Open Thread – Tues 8 May 2023
2,131 responses to “Open Thread – Tues 8 May 2023”
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Humankind had spent millennia evolving away from hieroglyphs and went back to them in a generation.
Bad in modern cars. Done so they don’t have to make different parts for different languages. Also I suspect for those who can’t read.
That said the print can get very tiny if you have to use alphanumeric labels. -
One of the great truisms of our time:
Actors are generally stupid people.
– Sir Anthony HopkinsExhibit A, from the Hun:
Robert De Niro has announced that he has welcomed his seventh child. The Godfather actor, 79, revealed in an interview this week that he has become a father once again.
Sure, Bob. Sure.
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Also I suspect for those who can’t read.
That said the print can get very tiny if you have to use alphanumeric labelYou’re required to go through a written test in getting a driver’s licence . Daikin went from symbols to written language on their most recent systems. Shut up and stop talking, you idiot.
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Got have your priorities right.
Just Stop Oil’s secret training sessions where they refuse to start until pronouns agreed (9 May)
EXCLUSIVE: Express.co.uk has infiltrated Just Stop Oil and can reveal their strange training methods – including role plays where they shout at each other to “get a job”.
Following an undercover investigation inside Just Stop Oil, Express.co.uk can reveal the bizarre training the eco-warriors undergo, the hilarious codenames they give each other such as “Rhubarb” and “Brussel sprout”, and how they plan to disrupt the great British summer with two months of making an almighty nuisance of themselves. We can also reveal the group is looking to recruit activists who they’ll pay to become “full-time protesters”.
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The meeting began with the two trainers and 13 soon-to-be JSO members spending almost 10 minutes revealing their names, gender pronouns and “how they’re feeling” about climate change and the prospect of shutting down the UK’s roads.Presumably also training on the best brand of glue and what to do if an irate workman accidentally jackhammers your hand off. But I can see why they need to train them to endure the terrible epithet “get a job!”
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Sorry if this is a bit late or may have been previously posted but Alexandra Marshall writes very well about the tawdriness of the political class in the face of the magnificent display of tradition and continuity with the Coronation of King Charles III:
Grace, mercy, and justice: a pledge no politician can make
Alexandra Marshall8 May 2023
3:07 PM
On Saturday, I had two great privileges. The first was to attend the ceremony for His Majesty King Charles III’s Coronation which was held on the grounds of Government House in Sydney.
In a city stricken with the ills of modern architecture – where Martin Place has been torn up and plastered over with scaffolding to install yet another disastrous $3 billion transport link the public neither asked for nor wanted – it is only the avenue along Macquarie Street that survives as a legacy to the beauty Sydney once held.
The crown jewel of this sandstone-and-fig-tree serenity is Government House, which rises out of the parkland as a calm fragment of our civilisational peak.
It must be said, Sydney Harbour put on a spectacular scene last weekend, with blue sky in every direction – a far cry from the traditional English drizzle that met those in London. A large warship loomed in the distance that was almost the same marine blue-grey as the distant horizon. It was surrounded by the crisp white triangles of yachts zipping across the choppy waters, ducking and weaving between city ferries.
Joggers and mothers with their prams had lined up along the ornate iron fence at the bottom of the lawn where the paperbark sapling, cultivated from the tree Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II planted on her first visit to Australia, quivered proudly with a flourish of new growth.
We were here to ‘re-plant’ it by nudging the dirt with the shovel and tugging the velvet cloth from the commemorative plaque.
Not that you would know there was anything historic taking place, as our political leaders – who wrapped every surface of Sydney in rainbows and glitter for the minority interest event of Pride – failed to put up a single decoration. Shame on their pettiness and lack of grace. Just as these lowest-tier politicians cancelled Australia Day without permission, they have attempted to sweep the Coronation out of sight.
Aside from the amusing juxtaposition of weirdly-placed climate change jargon pontificated, quite literally, through the (definitely not carbon-neutral) bushfire smoke of a smoking ceremony (that was a little too close to the newly-planted sapling of honour), the morning went off without a hitch.
The second privilege was the opportunity to interview Professor David Flint, without whom it is debatable we would still have a King. [sorry I couldn’t find the interview to link it]
Flint, convener of the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, began by crediting Royal Coach Builder Jim Frecklington, who was engaged at Windsor Castle for a time helping to look after the coaches and horses.
‘It really enriched my life,’ Frecklington added, of working with the Royal family. He has constructed several extraordinary coaches, including a replica of Edward VII’s 1902 State Landau and the Australian State Coach used by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988.
‘I wanted to create a masterpiece,’ he said. Frecklington has achieved this more than once. After hearing members of the public lament the dying art he said, ‘I realised how many people loved these carriages, and with no one making them anymore, what had been lost.’
On the weekend, it was Frecklington’s spectacular six-horse-drawn Diamond Jubilee State Coach which ferried the King and Queen from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey.
What an extraordinary role Australia played in this historic moment, and yet our ignorant press barely muttered a word through their race-baiting, virtue signalling, and gritted teeth. Asking the media to appreciate workmanship of this magnitude is like trying to get Karl Marx to stop living off his mates. It cannot be done.
The proposal to build the coach was given the Royal seal of approval, although it was only purchased by the Royal Collection Trust after construction was completed. It was bought with a private donation before entering the Royal Collection and was originally funded via a $250,000 grant from the Australian government. Frecklington was awarded the Royal Victorian Order by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
‘These carriages are designed as works of art, but they are mobile works of art. The great works of art – the paintings and sculptures – are homed in art galleries and museums. The coaches aren’t like that. They are used, so you need superior workmanship.’
Frecklington wished to ‘encapsulate the history and heritage of the United Kingdom’. He did this by seeking to source various artefacts and material from historic buildings and ships – by the end, it contained over 100 relics and historic fragments belonging to British, Scottish, and Irish monarchs as well as historical figures dating back a thousand years including a fragment of the Coronation Stone. Peeking inside the carriage, you can see the mosaic of wooden squares cut from the pages of history.
Just because it looks good, doesn’t mean the Australian skimped on the comforts, with Frecklington’s carriage renowned for its superior ride including air-conditioning and electric windows, making it the monarch’s favourite for official outings. Jim Frecklington is reported to be working on another coach for King Charles III.
The other magnificent coach used at the Coronation was the centuries-old Gold State Coach drawn by 8 horses which took the crowned King and Queen back to Buckingham Palace. It has performed this duty since the 1800s after being built from wood and gold-plating in 1762 for King George III.
‘Beauty’ and ‘history’ are the overwhelming features of the Coronation, unlike the bleak and lifeless offerings of socialist dictatorships or suffocating bland republics. Also of note – and missed by the press – were the repeated pledges by the King to serve with grace, justice, and mercy. These are not sentiments screeched by the power-hungry activists masquerading as politicians within the halls of our Parliament.
While some of our Australian Senators lacked the maturity to perform their rather basic pledge without making a disrespectful activist statement, the King and his Queen have taken upon themselves all the laws and duties of Britain and their Commonwealth realms with sincerity.
How many of our political leaders could we truly say act with ‘grace and mercy’? How many understand that ‘justice’, as put forward by these sacred oaths, is not the same thing as the politics of petty revenge that we see dominate the modern Parliament?
After the events of the last three years of Covid, I can safely say that there are maybe three or four politicians worthy of their office, at best – none of them in leadership positions.
What is often forgotten is that there is no politician in the Commonwealth who takes their job as protector of the realm more seriously than the monarch. Their job is forever, and if they were to fail, there is no option for a quiet retreat due to ‘family issues’ or a cushy UN job waiting in the wings.
The Coronation is not solely about nostalgia and culture – it is the solidification of that promise.
Each hymn, costume change, jewelled ornament, prayer, and oath is another latch that binds the monarch to his people as their guardian – not against foreign powers, but against the power of Parliament and its political class. In fear of God, the King watches politicians as the Sheppard keeps his eye on the wolves.
Politicians are naturally jealous around the Coronation. Hundreds of thousands of people will never fill the streets to see the swearing-in of a Prime Minister. The public do not love the political class, and nor should they, as politics has no mechanism to return that affection.
When the people swell in the streets to observe the pageantry, it is the nation that they embrace – not the King. Charles, like his mother before him, understood that they were caretakers of not only the Crown, but of liberty, grace, justice, and mercy.
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The Trump verdict has all the usual slobberers salivating on Seven. I can hear it from the Beloved’s laptop (I refuse to watch them on screen but he has a stronger stomach for these things).
Thirty years, no evidence, year of the offence unknown, no police report, nothing but an accusation. And now money, lots of it.
This can’t possibly be justice.
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Vegetable news.
Rasmussen Poll: Dems Like RFK Jr., but Would Vote for Biden (9 May)
Democrats say they would support President Joe Biden at a 62% rate in their party’s presidential primary … 19% say they would vote for Kennedy in the party’s primary [and] 4% say they would cast their ballot for author Marianne Williamson.
He’s exactly who they want, which says a lot about lefty voters.
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Donald Trump has been found liable by a nine-member jury for sexually assaulting and defaming an American former magazine columnist and ordered to pay her US$5m in damages.
The jury reached a unanimous verdict in just under three hours on Tuesday, finding that Mr Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse, defamation and damages.
It’s a civil trial. Not a criminal one. The burden of proof is unreasonably low, and roughly equivalent to an online poll.
It’s meaningless clickbait, and the cash-grabber will be waiting years to see any of the fruits of her labour. Even then, she might get twenty bucks and a free feed somewhere.
Next.
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There you go , Zat & Cronkite.
Yep JC, I would have lost that wager.
But I still maintain that big wigs in NYC will live to regret it as the bar for false accusation for a sex crime just hit rock bottom while the payout went into the millions.
All it takes now is a indecent fairytale and a lawyer who will work on spec.
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In July of last year, I was asked to attend a police station here in Sydney to give a statement about a rape allegation, made by a woman I know about a man I know. I spent an exhausting three hours at the police station, recalling everything, and it’s just as well I have a very good memory. I also have emails and texts. The detective went through everything with me. This supposed rape occurred well over a decade ago, but the allegation of “rape” only surfaced in 2021, funny that. I believe she was inspired by the Porter and Lehmann allegations. I will state here and now that there was never any rape. I haven’t heard anything further and maybe, just maybe, a sensible DPP has looked at her allegation and rightly thought that her claim of being raped in rubbish. I hope so, and I hope my testimony helped their decision. But then, maybe not. Many DPP’s have now been politicised and are weapons in the culture wars, just ask the late George Pell and Bruce Lehmann. The ACT federal police knew the allegation by Higgins had more holes in it than a flour sieve but, under that dickhead Dumgold, a man with a very clear political agenda, they decided to pursue the case.
And in the meantime, I wait.
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Robert De Niro has announced that he has welcomed his seventh child. The Godfather actor, 79, revealed in an interview this week that he has become a father once again.
Sure, Bob. Sure.
I believe he is a method actor, which is to say that he acts by convincing himself that he is a character rather than consciously thinking of how he comes across.
You sometimes hear about actors who stay in character between scenes on set and even only responding to the character’s name.
So a method actor will immerse themselves into their character, experience it, and present to the world what would be natural of a doctor, a police officer, a truck driver, a suburban mum, a 17th century king, a 29th century spaceship captain, and so on.
They actually have no experience of the roles they take, instead immersing themselves into a composite of their own impressions. They convince themselves of what they already think and have no idea when they get their character wrong.
Ol’ Bob is immersing himself in the idea of being a father as best as he remembers it.
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The right thinking media have all branded any Collingwood supporter who booed Buddy Franklin as racist.
When they get a jury duty letter, they should give their reasons for not being able to serve as – an inability to discern narrative from fact or any discernible skill in analytical thinking. I live too far away from objectivity to travel to a place of justice. -
Zat
Here’s the other big problems for Trump. I read he’s facing several court cases, which are essentially made up nonsense. The problem is that these cases are likely to be heard in large urban cities from where jury selection is made. Which way does the vote swing in these places? It’s a series of legal witch hunts without merit.
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The AFP’s story is the one with the holes.
The DPP can run a prosecution that the cops say is weak and vice versa.
What’s extraordinary is the AFP calling 3 meetings with Drumgold to suggest that he not prosecute Lehrmann, 2 of those before they’d even spoken to Lehrmann.In the history of Australia, when has that ever happened before?
On the other hand, Police saying nothing when they’ve got evidence that exonerates someone found Guilty, an illiterate Millipede couldn’t count the number of times that has been known to have occurred.
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Cassie, a lawyer once tried to rope me and a family member into giving evidence in a civil case involving a supposed “rape”. He tried every trick in the book, including pulling at my heartstrings. It was all lies, so I told him to bugger off.
Out of court settlement. Some months later the person involved was boasting to her friends about the extortion and the things she’d bought with the money.
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Tucker Carlson
@TuckerCarlson
We’re back.
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1656037032538390530 -
” driver’s licence test is in third world countries”
Test? Mostly it’s knowing who to bribe and being a relative or a friend. I don’t know if the situation has changed but in Victoria at least up to a few years ago, anyone living in Vic for more than three months had to get a Vic licence, there was one exception, people on student visas, they didn’t have to get a Vic licence ever, they could drive on their foreign licence indefinitely. They did have to carry an english translation if their licence wasn’t in english, this translation could be anything, I’ve seen a dirty piece of foolscap with something along the lines of ‘this licence is from Utter Pradesh and allows Mandeep Ingoat to drive any car and truck’ that was it and it had to be accepted. We ended up with heaps of ‘students’ who never attended classes driving all sorts of vehicles with little or no training or experience.
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So much untouched by the Budget – example being the NDIS which continues to balloon with claims that were never intended to be eligible in the original scheme. We also see the annual bill for assistance to indigenous communities expanded exponentially by the massive increase of those who now identify as Aboriginal in the Census. At a recent visit to a public hospital my husband (who is of Scottish descent) was asked (& almost encouraged!) if he identified as Aboriginal. It is astonishing. But back to the Budget – nothing said, that I can recall, about the necessary increase in Defence spending & its effect on the nation’s finances. Does anyone really understand the financial trickery and sleight of hands in these annual charades?
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Time for some Armstrong. Got to keep Mrs Stencho Pantyhose, Jerk Off and Dotty Dot moaning about somefink’ or other,
Powell on Bank Acquisitions
“After the FOMC decision, Jerome Powell stated during his Q&A that the Federal Reserve does not have a plan to consolidate banks. “I personally felt that having small, medium, and large were a great part of our banking system,” Powell stated, noting that they all serve different customers. Powell said it could have been a good outcome had one of the regional banks bought failed First Republic instead of JPMorgan Chase. However, the chairman noted that the FDIC mandates that banks be acquired using the least costly resolution option.
The FDIC says it does not give preference to bidders. How can a bank qualify? According to the FDIC website: “Bid lists are created for each acquisition opportunity based on potential acquirer’s qualifications and interests and characteristics of the failing bank such as capital ratios, regulatory ratings, assets and core deposits as reported on the most recent Call Report and geographic location of the bank. Each bid list is developed using several criteria sets to identify approved potential bidders for an acquisition opportunity, while considering factors that match likely approved bidders to an acquisition opportunity.”
Due to the recent banking failures, the FDIC has also created guidelines specifically for failed bank acquisitions:
“The FDIC markets troubled institutions to healthy insured depository institutions. The FDIC is statutorily required to resolve failed institutions using the least costly resolution option minimizing losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund. The FDIC’s primary objective is to maintain financial system stability and public confidence. Returning assets to the private sector in an orderly manner at the best price is another key objective. The FDIC also tries to reduce the impact on the community.
Recapitalization before failure is the preferred method to resolve open troubled financial institutions. FDIC markets institutions in case a failing institution is not able to resolve its issues on its own. If an insured depository institution is unable to resolve its issues, the FDIC will implement its resolution process by which qualified bidders may seek to acquire the assets and assume the liabilities of the failing institution.”
Obviously, smaller banks will not have the ability to compete. All banks are struggling with liquidity issues, and mid-sized institutions will likely be unable to offer the “least costly resolution option.” Ideally, they want failing banks to be attained prior to failure, and only large institutions can provide that cushion. Nothing in the FDIC guidelines at the time of this writing currently limits what a large institution could acquire. The computer states that we will see more banking failures across the globe. Based on these guidelines in the US, it is reasonable to assume that large banks like JPMorgan Chase will benefit from future acquisitions and continue to grow. It is unclear whether banking monopolies are permitted under the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act, but it remains to be seen what alternatives the system will have as more banks go under.”
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Tucker Carlson
@TuckerCarlson
We’re back.
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1656037032538390530Yes, saw that. Watch for the Murdoch response.
Twitter may provide a way for him to avoid breaking his contract.
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Ed reckons it’s wrong for police to inform the DPP that they have real concerns, based on evidence and testimony they have evaluated, that the charge against the accused is most likely to fail in court.
It then most definitely did fail when Brittany ran away from any further probing of her truthiness. -
Cassie of Sydney says:
May 10, 2023 at 7:23 am
“Thirty years, no evidence, year of the offence unknown, no police report, nothing but an accusation. And now money, lots of it.
This can’t possibly be justice.”
It isn’t justice, it’s injustice.It’s even lower than that, it’s revenge. How dare he think he can be a president without the requisite approval from the elite. The jury that pronounced him guilty are just a bunch of Madame Defarges.
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A question for techie Cats…do any of you have luggage trackers? If so, which device did you get and does it work? I’ve read a gazillion reviews and still none the wiser.
I get the difference between the “pingers” and the “GPS” type, but which one is most useful (apart from the fact the the most useful is the one that tells you where your rotten bag is)?
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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has requested that the Justice Department postpone any potential Hunter Biden prosecution until Republicans hold a news conference on May 10.
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Zatara says:
May 10, 2023 at 7:37 am
There you go , Zat & Cronkite.
Yep JC, I would have lost that wager.
But I still maintain that big wigs in NYC will live to regret it as the bar for false accusation for a sex crime just hit rock bottom while the payout went into the millions.
All it takes now is a indecent fairytale and a lawyer who will work on spec.I don’t think the big wigs in NYC have anything to worry about, they are all in the club. It’s anyone who dares challenge them who will cop it, but first he will be dragged through the media mud to prime the jury.
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If you support freedom of speech it is time to join Twitter and pay for a blue tick to support Elon and Tucker. From Revolver News below.
Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk’s recent conversation now makes sense with Carlson’s announcement of relaunching his show on Twitter. In a video clip, Carlson mentioned how mainstream media lies and how we are all victims of government propaganda, leaving very little room for truth.
However, Tucker found solace in Elon Musk’s platform; as Twitter provides a safe haven for free speech, thanks to Elon Musk. Tucker believes that Twitter is one of the only remaining spaces where people can speak the truth without any repercussions.
So, Tucker announced that he’s coming back. He will “recreate” his Fox News show right here on Twitter and he also said he’s working on some other stuff, too.
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John Brumble says:
May 10, 2023 at 8:22 amThank you, Johnny. Placing the attribution to Armstrong at the top saved me a couple of seconds in my day.
John,
on this one I have to disagree – it was a thoughtful & accurate article assessing what is happening in America re Small Banks
I aim to approach life looking at both sides of argument with an open mind, hoping to learn at the same time and expand my oulook
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Headline on the ABC Breakfast Gnus just now.
The Feral Guv’ment Debt (actually the poor long suffering Taxpayer’s Debt) will now be 300 Billion Kangaroo Dollars less than what was last thought. Que?
What are those overpaid wankers in Treasury doing if they can’t fink’ proper like and get the numbers right? Chalmers Economics once again? And if the Budget is now in the Black are we allowed to say that black word anymore?
FFS
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calli says:
May 10, 2023 at 8:35 amA question for techie Cats…do any of you have luggage trackers? If so, which device did you get and does it work? I’ve read a gazillion reviews and still none the wiser.
calli,
we have bought 4 Apple Air Tags though Amazon &149 (real security on delievery rather than usual drop at front door) for upcoming trip end this month, and for youngest’s once in their lifetime trip to US with Grandkids 7/8/9 later in year
Eldest Daughter and Son-in-law went of 20th Anniversary Trip from MEL-SYD-NOU in March this year and had Apple Air Tags in their check-in Luggage and were able to pinpoint their luggage on the ground at Sydney Intl Airport when they arrived in Noumea and found no luggage on baggage carousel
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Globalist elites provoking bloody conflicts and coups – Putin
The Russian leader has accused Western powers of trying to build a system of “robbery, violence and suppression”
Western elites have forgotten the consequences of the Nazis’ “insane ambitions,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said during his Victory Day Parade speech on Red Square in Moscow.
Russia believes that “any ideology of superiority is by its nature disgusting, criminal and deadly,” the president pointed out.
“The globalist elites keep insisting on their exceptionalism; they pit people against each other, split societies, provoke bloody conflicts and coups, sow hatred, Russophobia and aggressive nationalism, destroy traditional family values that make human a human,” Putin said.
According to the Russian leader, all this is being done by the US and allies in order to “further dictate their will, their rights and their rules” and implement what is basically “a system of robbery, violence and suppression” on the international stage.
“It seems that they have forgotten what the insane ambitions of the Nazis led to. They have forgotten who defeated this monstrous, total evil,” he stressed.
Referring to the conflict in Ukraine, Putin said that “a real war has been unleashed against out Motherland. But we resisted international terrorism. We’ll also defend the residents of Donbass and assure our security.”
The aim of the West is “to achieve the disintegration and destruction of our country, nullify the results of World War II, completely break down the system of global security and international law, and strangle any sovereign centers of development,” he insisted.
The US and its allies are to blame for the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, the head of state said.
“Overwhelming ambitions, arrogance and permissiveness inevitably lead to tragedies. This is the reason for the catastrophe that the Ukrainian people are now experiencing,” he pointed out.
The Ukrainians became “hostages” of the coup that took place in the country in 2014 and were turned into “a bargaining chip” by the West, which uses the country to implement its “cruel selfish plans.”
From the Comments
– Maths Class
I am an American— every time I start reverting back to neutrality in regard to the Ukraine war, I hear another speech of Vladimir Putin; and I am moved to the Russian cause.I do not like what is happening to Ukrainians, but like John Mearsheimer, I have to blame American elites for this catastrophe. America “led them down the primrose path”, as Mearsheimer said. America needs to stop and reflect about its jaded cynical post-Christian pan-sexual fascism.
The countries we Americans are fighting and trying to destroy (chiefly Russia, Iran, and China)— these are beautiful countries with sound wisdom traditions and good family values; these are countries worth saving and cooperating with. Russia should not be destroyed! Russia should be preserved and helped.
– Robinson Crusoe
Drag the rich bastards through the ukraine minefields they helped create…– FlatEarth
Thank you Mr Putin for your sincerity and honesty, some thing that is totally lacking from the West. We here in the West inlcuding little New Zealand, have tyrants who are pushing a globalist / US woke / eugenics agenda, they do not care about people they care about power and status. Sicking bunch of cowards. Peace and blessings Russia from NZ
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Ed reckons it’s wrong for police to inform the DPP that they have real concerns, based on evidence and testimony they have evaluated, that the charge against the accused is most likely to fail in court.
Ed actually reckons that that fairytale never occurred previously in Australia, so there’s no reason to take it seriously this time.
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Each hymn, costume change, jewelled ornament, prayer, and oath is another latch that binds the monarch to his people as their guardian – not against foreign powers, but against the power of Parliament and its political class. In fear of God, the King watches politicians as the Sheppard keeps his eye on the wolves.
Tinta, I think. Alexandra Marshall is confused and wrong about the coronation. It’s a spectacle, yes, but it’s a vow, a dedication, made not to ‘his people’. You can’t blame Alexandra for her confusion, however, as the pusillanimous Archbishop Justin Welby, presiding divine, failed to exploit the opportunity given. Can anyone remember a single point of his sermon ? It was about service, but it was a snoozefest, packed with truisms, boring and unremarkable and bland as a footnote to last night’s budget speech. No confession. No creed. But a pointless, beautiful Kyrie. A woman reading the lesson kind of puts Paul in his place and pleased a few feminists. A committed Hindu reading the gospel. Anyone will do. Likewise the gospel choir stuck out in their shining white suits. A bit racist, that. The post modernists might have a lot to say about their clothing. What on earth were they doing there in a historical Anglican service of pomp and ceremony ? Oh, that’s right, inclusiveness.
The Church of England is vanishing, has vanished. But none of that feeling was present. Welby could have pointed out that all this beauty, music, architecture, pageantry is given to us by the Christian church (actually, the Catholic Church).
Poor Charles. I don’t think he is going to be around for long. It’s not wise to make such vows and make God a bystander, almost an afterthought, relegated behind the political, multi culti imperatives that drove the whole thing.
And why were any Australians even there ? Back there with Jamaica, invisible, unmentioned, represented to our shame by Nick Cave and Julie.
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President Donald Trump broke his silence Sunday regarding the Bud Light boycott that has swept across America. His frank remarks on the matter will have every patriotic American nodding along in agreement.
Trump noted the crisis Bud Light is facing in a Truth Social post promoting conservative radio host Wayne Allen Root’s new book “The Great Patriot Buy-cott Book: The Great Conservative Companies to Buy From & Invest In.”
Sales of Bud Light have cratered all across America after their woke executives decided to shove fake woman Dylan Mulvaney in everyone’s face. One report has the number at a staggering 26%, though even that is almost certainly an understatement.
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Hypothetically, which outlets would survive if government (i.e. taxpayer) advertising was withdrawn?
All of them.
https://www.adnews.com.au/news/nielsen-australia-s-top-20-ad-spenders-to-june-2022
Top 20 advertisers/group
1 Government Commonwealth
2 Government Victoria
3 Harvey Norman Holdings
4 Government NSW
5 News Corporation
6 Clive Palmer Group of Companies
7 Wesfarmers
8 Nine Entertainment Co.
9 Woolworths Group
10 Amazon.com, Inc.
11 Suncorp Group
12 McDonald’s Restaurants
13 Coles Group
14 Telstra Corporation
15 Singapore Telecommunications Limited
16 Commonwealth Bank Australia
17 Government Queensland
18 Industry Superfund
19 Reckitt Benckiser
20 Toyota Motor Corporation Australia…
The Marshall and Malinauskas governments spent $41.2 million on advertising last financial year – the highest amount since record-keeping began 13 years ago.
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The Victorian Government spends at least $80 million a year on advertising.Now add in various “charities like shave the children etc as well as various semi government entities and the amounts are huge.
Right down to local councils. -
The Voice will make all the difference, won’t it?
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A History of Russian Innovation
On this historic day of May 9th, join me in taking a leisurely stroll through the history of Russian achievement.
SIMPLICIUS THE THINKER
10 MAY 2023Today, as we celebrate what Russia and the USSR gave to the world with their victory in the Great Patriotic War, I thought it would be timely to look at what they also gave in terms of scientific advancement, inventions, and human achievement.
In the West, it has become a habit to ignore or cloak Russian contributions to the world. Particularly now, the Western ‘world order’ continues to flagrantly erase or obfuscate the truth of Soviet triumph in WW2, and paint themselves the victors—particularly in the European theatre—despite the U.S. not even entering the real war until 1944 (discounting the barely relevant Operation Avalanche slightly earlier), while the USSR had already been fighting it since 1941.
But history is a funny thing. Many of the greatest breakthroughs are shadowed in a haze of half-truths and arbitrary claims. And when there’s any ambiguity, the U.S. invariably gives its own inventors the sweeping benefit of the doubt. But let us uncloak some of these veils, and reveal the truth about the seminal inventions of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Airplane
Western history books tell us it was invented by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. But what they fail to mention, are two important things: Firstly, that Nikolay Zhukovsky was the “father of aerodynamics” on whose equations and calculations modern flight was based.
The Kutta–Joukowski theorem is named after him, and is the fundamental theorem in calculating the lift of an airfoil:
And secondly, Russian inventor Alexander Mozhaysky, had in fact beaten the Wright Brothers to the first powered take off by almost 20 years, but owing to the conveniently arbitrary semantic distinctions between ‘powered take off’ and ‘sustained flight’, Mozhaysky’s invention is swept under the rug to be forgotten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozhaysky%27s_airplane
The famed 1884 test of the Mozhaysky airplane is shrouded in controversy, as western sources are predictably dismissive of it. However, as can be seen, even on the official Wright Brothers website, credit is given: https://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/History_of_the_Airplane/Doers_and_Dreamers/Doers_and_Dreamers_M.htm (bottom of page)
Astronautics
Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is known as one of the ‘founding fathers’ of astronautics and rocketry.
Even the official NASA site honors him and lists him as the premier founder of modern astronautics and rocketry along with Goddard and Oberth.
Helicopter
This is an easy one. Known worldwide as ‘the father of the helicopter’, Russian-born Igor Sikorsky invented the helicopter.
Some Americans disingenuously like to claim it as an American invention because Sikorsky ended up moving to the U.S. and becoming a nationalized American, and building the first helicopter there. However, all the preliminary and most important designs and research for it were done in Russia while he lived in St. Petersburg. It was simply that, at the time, he could not get his hands on a motor powerful enough to make his single engine vertical lift invention work. The technology didn’t exist yet so he had to put the final building of his designs on hold. In that interim, he also invented the first ever multi-engine passenger plane, which then became the first multi-engine bomber craft.
After moving to the U.S., years had passed and engine technology was ready to make his earlier designs work, so he finally built the first helicopter. To this day ‘Sikorsky’ is ironically now an American company, and in fact the U.S. president famously flies in a Sikorsky as his Marine One official helicopter transport. Imagine that.
Lasers
Russian scientists Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov not only pioneered the invention of the Laser and Maser—they won the Nobel Prize for it, though it was also shared with American scientist Richard Hard Townes.
Radio
Russian physicist Alexander Popov invented the Radio.
Of course Americans and Westerners will say it was Marconi. But it seems even the NSA was oddly interested in settling the debate:
Quote from the NSA document:
“Ask an American who invented radio and he will probably say “Marconi”; ask a Russian and he will very likely say “Popov.” Who is right?”
The NSA’s conclusion:
“Two arguments are used: 1. That Popov’s demonstration of 1895 predated Marconi’s patent of 1896, and 2. that, in any case, Marconi’s invention was a direct copy of Popov’s. Popov is said to have refused to take out a patent on his invention, contending that the discovery should benefit the scientific world at large. That may be true (university professors are traditionally uninterested in patenting their discoveries), or it may be a convenient means to explain how Marconi rather than Popov came to be almost universally recognized as the father of wireless communication.”
Television
Russian inventor Vladimir Zworykin can be claimed as the inventor of the Television.
An American named Farnsworth was also in the race, and they are both credited almost equally as the top pioneering, competing inventors. But in this case Zworykin also got the patent first and beat Farnsworth officially. Of course, Zworykin had moved to the United States by this time, and so it remains an “American invention” by a technicality despite Zworykin being Russian-born.
Periodic Table of Elements
One of the bedrocks of modern science. This one is well known, and well credited with no controversy or nuanced ambiguity. The universal Periodic Table, a staple and linchpin in every classroom throughout the world, was invented and devised by the Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev.
Lightbulb
If you’re in the West, you’ve probably heard that Thomas Edison invented the Lightbulb. In fact, the lightbulb had many earlier iterations throughout the 1800s. Many different inventors pioneered incremental steps that led to the modern lightbulb. However, Russian scientist Alexander Lodygin is said to have invented the most modern type of incandescent lightbulb.
Furthermore, he invented many other things, including an apparatus which predated scuba equipment:
Several Lodygin’s ideas were implemented much later, even after his death. In 1871 Lodygin proposed an autonomous diving apparatus that consisted of a steel mask, natural rubber costume, accumulator battery and a special apparatus for electrolysis of water. The diver was supposed to breathe the oxygen-hydrogen mix obtained by electrolysis of water. The invented diving apparatus was very similar to modern scuba equipment
Telegraph
Americans are taught that Samuel Morse invented the Telegraph, one of the most important inventions of history which led to the telephone, internet, and global communications. But real history is more complicated than that, and in fact Morse only developed ‘commercial telegraphy’, while Russian inventor Pavel Schilling invented the first electromagnetic telegraph and needle telegraph in the world, setting up a working version in his St. Petersburg apartment.
Solar Power
Solar Power is all the rage these days. But few in the West would know that the first true working Solar Cell leading to the creation of workable solar power was invented by Russian scientist Aleksandr Stoletov.
Three Phase Power
It is widely held that eminent slavic scientist Nikola Tesla was the inventor of the three phase power system that changed the world, leading to modern electrical generation that powers every city and country on the planet. But in fact, Russian inventor Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky is listed as having independently invented it at the same time, beating Tesla in some of the other important expanded features of the complex system.
Nuclear Power
Russia built the world’s first working nuclear power plant, which generated and transmitted energy in 1954.
By the way, it shut down in 2002, never having suffered a single significant incident in its 48 year life span:
Satellite
Almost everyone knows this one. Russia developed the world’s first satellite, the Sputnik I, which flew to orbit in 1957. The U.S. could only manage to send their first satellite to space two years later, in 1959.
With that said, we should fairly note that the first manmade object to ever enter ‘space’ was actually the German V-2 rocket.
ICBM
On a similar, but darker, note, the first ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missile) was developed by Russia and launched in 1957. It carried a single nuclear warhead of 3 megatons.
Parachute
Few know that Russian inventor Gleb Kotelnikov was the inventor of the modern parachute, specifically the backpack parachute. Also the braking parachute, used to slow down planes upon landing.
Holograms
The Russian scientist and inventor Yuri Denisyuk invented the holograph / hologram.
Caterpillar Tracks
Russian inventor Dmitry Zagryazhsky was the first to patent the famous ‘tank tracks’ in 1837 but apparently could not get enough funding to build a working prototype as no one believed in his invention at the time, or thought it impractical.
So two years later his patent was voided and ideas taken by others. It was later picked up by another Russian inventor by the name of Fyodor Blinov who, “introduced one of the first tracked vehicles (a wagon on continuous tracks) in 1877 (patented in 1879), and then developed his idea and built the first steam-powered continuous track tractor for farm usage (1881-1888). His self-propelled crawler was successfully tested and displayed at farmer’s exhibition in 1896.”
Here is a detailed article on his invention.
Assault Rifle
Russian inventor Vladimir Fyodorov invented the world’s first assault rifle, the Federov Avtomat.
Stealth
Many believe stealth was invented in America, given the fact that the F117 Nighthawk was the first mass produced plane that brought it to the forefront. But in fact, stealth was invented by Russian scientist Pyotr Ufimtsev, the ‘father of stealth.’ Lockheed Martin appropriated his work and used it as the basis to produce their F117 Nighthawk and B2 Spirit bombers.
Radar
And since we’re on the topic of stealth, let us mention radar. Although its history is long and tortuous, and the credit isn’t given to any one specific person, the effect of radar was arguably first observed and thus ‘discovered’ by the same Russian scientist who invented radio, Alexander Popov. You can read about the episode here:
Video and Magnetic Tape Recorders
Alexander M. Poniatoff was a Russian born inventor who emigrated to the U.S. and founded the world famous AMPEX company, after his initials of A.M.P.
Geochemistry
Vladimir Verdandsky is considered one of the founders of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and radiogeology, as well as an important figure in the science of minerology.
And is it any wonder, in light of the topic of Russia’s world-leading human capital, which I’ve brought up before? – see following lists
It goes on and on.
For now, Russia continues to be handicapped by the artificially imposed sanctions, embargoes, and economic terrorism from the West, which keep it from turning into a native technological powerhouse in the fields of computers and AI development. But the human capital is clearly there and waiting for the breakthrough that will come as Russia finally decouples from the West and turns to China, with whose help it will build up its semiconductor (and other) industries.
Until then, on this symbolic date, let us celebrate past achievements, and toast the future victories to come.
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Zulu Kilo Two Alpha says:
May 10, 2023 at 9:17 amThe Voice will make all the difference, won’t it?
From the end of the above Quadrant Article
Related to this is the concept of an “indigenous voice”, which I find laughable.
took more than a year for just one small community, made up of closely related tribal groups, to agree on who should chair their local council; what hope is there of more widespread consensus?
Every person has something to grumble about, something to request, which is hardly different from the rest of us – that’s why our political systems have evolved to their present state.
As a postscript, several years after the completion of our project, while visiting Nhulunbuy I was taken by friends on a sailing trip from the Gove Boat Club. Heading down the inlet for a few miles, towards the Gumatj settlement (the Gumatj clan seems to dominate the Yolngu peoples, which some have alleged might be because of its stranglehold on royalties), we came upon a beachside, two-storied mansion. Reaching out from it was a small jetty supporting a helicopter on floats. “That’s where Galurrwuy Yunupingu lives”, I was told, and that was his private helicopter (presumably with a full-time pilot in residence).
Not far away was another, large, warehouse-like building, apparently the studio of the band, Yothu Yindi, made up of relatives of Galurrwuy.
I recalled the man from years before as long-time chairman of the Northern Land Council and regarded widely as the “king” of Arnhem Land, expert at schmoozing politicians (he’d been portrayed as a friend of PM Bob Hawke, among others) and directing expenditure of mining and alumina plant royalties.
Galurrwuy died only recently, in April 2023, still crying victimhood in advocating for extra compensation and increased government spending in the region.
Returning home, I started wondering if that had all been a dream, until coming across an old article in The Australian by Elisabeth Wynhausen* that featured a photograph of that helicopter and explained it was used for, among other things, fishing and hunting (possibly for buffaloes, turtles, crocodiles and dugong).
So much for socialism, or environmental conservationism, as deeply innate features of Aboriginal life – although many might think that nepotism seems alive and well.
Paul Prociv MB BS, PhD, FRACP is the former Professor of Medical Parasitology at the University of Queensland
* as reproduced at Wynhausen’s archival web site, the helicopter snap is missing, though mention is made in the text.
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Ed Casesays:
May 10, 2023 at 9:03 am
Ed reckons it’s wrong for police to inform the DPP that they have real concerns, based on evidence and testimony they have evaluated, that the charge against the accused is most likely to fail in court.Ed actually reckons that that fairytale never occurred previously in Australia, so there’s no reason to take it seriously this time.
Grandpa Ed Simpson has got his Latin quotes mixed up.
The correct quote is “Cogito ergo sum”, not “Cogito ergo est”, Grandpa.
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Qualifier first. I’m not an expert, I know next to nothing about economics and no longer care apart from my grandchildren, coz sure as heck no one in government does. Dim Chalmers the best treasurer since Shane Wand seems to think $4B. current account surplus is a thing. How does taxing more help anyone. How about no increases in spending until debt is paid off. The bar’s tard’s need taken to with baseball bats to knock some sense into their tiny skulls. These wankers couldn’t run a school canteen.
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A question for techie Cats…do any of you have luggage trackers? If so, which device did you get and does it work? I’ve read a gazillion reviews and still none the wiser.
I realise that Apple products are haram for many folk, but I’ve been using AirTags on my travel luggage and to control the constant stream of lost Faustus family keys.
They’re not cheap, but I find they work exceptionally well (the downside is you need an Apple device to do the tracking).
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A History of Russian Innovation
On this historic day of May 9th, join me in taking a leisurely stroll through the history of Russian achievement.
SIMPLICIUS THE THINKER
10 MAY 2023From the Comments
– Enoch L. Cade
And let me add the greatest writer of all time: Fyodor M Dostoevsky.
– Simplicius The Thinker
You bring up a good point. Over 100 of the world’s top authors were asked to rank every writer in history:
The final tally came out as the following. Top 10 authors by most points earned:
Leo Tolstoy — 327
William Shakespeare — 293
James Joyce — 194
Vladimir Nabokov — 190
Fyodor Dostoevsky — 177
William Faulkner — 173
Charles Dickens — 168
Anton Chekhov — 165
Gustave Flaubert — 163
Jane Austen — 161
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Ed Casesays:
May 10, 2023 at 9:11 am
The Police have real concerns …
The Police were actively helping the Defence, including sending notes they’d obtained of meetings between Higgins and a Psychologist to Lehrmann’s then Legal Reps.Grandpa Ed Simpson isn’t big on this whole newfangled legal concept of “discovery”.
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The Church of England is vanishing, has vanished. But none of that feeling was present. Welby could have pointed out that all this beauty, music, architecture, pageantry is given to us by the Christian church (actually, the Catholic Church).
I think Catholics world wide recognised their rites in last Saturday’s proceedings.
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Putin’s speech yesterday stated that the Globalists have captured the West…and how their policies entail child-sex trafficking, child mutilation, forced Transgender Education, CRT…and the worship of Satan in all institutions…as our Politicians and MSM state he’s the enemy?
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Spending and taxing puts off all the hard decisions
The Albanese government could have used this year’s tax bonanza to start locking in surpluses. Nobody should be thanking them for leaving it all to be done later when things will be tougher.
The AFR View Editorial
Amid the welcome turnaround in the bottom line after Australia’s amazing economic rebound from the pandemic, Jim Chalmers’ expansionary second budget hands out money all round to Labor’s welfare and social justice constituencies, makes the Reserve Bank’s job bringing inflation down to target harder, and ducks all the hard decisions needed to avoid deficits out to the horizon.
Dr Chalmers has taken his luck – the first small surplus since Peter Costello and the first Labor one since Paul Keating – and used a personal income and company tax bonanza windfall and the booming global price of Australia’s coal, gas and iron ore exports to ratchet up the spending and entrench bigger government after rashly promising to make everyone better off at the 2022 election.
There are sleights of hand in the Treasurer’s claim the budget is calibrated not to add to inflation. The government says that has added $42 billion in policy spending, which it has offset with $22 billion in new taxes, part of its claim that it is banking the commodity and income windfalls.
But that policy spending decision does not include $13.4 billion in aged care spending, put in the budget parameters instead because it was a 15 per cent pay rise mandated by the Fair Work Commission (it was also a Labor election promise).
But taken with $10 billion in childcare support in the October budget, and it is a $44 billion stimulus to the economy which starts to feed in during this high inflation year.
S&P Global Ratings agrees that the handouts may add to inflationary pressure.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Dr Chalmers could have done something else. They have used the windfalls to show intent to get the budget under control when it has terms of trade at 200 year highs and unemployment at 50 year lows. If not now, then when? There should be a real sense that the hard work is being left until later, but there is not.
This should have been the time to target multiple surpluses before the economy weakens again further into the forward estimates, and when the pressure will be on again to spend ahead of the 2025 election.
If not now, then when? There should be a real sense that the hard work is being left until later, but there is not.
Just since Dr Chalmers’ first budget eight months ago, bracket creep has brought forth another $17 billion in income tax, up 4 per cent, and another $11 billion in companies tax, up nearly 9 per cent.
That should remove any thoughts of adjusting the legislated stage three tax cuts which give back this incentive-killing bracket creep. The October budget had also forecast a deficit of $36 billion for this financial year.
The turnaround has been extraordinary by any standards. But it is just a fleeting $4.2 billion surplus, which will quickly vanish into a medium-term spending burden that bakes in a cumulative $109 billion deficit between next year and 2026-27 to push net debt out to $700 billion.
The budget forecasts that the deficit will have fallen to just 0.2 per cent of GDP in a decade. But there is no serious down payment on this level of repair. There is no longer the road map of a medium term fiscal strategy, balanced over the economic cycle, which was dropped in 2021.
Instead, the budget has kept the vague language adopted in the pandemic emergency of “making the economy more resilient and putting the budget on a more resilient footing over time”.
The strategy does spell out that any improvements in tax receipts be directed at the bottom line. It also calls for limiting spending until gross debt is trending downwards as a share of GDP. That too would surely call for a string of surpluses as a priority.
No fair dinkum repair
Yet, there is nothing in Dr Chalmers actions or rhetoric that commits to fair dinkum budget repair.
To re-anchor budget expectations unmoored by the pandemic, Labor should commit to a credible plan for a return to surplus well within the decade.
Nor does Dr Chalmers have the compass of a restraining tax to GDP ratio to guide him, with the Morrison-era target of 23.9 per cent already breached; if non-tax receipts are included it is heading for 26 per cent, the highest since 2001.
The lack of such markers makes Dr Chalmers’ pledge to keep spending growth to just 0.6 per cent of GDP through the forward estimates difficult to achieve. If the Treasurer wanted to aspire to a Keating-like reputation for managing the economy out of a very difficult pass then this budget has not done it.
Medium-term budget repair depends crucially on the new policy, announced by Mr Albanese at national cabinet last month, to reduce annual growth in the demand-driven NDIS from 14 per cent to 8 per cent by 2026.
It is already budgeted to blow out from $40 billion next financial year to $56 billion by 2026-27. It’s important that, as Treasury urges, the government imposes a hard spending cap on a program projected to hit nearly $100b in a decade on current trajectory. But the government is a long way from turning around the political culture of the NDIS. It’s not clear how it will actually do this: even the 8 per cent is far above the 4 per cent it was forecast to grow at.
The striking improvement in deficits and debt due in large part to inflation that has lifted the nominal value of GDP, and the energy price crisis that has lifted coal and gas export and tax receipts. That has made nominal government spending and public debt lower as a proportion of nominal GDP. But the same inflation is proving sticky and persistent, and that is only going to keep the Reserve Bank tightening the monetary policy screw.
Dr Chalmers agrees that inflation is public enemy number one and that he must not make the RBA’s job harder by increasing spending excessively.
It is wrong to say that Labor has blown this budget and the good fortune it is based on; it has not. Yet, the Treasurer has been under immense pressure from Labor stakeholders to live up to the party’s big spending reputation, and he has not let them down.
The spending is anything but the targeted cost-of-living help that Dr Chalmers talked of in the budget buildup. With 430,000 job vacancies tightening the labour market and driving inflation, there is a surprise lift in all Jobseeker payments by $40 a fortnight, with a higher rate for over 60s expanded to include over-55s in some curious assumptions about the participation rate of older workers when the retirement age is rising.
The single parenting allowance has been extended into high school years. There is another $3.5 billion on Medicare bulk billing incentive. The government claims that up to $3 billion on energy price relief for 5.5 million households will actually bring down inflation by 0.75 per cent for one year, by lowering CPI benchmarks that wage claims are based on.
Nod to inflation management
That is the only explicit nod to managing inflation that the government has made. But it’s a trick few economists are buying when it clearly puts money in pockets and is therefore expansionary. It is very likely that the Reserve Bank will just look through such claims when it is setting future interest rates.
Only higher defence spending has mostly been accommodated through cancelled projects in the next few years.
But by the end of the four-year forward estimates, the deficits are entrenched against revenue forecast as household consumption and business investment weakens over the next two years, hit by rising costs, and sharply falling housing investment.
But it is the series of long-term blowouts that are really sinking the budget. The NDIS is the fastest growing spending item.
Interest costs are down as a percentage of GDP but are still the second-fastest growing spending item, and costing $101 billion over the next four years.
Aged care is third fastest, at $30 billion over next four years including the 15 per cent pay rise in this budget.
And the federal government just keeps on getting bigger, with staffing levels at 191,000 as it retains its pandemic era expansion.
The government has raided smokers, wealthy super savers, and gas companies looking for revenue. But such easy targets simply underscore the lack of interest in real comprehensive tax reform. Revising the petroleum rent resource tax has some merit, but only as part of a bigger package.
Pay expectations
The RBA is now clearly worried that inflation is now becoming embedded and sticky in the service economy, where it is being driven by rising wages and rent payments which are being driven up by housing shortages. And a premature recovery in house prices creates the wealth effect that RBA wants to hose down. But this budget shows that Dr Chalmers has yet to hose down his own party on pay expectations.
There are other longer-term worries which will punish Dr Chalmers for not taking action on deficits now when he could. Population growth is nowhere near as high as expected before the pandemic. Even allowing for the current migration catch-up, lower migration and birth rates will leave 750,000 fewer Australians than expected by 2031.
Jobs may be booming, but labour productivity per hour worked has been falling back to 2019 levels. That will make it harder to meet even the low assumptions of productivity growth that were written into the last budget.
Moody’s says productivity is a key vulnerability for Australia’s outlook. Yet, the Treasurer’s budget speech failed to sound the alarm about the urgent need for productivity agenda and to build a constituency for the incentive-sharpening tax, workplace and regulatory reforms that needed to encourage a recovery in business investment in new more competitive and productive enterprises.
The lack of a growth plan in turn will make it harder for falling inflation and strong employment to lift real wage levels as this budget hopes. That makes this budget’s failure to grasp the deficit repair issue something of a betrayal of Labor’s own.
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Simplicius sounds a bit defensive today. Maybe there’s a reason…
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Goldman, UBS warn of more rate rises following budget
Risks are skewed to more RBA tightening: Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs says the federal budget’s near-term boost to household incomes will have an incrementally hawkish read-through for monetary policy.
The broker now sees a firming case for further policy tightening by the RBA over the coming months, particularly given surging migration-led population growth and the recent strong rebound in house prices.
Goldman’s base case is for a final 25 basis points rate rise in July, following confirmation of another large annual reset in the minimum wage and utility prices.
The broker said the risks are skewed to more tightening being required and potentially as soon as next month’s board meeting.
Budget is hawkish for RBA: UBS
UBS has labelled the federal budget as “stimulatory”, and pushed back the timing of when it expects the Reserve Bank to cut interest rates to 2024.
While the broker acknowledged that government policies in the budget should technically lower inflation in 2023/2024, it will still free up additional cash flow, especially for lower income households, who are more likely to spend this money and increase demand.
“Indeed, despite a rapid fiscal consolidation of the budget position in 22/23, the overall stance of the budget outlook is still stimulatory,” said George Tharenou, economist at UBS.
UBS expects the budget balance will expand across the coming two years to 2024/2025 by 1.5 percentage points of GDP. This presents upside risk to the broker’s near-term GDP and inflation outlook.
Meanwhile, UBS said the housing market appears to have troughed earlier than it previously expected.
Additionally, the broker said risks around the global outlook have also shifted, with global growth surprisingly re-accelerating this year, and the US labour market remaining stronger-than-expected, which challenges the Fed’s flagged pause to rate hikes.
Given this, UBS thinks there is an increasing risk the RBA will raise the cash rate again by another 25 basis points to 4.10 per cent, with the most likely timing in July, or potentially in August.
The broker also thinks the RBA is unlikely to cut the cash rate this year, and formally pushed back its expectation of the first RBA easing to February 2024, from November previously, with reductions in 25 basis points increments per quarter.
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The final tally came out as the following. Top 10 authors by most points earned:
Leo Tolstoy — 327
William Shakespeare — 293
How can a novelist and a dramatist who wrote in different genres, different langauges and different time periods be directly comparable?
Such lists are a bit silly.
Just read the Western canon and enjoy.
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I was very taken with Tucker’s short clip on Twitter. A clear and dispassionate assessment of the media today.
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“MatrixTransform says:
May 9, 2023 at 10:41 pmI’m not a scientist
it’s a fact that our warmer seasons are getting longer and our cooler seasons shorter”
Not convinced that’s true.
Seems more like a “shifting” to me – that is, winter starts later, but also ends later. Could be the slow march of precession or other orbital factors doing that.
Also, over what time-frame do you believe this to be true? There is certainly a 60ish year semi-cyclic change in temps (lunar cycle, AMO, PDO, etc etc), so anything based on a 30 year average is likely to show some “ramps” up and down. Certainly satellite temps are near as make no difference to what they were at the start of their time series in the late 1970’s, and these are cross-validated with thousands of balloon measurements.
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Bruce of Newcastle says:
May 10, 2023 at 9:43 amSimplicius sounds a bit defensive today. Maybe there’s a reason…
Bruce,
you obviously did not watch the parade – that T34 was being celebrated as part of the Victory over Germany WWII
The parade of miliary vehicles was impressive – with Kamaz made vehicles looking good
Remember how people in the West rubbish Russian Manufacturing
Kamaz has an impressive Dakar Record – Any American Trucks There?
How the monstrous Kamaz truck can dominate the Dakar
Out of all the categories at the Dakar, the truck class has to be the most spectacular. The Kamaz Master truck is one of the frontrunners, and it’s like nothing else we’ve ever seen.
The Dakar Rally is one heck of a challenge whether you’re competing on two wheels or four, but when the rally kicks off in January spare a thought for Eduard Nikolaev, his co-driver and mechanic, who’ll be spending much of January hammering the Dakar’s demanding dunes in a monsterous 1,150bhp Kamaz Master truck. Looking like something straight out of Mad Max, the Kamaz truck embodies everything that’s crazy and wonderful about the Dakar.
The Kamaz truck has one heck of an impressive record at the Dakar.
Nikolaev has won the truck category for the past three years running, and Kamaz has an overall record of 16 wins at the Dakar – more than any other manufacturer.
As such, things are looking good for the Russian truck maker come January.
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The mass fellating by the braindead lamestream meeja of Dim “imaginary surplus” Chambers is a tawdry spectacle indeed.
I’ll be posting the results of the EOFY once it’s available, which will reveal a deficit (again). $4 billion – it will take those incompetent squandermonkey imbeciles less than a month to wipe that out. They won’t be able to help themselves.
There is no surplus, you kneepad clad meeja knobheads.
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The writer is a do gooder, but he misses the point that while the people of Elcho Island could be productive under the direction of the Missionaries, their cultural baggage and low IQ dictates that they can barely survive unsupervised even with the means of living provided for them.
Dr Coombes policy of outstations has turned out to be visionary for the NT, since without it they’d all be living in the towns and cities and causing absolute chaos.
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Igor Sikorsky did not invent the first practical helicopter:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_61 -
A guy who works for Bellingcat, literally works hand in glove with the CIA, wants us to believe that a Mexican guy who just committed a mass shooting posted on a Russian social media site nobody’s ever heard of about being a Nazi and being inspired by @libsoftiktok and random @Timcast episodes and doesn’t even know if it’s actually him.
This is the biggest Deep State psyop I have ever seen in my life.
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Indolent says:
May 10, 2023 at 9:57 amOpinion: A Woke Agenda That is Ruining Corporate America
First, the background.
A few months ago, Bud Light was just another unremarkable inexpensive cross between beer and water,
suffering from the general doldrums of the beer industry as other beverages such as hard lemonade, hard water, and so forth have horned in on their market share. And at the same time, Dylan Mulvaney was an unremarkable young actor with a gimmick: he has been gradually gaining social media followers for his “transformation story,” as he tried to convince himself and others that he was transforming into a woman.
Then an advertising executive at Anheuser Busch (owner of dozens of beverages, from Budweiser and Michelob beers to the popular non-alcoholic beer O’Doul’s and the energy drink Monster), had the idea of tying Bud Light’s fortunes to Dylan Mulvaney’s caricature of American womanhood.
As soon as Bud Light announced the partnership, and started showing the now-famous can with this confused young Audrey Hepburn impersonator on the label, Bud Light was transformed from an unpopular beverage to the marketing joke of the year.
But there’s a subtle lie buried in that narrative, a lie that the American people need to confront head on.
This partnership wasn’t really the brainchild of this Anheuser Busch executive at all, any more than Mulvaney’s sponsorship deals at Nike, Ulta and Maybelline were the clever ideas of their respective marketing departments.
In fact, a decision was made independent of these brands, far away in New York and in Hollywood, to push this character into the limelight.
Dylan Mulvaney is represented – read “pushed” – by The Trevor Project and the Creative Artists Agency.
And while thousands of commercial actors are pushed this way by their agencies, the deviant movement has additional, powerful sponsors, on Wall Street of all places, giving a turbocharge to the marketing weight of these agencies.
The American business community is under attack, from both without and within. Termites have been planted at the board level, all over the country, to poison our private sector, to use each company’s own funds against them.
A century ago, the communists boasted that Western capitalists would happily sell them the rope they would use to hang us. We never realized how apt the metaphor would turn out to be.
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The Redheaded libertarian
@TRHLofficialWhy is the corporate press so threatened by people questioning the authenticity of a Mexican neo-nazi’s Russian social media account uncovered by state funded media?
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If I get the Trump Rape Imbroglio correctly:
1) Ms Carroll accuses Trump of rape at some unspecified time in the far distant past;
2) Trump calls her a “nut job” who invented “a fraudulent and false story “to sell a memoir”;
3) The jury finds no evidence (on a civil standard of proof) that rape took place;
4) But Trump apparently did $5 million worth of defamation pointing out that her rape claim was false.
I think that’s a fair summary of how the NY justice system rolls.
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Dear left …
If you’re going to photoshop a picture … try to give Epstein a pair of legs and don’t have a girl with a 30 foot arm …
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The correct quote is “Cogito ergo sum”, not “Cogito ergo est”, Grandpa.
Maybe he wants to say “I think, therefore it is” as in any figment that slips through a crack in his subconscious (where terrors, older than words or thought, from our ancient past huddled in burrows or clinging to trees at night) and stumbles blindly into what passes for his consciousness is, in fact, true.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Dr Chalmers could have done something else. They have used the windfalls to show intent to get the budget under control when it has terms of trade at 200 year highs and unemployment at 50 year lows. If not now, then when? There should be a real sense that the hard work is being left until later, but there is not.
Remember when leftards like the fat fascist fool screeched that Costello only got his Budget surpluses because of favourable terms of trade and high mineral export prices? Dim Chambers hopes that no-one will notice that he is using the same trick, but while expanding government spending, not cutting it.
Leftards: “Costello, baaaaad! Dim Chambers, goooood!”
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