Open Thread- Weekend 6 May 2023


In the Crimea. After a Rain, Fyodor Vasilyev, 1873

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

1.8K Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 4:10 pm

Breastfeeding in public was still happening in the 1960s, so I assume it had always happened.
The thing that had the biggest influence was the “teachings” of Dr. Spock, who recommended fixed feeding times, rather than feeding on demand which had been the norm, for, I dunno, 65,000 years?

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
May 8, 2023 4:18 pm

Not true, they can exist without power but they may be ineffective

What’s the difference?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 4:27 pm

World
The fact that collapses the case for slavery reparations
Andreas Koureas

7 May 2023

5:30 PM

The case for slavery reparations seems to be growing louder every day. This week, indigenous representatives from 12 Commonwealth countries called on King Charles to begin the process of paying reparations. The King has personally expressed sorrow for the suffering of slaves and Buckingham Palace has said that it is taking the issue of reparations ‘profoundly seriously’. Earlier this year, a former BBC journalist committed to sending £100,000 in aid to the Caribbean to atone for her own family’s historical links to the slave trade.

The voluntary role that many Africans played in the transatlantic slave trade is ignored

The central thesis of slavery reparations is that white majority countries owe money to ethnic minorities as their ancestors may have enslaved others or benefited from a slave-system economy.

There is a problem with this though: ultimately, the great evil of slavery was practised by all inhabited continents and all races. And there will be almost no one alive today in the world who doesn’t have an ancestral link to the slave trade. This fact collapses the modern-day reparations argument.

Take the Afro-Omani slave trader Tippu Tip, who in 1895 was reported to have seven plantations and own 10,000 slaves. He was one of the largest slavers in all of East Africa.

Tip, alongside countless fellow indigenous Africans, would capture slaves in village raids or as prisoners of war, and they would be sold at the African coast to outside traders or fellow Africans within the subcontinent. Tip’s own home country Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) was, although small in size, a large trading empire. In 1859 alone, 19,000 slaves were imported there from the East African Coast.

Long before the transatlantic slave trade began, slavery was commonplace in many parts of the globe. As Al-Tabari, the Muslim scholar, showed in the mid-ninth century, the Basra port at al-Ahwaz alone had about 15,000 enslaved workers. Even in New Zealand, Maori chiefs enslaved prisoners of war – occasionally going as far as eating them in tribal feasts. The further you go back in history the longer the list of slavers grows, including everyone from the Ancient Egyptians to the Shang dynasty in China.

Given that many of the nations now calling for reparations also enslaved and sold others, the reparations argument when brought to its logical conclusion would have to demand that descendants of African slavers owe reparations to those who may have been the victims of slavery.

This argument could even be applied to the white descendants of the victims of the Barbary slave trade. Though undoubtedly far smaller than the transatlantic slave trade, the Barbary trade still saw over one million Europeans captured by North African pirates in slave raids between the 16th and 18th centuries.

So why is this devastating blow to the reparations argument often ignored? Politically, it seems that although we generally accept that slavery was universal in ancient history, we often pretend that only European powers practised slavery from the 16th century onwards, when this is clearly not the case. Meanwhile, the voluntary role that many Africans played in the transatlantic slave trade is also ignored.

Generally the European powers, with the exception of Portugal, lacked the resources to delve deep into the African continent for slaves. They were instead met at the coast by willing traders looking to make a profit by selling their fellow man. Though it is undoubtedly true that the rise of the transatlantic trade encouraged the growth of African slavers, this does not excuse those who took part in the trade.

Nor did slavery end in Africa when European colonialists were removed from the continent. When the Portuguese were forced off the East African Coast in 1699 by the Imam of the Omani Empire, he himself owned about 1,700 slaves.

The same is true for colonies outside Africa. In the early 1820s, Brazil broke away from the Portuguese Empire. Despite its later anti-slavery treaties with the UK, Brazil would continue importing about 750,000 slaves between 1831-1850. In 1844 it refused to renew the Anglo-Brazilian anti-slave trade agreement. Brazil’s slave trade only effectively stopped after 1850 when the UK formed a naval blockade in its coastal waters.

During the age of abolition led by Britain, the King of Dahomey (a West African Kingdom in modern day Benin) reportedly protested to a British officer that:

‘The slave trade has been the ruling principle of my people. It is the source of their glory and wealth. Their songs celebrate their victories and the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery.’

Some independent African nations and empires continued to allow slavery well after abolitionism in Europe. This was especially true in the eastern side of Africa where it was more difficult for the British to influence local politics and for the Royal Navy to enforce abolition.

From the 1860s onwards, Bemba chiefs in North-Eastern Zambia traded ivory and slaves for guns. As the supply of elephants for ivory depleted, the chiefs moved to selling even more slaves. In Barotseland, the monarch Lewanika was considered king of the Barotses, a South African ethnic group. From the beginning of his reign in 1878 until the region became a British protectorate, oral sources claim that up to a third of his subjects were slaves.

There is no question that the Euro-American trade in slaves – which began with Portugal and later included other colonial powers like France and Britain – was huge in size. This evil should never be forgotten.

But neither should we forget that people from all parts of the world, races and religions took part in what was one of the most horrid systems in human history.

In many parts of the world today, slavery is still rife. Rather than trying to create division by blaming people for the sins of their ancestors, we should instead come together to try and solve the problems we face today.

Robert Sewell
May 8, 2023 4:35 pm

https://open.substack.com/pub/harryrichardson/p/wall-st-is-cannibalising-americas?r=22jqht&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

America’s regional banking crisis continues to gather momentum as hundreds of billions in deposits were pulled out of small- and medium-sized banks across the country over the last two weeks.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 4:36 pm

Earlier this year, a former BBC journalist committed to sending £100,000 in aid to the Caribbean to atone for her own family’s historical links to the slave trade.

Uh huh.
The reality was that Parliament borrowed the money from the Banks in Paris to compensate the West Indies Plantation owners for their losses.
That was in 1837 and the Debt was only paid off in 2015.
Boris Johnson’s family is only one of the many that receive a regular cheque from the Trust Fund for SlaveOwners, now in it’s 186th year.

So, if they want to pay Reparations, they know where the money is, it’s been keeping them in Caviar and Champagne since 1837.

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 4:38 pm

Rogersays:
May 8, 2023 at 9:58 am
Biden plays golf once every month or two.

That was monty, actually.

johanna
johanna
May 8, 2023 4:39 pm

I don’t have any numbers to back this up, but one wonders how much it COST the British Empire to maintain its various colonies, and how often said colonies returned a measurable ‘profit’ from the taxes collected?

In other words: What was the return on investment in purely financial terms?

There were multiple goals for European colonialists, and different priorities for different countries. One thing is for sure, while they may have copped financial losses in the short term, they were not going to keep it up in the medium to long term. They weren’t running charities.

Cheap raw materials, gems and precious metals, and food products all poured into the colonisers’ countries. Thing is, those things had always been there, or potentially been there (e.g. plantations) long before the colonisers arrived. But, they were monetised by the incomers, and some of that money remained in the colonies, even in the worst cases (I’m looking at Belgium here, although there are other contenders.)

The point is, critics of colonisation have a fair point when they say that there was brutality and disposession and all the rest. But, to look at it from air-conditioned comfort in the C21st, overlaid with wokeness, is like assessing a live export ship from the point of view of a vegan.

In ranking successful post colonial countries, surely the first would be India, which is going gangbusters. Then there is Indonesia, which is an extraordinary political achievement in keeping hundreds of islands together as a country.

At the bottom of the list are African countries like Somalia (chaos) and Mali (poorest country on the planet, or close to it.)

Both India and Indonesia had hundreds of years of ‘colonialism’, and their political, cultural and physical infrastructure reflect that.

Then there is South Africa. What a tragedy. 400 years of nation building, to the point where it was by far the richest and most developed country on the continent, and now it is melting like an ice sculpture on Christmas Day. 🙁

Oh, and Zimbabwe. Another tragedy.

Simplistic slogans about ‘colonialism’ are rubbish, and display a profound ignorance of history.

Apart from those mentioned, can any of the critics show us how throwing off the shackles of ‘colonialism’ has resulted in improved outcomes for the countries under discussion?

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 4:41 pm

[Matthew Guy] and his ilk are determined to keep conservative views away from any power input .

They think they’ve exited the culture wars while at the same time they’ve embraced the alphabet lobby.

Let’s see how this works out for them electorally.

Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
May 8, 2023 4:46 pm

On colonialism and the profit and outcomes thereof…

From my perspective only the Brits got it even remotely right. The French got moderately close, especially when the colony’s weather was good. The Spaniards were honest in their desire for pillage first and everything else second. The Belgians disgraceful and the Germans a bit of a non-starter, despite their best efforts. The Yanks in the Philippines were a more benign version of what they inherited from Spain.

What is reprehensible about (especially) the Brits is that, having run a mostly-benign “rule, educate, build (and profit)” strategy, they either willingly or otherwise just cut and ran after WWII.

India ought to have been the exemplar – overstay your welcome by a few years – but for whatever reason that template was thrown out the window, especially in Africa. [Our (Gough’s) approach in PNG was also egregious in this regard.] In colony after colony, they ran away just before the job was done. Didn’t have the cojones to see the exit strategy though. Poor form.

That’s the real tragedy, and at heart the real source of grievance, though it’s rarely recognised and never acknowledged.

Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
May 8, 2023 4:47 pm

Kinda snap, Johanna.

johanna
johanna
May 8, 2023 4:48 pm

duk – I get your point. Driving at 100kph through a school zone at 3.30pm may not necessarily result in you turning a kiddie into bitumen pizza.

But, the chances of parents (and many other people) agreeing that it is worth the risk is so close to zero that it is barely worth mentioning.

You’re on a loser with this one.

Lysander
Lysander
May 8, 2023 4:51 pm

Is it racist to ask if some cultures are/were better than others?

flyingduk
flyingduk
May 8, 2023 4:51 pm

I have no problems with women breastfeeding in public, we all know breast is best for a baby. Most women do it discreetly and modestly. As for those women who don’t, who flop their breast out for all to see, I don’t particularly like it but to compare to public urinating and masturbation, give me a break.

I was merely offering the forum the opportunity to explain *why* the 2 are treated differently… so far, no one has taken up the opportunity.

PS… ‘give me a break’ is not an argument, nor is ‘I would prefer to live in a society which does not equate the 2’.

Cassie of Sydney
May 8, 2023 4:53 pm

Further to the British Empire, I can’t recall his name but there’s a Canadian professor who lost his job a few years ago at a Canadian university because he dared to defend the British and the British empire, specifically in relation to India. The totalitarian and tyrannical little Marxists then decided to lynch him and terminate his career. The woke are such a tolerant lot! Anyway, this professor, being of Indian extraction, specifically from the Punjab, specifically from a Sikh religious background, had immediate family who experienced life under the Raj, his parents having migrated from India to Canada, and he grew up listening to stories by his parents and grandparents of their experiences living under the British rule, followed by the catastrophic violence and slaughter of partition and then under the newly independent India. He described how his parents never got over the trauma of partition and its ensuing violence. His parents and grandparents witnessed first hand what happened when the British pulled out, millions were butchered, including many in his own family. The Punjab was a slaughterhouse between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Anyway, what did he say that was so offensive and ruffled the feathers of the always tolerant woke? Well, he dared to say that British rule, whilst not perfect, was fairly benign, the British imposed order and laws on the subcontinent, and most importantly, the British kept the warring religious groups apart.

bespoke
bespoke
May 8, 2023 4:54 pm

Is it racist to ask if some cultures are/were better than others?

No!

Cassie of Sydney
May 8, 2023 4:55 pm

“I was merely offering the forum the opportunity to explain *why* the 2 are treated differently… so far, no one has taken up the opportunity.”

Because they’re not the same. Seriously, give me a break.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 4:55 pm

. [Our (Gough’s) approach in PNG was also egregious in this regard.]

I don’t have a reference, but wasn’t P.N.G. working towards independence in the early 90’s and Gough got all panicky?

Cassie of Sydney
May 8, 2023 4:57 pm

“Simplistic slogans about ‘colonialism’ are rubbish, and display a profound ignorance of history.”

Well said Johanna.

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 4:59 pm

Honest question, does anyone have a view on the partial colonisation of China? I get the feeling the old gang was there to plunder.

rosie
rosie
May 8, 2023 4:59 pm

Because they’re not the same. Seriously, give me a break.

Is someone trying to claim a woman breastfeeding an infant (usually done with some discretion) is analogulous to public urination.
Why do you think they are the same?

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
May 8, 2023 4:59 pm

Is it racist to ask if some cultures are/were better than others?

Yes. Because the losers don’t like it. And anything not liked that the left as ruled a matter of victimhood is racist.

Glad I could be of help.

flyingduk
flyingduk
May 8, 2023 5:01 pm

Rights are grounded in goods like learning and knowing the truth, for example; therefore, we have a right of association, right to an education, right of free speech,

Excellent – 3rd meaty topic for the day 🙂

I am of the school that only believes negative rights exist … the right not to be killed, the right not to have your stuff stolen etc etc etc.

This is because postive rights … the ‘right’ to an education, the ‘right’ to free health care etc by necessity clash with negative rights – if you have a ‘right’ to an education, someone else has the obligation to provide you with it – which means stealing their time or their resources.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 8, 2023 5:02 pm

SITREP 5/7/23: Prigozhin’s Masterpiece Amid Powerful New Airstrikes

SIMPLICIUS THE THINKER
8 MAY 2023

Let’s start with some updates about previously ongoing developments.

The Prigozhin saga has appeared to have concluded in the expected and predictable manner. Prigozhin now claims all is fine, and that a new deal has been struck with the Russian MOD to deliver all appropriate ammo, plus securing of the Wagner flanks. This was after Chechen leader Kadyrov claimed to have already been sending his men to take over Bakhmut from Wagner.

Prigozhin claims that previous theater commander Surovikin has now been appointed as some sort of special liaison to Wagner in terms of logistics and supply.

I’d go deeper into this entire situation, unpacking what it could mean, and what it was all about, but to be quite frank, I think most of us agree that this entire saga was quite tedious and tiresome, and is ultimately a circular argument of who was to blame, whether it was all just theater, etc. If it’s truly resolved then I think for now we can move on and not need to devote massive page space to this anymore.

The only people doing so so are likely just trying to profit from the sensationalist clickbait circumstances surrounding this strange episode. I’ll return to it if it flares up again, but for now it appears not much is left to be said on it other than, as someone recently aptly flourished: “The dogs bark, but the caravan rolls on.”

Only thing I’ll say is that numerous sources from the AFU continue to maintain that the Wagner saga was an illusion, and that no ammunition depletion is recorded. For instance, in a new CNN article, spokesman for AFU’s eastern grouping, Serhii Cherevatyi, said:

“Now they are firing more than 20,000 shells a day. That’s why (Prigozhin’s remarks on ammunition starvation) is a complete bluff,” he said.

Another report where Ukrainian sources state that new Wagner units with additional equipment and ammo are “constantly arriving” for a final strike on AFU positions, and that this does not match what Wagner has been saying:

Funnily enough, in the same report, Ukrainian GUR appears to confirm some of the theories from the Russian side, which is that Wagner is not ‘low on shells’ per se, but rather that Wagner is greedy for an endless increase of them, which no amount will satiate:

One other key revelation from the episode, however, was Prigozhin’s reiteration that Ukraine is losing 400-600 men in Bakhmut per day, which should silence the doubters who claimed these events mean that Russia is now suffering a lopsided loss ratio against Ukraine.

This was from Prigozhin’s new video which can be seen here: VIDEO LINK.

Another statement from a Ukrainian source:

All Prigozhin’s statements about “exiting Bakhmut” are all fakes and lies, and “these will be difficult days of missile attacks, attacks by Shaheds,” because “Russia wants to stage a bloody show in Ukraine.”

And lastly, for anyone that’s interested, prior to the resolution, Prigozhin had released a pretty exhaustive document which clarified all the issues with a lot of interesting details, which can be read in full here (just run it through an auto-translator): LINK.

The document has some very interesting observations from a tactical standpoint as Prigozhin goes into battle details. He confirms, for instance, that there are 30k Wagnerians against 35k AFU directly in Bakhmut and 80k+ total in general area near Bakhmut. He also states that Wagner consumes on average 6000 shells per day.

Using these numbers, he makes some interesting accounts by way of Soviet artillery theory, such as the following:

– Second: according to the norms defined by the Rules of Shooting and Fire Control, the consumption of ammunition for suppressing the enemy’s platoon strongpoint is 180 shells per 1 hectare. The average length of the front of the Wagner PMC, taking into account different periods, is 80 km. This is about 400 enemy strongholds. Their suppression requires 180 x 400, that is, 72 thousand shells per day. And so on every day.

Lastly and most interestingly, Prigozhin states something which appears to answer a question I had last time, in that he believes that Russia currently produces enough shells to fully arm everyone as needed, and as such the ‘shell hunger’ induced is ‘artificial’:

Anyway, onto the next.

As the caravan rolls on through Bakhmut, several more blocks were captured today with the newly renewed Wagner forces marching on.

One brief remark on Bakhmut and why it’s taking so long to capture it compared to other cities. Compared to Mariupol, the contrast is easy to see: Mariupol was locked against the sea, which meant that it was easy to surround on three sides, giving no possibility for reinforcement and supplies. Ironically, the crafty and resourceful AFU still managed to resupply the final Azovstal bastion to an extent, for a while at least, by flying helicopters low over the sea—but the point remains.

Zelensky ordered to continue pumping the city full of reinforcements. This is why the battle is taking so long compared to the other two major urban engagements thus far.

But the big question is why did Zelensky do this? As I’ve covered before—apart from wanting to delay Russian forces up until the time of Ukraine’s counter-offensive—the main reason is because, unlike Mariupol and Severodonetsk, Bakhmut is the final frontier before the all-important Kramatorsk-Slavyansk agglomerate which represents, in effect, the AFU’s “last stand” in Donbass. So of course when the defender pours all their resources into holding a city and refuses to retreat, and it’s a city which does not have natural obstructions like water, then it’s going to take much longer. Not to mention that Bakhmut is a very naturally defensible city due to the height advantages for the defender right on its outskirts:

As for Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, the other big urban battles: the AFU chose to slip away there and after some bitter fighting, the order from command was simply to preserve their forces and retreat.

Bakhmut was actually supposed to go the same way, showing that the high command’s style did not change. But the order to retreat in this case was simply annulled and reversed by Zelensky himself. We actually have proof of that now as the order itself was apparently leaked recently:

Reports claim that one of the key objectives of the new offensive will be for the AFU to capture the Energodar nuclear plant.

I believe this is one of those objectives with a great cost to benefit ratio for the AFU, as technically it’s not very difficult to capture it, as it’s right on the water and doesn’t require liberating many tens of kilometers of territory. And it is a prominent enough big ticket item that by capturing it, you can nearly declare a ‘victory’ to the entire offensive just from that alone. It would certainly be, at the least, a major psychological victory and would allow Ukraine to have a lot of new blackmail leverage over Russia, including that of potential nuclear falseflags, etc.

And, there’s been a new slew of headlines from Western MSM and political figures calling the offensive into question, or pleading for a lowering of expectations.

Czech President Petr Pavel urged Ukraine “not to rush” into a counter-offensive in order to avoid the inevitable heavy losses. Crucially, he said that Ukraine will only get one chance at this:

Washington Post similarly released a cautioning note from Ukrainian defense minister Reznikov, who said that most people are awaiting something “huge” and shouldn’t overwork their expectations:

More and more, western leaders are now positioning themselves towards the inevitable peace talks. Even Henry Kissinger just stated in a new interview that China will be used to rein Russia into peace talks “by the end of this year”.

The U.S. is in a desperate position now as all of their key military officials are predicting the kick off of the Taiwan war in the next two years or less, and they need to prepare themselves by massively re-arming the depleted American stockpiles which are all being sucked up into the black hole that is Ukraine. The U.S. MIC can’t take this conflict for much longer.

On the other hand, Russia is only just ramping up, economically. Not only has the Ruble once more risen against the dollar this week, back to around 76:

But it was announced today that Russia has officially returned to the top 10 global economies as per nominal GDP.

A few last, disparate things. I reported last time on the big Pavlograd compound that was destroyed by Russian strikes. A few closer satellite images have become available of the strikes, which show more detail of the impacts and consequences:

Recall that this crater is said to be 30 meters (100ft) deep. And you can now see that many other facilities, quonsets, hangars, etc., were devastated. Not only was some important chemical producing facility destroyed, but it was confirmed that a ballistic missile workshop also bit the bullet, which was used to covertly manufacture Ukraine’s homemade Grom-2 missiles.

Now, as of this writing, there is a massive aerial attack on Ukraine ongoing. Some sources claim it could be one of Russia’s largest ever, which was also said about the strike days ago.

But this just goes to show, the past week has been filled with almost daily strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and positions. The current strikes are reportedly utilizing everything from sea-fired Kalibrs to Geran drones to Tu-22m and Tu-95 launched missiles.

Many areas were hit, including these warehouses in Odessa:

One report says that the same railway depot where Leopards were just seen days ago (a photo of which I posted in a recent report) was destroyed by missiles. Likewise, Zatoka bridge, which connects Romania to Odessa, was reportedly hit, though there is no confirmation as of yet. The targeting of a key infrastructure bridge would be a big step up and could mean this week’s latest spate of strikes could be portending some big movements.

Zelensky appeared to confirm as much in a new video statement seen here, where he states that there will be big ‘new events’ in May and June.

These strikes are particularly significant in light of recent developments we’ve followed here vis a vis Ukraine’s AD missile drought. Recall that they are said to be very low, to the extent that experts have begun to openly encourage them to begin “letting some missiles through”.

On this account, for the past two days some on the AFU side have been bragging that an American Patriot missile has shot down a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile. But the problem is, even Twitter’s community notes proceeded to comically ‘fact check’ this fraud, given that Ukrainian Air Force’s own spokesman, Yuriy Ignat, confirmed there was no such missile shot down.

And only a fool could possibly think the wreckage they showed was a Kinzhal anyway; does this sewer pipe look like a Kinzhal to you?

But critics and self-avowed ‘experts’ disagreed with me, saying that HIMARs M31 missiles have advanced INS (Inertial Navigation System) which can store up the GPS coordinates such that even if you jam the GPS, the INS will get the missile to its destination. That’s possible, but unfortunately INS is less accurate the further out that the missile is jammed. And now, I’ve been vindicated as a major new CNN article has revealed exactly what I’ve been saying for over a year:

Ukraine’s own frontline troops describe the dwindling usability of the HIMARs:

Of course, the HIMARs have always been oversold, buried in the fat of another MSM article comes this little-seen revelation:

It seems that the longer time goes on, the more we end up learning how awful U.S. weapons actually were all along, and how over-hyped all their early ‘claimed successes’ really were. For instance, recall how devastating the Javelin was billed to be in the early part of the war, yet after damn near a year and a half of fighting, there isn’t a single clear piece of footage showing even one successful Javelin hit.

And of course, as I’ve already exposed before, even in the U.S. Army’s own internal tests they found the Javelin to only have a 19% success rate:

CEO of Russia’s largest arms concern, Rostec, in this video states that Russia produced ~150 total helicopters last year, i.e. Ka-52s, Mi-28s, etc., and this year so far they are already at ~300. That should give you an idea of how much Russian production has ramped up. He also states that Kinzhal hypersonic missiles have also been similarly expanded in production.

Meanwhile, Turkish minister Cavusoglu in this video states how the U.S. secretly begged Turkey to hand over the Russian S-400 so the U.S. could study and reverse engineer it, to which Turkey politely declined.

Well, time is nigh. I guess we’ll find out soon what they really have left, and whether they have the moxie to launch a big one on May 9th as they’ve been threatening for so long to do.

In the meantime, this is what U.S. defense and intel forces are up to, and how they’re preparing for a conflict-rife future:

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 8, 2023 5:02 pm

What is reprehensible about (especially) the Brits is that, having run a mostly-benign “rule, educate, build (and profit)” strategy, they either willingly or otherwise just cut and ran after WWII.

I don’t think they had much choice. The unrest from India to Kenya to Egypt and the holy land occurred at the same time that the people of the UK were utterly exhausted. Since there was no way a thousand simultaneous fires could be put out they chose the gracious option.

Not helped of course by the communists undermining everything they could.

The mistake that was made was in the colonies themselves – except India they were better off as colonies than they are now. Colonialism is a pretty good thing really, especially with tribalism and corruption always lurking. We see the same here with aboriginal people.

The French worked out better, since they managed to keep some places like New Caledonia. Now that the locals see what is happening everywhere that “won” their independence there’s a new-found realization that being part of France might actually be a good thing. Took sixty years for people to work it out though.

johanna
johanna
May 8, 2023 5:02 pm

Kinda snap bullshit. What about the Dutch! 🙂

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
May 8, 2023 5:04 pm

flyingduksays:
May 8, 2023 at 4:51 pm
I have no problems with women breastfeeding in public, we all know breast is best for a baby. Most women do it discreetly and modestly. As for those women who don’t, who flop their breast out for all to see, I don’t particularly like it but to compare to public urinating and masturbation, give me a break.

I was merely offering the forum the opportunity to explain *why* the 2 are treated differently… so far, no one has taken up the opportunity.

PS… ‘give me a break’ is not an argument, nor is ‘I would prefer to live in a society which does not equate the 2’.

I am the eldest of eight and when my Mum was breastfeeding my younger brothers and sisters we never gave it a thought. Even when other Mums did it in public. Never gave it a second thought. But that was over 60 years ago. I am now age 70 years.

The trouble is now the World is such a crazy wimpy place that people that sneeze are thought of as Covid carriers. LOL.

What a farked up World this has now become.

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 5:05 pm

bespoke says:
May 8, 2023 at 4:54 pm
Is it racist to ask if some cultures are/were better than others?
No!

Sure, there are good and God awful cultures, but this should not be confused with describing people being better or worse. People are basically the same with a few modifications here and there. Culture essentially describes groups of people at different stages of development.

flyingduk
flyingduk
May 8, 2023 5:05 pm

duk – I get your point. Driving at 100kph through a school zone at 3.30pm may not necessarily result in you turning a kiddie into bitumen pizza….. But, the chances of parents (and many other people) agreeing that it is worth the risk is so close to zero that it is barely worth mentioning.

You’re on a loser with this one.

Its not about winning or losing, I regard this blog as a valuable forum for me to test out ideas against a audience of intelligent thinkers … having others disagree helps me think through the issues – thankyou.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 5:06 pm

In ranking successful post colonial countries, surely the first would be India, which is going gangbusters.
India was 4 Countries, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Burma.
None of those are going gangbusters, mostly because of por human capital.
Then there is Indonesia, which is an extraordinary political achievement in keeping hundreds of islands together as a country.
Indonesia is 99% monoracial, that solves a lot of problems, plus being a dictatorship run by elites somewhat negates the lack of human capital.

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 5:07 pm

India ought to have been the exemplar – overstay your welcome by a few years – but for whatever reason that template was thrown out the window

I think the simple answer is that Britain was exhausted by the war. The Indian provinces had been ruled as a diarchy since 1919 were more or less autonomous by 1935. The appetite to continue the Raj in the face of civil disobedience in India and financial constraints at home just wasn’t there.

flyingduk
flyingduk
May 8, 2023 5:07 pm

Cassie, saying:

Seriously, give me a break.

twice is still not an argument … nor will it be a 3rd time.

Vicki
Vicki
May 8, 2023 5:08 pm

Is someone trying to claim a woman breastfeeding an infant (usually done with some discretion) is analogulous to public urination.
Why do you think they are the same?

I hesitate to enter this debate. But I will. I don’t particularly like to see women breastfeed in public – particularly in Parliament as a Greens senator did some time back.

Yes, of course it is a natural process and a baby must be fed. But expressed milk in a bottle can be negotiated when nursing in public is unavoidable.

And why the reservation? Well, the breast is also undeniably a sexual delight as well as infant nourishment. And while these days anything seems to go in terms of public nakedness, I still think it is inappropriate in public.

Go ahead – call me a prude.

bespoke
bespoke
May 8, 2023 5:10 pm

Go ahead – call me a prude.

OK.

cohenite
May 8, 2023 5:10 pm

I was merely offering the forum the opportunity to explain *why* the 2 are treated differently… so far, no one has taken up the opportunity.

Lol; the difference between suckling the infant and pulling the pud in public? Well I guess the answer is nothing because both are racist since they both produce white stuff.

flyingduk
flyingduk
May 8, 2023 5:11 pm

Is someone trying to claim a woman breastfeeding an infant (usually done with some discretion) is analogulous to public urination.
Why do you think they are the same?

I referenced the rise in advocates for ‘in your face’ (not discreet) breast feeding and asked why it was now virtually celebrated, whereas public urination (masturbation was not my comparator, it was someone elses) was not.

Both involve dual usage parts of the anatomy formerly considered private.

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 5:15 pm

“I was merely offering the forum the opportunity to explain *why* the 2 are treated differently… so far, no one has taken up the opportunity.”

An action in the service of another, in this case to feed an infant who has no control on its needs which must be met for it to survive.

On the other, both are subject to self-control. And planning.

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 5:15 pm

Duk

Whatever you think of public (state) ownership is irrelevant. You’re using a road that doesn’t belong to you. We share the road and the state imposes rules in how manage this. If you don’t like the rules that are in place then don’t use the road system. Another way of looking at road rules such as speeding is crime prevention. That concept has been around since we began to codify our laws.

One other thing. Your view that there is no such thing as a victimless crime is logically nonsensical .

Someone has a gun in their possession and takes a shot in your direction but misses. You’re suggesting that isn’t a crime because there’s no harmed victim and therefore the shooter should avoid an attempted murder rap. You cannot be serious.

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 5:17 pm

Oh, and I don’t appreciate a boob popped out for public display regardless of its purpose.

But the modesty is always best. It’s part of what makes us human and not field animals.

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 5:17 pm

Vicki, how would you handle a kid wanting a tit feed on a long flight from Oz to Europe?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 8, 2023 5:17 pm

This is because positive rights … the ‘right’ to an education, the ‘right’ to free health care etc by necessity clash with negative rights

Duk – The problem with “rights” is they naturally lead to superiority. Lefties especially stick their nose in the air and say ‘it’s my right to do such and such’ when they really mean ‘I’m better than you’.

Christianity is fun since in essence no one has any rights at all, none, just responsibilities. Which works well since if everyone has responsibilities, and does them, you don’t need rights. Maybe that’s why the Left hates Christianity so much.

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 5:20 pm

Bother. Just plain modesty. It has a mystique and allure all its own. Every culture draws the line in its own way.

Even the Highlanders didn’t mooch around stark naked but harvested the kunai grass for skirts. And don’t forget the gourds for the fellas. 🙂

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 5:21 pm

Gee. I’m on someone’s speed dial.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 5:23 pm

Unless your That Sheila in the Green Dress carrying the sword, breasts are for feeding babies, so flop ’em out.

johanna
johanna
May 8, 2023 5:23 pm

calli, I’m with you on that.

I don’t think that breastfeeding is shameful, but given that female breasts are sex objects in our culture, a bit of coverage is a good plan.

Of course, there may be those who have exhibitionist tendencies, and politics has provided a perfect opportunity …

bespoke
bespoke
May 8, 2023 5:24 pm

Even the Highlanders didn’t mooch around stark naked

Highlanders loved fighting in the nood.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 8, 2023 5:24 pm

Update 156 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine

MAY 6 2023

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts present at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) have received information that the announced evacuation of residents from the nearby town of Enerhodar – where most plant staff live – has started and they are closely monitoring the situation for any potential impact on nuclear safety and security, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today.

While operating staff remain at the site, Director General Grossi expressed deep concern about the increasingly tense, stressful, and challenging conditions for personnel – and their families – at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (NPP), located by the frontline in a southern Ukrainian region that has seen a recent increase in military presence and activity.

The IAEA experts at the site are continuing to hear shelling on a regular basis, including late on Friday.

“The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous. I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant. We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment. This major nuclear facility must be protected. I will continue to press for a commitment by all sides to achieve this vital objective, and the IAEA will continue to do everything it can to help ensure nuclear safety and security at the plant,” he said.

The IAEA experts at the ZNPP site were not able to visit Enerhodar in recent days. But they have received information about the situation regarding the evacuation in the town. It is part of a wider temporary evacuation in the region reportedly announced on Friday.

ZNPP Site Director Yuri Chernichuk has publicly stated that operating staff are not being evacuated and that they are doing everything necessary to ensure nuclear safety and security at the plant, whose six reactors are all in shutdown mode. He also said that plant equipment is maintained in accordance with all necessary nuclear safety and security regulations.

Since the beginning of the conflict almost 15 months ago, the number of staff at the ZNPP has gradually declined but site management has stated that it has remained sufficient for the safe operation of the plant.

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 5:29 pm

Calli, lol, that was me on the last one. I was just trying to be a little annoying to get a reaction.

I just learned this zero thing from the weekend discussion . I suspect those two blog pests, wodney and the turtlehead have been doing this for ages.

bespoke
bespoke
May 8, 2023 5:29 pm

Kissing is also considered a sexual act but it is also a greeting. Contex matters.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 8, 2023 5:30 pm

Ed Case says:
May 8, 2023 at 5:23 pm

Unless your That Sheila in the Green Dress carrying the sword

Ed are you Colour Blind like me?

What was Penny Mordaunt wearing to the coronation?

The politician wore a Teal (Blue/Green) caped dress designed by luxury ready-to-wear brand Safiyaa, embroidered with a fern motif, which is a nod to the privy council. The teal colour, called “Poseidon”, is a reference to her Portsmouth constituency. She arrived wearing ballerina flats, with studded bows and later changed into a pair of nude stilettos.

A source told The Sunday Times last month: “She is paying for [her outfit] herself as there is no budget for it, and no question that any taxpayers’ money should be spent on it. Penny has said that after the coronation she might sell it and use the money to fund future uniforms for women.”

Fans of fantasy TV and film, like Game of Thrones to Star Wars watchers, grew excited on social media, comparing her look to a fictional warrior princess in “gladiator robes”.

Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
May 8, 2023 5:31 pm

Kinda snap bullshit. What about the Dutch!

Got me dead to rights there!

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 5:31 pm

I was just trying to be a little annoying to get a reaction.

Annoy away, JC. I thrive on the attention. 🙂

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 8, 2023 5:32 pm

Joanna> Great writing above, it could be a fantastic speech if anyone could be found to deliver it in a suitable venue …

Today seems to have a good ratio of interesting topics vs abusive comments. Perhaps it happens on Mondays.

Vicki
Vicki
May 8, 2023 5:33 pm

Re breastfeeding on a flight:

As I said, JC, planning via “expressing” milk prior to flight & feeding via a bottle – if in Economy. If seated in Business or First Class – breastfeeding not such a problem.

Simple.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 8, 2023 5:35 pm

But, to look at it from air-conditioned comfort in the C21st, overlaid with wokeness, is like assessing a live export ship from the point of view of a vegan.

Well, yes. My thoughts are that you must look at this through the standards of the time, and this particular standard was stamped out – primarily by the English, and later the US on the Mediterranean coast.

If I were to adopt the screamy noodle-arm point of view, and had I a relative in my deep and distant past who was executed – whether hung, drawn and quartered, buried alive, shot, flayed, given the Blood Eagle treatment, burned at the stake, had his throat slit or gibbeted – then I could (and might) scream for reparations at the hands of the descendants of the people responsible.

However, and like slavery, everyone engaged in capital punishment so the slavery reparation argument becomes a moot point.

So, and to summarise – piss off, you cash-grabbing mendicants.

johanna
johanna
May 8, 2023 5:35 pm

In my young and pretty days, I never flashed my breasts or anything like that. Let me assure readers, there was no shortage of takers.

I don’t understand how young women have been conned into thinking that they have to look like cheap hookers to be attractive. The horrible tatts, the awful piercings, and clothes that appear to have come from a Bangkok hooker’s ‘do not buy’ pile.

I’m not arguing for the ‘girl next door’ model. But if feminists are worth anything, how about campaigning against girls looking and behaving like hookers?

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 5:36 pm

calli says:
May 8, 2023 at 5:17 pm
Oh, and I don’t appreciate a boob popped out for public display regardless of its purpose.

There was a strip joint in NYC owned by a limeball (limey slimeball) where we’d get taken to by brokers. I swear, the racks on view there were incomparable. The name of the joint was Scores owned by Peter Stringfellow. That was his real name..

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 5:37 pm

Highlanders loved fighting in the nood.

Now, I would have thought that’d be one situation in which some protection would be advised. 😀

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
May 8, 2023 5:38 pm

riskywoods
3 hr ago
Mention of Gonzalo Lira by ACroneintheWoods compels me to ask what is your assessment on his arrest?</em

author
Simplicius The Thinker

2 hr ago

I wrote in the last report that basically I see his arrest as a final hour desperation measure by AFU/SBU to plug all the leaks and tighten up their ship on the eve of their so-called ‘offensive’

So his arrest to me signifies a start of a new phase from them, whether that actually leads to real offensives or not, but at the minimum it signifies a ‘projected’ offensive phase where they will certainly attempt to make it look like they’re going on a major offensive, and project a lot of ‘activity’ which is probably partly what his arrest is meant to show for the sake of morale and making it look like they’re actually doing something and capturing enemies, etc. This is all to set the stage for the inevitable failure of their ‘offensive’.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 8, 2023 5:41 pm

Here’s the famous San Fran crap map.

People are leaving because they’re fed up with stepping in it, smelling it and watching the denizens do all this stuff. The city is being hollowed out.

Public standards and enforcement have their place. Without them the people go to other places.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 8, 2023 5:41 pm

JC

Scores, wasn’t that where KRuddy got a little overenthusiastic?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 8, 2023 5:41 pm

The ‘right’ is one of feeding your child, not one of feeding your child anywhere you please in what ever manner you please

Correct. You do not have right to hang the tit out for the purpose of berating anyone who looks at you oddly, which is half the reason these stupid (and invariably pig ugly) women do so.

They don’t do it to feed a child, they do it to make a point – or more correctly, start an argument using the child as a human shield.

Muddy
Muddy
May 8, 2023 5:43 pm

If a colony did not possess the technology to take advantage of it’s (?) natural resources until the colonisers arrived, does this negate or only dilute, modern claims of reparations due?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 5:43 pm

India was 4 Countries, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Burma.

Bangladesh didn’t become Bangladesh until 1971 – in 1947, it was East Bengal, then East Pakistan.

johanna
johanna
May 8, 2023 5:44 pm

bespoke says:
May 8, 2023 at 5:24 pm

Even the Highlanders didn’t mooch around stark naked

Highlanders loved fighting in the nood.
1

Fighting ‘in da nood’ when it is 5C with a wind chill of 10C might just be … challenging, as the Americans say when they mean ‘everything has turned to shit.’

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 5:44 pm

But if feminists are worth anything, how about campaigning against girls looking and behaving like hookers?

May be some unresolved issues from the sexual revolution hanging about.

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 5:44 pm

I’ve been going over the whole colonisation/leave ‘em be conundrum for a while now.

What’s done is done, and done at a time that is in many ways as alien to modern thinking as the moment Pythagoras decided that 3:4:5 was something rather special. Or Copernicus decided that the sun, rather than the Earth was the centre. We are trying to put the chicken back in the egg, but alas, the chick is a little too big now.

No amount of money, or brow beating, or extortion will change the past. The colonised have benefited in different ways and most of them positive.

My great great great grandfathers were transportees for crimes so trivial these days they’d barely get a fine. They were, essentially, used as handy slaves to build Australia. I’m proud of them because they “made good”. Why can’t others see the story of their lives the same way?

Because, if their forebears hadn’t done the same, they simply wouldn’t be alive to indulge in a great whinge.

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 5:46 pm

Boambee John says:
May 8, 2023 at 5:41 pm
JC

Scores, wasn’t that where KRuddy got a little overenthusiastic?

Lol, that’s right. And who could blame that lunatic for getting over excited too.

I’m not kidding, at one time that joint had the best collection of 11 outta 10s in the world.

I never really like strip joints because you end up getting frustrated by just looking and not touching.

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 5:46 pm

Why can’t others see the story of their lives the same way?

Because they’re angling to make a profit from it?

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 8, 2023 5:48 pm

I’m not arguing for the ‘girl next door’ model. But if feminists are worth anything, how about campaigning against girls looking and behaving like hookers?

There seems to be a battle going on between individual rights (“wear any damn thing I like because feminist and female”) vs public standards of modesty(“xxxx is not suitable clothing for airplanes/schools/wedding/etc”).

I don’t see anyone sharing the concept that women could/should dress in a way that makes them less objects of the patriarchy, though that thinking was around in earlier times.

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 5:48 pm

Lol. The coldest I’ve ever seen in the PNG highlands is around 10C.

It might be a little brisker on the Borders.

johanna
johanna
May 8, 2023 5:50 pm

Bruce of Newcastle says:
May 8, 2023 at 5:41 pm

Here’s the famous San Fran crap map.

People are leaving because they’re fed up with stepping in it, smelling it and watching the denizens do all this stuff. The city is being hollowed out.

Public standards and enforcement have their place. Without them the people go to other places.

Nordstroms just left. One by one, the high end and anchor retailers are leaving.

They are committing suicide. 🙁

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 5:51 pm

They were, essentially, used as handy slaves to build Australia.

Iirc, international law had changed just before Australia’s settlement. Merely mapping a territory & planting a flag on land, as Capt. Cook had done, no longer conveyed rights of ownership. There had to be a settlement; thus the arrival of the convicts in 1788, principally to head off French ambitions.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 5:51 pm

Ed are you Colour Blind like me?

Looks that way, OldOzzie.
Was 100% sure that set of Norks was wearing Green until someone mentioned a Royal Blue dress.

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 5:52 pm

I don’t see anyone sharing the concept that women could/should dress in a way that makes them less objects of the patriarchy, though that thinking was around in earlier times.

You mean bulldyke lezzso dress to look sexy to please men?

Sexy as

bespoke
bespoke
May 8, 2023 5:53 pm

I guess I keep better company. Aunts and freinds breastfed like it was part normal ruiteen and it is. If I ever come an exhibitionists the best reaction is none at all. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

Lysander
Lysander
May 8, 2023 5:54 pm

Am i missing something? I don’t get the “crap map” – what does it mean/represent?

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 5:55 pm

My great great great grandfathers were transportees for crimes so trivial these days they’d barely get a fine.

What, the whole 16 of them?
It does explain a few things, though.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 8, 2023 5:56 pm

You mean bulldyke lezzso dress to look sexy to please men?

Oh my word. I thought that was going to be disgusting, but clicked on it anyway.

I was not disappointed.

Every month, that person will be reminded that ‘she’ is not a bloke.

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 8, 2023 5:57 pm

You mean bulldyke lezzso dress to look sexy to please men?

no, they are playing for the other team – so to speak.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 8, 2023 5:58 pm

I never really like strip joints because you end up getting frustrated by just looking and not touching.

You’re going to the wrong strip joints.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 8, 2023 5:59 pm

Lysander

Locations in San Fran where a grogan has been dropped in the street. Clearly San Fran is worse than the Hay truck stop.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 6:01 pm

My great great great grandfathers were transportees for crimes so trivial these days they’d barely get a fine

My father’s ancestors were Scottish crofters. They were evicted from their smallholdings during the Highland clearances, marched to the nearest seaport under guard, and “put aboard” to Australia. They made good.

Lysander
Lysander
May 8, 2023 6:02 pm

Oh, ok…wow…. thanks BJ….

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 8, 2023 6:06 pm

Clearly San Fran is worse than the Hay truck stop

Potentially less ‘pants out the window’ moment, though.

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 8, 2023 6:08 pm

This shitting in the street in the US is I suppose another example of collapsing civilization. Making life unpleasant and impossible for regular citizens.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
May 8, 2023 6:09 pm

Spearmint Rhino ring a bell?

On breastfeeding.
A simple scarf dropped over feeding bub and boob does the trick.
If 10 Muslim ladies in a detention center with 1000 blokes can do it outside without a fuss then its pretty well tried and tested.

Plus it gives you an excuse to hit hubby up for a hermes

JCsays:
May 8, 2023 at 4:59 pm
Honest question, does anyone have a view on the partial colonisation of China? I get the feeling the old gang was there to plunder.

Ill throw a little wrinkle into that example, at the time 90% of the Chinese were the conquered subjects of the Qing dynasty, an ethnic minority who had seized power.
The stereotypical que worn by the Chinese was a sign of subjugation.

The various Euros all wanted a slice of the market and each of the expansions into China were however very opportunistic ventures, usually after the Chinese tried to push concessions they had already given out.

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 6:10 pm

San Francisco was once, unarguably, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 8, 2023 6:15 pm

You’re going to the wrong strip joints.

Pussycat Lounge. … sadly now closed.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
May 8, 2023 6:17 pm

I never really like strip joints because you end up getting frustrated by just looking and not touching.

You’re going to the wrong strip joints.

From spearmint rhino to Listerine hyena in a single bound.

From Scores to open sores.

From Crazy horse to insane meth mouth

From Moulin Rouge to Mangy seborrhea

KD knows all the classy joints.

(BTW Crazy Horse was awesome, 11/10s, and the ladies all wear some sort of mirkin on the nethers, so its art not stripping)!

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 8, 2023 6:20 pm

I’ve never been to a strip club

cohenite
May 8, 2023 6:20 pm

So far the discussion about what is acceptable or criminal in public hasn’t considered farting. This guy makes a good living from farting in public:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/GilstrapTV/

And who can forget the great French flatulist, Le Pétomane, who had them rolling in the aisles with his fragrant and vibrant farting in 19thC France. And then there are these exponents of the art of farting:

The world’s oldest joke, traced back to 1900 BC in Mesopotamia, is about farting, suggesting that flatulence – derived from the Latin word “flatus”, the act of blowing – was as much of an entertaining no-no for the ancients as it is for us today.

“Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap,” goes the ancient Sumerian joke. Though not much of a rib-tickler, it reveals that breaking wind even a millennia ago was taboo, especially for women. The only known exception to such windy activity in public is the Yanomami tribe of northern Brazil and southern Venezuela, for whom farting is a form of greeting.

Over centuries, farting has featured in European and English literature. Dante’s Inferno mentions a demon who “uses his ass as a trumpet”, while Chaucer is almost avidly scatological.

From A Brief History of Passing Wind

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 8, 2023 6:21 pm

Oops
…. that I didn’t like.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 8, 2023 6:21 pm

KD knows all the classy joints.

Hey, hang on. You just have to know the right people.

Cassie of Sydney
May 8, 2023 6:27 pm

“I’ve never been to a strip club”

Nor have I. Lidia Thorpe has.

Frank
Frank
May 8, 2023 6:31 pm

“I’ve never been to a strip club”

One does not go to a strip club, one winds up in one.

Bill P
Bill P
May 8, 2023 6:32 pm

Good Lord
Collingwood have apologised to Lance Franklin for some booing he copped.
Is there no end to this bullshit?

Cassie of Sydney
May 8, 2023 6:32 pm

Lidia Thorpe has the honour of being permanently banned from a strip club.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 6:33 pm

From Moulin Rouge to Mangy seborrhea

Watching the can-can being danced in the Moulin Rouge was an experience I would describe as “educational.”

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 8, 2023 6:34 pm

‘We are not a party for single-issue culture wars, dominated by reactionary populists,’ Susan Lay, the canbra punk rocker.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 6:36 pm

I reckon Lidia Thorpe would be good company, whether at a strip club or a Church Fete.

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 6:37 pm

Ed Case says:
May 8, 2023 at 6:36 pm

I reckon Lidia Thorpe would be good company, whether at a strip club or a Church Fete.

Eddles, does that have anything to do with your addiction?

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
May 8, 2023 6:40 pm

As part of the Feral Guv’ments Diversity and Inclusion initiatives, here are the latest announcements –

– A Blackout will now be called a Brownout
– A Brownout will now be called a Bowen Out (of his depth).
– A White wash cannot be called that anymore (too racist apparently)
– Man Overboard is no longer allowed (not enough Men)
– Chairman is not allowed as there are not enough chairs
– A Cock or Two is no longer a bird. Although a Gala (Galah) Dinner is still allowed.
– A Pheasant Plucker is not allowed as we have run out of Pluckers (although I am told that there are plenty of those pluckers in Canberra).
– The cost of the Voice will be included in the InVoice that the Guv’ment sends you all. Please pay promptly within 7 days as the Guv’ment needs the cash.

That should do until Tuesday Night’s Budget. More gnus to be revealed shortly. Until then, TC and have a nice Day Voters everywhere in the Land of OZ…………………………….

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 6:44 pm

From The Spectator link @ 6:34-

Side-ling those concerned about gender clinics harming children as ‘single issue reactionary popularists’ is like saying the 19th Century anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce was too narrowly focused.

Wilberforce is a hero to Woke idiots like the clown that wrote this drivel, but back in the 1830s he was popularly regarded as a grifter who had enabled the West Indies Plantation owners to get paid for their Freed Slaves from the Public Purse.
The Debt to the Bankers wasn’t paid off until 2015.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 8, 2023 6:44 pm

If it were me I’d be sending child protection services to her place to see if the children are malnourished. Vegan diets and children really don’t mix.

‘Now that’s entitlement’: Community reacts to bizarre letter sent from vegan family to neighbour calling out their cooking habits (Sky News, 8 May)

A strange written note sent from a vegan Perth family to their neighbour has divided the online community after it was shared on social media over the weekend.

Sarah, a wife and mother living in the northern suburb of Burns Beach, sent the letter to her next door neighbour, addressing concerns of an “upsetting” smell of meat coming from the house.

Urging the neighbour to “please take seriously”, the “important message” proceeds to state a bizarre request.

“Hello neighbour,” the letter begins.

“Could you please shut your side window when cooking please.

“My family are vegan (we eat only plant based foods) and the smell of the meat you cook makes us feel sick and upset.

“We would appreciate your understanding.

“Thanks. Sarah, Wayne & Kids.”

The letter didn’t fare well on social media, with debate breaking out over the message being a display of “entitled behaviour” by vegans.

Lady, try that one on muslim neighbours butchering sheep in the back yard for Eid.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
May 8, 2023 6:45 pm

Ed Case sooking because the Poms didnt have a civil war over slavery?

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
May 8, 2023 6:47 pm

Anyone living in Filth (formerly perth) can tell me if Heathridge is a junkie sty or worth a look for a block of land i might be able to pinch cheap.

Have a fallen through auction that might take an insulting offer.

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 6:54 pm

‘We are not a party for single-issue culture wars, dominated by reactionary populists,’ Susan Lay, the canbra punk rocker.

The lie here is that the Liberals have embraced the alphabet agenda, which is at the forefront of the culture wars.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 8, 2023 6:55 pm

Fortunately I usually turn around if I have reached Trigg. Unless going up to Joondalup for a hit. I get no satisfaction seeing Perf exposed to ridicule.

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 8, 2023 6:56 pm

Lay sounds like a California demonrat.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 8, 2023 6:56 pm

NSW politics is having a popcorn phase. Herr Premier Minns is doing lame excuses, stealing Nats and causing carnage. Not bad work for a single day.

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 6:58 pm

Speaking of the culture wars…

The ‘Cis’ Slur and the War on Normality

A very good piece.

Crossie
Crossie
May 8, 2023 7:01 pm

The Channel 7 weather chick mentioned that today was the coldest early May temperature in 85 years. I just couldn’t resist asking how that global warming is going?

Hope Rowan Dean works it into his Ice Age segment on next Sunday’s The Outsiders.

Razey
Razey
May 8, 2023 7:02 pm

Whats up with all the TV ratings survey scammy callers recently. Driving me nuts.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 7:02 pm

Sussan said:
SINGLE ISSUE Culture Wars are out.
It makes sense too, voters aren’t interested in Women Only Fire Crews giving them a female perspective on Fires while watching their house burn down.

132andBush
132andBush
May 8, 2023 7:05 pm

I referenced the rise in advocates for ‘in your face’ (not discreet) breast feeding and asked why it was now virtually celebrated, whereas public urination (masturbation was not my comparator, it was someone elses) was not.

Both involve dual usage parts of the anatomy formerly considered private.

duk,
It was your comparator, stated twice as a matter of fact.
What you are saying, in effect, is the pervert sicko who sits across from a breastfeeding mother and starts whacking off is to be considered as acceptable in the public space as the latter. Regardless of discreet or in your face breastfeeding.

Crossie
Crossie
May 8, 2023 7:07 pm

Bruce of Newcastle says:
May 8, 2023 at 6:56 pm
NSW politics is having a popcorn phase. Herr Premier Minns is doing lame excuses, stealing Nats and causing carnage. Not bad work for a single day.

The Nats now know what they need to do, throw Franklin out of the party. They have no benefit from his membership since he has taken his vote away.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 7:09 pm

From the Oz. I haven’t posted the whole article.

Day one: The DPP may be in a world of pain over disclosure
Janet Albrechtsen

6:59PM May 8, 2023
No Comments

On day one of the Sofronoff Inquiry, material before the inquiry – and now made public – suggests that the ACT Director of Prosecutions may be in a world of pain.

In his incendiary November 2022 letter to ACT chief police office Neil Gaughan, the DPP, Shane Drumgold, said he wanted a public inquiry into the police handling of Brittany Higgins’s rape allegations against Bruce Lehrmann. He’s got that, and so much more than he surely bargained for.

Drumgold is central to this inquiry for reasons that will soon become clearer to all Australians. The most serious issues facing Drumgold, by a country mile, concern disclosure. Did the DPP disclose all material he was duty bound to disclose to Lehrmann’s defence to ensure there was a fair trial?
Read Next

Broader questions must later be asked as to whether any possible misbehaviour by Drumgold in this high-profile debacle is repeated in other cases that we never hear about. And what does that mean for the legitimacy of the criminal justice system in this country?

Disclosure obligations are critical to our criminal justice system. If a defendant, and defence lawyers, are not informed of relevant material, accused persons cannot properly and fairly defend themselves when confronted by the hefty forces of police and state prosecutorial powers. Given the powers of police and the state, we demand that prosecutors be of the highest quality to ensure that fair trials are guaranteed, not a lottery.

Drumgold’s own statement – released to the public today – provides a mountain of material that raises questions about whether he met his duties to disclose critical information, as the most senior legal prosecutor in the ACT. Remember Drumgold chose to step into this role, in this case, instead of delegating to one of his staff prosecutors.

Jorge
Jorge
May 8, 2023 7:11 pm

cohenite says:
May 8, 2023 at 3:48 pm
Figuressays:
May 8, 2023 at 11:33 am

Correct. The left are viciously tribal which presents a united front

Yep, but they’re much more organised as well.

The Aust Conservation Foundation sponsoring the main evening news on Ch 7 is one way they apply pressure.

If conservatives (no pun) did this it would be a scandal.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
May 8, 2023 7:11 pm

Nigel Biggar’s recent book ‘Colonialism; a moral reckoning’, reviewed here in The Telegraph (British) provides a lot of economic data on which to found moral claims, as well as legal and other data specifically about the British Empire. Colonialism in general, of all nations, is a huge topic; rightly said by some here to be in need of disaggregating.

Biggar doesn’t always get his facts right though. He sees Australian aboriginal issues through the frame of moral outrage on issues we’d dispute.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
May 8, 2023 7:11 pm

Crossie – It’s so like Our Julia and Slippery Slipper. The sliminess of all of them is like a convocation of leopard slugs.

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 7:12 pm

What you are saying, in effect, is the pervert sicko who sits across from a breastfeeding mother and starts whacking off is to be considered as acceptable in the public space as the latter.
What an imagination, eh?
You wouldn’t be that Pervert Sicko, by any chance?

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 7:15 pm

Drumgold’s own statement – released to the public today – provides a mountain of material that raises questions about whether he met his duties to disclose critical information…

He’s evidently much more stupid than I thought.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 8, 2023 7:15 pm

Ed are you Colour Blind like me?

Ed, have you figured out yet that the New England Highway goes through Toowoomba?

Roger
Roger
May 8, 2023 7:17 pm

Biggar doesn’t always get his facts right though. He sees Australian aboriginal issues through the frame of moral outrage on issues we’d dispute.

It’s in my ‘to read’ pile, Lizzie.

I’m interested to see how he handled the topic and will send him a critique for him to consider in case a revised edition is in the offing.

rosie
rosie
May 8, 2023 7:23 pm

But expressed milk in a bottle can be negotiated when nursing in public is unavoidable.

Really?
What about in countries where people can’t afford to buy and sterilise bottles, or keep milk refrigerated to ensure the milk hasn’t spoiled after leaving home, which could also be a problem here in hot weather?
Put aside one off political exhibitionists.
We had that discussion here at the time. Cashiers don’t get to take their babies to the cash register and pop them on.
A single politician doesn’t set the standard.
It’s not recommended, by the way, to confuse small babies with bottles.
My experience is that mums invariably put a muslin over their shoulder, (even when feeding their babies in parents rooms in department stores) ,probably because they want to avoid salacious eyes at what is an important part of the relationship between mother and infant.
I suppose you never had a new baby with three older children who had to go here, there and everywhere.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
May 8, 2023 7:24 pm

On breastfeeding.
A simple scarf dropped over feeding bub and boob does the trick.

Yes. Mum and bub retiring to a quiet place where they can look at each other is even better.

The joy of this connection as bub and mum play with each other so intimately is what the chest-feeders want to take from real women. Womanhood centres around our monthly cycles for the purpose of pregnancy and baby making and feeding. Prancing trannies can keep right out of it. They are not women. This is not their birthright.

Alamak!
Alamak!
May 8, 2023 7:26 pm

He’s evidently much more stupid than I thought.

He seems like the dumbest person in the Higgins/Lehrman case “room”. I feel a large payout coming along soon plus some resignation(s) and apologies. Not sure about the last one.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 8, 2023 7:28 pm

Ed Casesays:
May 8, 2023 at 7:02 pm
Sussan said:
SINGLE ISSUE Culture Wars are out.
It makes sense too, voters aren’t interested in Women Only Fire Crews giving them a female perspective on Fires while watching their house burn down.

Single sex fire crews sounds like a single issue culture war, Grandpa Ed Simpson. Women’s only toilets and change rooms is not. Neither is women’s only contact sports.

But nice (if weak) try at deflection.

132andBush
132andBush
May 8, 2023 7:28 pm

Roger says:
May 8, 2023 at 6:54 pm
‘We are not a party for single-issue culture wars, dominated by reactionary populists,’ Susan Lay, the canbra punk rocker.
The lie here is that the Liberals have embraced the alphabet agenda, which is at the forefront of the culture wars.

Or are just too gutless to make a stand and counter it all.
Susan (Sussan) Ley, she fooled me once and got my vote. Never again.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 7:32 pm

Nigel Biggar’s recent book ‘Colonialism; a moral reckoning’, reviewed here in The Telegraph

Looks interesting, LizzieB. I’m ordering a copy.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
May 8, 2023 7:33 pm

Roger, it’s on my list too, as I’ve only read numerous reviews of it. Also, I was outraged at an interview in The Spectator where both Biggar and Matthew Paris who was interviewing him, had a joint hissy fit about Australia’s moral lapses re aboriginal people – seeming to rely on mythologies such as a line of exterminating hunters right across the island of Tasmania, and other ‘aboriginals wars’ fabrications.
I wrote to the Speccie about it but it didn’t get published.

mem
mem
May 8, 2023 7:34 pm

Talking about thrill seekers, if you were managing the eastern electricity grid tonight you might be in for a real roller-coaster ride. Just enough wind to make ends meet at the moment, but if it drops it’s whoopsie time. I hope the lads and lasses and “thems” at AEMO have got thick underwear on tonight. Interestingly, I have noticed a lot more gas creep into the system in Vic. Now I wonder how this is happening given Dan’s aversion to gas. Something to do with a Chinese part owned company that is getting gas via Newtown perhaps? Check this site every now and again to see what I mean. https://aemo.com.au/en/energy-systems/electricity/national-electricity-market-nem/data-nem/data-dashboard-nem

Jorge
Jorge
May 8, 2023 7:35 pm

the British imposed order and laws on the subcontinent, and most importantly, the British kept the warring religious groups apart.

Yes. The Brits, though, had profit on their minds as the Chinese know.

While waiting for the tea plantations to prosper in India they cultivated opium poppies and trafficked the resulting opium to China. Laudanum use was also common in the West. I’m sure this is why the Chinese return the favour with fentanyl today. Auden: ‘Those to whom evil is done do evil in return.’

shatterzzz
May 8, 2023 7:41 pm

San Francisco was once, unarguably, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Must have been awhile back .. I was there in 2013 and the homeless/vagrants were very noticeable tho never encountered any problems never felt as safe as compared to New York which back then was a tourist heaven .. everyone was cheerful, friendly & helpful .. felt very safe .. seemed to be a plod/car presence on every corner …

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 8, 2023 7:41 pm

Nigel Biggar’s recent book ‘Colonialism; a moral reckoning’, reviewed here in The Telegraph

Review available at Quadrant Online.

Cassie of Sydney
May 8, 2023 7:42 pm

Nice to see Rita Panahi confront Michael Kroger about Pesutto/Deeming.

Vicki
Vicki
May 8, 2023 7:42 pm

I suppose you never had a new baby with three older children who had to go here, there and everywhere.

Rosie, it is never wise to suppose anything.

Boambee John
Boambee John
May 8, 2023 7:43 pm

Shatterzzz

I was briefly in San Fran in 1972, very nice then.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
May 8, 2023 7:43 pm

‘We are not a party for single-issue culture wars, dominated by reactionary populists,’ Susan Lay, the canbra punk rocker.

Mothers and fathers are honourable terms developed out of biological kinship. People who recognise this, believing there is an inherent biological difference between men and women and who want that difference to be respected are ‘reactionary populists’? Who knew?

Denying this is counter to reality. If the Liberals can’t see this, then how can they ever govern as adults grounded in reality on the many pressing issues confronting us today? They can’t.

Not while they are captive to an anti-rational ideology damaging to children and families.

shatterzzz
May 8, 2023 7:44 pm

Susan (Sussan) Ley, she fooled me once and got my vote. Never again.

Never missed a real estate “for sale” sign she couldn’t direct the Comcar to0!

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 8, 2023 7:49 pm

None of the political class is capable of connecting and empathizing with regular citizens. Their ‘reality’ is what marxist Jounalists present to them.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 8, 2023 7:50 pm

TEST.

Jorge
Jorge
May 8, 2023 7:51 pm

The appetite to continue the Raj in the face of civil disobedience in India and financial constraints at home just wasn’t there.

Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet is an unforgettable picture of an outpost of Empire in its declining throes. He makes the point that there were many Empire loyalist families in India willing to soldier on if required but they felt betrayed by the populace and politicians at home. After the war the mood had changed.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 8, 2023 7:51 pm

LoOks LikE the ShIft bUTton is FixEd.

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 8, 2023 7:51 pm

Albrechtsen is always good on legal stuff. Much better than your average Bacon fed j’ismist. Not always the case, as Seven Nilligan comprehensively demonstrated.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
May 8, 2023 7:53 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alphasays:

May 8, 2023 at 6:01 pm

My great great great grandfathers were transportees for crimes so trivial these days they’d barely get a fine

My father’s ancestors were Scottish crofters. They were evicted from their smallholdings during the Highland clearances, marched to the nearest seaport under guard, and “put aboard” to Australia. They made good.

You must admit, though, clearing the peasants out has made the Highlands a far more amenable place for fly fishing and grouse shooting.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
May 8, 2023 7:54 pm

Fauci Claims He Never Mandated Lockdowns or School Closures

“The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday that COVID-19 is no longer a health emergency. The globalists have climate change and a coming world war – COVID is no longer needed as a tool for control. They achieved the goal of destabilizing the economy for years to come and determined what portion of the population would blindly obey their ever-changing rules. The people responsible for the COVID mandates that destroyed the global economy are now coming under fire.

The most vocal proponents of COVID began backtracking their stance a few weeks before the WHO’s announcement. I reported how Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau insisted he never mandated vaccinations. Anthony Fauci, the face of the pandemic, denies shutting down schools and businesses. “Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did,” he lied. “I gave a public-health recommendation that echoed the CDC’s recommendation, and people made a decision based on that,” he said, noting that he “happened to be perceived as the personification of the recommendations.”

Does he really think he can gaslight the world into believing he didn’t force vaccination, mask, and lockdown mandates? He went on a world tour, appearing at all hours on our TVs and radios for three years to tell us that we’d all die if we didn’t obey his commands.

Fauci also said he never demonized the fringe minority who refused to take the vaccine. “I never criticized the people who had to make the decisions one way or the other,” Fauci said. Thousands did not have a decision. COVID has become one of the most dividing tools in modern times. “Anti-vaxxers” were considered domestic terrorists who were killing their neighbors by failing to comply.

Fauci lied and people died. He is being exposed as a fraud but the current administration would never allow their COVID mascot to face charges.”

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
May 8, 2023 7:54 pm

Bacon fed j’smist

Nice one, HB Bear!

Ed Case
Ed Case
May 8, 2023 7:55 pm

Never missed a real estate “for sale” sign she couldn’t direct the Comcar to0!
Uh huh.
Albanese owns 6 rental properties and you live in a 3 bedroom Commission house in Sydney with your cat for $50/week.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 8, 2023 7:56 pm

No mention of how this will affect enrolments at CD University….

The man accused of murdering an international student during a home invasion in Millner last week has had his charges heard in court for the first time.

Brendan Kantilla, 29, faced Darwin Local Court Monday morning charged with murder, aggravated burglary and theft.

He was not granted bail and the case was adjourned to July 12.

Police allege Kantilla broke into the Trower Rd sharehouse in the early hours of Wednesday morning and assaulted Bangladeshi student Md Isfaqur Rahman.

The 23-year-old, also known as Sifat, was discovered on his bed with critical head trauma by his housemates after they heard the sound of someone in their yard.

Mr Rahman was rushed to Royal Darwin Hospital where he died on Thursday.

Kantilla was arrested shortly after police were called to the scene about 4.25am.

Outcry from the Top End’s Bangladeshi and international student community has been strong.

The Bangladesh Association of the NT Inc.’s has released a seven-point plan to make the Territory safer for travellers.

Almost 1500 people have signed the association’s petition calling for the government and local leaders to work with the police and justice system to bring down crime.

The plan includes safer accommodation and public transport, calling for more transit officers on the road.

Increasing surveillance, police presence and patrols in residential and public areas is another key request.

The group has called for more support for victims of crime, including counselling and financial assistance, and better education in the community about the impact of crime and the importance of reporting suspicious behaviour.

They have also cited a need for increased resources and funding for community-based programs that address the root causes of crime, including poverty, substance abuse, and mental health.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles sent a letter to the association’s president, Abdus Sattar, after Mr Rahman’s death, extending condolences and saying “this is not the Territory we want to share with the world”.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the young international student, his family, his housemates, his friends and the Bangladeshi community, here in Darwin and back home,” she said.

Mr Sattar thanked Ms Fyles and called for swift measures to be taken.

“Please take immediate action to remove violence from the Territory and make it a better place which we call home,” he said on social media.

Mr Rahman arrived in the NT from Bangladesh just three months ago to study a Masters in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Charles Darwin University.

NT News

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 8, 2023 7:58 pm

Claiming a dodgy tax deduction to inspect the rental property is as Australian as a Hills Hoist in the backyard.

cohenite
May 8, 2023 7:59 pm

Nice to see Rita Panahi confront Michael Kroger about Pesutto/Deeming.

Too tame by half. The simpering, pip pippering kroger personifies the wretched cowards of the libs. Defending proscuitto and the rest of the shitheads is pathetic and criticising Deeming for daring to sue the bastards was the pits. I now believe Moira has withdrawn her suit but proscuitto has officially supported the expulsion motion. Rita should have asked kroger where his balls were and whether he was transitioning.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
May 8, 2023 8:00 pm

On the subject of bacon, I dips me lid to the blogger who, on the day after the High Court freed Pell, captioned a hatchet-faxed photo of Chief Justice Ferguson of Victoria with ‘Would you like some bacon to go with the egg on your face, Ma’am?’

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
May 8, 2023 8:01 pm

‘hatchet-faced’!

Jorge
Jorge
May 8, 2023 8:02 pm

The horrible tatts, the awful piercings, and clothes that appear to have come from a Bangkok hooker’s ‘do not buy’ pile.

Thought we’d exhausted the topic of Julie Bishop et. al. at the coronation.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
May 8, 2023 8:02 pm

Time to cook something for Hairy’s dinner. I am still full of savories, delicate sandwiches and heaps of cake from an arvo tea today for a friend turning 70 so won’t eat much if anything. All the dancing girls were there in a private home and we all had a great time, without alcohol. Being alcohol free is not usually the case but the birthday girl doesn’t drink and I think people respected this by not bringing alcohol. So many women brought some very fine home cookery on a plate. My expensive contribution, purchased in Double Bay on the way, was yummy, but the home-cooked stuff has a desired authenticity. These approximately twenty girls vie somewhat competitively to bring the plate offering that is most quickly emptied. There is something charmingly country and old-style about that and some are excellent cooks. A few, like me, opt out and purchase something, or bring fruit. Some of us also add a present of flowers, a pot plant a scented candle as well as our ‘door’ money for the main cake and candles. As usual at these events there was so much food left over and we all took a selection home to our hubbies (or children) in some thoughtfully provided little boxes.

Top Ender
Top Ender
May 8, 2023 8:03 pm

Sally Rugg’s case against Monique Ryan, touted by the activist’s lawyer as having implications for every Australian worker who has been asked to work unreasonable additional hours, has quietly settled out of court.

Ms Rugg reached an in-principle agreement with her teal MP former boss and the commonwealth on April 28, accepting an offer of about $100,000 to abandon her claim.

Neither Dr Ryan nor the government were required to admit fault, and all parties have agreed to pay their own legal costs, which in the case of Dr Ryan and the government means they will be covered by the taxpayer.

Oz

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 8:05 pm

You must admit, though, clearing the peasants out has made the Highlands a far more amenable place for fly fishing and grouse shooting.

We were contemplating a serviced apartment, in Oban, with the Tobermorey whisky distillery, in close proximity…

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
May 8, 2023 8:07 pm

You must admit, though, clearing the peasants out has made the Highlands a far more amenable place for fly fishing and grouse shooting.

NO, Mrs Stencho Pantyhose, Who would admit that? You T.W.A.T. And I am English by birth. You sound just like Jerk Off Cretin and a Clown to boot. P&ss off to another Blog.

Entropy
Entropy
May 8, 2023 8:11 pm

Who in the hell would want to live in a Croft anyway? In such a. Cold place?
I bet those Highlanders thanked the British government for sending them to Australia in the end.

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 8, 2023 8:13 pm

Yeah but so much for property rights

H B Bear
H B Bear
May 8, 2023 8:16 pm

… has quietly settled out of court.

Which, outside the public service and the Parliamentary triangle, would render her unemployable. I expect she will resume after a few weeks in Bali.

Miltonf
Miltonf
May 8, 2023 8:19 pm

The antics of these disgusting people, their contempt for taxpayers show taxation is outright theft. Demanding money with menaces.

Razey
Razey
May 8, 2023 8:20 pm

Yeah but so much for property rights

Havent you heard? The petrol sniffers own everything.

Eyrie
Eyrie
May 8, 2023 8:20 pm

I bet those Highlanders thanked the British government for sending them to Australia in the end.

I did hear that the British powers that be once said that they should have gone to Australia and left the convicts behind.

Indolent
Indolent
May 8, 2023 8:23 pm

BBC reported that the Texas shooter was a “right wing extremist”.
Fact check please!

You mean the Mexican gang member?

JC
JC
May 8, 2023 8:26 pm

P&ss off to another Blog.

Get a load of Marty’s used condom directing traffic on this blog.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
May 8, 2023 8:42 pm

Entropysays:
May 8, 2023 at 8:11 pm
Who in the hell would want to live in a Croft anyway? In such a. Cold place?
I bet those Highlanders thanked the British government for sending them to Australia in the end.

Strange that as the Norwegians didn’t mind the cold. Nor did the Swedes or the Finns or the Danes or the Picts or the Northern English or anyone else for that matter. Saxons, Angles, Jutes, etc, etc, etc.

Who in the hell would want to live in a desert with not much water and have a Dreamtime while they roasted. And waited for the White Fellas to turn up in Big Ships with loads and loads of free moneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
May 8, 2023 8:50 pm

JCsays:
May 8, 2023 at 8:26 pm

I love it how you don’t read my posts but somehow have an opinion. You T.W.A.T

On yer’ bike…………………And don’t forget the ‘elmet…………………..

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 8:52 pm

Daily Mail.

Read Lisa Wilkinson’s private emails to top prosecutor pleading for him to publicly clear her name over disastrous Brittany Higgins Logies speech – but he IGNORED her

Lisa Wilkinson thought her Logies speech was OK
Left out Bruce Lehrmann’s name, his charge, and trial details
DPP thought she was ‘bragging’ about Logies nomination

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
May 8, 2023 9:03 pm

Watching the Coronation concert.

“I also want to express my pride and gratitude for the millions of people who serve, in the forces, in classrooms, hospital wards and local communities,” William continued. “I wish I could mention you all. Your service inspires us, and tonight we celebrate you too.”

Who fed your miserable hides?

Robert Sewell
May 8, 2023 9:04 pm

Calli:
It’s not me doing the uptick zero thing.
JC is claiming his suspicions merely to goad me into addressing him so he can scream abuse because he’s taking a drubbing in the stock market. This is his sixth attempt in the last 2 months. It isn’t working for him:

I just learned this zero thing from the weekend discussion . I suspect those two blog pests, wodney and the turtlehead have been doing this for ages.

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
May 8, 2023 9:08 pm

Wilkinson is a ‘no body’ now. Along with her dick head ‘Partner’ with the red bandage around his head. Good riddance to the both of those Tossers. Australia is better off without them. Along with the KRudd, Gizzard and the Waffler from Wooly Whara……….lol

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 9:09 pm

I know that Winston. It never crossed my mind.

Robert Sewell
May 8, 2023 9:10 pm

Knuckle Dragger:

They don’t do it to feed a child, they do it to make a point – or more correctly, start an argument using the child as a human shield.

Perfect – “Look at me look at me how dare you look at me.” That should be one word for these harridans.

calli
calli
May 8, 2023 9:12 pm

And speaking of the leetle grey cells…I’m miffed that Poirot has been replaced by the nein footy numbskulls. And they were bumped for the royal galah.

Morse and Lewis must suffice.

Indolent
Indolent
May 8, 2023 9:12 pm

Dr. John Campbell interview (on Rumble)

Dr. Malhotra and big pharma questions

Robert Sewell
May 8, 2023 9:16 pm

Feminists wanting the next generation to look like tarts – which is how many of them behaved – validate their own behaviour.
Or whatever. I really don’t care. Like ugly cars, I can just ignore ugly people.

mem
mem
May 8, 2023 9:18 pm

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Bearesays:
May 8, 2023 at 8:02 pm
Time to cook something for Hairy’s dinner. I am still full of savories, delicate sandwiches and heaps of cake from an arvo tea today for a friend turning 70 so won’t eat much if anything.

So when did you transition?

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
May 8, 2023 9:21 pm

I just learned this zero thing from the weekend discussion . I suspect those two blog pests, wodney and the turtlehead have been doing this for ages.

I do believe it is because Jerk Off is a short arse and his/her/it/whatever Engrish is Farked. Just saying……………………………………I could say more but I will get banned……………..by the Modder.

Muddy
Muddy
May 8, 2023 9:22 pm

Lizzie: If the Liberals can’t see this…

Bizarrely, as I noted a few days ago, the object now seems to be to gain the votes of the smallest possible demographic/interest group. It seems counter-intuitive, no?

#Liberalssixfeetdeep.

Chris
Chris
May 8, 2023 9:24 pm

They have also cited a need for increased resources and funding for community-based programs that address the root causes of crime, including poverty, substance abuse, and mental health.

If the powers will not protect people but let violent scum get worse until they take lives, then the powers are responsible for what comes.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 9:26 pm

On June 21, 2021, Mr Drumgold was handed a police brief that described Ms Higgins as “evasive, unco-operative and manipulative” and concluded: “Investigators have serious concerns in relation to the strength and reliability of her evidence but also more importantly her mental health and how any future prosecution may affect her wellbeing.”

The AFP brief was part of a bundle of documents called the Investigative Review Documents, known informally as the Moller report after one of the officers in charge of the investigation, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller.

The existence of the Moller report was first reported in The Australian in December, which revealed that senior police officers on the Higgins case believed there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Lehrmann but could not stop Mr Drumgold from proceeding because “there is too much political interference”.

The full Moller report, now released by the inquiry in Steven Whybrow’s statement, catalogues dozens of discrepancies and “identified issues” in Ms Higgins’s evidence, among them whether she was as drunk as she claimed on the night of the incident, whether she had any romantic interaction with Mr Lehrmann earlier at the 88MPH bar, the placement of her dress when found the next morning by security guards, her repeated failure to hand over her phone to police and questions about the provenance of a photo she claimed to have taken of a bruise caused during the alleged assault.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 8, 2023 9:26 pm

Earlier:

You must admit, though, clearing the peasants out has made the Highlands a far more amenable place for fly fishing and grouse shooting.
…..
NO, Mrs Stencho Pantyhose, Who would admit that? You T.W.A.T. And I am English by birth.

Not really something to hang your hat on. Whether you were you were from Cornwall or not (as you keep mentioning), you must agree that removing the peasantry gouging around in the dirt is better for everyone.

Robert Sewell
May 8, 2023 9:34 pm

mem:

Just enough wind to make ends meet at the moment, but if it drops it’s whoopsie time.

73% provided by filthy hydrocarbins.
Wind has gone up 2% in the last hour.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
May 8, 2023 9:34 pm

On June 21, 2021, Mr Drumgold was handed a police brief that described Ms Higgins as “evasive, unco-operative and manipulative” and concluded: “Investigators have serious concerns in relation to the strength and reliability of her evidence

And that should have been the end of it.

Drumgold mistakenly saw an opportunity to become the Cochrane of his era, but because he was used to being a big dog in the little yard of furious agreement between political allies, he underestimated the impact his rank stupidity would have when scrutinised by normal people.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
May 8, 2023 9:37 pm

• Ms Higgins said she was “10/10 drunk” but Parliament House CCTV footage showed her interacting with security staff, smiling and laughing, with no signs of being unwell.

• Ms Higgins declined to provide her phone on numerous occasions despite being aware of its importance to the ­investigation.

• Police discovered texts on Ms Higgins’ phone that said “I’m clearing out my phone ahead of police” and “F..k it, if they (AFP) want to play hardball, I’ll cry on The Project again because of this sort of treatment”.

• There were doubts about the provenance of the photos Ms Higgins said she took of a bruise to her leg from an alleged assault.

• A witness claimed Ms Higgins and former boyfriend Ben Dillaway had sex on multiple occasions in the same office in which she alleged she was assaulted.

The police documents also list troubling issues with Mr Lehrmann’s versions, including:

• The version of events did not seem plausible and the suggestion two people entered an office at that time of evening and had no further interaction seemed unlikely.

• He denied having drinks in the office. Notes of Fiona Brown taken at the time showed he conceded he was drinking whiskey and had two glasses while chatting with Ms Higgins.

It was the many allegations of discrepancies in Ms Higgins’ claims that led Mr Drumgold to question whether the AFP had decided early in the investigation not to charge Mr Lehrmann.

In his statement, Mr Drumgold was highly critical of AFP officers over their focus on discrepancies in Ms Higgins’ rape allegations and their concern about her mental health, despite his decision to abandon a retrial over concerns for her health.

He told one colleague the officers were guilty of either “unsophisticated corruption” or “atomic-level stupidity”.

Indolent
Indolent
May 8, 2023 9:39 pm
Robert Sewell
May 8, 2023 9:50 pm

ZK2A:

He told one colleague the officers were guilty of either “unsophisticated corruption” or “atomic-level stupidity”.

The arrow of atomic level stupidity appears to be going two ways.
NADT.

Indolent
Indolent
May 8, 2023 9:54 pm

Woke Identity Marxism Video: The Reformers: A New Film About the Grievance Studies Affair

We also saw worrying trends in psychology, sociology, anthropology, and all of the social sciences, but at the time it was considered extremely controversial and even unfair to suggest the “soft sciences” were infected with Woke Marxism. Today, that’s completely out the window. Everything is touched by the putrefying finger of Woke corruption. Major medical journals, engineering journals, virtually all education journals, and even premier science journals like Nature routinely publish undeniably Woke “scholarship.”

Just by the way, I visited IMDB today as I was curious about a few character actors on TV serials and guess what. They’ve gone all wobbly on sex, apparently unable to distinguish whether someone is an aunt or an uncle so showing both. I felt dirty just being there.

Louis Litt
May 8, 2023 9:54 pm

Steve trickled 8/5 @ 1.51am
The Vernon Coleman article hits the nail on the head. Watching the coronation, watching Charles I kept thinking of a man with failings , like me, like everyone else. But I got the feeling he did not treat the mass or the arch bishop seriously.
Nor the customs nor their traditions. The highlight was the choir.
As the article states it was all about him and not for the country.
The Middleton or the Spenser family are the future , the females are the future of the crown and of England and it’s standards.
What were all those American Entertainers there. Where was the best orchestra in England, their opera singers , their orators pitching their poetry and great literature.

  1. Jack Out The Back: Oasis in the desert. Check it out. You just want to jump in and swim. Replacing…

  2. Giving up was merely a negotiating position. Looks like even greater subsidy farming opportunities are back on the agenda!

  3. That must be why the electorate of Vaucluse, the richest in the country, has a Liberal MP. Your approach is…

  4. Car leases can make a lot of financial sense to a lot of high income people but FBT applies to…

  5. Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare November 25, 2024 11:31 am I can’t find my snowboots. They’ve gotta be somewhere, somewhere … —–…

1.8K
0
Oh, you think that, do you? Care to put it on record?x
()
x