlets to hunt for “domestic traitors” and “saboteurs” of Russia’s war effort.
Two weeks after the start of the invasion, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin told the Russian people that they “will always be able to distinguish true patriots from the scum and traitors”, and will “simply spit them out?.?.?.?on to the pavement”.
Varya Galkina and her mother Elena Jolicoeur
‘[Varya] tried to rush to me, but they wouldn’t let her?.?.?.? One of them grabbed her and began to drag her to the car. The other twisted my arm. It was as if they were arresting criminals,’ says Elena, pictured with her daughter © Patrick Wack/FT
“I am convinced that such a natural and necessary self-cleansing of society will only strengthen our country,” Putin added.
Denunciations create “total mutual suspicion, total distrust”, said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Their return marks a reawakening of “totalitarian instincts” in Russian society, he said: “People begin to behave exactly as they did during the Stalin era.”
Informing was common practice in the Soviet Union. First cultivated as a tool to weed out counter-revolutionary ideas, it soon developed into a widespread system of self-policing that reached fever pitch under Josef Stalin.
Swaths of the population became active participants in maintaining the regime. Sergei Dovlatov, a Russian author, later captured this in a much-quoted phrase: “We are endlessly blaming Comrade Stalin, and, of course, with good cause. And yet I can’t help but ask — who wrote the 4mn denunciations?”
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, informers have become a key pillar of support for the Kremlin and a tool of control. With most public critics of the regime now silenced or in exile, denunciations allow the state to identify small-scale, private dissenters.
On March 17, a 40-year-old man travelling on the Moscow metro was denounced by a fellow passenger, who oversaw him looking at images that “discredit the army” on his mobile phone. The man was arrested a few stations later. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail.
Earlier this year, a couple discussing the war at a restaurant in the southern city of Krasnodar found themselves suddenly handcuffed by masked officers and thrown to the floor. Someone had reported their private conversation to the police.
Roskomnadzor, the state censor, said it received 284,000 reports from citizens in 2022, of which “the majority concerned illegal information posted on the internet, including fakes about the special military operation in Ukraine”. That figure does not include reports made to the police or FSB security service.
A patriotic banner reading ‘We don’t give up on our people’ in the town of Yefremov in the Tula region of Russia
A patriotic banner reading ‘We don’t give up on our people’ in the Tula region of Russia where a headteacher called the police on one of her pupils over a picture drawn in an art class © Natalia kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images
Russian sociologists have debated informers’ motives. Some point to self-interest: denouncing someone may offer the possibility of social advancement, especially for those at society’s margins.
But often there is no clear reward. Denunciations can be a way to simply “demonstrate to the state and to yourself whose side you’re on”, historian Sergey Bondarenko has said. Psychologist Maria Potudina has argued that becoming an informer allows people to feel they are protecting their group from attack, and taking control by punishing alleged “traitors”.
Varya Galkina, who has since turned 11, was denounced by her headmistress, a municipal deputy in Putin’s United Russia party. Elena was shown the denunciation letter when she reached the school.
There, she found her daughter surrounded by a police officer, a school social worker, and someone who claimed to be from the FSB. They listed Varya’s offences: skipping patriotism lessons, her pro-Ukraine profile picture, an antiwar comment she had made on a group chat with other kids.
They then said the child would be taken to the police station.
“When Varya heard that, she became hysterical,” Elena recalled. “She tried to rush to me, but they wouldn’t let her?.?.?. One of them grabbed her and began to drag her to the car. The other twisted my arm. It was as if they were arresting criminals.”
Elena and her daughter were brought to the station. Elena was not permitted to leave to collect her other daughter from school. Nine-year-old Sonya had to travel home alone on public transport for the first time.
At the station, Elena and Varya were interrogated for four hours by a “crowd” of people. “They were asking questions as if they wanted to trap us into saying something,” Elena recalled. They’d ask Varya: ‘What does your mum tell you about Ukraine?’”
Elena feared that authorities wanted to accuse her of “discrediting the armed forces” or “spreading false information” about the war under laws introduced by the Kremlin in 2022 and deployed to hand out lengthy jail sentences to antiwar protesters.
Putin expanded the legislation this month, making it illegal to “discredit” informal groups of fighters including the Wagner private militia, a group accused of war crimes.
Such legislation has fuelled denunciations, said Daria Korolenko, a lawyer and analyst at OVD-Info. Previously, it was not possible to denounce your neighbour for something as small as ribbons in Ukrainian colours or having a peace sign at home.
Some local authorities have set up bots on messaging app Telegram that allow people to inform on others in a more automated and anonymised way, simply by sending a few details by text.
The fear of denunciations has become so widespread that fraudsters have developed a new scam, telling victims they are accused of treason for sending money to the Ukrainian army, and offering to open them a new bank account. The scam has become so common that Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, this month issued a warning about it.
After their interrogation of Elena and Varya, the police and child protection officers travelled to the family’s flat.
They trawled through Elena’s laptop and belongings. “They didn’t find anything?.?.?.?except some blue and yellow curtains,” Elena said, the colours of the Ukrainian flag. Finally, they left.
Elena was relieved, but worried what could come next. The examples around her were bleak.
Maria Moskaleva, a 13-year-old from the Tula region of central Russia, last spring drew a picture in school art class of Russian and Ukrainian flags, with the words “No war” and “Glory to Ukraine”. The headmistress called police.
After police searches of their home, Maria’s father, a single parent, was placed under house arrest, accused of “discrediting” the army in his own social media comments. Maria was placed in a children’s “social rehabilitation centre”.
According to the family’s OVD-Info lawyer, she has not been allowed to contact her father or anyone other than the authorities. A lawsuit has been filed to permanently restrict her father’s parental rights. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to two years in jail, but a night earlier escaped from house arrest. His whereabouts are currently unknown, according to the court’s press secretary.
Elena, too, was charged, but with an administrative rather than a criminal offence — the “improper performance of parental duties”, including “politically influencing her children”.
A social welfare centre was instructed “to organise a re-education plan for the whole family”, Elena said. A state psychologist has since come by to see them, but the family has been out: classes for Sonya, music school for Varya. The psychologist leaves notes on the door.
Varya continues to go to school, but still has not attended any patriotism classes. And her attitude to some lessons has changed. “The classes taught by my teacher who wrote the complaint about me, I don’t really feel like going to those any more,” she says.
Elena had to have a conversation with her daughter about not speaking in public about certain topics. “I told her: ‘You can think whatever you like, but just don’t say it out loud, otherwise here, they will just start to provoke you’,” Elena said, referring to the school.
“It’s something I thought would never happen in our family,” she added. “I always held that children should express their opinions?.?.?. But now it had to be done.”
However, Elena has also taken a bold step: suing all the state institutions involved in Varya’s detention, including the police. She does not expect to succeed in court, but she wants to leave a record of what happened. “That these people behaved badly, in this exact way. I think that some day?.?.?.?we will be going back over all of this,” she says. “For some reason, I believe that.”
Ed, I never personally witnessed any skullduggery.
Which is not to say it doesn’t happen, I was merely inputting my own personal experience
Which is 100% truthful.
Now, still waiting for further and better particulars of the incident you allegedly witnessed
(“Oh bollocks, why should I carry on?”)
If you ever want evidence that you are living in a small country town.
The WA Derby.
Field of seven.
Three jockeys and one trainer with the surname Parnham.
Vicki:
Good luck with that – my third attempt to get a quote for connecting the genset to house has ended with no attempt by the electrician to call or phone. I was asked to be at home for a week ending last Friday the 31st.
Not bloody happy.
The only problem with the AEC is in the scrutineering of a valid vote. I’ve heard in recent years of allowance being made for intent of the voter.
It’s a sensible change, even tho it favours the ALP.
Let’s say there’s 7 candidates and the voter has numbered Greens 2, Animal justice 3, Sustainable Australia 4, Pirate Party 5,Socialist alliance 6 and LNP 7, and the 1 against ALP looks like a 7 too, the intention of the voter is clearly to vote ALP 1.
Similarly if he’s neglected to put in the 1, but the rest of the vote follows the ALP how to vote card, it’s obvious the intention is to vote Labor.
The LNP tends to get votes from oldies without much English who just put 1 against the LNP and leave the rest blank.
That’s an informal vote.
The advice I was given [by a guy who wasn’t an LNP member and had scrutineered for both Parties at different times] was to watch what the counters are doing and don’t bother challenging votes, since a bundle of 50 stolen is a 100 vote turnaround, whereas if the Margin after preference distribution is less than 100, then there’s an automatic recount and headquarters will have plenty of scrutiny there for the odd Informal that was missed.
The FT hate Trump too iirc. Just the voice of the insipid pommy establishment.
Bear, give it a rest. Cancel the subscription and know you did the right thing.
Save your annoyance for the goil that rings you about a month later asking why you canned the subscription.
They did that to me – see below for an entirely truthy recollection of the conversation:
Goil: “err Rabz, why did you cancel your subscription”
Rabz: “Because it was costing me $28 a month and they wouldn’t post my comments criticising various j’ismists, I tells ya”.
Goil: “err um, that must not have been good”
Rabz: You bet it wasn’t and you can tell Rupe that I don’t regret cancelling the subscription. I don’t fork out that sort of money and expect the imbeciles on the receiving end of my entirely objective criticism to be so ungrateful – and that includes Prefesser von Wrongsolen, Greg “Basset hound faced cretin” Sheridini and Paul “is wrong, again” Kelly.
“Click”
Goil: (imagining to herself) “What an annoying ol’ dinobore”. 😕
Last time I looked I was batting at about 30% acceptance.
And I tried to tone down any emotive or insulting language.
Pretty much if you oppose the left cause du jour you get binned.
Leftards growing screeching about a Russian revolution smacks of desperation.
Is Ukraine winning yet. 😉
You referenced protesters being arrested. Happens every day in the West. There is simply no evidence of an imminent change in the regime or of one brewing. If there was, you wouldn’t be seeing Chinese, Indian, Iranian, Saudi Arabian, Turkish delegations, and the like, visiting or being visited by the Russians.
I’m not ‘defending’ anything here. They only really cared about UKR and Georgia. They will just recalibrate Finnish or Swedish entry. And it just confirms what they already thought re NATO.
Better to defend the rotting potato in the Whitehouse? 😉
TE, that Bristol Fighter replica is a thrill to see.
My Grandad was in 1 Sqn in the ME as an observer/gunner. I have devoured every word written about them but never thought that I would see a BF.
It certainly satisfies the old rule that if it looks good it will be good.
No wonder that it was so successful when the Brits eventually learned to use them as rear guard protection for withdrawing formations.
Speaking to the pilot he claimed that it was by a long margin the most balanced WWI aircraft he had flown. Explaining I guess why such a big beast could be so manoeuverable. Envy – I would love to see it again.
Did they fly their Coursair?