Labor’s WA deradicalisation expert Anne Aly awarded security medalAndrew Probyn The West Australian Wed, 31 August 2016 6:00AM What good…
Open Thread – Tues 30 May 2023
- The Radio Show May 2024 – The Fifties
- Open Thread – Weekend 4 May 2024
- Bumtree #5
- The beach which banned vanilla ice cream
- Bumtree #4
Wait till the ABC explains that it’s all George Pell’s fault.
I suspect many Muslim families here tread the fine line between being observant enough to not look too like an…
Whoops couple of other wars.
JC, civil war in the US is one of the less disturbing scenarios among the awful possibilities in at least…
John Campbell was ahead of the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JKoTpKj9RM
I don’t know…imagining a centrally planned Communist society (with Green characteristics this time around) will work doesn’t suggest that critical analysis is their strong suit.
The evil, which was always there, inevitably follows when plans go awry.
“Talked to chickens”
All the credentials necessary to have a crown placed on your head.
How does the stinking braindead fact and evidence free lamestream meeja have a right to smear people like this?
Headline in an* email news update from the Oz this morning on BRS:
They just can’t help themselves.
Also, if you’re accusing someone of being a murderer and/or war criminal, which are among the most serious criminal offences, then the f*ckwits making the allegations should have to meet the criminal evidence standard, i.e. I/we have proof/evidence that meets the “beyond reasonable doubt” test. None of this “balance of probabilities” bullsh*t. And yes, I appreciate that the previous sentences may not be particularly “well worded” but I couldn’t give a rodent’s backside.
Anyway, those utterly foul hugely unread irredeemable imbeciles at the Oz are going to be hearing from me in no uncertain terms.
*unsolicited, as I unsubscribed from the email updates over a year ago and they’ve now started turning up in my inbox, again. The gall of them.
See? This is what happens when you starve yourself of nutrients – the brain goes first, followed by any sense of decorum. All that remains is the crazy.
Flick ‘em a chop. Or a battered sav. That should fix ‘em.
If diversity benefits the military, what are are uniforms for?
Greens Leader Adam Bandt says the government needs get their “hands on the lever” and start trying to take control of the cost-of-living crisis rather than leaving it to the Reserve Bank of Australia.
…
“There’s an alternative approach which involves the government getting its hands on the lever saying we’re going to freeze rents, stop mortgages going up and instead look at the huge profits that the supermarkets, the banks, the big gas corporations are making – start making them pay their fair share of tax and use that to deliver real cost-of-living relief to people.
Oddly, Arse Bandit doesn’t mention the huge subsidies to and profits of ruinables generation companies. Wonder why?
The judgement depended on the testimony of other SAS troopers against BRS
I don’t know about all the details of the case.
The original claim of BRS shooting a chap & kicking him off a “boom” came from a the SAS trooper who originally told the journo’s & air on 7:30:
1) BRS took an older fellow away from the group of SAS & other Afghani’s;
2) BRS came back alone;
3) SAS trooper saw the body of the guy at the foot of a cliff, at a distance of 200m, from his seat in the Blackhawk as they were getting out of dodge.
That statement changed multiple times.
That was the initial claim.
Then the circus all took off from that point.
I’ve been in about 5-6 choppers in my life.
All pretty plush set ups.
Apart from seeing a canyon or volcano, it’s hard to see anything.
And they were site seeing rides, not some hostile, dust filled leaving a shit hole ride.
I don’t have a problem with soldiers killing out of uniform enemy in war time when there is no capacity to take prisoners or you don’t know if they are carrying concealed weapons.
Anyone pretending those killed were innocent farmers is either incredibly gullible or a liar.
There’s nothing wrong with talking to chickens.
I do it quite often.
“Mmmm. You’re soooo tasty!” I say.
Aired on 7:30.
How could one forget that preposterous mincing milquetoast.
Remember that not-so-funny chick that helped have Barry Humphries removed from his own comedy show?
Now’s she’s making shit art exhibits, and getting panned by her own side.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/01/arts/design/hannah-gadsby-brooklyn-museum-picasso.html
Fanatical band of vegans running riot.
We were apprehensive when Elon appointed a woke female as CEO, now we see the result of that.
Twitter Cancels ‘What Is a Woman?’ Over ‘Misgendering’ (1 May)
Twitter canceled a deal with The Daily Wire to stream its documentary “What is a Woman?” for free due to concerns about “misgendering,” the conservative media company’s co-CEO Jeremy Boreing said Thursday.
…
“After reviewing the film, though, Twitter let us know that not only could we no longer purchase the package they offered, they would no longer provide us any support and would actually limit the reach of the film and label it as ‘hateful conduct’ because of ‘misgendering,’” Boreing said in a tweet thread.
“Specifically: In the film, a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as ‘her,’ and a store owner uses the ‘wrong’ pronoun in a confrontation with a transgender woman,” he continued.
…
Musk, who is reportedly out of the United States on a business trip, responded to Boreing Thursday afternoon.
“This was a mistake by many people at Twitter,” he said. “It is definitely allowed. Whether or not you agree with using someone’s preferred pronouns, not doing so is at most rude and certainly breaks no laws.
While the cat is away the woke mice play.
Some exes would view those outcomes as a positive, especially where the children are concerned.
Not quite that many, only 70, although that number may be low if other stinky groups decide to help out too. The Epsom tomorrow may be interesting.
So…if I’m visiting Napoleon at the local mental hospital, it would be rude not to address him as Your Imperial Majesty?
Cassie, the ex-girlfriend unloaded on BRS as well, both women now have their revenge. I would say his judgement in choosing female companions is very poor.
Biden’s latest fall … it’s all Trump’s fault.
It’s Getting Worse
I truly hope BRS appeals. This cannot stand. On the other hand the accusations do not have a realistic chance in an open criminal court.
Freeze electricity prices?
Not in any way that impacts the massive low-risk high-return investments in renewables.
The AEMO Statement of Opportunities tells us that, in the next 9 years, in addition to the $20 billion (read $50bn) grid extensions, eastern Australia needs ~30,000 MW of renewable generation and 4,000 MW to 6,000 MW of storage – just to keep the lights on as coal and gas generators retire.
And that’s with the heroic assumption that Snowy 2.0 comes on line in 2027 (not 2029, or later).
The cost? Say $150 – $170 billion.
The providers? Dunno, but presumably a number of someones with billions of cash float, who is going to be assured of a 15%+ IRR.
We’re past the point of no return on this exciting project – and it’s already looking like system failure is assured within three years in NSW and Victoria.
However, none of this is going to happen if Bandt has his safe hands ‘on the levers’.
According to Coles Group’s 2022 report, they made 4.3% net profit.
In QLD the tax payer.
But we get public ownership in return.
Bargain!
And if they want diversity of opinion, why are they required to obey orders?
I would like every piece of information that was generated by the Australian operation in Afghanistan made public. I don’t care if it is just a email from the catering officer at Tarin Kowt advising the cooks to make Chicken stew for dinner followed by peaches and cream for afters. I want EVERY report, every byte of data, every journal, every unit diary, every operational order, every after action report. Hell, I want the toilet paper usage figures included. I also demand every brief the politicians were ever given on operations in Afghanistan. I want every piece of drone footage. I was every photo. I want every intelligence report. I want every satellite photo ever taken. I want all communications between every officer from Lt to CDF.
I want this complete fiasco to be examined by a Royal Commission that has so much information to churn thru it will take 20 years and cost $25 billion. Also, as a gesture of good faith in the process, I would like all officers that received medals for their “alleged” distinguished conduct to hand them all back until the results of the inquiry are published.
And just for fun, allow them all cabinet documents relating the conflict from the Howard – RGR – Abbott – Turdbull – Scummo – Luigi governments.
Young men
The ADF hates you, they hate you if you are a combat veteran of special forces units.
The RAF hates men and especially white men.
The US Army appeals to families of lesbians who make up a tiny minority of the population. Female soldiers have been recorded threatening “militias”.
There is no reason to join the military in the West. The King’s shilling is a bum deal.
You will be treated by your employer like an ex convict. Your sacrifice is now treated like a token and referred to without due solemnity. If you are really good at your job, you will be hounded for years by a misandrist, sociopathic press who will poison wells against you and support perjurers.
Women can have all of these jobs. I’m sure an all female force in the Middle East would have gone down well. Afghanistan was not a border patrol in the Negev.
Yes, but did they pay their “fair share” of tax?
Given the stupid offensive collectivist rubbish these corporates are busy spouting, I’m all for jacking up their tax rates. How could they object?
Terrifying! What horrible monsters Amazon management are!
Seattle Amazon Employees Protest Returning To The Office Due To “Climate Change” (2 Jun)
Amazon employees protested by the hundreds during a lunchtime demonstration in Seattle on Wednesday after the company brought back in-person requirements for three days a week.
Truly, having to drive to work for three days must be a harrowing experience with much struggle and hardship, but not long ago Americans were actually expected to go to the office for at least five days a week. Is three days of responsibility really too much for Seattle progressives?
Seattle workers say the change is a “step backwards,” arguing that driving to work puts employees at risk and also harms the environment with extra carbon emissions.
“I’m out here because I refuse to just sit idly by while mandates are dictated from above down that don’t make sense and hurt the planet, hurt families and individual lives,” one quality assurance engineer said.
Three days a week will hurt the planet? It’s amazing how these people will use any excuse to keep on working from home. CEOs are going to have their work cut out getting their wukkas back into the office. Maybe a bit of tough love is in order…
If diversity benefits the military, what are are uniforms for?
This uniform?
The lawyers made a killing, pun not intended. They walk away with full pockets, hard to say they were dumb.
The journos were vindicated with their reporting and won a major court case that could have changed defamation law in Australia permanently, if what I read is true. They are rightly triumphant.
As for BRS and Stokes, they look like real turkeys. They may be smart, but their moves proved highly unwise in this instance. That’s the privilege of money, you can afford to be made to look foolish.
Forget his atrocities in Afghanistan- whatabout throwing his girlfriend down a flight of stairs?
But she’s a bad person for speaking up?
Plus, he told her he had left his wife, when that wasn’t true.
I think we’re seeing only the tip of this Iceberg.
Or… and hear me out here, because this may be a wacky conspiracy theorem…. maybe they are all accurate in saying he is a complete dickhead?
Well they’re not making any profit out of me since they started telling me how to vote in the Voice referendum.
Eddles, Bonkersanko dismissed that allegation.
But it’s OK for the delivery drivers who transport the Amazon purchases? And isn’t it their job to see that there are more and more of these purchases and deliveries? What’s more, these work-from-homers are much more likely to be replaced by AI.
Hpw many of Roberts-Smith’s SAS comrades stepped forward to give evidence on his behalf?
Oh, that’s right, none of them.
I spose they’re all bad people too, now, along with his ex wife, ex girlfriends, Australians in general, Afghan goat herders, everybody he ever met [bar Stokes] … …
I thought I read somewhere that she has left the Navy since then.
Inadvertently missed by me yesterday –
Sergeant Blaine Diddams MG
It is with deep regret that the Australian Defence Force announces the death of Sergeant Blaine Diddams who was killed during an engagement with insurgents on operations in Afghanistan on 2 July 2012.
Sergeant Diddams was a member of the Special Operations Task Group and was from the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). He was employed as a Special Air Service Regiment Patrol Commander.
https://www.army.gov.au/our-people/vale/sergeant-blaine-diddams-mg
Which will provide an even worse service (yes, this may in most instances be almost impossible), but at a fraction of the cost to the employer.
Do both. Have the time of your life and try and remember what it was.
“maybe they are all accurate in saying he is a complete dickhead?”
And now his children are hearing and seeing their father’s name splashed across all media in this country (and elsewhere) where he is being described as a “murderer” and “war criminal”.
As for your description….”complete dickhead”, perhaps he is, much like you are.
He was being touted as the Next Big Thing on the innernational speaking circuit.
Sunk without trace.
Supermarkets are a tough game. But I thought they made all the profit?
And instead of a T+1% return, and power at $40/MWh, the spanking profits go straight into the Palacechook Olympics boondoggle fund.
Top Chook.
Former special forces commando Heston Russell says taking Ben Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross away should be “out of the question”.
“I also want to address one point that is being sensationalised at the moment. Ben received his Victoria Cross for a single act of gallantry, of bravery, it’s not for his entire deployment over there,” he said in a heated interview on Sky News.
“So removing his Victoria Cross should not be coming into question because the specific incident where he received that award was not even mentioned in these proceedings.”
He said the allegations needed to be taken out of the civil court and into the criminal court, when repeatedly asked if he took issue with the claims against Mr Roberts-Smith.
“We are all for transparency in this, but what is happening at the moment is everyone is grabbing a defamation case and saying he’s been found guilty of war crimes,” he said.
Oz
“Cassie, the ex-girlfriend unloaded on BRS as well, both women now have their revenge. I would say his judgement in choosing female companions is very poor.”
Indeed, however since mankind came down from trees, he isn’t the first man and he won’t be the last man.
The brains in that outfit was McGregor.
To which the trial judge who found he did not prove his defamation case disregarded his ex girlfriend’s claims.
So what do we think of her?
Blow me down with a feather.
3/16: the day that will live in infamy
And lots more. Outstanding article. Those adds which suddenly appeared about young people falling dead in the normal course of things were absolutely sickening.
Power hierarchies work well when those at the top are the most able, those at the bottom least. Then problems flow up and decisions flow down and the ensemble behaves more intelligently than the average.
When those at the top are less competent than those below them in power, the collective intelligence is below the average, and eventually it falls apart. Following stupid orders is never a good idea.
And when some crisis hits and the entire population takes its place at the bottom of the power hierarchy, and are ordered about by inept busybodies, as with covid, we get to see just how frail the system is.
Ol’ David Morrison got himself a gig at Deloitte as their “inclusion and diversity” guru. He has since disappeared from their website, apart from one article with a broken link, and their inclusion and diversity profile has also gorn….
Maybe they worked out go woke = go broke.
So, I wonder what the ADF catch phrase is going to be to recruit for the next war?
I ran into a guy the other whois currently in the army, he said they are haemorrhaging people at a massive rate.
At this rate, our next war will go something like this…
Glorious and unintentionally funny EV tale of woe.
Telegraph’s EV Fan Gets A Shock! (1 Jun)
I am not the first man to have cried in an Ikea car park and I won’t be the last. But at that moment I might have been the only one weeping tears of pure frustration.
At the wheel of my battery-powered Skoda Enyaq, I pulled into the car park, where my satnav had indicated several electric charging points. Seeing them, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. A delivery van was parked at an angle, splayed across three spaces so it didn’t stick out into the road. Another car was in the final slot, charging patiently. There was no room at the power inn.
I banged my head against the steering wheel and wondered what to do. After driving around at various speeds, idling in traffic and looping back on myself, I didn’t have the required range remaining in the battery to reach another charging point. Ikea was my last charge saloon.
The interesting aspect is how many charging points weren’t working. You very rarely see a petrol pump out of service. Also I don’t know whether it is sabotage: there must be plenty of yummy copper in those things.
If a whole lot of people agree that someone is a dickhead, Monty, then is that person really a dickhead?
To which the trial judge who found he did not prove his defamation case disregarded his ex girlfriend’s claims.
Yeah, disregarded.
Judge didn’t say he didn’t give her the Ali Jan treatment, merely that he wasn’t taking it into consideration.
“Anchor Whatsays:
June 2, 2023 at 5:25 am”
A very good comment Anchor about the state of the media. As for the laughable claims of independent journalism by the sanctimonious muck at Nine, you gotta be amused at their chutzpah, particularly since Nine has lost quite a few defamation cases over the last few years. What’s obvious is that too many journalists are now only interested in investigating stories that suit their political and ideological agendas. So, the military, the Catholic Church and conservatives in general, especially conservative politicians, are considered “fair game”, yet none of these journalists are interested in the Bill Shorten allegation, which is just one example. Oh and here’s another, Nine isn’t interested in unearthing the shenanigans behind Pell and Porter affairs, both of which would make for very interesting journalism. But why would they? Destroying Cardinal Pell and Christian Porters suits their ideology.
They simply don’t need to be there at work. Why do they need to turn up?
Let’s see the private chat logs of all parties involved. The general public has no idea how far the rot goes up.
Judge didn’t say he didn’t give her the Ali Jan treatment, merely that he wasn’t taking it into consideration.
I suppose you’d argue that because the High Court didn’t find Pell “innocent” that therefore there must be more in that case?
Here you go:
https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/human-rights-and-anti-discrimination/human-rights-scrutiny/public-sector-guidance-sheets/presumption-innocence
“Crossing the Line” by Nick McKenzie will be published in July. “The explosive story inside the headlines.”
Just listened to that scabrous POS john laws interview that smug bastard chris masters. It is plain that the BRS issue was an attack on a larger than life character by termites; in short a tall poppy attack on a soldier who had the temerity to disrespect the media. Masters presented BRS as an arrogant man who would not even talk to masters and who treated masters with contempt. So they got revenge on BRS and the ADF and specifically the SAS, one of the few remaining bastions of masculinity.
Trump was right: the media is the enemy of the West, a repository of pathetic, nasty, vindictive little shits. To hear masters moan about how hard it had been and how virtuous and brave he and his fellow investigative reporters were was sickening.
And to the turncoat SAS: I hope he rots in hell.
You didn’t read the article did you Dot? Here I’ll help you with the relevant para:
Weird how humans work less hard when they’re not being watched. I’ve added the link in the para, which is a story from 5 May on the issue. That one is also very interesting.
The webhosting site was conducting an upgrade of all their servers but because its based in US their early morning is our mid-afternoon.
Hpw many of Roberts-Smith’s SAS comrades stepped forward to give evidence on his behalf?
Oh, that’s right, none of them.
That’s not right crotchless. And learn how to spell, dickhead.
They don’t need to turn up for work, unless they want to remain employed.
“American” worker productivity is declining (do you – a c t u a l l y – know what that means, especially in the context of falling purchasing power?) and a company (with some of the most skilled workers in the world) that made record breaking sales and profitability during the height of WFH needs to have people back in cubes???
It’s simply managerial preference, like headquartering often is.
National wage case decision: 5.75% increase to minimum wages in all awards, not just the national minimum wage rate.
Wage price spiral here we come …
If know an “engineer” that used to work for Amazon, actually pure maths, self taught coding, formerly an energy trader and was doing electrical engineering before he got his first job. (He actually got me to ask Sinc about what books to read about economics…)
These people are on 200k USD plus and can walk. They’re not irreplaceable but they will fail to see the threat. They can get a job anywhere in the world.
The cost of wanting to live in the 1950s is you lose experienced staff. They can walk.
He’ll spend the rest of his life, looking over his shoulder…
Eddles is never unnecessarily burdened by inconvenient facts, especially when pushing his ever more bizarre barrows.
If —> I
I am sure many hilarious spelling errors follow, injoy.
Where’s bespock!?
So the same media who successfully established the substantial truth of six imputations (i.e. the “murders”) also laid down two imputations, including that Mr Roberts-Smith “committed an act of domestic violence” and was “a hypocrite” due to his public support for domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty, had not been established as substantially true.
So a little bit of sh1t in a tub of ice cream can be ignored too?
Oh, hang on, the oracles at the FWC have made this pronouncement on the mythical wage-price spiral:
In the meantime, bureaucrats across the country have been receiving utterly absurd wage increases, with the latest being our beloved ALPBC Kolkhoz comrades.
Top men, very best of hands, never make lofty statements that are the complete opposite of reality, etc, …
Think of it this way.
If a job CAN be done remotely, and the boss says “How do I know if you’re working if I can’t see you?”, ask yourself the question: does this manager actually – 1. understand what my job is, 2. how to measure my output, KPI or productivity and 3. how am I going to actually be rewarded if they’re unable to quantify my agreed performance objectives or going above and beyond my required tasks?
To me it is a tell that they have no clue how to measure your excellence and have no possible way to reward you or grow your career; get the hell out!
I did have one overly keen bloke the first day after he was promoted ask me on “Day 2” where my work was from “Day 1”, I told him when I turned back up at the office on “Day 2” that if he read emails for our department, he would have noticed I was sick, not at work and had a medical certificate. 🙂
If you’re going to use tracking software and look at time stamps, master Outlook Exchange first, young grasshopper.
There’s no evidence of a shark attack yet!
Now, let me get in the water with this 18 ft Great White without a diving cage.
The cure for high prices is high prices…
Minimum wage means nothing at the moment.
Not when everyone is short staffed and looking to hire.
It’s very competitive in trades right now.
Everyone is hiring and offering more than the previous employer
This is one of the reasons I hold fast to the combatant/ civilian distinction. Just war theory takes a very dim view of unlawful combatants because they place civilians in danger, and from memory it’s licit to summarily execute them.
Apparently it’s pride month.
Again.
The State is the Church and will brook no competition.
Dot – Did you read the May 5 article? All of it? What you question is raised quite specifically in it. Also odd that this is the longest productivity fall since 1948, despite GFCs and many other recessions. That is secondary evidence.
The problem is the ones goofing off can’t be so easily detected. If they are detected there’s a serious legal risk in firing them. And you cannot tell some to come into the office while allowing others to stay home. So the only fair answer is to enforce office attendance.
It isn’t easy being management these days, but humans are humans – there are always some that will check in then go and play golf. They can do it because it’s currently possible.
The employment data I saw on WSJ Markets page this morning was amazingly robust. I suspect that is a result of vax injury taking millions out of the workforce. But you won’t see any analysis of such things.
Comparing Stiglich toon with Broelman toon, it seems it is not only the next generation that have to pay off government debts but the lined brows too.
Raising retirement age to 70 eh?
At least the Soviet Union was honest about what the GULAG was for – to work you to death. They didn’t sneak up to it by yearly increments.
Did the defamation trial actually consider the status of the Afghan?
Exactly. They will have chosen not to be employed there.
If they are so in demand that they can walk at will good on them. But while they are there the employer sets the conditions.
I would also point out that executing that walk at will option can rapidly make someone untouchable in an industry, no matter how ‘special’ they are.
This is something that people seem to continually miss about warfare..
There is no such thing as an innocent civilian/non combatant.
If an opposing power has declared war on your nation, that declaration is absolute.
They do not care if you want no part in it, if you as an individual surrender.
They will kill you and destroy your village because that is the nature of war.
The whole concept of ‘war crimes’ and ‘international law’ is a fallacy that has existed largely since the early 20th century.
If you are at war, all those in the opposing nation are to be assumed to be an enemy…
Not that any of this matters right now… our main enemies are within our nation and government.
They are doing far more damage than any invading force ever could.
I suppose you’d argue that because the High Court didn’t find Pell “innocent” that therefore there must be more in that case?
No idea what you’re getting at there.
If you’re comparing Pell to Roberts-Smith, you’re not doing Pell any favors.
“On one of my computers I am getting some “Apache” nonsense”
Tech trivia FYI: Apache is the web server software, so this was likely coming from the real website for some reason.
And in Danistan, at least, the entirety of the Public Service is still working from home.
On one hand it’s good that they do nothing, because that is less dangerous to the populace, on the other, they soak up astonishing amounts of taxpayers cash doing it.
Err no it’s up to you to show you understand how labour productivity is a derived demand (HINT: real wages are falling because of inflation).
Because there are no measurable outputs. If that’s so, then objectively, they should all be made redundant.
Yes you can. It has been happening for decades. My old (senior) line manager used to surf 3 days a week (outing myself a little bit here) and send us work remotely. He was actually very good at giving us the work in manageable bits and he gave clear directions. We thought it was great fun checking the surf reports when he was at “home”. That company was *starting* to get work/life balance, except one of the owners/directors was stuck in the past. A nice guy, but slightly autismo and robotic. He never failed to catch the exact same trains each day. He didn’t even like us coming in early! Which bummed us out, as we were inclined like our line manager (actually high up in the joint) to be beach bums. I suppose being a Westie, the robot could not understand what living near the beach and daylight savings meant. I never imagined coming in at 7 or 8 AM would offend senior management!
YOU might think it is fair that doing 8-12 hours in a lab means everyone else has to commute for 1-3 hours a day and work in a cube, but that’s irrelevant.
If they can do that, they are not accountable, or as managers, they have hired competent staff who need minimal supervision. What is the downside of the second scenario? I’ve worked in a team like that and it was great. Now I liked having my manager at work but when they were largely WFH during “COVID”, we actually ran like clockwork.
Labour demand is down and labour supply is down, but unemployment is low? You’ve never seen anyone analyse LFPR before?
Channel 9’s Counsel said it accepted that Ali Jan was “probably an insurgent”.
Here’s what I say:
Even if executing Partisans is hunky dory, keep in mind that:
#1. There were no uniformed enemy, but there were Rules of Engagement
#2. Why kick a handcuffed partisan off a cliff, then wander down and pump a few rounds into his badly injured, but still conscious, body?
Sounds like Sadism to me, and to make that even worse, Afghanistan is a Clan based society, they never forget, and we’re bringing tens, if not hundreds of thousands of them here, for unknown reasons.
Following the demise of Bikford’s cloudy apple cordial ( my last online stash went a few weeks ago) I am quite enjoying the Buderim Ginger “ginger refresher” as a replacement- just don’t want to make it too strong.
What does the Taliban uniform look like? Why did the first accuser on the 7:30 reports change their accusation multiple times? The court found the irrelevant, civilian-based character assassination untrue and the idea that someone did not see but heard something in a helicopter taking off (less loud than a helicopter) packed with other soldiers is absurd.
As for BRS and Stokes, they look like real turkeys. They may be smart, but their moves proved highly unwise in this instance. That’s the privilege of money, you can afford to be made to look foolish.
As a person (in a broad sense) who married into the upper middle class, the fat fascist fool looks foolish even if he isn’t personally rich.
After Vietnam and Afghanistan and the “success” of unconventional warfare against the US much of the rules of warfare went out the window. The result is Ukraine. Drones and total destruction. It is the Somme with GPS.
Ed Casesays:
June 2, 2023 at 9:50 am
To which the trial judge who found he did not prove his defamation case disregarded his ex girlfriend’s claims.
Yeah, disregarded.
Judge didn’t say he didn’t give her the Ali Jan treatment, merely that he wasn’t taking it into consideration.
Grandpa Ed Cletus makes the false and defamatory suggestion that B R-S kicked his girlfriend off a cliff and shot her.
Business as usual.
There is the smell of BBQ’d refugees in the air.
Rabzsays:
June 2, 2023 at 10:24 am
That’s not right crotchless
Eddles is never unnecessarily burdened by inconvenient facts, especially when pushing his ever more bizarre barrows.
Grandpa Ed Cletus has a habit of making statements that are so clearly wrong that even he should have noticed. He is both incompetent and a liar.
They’re not analyzing the reason labour supply is down, Dot. They dare not do that for the obvious reason: having to fess why.
Interesting how I personally have had a similar working arc as you did. Including a negotiated work from home situation for a couple years, although I went into the office one day a week to touch bases (no Zoom back then). I got lots done. And another colleague who liked to surf negotiated a similar arrangement (he did so before me). I won’t say more than that though.
So yes I have plenty of experience of office culture, including catching goofing off employees doing Facechook in the office. That’s how humans behave, all much easier in this new age when they’re working at the far end of a com link.
dover0beachsays:
June 2, 2023 at 10:45 am
Did the defamation trial actually consider the status of the Afghan?
As I understand the case, the media lawyers conceded that each of those allegedly “murdered” was probably Taliban.
If so, then they were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and were fair game.
HAHAHA!
If you can’t take an enemy combatant prisoner you don’t leave him behind to either betray your position or fight another day.
It’s a war.
I remember reading Quartered Safe Out Here where McDonald Fraser and I think one or two companions ran into six Japanese soldiers while trying to get back to their company.
What do you think they had to do?
War isn’t pretty.
dover0beachsays:
June 2, 2023 at 10:45 am
Did the defamation trial actually consider the status of the Afghan?
As I recall it, lawyers for the media conceded that those shot were probably Taliban, and therefore fair game.
Anybody who’s ever waited for a new board to get glassed over winter could tell you about the problems of work from home.
That’s twice recently that a comment disappeared completely, only to appear when I post the same general comment again.
Perhaps the ghost of Grandpa Ed Cletus is hiding in the aether?
rosiesays:
June 2, 2023 at 11:24 am
If you can’t take an enemy combatant prisoner you don’t leave him behind to either betray your position or fight another day.
It’s a war.
This was the basis for one of Jacka’s shootings, on the Somme. Australia attack, German prisoners taken, German counter-attack, the choice was to release the prisoners, who would then have taken up weapons and shot Jacka, or shoot the prisoners. He shot first.
I have another book, the title of which currently escapes me, detailing the flight of a downed RAF pilot who escaped from North Eastern France by way of Spain, an epic journey, mainly by bicycle, in the course of which he killed three Germans.
He actually returned to active duty, which is probably why military tended to strafe parachuting air crew.
Terrific read by the way.
Okay it was Wingless Victory by Sir Basil Embry
Broken Hill Council just grew a pair .. congrats …..!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-02/broken-hill-city-council-ends-welcome-to-country-payments/102422570
I don’t think my colleague became your boss Dot, since he is a chemist. If you have been paying attention I did actually talk about him on the old Cat once or twice. He’s quite a character.
I think he has a soul brother on the opposite side of Sydney though!
BRS will now be memory-holed by the top brass, never to return, no matter what criminal trail may or may not find. He has brought the Great Game into disrepute.
Jacka sounds like a Psychopath.
Since Psychopaths don’t experience fear [see: Emmitt Till] it makes no sense to award them Medals for Bravery, since they were only doing what comes naturally to them, i.e. Predation.
This was the basis for one of Jacka’s shootings, on the Somme. Australia attack, German prisoners taken, German counter-attack, the choice was to release the prisoners, who would then have taken up weapons and shot Jacka, or shoot the prisoners. He shot first.
Yes, Boambee – but have you ever tried (outside of this blog) to get this objection published in the everyday press? They just won’t go near any comment that links our fathers and grandfathers to violations of what are now “rules of engagement”. This is the problem that the so-called SAS perpetrators face. There seems to be no collection memory in the general public of what real warfare entails.
The more I read about the BRS case, the more it appears to be about revenge and jealousy.
Well the theory might say that, but that’s not what the rules of engagement said.
The government and brass couldn’t have cared less whether the Taliban broke the ‘laws of war’. They did so on a regular basis. No, the governments and brass’s priority was to win the ‘moral’ war. Sure, we were defeated in the actual war, but who cares, look how we treat our combat veterans! We intend to send them to jail!
There might be no humour in Islam, but I bet the Taliban can’t stop laughing right now.
Another in-home diagnosis from Groogs. Let’s ask Mother about psychopaths.
There were cases of prisoners killing their captors on the Somme and other battlefields. You can understand why they shot first and asked questions later.
Jacka sounds like a Psychopath.
Since Psychopaths don’t experience fear [see: Emmitt Till] it makes no sense to award them Medals for Bravery, since they were only doing what comes naturally to them, i.e. Predation.
Then wars must create psychopaths – because the instances of the execution of prisoners/deserters/ civilians in the wrong places etc etc – are commonplace in wartime.
And this is not to speak of the carpet bombing of whole cities & the widespread killing and maiming of women and children.
Interviews with many decorated soldiers do not support the theory that they did not feel fear. Indeed, that is a part of why they were decorated for courage under fire.
I remember reading that as a kid.
We had quite a few war books in the house as dad had been RAF aircrew. Authors like Leonard Cheshire and Paul Brickhill come to mind too.
There is an element of the SAS itself. Our school woodwork teacher was ex Special Forces. Extraordinarily talented but completely monomaniacal. Everything had to be done just right. Like professional sport, it is a world most of us cannot begin to understand.
Roberts-Smith is very well connected.
SAS troopers ha been raising serious concerns about him well before the VC Award.
What appears more likely is that the Top Brass awarded him the VC to give them the excuse to remove him from Afghanistan.
Supporting that theory is the fact that one of the Troopers who gave evidence said that he’d been told that he was going to be nominated for a VC for that particular Action, then the next thing he knew, Roberts-Smith was nominated for the exact same action and he wasn’t even mentioned.
Did the Judge disregard or fin d fault with that evidence?
i don’t think so.
I have heard it said that certain parties were jealous of Ben Robert’s Smith Victoria Cross – they considered they should have been awarded one, as well.
According to Coles Group’s 2022 report, they made 4.3% net profit
Given the exorbitant number of weekly price rises on shelf items thru-out Coles supermarkets if they only made 4.3% net profit for the year the entire top level management needs sacking .. !
Watched a doco last night on Edmund “Bloody” Bonner, turncoat “Christian” “Bishop” who tortured and killed Catholics and Anglicans as an Anglican and a Catholic.
They did some backstory on the Tower and Lady Jane Grey.
That’s some sad shit. Just a pawn for her treacherous father-in-law, a wannabe Duke of York (Richard Plantagenet) stealing the Crown. I mean, it’s not as if Norfolk (Howard) did not have designs on the throne either…
15 years old, no desire to have the Crown. Dead weeks later after she married the would-be puppet “King”.
I’ve not read much into G R R Martin but I was getting ‘young Sansa’ vibes here, I know he did base a lot of the Starks and Lannisters on the Yorkists and Lancstrians, of which the Tudors descended from both.
Afghanistan is a Clan based society, they never forget, and we’re bringing tens, if not hundreds of thousands of them here, for unknown reasons.
Agree with you on that, Ed. Although many of the Afghani interpreters etc were viewed as in danger after the return of the Taliban. Conversely, they would therefore appear to be safe to be accepted here. But it is still a risk for grounds you mention, and because of the determination to criminalise conduct of the SAS.
Who was the Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley, who seems to be somewhat like Tywin Lannister in terms of fiscal rectitude and a King in all but name!
“15 years old, no desire to have the Crown. Dead weeks later after she married the would-be puppet “King”.”
I’m not so sure about Jane Grey having “no desire to have the Crown”. Whilst Jane was a puppet of her parents and the Duke of Northumberland, she herself was very clear about preventing Henry’s daughter (and rightful heir), Mary, from becoming queen after Edward’s death. Jane was a fierce Protestant who was willing to do anything to stop Mary. The bottom line is that Jane was a traitor. Mary’s half sister, Elizabeth, knew better than to become embroiled in Northumberland’s machinations.
SAS troopers ha been raising serious concerns about him well before the VC Award.
The role of our Special Forces in Afghanistan was particularly onerous and continued for too long. The personal enmities and rivalries in the SAS and the Commandos has been well documented and discussed many times on this blog. I am quite convinced that these have given rise to the vendetta against BRS & the recruitment of a number of senior journalists to pursue it.
Incidentally, Andrew Hastie served under BRS in Afghanistan. He doesn’t remember him favourably as he was forced by BRS, as I recall, to do countless push ups on one occasion – well past his physical capabilities. He is entitled to his position based on his personal experience.
Then wars must create psychopaths – because the instances of the execution of prisoners/deserters/ civilians in the wrong places etc etc – are commonplace in wartime.
Wrong.
Psychopaths are either born that way or had a mother who is/was a Psychopath.
Interviews with many decorated soldiers do not support the theory that they did not feel fear. Indeed, that is a part of why they were decorated for courage under fire.
You’re Gaslighting me now.
Psychopaths don’t experience fear, that’s undisputed.
Here’s a story I read from WW2:
Sentries in a Jap POW Camp were being garroted at night.
The Japs investigated and concluded that the killer had to be an inmate.
They told the senior Australian Officers that they could either hand the culprit over, or they [the Japs] would begin executing hostages until he was handed over.
Inquiries were made, the Aussie Psychopath was handed over, no hostages were executed.
According to your loopy thinking, the garroter deserved a VC and the Officers on the Camp let the side down.
This was published 10 years ago
They must always be remembered
SMH – April 25, 2013 — 3.00am
Victoria Cross recipient Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith will march in Canberra Anzac Day with three children whose fathers have died in the war in Afghanistan. They are Keegan Locke, 17, and Elle Lou and Henry Diddams, 16 and 14 respectively.
”I can’t imagine what these kids go through every day,” Roberts-Smith says. ”People talk to me about courage. I’m not a hero. I’m not. I did my job just like everybody does their job. These kids have had to alter their lives and change everything.
”They are the face of enduring sacrifice and I know that they come here [to Canberra] proud of their fathers and what they achieved.”
Sergeant Matthew Locke MG, like Corporal Roberts-Smith a member of 3 Squadron, Special Air Service Regiment, was killed in Afghanistan on October 25, 2007. His Medal for Gallantry, awarded in December 2006, is the third highest award in the Australian military honours system.
Sergeant Blaine Diddams, who was from the ACT, was also a member of the Special Air Service Regiment. He was shot after his patrol had deployed from a helicopter in pursuit of an insurgent on July 2, 2012.
Keegan Locke and Elle Lou and Henry Diddams will wear their fathers’ medals when they march today. Roberts-Smith, having lived, trained and fought alongside the two men, says he welcomed the opportunity to share the day with their children.
”I’ve known Blaine and Matt for a long time,” he says. ”I speak to their families all the time [and] there is nothing different in my way of feeling towards them [on Anzac Day].
rosie
If you are interested in reading a book which honestly deals with the horrific realities of battle I suggest With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge.
It should be required reading for any politician who considers committing their country to war.
A lot of speculation – I suggest that, as with the Brereton Report, it might be better to wait to know the reasons for decisions.
But … some of you might want to ask Wolfman to review Kazan’s On the Waterfront – a reminder that the heroes aren’t the thuggish unionists (communists/war criminals) but those who, perhaps after delay, expose the wrong-doing of others.
It’s the electricity price Shatterzzz. All those fridges, lights. And transport costs since diesel was very high. Plus inflation in those electricity and fuel prices. Even massively increased refrigerant costs. All comes down to one thing: green energy policies, which in turn are supposed to fight global bloody warming.
Cats are probably sick of me saying stupid non-happening climate change is the cause of all these things, everything from WEF’s war on farms to subverting human fertility through tranny fads, abortion and undermining marriage, but that is what it looks like to me. Malthus isn’t dead.
Well… after some tech issues, I’m glad I can get back on the Cat….
Edward VI named Jane Grey as his successor in his will.
Both Mary and Elizabeth had been declared illegitimate by acts of parliament.
Dangerous, spiteful and cruel days indeed.
According to your loopy thinking, the garroter deserved a VC and the Officers on the Camp let the side down.
Good try. But so many non sequiturs that it is not worth pursuing.
Although many of the Afghani interpreters etc were viewed as in danger after the return of the Taliban. Conversely, they would therefore appear to be safe to be accepted here.
Do you seriously think there were 50,000 Interpreters?
Try Hookers, Pimps, Dealers, Girlfriends [& Boyfriends] and traitors.
They weren’t even loyal to their own country, so what sort of Australians do you think they’ll make?
To understand the BRS case, all you have to do is watch the movie 13 Hours about Benghazi.
I mean, shit the Libyans that were working with/for the US had the bad guys phone numbers and were socialising with them when off duty, they knew more about what was going on than the US guys
…a shepherd in the field near the compound carrying an AK47 is just a shepherd… or is he? As it’s quite normal for shepherds there to carry AK47s…
Farking ridiculous.
Ed Casesays:
June 2, 2023 at 11:39 am
Jacka sounds like a Psychopath.
Since Psychopaths don’t experience fear [see: Emmitt Till] it makes no sense to award them Medals for Bravery, since they were only doing what comes naturally to them, i.e. Predation.
Dr Googlery, PhD, LL B, MB/BS, KC, has not entered the field of posthumous psychiatry.
With his usual lack of cognitive skills.
Add this one today:
Anne Boleyn myth debunked as historian discovers Elizabeth I deeply traumatised by death (1 Jun)
Liz had a hard and dangerous childhood, including the initial part of her reign. Having dad behead mum would not give anyone a feel of safety for one’s own neck.
Vickisays:
June 2, 2023 at 11:41 am
This was the basis for one of Jacka’s shootings, on the Somme. Australia attack, German prisoners taken, German counter-attack, the choice was to release the prisoners, who would then have taken up weapons and shot Jacka, or shoot the prisoners. He shot first.
Yes, Boambee – but have you ever tried (outside of this blog) to get this objection published in the everyday press? They just won’t go near any comment that links our fathers and grandfathers to violations of what are now “rules of engagement”. This is the problem that the so-called SAS perpetrators face. There seems to be no collection memory in the general public of what real warfare entails.
If you want some colourful tales, read up on the actions of (then) Major George Warfe in New Guinea.
This just isn’t true. It’s not only a tradition that goes back at least 600 years, but it has antecedents back into the classical world. The civilian population is not assumed to be an enemy combatant. Further, if the notion of ‘war crimes’ is a fallacy, then working a POW to death on a railroad isn’t morally distinguishable from killing him in battle. If you abolish these distinctions, it isn’t simply the legal case that you erase, but being able to morally distinguish these two instances, or others, in war.
What wrong doing?
Grandpa Ed Cletus-Case
Here’s a story I read from WW2:
Sentries in a Jap POW Camp were being garroted at night.
The Japs investigated and concluded that the killer had to be an inmate.
They told the senior Australian Officers that they could either hand the culprit over, or they [the Japs] would begin executing hostages until he was handed over.
Inquiries were made, the Aussie Psychopath was handed over, no hostages were executed.
Commando Comics are not historical records. Cite a genuine historical record or you are just lying again.
From the Oz…
‘There’s a time and season for everything and the season of politics is done’
Former Labor senator Kristina Keneally warns against the increased level of conflict and threats to politicians’ personal safety in a changed political landscape and says she will never again seek office.
By HELEN TRINCA
High-profile former NSW Labor senator Kristina Keneally has warned against the increased level of conflict and threats to politicians’ personal safety in Australian politics as she says she will never again seek office.
In an exclusive interview with The Weekend Australian, Keneally who suffered a humiliating defeat at last year’s federal election when she failed in her bid to move to the lower house seat of Fowler in western Sydney, also revealed she was “relieved” when she realised she was going to lose to Independent Dai Le.
She said the physical and online threats against politicians had increased in the last 20 years:
“That, frankly, is one of the reasons I don’t miss the job – the physical incursions into people’s lives, the physical and online threats that people receive.”
She says she suffered threats delivered online but was also aware, as opposition spokeswoman for home affairs, of what was happening to other MPs, including people making clear they knew where politicians lived, for example.
Once seen as bound for the highest level of Labor leadership, the former NSW premier is now chief executive of the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation and says she has no “longing” to return her former life, despite missing out on the chance for a frontbench role in the Albanese government.
But 54-year-old Keneally says: “The moment I knew I was going to lose the seat (last May) I felt a sense of relief.
“Really, I loved my career in state politics and I am grateful for my career in the Senate. But for the years that I was there, I did feel a sense of disconnection from my family and my community (in Sydney).
“I used to say I was an accidental senator, that I never set out to be a federal senator. I don’t regret that I took up the opportunity. There were things I was able to achieve there, but I also don’t have a sense of longing or missing that role. There are things across the community where I was able to contribute, but there’s a time and a season for everything and the season of politics is done.”
Asked to comment on the retirement of West Australian Premier Mark McGowan this week on the grounds of exhaustion, she says: “The demands of the role have changed significantly. And it’s not just the workload, although I am sure Covid was incredibly difficult.
“I often looked at the state premiers, with the knowledge of what the job required, and thought these people are just under so much pressure and so much demand every moment, with a population that is just equal parts terrified and scared and depressed and locked down. It was extraordinary.
“I don’t know the circumstances around Mark McGowan’s decision but I have observed through my time in the Senate that it’s also the demands on MPs’ and senators’ personal wellbeing and safety that have changed. That, frankly, is one of the reasons I don’t miss the job – the physical incursions into people’s lives, the physical and online threats that people receive. They’re real, and the AFP takes them seriously. It’s a changed landscape to what it used to be 20 years ago.”
She says she suffered threats delivered online but was also aware as opposition spokeswoman for home affairs of what was happening to other MPs, including people making clear they knew where politicians lived, for example.
She says it was really only when she left politics that she realised its level of conflict.
“To some extent, I feel I was a frog in boiling water in politics,” she says. “I’d done it for so long that I had just come to accept that the adversarial nature of it was a given and the conflict was an inevitable part of it.
“It probably always will be, but now I look back and think – because the common ground in politics seems to be disappearing – that earlier in my career, I can remember times where people did work together more collaboratively across the aisle.”
“In fact, if I look back in my time in the Senate, the two most positive experiences were for me were the stillbirth inquiry which produced a unanimous result. And the parliament Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security where we strove to work collaboratively in the national interest. If I miss anything, it’s that kind of ability to work collaboratively to get an actual outcome. The conflict I do not miss.”
Does she miss the chance to have been part of a reforming Labor government?
“I look at some of the decisions that have been made over the past year and know they were areas where I fought strongly in opposition to preserve our position, and I feel gratified that they’ve come to pass, but I don’t have a sense of ego about this,” she says.
“The Labor Party and all political parties are movements (and) people come in and they’ve got the values and the principles and the legacy … but we’re just players for the time we get on the field.”
Keneally says her new role is in an organisation “where everybody just wants to do good things. It’s an organisation where from the board right through people check their egos at the door. We’re there for the purpose, not for the personal gain. And I’m not spending my day arguing with people, internally, externally, the media …”
Keneally has had many different jobs – in and out of politics – but says the move from the US to Australia as a young woman probably helped her become more adaptable.
“On top of that, the experience of having a devastating thing happened when I was 30 years old, which is my daughter dying, also makes one very resilient,” she says. (Keneally’s daughter Caroline was stillborn in 1999.)
“And so the combination of knowing I have made big transitions in my personal life and I have survived difficult things in my personal life means some of these other types of transitions seem far less daunting.”
A few comments….
1. What a vomit inducing and disgraceful puff piece.
2. I can’t help note what is missing from this piece, nothing about “Kimberley Kitching” and Keneally’s role as one of the mean girls.
3. I’m trying to remember (and I have a very good memory) but I fail to recall Keneally ever speaking up against about the “level of conflict and threat to a politician by the name of Nicolle Flint”, all done by Keneally’s buddies in GetUp, the unions, and SA Labor…..there was no condemnation from Keneally, no solidarity from Keneally to Flint, nothing, nada, zilcho from her. I also not her silence at the vicious diatribe directed towards other Liberals and Nationals, and of course Keneally has never said anything about the abuse Pauline Hanson has endured over the years. What a nauseating hypocrite Keneally is.
4. Keneally says she was “relieved when she realised she was going to lose to Independent Dai Le“….sure you were Kristina.
5. Keneally says her time in politics is done….pull the other one Kristina.
Um, I don’t think so!?
Bye Felicia!
I’d be interested in that reference – that’s the first I’ve heard of that incident.
It’s been long known that Elizabeth treasured her mother’s memory, Elizabeth’s nurse and governess were relatives of Anne Boleyn and throughout her life, Elizabeth was close to her mother’s sister’s children and other Boleyn and Howard relatives.
Zulu
I doubt that such a reference exists, outside possibly Commando Comics.
Not a quiet retirement then. They always seem to fall straight into a handy sinecure regardless of talent or achievement.
Dot
I will, if you wish, provide the references once the reasons for judgment are published. Given the nature of the allegations, it is likely Besanko applied Brigginshaw evidential principles – ie, determined not merely on the balance of probabilities, but close to beyond reasonable doubt, that the imputations were well-founded.
And Elizabeth’s childhood was not nearly as traumatic and cruel as the childhood endured by her half-sister, Mary, who was actually threatened by her own father with execution.
BJ earlier …
I think the problem is that the Rules of Engagement for Afghanistan were way more stringent than the Geneva Convention.
I think we almost need a “no penalty” opt out clause for Special Forces.
That is, if they are given the Rules of Engagement for a particular theatre of operations, they can choose to “concientiously object” to any involvement on the grounds that otherwise normal combat actions could expose them to litigation.
They then sit it out without loss of rank or seniority.
“It would make any operation practically unworkable!” I hear you say.
Well, duh.
It already is.
For shame, have you no faith in Professor Grogarly?
Apparently (?) Russia is having another crack at Kiev.
McGregor (whom has not always been entirely truthful, but who has sometimes had some good intel) says the end is near and West could do something bigger as it starts to lose…
You mean like Ricky Slater?
Jeez, I’m not sure.
Even though he was a psychopath and a child predator, you don’t think he felt a teensy-weensy twinge of fear when Ben Batterham collared him?
Morals have no place in war.
If your goal is victory and the destruction of your enemy, you have to put that aside.
Post WWII has seen the rise of so called ‘rules of engagement’ for the west.
We have the luxury of fighting wars against ill equipped militias with our superior technology.
This is not at all comparable to wars of the past.
Also, ‘war crimes’ only exist for the loser.
Was the U.S. ever charged with war crimes for nuking 2 cities? Nope.
Which in KKK’s case would be less than than zero, on both counts.
Now I am verballing here, but: “it is likely his honour declared a prima facie criminal case”
Sorry, I don’t believe you. RBS didn’t prove his case. Channel 9 did not have a case to prove.
I’ll point this out again.
The Brereton Inquiry has been going on for how long and made what concrete findings?
One veteran has been charged and is remanded after 2.5 years of intensive investigations with a staff of hundreds, after a long campaign smearing the SASR and commandos. Arguably they may never get a fair trial. The investigators were embarrassed when one “person of interest” found their bug and offered to fix it for them.
Specifically with BRS:
Character assassination against BRS in his defamation trial was found to be non-credible below the civil standard. The original claims on the 7:30 Report were changed several times. The Canadian “eyewitness” claimed to hear gunfire on a helicopter taking off and knew where it was coming from despite saying he couldn’t see anything? This is not credible at all.
The AFP cannot get any reliable Afghani witnesses where the line between civilian, enemy and friend was fluid, to say the least. Does the CDPP plan to prosecute solely by affidavits of people who cannot be verified in court?
So none of the imputations can be well founded at all.
I don’t want Australian war criminals, but if the war is over everything can be laid out, not as accusations, but with verifiable proof and evidence. This is not being done with anonymity; only in the BRS defamation case. These “operational & security concerns” are nonsense. The Taliban are now only a threat to Iran. The State-owned media has been poisoning the well, the Commonwealth cannot bleat about prejudicial actions. Plenty of murderers and mass murderers have much, much more revealed in their criminal cases in the mass media.
The fact that nothing can be laid out with concrete, credible evidence in these two cases where there is meant to be systemic lawbreaking makes it seem like a political crusade using the noble cause of rejecting war crimes as a stalking horse to abolish the SASR and commandos.
He is considering an appeal. Godpseed.
According to Coles Group’s 2022 report, they made 4.3% net profit
When you drill down into the Coles & Woollies results, pre “abnormals, “one-offs”, restructuring charges & acquisitions, their margins expanded.
Think about that.
Yet Uncle Phil at the RBA thinks raising rates is the only way to combat inflation.
Inflation in Australia has nothing to do with cartel pricing @sarc
What’s their ROE?
A few years back I saw a graphic that showed US engagement in Afghanistan during the course of their occupation.
As you’d expect it went from nothing to a large chunk then slowly back to a couple of dots.
I’d like to see something similar for Australian involvement.
What’s their ROE?
From memory, Coles & Woollies have had high 20’s, low 30’s percent ROE for the last decade.
And normally it’s the victor, not the loser, deciding the ‘crime’ and exacting the vengeance.
The idea that the rules of engagement can create a special class of constructive murder is world-class stupidity.
If you’re ordered to not shoot back in self-defence for example…?
“Oh, but this is Federal law, the most recent, repeals all subsequent law and is an absolute liability offence with a minimum mandatory sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole…made law as to follow human rights conventions, actually!”
It is in fact a very, very dangerous idea.
Cheers Zatara I ordered a new copy on ebay, $22, cheaper than used on abe
Federal MP Andrew Hastie tells court he ‘pities’ Ben Roberts-Smith
By court reporter Jamie McKinnell
Posted Fri 25 Mar 2022
Mr Hastie was a captain in the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) for five-and-a-half-years prior to entering politics, including on deployment in Afghanistan with Mr Roberts-Smith.
…
Mr Hastie has recalled a comment a troop sergeant made to him in 2013, which he said he “distinctly remembered”.
He told the court that person said to him: “I’m not going to Afghanistan to put dirt farmers on their knees and shoot them in the back of the head.”
Mr Hastie said the comment came after they had been discussing “rumours” or allegations about the way operations had been conducted and left him “greatly relieved I had a man who saw eye to eye with me”.
He said he wanted to make sure they were “on the same page” and were speaking about “expectations”.
Mr Hastie said there was “a lot of intuition” involved in the discussion and the colleague’s statement, but he thought Mr Roberts-Smith’s name had potentially “popped up” as part of the context.
He’s also told the court he raised concerns with a superior in 2012 about a “catch and release” policy in Afghanistan, when he suggested the system “incentivises killing rather than capturing”.
In fact, Dot, if I use the Benghazi example again, despite tens, hundreds of dudes rocking up with AK47s they were ordered not to fire until fired upon first. That’s a bit stupid if you ask me when intent is clear.
….so you could technically surround an entire compound with a 1,000 AKs but you can’t do anything till they shoot…. ugh….
Destroying Patriot AD, yes.
No stairs this time but Biden takes a tumble, yet again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDLWJ8PQqGQ
Interesting thing: When he falls over the cheers from the crowd go much louder!!
Comments, over on the Oz, making a comparison between BRS and “Breaker Morant..”
Ed,
I realise facts don’t matter to you as you post your drivel but BRS did go back for another tour in Afghanistan after receiving his VC.
For those who remember that period BRS was highly visible and being used to promote ADF.
“What appears more likely is that the Top Brass awarded him the VC to give them the excuse to remove him from Afghanistan”
I do love the line from Gran Torino where Eastwood says “its the things you’re not ordered to do that haunt you”
Phew. The Cat is up again. And here’s me looking at Adam’s Cat to see if there was any more info on the blackout here.
I think it is good that Adam still runs a Catallaxy site; then the Cat never ever dies.
Sounds like Captain Queeg or Bligh or a whole array of characters in ‘On the Study of Military Incompetence’.
BRS would have managed the physical demands of the SAS easily enough. And they spend a lot of time trying to tease out psychological quirks in the selection process but it’s not flawless.
His action winning the VC was magnificent but, like Jacka, you wonder. On one level, BRS was heedless of his own safety, and saved his mates. Absolutely heroic. On another, rash, reckless, swaggering, arrogant which is what his detractors say about him elsewhere. Heroes are not flawless idols.
YouTube Walter Filipek & Okinawa to see how attitudes have changed since WWII.
Morals are not a coat you can take off or on depending on the circumstances. RoE only began to appear in the late 19th and early 20th century because modern warfare began to unavoidably significantly endanger civilian populations but they weren’t absent prior to that, they were simply a convention. By far the majority of casualities at the time of the Napoleonic Wars were soldiers, not civilians. It was a convention to warn civilians of immanent military action and give them safe passage. Don’t confuse a failure to prosecute with being unable to morally judge an action.
For those who remember that period BRS was highly visible and being used to promote ADF.
So, was he out patrollin’ thbe Poppy Fields For Democracy and the Right of sub IQ 70 girls to attend High School, or was he being used to promote ADF?
Because it can’t be both.
Wow! I’m convinced.
The “potentially popped up” evidence.
Why didn’t he just kepp his silly trap shut? Showboater.
hmmmm. Kepp
Keep
Current Coles dividend is 3.7% after tax, which is consistent with that 2022 net profit. Their share price is flat for the last couple years. Unless they do buybacks then it sounds like those extras are normal abnormals, if you like such a phrase.
I’m not seeing any gouging. If there was more in the pot the shareholders would see it one way or another. Costs certainly have risen though as I said earlier. I don’t have any shares so I’m not on top of the detail.
Which leads to the big question, from a purely SAS point of view:
To what extent was his rash, reckless arrogant behaviour a factor in the deaths and maiming of his fellow soldiers?
How many Troopers who had the misfortune to serve under this guy ended up committing suicide?
Lizzie, this site was back on line after about an hour.
When you next get messages like “404” and others, wait, clear your cache and try again. You might even try another browser to access.
It may be as simple as the uploading of a new thread and your bad timing. This has happened to me before when refreshing the page.
A ruthless, inspiring leader who did not progress in the postwar army as far as his abilities should have taken him, due to his reluctance to tolerate imbeciles. A flawed character who inspired deep loyalty in combat (North Africa, Greece, Wau-Salamaua, Ramu, Tarakan), he would never have been accepted in today’s ADF.
Clearly, a Taliban court is the only way to sort this out.
David Hurley first!
It’s an iconic war photo of Ben Roberts-Smith on patrol in Afghanistan. But it hides a chilling secret
A ‘doctored’ photo of decorated Australian solider Ben Roberts-Smith has re-emerged showing him wearing a controversial symbol during battle.
The photo, believed to date from 2011, shows Roberts-Smith in full combat gear and carrying an automatic weapon while on duty in Afghanistan, and wearing a small shield around his neck.
In the version of the picture released by the Department of Defence, the shield around his neck was blank.
But the original version of the photo, obtained by Nine-Fairfax newspapers, shows Roberts-Smith was wearing a Crusader’s Cross.
The cross is a controversial symbol worn by Christian crusaders in the 11th and 12th centuries when they invaded parts of the Middle East to wrest control of them from Muslims.
many Muslims now find the symbol offensive. The wearing of one by a Western solider in a predominantly Islamic country would be considered a particularly provocative act.
At the time the unaltered photo emerged, the Defence Department explained it ‘does not condone or permit the use, display or adoption of symbols, emblems and iconography that are at odds with Defence values’.
But we can judge the alleged crime independently of being the victor or loser, and the scare quotes depend upon this as well.
Might I respectfully suggest to the blog owner that statements such as these are edging perilously close to the limit of advisable publishing?
They don’t call you MudGuts for nothing, do they.
Kristina, there is a leader who has set the example for everyone in high positions now. Arrive at the office around 10, leave at 4, play a bit of golf, eat an ice cream. Look, just go and enjoy your indexed payout,and your rental properties, and forget your comfortably remunerated suffering.
Just watching the reminisces of a guy from an SS Panzer Division, he recalled unexpectedly walking up to a trench filled with Red Army female soldiers, somehow he escaped, they later had to retreat and leave their wounded behind following an attack from these women and when they regained the position, all the wounded had been murdered.
Anyway, he ended up deserting late in the War along with some of his comrades, but they had to find the British, since both the Canadians and the Americans, as well as the Red Army, had a well founded reputation for murdering surrendering German Soldiers.
The Malmedy Massacre was brought to light by Senator McCarthy in 1949 but there were many others.
Bottom line:
We’ve abandoned the traditions of the British Army and taken up the extremely loose morals of the American War Machine.
On the plus side, that’s a much smaller damage window that one who comes in at 8 and leaves at 5.
The Texas state legislature has the right idea. They meet once every two years for 140 days and get paid $600 per month.
Not even close.
84 American Prisoners of War were murdered by the Waffen-SS at the Malmedy Massacre.
Bruce Lehrmann sits down with 7NEWS Spotlight’s Liam Bartlett to tell his side of the story for the first time. 7NEWS Spotlight, 7.00pm this Sunday
https://twitter.com/7NewsSpotlight/status/1664440340445802497
———————————————————-
Revealed: The truth about Ben Roberts-Smith. SUNDAY on #60Mins
https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1664174069519110145
h/t The Guardian
Hmmm… never realised Groog was Afghani.
explains a lot.
Oh please just f-ck offfffff……..
https://www.curtin.edu.au/study/offering/course-pg-graduate-diploma-in-environment-and-climate-emergency–gd-envclm/