Shit! Late to the party again! Story of my life.
Open Thread – Weekend 22 April 2023
First cab off the rank!
Barking Toad May 1, 2024 9:28 pm ZK2A, the Plonk and Knickerless know they are fcuked so are throwing all…
“The Band Played Waltzing Matilda”. Apart from the original by Eric Bogle there’s been some good renditions of this song.…
Although its a genuine grassroots part of the canon, and the contention around South Vietnam conscription, I don’t think A…
6
well hello there!
Fird?
Dot- ja, I know about the bad bits of Norwegian church-burning Black Metal. And the cannibalism.
But seriously, check out Kvelertak. I know just not enough of Norwegian to tune out of the screaming and into the music, which is very entertaining- quick, heavy, broad, bombastic, and with a massive sense of humour. Get a load of the piano in Brateburn.
Jokke and Valentinerne were another favourite. Suburban proto punk.
Johannes Leak. Bam!
Mark Knight.
David Rowe.
Graeme Bandeira.
Peter Schrank.
Christian Adams.
Andy Davey.
Dave Brown.
Michael Ramirez.
A.F. Branco.
Gary Varvel.
Al Goodwyn.
Lisa Benson.
Tina Norton.
Thank you Tom. Leak is a cracker today. Bam! indeed.
Cross posting here so Special Ed doesn’t miss it.
He’s been on another thread (Good cop, bad cop) spruking lies.
Assault pots.
French Police Confiscate Saucepans Amid Town’s Anti-Macron Protests (21 Apr)
“Numerous anti-Macron protesters may have difficulty making dinner later today after French police reportedly confiscated saucepans in the town of Ganges ahead of a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Hated by wide swathes of the French population thanks to his pension reforms, Macron is currently touring the country in the hopes of regaining the support of the general public.
The tour has so far not gone as planned, perhaps, with protesters having disrupted his previous stops in other locations by making lots of noise, often int he traditional method with banging pots and pans.
…
The fact that many ultimately had to go without their pans did not prevent them from making a lot of noise either, with many opting to use whistles and vuvuzelas instead.”
Uh oh, vuvuzelas are back in fashion again. Give the pots back and take away the horrible vuvuzelas instead. Whoever invented the wretched things needs to be tarred and feathered.
Double bunger at Jo Nova – first, the growing backlash against ESG in Florida and Texas. This has penetrated a lot of corporations and needs to be stopped. Then she has the latest on satellite data not supporting the climate alarmists and their dodgy earth temperature figures. This while the media shouts that the glaciers are all doomed!
Meanwhile, in the USA there is also the Diversity, Inclusion and Equity movement that has denatured the military. A politicised military is the insurance the left needs if they are to win against an armed populace. Gun control is to be pursued via commercial rules, attacking the sellers.
Thomas Lifson at American Thinker says the shadowy figures behind cardboard cutout president Brandon are manoeuvring to disqualify his 2024 run. This will be done by releasing the hounds of the media (aka running dogs) to reveal all the financial scandals of that family. It has already started.
Lefties gotta lefty.
Chile Stuns Markets And EV Makers By Nationalizing Lithium Industry Overnight (22 Apr)
The lithium price has collapsed due to a large fall in EV sales lately, but I suspect the commies in Chile looked at the price chart and said “yum, munni!”
It’d be interesting to see if they make a move on Escondida, the biggest copper mine in the world which is owned by BHP.
Wokeness time!
All Cats are hereby required to state their pronouns in this thread.
Dan’s ‘Big Build’ going swimmingly. Hun:
Railway maintenance funding is facing major cuts and the North East Link project delays in worrying signs for commuters ahead of next month’s state and federal budgets.
Senior industry sources have revealed the Andrews Government is considering slashing metropolitan and regional rail operator maintenance budgets by up to 20 per cent.
The government’s signature North East Link project is also facing blowouts and delays with fears it is in the firing line following a review by the federal government into major infrastructure projects.
Insiders believe the review could see any project not currently underway delayed by at least two years.
It comes a week after the Saturday Herald Sun revealed Melbourne’s long awaited airport rail link will be put on hold as the government works to rein in Victoria’s rising debt.
Regional rail upgrades have been earmarked as a federal government priority in preparation for the 2025 Commonwealth Games.
But sources said they had been told to brace for funding cuts to regional rail works and the state’s planned regional rail revival to be scaled back.
The Geelong Fast Rail is considered “dead” as is any hope of electrifying the regional rail network.
“The theme of the budget will be if it ain’t broke, it ain’t getting a dollar,” one source said.
“Almost all upgrades to anything that isn’t critical are getting benched.”
There are also fears the government Level Crossing Removal program could be slowed.
Metro spends $12m a week maintaining tracks, equipment and its fleet of trains to prevent disruptions and delays.
Faulty equipment can create peak hour chaos by stopping a single train or by throwing out the entire timetable across the whole system.
Cutting maintenance budgets for V/Line would be even more damaging as it is still working to tackle a massive backlog in work.
This network includes freight corridors, which would likely receive less attention under a reduced budget so that passenger services could be maintained.
Last year, $248m was invested into the state’s Victoria’s regional rail network including for major periodic maintenance and routine maintenance works on freight rail corridors.
Victoria’s debt level is currently on track to hit $165bn by 2025-26, with that figure expected to increase in the budget despite efforts to drive down costs.
Both Daniel Andrews and Tim Pallas have spent recent weeks spruiking the need to pay down the debt.
Funding for grassroots community health groups and not-for-profits is set to be cut, while the state’s major capital works programs are expected to be stripped back.
Sources have told the Herald Sun infrastructure spending could be “decimated” while thousands of public servants are in line to lose their jobs, with government departments told to cut 10 per cent of ongoing staff.
A government spokeswoman refused to rule out rail or infrastructure cuts.
Deputy Opposition Leader David Southwick said: “these desperate decisions will mean people will spend more time stuck in traffic and waiting for delayed and cancelled trains at a time when Victorians need these vital services more than ever.”
Pesutto too busy looking at Wikipedia to engage in a fight. FMD
Listening to Tom Elliott yesterday, he said that $1bn dollars has been spent on the Airport railway link already. Only to be shelved.
In the very best of hands.
The lithium price is still historically high but what matters to us is the AUD denominated price.
I can’t see governments waking up until around 2040. Canberra has that stupid no petrol/diesel cars for sale rule coming in effect in what, 2035?
It mightn’t be sustainable but everyone will subsidise it for nigh on 20 years or so to come.
Andrews just cut regional train fares to a flat $9.50.
Lots of people taking pointless trips, putting maintainence of that ahead of regional freight is nuts.
Remember the election winning slogan
MATTHEW GUY THE CUTS GUY
Why do I watch the Kardashian bimbettes in an ad before a Norwegian black metal televisuelle experience?
Kvelertak seem to be almost like…melodic punk black metal.
Power metal/arena rock choral harmonies, funk style percussion.
I think this is black metal on a “dreadlock holiday”.
…and no, that’s not screaming. That’s not even like Whitechapel. There’s no death growl.
Pesutto newsletter
Maybe people should subscribe instead of claiming he’s mute on the Victorian mess.
Vicki Campion:
It’s a year to the week since then-aspiring PM Anthony Albanese hopped around aged care homes toting a rattan basket of Easter eggs before a fawning press pack with more promises than the shopping channel.
Cheaper power, lower debt, lower cost of living, zero emissions, and a 24/7 registered nurse in every aged care facility.
It all seemed too good to be true and, like the buff body with a six-pack that advertises grandma’s dust-gathering exercise machine under the bed, it was.
Instead, not-for-profit, community-run and commercial, aged care facilities are closing their doors, unable to find registered nurses to keep them open from July 1.
The $275 cheaper power bill promise has vanished from Labor’s sites and speeches.
And the electric vehicle strategy released on Thursday lacks any coherent safety plan.
Pre-election promises about 24/7 registered nurses “because it is the right thing to do” were political advertising gimmicks, more hollow than Albanese’s Easter egg offering.
His experimentalism has resulted in Australia going backwards, a workforce gap of 8400 registered nurses and 13,300 personal care workers, forcing homes to close as they can’t abide by the new policy.
On the anniversary of his Easter bunny hop, an 82-year-old lady recovering from a broken hip in a country NSW base hospital who is afraid of being alone was told to go home to recover as the system frantically tries to find spaces for the hundreds of aged care residents who need somewhere new to go following the closures of aged care homes.
An assessment for if she can get a now-coveted spot in a local aged care home is up to six months away.
Albo’s demand for registered nurses has not improved the quality of aged care facilities but closed them, and the lady recovering from a broken hip is being told to go home to watch the cost of the aged care sector soar up to $5bn, her power bill go up, and a distracted federal government flogging electric cars on its political shopping channel.
Labor’s slogan about taking $275 off your power bill has morphed into “We’re investing in renewable energy”.
Instead of junk gimmicks under the bed, we have junk technology littered over the countryside, with more to come.
Chris Bowen’s long-awaited national electric vehicle strategy is not so much a policy document as a glossy brochure advertising electric cars in large teal font and pictographs.
The EV catalogue is ideally suited for the political shopping channel, big on gloss, low on details, and pitched to dupe the customer on the fine print. It fails to handle the jet-flame safety risks that emergency personnel warned Mr Bowen of.
There is not a single mention of the 60,000 litres it takes to drown an EV fire — which, for context, is about equal to the rural home water tank capacity expected to get a family through a few years of drought.
There is no reference to the Tesla megapack fire near Geelong, where a 13-tonne lithium battery was engulfed, requiring more than 150 firefighters to put it out.
Battery fires featured prominently in the consultation but do not feature in the 47-page EV brochure, save for three paragraphs weakly suggesting we cannot “ignore the potential for EV battery electric shocks or fire-related incidents” and buck-passing any details on to the Department of Transport and the ACCC.
The Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, representing 288,000 firefighters and emergency workers, told Bowen’s consultation for the EV strategy that the risks of a failure event of a lithium-ion EV battery have the potential to lead to a thermal runaway event, potentially including “high voltage direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) electricity, toxic and flammable vapour production, vapour cloud explosion, toxic smoke production, rapid rate of fire spread, unrecognised heat release rate and unknown temperature fluctuations, highly directional and jet-like flames, exothermic chemical reaction-fuelled fire that cannot be extinguished, significant fire duration (four-plus hours) and protracted incident, proximity of adjacent fuel loads such as other vehicles and building elements and potential for secondary ignition”.
As they are retrofitting electric vehicle charging stations in the basements of apartment blocks, fireys called for the development of “stringent security and safety standards relating particularly to EV charging infrastructure”.
Surely some discerning person within the government thought putting new hazards into the bottom of apartment blocks carries risks, or do we wait for the tragedy before we fix it, as we did with flammable building cladding?
The late-night shopping channel has been reconfigured as a backbench government MP social media post as they flog off Chinese electric utes to the public, an engineering marvel stripped of key safety features that you too can purchase for $93,000, for which a 2WD range is limited to 150km fully-loaded — and less if you wish to have airconditioning.
While car reviewers have given it a 3.5/10 safety rating, MPs-turned-car salesmen give it a thumbs up, though not one has ever been spotted in an MP’s carparking spot.
Election promises are the ultimate buy now, pay later scheme with no warranty or 30-day return.
This government’s premier policies are currently getting shelved under the bed with other late-night shopping gimmicks to gather dust.
Correctomundo Ms Campion. (Golf clap)
So any mention of the $275 electricity bill relief payment has been scrubbed from all government paraphernalia, including any press release? If so, very devious and a show of arseholery.
Dot – the dead hand of market economics is doing it.
UK Interest in New Electric Vehicles Crashes by Two Thirds (21 Apr)
“The volume of new EV searches, ad views and messages to retailers on the Auto Trader platform was down nearly two thirds (65 percent) from the beginning of last year to March this year, it reported.
Auto Trader attributed this drop to the on-road running cost of electric cars, sticker prices, soaring borrowing rates, more expensive electricity, and a lack of charging infrastructure, all amid a cost of living crisis.
…
Disinterest may be growing as the company said new EVs are 37 percent more expensive than petrol and diesel cars and there are now fewer new electric models between in lower prices ranges than there were in 2022.”
The fact that governments are making electricity unaffordable is also making EVs unaffordable. At the same time they’re making public transport unreliable and dangerous, so the only alternative is ICE cars. And China is going to be percolating cheap ICE cars into markets no matter what green governments do.
The only reason petrol is as expensive as it is is because OPEC have cut production to raise the oil price. By comparison Germany just shut down their nuke sector, and are raising energy prices by 45%. Their electricity price was already highest in the world, now going even higher. And we’re going to follow because we can’t get electricity from other countries like they can.
Daniel Andrews stewing nicely in his own juices
I HATE DANIEL ANDREWS
EVs aren’t sustainable but you can’t rule out lithium as a for profit business because the fundamentals aren’t right.
It is being totally distorted by governments. The price is still historically high and the AUD matters quite a lot.
Dan Andrews looks like Gonzalo Lira.
There, I’ve said it.
I wonder if it’s more about non-reporting than not commenting, ie. the media is silencing the opposition. Is there a requirement to publish press releases from the opposition, or can they simply ignore them?
On the billion dollar railway to nowhere, is there a mechanism for auditing exactly where that money went?
I was expecting this headline to be from the Bee…
Justin Trudeau Weeps as Twitter Slaps ‘State Media’ Label on CBC (20 Apr)
Doing satire is hard when reality is satire.
No, he’s not.
The governing model Andrews has pioneered is ruled by fear and deflection, where everyone but him is responsible for his disastrous failures and the party hacks keeping him in the top job are too scared of what he’ll do to them to open their mouths — all paid for with other people’s money and Australia’s biggest state debt.
Exemplary sentence.
A bit different to the tea and bikkies they’ve been getting from Mr Plod.
Press releases are one thing. They are words on pages, nothing more.
It’s when he speaks. He has no presence. There’s no commitment in his voice – it’s as though he’d really like to finish every sentence with ‘if that’s all right with everybody’.
Compare and contrast. Latham could hold a presser about cake recipes and achieve what they call ‘cut-through’. Pesutto could hold one about the sinking of the Titanic and you’d be overwhelmed with beige, and that’s why he’s ineffective.
On the billion dollar railway to nowhere, is there a mechanism for auditing exactly where that money went?
I could be wrong calli, but what I gathered from Elliott is that no work has actually commenced, so one could surmise that rather it’s the consultants and planning that has the money spent hitherto on them.
wow – could CBC be any more misleading as to their source of funds?
Check out the graph on https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/impact-and-accountability/finances/annual-reports/ar-2018-2019/financial-sustainability/revenue-and-other-funds
Did you miss the scale break on the left?
Another interesting article in the Oz by Janet A about the Higgins case.
The lithium price is telling us the bullshit from the Right that there was not enough lithium in the world was just that – bullshit.
I don’t know if demand for EVs has fallen off but there are other uses for lithium. Where’s the information about a drop in global EV demand?
So glad the filthy turd was charged.
I seriously thought he would face no repercussions.
Perhaps he should join the female wrestling team.
“Maybe people should subscribe instead of claiming he’s mute on the Victorian mess.”
I think you have a valid point there. A friend rang me late last night and told me she wants to join the Liberal Party and asked if I would too. I was silent, because I feel such loathing towards the party here in NSW and federally, and the NSW Liberal executive doesn’t just refuse to listen to branch members, it spits in their faces. I said to her, what’s the effing point?
As you all know, the NSW Liberals have just elected Mark Speakman as leader, a man who’s more left-wing than Premier Chris Minns. And worse, they are about to fiddle with party rules and elect, as deputy leader, the vacuous nonentity Natalie Ward, despite Ward being in the upper house. Both are “Keanites”.
You might remember Ward from the NSW Sky election panel a month ago, she’s the blond bimbo halfwit who looked as though she’d just emerged from a botched facelift. On the panel that night all Ward did was crow about how the Liberals managed to hold off Teal challenges in some leafy north shore and northern beaches electorates despite losing seats in more middle income areas where, as you all know, the party has a future. Remember how she and Credlin had a cat fight? Credlin, of course, can see the structural problems in the party, and she can see where the party’s future lies, whereas the likes of Kean and Photios acolytes such as Ward are too busy trying to save the wealthy electorates, hence the focus on ruinables and all the rest of the vacuous talking points of wealthy suburban electorates. All of this is disastrous. Ward is the epitome of what’s wrong with the Liberal Party across the country, it isn’t that she’s Labor lite, she’s far worse, she’s Green lite. Now whilst I can’t speak for Victoria, the problems in the party are similar, parties dominated by Green lite Liberals. However, at least here in NSW we’re lucky to have Minns, he’s no Daniel Andrews. The problems in Victoria are compounded by the fact that you have Daniel Andrews as premier, who I think rates as perhaps the most sinister, evil and pernicious political leader in Australian history, a man who’s far worse than Joh or Bolte or Askin. Why is Andrews so successful? Well, I think for two reasons, firstly, he is utterly “Machiavellian” politically and secondly, the Victorian opposition is simply Labor lite on most issues and thus can’t and won’t resist Andrews. Sure, you can fight Labor and Andrews on economic management but you also have to fight them on other issues and that’s where the Victorian Liberal Party is failing, dismally. It isn’t just economics, it’s also culture and until they wake up to this they will stay in opposition. Pussotto’s abysmal reaction to the Melbourne Let Women Speak rally shows how Andrews is an expert puppet master, and Pussotto fell for it, hook, line and sinker. No wonder Andrews shrugs off IBAC findings, he’s laughing.
If the Liberal party, state and federal, has a future then it must despatch, purge and clean out the Keanites and confine them to history, much like the Caananites were confined to history.
Yes, Black Ball. An audit would reveal which “consultants”, and if there was a single enquiring mind in Victoria, exactly who these consultants are affiliated with.
Apart from brown paper bag manufacturers. Or is that ALDI bags? Hard to keep up sometimes.
Meme;
https://substack.com/redirect/b9651b71-e10d-4199-a7e7-fd8832d6cb27?j=eyJ1IjoiaG85YmoifQ.bMnuNm5GLk5MFSCvcs0G5r0y-jYhpNwjaZVrL0QBwGM
Hasn’t stopped them, they’re doubling down.
Extinction Rebellion LIVE: Protests shut down major road and cut off Dept. of Health HQ (21 Apr)
Extinction Rebellion demonstrations have prompted road closures in London today as climate activists descend on the capital for the organisation’s “Big One” protests.
People have arrived in their thousands, with the first protesters filtering into the capital from 7am and setting up picket lines at Government departments across Whitehall.
Members have notably set up pickets outside the Home Office and Department of Health this afternoon while holding a banner calling for ministers to create a “climate public health campaign”.
They’re not having it all their own way though.
Snooker chief set to sue Just Stop Oil protestor at World Championship (21 Apr)
It’ll be juicy if the lawsuit gets up, but knowing Pommy judges the perp will probably be required to pay £1.
Extinction Rebellion leader exposed for using diesel-driving car and buying imported food
Piers Corbyn accuses Extinction Rebellion of ‘working for the devil’ after crashing event
Snap Tom and KD.
John Pesutto has integrity and passion for what he hopes to achieve unfortunately not too many get to hear more than the few minutes grab the media allow him . I know John also his staff and his trouble he is too nice our group told him last week that he lacks ‘ mongrel’ and how to think like Dan . That does not mean behaving like Dan . Jordan Peterson has the knack to shut a leftie up , this technique can be learned and it requires knowing facts inside out and then asking a question they can’t answer. He was set up by Dan over Moira Issue , staffer agrees with me . After listening to him rattling on about the need for new transmission lines , not what the farmers want btw, I asked him ‘ look outside 10.30 am no wind no sun what good would new transmission lines at breakfast time this morning have been.?
Second question What countries are transitioning to renewables these days relying on sun and wind ? How about Germany now?
He does state though transitioning slowly until we have back up eg gas very likely in Vic where Dan has banned all gas exploration , we pressed for nuclear.
Oops, forgot to remove the last two lines, which are also fun headlines today. Especially the stinky sprung for hypocrisy.
Oh Please do! There is already a structural shortage looming for Hg and with Govt hands readily fking up Escondida the price impact will be stunning. Escondida is by far a bigger treasure for the commies than Lithium.
I
Wish I’d said that. What I can say is I have been asked more than once to rejoin the Libs, my answer is always the same, when you terf out Turdbull and Kean and put Abbott in a senior position, I will consider it.
WH ‘assisted living’ for Joe
Reader Ruth Cohen sees a big picture, writing: “The answer as to why we are failing on the global scale is that Joe Biden is demented. The president belongs in assisted living, not in the Oval Office.”
“The White House is likely run as an assisted-living facility for him.
He gets oriented to time, place and person, then gets his script for the day, including instructions on when to stop talking and what to avoid discussing. He takes a variety of meds for conditions hidden from the public.”
George Alexopoulos bangs George Costanza.
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev~
Wouldn’t Elon’s price cutting qualify?
Woman scorned.
Lock him up! Hunter Biden’s baby mama Lunden Roberts demands the president’s son be thrown in Arkansas jail for refusing to hand over his financial records in child support dispute (21 Apr)
Not surprising he hasn’t handed over his financial records, but expecting an Arkansas judge to dare Arkancide and force him to cough them up is a big ask.
Indeed.
Moses KC is a serious chap. Looks like the Sofronoff inquiry is going to be dealing with a line up of proper naughty boys and girls – all wiping their hands on the hapless Drumgold.
John Pesutto has integrity and passion for what he hopes to achieve unfortunately not too many get to hear more than the few minutes grab the media allow him .
Really? I can’t see any “integrity and passion” in Pussotto. I watched him on Credlin two days after the Melbourne rally and he sat there, snivelling, and I was reminded of Nosferatu in the original early Dracula move, hovering about, ready to pounce. All Pussotto did was dissemble and worse, he LIED when he described Kellie-Jay and other women at the rally as “NAZIS” or “Nazi adjacent”. It was worse than defamation. And he double downed, he insisted to Credlin he had it on good authority that Keen and others were allied to Nazis, and what was his authority? Wikipedia. I fell on my living room floor in shock that night, and I’m not that shockable. That’s ain’t “integrity”, that’s cowardice, that’s moral bankruptcy.
I know John also his staff and his trouble he is too nice our group told him last week that he lacks ‘ mongrel’ and how to think like Dan . That does not mean behaving like Dan . Jordan Peterson has the knack to shut a leftie up , this technique can be learned and it requires knowing facts inside out and then asking a question they can’t answer. He was set up by Dan over Moira Issue , staffer agrees with me . After listening to him rattling on about the need for new transmission lines , not what the farmers want btw, I asked him ‘ look outside 10.30 am no wind no sun what good would new transmission lines at breakfast time this morning have been.?
No, Pussotto and his staff chose to follow Dan’s dictates over the rally. They didn’t have to. A leader with courage and any half baked decency would not have fallen for Dan’s talking points. Pussotto’s dug his own grave, it’s simply of matter of time as to when he lies down in it.
Remember:
DPP Shane Drumgold SC is the real victim here.
Trump’s right. The demonrat party must be destroyed.
Get a load of this.
In theory every builder/ project manager using fixed price contracts will go belly up.
Inflation has caused the price of the build to exceed the price of the quote
Telling the truth seems to cause our masters to rend their clothes and tear their hair.
Climate Change Lockdowns disguised as “15 Minute Cities” are being introduced under the UN Agenda 2030 Directive & WEF Great Reset plan
BREAKING – Just 0.3% of Scientists agree Humanity is causing Climate Change; NOT 97% as falsely spread by the UN
There is that, but also there is a dire shortage of tradies so completion times seriously blow out and that destroys builder’s cash flows. If they can’t get paid within their planned time frame, the builders have to borrow and at oppressive rates. Big added costs.
Ford F-150 Lightning fire footage highlights a growing EV risk
Farmer: Wind turbine fire in rural Western New York caused contamination to family, livestock, and land
Controversy Erupts After Italian Minister Calls for Boosting Birth Rate to Avoid ‘Ethnic Replacement’
Cleopatra – Was she White or Black?
“For whatever reason, people have tried to claim that Cleopatra was black. That is the most absurd proposition that distorts history beyond belief. When Alexander the Great died, his empire was split among his generals. Egypt went to General Ptolomey. There was perhaps a sense of prejudice by the Greeks against those that they conquered which did not turn simply on skin color. Adding to this, there was a custom in Egypt among all classes in society that you were very fortunate to have a sister to marry for that was one means of keeping the wealth in the family. A 2015 study of even the royalty of Egypt which predated Ptolemy shows that there was extensive inbreeding among the ancient Egyptian royalty.
The inbreeding among the Pharaohs of Egypt was usually done to emulate the god Osiris who married his sister Isis. Ramses II married his own daughter Meritamen. He did have other wives, who were related and some way, and there was also a wife for political purposes being a foreign royalty. It is also believed that Hatesphut’s mother was possibly her half-sister. Interestingly, inbreeding was also because women carried the royal bloodlines so the man was advantaged to marry the most royal woman he could, often a close relative – hence a man was very fortunate to have a sister. Thus, this inbreeding, consanguinity, was well documented. According to Smithsonian magazine, Egyptian law, and tradition “decreed that pharaohs marry their sisters. Cleopatra married her oldest brother after the death of her father, and she married her youngest brother after the death of her first brother.” When Julius Caesar showed up, Cleopatra VII was married to her younger brother Cleopatra, now married to her brother Ptolemy XIV, was restored to her throne after Ptolemy XIII drowned in the Nile. Ptolemy XIV died in 44 BC and her co-ruler became her infant son, Ptolemy XV Caesar – often known as the son of Caesar called Caesarian.
The whole taboo of inbreeding came from the Romans – not the Greeks. Roman civil law forbade couples from marrying if they were within four degrees of consanguinity. From the mid-9th century AD, the church even raised this limit to the seventh degree and the method of calculating degrees was also changed. Without question, incest in Egyptian culture was in fact (1) mimicking the Greek gods, and (2) among the wealthy, to retain the wealth within the family.
The coinage of the era reflects the portraits of the various rulers and they are highly accurate. The engravers had images of the person to work from. A collector can immediately recognize the person before even reading that caption on the coinage.
We can easily see the resemblance between Cleopatra to the surviving sculpture. We can see from the coinage and the bust of Mark Antony the depiction of his curly hair.
Here is another coin of Mark Antony and Octavian, the heir of Caesar. Once again we see the curly hair. The portraits on the coinage reflect accurate images of the people concerned.
This is a bronze drachm of Egypt depicting Cleopatra VII. We can once more easily see how the portrait reflects the true image of Cleopatra.
JUBA II was King of MAURETANIA and the son of King Juba I of Numidia. His father had supported Pompey against Caesar in Africa and continued to support the Pompeians even after the death of Pompey. Following Caesar’s victory, Juba I fled to Zama after the Battle of Thapsus where he had a slave kill him. But his son, Juba II, was taken to Rome in 46 BC as a child, following the death of his father. There he lived under the protection of both Caesar and Octavian while he was educated in Roman tradition. He was extremely intelligent and quickly gained the reputation for being one of the most learned men in the world. He became an early supporter of Octavian in his war against Marc Antony and Cleopatra. In 30 BC, following Octavian’s conquest of Egypt, Juba was married to Cleopatra, the daughter of Marc Antony and the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. Here again, is a coin depicting his mother-in-law.
Juba’s marriage to the daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony was clearly political in nature. We can see the resemblance in her portrait on this denarius from MAURETANIA. Octavian sought a means by which he could stabilize Africa. Octavian, therefore, sent the prince to rule his own people. In 25 AD, however, Octavian, now known as Augustus (27BC-14AD), traded him Mauretania for Numidia, which had long been a source of gold for the Egyptians. Juba held Mauretania, including Gaetulia, as a loyal client of Rome. His reign was noted for its intellectualism and for Juba’s reliance upon Rome to keep the throne in the face of public unrest.
There are clearly Greek coins depicting black Africans. While everyone asserts that the oldest profession is prostitution, the second oldest is not lawyers to make sure the prostitutes get paid, but soldiers-for-hire are also known as Mercenaries. There were black mercenaries who served in many wars. We know from contemporary accounts that the barbarians of the North were fearsome. These Celtic Mercenaries were hired by Egypt during the reign of the ethnically Greek Ptolemaic dynasty. Celtic Mercenaries became a part of Egypt’s official army. During the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, Celtic Mercenaries played a very decisive role in conquering Syria as well as Judea. The Greek historian Polybius tells us that many Celtic Mercenaries actually settled in Egypt and took Egyptian or Greek wives. The Greeks saw them as a mixed race and referred to their offspring as e pigovoi.
We also know from Herodotus that he visited Egypt during the 5th century BC. He made it clear that the Greeks were one of the first groups of foreigners that ever lived there. Egyptian painting show white, brown, and black races. It is amazing that people would distort history to insist that Cleopatra was black when the Ptolemy line was Greek and they certainly did not intermarry with the locals regardless of their color.
There are clearly black empires inside Africa. Northern Africa was colonized by the Greeks for centuries before Alexander showed up. Even the legendary Queen of Sheba was from Ethiopia which depicted people of the black race. In order to even get elephants, they traded with black cultures deeper inside Africa.
This whole WOKEISM is going way too far as NETFLIX is now doing a show with Cleopatra being black. Why don’t we picture Julius Caesar as transgender? Why NETFLIX is even allowing a total distortion of historical facts is damaging to our understanding of the past. History can be confirmed from the coinage. Perhaps people fail to understand that coinage has even survived.”
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/history/ancient-history/cleopatra-was-she-white-or-black/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS
Black Ball says:
April 22, 2023 at 7:51 am
Vicki Campion:
Cheaper power, lower debt, lower cost of living, zero emissions, and a 24/7 registered nurse in every aged care facility.
It all seemed too good to be true and, like the buff body with a six-pack that advertises grandma’s dust-gathering exercise machine under the bed, it was.
Instead, not-for-profit, community-run and commercial, aged care facilities are closing their doors, unable to find registered nurses to keep them open from July 1.
The $275 cheaper power bill promise has vanished from Labor’s sites and speeches.
And the electric vehicle strategy released on Thursday lacks any coherent safety plan.
Pre-election promises about 24/7 registered nurses “because it is the right thing to do” were political advertising gimmicks, more hollow than Albanese’s Easter egg offering.
His experimentalism has resulted in Australia going backwards, a workforce gap of 8400 registered nurses and 13,300 personal care workers, forcing homes to close as they can’t abide by the new policy.
On the anniversary of his Easter bunny hop, an 82-year-old lady recovering from a broken hip in a country NSW base hospital who is afraid of being alone was told to go home to recover as the system frantically tries to find spaces for the hundreds of aged care residents who need somewhere new to go following the closures of aged care homes.
An assessment for if she can get a now-coveted spot in a local aged care home is up to six months away.
Albo’s demand for registered nurses has not improved the quality of aged care facilities but closed them,
and the lady recovering from a broken hip is being told to go home to watch the cost of the aged care sector soar up to $5bn, her power bill go up, and a distracted federal government flogging electric cars on its political shopping channel.
Labor’s slogan about taking $275 off your power bill has morphed into “We’re investing in renewable energy”.
Instead of junk gimmicks under the bed, we have junk technology littered over the countryside, with more to come.
Black Ball,
ElbowSleezy & Labor/Greens are DickHeads and Incompetent
and a 24/7 registered nurse in every aged care facility.
one of my wifes’s tennis friends – 81 – has been given Notice to Vacate Wesley Taylor Residential Aged Care and Independent Living facility at 156 Ocean Street, Narrabeen, where she bought into when her husband died
Mackellar MP Dr Sophie Scamps says the shock closure of an aged care facility at Narrabeen is a symptom of a larger problem.
The decision by aged care provider Wesley Mission to close the Wesley Taylor Residential Aged Care and Independent Living facility at 156 Ocean Street, Narrabeen, will see up to 74 residents need to find alternative accommodation when the facility closes.
The decision to close the Narrabeen facility follows a tumultuous period in the aged care sector
Wesley Taylor at Narrabeen is Wesley Mission’s longest running aged care facility, having first opened its doors in 1929 as a home for aged men. It was named after the Reverend William George Taylor, who became Wesley Mission’s first Superintendent in 1884.
The decision to close the Narrabeen facility, which has 55 single-room bedsits and 19 one-bedroom rooms, will see up to 74 residents needing to find alternative accommodation.
According to Dr Scamps, the closure of the Wesley Taylor facility at Narrabeen reflects a broader crisis in the aged care sector.
“I believe the sector is in crisis, and that was played out very clearly with the Royal Commission into aged care. There are a number of very important recommendations that need to be implemented.
“One of them is, in July wages for the aged care workforce will be increased by 15 percent, and the Commonwealth Government will be funding that.
That will go some way to attract and retain people in the aged care workforce, because we know that the people working in aged care have been undervalued for a long while.
“Then we have the 24/7 nursing care, that is to make sure that residents are cared for in the way that we would expect in Australia.
We know that we also have a nursing shortage, the government has implemented those fee free TAFE courses.
Yes, Varg is a church arsonist and convicted murderer, but Filosofem is one of the greatest albums of all time.
And to be honest, if I had to put up with Norwegian food all my life, I would probably start feeling a bit homicidal too.
Just like the night in question, it’s what’s missing that makes it more interesting.
Bombshell: Ex-CIA Chief Confessed He Got 50 Colleagues To Co-sign False Hunter Biden Laptop Letter In Bed To ‘Help Biden’
DC_Draino
@DC_Draino
CNN recently interviewed the grandson of 84 y/o Andrew Lester, the man who shot the teen attempting to enter his home
The grandson said his grandfather is a racist Christian male that watches Fox News
You know what CNN didn’t disclose?
The grandson’s Twitter bio & here’s why
A growing number of scientists are sounding the alarm about the risks of both COVID and its cures
Bruce O’Newk:
Have we ever been ruled by such brain dead idiots as we are being ruled today?
At what point does the majority of voters in the West wake up and start putting this incompetent mob of lunatics to the sword?
(NADT)
Rabzsays:
April 21, 2023 at 11:36 pm
ZK2A – one of my best mate’s ol’ man was a Sicilian who served in Abyssinia before being apprehended by the Ozzies during the North African campaign and sent to Oz, where he was imprisoned with other axis captives until the end of the war.
He lived peacefully here once released, brought up a family and tended his mighty suburban garden until his death at the age of 97 in 2008. One of the most gentle, civilised and educated men I’ve had the privilege of knowing in my life. His olives were the best I’ve ever tasted.
Back in the early Oughties, I spent some time as a volunteer in the AWM Research Centre, helping people track down records of family members.
We often had school groups through, and the kids were told to bring the name of a family member to research. We had a primary age group in one day, most of them got busy on the computers, but one lass sat by herself, waiting for the rest to finish.
When I got time, I wandered over and asked if she had anyone to research. She replied that she was from an Italian family, so would not have anyone to look up. Knowing what was in the Collections Database, I suggested we have a look anyway.
We found a spare computer, and entered her family name. Several photos came up, most being of the prisoners band at the Hay PoW camp. I opened one up, checked the caption, and pointed to one of the band members. She took one look, and gave a delighted cry: “That’s Poppy.”
I printed a few of the photos off, and the lass rushed back to show her schoolmates that she, also, had a family connection in the Memorial.
Clearly, Poppy was not too distressed by his time as a PoW in Australia, as the family ended up here after the War was over. Don’t know if they were Sicilian, though …
Leak nails it. Enthusiasm for Chalmers RBA reforms died immediately on the announcement of the first two appointments. Liars gotta liar.
Whoever’s in charge of the Armstrong Kenomics supercomputer can’t spell.
Even if it’s £200,000 it will be a pyrrhic victory unless he’s a trust fund baby or they include extinction rebellion as a party.
Revealed: NIH Funded Research at Wuhan Lab to Create Mutant Bat Coronaviruses and Study Their Capacity to Infect Humans
It’s dreadful stuff – that should deeply worry Amurka and the world.
Once it would indeed have been a “Bombshell”, with splinters flying everywhere: now, a ‘Meh, whatever, Beltway shit’. The payoff of saturation bad behaviour, ignored by the media, is more bad behaviour.
New World Odor™
@hugh_mankind
Nicola Valley, BC citizens including the Mayor of Merritt are demanding the rehiring of 2,500+ unvaccinated healthcare workers who were fired due to vax mandates, amid their 10th ER closure since Dec!
Next door in Alberta, they’ve hired/rehired all unvaxxed staff of 700 doctors, 1,800 nurses with plans to hire another 3,600 health workers.
New World Odor™
@hugh_mankind
Canadian Teen Dies Suddenly & Unexpectedly At School Desk~ School insists it was from ‘natural causes’
The grade 11 student was double jabbed
Kevin MacDonald
@TOOEdit
Sociopathic. They don’t just want to be a trans person. They want to piss people off.
Richard
@ricwe123
So Vladimir Putin was right all along:
The US Pentagon released a statement on its official website acknowledging that it has funded 46 Ukrainian biological facilities over the past 20 years……
I don’t watch politicians talking, I’m not a masochist.
I prefer the printed word.
The only point I was making was that he isn’t mute on the issues in Victoria.
Ukraine NATO and the U.S. w/ Alastair Crooke – 22 Mins 46 Secs
Judge Napolitano – Judging Freedom
Here it is:
The News story that Sancho got worked up about yesterday.
Except it wasn’t evil Whitey shotin’ down angelic Black 6 year old
[like Sancho thought], it was Black on Bail for hitting his GF in the head with a Lump Hammer shooting White 6 year old and her family over a Ba’ketball.
People make the same comments about Archbishop Comensoli.
He issues media releases on controversial issues, they don’t get picked up by the msm and people claim he is silent.
It’s funny that some people who are forever condemning the msm don’t bypass it.
Pesutto can be found on every form of social media.
I’m notafan of his, by the way.
Yes, but those are now the richest 0.3% of scientists.
Meanwhile in bat crud news:
CDC Director Admits Vaccines Do Not Prevent COVID Transmission, Blames “Evolution Of Science” (21 Apr)
Hopefully evolution of science gets to tumbrils soon. We might need a lot of them.
The bigger, more relevant issue, is not that he is mute but that he is not heard.
End result in the world of voters is identical.
PS – Streamed live 9 hours ago -<strong> Ukraine NATO and the U.S. w/ Alastair Crooke – 22 Mins 46 Secs
Give us another episode of Ed Crash Investigation, Googlery.
Calli:
I like you. You a funny girl.
Australia to dramatically scale back spending on infantry fighting vehicles in major defence overhaul
An overhaul commissioned by Albanese and carried out by Top Men Angus Houston and Stephen Smith.
Out:
• Replacements for 1970’s-style APC’s;
• Self-propelled howitzers;
In:
• Army landing craft;
• HIMARS;
• Land-based anti-shipping missiles.
Now, I haven’t the faintest idea whether these are sensible exchanges, but the other major new toy certainly rings alarm bells:
Whenever I hear the government is about to ‘establish an enterprise’ I reach for my revolver…
Tom:
It’s OK. In 42 months time, you can vote him out. Isn’t Democracy a wonderful way to run things?
So what is Victoria going to do until then, apart from complain about lying bastard Politicians, Courts, and Media?
Admit it, guys – we’ve lost control of the country and it’s been taken over by a cabal of criminals, spivs, and liars.
Grate – was hoping I’d misheard the news report yesterday. They are beyond parody and quite simply an inexcusable abomination that serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Except keeping labore in government for a lot longer than they deserve.
That said, I can’t see Speakperson being gliberal leader at the next NSW election. Although given the masochistic stupidity of the gliberals they’ll no doubt persist, even as their approval ratings and polling figures head inexorably towards zero. A situation they’ll no doubt be very comfortable with, just like their confreres in Disasterstan.
Because they’ve taken your wallet?
KD @ 8:21am
Pesutto has left the building. (h/t Elvis)
Oh come on, min. No setup necessary. Pesutto thinks the party has to lose its image as old privileged f**ts. He works at being safe and reliable and responsible and middle of the road. He thinks that bread and butter issues are the way to go. That’s got all the excitement of accountancy and won’t change anything. In trying to expel Moira he claimed to be sending a message to other members about not getting sucked into distractions. The distractions now are the main game. Plenty of people want the Libs to stand up and call out the gay and trans nonsense, the immigration ponzi that clogs Melbourne roads and sabotages affordable housing, not to mention the Voice and the resultant Treaty. It’s absolutely pathetic how cowed they are.
HIMARS are probably ok to add in
Landing craft, useless
Anti-ship missiles are a good idea
Making howitzers redundant is a terrible idea… (see current Ukraine war)
APC’s are neither here nor there..
What we do need is an increase in air and sea based drone programs
Also a light aircraft carrier or two.
Also, nuclear capabilities
Put Burzum into the Spotify while I did the dishes… yeah nah. Sounds like the bit last night when the hash eaters get hold of the floor and I quietly left.
Back to Kvelertak…. ok it’s not just screaming, but it’s definitely hjelling.
Over the hills to Sverige, I think I need some Dungen for a bonus sunny morning. Stunning weather for finishing off the port grapes.
The problem is that shite behaviour and ocean-going managerial incompetence attracts no penalty.
As someone* upthread noted, the terminally degraded Fourth Estate bears responsibility for much of this state of affairs.
* Sorry, on phone, scrolling is not an option.
Made exactly the same point in the Paywallian yesterday. Victoriastanis knew exactly what they would get returning the Chairman to government. Not much the democratic process can do for you under those circumstances. Now, about those alternatives…
Also, in regards to all of our military equipment.
This gear needs to be able to be repaired and serviced with minimal tooling, training and resources.
The current generation of everything we’re getting in all areas is none of these things..
All the equipment we procure, (mostly U.S. based is expensive, complicated, difficult to repair in the field (some stuff you’re not even allowed to repair…) and takes ages to learn how to use…
Why is the RPG-7 still in use now after decades?
About to be paid for by Victorians with higher fees and charges and cuts to services including basic railway maintenance.
Melbourne’s next tranche of 3rd world immigrants should feel right at home.
Tucker Carlson explains how the Dems have taken the term “demographics is destiny” and made demographic changes to electorates in those suburbs where voting outcomes are usually likely to lean right rather than left.
The Open Border push has this same goal.
That’s how deep the rot is.
Yes. We need “bang for our buck”.
Pogria:
So glad the filthy turd was charged.
I seriously thought he would face no repercussions.
Perhaps he should join the female wrestling team.
Pathetic little jerk. A life ban is necessary to send a message.
A question to the people who trained him – now that he has skills not known to his classmates/social group, how does he relate to them? Are they afraid of him? They should be.
And what about his trainers? Why didn’t they pick up this kids inability to have the necessary self control to compete in a physical sport like wrestling?
Thanks BJ, a nice little tale.
$32.2 billion on a beer coaster estimate for the Albanesegrad No.1 Guided Rocket Factory tells me the bastards aren’t planning on giving it back anytime soon.
Plasmamortar
Also a light aircraft carrier or two.
We have two, aircraft are needed to go with them.
Who only got 32% of the primary vote.
Also, Leak’s effort today is magnificent. His contempt for Dim Chambers shines like a beacon. The braindead union thug and the RBA colourless bureaucrat are pitch perfect as well.
Reject the Blakistocracy.
That is all.
I’m betting they are already here. In the form of US weaponry stationed here and also US subs around about our sea borders. Undeclared of course.
Australia’s biggest loss of life in a maritime military disaster found….
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-22/montevideo-maru-wwii-shipwreck-found/102255384
He’s an improvement over Perrottet.
Poor Perrottet was forced to be the righty fig leaf over lefty testicles Kean and Photios.
At least they now have a lefty puppet.
I was amused that Kean did not stand. He is intelligent enough to know his brand pongs with the base, so he needed a fall guy. Speakperson looks to be that. This way he can wangle himself into a safe Federal seat without being a dud Opposition Leader, therefore making that impossible. Johannes should do a NSW Libs cartoon like the Chalmers one this morning.
Well that’s rather damning of Perrottet.
Speakman is a vulgar postmodernist authoritarian. He must not become Premier.
We’ve had gutful of “Laura Norder” populist authoritarianism ruin our civil liberties for the last 30 or so years.
Enough.
Pesutto can be found on every form of social media.
That is standard operating procedure for every public figure and is especially true for politicians.
In the case of Pesutto, what message does it send that he seems to be on the government funded media ABC (h/t Musk) more often? Significantly, he is now known for siding against a conservative woman, denigrating her for fighting for the rights of women and for continuing his vendetta against her. All of which fits particularly well with the ABC dislike of conservatives.
A little family story:
A GG grandfather had a bullock team. On one occasion when the bullocks were stuck in the mud and had been like that for a while, his wife, my GG grandmother, Eliza, and her sister-in-law, walked up to the place to see how things were going. Where upon Eliza let fly with some “colourful” language to the bullocks. Her sister-in-law was shocked and said so. Eliza replied that “she was only using the language the bullocks understood”.
Why is Pesutto is on the ABC? Because he speaks the language the ABC understands.
I resisted watching this for a about a week. Almost an hour long, but it’s good.
“Whatifalthist”
The Coming Far Right Backlash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuuDjqNyxyw
WAGNER DASHES UKRAINIAN HOPES IN BAKHMUT
On the morning of April 21, the adviser to the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic claimed that the Russian military had encircled the Ukrainian grouping in Bakhmut in a cauldron.
The statement was made after reports from the front emerged that Wagner’s fighters, with the support of airborne artillery, had managed to cut the main supply route of the Ukrainian garrison. The strongholds of the Ukrainian 93rd mechanized brigade located on the highway to Chasov Yar west of Khromovo came under Russian control. According to preliminary data, about 500 meters of the road have been cut.
The O-0506 road has been the main route for communication with the Ukrainian grouping in Bakhmut over the past weeks. More than 60% of supplies went along it.
Some Ukrainian sources confirmed the loss of the road but said that the Ukrainian army is trying to prevent the Russians from gaining a foothold.
The day before, Russian forces had increased pressure on the Ukrainian positions to the west of Khromovo They advanced in a forest area and came close to the highway, which sharply increased the amount of Ukrainian equipment destroyed during the attempts to break to Bakhmut along the road and fields between Khromovo and Ivanovskoe.
Meanwhile, the road from Bakhmut to Konstantinovka also cannot be used to supply the Ukrainian grouping in the city. Fighting is ongoing in the immediate vicinity of the highway near Ivanovskoe; and in Bakhmut, there are battles in the southwestern quarters.
A battle has broken out for control of a large garage zone located between Levanevsky and Tchaikovsky Street. Also, Wagner fighters are advancing to the east of the Mig-17 monument at the entrance to the city.
In the center of Bakhmut, Ukrainian units lost all their main positions in the area of the railway tracks and the Bakhmut-2 railway station. Russian forces have moped out a large area to the south. Most recently, they secured the territory of the Transit Hotel. To the north of the station, Ukrainian forces continue their unsuccessful attempts to counterattack west of the elevator.
Nice family story, BBS!
And an apt illustration.
😀
… we’ve lost control of the country and it’s been taken over by a cabal of criminals, spivs, and liars.
Operations normal, then. A cabal of criminals, spivs, and liars pretty much describes government, anywhere, any time.
Fair enough Wally. I clicked your link to the Kvelertak video and did not think much of that either.
Tell me though, is there any special secret to growing grapes? Mine keep dying.
That was funny Dot, you completely misunderstood my point.
I want the NSW Libs to own the consequences of their wokeness.
Which means the lefties now in charge no longer being allowed to blame the right.
Which is what they’ve been doing…that whole “the Liberal Party has gone too far right” rubbish.
Doc
Had beers with an ex Army mate last night and this subject came up. His thoughts (Bolded) below among expletives about Stephen Smith who apparently despises the rank & file:
Out:
• Replacements for 1970’s-style APC’s; Dumbest decision in his lifetime, Ukraine has shown either be fully dug in or highly mobile. Light infantry are sitting ducks with the surveillance platforms on a modern battlefield ie drones. Light infantry is cheaper than mechanised infantry though so this is cost cutting pure & simple. M113AS4 should have been replaced years ago when Yanks offered Bradley’s.
• Self-propelled howitzers; Another stupid decision, points to Ukraine and the artillery duels going on. (Shown some footage of Mortar teams as soon as they are unmasked they have to move and most of the film show the ranging in of counter battery fire as they are leaving) We need self propelled platforms, the M113’s have mortar variants and are very quick compared to crash actions on the man packed variety
In:
• Army landing craft; This Amphibious capability will be like the Sea Sprites, MRH90/Tiger debacle all over again. Landing craft are useless without a Naval capability to protect the ships they come on. That isn’t in place nor will it ever be by the looks. There are 3 landing ships, 2 new ones are beset by problems and the third is a rusting hulk bought off the British. Looks sexy but sucks huge amounts of the defence budget for questionable return. WOFTAM in his opinion.
• HIMARS; Probably a good move, if we can be supplied with the missiles…
• Land-based anti-shipping missiles. Could be a good move depending on range of the platform but poses many questions like location, accessibility to remote areas etc…
Several churches started having problems with squirrels damaging their buildings.
The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation.
After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they should not interfere with God’s divine will.
At the Baptist church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistry. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistry and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week.
The Lutheran church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God’s creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist church. Two weeks later, the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the waterslide.
The Episcopalians tried a much more unique path by setting out pans of whiskey around their church in an effort to kill the squirrels with alcohol poisoning. They sadly learned how much damage a band of drunk squirrels can do.
But the Catholic church came up with a more creative strategy!
They baptised all the squirrels and made them members of the church. Now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.
Not much was heard from the Jewish Synagogue. They took the first squirrel and circumcised him. They haven’t seen a squirrel since.
If we must die, we die defending our rights.
– Chief Sitting Bull
A short video to gladden the heart of every windmill hater in the country.
Enjoy!
A short video to gladden the heart of every EV car hater in the country.
Enjoy!
A short video to gladden the heart of every Big Battery hater in the country.
Enjoy!
Is there anything the smartest people in the room can’t stuff up?
CC, Dot.
Here ya go, Sancho.
White people behaving badly, your fave topic.
Makka:
So why is there a shortage of Tradies?
I keep hearing supply disruptions and COVID, but don’t accept them as reasons for a shortage – they sound like bullshit.
So what is the problem here?
Significantly, he is now known for siding against a conservative woman, denigrating her for fighting for the rights of women and for continuing his vendetta against her.
Yes so maybe even worse than Guy. Just unbelievable.
chrisl says: April 22, 2023 at 9:03 am
Is it possible to write contracts that demand payment indexed to currency devaluations? i.e. you lock in the purchasing power of the quoted price, not the number?
It occurs to me that this would be useful across the board, not just construction.
On a related theme, as CBDCs are based on unique tokens, would it be possible for the central bank to lock the purchasing power of a set of specific money tokens in escrow so that they purchase what they were intended to when they are eventually spent with suppliers? If so, that is simply the flip side of the bank’s ability to downrate the purchasing power of the CBDCs in your account if you’ve been naughty. (All technologies are “dual purpose” depending on operator intent.)
I believe there’s a significant drop out rate among apprentices.
So we’re hardly replacing those who exit the trades,let alone keeping up with growing demand.
I wonder if the education system is not equipping young people with the necessary skills to complete apprenticeships.
Daily Mail
Winston – in the Daily Terror today:
Foreign buyers and renters hit record numbers (DT, paywalled)
All those people fleeing their governments to the questionable safety of Australia I think means the real estate market is going to be propped up, and residential construction too. Maybe Albo should rethink throwing the doors open wide the way he’s doing, after all rich tradies are a class-enemy of Labor.
(Dunno what the story says, I’m not a subscriber. But the headline and blurb were interesting.)
Way back when, one of the new intake of apprentices taken on by an engineering company was late for work, four mornings out of five.
His mother suggested that someone from the workplace, ring him in the mornings, with a wake up call…
Winston Smithsays:
April 22, 2023 at 10:38 am
A short video to gladden the heart of every windmill hater in the country.
Enjoy!
A short video to gladden the heart of every EV car hater in the country.
Enjoy!
A short video to gladden the heart of every Big Battery hater in the country.
Enjoy!
Is there anything the smartest people in the room can’t stuff up?
So, when was the first and last time that a Coal Fired Electricity Power Station burst into flames? Answers on a Post Card sent to the ABC for Fact Checking. LOL.
I’m currently going through the defects process on a construction project and I’m asking the same questions.
The fact of a shortage in skilled trades seems clear enough from the difficulties our contractors and subbies have in arranging fixes and completion.
The best take on the reason is that, prior to Covid, the construction industry was so reliant on temporary migrant labour – particularly (but certainly not exclusively) in the non-code trades. The net result has been a flight of ‘skilled’ workers and a shortage of apprentices and newly qualified hands, simply because the imported teams weren’t training.
This may well only be truthy (and the bullshit detector is constantly sounding), but it’s a commonly advanced excuse.
Report in when you and Bruce learn to stop digging when you hit a mother lode of your own bullshit.
On the billion dollar railway to nowhere, is there a mechanism for auditing exactly where that money went?
I attended several airport rail link teleconferences because of the interaction between the project and pipelines.
I would attend the meeting either by myself or with our pipeline engineer. They would have between 5-10 engineers and administrators on their side. Not difficult to see where the money went.
A combination. It’s not any one thing but a mix of many factors.
Retiring tradies.
Nowhere near enough coming through for decades.
The drop out rate of new apprentices. Snowflakes.
The apprentice pay rates aren’t sufficiently attractive (compared to say a barista in Broome on 90k with free tail thrown in)
The declining number of tradies migrating to hi pay rate jobs in remote sectors like mining and resources construction.
Growing “short termism”. Not prepared to put in the time to reach tradesman level.
What’s the solution? A recession.
Last time: Callide C, May 2021.
I wonder if the education system is not equipping young people with the necessary skills to complete apprenticeships.
Wasn’t there a fabrication company in Townsville running remedial math classes to stop apprentices chopping up steel to the wrong length?
Here’s the size 10 hobnail up the rear.
Popped it on my reading list Dot. First seven minutes looked good and the rest will follow, but gee he has an annoying voice. 😀
Don’t worry, it’s 52 minutes long and you get used to it after 45 minutes.
The solution is what it always has been, higher wages/prices.
Higher wages will encourage more people to pick up apprenticeships and finish them.
Also, trades are becoming more technical as time goes on. A lot of people are still under the impression that trades are for “dumb” people.
It’s quite easy to gross over $200,000 a year in a skilled trade with overtime (doing it in Sydney now)
As more people retire, if the shortage isn’t filled, the price of labour will go up until, eventually, more people enter the field.
The New Broom (42) was saying this to me yesterday. He does the occasional dig up himself and astonishes both customer and tradies in how fast he can do it.
…….
Then he goes home and dies quietly on the sofa. 😀
TAFE is part of the reason.
The symptom
At the last school at which I worked one of the staff said his son had managed to line up 10 electrical apprenticeships, and would start him tomorrow if he had the pre apprenticeship Cert2 in his hand. The local TAFE(s), Noosa to Caloundra, only run at at one site, and only run the 10 week course twice a year to 20 students a time. The son is currently number 2 hundred and something on the waitlist.
It is not something that can be taught at school level.
The reason(s)
They can’t get instructors and the system is geared around semesters.
Why no instructors?
1) To do the Cert IV in Training & Assessment, minimum requirement to teach in TAFE, is expensive, long and mind numbingly boring(ask me how I know this), and has got more of each since I did the original BSBZ Assessment & Training in 2003 ) which then could be done in a week f2f and cost 1K).
2) Instructors must also be current and hold the competencies they teach, the competencies usually change in some way every 5 years or so, often it is minor and you can get upgraded with minimal effort, ie show evidence that you completed competency abcd203a and you will automatically be awarded abcd202b, in other cases new competencies must be completed ie you have competency mnop456a, this is no longer valid and you have to do new competency mnop987a to remain current
3) Teachers currently complain about paperwork and administrivia, well for VET teachers multiply that by 5.
ASQA delenda est !
Is it possible to write contracts that demand payment indexed to currency devaluations? i.e. you lock in the purchasing power of the quoted price, not the number?
How would you negotiate your loan from the bank if the end borrow isn’t known ..? ..
Banks lend (supposedly) on ability to pay back so an open-ended loan seems very unlikely …..
Tradies…priced putting in two (supplied) overhead light heaters in two bathrooms yesterday.
$700 + GST.
Hello cockie!
Video-calling tech could help lonely parrots flock together (Phys.org, 21 Apr)
“A new study which helped pet parrots make video calls to each other suggests that the birds may have benefited from making new feathered friends over the internet.
…
The findings are drawn from more than 1,000 hours of video observations of 18 pet parrots’ behavior over the course of the three-month study. The birds learned how to call each other with the support of their human caretakers, who also took careful notes on their pets’ experiences.
During the study—the first of its kind to offer animals the means to contact each other whenever they chose to—the parrots engaged more regularly in social behavior like preening, singing and play. Parrots who made the most calls also received more calls, suggesting that the study helped the birds become more social.”
When you start to notice wild parrots stealing mobile phones you’ll now know why.
Here’s the size 10 hobnail up the rear.
Quite possibly she’s a very stupid girl. She may have also been told to do it to up their ESG score.
As more people retire, if the shortage isn’t filled, the price of labour will go up until, eventually, more people enter the field.
So, swings & roundabouts, labour costs go up, material costs goes up, end cost substantially higher so fewer people qualify for loans and less incentive to build new ……
This low IQ, brainwashed moron has cost the brewer billions in sales and market share and the company is still too gutless to fire her.
In a just world, she would have been ritually humiliated and frog-marched out of the joint to discourage anyone else thinking of importing the same suicidal company-wrecking ideology.
Keep it up Albo – you’re well on the way to being a one-term government:
Labor’s new masterplan to turn Australia’s roads green is set to fill showrooms with cars that no-one really wants – while ignoring our biggest-selling vehicles, the humble tradie’s ute.
The National Electric Vehicle Strategy, announced last week, will set fuel emission limits on all new vehicles. Car makers will be allowed to average those out across their entire range, with low-emission EVs compensating for gas-guzzling SUVs.
Energy minister Chris Bowen believes the strategy will give manufacturers an incentive to flood the market with cheaper electric cars to spark a revolution on Australia’s roads.
But the nation’s most popular vehicles are fuel-smoking utes – with the Toyota HiLux consistently topping Australia’s vehicle sales charts since 2016 and the Ford Ranger ute close behind.
Even motor dealers warn Australia’s unique market will struggle to convince car manufacturers to bring electric utes – and many other EV models – Down Under.
Daily Mail
Alissa Heinerscheid who uses she/her pronouns
Has anyone studied the correlation between being a communist idiot and having massive teeth?
Do dental implants and veneers have the same effect, or are they a consequence of being a communist idiot?!
Tom . Leave of absence is a very polite way of saying she’s fired.
Diogenes, there was once a time when I could have flashed my Diploma and academic record plus work experience and I could be up in front of a class teaching a dozen different Hort/Building subjects next day.
No more.
Probably a good thing. My patience levels with cretins have eroded to non existent. There were enough of them when I went through, heaven knows what it’s like now.
Tradies…priced putting in two (supplied) overhead light heaters in two bathrooms yesterday.
$700 + GST.
I bought one of these type of things, tho wall mounted, in an op shop last month for $10 (new but missing a wall bracket) .. made up a bracket from shed odds & ends as per the instruction sheet .. fitted in 15minutes .. works perfectly …
75 and not a “tradie” just an improvization OAP ..
Can’t wait until everyone gets home at 6:00pm and plugs in to charge up.
It’ll be an object lesson in stupidity.
From what I saw of the interview a couple of days ago, her malleable brain had been colonised by her dysfunctional “professional development” mentor.
She had basically become that other person.
How many more must be out there, holding seriously important jobs and being operated by loons?
Oh joy.
AI-generated spam may soon be flooding your inbox—and it will be personalized to be especially persuasive (TechXplore, 20 Apr)
It was bad enough when it was only Nigerians.
How many km on the clock counts as a “new vehicle”?
Asking for a Chinese ute manufacturer.
“Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation…”
She lied about that too. While trumpeting about how the court required her to tell the truth.
Yes, “manufacturers” (all offshore) will dramatically alter their production plans to cater to Australia’s .005% share of their global EV market.
Arrogant and dumb Bowen is convinced the public is as stupid as he is, so therefore easily fooled with kind of bullshit. Sadly, too many are.
And what about his trainers? Why didn’t they pick up this kids inability to have the necessary self control to compete in a physical sport like wrestling?
Look at his name .. that would have screamed “wacism” loud & clear if he’d been rejected on temperament ..!
shaterzzz replied:
But it is known. The purchasing power of 500,000 Aussie dollarydoos at COB 21 April.
When the net present value of all repayments has reached that purchasing power, you’ve repaid the loan.
Borrowers may be exposed to currency volatility but lenders cannot? Sounds like half the cause of the inflation problem!
The people that gave her the job should be given the same.
I daresay, it won’t be a solution this time, for a looong time. The situation across many trades is particularly bad. We are in for decades of very high tradie rates.
Price is the equilibrium of supply and demand.
If tradie numbers keep dropping, the price will continue to go up.
Only an increase in the supply of workers, or a reduction in demand for their skills (automation or recession) will lower the price.
Recession might happen, but trades are a long way off being automated.
West Pennant Hills has some serious competition. SMH
‘ Can someone explain why there will be a vote about the Voice but not about the billions of taxpayers’ dollars for the AUKUS agreement? Surely anything that involves Australia in future military action needs to be supported by the people who will be affected by it. If Albanese wants to use our money to pay for the vote, it makes financial sense to have both questions asked at the same time. It behoves the government to ask the people’s permission when their lives are at risk.’
Patricia Philippou, Charlestown
A few happy moments at the end with the young child catching that fish with her dad…as for the rest, it’s a freak show.
———-
Fleccas Talks:
THIS WEEK IN CULTURE 145
Scapegoat. The company will be back here soon enough. She be either moved to another position or find herself parachuted into another position in a neighbouring concern.
Right, so price won’t be the solution you assert.
I’ve already stated the solution is a recession. Local and/or global.
I’m well aware of how high prices fixes high prices. But, in this particular issue there is no sign supply (of qualified tradies ) will improve to the point that prices will seriously falter. Unless there is a recession – a temporary reprieve at best. Added to that you have every Govt globally doing it’s utmost to spend and avoid any hint of recession.
Getting a good trade now is a license to print money for life- IMHO.
Brittany Da Knickerless has lied about a lot of things, but it’s paid off for her and her Svengali partner. She’s been remunerated accordingly for a job well done.
I was about to suggest that we need to bring civics back into the high school curriculum, but that assumes the course would be properly written and taught.
Cash and Rowdy.
Stevo (owner ) says he is not a guard dog. Well, if someone decided to accost him, I reckon that huge jaw bone would swing into action.
Call it a hunch.
————
woof bark growl:
Cash 2.0 Great Dane at The Grove and Farmers Market in Los Angeles 42
There are many alternatives to live tradies on a site. iirc there was an episode in s5 of grand designs where they looked at the Huff house, built in a factory arrives on site on the back of a truck and assembled on site by 2 guys.
You can be absolutely certain that this wasn’t an off-the-leash frolic by a rogue wokista.
There will be an orgy of historic revisionism going on in the c-suite – all along the lines of: “Well, not wanting to piss on her grave, I did express concern…”
Borrowers may be exposed to currency volatility but lenders cannot? Sounds like half the cause of the inflation problem!
The lender has the money, the borrower needs it .. ergo .. the lender makes the rules ..!
And, one “good trade” would be Auto- Electrician.
Covering EV’s and ICE vehicles, Commercial Trucks and transport, Earthmoving , Lifting equipment and Mining machines. Including automation.
Everything that moves has become and will so be increasingly more electronic and computerized with more complex, bigger and fragile systems that will need diagnosis and repair . A decent auto-sparky’s work will never be done.
They are probably trying to ease her out with a termination including a non-disparagement clause.
Why?
Because they knew and approved of what she was doing.
Might be possible in residential, I’m not sure, I work in infrastructure and High Voltage network environments.
They haven’t developed AI and drones that can install cable tray and run kilometres of cable in a dynamic environment yet.
You also have to get the public on board with the small kit homes.
Containerised homes are another option that already exist, but again, people want more than a 20ft container to live in.
Doc Faustus:
The more we dig into what our Lords and Masters have been up to in our names, the more we realise they are acting without any effective oversight at all. That needs to stop before we get the blame for some weird shit project that we had absolutely no knowledge of.
SS Montevideo Maru shipwreck found 81 years after Australia’s worst maritime disaster
From what I saw of the interview a couple of days ago, her malleable brain had been colonised by her dysfunctional “professional development” mentor.
She had basically become that other person.
Indeed. I would also say that the opening for colonisation by that infection was unjustified white guilt. “Growing up in the south….”.
It’s OK. In 42 months time, you can vote him out.
And therein lies the rub….another 42 months of this. Every Australian state and territory now has four year fixed terms. I don’t believe fixed terms work well under the Westminster system. Whilst you can argue in favour of four year terms, they shouldn’t be fixed. Fixed term governments work well for the left, but not for the right, and yet stupid effing Liberals always go along with it. In the US fixed four year presidential terms work well because there’s a circuit breaker with the midterms every two years. There is no such circuit breaker under the Oz Westminster system and that’s why Victorians, Queenslanders and so on are saddled with the likes of Andrew, Palachook et al.
Earlier this week Alan Jones appeared on Andrew Blot. Jones’ shrewd insights are the best in the country when it comes to political analysis. Jones spoke about how, when it comes to state elections and state governments, most people out there are simply not interested, they have switched off. He said, and he’s right, that when it comes to state elections, perhaps voting should be voluntary. I agree. Oh and if we are to have fixed four year terms, why can’t there be a mechanism for recall elections? When the Liberals came to power in 2011 here in NSW, after sixteen year of corrupt Labor governments, they won that 2011 election in a landslide of biblical proportions. Fatty O’Farrell and the Liberals had gone to that election proposing the introduction of recall elections in order to prevent a repeat of the Carr, Iemma, Rees and Skank years. Because what happens is that despite endemic corruption, incompetence and malfeasance and so on, voters switch off and by the time the four year fixed election cycle is done with, they see voting as a tedious chore and they don’t put much thought into who to vote for. And all of this is made worse when you have spineless oppositions that simply parrot or mirror the government on so many issues. So, voters don’t see the need for change.
By the way, there was no NSW election landslide last month. Most seats Labor won, they won narrowly. The Liberals bled crucial votes in western Sydney electorates, such as Penrith, most of those votes bled to One Nation. Not surprising.
Why?
Because they knew and approved of what she was doing.
Absolutely. As someone said, you don’t get that things face on a can or bottle without some very high level approval. You don’t get to mess around with customer facing branding on your own.
I reckon American consumers are intent on completely cancelling Anheuser-Busch. It’s rare that they get to send on back the other way, so they’re grabbing this one with both hands.