Open Thread – Tues 2 May 2023


The Good Shepherd, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1660

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CrazyOldRanga
CrazyOldRanga
May 2, 2023 7:19 pm

Calli, it’s not gay if a woman does it 🙂

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 7:20 pm

slackster says:
May 2, 2023 at 6:06 pm
Easy money for the wily old fella:

70 year old Dave entered a World Poker Tour Ladies Event at the Seminole Hard Rock.
The ladies + Internet gathered a $2k + bounty on him.
He went on to win it…he is the ladies event champion.

Those women who continued playing with the man had agreed that he can play in their event. They can’t complain and I suppose they are not. If it was me I would have taken my stake and left the table.

132andBush
132andBush
May 2, 2023 7:20 pm

Would it be immoral to have a shag with an alien?

Wouldn’t it be a bummer if their men looked like women and their women looked like men?

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 7:22 pm

Cassie of Sydney says:
May 2, 2023 at 6:14 pm
Federal Labor governments ban vaping, whilst Labor governments open medically supervised injecting rooms.

Unbelievable.

Cassie it is believable. They are telling us that they like drugs but not smoking. It’s the old ploy, you enable that which you like and you stop that of which you disapprove.

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 2, 2023 7:23 pm

bit late but perhaps a few options if the winna above gets “cancelled” or faces a high fee from the locals for use of said name. Team songs added as a bonus.

= Tasmanian Bottoms (“The Black Bottom”)
= Tasmanian Family (“We are family”)
= Tasmanian Icebergs (“Ice Ice Baby”)

132andBush
132andBush
May 2, 2023 7:23 pm

Gez,
How go the seasonal activities?

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
May 2, 2023 7:24 pm

Who cares, as long as she’s hot

You assume gender there at your own peril.

Among other things. It’s unlikely she’d be hot, although she might look it. She’d be lacking in the right pheromones for starters. That obviously doesn’t preclude her(?) looking hot, or video porn wouldn’t work.

I expect some would try it, but I wanted to see if the less adventurous ( or more conservative) 🙂 would reject it on moral grounds.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 7:24 pm

132andBush says:
May 2, 2023 at 7:20 pm
Would it be immoral to have a shag with an alien?
Wouldn’t it be a bummer if their men looked like women and their women looked like men?

Would it be a bummer if their outer body falls off, a la Men In Black, and you are holding an insect?

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 2, 2023 7:24 pm

Wouldn’t it be a bummer if their men looked like women and their women looked like men?

How would you know the difference, then?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
May 2, 2023 7:24 pm

Well, just did Day 5 of Mr. Motivator and the biddable Miss Palmer. Day 5 is a very light conditioning twelve minutes, a bit different to the more intense aerobics of some of the other days he offers for free.
I did it with a lkg weight in each hand, just for extra oomph. As he says, just keep moving. Do it in whatever clothes and shoes you are wearing. I’m always wearing my slippers around the house. The ballet style black velvet ones with the little Peter Alexander sausage dog in diamente sewn onto the front of each of them. I wear them on planes too, and they never fail to arouse interest from fellow passengers.

Tomorrow, a proper dance class with the girls. Followed by coffee for a chat and endorphin giggle.
Girls do giggle together, which is why Sal’s no-trans ‘real women only’ site is so well named.

calli
calli
May 2, 2023 7:26 pm

Tentacles. Bigger tentacles.

Winston Smith
May 2, 2023 7:28 pm

132andbush:

Wouldn’t it be a bummer if their men looked like women and their women looked like men?

Your mission should you decide to accept it, is to find out which of these aliens are male.

comment image

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
May 2, 2023 7:28 pm

I expect some would try it, but I wanted to see if the less adventurous ( or more conservative) ? would reject it on moral grounds.

Any hole is a goal remember. 🙂

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
May 2, 2023 7:30 pm

Wouldn’t it be a bummer if their men looked like women and their women looked like men?

Define ‘woman’. For an alien species. Neither sex would be a woman. But one might be indistinguishable from one except by examining them at the cellular level.

Frank
Frank
May 2, 2023 7:31 pm

Nobody seems to have looked at potential benefits. [of smoking]

Common for a few non smokers I know to get nicotine from the chemist as a smart drug. Also Modafinil is popular for the same reason, sourced from the internet. Presumably statisticians need all the help they can get.

132andBush
132andBush
May 2, 2023 7:31 pm

How would you know the difference, then?

Perhaps they’ve already landed.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 2, 2023 7:32 pm

Tentacles. Bigger tentacles.

A dead giveaway.

Vicki
Vicki
May 2, 2023 7:33 pm

Covid and the politicised responses have led to a distrust in public health measures and procedures that is particularly unfortunate, for the metaphor of throwing the baby out with the bathwater applies.

I don’t think anyone here is going all “anti-vax” without considering the CURRENT evidence re vax reliability, new developments in research, AND practice. One of the chief characteristics of this blog is that the contributors are independent thinkers.

But what has happened as a result of Covid – is that it has drawn the curtain on the unholy alliance of government and Big Pharma over the last few years. Another development has been the revelation that many many research papers and projects accepted by respectable medical journals are extremely suspect in methodology and/or conclusions.

These conclusions have been reached not just by amateur medical “sleuths” like ourselves, but by practitioners of medical research and directors of medical trials. There are famous names in this group. It has totally undermined any remaining respect I had for some areas of medical and scientific research.

Black Ball
Black Ball
May 2, 2023 7:34 pm

FMD just caught a glimpse of the SBS weather report. They saw fit to have the cities and big regional cities named in the local Aboriginal wording. What purpose this serves escapes me, but there you are.

Frank
Frank
May 2, 2023 7:34 pm

Who knew, anime fans and calli is a tentacle pron aficionado.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 2, 2023 7:34 pm

Starting tomorrow Bush.
Had a wait on parts, then the need to fit them and check it all works. I’m less stressed these days about starting on a date.
My time is being used up attending meeting to unseat the AEMO from its ivory tower. The arrogance of this mob is astounding. FigJam sums them up.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
May 2, 2023 7:34 pm

Any hole is a goal remember. ?

Not for me. One’s got teeth and another has shit. Call me fastidious, but I’m more careful where I put my willy than that.

duncanm
duncanm
May 2, 2023 7:37 pm

Megyn Kelly … hot

Fact check: true

Roger
Roger
May 2, 2023 7:37 pm

FMD just caught a glimpse of the SBS weather report. They saw fit to have the cities and big regional cities named in the local Aboriginal wording. What purpose this serves escapes me, but there you are.

It’s subversive.

Naming conveys power.

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 2, 2023 7:38 pm

Plasmamortar> second hole from the back of the neck is the rule to follow.

132andBush
132andBush
May 2, 2023 7:38 pm

Define ‘woman’. For an alien species. Neither sex would be a woman. But one might be indistinguishable from one except by examining them at the cellular level.

Good point. We’d better get some definitions and terminology sorted before they get here.
A female alien that looks like a male = An alamak

A male alien that looks like a female = An ed

calli
calli
May 2, 2023 7:39 pm

No Frank. I’ve watched Galaxy Quest. I know what goes on.

Alluring aliens seducing nerdy types. It happens.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 7:39 pm

DrBeauGan says:
May 2, 2023 at 6:56 pm
…and there it shall remain even during food riots.
I’ll give it a try. Just to see what it’s like.

See what I mean about conservatives?

See what about conservatives? We have all eaten tofu at some stage or another and some liked it and some didn’t. I would try the 3D printed fish and decide at that point if it’s OK or not. It depends on taste. BTW, I’m conservative.

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
May 2, 2023 7:39 pm

Not for me. One’s got teeth and another has shit. Call me fastidious, but I’m more careful where I put my willy than that.

Reminds me of what my TAFE teacher said during my first year.

“Never put your fingers anywhere you wouldn’t put your dick.”

Working in a trade, that has always stuck with me.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 7:42 pm

Roger says:
May 2, 2023 at 7:37 pm
FMD just caught a glimpse of the SBS weather report. They saw fit to have the cities and big regional cities named in the local Aboriginal wording. What purpose this serves escapes me, but there you are.
It’s subversive.

Naming conveys power.

Yes, it’s subversive but then again nobody watches them so not a huge effect. What irks me is that they are doing it with our tax dollars.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 2, 2023 7:42 pm

Wouldn’t it be a bummer if their men looked like women and their women looked like men?
There is an SF novel which has this. Wasn’t a bad read. Told from the PoV of a grunt seaman in the US Navy. Only novel by author who died of lung cancer shortly thereafter. Name of novel escapes me and I can’t find it on my Kindle.
Also a bit in the original Hammer’s Slammers by David Drake.

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
May 2, 2023 7:45 pm

Who knows when it comes to aliens though..

We might end up with something like this

I hope not though…

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 2, 2023 7:45 pm

What purpose this serves escapes me, but there you are.

the purpose is to erase the Anglo-Australian achievement. Remember Rhodesia

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 2, 2023 7:45 pm

Joint effort: Vets try to stop New York City’s dogs getting stoned
By Bobby Caina Calvan
May 2, 2023 — 5.08pm

New York: Bondi, an eight-month-old toy poodle, had just returned from a walk when he began stumbling. His head wobbled and soon he could barely stand, so his owner, Colleen Briggs, rushed him to the vet.

The good doctor quickly made a diagnosis: Bondi was stoned.

On his walk, a sniff must have led Bondi to a discarded joint, which he ate.

“He was just doing his usual – exploring everything, sniffing everything,” said Briggs, who began to notice the pot shops sprouting up around New York City, the frequent whiffs of marijuana while circling her Manhattan neighbourhood and the unfinished joints now littering sidewalks.

In places like New York City, where the first legal recreational pot dispensary opened last year, users can smoke it in the open. As a result, more dogs are coming across – and eating – discarded joints and edibles, prompting alarm among veterinarians and pet owners who blame the steep rise in poisonings on smokers oblivious to the harm they can do by littering.

Marijuana poisonings, which are almost never fatal, were once rare among pets, even when medical dispensaries started opening, according to Dr Amy Attas, a New York City veterinarian. Until recently, many occurred at home, when pets got into their owners’ stashes.

132andBush
132andBush
May 2, 2023 7:48 pm

Farmer Gez says:
May 2, 2023 at 7:34 pm

Roger.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 2, 2023 7:49 pm

Eyriesays:
May 2, 2023 at 6:25 pm
Most well-informed cardiologists are not too worried about overall ‘cholesterol’ these days

Most GP’s still push this bullshit. It the “the protocol” which they must follow. Mrs Eyrie went for a 6 months prescription renewal today. They won’t deviate from the narrative.

My GP was quite happy to reduce my dosage in steps, from 80 mg per day to 40, and now 20. This happened over about a 14 month period.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
May 2, 2023 7:51 pm

Alluring aliens seducing nerdy types. It happens.

Not nearly often enough.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 2, 2023 7:52 pm

Dotsays:
May 2, 2023 at 6:30 pm
A safer alternative to smoking gets banned, but smoking isn’t banned and excise tax automatically goes up every six months. Also, the rules of evading tobacco excise are harsh and extreme, even for non-commercial quantities.

Banning vaping is about gaining ever more power over the Lives of Others. Keeping tobacco legal is about gaining ever more excise revenue.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 2, 2023 7:52 pm

Mrs Eyrie isn’t on statins. She has done her research. The scrip wasn’t for statins.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 2, 2023 7:56 pm

DrBeauGansays:
May 2, 2023 at 6:56 pm
…and there it shall remain even during food riots.

I’ll give it a try. Just to see what it’s like.

See what I mean about conservatives?

Before you do that, could we see your user’s assessment of the various types of artificial meat, which you did try. Didn’t you?

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 2, 2023 7:58 pm

From RT which seems no more biased than western MSM:

Poland could demand World War II reparations from Russia but only if it persuades Germany to pay a similar bill first, a senior official in Warsaw has said. Berlin has thus far rejected a €1.3 trillion ($1.43 trillion) claim from Poland over the Nazi occupation, arguing that the issue has long been settled.

I’m really starting to despise the Poles. Dumb f**ks who don’t know when to let bygones be bygones.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
May 2, 2023 7:59 pm

“Never put your fingers anywhere you wouldn’t put your dick.”

That rules out scratching your head. Well, it would for me.

Roger
Roger
May 2, 2023 8:01 pm

Not even three months after resigning her premiership to “spend more time with family”, Jacinda Ardern has accepted a role at Harvard University which will require regular commuting by air.

Let’s hope she at least offsets the carbon emissions.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 2, 2023 8:01 pm

callisays:
May 2, 2023 at 7:26 pm
Tentacles. Bigger tentacles.

Sorry, Calli, I misread that (by now several others might have made the same error).

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
May 2, 2023 8:02 pm

Before you do that, could we see your user’s assessment of the various types of artificial meat, which you did try. Didn’t you?

I tried one, it was horrible. I thought it might be, and I was right. I have stopped trying them because I’m a quick learner.

Entropy
Entropy
May 2, 2023 8:05 pm

DrBeauGan says:
May 2, 2023 at 7:59 pm
“Never put your fingers anywhere you wouldn’t put your dick.”
That rules out scratching your head. Well, it would for me.

hmm, that reminds me of a billy goat I once knew. He was rather flexible, and bored.

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 2, 2023 8:09 pm

Horseface was always part of the self selected globalist anywheres. Send a lot of time in London during the bLIAR era. A WEF ‘young leader’ wouldn’t expect anything less of course. The parasite political class is our enemy.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 2, 2023 8:13 pm

From an online discussion about whether the Sphinx is hollow….

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/uncovering-secrets-of-the-sphinx-5053442/

Roger
Roger
May 2, 2023 8:15 pm

Horseface was always part of the self selected globalist anywheres.

It’s the bald hypocrisy that grates, milton.

That and the free pass from the msm.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 2, 2023 8:24 pm

…just caught a glimpse of the SBS weather report. They saw fit to have the cities and big regional cities named in the local Aboriginal wording.

Wait until the state governments work up enough courage to change the capital city names and the state names.

There is legislation in most places which compels a government to compensate businesses for the costs incurred in forced name changes – getting your signage redone, and so on. If it wasn’t for that they’d have been at it years ago.

* Hobart is named after Robert Hobart. He was the fourth Earl of Buckinghamshire, also known as Lord Hobart
* Melbourne is named after British Prime Minister William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, who resided in the village of Melbourne in Derbyshire in the English Midlands.
* Sydney is is named after Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney
* Brisbane is named after Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, who was a noted astronomer and sixth Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825.
* Perth is named after the Scottish city
* Adelaide is named after the wife of William Henry, Duke of Clarence, who became King William IV of the United Kingdom on 26 June 1830. It was at his request that the new colony founded in South Australia in 1836 was named ‘Adelaide’ after his wife, the Queen consort.
* Darwin is named after the naturalist, geologist and biologist, Charles Darwin.

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 2, 2023 8:25 pm

Agree Roger. They’re not ordinary decent people. They and the meja share a disdain for everyman (even though they live off him.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 2, 2023 8:28 pm

DrBG, benefits from smoking. I notice a lot people with mental health issues smoke. Seems to calm them. Don’t know what happened at Canberra Hospital when they tried to stop smoking in the mental health unit. I know there was a lot of fuss. My mate was in a psyche ward years ago, hated the place coz every one smoked and he didn’t. He also reckoned the staff were nuttier than himself.

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 2, 2023 8:31 pm

If it wasn’t for that they’d have been at it years ago.

That’s interesting- I know they want to but like so many things (like banning automobiles), they’re not game to say it out loud. The political -meja-pubic serpent class is despicable.

turnip
turnip
May 2, 2023 8:37 pm

Would it be immoral to have a shag with an alien?

Well, if Captain James Tiberius Kirk can do it and live , it’s ok by me.

Mind you, there never were any with tentacles in the OS or even Next Gen. Only green skin or funny ears.

Cassie of Sydney
May 2, 2023 8:39 pm

“That and the free pass from the msm.”

Lefties and particularly leftist politicians always get a free pass. Just imagine if Scott Morrison or Tony Abbott had attended a lavish million dollar wedding of a Sydney shock jock, a wedding that had various crooks, criminals and creeps in attendance?

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 8:40 pm

Roger says:
May 2, 2023 at 8:01 pm
Not even three months after resigning her premiership to “spend more time with family”, Jacinda Ardern has accepted a role at Harvard University which will require regular commuting by air.

My first reaction was what a hypocrite but then realised that she, like John Kerry, truly believes that she is entitled to all the modern conveniences and elitist treatment because she is elite. She will never associate with normal people again who could put her straight.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 8:44 pm

GreyRanga says:
May 2, 2023 at 8:28 pm
DrBG, benefits from smoking. I notice a lot people with mental health issues smoke. Seems to calm them. Don’t know what happened at Canberra Hospital when they tried to stop smoking in the mental health unit.

I know of one effect of smoking – weight loss or at least keeping the weight down – from observing family and friends. Every one of them put on weight when they stopped smoking. So which is more harmful, smoking or being overweight?

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 2, 2023 8:46 pm

Eyriesays:
May 2, 2023 at 7:58 pm
From RT which seems no more biased than western MSM:

Poland could demand World War II reparations from Russia but only if it persuades Germany to pay a similar bill first, a senior official in Warsaw has said. Berlin has thus far rejected a €1.3 trillion ($1.43 trillion) claim from Poland over the Nazi occupation, arguing that the issue has long been settled.

I’m really starting to despise the Poles. Dumb f**ks who don’t know when to let bygones be bygones.

Happening all over the western world, they are just jumping onto the bandwagon.

See also: The inVoice, reparations for slavery in various places, but strangely not where slavery is currently practiced.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 2, 2023 8:47 pm

I’m really starting to despise the Poles.

Why do you despise the Poles?
I thought their demanding reparations from Germany was excellent trolling!
Germans are prissy, and need their egos popped.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 8:49 pm

An addition to my previous comment. People who smoked had a certain immunity to COVID-19 while those who were overweight were more susceptible. Therefore it seems that smoking is less harmful than being overweight. I don’t smoke and never have so I don’t have an ulterior motive for this conclusion.

Black Ball
Black Ball
May 2, 2023 8:52 pm

Excellent summary Top Ender.
So basically our Australia hating elites white anting this country and the values it was built on.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 8:55 pm

Reporting on the Met Gala attendees who each paid $50,000 to attend is truly amazing, wall to wall weirdos judging by their outfits. It looks like the upper classes have no class. Any idiot can look as ugly as they do.

Black Ball
Black Ball
May 2, 2023 8:58 pm

Via Tim Blair, more on Cricket Australia as alluded to earlier:

Cricket staff from around the country have already taken part in the briefing and sources say its purpose is to educate players and employees on what The Voice and the Uluru Statement of the Heart actually is, rather than instructing on how to vote.

Lord have mercy.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 9:02 pm

I agree with Tim Blair’s assessment of the Met Gala, it’s a freak show. He also noted on Chris Kenny’s show just now that it reminds him of Germany in the 1920s where it’s degeneracy enabled the rise of Nazis.

cohenite
May 2, 2023 9:03 pm

Speaking of rooting aliens, the great Ursula Le Guin in her classic The Left Hand of Darkness postulates a future where humanity has spread to the stars and on one planet humans have evolved into hermaphrodites who at random take on either male or female sexual characteristics when in sexual heat.

Now that makes sense.

Black Ball
Black Ball
May 2, 2023 9:04 pm

In that post, Blair sez Yes and No should only pertain to the cricket. Superb skill.

Cassie of Sydney
May 2, 2023 9:13 pm

“Met Gala attendees who each paid $50,000 to attend is truly amazing”

Once upon a time the Met Gala in NYC was an occasion for NYC’s most elegant and stylish women, women such as Nan Kempner, Lee Radziwill, Gloria Vanderbilt, Babe Paley, and others to showcase truly elegant and beautiful clothes. It was one of the society events of the year. Now though, like everything else today, it’s been debased, and the gothic, ghoulish and very ugly attendees look as though they’ve come straight from wardrobe fitting for a Hammer House of Horror movie.

shatterzzz
May 2, 2023 9:17 pm

From an online discussion about whether the Sphinx is hollow….

The homosexual camel is more sexier than you think
at the height of the mating season he tries to bump the Spinx
Now the Spinx’ back passage is narrow and the camel’s peculiar style
Account for the hump on the camel & the Spinx’ peculiar smile …….

Cassie of Sydney
May 2, 2023 9:18 pm

Once upon a time in the West we celebrated beauty, refinement, style, grace and good manners, now the West celebrates the ugly, the obscene, the pornographic, the lewd and the satanic.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 2, 2023 9:21 pm

Left Hand of Darkness is a fine novel Cohenite. I found it a hard read so I’ve only read it once, I think. It was powerful though. I’ve got it around somewhere. Ms Le Guin was an uberlefty but I wouldn’t inculcate that onto her novel, which in 1969 was long long before woke. I think it was more a “what if?” question that she was asking.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 2, 2023 9:21 pm

The Courier-Mail:

The parents of a teenage boy charged over a fatal crash that claimed the lives of three women in Maryborough and left a fourth fighting for life have been heckled and abused by a bystander as they left the courthouse.

“Idiots. Idiots. Shameful parents,” a heckler shouted as he followed them down the street after they left the courthouse where their 13-year-old son appeared before a closed court.

That’s not very inclusive.

Black Ball
Black Ball
May 2, 2023 9:26 pm

Julie Bowen in Happy Gilmore. Particularly fetching

shatterzzz
May 2, 2023 9:27 pm

cities and big regional cities named in the local Aboriginal wording.
Yet no one is questioning how a “culture” with no written languages renamed cities/towns that never existed until the white man came .. given the performance we get over “frontier wars” and “genocide” I’d be surprised if more than a handful of the “proud” wandering nomads ever saw a city/town on their never-ending walkabouts ……….

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
May 2, 2023 9:32 pm

a group that are not affected by the policies they execute

Exactly what I thought when I heard a labor politician saying recently that “Australians will need to have a national conversation about types of living spaces they use. The days of gardens and room for the kids to play have gone – the future is high rise. Everywhere. Immigration will hasten this trend.”

Obviously he already has his 1/4 acre block and to hell with the rest.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 9:37 pm

Now though, like everything else today, it’s been debased, and the gothic, ghoulish and very ugly attendees look as though they’ve come straight from wardrobe fitting for a Hammer House of Horror movie.

Hammer House of Horror brings back memories of Saturday matinee movies in the early 70s. Also lots of sword and sandals movies. These days there is nothing to watch on Saturday afternoons. I think it might have something to do with everyone driving kids to soccer, football and cricket games at those times.

Muddy
Muddy
May 2, 2023 9:39 pm

OSC: … the future is high rise…

The future is Soma.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 9:41 pm

Obviously he already has his 1/4 acre block and to hell with the rest.

No, quarter acre is too small for them. They usually have at least an acre spread in Dural, Mulgoa or The Vines. They don’t want neighbours close enough who can look into their back yard.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 2, 2023 9:43 pm

Crossie I think a lot when they give up start eating instead.

Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
May 2, 2023 9:55 pm

Skeptical disagreement, concerns about immune overload, and even a changing of viewpoint – that’s OK – but blind acceptance of non-vaccinating kids, no thanks.

Uptick. Whereas three years ago it would have been more of an “umm…”.

They simply do not understand how badly they have damaged “science” by this weird insistence that reality will conform if only they stamp their feet hard enough, fudge enough results or put their fingers in their ears and shout “tang-malang-maloo”.

Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
May 2, 2023 10:08 pm

Met Gala attendees…

I am no culture-vulture, to be sure, but I just paged through the Daily Mail pics and I couldn’t have told you who most of those people actually were.

Quiz Question : Was Prabal Gurung there? Does anyone actually care?

A couple wore nice dresses.

Some bloke “called” A$AP wore a kilt. Presumably featuring the traditional tartan of the McFecklessInanity Clan.

rickw
rickw
May 2, 2023 10:23 pm

Just arrived back in Melbourne. Dirty grubby shit airport topped off with a massive spew at the bottom of the baggage hall stairs that no one seemed particularly interested in cleaning up.

Get me out of here!

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 2, 2023 10:24 pm

Jacinda Ardern has accepted a role at Harvard University

Roger> quelle surprise that she wants to “spend time with family” which includes plenty of time in NY hanging with global elites – far away from the mess she & kiwi labour have left behind.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
May 2, 2023 10:25 pm

dover, I had a LOL at this and humbly suggest a new Liberty Quote.

“That is the problem, Socialists hate free markets but they have the best marketing ever.” – Gloria Alvarez, 2023.

(Yes, Latin-American libertarian hottie Gloria Alvarez is back in a new Stossel interview and… she’s running for El Presidente’ of Guatemala. Insert Wayne’s World joke here.)

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
May 2, 2023 10:32 pm

Cash and Rowdy.

——

woof bark growl:

Cash 2.0 Great Dane visits a local Elementary School

Digger
Digger
May 2, 2023 10:35 pm

The Tassie – Manians

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 2, 2023 10:37 pm

I’d be surprised if more than a handful of the “proud” wandering nomads ever saw a city/town on their never-ending walkabouts ……….

For shame, don’t you read Bruce Pascoe? The Aborigines lived in suburban housing developments.

Dot
Dot
May 2, 2023 11:19 pm

Tasmanian Philadelphians?

Dot
Dot
May 2, 2023 11:23 pm

Gammage tries to imply in The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia that pre 1788 Australia had roads, cleared pathways and informal parkland style forest and grassland gardens.

Crossie
Crossie
May 2, 2023 11:27 pm

Just finished watching Mark Steyn on ADH TV. Glad they got him on. He had Jo Nova as a guest to explain all about undersea volcanoes and their role in climate change. 19,000 volcanoes (identified so far) have a far greater influence than anything humanity has at present. I can see why Sky people will not have her on, the owners would not be amused.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 2, 2023 11:43 pm

No surprise Qld youth crime has reached this latest dark point

Our social fabric is under siege, with youth crime accounting for more than 50 per cent of break and enters, robberies and car thefts. But the path to the current situation began many years ago, writes criminologist Terry Goldsworthy.

What kind of society do we want to live in? That is a question that is worth asking yourself given the events of the weekend. Over the weekend three women were killed and another critically injured, by a 13-year-old youth allegedly driving a stolen car. They were merely going about their daily lives.

We should not be surprised. When the latest Queensland Crime Report was released weeks ago, we learnt that the overall crime rate had risen more than 7 per cent, property crime had gone up 12 per cent and personal crime a staggering 45 per cent. Little wonder our loved ones are being harmed.

There is currently a national campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years of age. If that is implemented, then no-one would be held accountable for the deaths of these three women. That is simply not acceptable in a modern society. Yet the Queensland Attorney-General has in principle supported a proposal to increase the age of criminal responsibility.

When the Queensland Crime Report was made public the Police Minister’s office released a media statement highlighting that the “rate of youth offenders and the rate of adult offenders was the lowest on record”. However, the devil is in the detail. The media release didn’t tell us that as a proportion of overall offenders’ youth criminals had grown from 16.1 per cent to 18.4 per cent of all offenders in 2021-22.

Nor did it tell us that youth offenders accounted for more than 53 per cent of all break-and-enter offenders and 55 per cent of robbery offenders in Queensland – increases over the previous period. In relation to stolen vehicles, youth offenders accounted for more than 53 per cent of all offenders in Queensland.

We also now know that serious repeat youth offenders make up 17 per cent of youth offenders, which is up from 10 per cent in 2020, and are responsible for 48 per cent of youth crime.

The path to the current situation began many years ago. In 2016, the Labor government removed the breach of bail offence for young people. It also said that a detention order for young people should only be used as a last option and for minimal time periods. In 2019, the current government made youth justice laws even worse by passing a law that would make it easier for more youth criminals to get bail.

As the Queensland youth crime epidemic has worsened, we have seen the government release a number of new strategies to deal with youth crime, yet few will have any impact. One positive is that it did after immense pressure reintroduce the breach of bail offence for youth offenders.

Yet at the same time the government introduced laws, now in place, that decriminalised the possession of hard-core drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, effectively giving the green light to drug traffickers in Queensland. Drug traffickers who actively target young people.

In the broader scope of societal values, under this government we have seen recommendations to remove the offences of public drunkenness, begging and public urination. We have seen the Queensland Attorney-General broadly supporting the recommendations of the Queensland Law Reform Commission which recommended making public solicitation for prostitution legal.

In my time as a detective, I saw first-hand the crime that this kind of public prostitution resulted in. And of course, the question is where is this public solicitation going to be allowed and in front of whose home?

The women killed on the weekend deserved a safe society to live in, one free from the threat of criminals who may do them harm. Their families, our society, are indeed entitled to ask how did we come to this point? But this is not the only question to be asked. We also need to ask what kind of society we want to live in and what kind of society are we and our government leaving for our children.

Dr Terry Goldsworthy is an Associate Professor of Criminology at Bond University

Courier-Mail

Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
May 3, 2023 12:09 am

Could this be made today? I think not… count the triggers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NszX4LLemEQ

slackster
slackster
May 3, 2023 12:10 am

callisays:
May 2, 2023 at 6:07 pm
Slackster! Long time no see! ?

Kept a low profile during the Interregnum of the debacle of the covid years in Australia, not that the country I held citizenship would allow me back in….
Feel like Mike from “Stranger in a Strange Land” living here now.
When I have some more time i will share some observations and anecdotes from a jaded 50 something Gen Xer returning to a country they no longer recognize.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
May 3, 2023 12:39 am

Also watched Mark Steyn on ADH TV. Good first episode. Also had on Brit MP Andrew Bridgen talking about the vaccine and no longer being in Conservative party.

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 12:46 am

If I occasionally decide to get a take away coffee the Cafe that gives free dirty looks won’t be getting repeat business from me.
I know of one coffee place locally and one in North Balwyn where even drink in coffee is served in disposable cups.
You can keep your keep cup.
Abigail Forsyth wants to bring back the dirty look for cafe customers who order coffees in disposable cups.

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 1:05 am
rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 1:17 am

I’m guessing they only have these remains because they were preserved by Walter Roth, and local indugenous burial practices tend not to lend themselves to long term preservation.
And maybe some young girls were forced to work for settlers and maybe some preferred it to the options available at home.
more ancient sad stories need voice

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 1:22 am

There is nothing unique in being dispossessed, I’m kind of guessing many more recent migrants arrived here because they had been dispossessed by famine, by war etc.
But keep pretending the only people with a history that matters are the ones that got here first.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
May 3, 2023 1:43 am
Steve trickler
Steve trickler
May 3, 2023 2:11 am
Steve trickler
Steve trickler
May 3, 2023 2:24 am
Black Ball
Black Ball
May 3, 2023 4:35 am

Test

Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:41 am
Black Ball
Black Ball
May 3, 2023 4:42 am

Just great. Hun:

Expanded anti-vilification laws that would protect disabled and LGBTIQ+ Victorians from hate crimes could be legislated within 18 months.

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes on Tuesday confirmed the government was in discussion with stakeholders about drafting legislation to make civil and criminal vilification easier to prove to help people seek justice through the courts.

In 2021, the government committed to extending anti-vilification protections beyond race and religion to also cover areas such as a person’s gender identity, sexual orientation, disability and HIV/AIDS status.

A parliamentary committee called on the government to toughen these laws and recommended lowering the legal threshold for incitement-based vilification.

It comes after hundreds of angry protesters clashed at a City of Monash council meeting last week in response to a drag story time event planned for next month.

Ms Symes said the proposed legislation would protect vulnerable Victorians from hate crimes.

“We wish we did not have to do them at the outset, we really do, but we know that there is a need to improve the robustness of our system in relation to hate speech and anti-vilification laws and the like, and our commitment remains strong,” she said.

“It is complex, there are a lot of stakeholders that are interested and we are embarking on consultation right now.”

Asked when the laws would be put before the parliament, Ms Symes said she was “reluctant to put a time frame on it” but within the next 18 months is “probably a safe bet”.

She said the government was currently working through major justice reforms including changes to bail laws and raising the age of criminality (Knuckle Dragger) which had stalled the progress.

“I do not have a massive army of people to do all of this work, but that is why having the conversation and involving the public and interested stakeholders progresses the work and ensures that when we get to the nitty-gritty of actually drafting legislation and cabinet documents and the like, we have done all of the hard work and it is just a matter of doing the processes to implement what we need to do in here,” she said.

Almost laughed when Simes said Joe Public will get a seat at the table of ‘interested stakeholders’. I believe that Joe Public protested against the reading of books to kids by trannies. FMD.

Black Ball
Black Ball
May 3, 2023 4:42 am

Symes even

Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:42 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:44 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:45 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:47 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:48 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:49 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:51 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:52 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:54 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:55 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:56 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:57 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 4:59 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 5:00 am
Tom
Tom
May 3, 2023 5:01 am
Johnny Rotten
May 3, 2023 5:06 am

Thanks Tom. I like Mark Knight’s Immigration Policy Cartoon. Tennis Elbow; are you awake?

Winston Smith
May 3, 2023 5:09 am

Crossie:

I agree with Tim Blair’s assessment of the Met Gala, it’s a freak show. He also noted on Chris Kenny’s show just now that it reminds him of Germany in the 1920s where it’s degeneracy enabled the rise of Nazis.

Many forget, or never knew that a lot of the books that were burnt by the Nazis were deviant pornography. Just one of the several reasons they became popular among the middle classes who were revolted by the degeneracy of the Weimar Republic.
Oddly enough, it’s a trend which is showing a revival throughout the West.

Johnny Rotten
May 3, 2023 5:09 am

Almost laughed when Simes said Joe Public will get a seat at the table of ‘interested stakeholders’. I believe that Joe Public protested against the reading of books to kids by trannies. FMD.

And what about Guv’ments doing the vilification? What Laws apply?

“Get Jabbed”, says the Guv’ment. “No thanks”, says a member of Joe Public. “You Anti-Vaxxer”, says the Guv’ment. FFS

Winston Smith
May 3, 2023 5:18 am

ZK2A:

For shame, don’t you read Bruce Pascoe? The Aborigines lived in suburban housing developments.

I predict a Great Defacing of the signage if it goes up.

Winston Smith
May 3, 2023 5:54 am

https://www.theepochtimes.com/microsoft-confirms-end-of-windows-10-heres-when_5233897.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&src_src=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2023-05-02&src_cmp=mb-2023-05-02&utm_medium=email&est=5wgu0rf57%2FIUU8mlZqtB%2BfsecOE%2F8hOJ98aWNfWMSKlLfPC6zuKP3ajjk%2Fvtm2Uj

Microsoft announced the end of Windows 10, the world’s most popular operating system, and said the current version will be the last.
In a “client roadmap update,” Microsoft said that the current version of Windows 10, 22H2, which was released in October 2022, is the final feature update. Security updates and support will still be provided for Windows 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise, and Education versions until Oct. 14, 2025.

Winston Smith
May 3, 2023 5:56 am

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/bidens-incompetent-secretary-of-interior-says-she-is-unaware-china-controls-critical-minerals-needed-for-electric-vehicles-video/

Biden’s Incompetent Secretary of Interior Says She is Unaware China Controls Critical Minerals Needed for Electric Vehicles (VIDEO)

Deb Haaland was not chosen to be Biden’s Interior Secretary because she’s qualified for the job.
She checked a box: First Native American cabinet secretary.

The Obama/Biden administration is about crippling the US and its allies militarily, economically and morally.

Winston Smith
May 3, 2023 6:05 am

https://doomberg.substack.com/p/charge?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

“i’ve been musing of late about just how it came to pass that the entirety of western governance seems to have become bereft of reality and competence and generally run by people who appear to be about as smart as a soup sandwich and yet have managed to accrue not only such intense confidence in their own planning ability and vision but in addition gained access to the levers of power to impose their addled ideas upon the rest of us while aided and abetted by a cheer-leader class that eggs them ever onward.”

132andBush
132andBush
May 3, 2023 6:36 am

slackster

When I have some more time i will share some observations and anecdotes from a jaded 50 something Gen Xer returning to a country they no longer recognize.

Look forward to it.
I, for one, fit that description.
The shit thing is, I’m not returning to the joint.

Perfidious Albino
Perfidious Albino
May 3, 2023 6:43 am

The other laughable part of that Symes idiocacy is that as a presiding representative of the bloated Victorian public sector she has the gall to claim she ‘doesn’t have a small army’ to help progress it…

sfw
sfw
May 3, 2023 6:58 am

Dot “Gammage tries to imply in The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia that pre 1788 Australia had roads, cleared pathways and informal parkland style forest and grassland gardens.”

I didn’t read it quite like that. I thought he gave too much credit to aborigines planning burns, especially when he claimed that they only burned the Vic high forests every 500(?) years so as to not destroy the Mountain Ash. I think that the results of the burning was accidental and did make for a beautiful (if flammable) countryside of grasslands. There were no ‘roads’ but there were clearly defined tracks over much of the country, specially on the east coast, these tracks were the result of thousands of years of walking from place to place on never ending walkabouts. Hume and Hovell used these tracks to walk from Sydney to Port Phillip, it’s in their diaries.

As for parklands, well all that regular burning got rid of much of the understory growth and fallen branches etc, all the early explorers noted how clean and easy it was to travel the country and to their eyes much of it looked like the great country parks of England. Again I believe it was the result of the burning not a plan by aborigines to burn to get that result, but who really knows?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 3, 2023 7:02 am

he gave too much credit to aborigines planning burns, especially when he claimed that they only burned the Vic high forests every 500(?) years so as to not destroy the Mountain Ash.

How did they time this at 500 year intervals?

‘Hey Frank, is it 500 years yet?’
‘No.’

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 3, 2023 7:03 am

‘How about now?’
‘Not yet.’

Gabor
Gabor
May 3, 2023 7:03 am

slackster

When I have some more time i will share some observations and anecdotes from a jaded 50 something Gen Xer returning to a country they no longer recognize.

Look forward to it.
I, for one, fit that description.
The shit thing is, I’m not returning to the joint.

I think it’s possible to list the changes that happened even if you never left, but not easy.
It’s the boiling frog syndrome, some of the changes are slow and subtle and only after looking up your records and questioning your memory and friends, looking back in the newspaper archives, that you realise.

On the other hand if you come back after a long time it will hit you like a brick to the head.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 3, 2023 7:04 am

‘Now?’
‘No. Put the firestick down. I will let you know.’

Winston Smith
May 3, 2023 7:19 am

Gabor:

On the other hand if you come back after a long time it will hit you like a brick to the head.

Next Tshirt slogan:

How’s That Socialism Working For You, Australia?

Alterations acceptable and welcome. My slogan -fu isn’t all that great.

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 7:21 am

“It is complex, there are a lot of stakeholders that are interested and we are embarking on consultation right now.”

Yes, including locking them up if they disagree?

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 7:23 am

Re Weimar Germany and the end of a degenerate empire now (USA, Met Gala) and in Rome.

Kenny is just parroting Nicky Fuentes, Andrew Anglin, Owen Benjamin & Vox Day.

Are they wrong though?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 3, 2023 7:27 am

‘Hey Frank -‘
‘Is this going to be about whether it’s 500 years yet? Because if it is…’

‘Geez. Was only asking. Stop stressing out. No wonder your life expectancy is shit.’

calli
calli
May 3, 2023 7:29 am

Was Eucalyptus regnans sacred to the indigenous? Why protect them and nothing else?

Probably easier to burn out and hunt easy terrain and leave the trees and associated undergrowth on ridges and gullies alone.

Not very romantic though.

calli
calli
May 3, 2023 7:31 am

Thing is, we venerate E. regnans because it’s the tallest flowering plant on the planet. We know this because we’ve seen the rest and documented it and understand its importance.

I’m so weary of this b/s.

Louis Litt
May 3, 2023 7:33 am

Flying Duck 2/5 @ 3.39pm
Daughters school had a annual trip to Vietnam mainly to work in a orphanage run by nuns. The children rejected by all. Inspiring these children in their happiness.
The teacher who organised the visits was telling me the locals were asking him”what is depression, what is add, what is peanut allergy”.
What is your observation on this 2 world Vietnam to 1 st world Australia.

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 7:35 am

Gammage really went off the deep end when he mentioned stumps around June or Wagga (?) that were identical in size, shape and spacing near a lagoon. IIRC he was quoting Dame Mary Gilmore’s (?) recollection of her pioneer ancestors.

Another thing he got wrong was that soil fertility (per given mm of rainfall) is actually lower in highlands so his model of “parkland farming” is also wrong (we have no active volcanoes and rainfall can still be intermittent in highlands, the lowlands get alluvial and underground water).

One more matter I have an issue with is that he disregards natural calamities as a source for legends and natural history landmarks.

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 7:36 am
rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 7:40 am

Australian Aborigines may be unique, but not particularly.

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 7:46 am

I was thinking about the birthing trees in Western Victoria that were part of the protest against the highway works.
As Aboriginal people have been here thousands of years birthing trees would have come and gone many times.
Was it earth shattering when it was time to find a new one?
Given they must have been mature specimens in the first place, and people moved about, it seems unlikely.

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 7:49 am

I asked a similar question about Taiwan’s very low rate of autism but very similar childhood vaccination rates.

flyingduk
flyingduk
May 3, 2023 7:53 am

From the Oz:

Vanguard stung as ‘green’ fund popularity wilts
After a dream run, sustainable funds have been hit on all fronts and the latest quarterly figures indicate investors have cooled on the sector.

looks like we are going to need our wise rulers to force us to invest in such things….

shatterzzz
May 3, 2023 8:02 am

he gave too much credit to aborigines planning burns,

The laffs keep coming .. LOL! ..
he’s talking about nomadic hunter gatherers, no written language, no infrastructure, no development just wandering about from place to place looking for food, constant, bloody, clashes with other “wanderers” and yet they “planned” … anything? .. I wasn’t even aware they knew how to light fires .. except by accident ………!

Vicki
Vicki
May 3, 2023 8:02 am

Paul Kelly has written a brilliant article in todays Australian. He says the US is doing a complete about face on its attitude to Trade with China finally recognising that China cannot decouple its economic policy from its determination to dominate the world. This of course was Trumps policy but is now being embraced by the current regime. It is an important article in which he analyses the sudden change.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 3, 2023 8:04 am

Was Eucalyptus regnans sacred to the indigenous? Why protect them and nothing else?

Not sure belief had anything to do with it. Gums were just very suited to surviving the fires being lit to get rid of the scrub that would have made hunting large animals all but impossible.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 3, 2023 8:04 am

‘Hey Frank -‘
‘Is this going to be about whether it’s 500 years yet? Because if it is…’
‘Geez. Was only asking. Stop stressing out. No wonder your life expectancy is shit.’

What is this 500?

shatterzzz
May 3, 2023 8:06 am

‘Fake identity’ film is banned
An Indigenous-made film about a white person who identifies as Aboriginal has been banned by the bodies that funded and commissioned it, over fears it could spark litigation and is ‘harmful’.</

Did they tell CentreLink about this .. several hundred thousand "fakes" claiming extra tax payer funding but make one film and ………….. duuuuuuuh!

lotocoti
lotocoti
May 3, 2023 8:09 am

Stumbled upon Phyllis Schlafly whilst rabbit-holing.
(Sarcasm isn’t for everyone.)

Frank
Frank
May 3, 2023 8:16 am

would be interesting to know what is causing the shift from prevalence of male to female gender dysphoria to female to male gender dysphoria since the mid 2000s

The internet and the effect it has on thirteen year olds.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 3, 2023 8:16 am

That chef Jock Zonfrillo certainly got a lot of flowing tributes in the media. “Had his demons” they say.
I attended the funeral of a sixty seven year old man yesterday, who died quite quickly from MND.
This was a bloke with deep Christian values and lived his life in service for his family and the community.
A farm boy, he left to go to uni and became a maths/science teacher. Played in the uni premiership footy side. Mates from that team were there yesterday.
He taught at Ouyen and Camperdown before moving to Donald to teach, where he met his wife.
Everywhere he went he contributed to the community and was a tireless volunteer worker for St. Vincent de Paul.
As a teacher, he was dedicated to his students and made that extra effort. Many parents would get a phone call to ask if he he could come to their home to tutor a child he felt needed extra help.
He was a coach and umpire for many sports when his playing days finished.
You would think his family would be jealous of the time he gave to so many others but that’s not the case. His three adult children spoke in glowing terms of what a great dad and mentor he was to them. He even moved an old farm house to the seaside so all his family could enjoy a summer break.
His daughter tearfully asked him in his last days how he could be so calm and accepting of his undeserved fate. He managed to say “I’ve had a very fortunate life.”
His wife stated, without contradiction and to wide acclaim from the huge crowd at the funeral, that the world needs more people like he husband.
Maybe Jock was a great bloke but truly great men often never receive the accolades they’re due. Our man wouldn’t want the praise at any rate, he was humble to a fault.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 3, 2023 8:19 am

I think anyone returning after a prolonged leave of absence from any country notices the differences.

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 8:19 am

Was Schafly wrong about the draft or preferential welfare payments?

Roger
Roger
May 3, 2023 8:21 am

Newt Gingrich thinks Michelle Obama may be shaping for a run at the Dem nomination.

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 8:21 am

Current events suggest Deagel’s forecasts are complete bollocks.

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 8:23 am

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3694874/job-cuts-may-intensify-as-ibm-plans-to-use-ai-to-replace-30-back-office-jobs.html

Job cuts may intensify as IBM plans to use AI to replace 30% back office jobs
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said he expects AI to impact at least 7,800 jobs at the company over the next five years.

Roger
Roger
May 3, 2023 8:26 am

He also thinks Susan Rice left the WH because she told Biden he wasn’t running again but he went ahead and announced it regardless.

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 8:27 am

truly great men often never receive the accolades they’re due

Maybe they get something better than accolades.

shatterzzz
May 3, 2023 8:27 am

Maybe Jock was a great bloke

I’d never heard of him before the media went overboard! .. well timed tho .. to push Luigi and a wedding into the forgetery file ……..

lotocoti
lotocoti
May 3, 2023 8:28 am

Somebody must’ve seen that Clive Owen fillum and thought:
How would you make that happen?

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
May 3, 2023 8:29 am

I’ve burnt my hand holding onto this firestick for 499 years 11 months and 30 days. F it I’m going early.

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 8:29 am

Some of the articles you quote Indolent are quite reckless.

The estrogen causing compounds were phthalates, from the packaging – from Iran.

Bringing up diabetes from omega 3 and 6 “imbalance” is pretty fruity too.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
May 3, 2023 8:35 am

Maybe Jock was a great bloke

Or maybe not:
* recently left a fabulous house in Melbourne to live in Italy: Zonfrillo had previously spoken about how he had grown to love living in Melbourne and it is unclear why they suddenly upped stumps and flew to Europe.
* cause of death remains unclear but is not being treated as suspicious by police. Insert mandatory LifeLine promo.
* Leaves behind a loving wife and two young children.
* had been a teenage heroin addict.
* Twice divorced with two teenage children.
* Found at 2am. Not by accident I assume.

A lot of undercurrents to his successful life.
(h/t Daily Mail)

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
May 3, 2023 8:42 am

500 years. Very funny !

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 3, 2023 8:45 am

I remain convinced that Gammage’s “conversion” to rabid Greenery, and then writing The Greatest Estate on Earth were his atonement for writing The Future Eaters.

The only way he could be accepted back into “polite” society was by public penance.

flyingduk
flyingduk
May 3, 2023 8:47 am

I asked a similar question about Taiwan’s very low rate of autism but very similar childhood vaccination rates.

Yes and I answered that previously…

Taiwans reported autism rate is 77/10000, whereas the USA is 81/10000 and Australia 88/10000.

Taiwan does NOT have an anomalously low autism rate compared to other western countries.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/autism-rates-by-country

calli
calli
May 3, 2023 8:48 am

The Future Eaters was written by Tim “our dams will never fill again” Flannery.

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 8:50 am
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 3, 2023 8:54 am

Albanese meets King, tells Piers Morgan he will pledge allegiance
By Rob Harris

Anthony Albanese has said he has no issues swearing allegiance to King Charles III during a public oath at this weekend’s historic coronation service and warned republicans that staging a vote on Australia’s future head of state was not imminent.

The Australian prime minister met the King during a private audience at Buckingham Palace in London on Tuesday, in what was described as an “insightful and rewarding” meeting, where he reiterated there was an invitation for the royals to visit Australia next year.

Pity. The thought of Albo being dragged off to the chopping block, for refusal to pledge allegiance to His Majesty, was rather amusing.

calli
calli
May 3, 2023 8:55 am

It’s really simple rosie. Require a DNA test.

Whoops!

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 8:56 am

People need to relax about the Met Gala.

Doja Cat made the song “Bitch, I’m a cow”. You may not get a sensible answer from her.

Not answering the press is also admirable in some ways.

That costume Jared Leto wore was impressive, but he also has a cult where women think he is Jesus.

Either way, Doja Cat was a better public speaker than the POTATUS.

Indolent
Indolent
May 3, 2023 9:00 am

Some of the articles you quote Indolent are quite reckless.

I’m not a medical expert. There have been many recent warnings regarding vegetable oils. You need to judge for yourself whether this one is valid. I’m simply bringing it to attention.

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
May 3, 2023 9:02 am

On the Abo subject.

The only reason the Abos lasted until the modern age is that they were cut off from the rest of the world due to Australias geographical isolation.

They are a genetic dead end that would not have survived in a competitive environment with the rest of the world during the last 10,000 years.

They are the human equivalent of the Bonobo , requiring protection from the outside world and real competition…

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 3, 2023 9:03 am

callisays:
May 3, 2023 at 8:48 am
The Future Eaters was written by Tim “our dams will never fill again” Flannery.

You are quite correct Calli, thank you.

I was getting my PC nut cases confused.

rosie
rosie
May 3, 2023 9:07 am

It’s really simple rosie. Require a DNA test.

It doesn’t really help.
People’s inheritance of DNA varies, even between full siblings, it’s perfectly possible to have an aboriginal ancestor but zero percent of their DNA.
As long as we have these absurd alternative realities where some people ignore the rest of their heritage and identity solely as aboriginal it’s not going to resolve.
It’s just another reason why the voice is fraught.
On the other hand you have people with documented aboriginal lineage who choose not to identity, I know a couple in that category too.
As Dallas Scott said at his blog, assistance should be based on need not race, if it were Im predicting most of this wouldn’t matter.

132andBush
132andBush
May 3, 2023 9:08 am

I didn’t read it quite like that. I thought he gave too much credit to aborigines planning burns, especially when he claimed that they only burned the Vic high forests every 500(?)

If that is what he’s stating what about the roughly 50yr intervals where lightning starts uncontrollable bushfires in the high country?

Don’t try and tell me they called in the great flying water spirit to douse the flames because I’m gunna need a citation for that.

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
May 3, 2023 9:13 am

Communism never sleeps, but if you understand it, you can defeat it!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1652952294110158848

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 3, 2023 9:15 am

GreyRanga says:
May 2, 2023 at 2:46 pm

Australia only has an inflation problem coz of every form of government charging more for less.

NSW Govt Land Tax 2023 an increase of 20% over NSW Govt Land Tax for 2022

And the Tenants wonder why we are raising their Rents!

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
May 3, 2023 9:16 am

Expanded anti-vilification laws that would protect disabled and LGBTIQ+ Victorians from hate crimes could be legislated within 18 months.

Aren’t they vilifying the people who do not believe in all these latest fashions? Not just publicly depicting them as cranks and fascists, but actually crafting laws to get after them – something those opposed to Drag Queen Story Hour would never be able to do to anyone else.

Imagine the audacity! People who want raise their own kids their own way and with their own values – but it seems that you are only permitted those values that do not clash with the whims of the political and activist classes. In that contest the private citizen must surrender.

If you had asked any politician 10 years ago what they thought of drag queens being allowed into schools to read book in the way that a drag queen would, how do you think they would have reacted? Would they have suddenly realised it was something missing from children’s lives? Would they have stopped to ponder what the benefits might be – and come up with some? Or would they have thought you were strange for even asking.

Well, all those people objecting to the story time are people who have remained steadfast in their opinion and beliefs.

So why have the politicians changed their attitude, and all at once? Well, the answer is in the question – they are politicians.

And as for why we are getting the drag queen thing, it is not even something that started in Australia. The progressives have just picked up on another fad from the US and now pretending it is a burning grass-roots matter here. Our progressives are very very second rate people with almost no imagination of capacity for originality, but they are very much first-rate drones, which is exactly what a collective needs.

As for not vilifying on the basis of religion – Christianity is mocked daily throughout the ‘arts’ (much subsidised and therefore abetted by the state, and on that gigantic useless organ (imagine your appendix had swelled top fill half your body) the ABC.

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 9:17 am

Biden is a vandal.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesbroughel/2023/03/15/biden-shouldnt-tax-cryptos-electricity-use/?sh=582fc4af6418

Biden’s 30% Crypto Electricity Tax May Be Too Blunt A Solution

Cryptocurrency mining is the process of verifying transactions on a blockchain network by solving complex mathematical problems using computer hardware. The process requires a significant amount of energy, and the majority of this energy comes from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin BTC -1.2% Electricity Consumption Index, the annual energy consumption of Bitcoin mining alone is estimated to be around 120 terawatt-hours, which is higher than the electricity consumption of some countries.

Most of those countries are shit holes. Do people think online banking, ATMs, SWIFT, cash registers, EFTPOS, phone lines, servers, etc run on magical free and pollutant free electricity?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 3, 2023 9:18 am

How the RBA shocked the market – and households

The Reserve Bank shocked the market and horrified mortgage holders with its decision to raise rates and the suggestion more might be needed.

Jennifer Hewett – Columnist

Philip Lowe may be going down as Reserve Bank governor by mid-year, but he’s going down fighting.

The decision to raise the cash rate by another 0.25 per cent to 3.85 per cent stunned the market out of near-universal complacency this month’s call would add up to another pause.

Instead, the governor issued a stern reminder the board remains “resolute” in its determination to return inflation to target and will do whatever is necessary to achieve that “within a reasonable time frame”.

Until 2.30pm on Tuesday, the overwhelming market view had been more concentrated on the bank’s apparent willingness to head a little more slowly towards that target in order to preserve jobs and economic growth.

This conveniently ignored Lowe’s caveat that the bank would continue to be guided by the economic data – which has remained surprisingly robust.

Although annual headline inflation fell to 7 per cent in the March quarter, down from 7.8 per cent as the cost of goods eased along with increased supply, the cost of services was going in the other direction.

Pushed particularly by the jump in energy and rental costs, it increased to an annual rate of 6.1 per cent, up from 5.5 per cent and the fastest rate in two decades.

The market had mostly still assumed the bank was prepared to sit it out for another month – as it did in April – if only to give it more time to assess the delayed economic impact of rate rises so far.

But Lowe pointed to services price inflation still being very high and broadly based, while unit labour costs are rising briskly and productivity growth remains subdued.

“If high inflation were to become entrenched in people’s expectations, it would be very costly to reduce later, involving even higher interest rates and a larger rise in unemployment,” he said. And according to the governor, the latest interest rate rise will help ensure that medium-term inflation expectations remain “well anchored”.

He also suggested further tightening of monetary policy might be needed.

That’s despite the bank acknowledging an expected slowdown in economic growth later this year and the combination of higher interest rates, cost-of-living pressures and the earlier decline in housing prices already leading to a substantial slowing in household spending.

“While some households have substantial savings buffers, others are experiencing a painful squeeze on their finances,” the governor said. “There are also uncertainties regarding the global economy, which is expected to grow at a below-average rate over the next couple of years.”

None of this uncertainty deters the bank from its “priority” of returning inflation to target.

This toughened stance again this month may win the RBA plaudits from many economists – although certainly not all – for its dogged perseverance in fighting inflation.

It will certainly dint consumer confidence. What it will do to the recent modest recovery in house prices amid surging immigration is less clear.

But complaints from a couple of million mortgage holders will resonate loudly everywhere from the RBA headquarters at Martin Place to Parliament House in Canberra to every suburb in Australia. For those with a $1 million mortgage – certainly not unusual in Sydney and Melbourne – the cumulative dollar impact of what are now 11 rate rises out of 12 meetings is a staggering increase in monthly payments of over $2100.

The union movement will also be sensitive to the bank’s view that the pick-up in wages growth, while so far consistent with the inflation target, remains a risk without a matching lift in productivity – of which there’s no sign.

“The Board remains alert to the risk that expectations of ongoing high inflation contribute to larger increases in both prices and wages, especially given the limited spare capacity in the economy and the historically low rate of unemployment,” the governor said.

In contrast, the ACTU has been arguing workers should be fully compensated for inflation to avoid real wages continuing to go backwards – something Labor also campaigned hard on from opposition.

In government, Jim Chalmers prefers to refer to the rate rise as a reminder of the difficult economic conditions in which he is framing next week’s budget. Not to mention the political conditions.

Mixed messaging about the future is not confined to the bank.

Chalmers appreciates that the need for the budget to avoid adding to inflation is clashing awkwardly with the increasing clamour – including from his own backbench – to deliver greater cost-of-living relief. That the strength of the economy and resource exports has boosted the budget bottom line by tens of billions of dollars over the past six months only increases demands for the government to spend more.

Angus Taylor calls the RBA decision a wake-up call for the government, insisting the budget must deliver a surplus.

But for this week at least, the focus will be shock at the Reserve Bank’s decision and arguments over whether it is gambling too much with the risk of recession as well as household pain. It will certainly dint consumer confidence. What it will do to the recent modest recovery in house prices amid surging immigration is less clear.

The recent review of the bank was critical of the RBA’s communications strategy as well as other misjudgments in its response to COVID. This time around, there was not even a subtle hint beforehand the market might be guessing wrong.

Not that the RBA was alone in underestimating the economy recovery and the risk of inflation. The review still reinforced expectations the government will not reappoint Lowe when his current seven-year term expires in September. The always even-tempered Lowe firmly rejected some of the review’s findings, particularly the extent of rigorous debate in the board’s monthly deliberations on monetary policy.

But fairly or not, this decision ensures he will be the public face of community angst indefinitely.

Dot
Dot
May 3, 2023 9:19 am

As for housing prices and taxation.

From 2011.

https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=454c46c2-c8e7-44e0-94c5-e32ec8551f3b&subId=661402

Taxation generated from the Housing Sector
Prepared for Housing Industry Association
4 May 2011

The housing sector is more heavily taxed than most

ll indicators are that the burden of tax falling on the housing sector is considerably higher than the average for all other sectors. New housing in particular is inequitably taxed, accounting for around 1.2 per cent of value added in the economy yet contributing 2.8 per cent of government taxation revenues. In terms of GST alone, the residential building sector accounts for 13 per cent of all GST revenue raised by the Commonwealth Government.

In addition to the readily identifiable taxes such as GST there is a range of hidden taxes that not only add to housing costs but cause a wasteful use of resources and impose deadweight losses on the economy. The average tax burden on the new housing sector is estimated at around 31 per cent of the value of output compared with an economy-wide average of 24.4 per cent. When hidden taxes are added in, the tax on new housing is an estimated 44 per cent ($268 000) of the purchase price of anew house in Sydney (see chart 1), 38 per cent ($184 000) in Melbourne and 36 percent ($191 000) in Brisbane.

——————————————————————————————

Now let us apply some basic arithmetic. If the tax component of the final price is 44%, then the untaxed component is 56%. So what is the actual tax rate on housing?

Is it 44%? No.

The tax rate in % = (taxes paid/untaxed component) x 100

So (44/56) * 100 = 78.6%

The average tax rate on building a new home in Sydney is 78.6%, and this is able to be paid out on an amortised loan, which can be paid off with your income which already has had income tax knocked off it.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 3, 2023 9:19 am

The only reason the Abos lasted until the modern age is that they were cut off from the rest of the world due to Australias geographical isolation.

They are lucky that the Maori found New Zealand congenial and had forgotten how to navigate oceans, otherwise they would have been eaten.

  1. When all the CA votes are counted, the total vote count will be roughly similar to 2020.Kamal-toe sits on about…

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