Another problem with aging. Long sightedness. When I was a slightly near sighted young man the world was a terrifically…
Open Thread – Tues 27 June 2023
- Open Thread – Mon 25 Nov 2024
- The more you gets the less you eats
- Open Thread – Weekend 23 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 18 Nov 2024
A case study of misinformation. @DisrespectedThe If you watch anything today, WATCH THIS!!!
@IanJaeger29 BREAKING: Senator Susan Collins has just been named Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, holding one of Senate most…
“the first back to back surpluses in almost two decades” Yeah right wallet wizard. Not that your the only offender…
I was born after the Whitlam government so cannot comment on their record.But this one here is a sorry record…
err, hello?
June 29, 2023
Is Nuclear War Inevitable?
By Alexander G. Markovsky
During Napoleon’s War of 1812, the Russian officers’ sabers were adorned an inscription, “Do not draw out without need. Do not put it back without glory!”
Whether Putin has drawn out his saber without the need may be debatable, but the geopolitical reality is that he will not put it back without glory, whatever the cost. Putin, who revived Russia, and rebuilt its economy from the ruins of the collapsed Soviet Union, cannot permit his odyssey to end in the country’s dissolution.
On the other side of this Ukrainian confrontation is President Biden, who cannot afford the humiliation of another defeat after the disastrous retreat from Afghanistan. He also needs a victory at any cost.
If history is any guide, weak Russia, with its huge territory and abundant natural resources, will become prey for invaders. In the West, Europeans, driven by compulsion, are eager to retaliate for defeats and loss of territories, some centuries-old, others more recent. Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Finland have never accepted borders of the post-Second World War period.
Nor is the West the only threat facing Russia. In the East, Japan dreams of the return of the Sakhalin and Kuril islands. And Russia’s “sworn friend,” China, envisages living space for 1.5 billion Chinese and the acquisition of vast natural resources in the Russian Far East.
The imperative of winning puts no limitation on the modus operandi of the war. After 16 months of hostilities, though the war escalates in scope and intensity, NATO and its European allies maintain martial enthusiasm.
Driven by the urge for expansion, NATO sees little risk in continuing fighting. Indeed, this time NATO engineered a perfect arrangement.
It contracted the Ukrainian army as a mercenary. NATO directs and finances the war, provides strategic and tactical planning, intelligence, and supplies weapons and materiel while the Ukrainians do the fighting.
Hence unlike the previous NATO misadventures, thousands of American and other NATO warriors are not coming home in zinc coffins.
America skillfully exploited Ukrainian leaders’ frantic ambition to make Ukraine a member of NATO, ostensibly to protect Ukraine from Russia.
The supplicant exhibited a complete lack of judgment, failing to realize that membership in NATO and protection from Russia were mutually exclusive objectives. Consequently Ukraine finds itself in a peculiar situation; membership in NATO is not forthcoming, the country is getting destroyed, and as long as the Ukrainians are dying, the American and European publics are not overly concerned about the war.
At ease with the arrangement, at the recent gathering at G7, the leaders of the so-called advanced democracies committed to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Indeed, prolonging the conflict appears to be a new NATO strategy.
In his famed book, The Art of War, Sun Tzu concluded that “no country benefited from a prolonged war.”
This wisdom may not apply to the current conflict. In previous world wars, the winner out-produced the loser. During the Second World War, Americans were losing, on average, six Sherman tanks for every German Tiger tank lost. But at the same time, American industry was manufacturing six Sherman tanks faster than Germans could produce one Tiger. Americans were producing more bombers than Germans were shooting down, which was true for almost every other type of military equipment.
Given that the combined GDP of NATO’s countries exceeds the Russians’ by twenty-fold, Russia cannot win a war of attrition against Europe and the United States in the long run.
The folly of this strategy, nevertheless, is that if the economic assumptions prove correct, it will render nuclear confrontation almost inevitable.
The recent rhetoric seems to suggest that NATO military planners accept this possibility, believing that Europe is safe under the American nuclear umbrella. Any attack on Europe would invite American nuclear retaliation. Therefore, even if Russians resolve to use a nuclear weapon, they will deploy it on Ukraine.
There is a lot of wishful thinking in this scenario. First, geography prevents Russians from using nuclear weapons in Ukraine because it is too close to Russia and Belarus to evade radioactive peril.
Second, Western leaders may rely too much on the credibility of the so-called massive retaliation doctrine designed to prevent the invasion of Europe by conventional Soviet forces during the Cold War era.
The current scenario is entirely different. The danger is not from the Russian conventional forces but the Russian first-strike nuclear capabilities. The modern weapon is so colossally destructive that given the high density of the European population, one nuclear strike could easily wipe out a hundred million people and turn the continent into a desert.
The issue is whether America put itself at risk of monumental destruction on behalf of already devastated Europe. At the heart of the problem is the inherent uncertainty of the nuclear guarantee.
The issue was first raised in January 1967 during a meeting between Henry Kissinger and Konrad Adenauer. Adenauer, then the first Chancellor of the Republic of Germany and a highly regarded politician, asked Kissinger, “Do you think that I still believe you will protect us unconditionally?”
Those who are old enough but do not suffer historical amnesia must remember that in the past, America, despite the rhetoric, abandoned Hungary when the Red Army ravaged Budapest in 1956, abandoned Germany when the Soviets built the Berlin Wall in 1961, and abandoned Czechoslovakia when the Red Army invaded the country in 1968.
In all those instances, America stood by helplessly, watching the carnage, all full of bluster and no action.
Although it may sound cynical, America acted in its national interests when it decided that those countries were not worth the risk of nuclear destruction.
So, what has changed now? The countries are the same, but the risk is even greater. What makes the Europeans think that the outcome would be different?
This leads us to another relevant issue raised by Adenauer “Are any leaders still able to conduct a genuine long-range policy? Is true leadership still possible today?”
Although the question was raised about 60 years ago, it has acute relevance today. The current crop of Western leaders is not made of the same stuff as Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, or Donald Trump.
They are not visionary; they are not even managerial types.
Some of them are simply illiterate when it comes to history and geography. They cannot extrapolate from lessons of the past. Their obsession swept aside the previous safeguards, allowing for a constantly elevating level of conflict without regard for respective national interests and survival.
They pushed Europe into the war that was neither necessary nor wise.
No one knows the limits of Russian endurance, but when Moscow starts losing the war, it will be forced to employ nuclear weapons.
On the other hand, if Ukraine starts losing the war, some hardheads in Washington are already considering providing Ukraine with nukes as a deterrent. Either way, incompetent leaders are pushing the world toward unparalleled catastrophe.
This is from February but I haven’t seen it before. The Clintons’ role model?
Was LBJ a “Serial Killer” Who Advanced His Career By Murdering at Least 6 Other Men Who Stood In His Way?
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2023/02/06/was-lbj-a-serial-killer-who-advanced-his-career-by-murdering-at-least-6-other-men-who-stood-in-his-way/
Steve Milloy
@JunkScience
Not the narrative:
June 2023 so far is now 1.61°F cooler than June 1981 in the US.
140% more industrial era atmospheric CO2 over the past 42 years has not produced promised warming.
Climate is a giant hoax.
https://twitter.com/JunkScience/status/1672812048135192576
On Gladys: I watched Credlin’s show. She had on Margaret Cunene and the Oz’s legal affairs journalist – Chris Merritt?
Both did not think that the findings were reasonable, given that Gladys did not receive any payment etc.
However, to my way of thinking she did receive something that to her would have been even more valuable than wealth – a personal, intimate(?) relationship with Dazza.
She allowed herself to be used – and said “I don’t need to know” – by someone who it seems was gaining illegally both from his parliamentary position and from his relationship with her. That is not the same thing as a wife who did not know what her husband, or vica versa, was doing.
Gladys did know that Daryl was involved in something that would benefit them both. Iirc his dealings were designed to get him out of debt so that they could then marry. That seems very much to me(as an untrained eye) to be an inducement.
As far as the time it’s taken, well, at anytime during her premiership Gladys could have introduced legislation to change the ICAC Act to improve its workings, including ensuring that cases would be heard in camera and with briefs to the DPP once deliberations were finalised and decided. She didn’t.
As to Indolent’s point about Gladys during covid – yes, she started off well enough by saying we had to get on with life. But once the jabs started to roll out she started threatening people with the loss of their basic rights if they did not succumb.
Personally, I think Frewin got to her by saying if she didn’t lock up western Sydney and threaten the loss of rights, no-one would get jabbed.
She even went so far as to delay the opening up of life for the unjabbed by 6 odd weeks, which Perrettot increased to 2 months to further “encourage” the community to roll up their sleeves. On that alone, I have no sympathy.
Huge Nebraska Solar Park Completely Smashed To Pieces By One Single Hail Storm!
https://notrickszone.com/2023/06/28/huge-nebraska-solar-park-completely-smashed-to-pieces-by-one-single-hail-storm/comment-page-1/
I wonder how many trees were cut down and habitat destroyed to build that monstrosity.
IRS Whistleblower Reveals How DOJ Gave Sweetheart Deal To Hunter Biden, Who Received $8.3 Million From China, Ukraine and Romania Between 2014 – 2019
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/irs-whistleblower-reveals-how-doj-gave-sweetheart-deal/
Yes, exactly that.
Trump’s Poll Numbers Are a Cry for Justice
https://spectator.org/trump-poll-numbers-climb/
John Solomon Called Joe Biden’s Secret Global Phone… and Guess Who Picked Up
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/john-solomon-called-bidens-secret-global-phone-guess/
Overseas payments to Biden family could exceed $40M, Comer says: ‘This was organized crime’
https://nypost.com/2023/06/28/comer-says-overseas-payments-to-biden-family-could-exceed-40m/
The COVID vaccine mandate in English care homes led to fewer staff – and may not have reduced resident deaths
https://theconversation.com/the-covid-vaccine-mandate-in-english-care-homes-led-to-fewer-staff-and-may-not-have-reduced-resident-deaths-203201
Saw that one. Sadz. Makes me wonder what will happen when a hurricane goes up the East Coast of the US. They can easily reach Canada. All those offshore wind turbines will be looking very sad – like the wind turbines and solar panels on Puerto Rico did after Hurricane Maria went through in 2017. Totally destroyed.
About the only coast in the US that doesn’t get hurricanes is the West Coast…which gets earthquakes instead.
Surge in HEART DEATHS: 500 more people dying every WEEK since pandemic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=819x0hs2yL8
Neil Oliver ‘…they want us as their slaves!’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9VIqdeSQ4
EU: COVID-19 Vax Adverse Reaction Study—500% Increase of Incidence Reported First Half of 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmxN-Cph8ao
mUttley?
Test
Stormy Daniels?
Hungary REJECTS EU Deal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXq_cHYlvu0
John Solomon Called Joe Biden’s Secret Global Phone… and Guess Who Picked Up
Ernst Stavro Blofeld?
One Vote, One Value.
This year we’re meant to cast our vote –
On a jarring proposition,
A change to how this country’s run
and end all known conditions.
Where now we stand as one and all –
emboldened by a vision,
Of this great land without marked lines
and one with no division.
No more would be our wonderous state –
an undivided nation,
Were to the voice return an “aye”
‘twould raise up some in station.
Do not give way, do not give up –
our rights to equal rank,
To do do now would make us all
a nameless, servile flank.
Covid Is Genocide – A Biological Warfare Crime – Dr. David Martin Speaks To The European Parliament
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaD8qEWJglY
Indolent says:
June 29, 2023 at 8:13 pm
Hungary REJECTS EU Deal
—————
All Eastern European countries should give them the finger. After the Iron Curtain the last thing they need is the Muslim veil.
Farage: Why I might be FORCED to leave the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBFMp4JW-s
Unbelievable.
Can’t believe I’m reading folk here feeling sorry for Gladys and she was hard dun by .. Gladys was NSW Premier paid lotza dosh to run the state of NSW for the benefit of the vote-herd not to further her luv life & enrich her boyfriend! .. she backed “Ruby” to the hilt thru-out BAT FLU . and not only locked down the entire state but singled out specific areas for extra punishment, never once voiced concern over heavy handed plod tactics despite lotza incriminating video evidence being freely available .. . NEVER FORGET NEVER FORGIVE ……!
She exited with a bloated pension and slid into a well paid job not because she was qualified or the best person but because she was an ex Premier in need of a super top-up … something that wasn’t on offer to anyone who lost their jobs because of vax mandates …….
Any interest Gladys has in the ICAC findings are just “face” for the media & voters 3 day news cycle .. she’ll be chortling over her her bank statements and laffing herself silly at how easy folk are fooled …. FFS!
Just thinking about the boss of the ETU and his threat to campaign against any changes to laws relating to hunting native birds.
Could this be a subtle, but forceful, hint to TaliDan (remembering that hunting is an obsession of the Slime) to distance himself from the Greens in relation to matters affecting the ETU. Matters like electricity supply. How many jobs in ruinables will open up for actual electricians once coalfired generators are closed?
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare says:
June 29, 2023 at 7:38 pm
We have started watching the TV series on Netflix called War Gamers. It’s about how the WRENs in WW2 were brought in to calculate and plot the attack strategies of the Uboat Wolf Packs in order to mount a response to devastating merchant sea losses.
It’s done with some dramatisations and commentary by old timers who were there plus historians making sense of it. Very watchable.
The ultimate head of the Submarine Tracking Room, Rodger Winn, was a barrister who had wanted to join the RN but was not fit enough because of childhood polio.
He won over one Commander North-Western Approaches with a macabre bet.
Two tankers were on the way to the UK. Winn predicted submarines on one route, and suggested they be diverted. The Admiral was not sure, and asked for proof, which could only be provided by diverting one tanker, and letting the other continue. The diverted tanker made it through safely, the other was sunk.
From then on the Admiral took his advice.
Test, Test
Classics!
Sonic head mash @0:51
USAF Thunderbirds 2019 Huntington Beach Pier!
Cheaty McSook Smith on 99.
Please. Just this once…..
Ah geez.
I’m sorry, whilst I know many here think Gladys deserves this because of Covid, I don’t. She’s been found “corrupt”, which is devastating. The truth is that she was the least corrupt politician in this country. However, Alan Jones is right (he usually is) about Gladys and the Liberals, she was hoisted on her own petard. Gladys, Baird, and O’Farrell had years to either reform/rein in or abolish ICAC and yet they did nothing, in fact they increased ICAC’s powers. It was a bit rich seeing Matt Keen on Sharri tonight lambasting ICAC because, whilst he’s right on this issue I am left to ask the question, why didn’t his government move on ICAC when in power?
Here’s the truth…..ICAC should be abolished.
Gladys’ crime was that she had a romance with Dodgy Daryl. She’s now got a much better and smarter boyfriend in Arthur Moses, who is a barrister and was head of the NSW Bar Association. I’ve heard she’s moved in with him. Good, everyone deserves some happiness.
As for Covid, well yes, like every f*cking useless politician in this joke of a country, from Scumbag Morrison to Gladys and all the others, she ceded power to the health bureaucrats. However, compared to Dictator Dan and that ghastly QLD Palachook, Glady emerges from the Covid fiasco with some (and I stress the word “some”) common sense and dignity. Prior to Covid she handled the bushfires well. I never believed her heart was in the lockdowns but she went along with them, and that was a mistake. However, minus a few notable exceptions, we Australians were let down by almost all politicians, bureaucrats, media and medical authorities in this country. Barely anybody spoke up for us, to condemn lockdowns, vaccine mandates and so on and those who did, such as Craig Kelly, Alan Jones, some Sky panellists, some News Corp journos and one or two others, paid a very heavy price.
Anyway Cats, I’m not going to join in any lynching of Gladys. The whole thing with ICAC has been a political hit job from day one, no different to the Higgins bullshit and what was done to Porter. ICAC is a leftist star chamber, but one that was enabled by successive Coalition governments. And actually, that’s where I’ll happily condemn Gladys, and Baird, and O’Farrell and every other f*cking useless Liberal in this country. Because all they do, when elected, is NOTHING….actually, they do do something when elected, they spend their whole time appeasing their ideological enemies and institutions such as ICAC. But what then happens when all you do is appease? As Churchill once said, ‘an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.’. Well, the ICAC crocodile has now eaten Gladys.
Is Nuclear War Inevitable?
By Alexander G. Markovsky
Fairly clear Putin will target the island of Great Britain if nuclear war eventuates, given his and other Russian commentators outbursts since the latest Ukraine invasion began. Doesn’t make sense to target Ukraine. An attack on the UK would be of no concern to the EU or Biden. France would veto any NATO response.
“Fairly clear Putin will target the island of Great Britain if nuclear war eventuates,”
I hope they nuke London while Nigel Farage is elsewhere. Bang on parliament.
I hope this is a joke. This is loopy stuff if sincere and earnest. Some women just aren’t Mrs Jason Statham.
ICAC actually should rip into David Elliot. It is unfortunate as he’s my favourite Liberal (ex) MP.
Format fail, my comment starts at “Thebultimate head …”
Harks
The UK has SSBMs at sea at all times. Somewhere between 16 and 32 ballistic missiles with multiple warheads could ruin Putin’s day. And the EU has no veto power over them.
Joan Rivers told us Michelle was a Tranny ten years ago.
Yeah, she died the next day, but who lives forever, right?
This format is heaps more user friendly.
Harks says:
June 29, 2023 at 8:48 pm
Is Nuclear War Inevitable?
By Alexander G. Markovsky
Fairly clear Putin will target the island of Great Britain if nuclear war eventuates, given his and other Russian commentators outbursts since the latest Ukraine invasion began. Doesn’t make sense to target Ukraine. An attack on the UK would be of no concern to the EU or Biden. France would veto any NATO response.
——————–
From what I understand weather patterns from UK flow eastward to the rest of Europe and Scandinavia which means that a nuclear attack on UK poisons the rest of Europe. If the French and Germans are OK with that so be it.
Dot: Trannies are a Conspiracy Theory
Dot: I love Taylor Swift.
Ed Case shakes head.
You couldn’t make it up.
Gladys singled out those of us who wished to remain unvaccinated and we paid a price for this by having to cancel specialist appointments and other ‘luxuries’ such as haircuts or retail shopping.
The worst was the division of Sydney suburbs. 13 (thirteen) local government areas.
People in these LGAs did not have equal rights to the rest of Sydney residents.
Violently, whilst drooling profusely.
The goings on in British broadcasting this week have been fun. There’s a thing called the “Television and Radio Industries Club”. They hold awards, as you do. The catch is the awards are voted for by the punters, the ones who actually watch and listen to the broadcasting.
One should never allow the unwashed deplorable public to vote on such things. Guess who won “best news presenter”?
That certainly caused a disturbance of the force.
Farage kicked out of major TV awards before beating Eamonn Holmes and Piers Morgan to gong (27 Jun)
No lefty news presenters got a look in. Odd that, heh. But the alarm didn’t stop there. First TRIC took down their announcements that he’d won the top gong. Then today seven banks cancelled him, and also the Reclaim Party.
‘Political persecution’: Farage says his bank accounts were closed with ‘no explanation’ (29 Jun)
I take it to mean he’s RIGHT over the target, and the elites are scared of him and the millions of righties he represents. Good. But cancelling someone’s bank accounts without notice is a dog act bar none. Fascists gotta fascist.
Yeah, OK.
And whose head is it?
Mummy’s?
Farage: Why I might be FORCED to leave the UK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBFMp4JW-s
Site refresh is ok, but I dont really like the wide empty border to the left side….
And the ten pound whining begins…
……………………………………………………………………. LOL!?!
Okay, let’s single out Gladys for a public execution. How shall we execute her? Hanging, beheading, or firing squad? Then we can bury her, dig up her body and burn her bones.
Will that satisfy some?
I wonder.
Would an ALP type have ever tipped money into an electorate or union cause of someone they were shagging at the time, or harboured hopes of shagging?
Never?
sancho says: the ten pound whining begins
I’m old enough to remember last week when sancho was a staunch anti-racist
****Okay, let’s single out Gladys for a public execution. How shall we execute her? Hanging, beheading, or firing squad? Then we can bury her, dig up her body and burn her bones.
Will that satisfy some?****
Only if it’s a job lot with the other takers of Australian livelihoods and liberty.
Okay, let’s single out Gladys for a public execution.
Gladys is on the list, but well down the list. Top of the list would be something like an Andrews, McGowan, Gunner triple header out of a guillotine à trois places!
My sister and my brother, both aged, live in an LGA area of concern and were very disadvantaged by the restriction of their families.
They live at North Rocks and Sans Souci respectively.
“My sister and my brother, both aged, live in an LGA area of concern and were very disadvantaged by the restriction of their families.
They live at North Rocks and Sans Souci respectively.”
My sister lived in an LGA of concern, I didn’t see her for over three months, from June 2021 until October 2021. My sister did not see my elderly mother for over three months.
You were not the only person disadvantaged by the restriction placed on families.
OK enough of the punishment detail.
I present the underage wiggling champion of La France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhInUGKeVEg
sacre bleu
the witty commentary of the hosts made for exceptional viewing
“Okay, let’s single out Gladys for a public execution. How shall we execute her?”
Wee do it Lord of the Flies style.
The other half and I were separated by the border controls for a total of 10 months – 4 months in 2020 followed by 6 months in 2021. However, the other half was away from home for a total of 18 months. (8 months in 2020 & 10 months in 2021).
P, did you ever get to see Pope Pius XII?
Can’t wait for ICAC to look into some of the ALP grants.
The (previous?) rules mandated 3 links max… good anti-spam thing. Not that the toons are for a moment spam…
DB should just give you posting rights – but I suspect that new posters is a bit “whenever” right now.
If you just paste the URLs into the comment box, that should work… no need for tags or such.
Please bring us back our toons!
Just wow!
scotus got rid of affirmative action ! What a court!
Just got in to Lyme Regis. Yikes! but the traffic here is hideous! They take the largest vehicles down the tiniest spaces imaginable. The Beloved had a standoff in a lane with a school bus…he had right of way but discretion was the better part of valour. Fortunately there was a handy driveway to scuttle into.
Drove out to the Lizard this morning, one of the most treacherous places on the Cornish coast…many, many wrecks. And we passed the Poldark Mine. Many of the names are familiar from Daphne du Maurier’s novels.
Like most seaside places here you need one leg longer than the other to get around. The hills make for good exercise, and we’re about to do a pub search on account of thirst from four hours driving in not so salubrious conditions. I’ll never whinge about Aussie roads again. 😀
Because I have no shame, I’m going to try some emojis while no one’s here.
???????
My travel ones so far. Probably won’t work.
Okay. Old phone style emojis still rule. Never mind. Just grateful Dover was able to give the gears a grease and oil change.
They’re having an inquiry here about the Covid 19 response.
https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/about/
Haven’t had a chance to check it out but it’s being advertised and people are being encouraged to come forward.
The weird thing about Gladys is that she projects as a powerful and capable woman in public, but judging from those conversations with Maguire she is actually a simpering wimp. Or maybe it’s just that she is a sub. Something NQR about her, either way.
Rosie How is Portugal JC?
Pleasantly surprised, Rosie. There’s quite a bit to do around Porto and the folks here are oh so nice and kind.
Went on a guided tour of the Doura valley, which was really pleasant and interesting. Visited a winery that had been in the same family since 1790! Spectacular wine and port. I had a couple of cases shipped over.
Loved Switzerland. Spent time with an old pal and wife who have a place in Lugano on the lake. OMG, that’s heaven on earth.Heading back next year to spend time in Switzerland.
I’m glad it is better than expected. My Porto experience was far more pedestrian. It’s that where the gold church is? I never found it.
Yeah, it’s the city with the gold church. We’ve been around a bit. Seeing the Atlantic from this side of the pond is also interesting, in an uninteresting sort of way as the North Atlantic is really grey and looks inhospitable. Latitudinal wise Porto is about the same as NY, which means the water is freezing and possibly the reason why people are sun baking but hardly anyone is in the water. There’s a lot of history here with the English port trade.
Dinner and a view up the Jurassic Coast…perfection for someone with a love for fossils and the ancient world.
You can look up the story of Mary Anning if you’re interested. For myself, I’ve made the full loop from home (the Flinders, Canowindra, Winton) to the Galapagos, to South Dakota and now here. All part of the story of life on this beautiful planet.
Tomorrow I’ll have a walk on the ammonite pavement, and maybe find a fossil of my own.
And then there’s the more recent stories woven about this place – Persuasion and The French Lieutenant’s Woman and the Cobb.
It all depends on the weather. From Land’s End the other day the Atlantic was grey and drear.
Yesterday it was brilliant blue, as the channel is today.
The tides here are huge, eight metres. It’s fun to watch the bobbing little boats gradually turn on their buoys and finally run aground in their miniature harbours.
Why is WordPress wanting me to re-register my Gravatar?
They can bugger off.
If these Wagner chaps are now off the board why isn’t the Ukrainian counter offensive having a decent week ?
Oh, and for the pedants…I know Poldark isn’t a Du Maurier title. Interesting though how Cornwall inspired so many writers. Howatch is another.
Had lunch at Jamaica Inn yesterday…lots of fun. If Johanna is lurking, there’s a brass plaque in the floor commemorating the fictional murder of Joss Merlyn from the beam above! I also picked up a volume that was not on the bookshelf…reading for the cruise. The inn sits at a high point on the moor (forget the motorway beside it) giving good visibility for smugglers spying out the land for soldiers or snitches.
As I sat at the old pub, my thoughts flew to Bess.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSpxnPUgKFQ
Trying to embed a link…
youtube.com/watch?v=hSpxnPUgKFQ
Nice and kind, eh?
So, it’s Kraut-free zone then?
(Hopefully the waaacism police Karens aren’t on the night shift).
Lol, yeah sanchez, it’s Kraut free but with just a dose of insufferable Russians.
Hi calli
Jamaica Inn, huh? Lucky you.
But the real question is – did you spot any dashing, flashing eyed young chaps with a hint of menace and mystery about them? Du Maurier fans expect no less …
Good morning gatti – TomCat what’s happened to the ‘toons? am missing my early morning fix. Cheers and thanks for bringing them to the Cat – dover I am surprised by the new look but I must say the font is great for failing eyes.
Hopefully back to being Tintarella di Luna
Oh but it’s cold outside – had to put on something warm
The Hun:
Todd Murphy, sitting on the Lord’s balcony and rubbing his hands:
‘Mwuah ha ha ha ha haaaaaa…….’
I see Optus has declared faith in Gladys Berejiklian – qualifications and skill set perfect for Optus
.
I can’t believe the ABC publish this tripe, oh wait, yes I can.
https://www.abc.net.au/everyday/why-i-wont-change-my-surname/102525894
“The weird thing about Gladys is that she projects as a powerful and capable woman in public, but judging from those conversations with Maguire she is actually a simpering wimp.”
Pervert apologist, I don’t think you’re in any position to judge what’s “weird” and what’s not “weird”. However pervert apologist, since you’ve mentioned it, I wonder what would be exposed if your private conversations were released to the public? Geez, what you write here is bad enough. People, in private, and particularly to their spouses and lovers, say and write things they would NEVER write and say for in public, and most would never ever expect their private and intimate conversations to be released, like they were with Gladys, humiliating her.
Gladys runs rings around you.
Australia has had a steady influx of non Anglo Celtic immigrants since the 1850s.
There is zero chance Smith, Wilson and Jones weren’t accompanied by other more exotic surnames, as for complaining about them being white, what were you, blak Polish?
My Catholic primary school in the sixties had a smattering of Dutch, Italians, Anglo Indians, Germans and a few others and no-one cared, and if someone had something better than honey on dry brown bread I’d have traded in an instant.
Oh and if mispronunciation of names causes bruises, I’m perpetually black and blue, I almost never get my first name pronounced correctly.
calli, I love the Jurassic coast. Last time I was in the UK, I spent half a day fossil hunting with my nephew and niece on a beach in Dorset, and then sitting on the grass with them eating delicious pasties.
I love the southwest, Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall. And I love the thick cream on scones and the yummy pasties.
Why is a woman proud to keep her maternal grandfather’s surname?
No man wants to be cucked by a corpse.
Lysander should do a FIO request on how many articles the ABC had published with people complaining about having their names mispronounced.
Those terrible horrible Smiths and Wilsons.
Netherlands Begins Euthanizing Disabled People To ‘Save the Planet’
https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/netherlands-begins-euthanizing-disabled-people-to-save-the-planet/
This is what we’ve become. But it is the logical conclusion.
I can’t pronounce French names with a proper Parisian flair.
Hang, draw and quarter me.
moore v united states: the most important case you’ve never heard of
forget taxation without representation, this is income tax without income.
https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/moore-v-united-states-the-most-important?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
As JC mentioned earlier, the US Supreme Court has outlawed affirmative action at universities. A truly marvellous decision, and it was a convincing judgment. This is why I still have some hope for the US, not a lot, but some.
As for SCOTUS, we can thank President Trump for this, it took his presidency to appoint three conservatives to the bench, Gorsuch, Barrett and Kavanaugh.
It’s funny how the left love politicised courts, except when it comes to rulings they don’t like. Their hypocrisy is eternal. From the Oz…
“The 6 to 3 and 6 2 decisions found that affirmative action contravened the 14th amendment of the US constitution, which provides equal treatment under the law, overturning 45 years of precedent that had permitted universities to use race to foster ‘diversity’.”
A good start to the day!
The Courier-Mail:
According to sources, the remains were originally identified as a stock cube before they realised what millions of psi does to ‘ocean tourists’.
Electric Cars Are An Expensive Scam
https://thefederalist.com/2023/06/29/electric-cars-are-an-expensive-scam/
Yes, they are. And they’re also a step along the road to eliminating cars for the general population altogether.
Re Razey’s post on Nigel Farage @ 9.36pm last night –
This is by far the most significant item I have seen for some time. I also saw it in a feed from another website. To recap – Farage was notified by his bank that his account was being closed. No explanation and no response from management. Further & even worse, he has been unable to open a new account with any other bank in the country.
The implications for all of us who put our heads up above the crowd are huge. Is this the new world which is developing? Are we really watching the transformation of liberal democracies across the world? And do people really care?
This is why Trump was so important and they hate him so much.
Vicki, what is infuriating is that under UK law, if a bank closed your account because of your sexual behaviour or your skin colour or religion, you could sue them for damages and they could be charged with a criminal offence.
But apparently when it comes to political beliefs and/or actions, there is no protection at all from being effectively excluded from ordinary financial services and economic participation.
It does highlight the priorities of the current regime and its ideological puppet-masters. All the ‘concern’ about ‘discrimination’ is a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Thankfully they seem to have precedent on their side. Unrealised “dividends” simply are not income.
Is there any pie someone isn’t claiming the Russians had a finger in?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-brexit-eu-remain-b2366505.html
Things for all Australians to look forward to.
As long as we have the Voice, right Woolies and Coles? Who arbitrarily stopped selling 15c plastic bags because they are Captain Planets.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/australians-set-to-fork-out-extra-for-energy-bills-health-insurance-premiums-and-mobile-phone-plans/news-story/c4b391f39e41fdeb969ed0b90a1f5ec5
Discriminating against the backbone of the RAF was an aspirational goal.
Apparently.
From a smart Asian American kid.
Affirmative action ruling ‘a win for students,’ Asian-American student says (ABC News America)
“In my experience as an Asian American, it’s much harder to get admission [to elite colleges] as opposed to white students…whereas there’s no history in America of Asians systemically discriminating against whites…race…it’s just how you’re born and you can’t change that…”
I struggle to have any sympathy for Glad.
She is a politician, a group of people who seek and strive to obtain a position of power over the rest of us and when that position of power comes to an end are remunerated to an extent far in excess of their net contribution to society.
She was a weak leader who ultimately betrayed the conservative values upon which she relied to be elected to office, a trait shared by many of her contemporaries.
While not wishing physical harm on Glad or any of the other power crazed scum who subjected us to the covid madness I, for one, will loudly cheer any opprobrium that heads their way from here on.
Gladys Berejiklian imposed the vaccine mandates when she was being railroaded herself.
I have no sympathy for her. She let crazed lunatics like Brad Hazzard and David Elliot run rampant.
Mr Going to Brown makes an excellent point.
Individual students may suffer disadvantage growing up in an environment where education hasn’t been valued, in significant poverty etc but others would come from upper middle professional backgrounds.
Dallas Scott wrote as essay about this at his blog about eight years ago, probably possibly pointing at urban 1/64ths getting prestigious international scholarships while children in remote areas weren’t even going to school on a regular basis.
Need, not race.
m0nty says:
June 30, 2023 at 12:53 am
The weird thing about Gladys is that she projects as a powerful and capable woman in public, but judging from those conversations with Maguire she is actually a simpering wimp. Or maybe it’s just that she is a sub. Something NQR about her, either way.
I like the format. ?
“The implications for all of us who put our heads up above the crowd are huge. Is this the new world which is developing? Are we really watching the transformation of liberal democracies across the world? And do people really care?”
Vicki, it’s funny you write this. The whole thing IS chilling and I’ve been thinking about the consequences of this. Just where are we headed? Will the likes of you and me have our banking pulled, all because we commit a few thought crimes here and there? Nobody could or would have imagined this, even five years ago. Last night I watched Farage speak of what’s happening to him by his bank and it’s frightening. A month or two ago, the two guys from Triggernometry, Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster, neither of whom are “right-wing” (however their crime is that they are open minded and they are willing to talk to right of centre people) also had their bank account suddenly and inexplicably closed, without much notice.
At least the UK has an active and bullish Free Speech Union (something we need here), so I have no doubt that they’ll be on the Farage case however, such woke action by banks is heading here.
Last night I watched Credlin, and she put into words what I’ve been thinking about for a long time, actually for the last few years. I do wonder if she reads this august site, because she does seem to pick up a lot of our thoughts and memes, and she uses our words, particularly about the forlorn state of the Liberal Party and how the Liberals, federally and across all states, have simply sat back and sucked their thumbs whilst the progressives have been storming the barricades, be it in education, academia, media, entertainment, sporting organisations, and so on, and now it will be banks. By refusing to fight the culture wars, they’ve allowed people on the right, those of us who don’t hold progressive views, to be routinely demonised, smeared, ridiculed and silenced. As someone wrote here yesterday (might have been “rickw”), that if you’re not progressive, you’re a far-right Nazi or, if you’re lucky, simply “Nazi adjacent”. It’s a silencing tool, quite an effective one too. It doesn’t help when you have morons like so called Victorian Liberal leader Prosciutto (and perhaps that comparison is unfair to most morons out there) using Wikipedia as a source for lies against one of his own and calling her Nazi adjacent.
I feel chilled to the bone with the direction the West is heading, and a month or two ago, when I read about the ACT government’s forced acquisition of Calvary, i knew this was a Trojan Horse and that it will set a precedent to use against private and church schools and so on. The war has began. Either we fight or we don’t. Without a doubt, this Sleazy government is further to the left of Gough Whitlam. Sleazy supports the Calvary action. Sleazy is a far-left thug.
Yesterday I woke up, opened the Oz website and read that the ACT Human Rights (oxymoron alert) Minister Tara Cheyne says the ACT government is considering allowing “teenagers as young as 14 to access voluntary assisted dying”. I was stunned. Then I read that the forthcoming ALP conference is pushing push for abortion to be free, using the guise of “abortion is healthcare”, in other words, abortion will simply be another form of contraception. Abortion, euthanasia, tranny perverts, Palestine, and so on, is this what people voted for last May? I don’t think so, but I’ll give Labor some credit, because when they get into power they storm the barricades and they never apologise for what they do, whereas when the stupid f*cking Liberals manage to get into power by creeping over the line, they cower behind the barricades.
I don’t like the direction this country is headed. But back to bank accounts, yes, they’re coming for our bank accounts and people like you, me and others here will be targeted.
nice reading
The rate or magnitude of the 20th century change in air temperature is unknowable
Gladys Berejiklian (oh dear I don’t think I can pronounce her surname) most egregious act was her support of Greenwich’s abortion bill.
I know that is pale in comparison to lockdown suffering for many.
(My deep disgust for Andrews dates back to his days as health minister when he legalised abortion til birth.)
Daily cartoons at 4am won’t return until Dover restores formatting buttons, but here’s today’s excellent Johannes Leak:
https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/43d1b35c50c0670fc49f4291911361f1?width=1024
“This is why Trump was so important and they hate him so much.”
Yep.
“johanna says:
June 30, 2023 at 6:22 am
Hi calli
Jamaica Inn, huh? Lucky you.
But the real question is – did you spot any dashing, flashing eyed young chaps with a hint of menace and mystery about them? Du Maurier fans expect no less …”
For those with a military history bent, the cruel might say that the principal distinction of General “Boy” Browning, who buggered up the Market Garden/Arnhem offensive, was that he was the husband of Daphne du Maurier.
In yet more encouraging news (on top of SCOTUS), Kari Lake has had a win and can access raw mail-in ballots in Maricopa for inspection.
https://twitter.com/BehizyTweets/status/1674447067736055809
Supreme Court: Harvard and UNC Affirmative Action “invalidated under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment”
A huge step forward for true equality. No more racial preferences are allowed in university admissions and if racial preferences are unconstitutional there they are unconstitutional everywhere. Watch for the avalanche of related actions.
Goodby American apartheid (treating people differently under the law based on their race).
Actual SCOTUS Finding for the legal geeks
Nearly 400 new mines will be needed to supply minerals for EV, domestic & community batteries over the next ten years. Many of them will be in Australia as we are the leading supplier of lithium and in the top ten with nickel and cobalt.
You wanted this, Greenies!
Re bank accounts, there are alternatives. Some of the regional banks have not embraced woke. If they’re smart they won’t because there’s a market niche for them in that.
I don’t like the direction this country is headed. But back to bank accounts, yes, they’re coming for our bank accounts and people like you, me and others here will be targeted.
Which is why back gardens are important .. LOL!
Nearly, but not quite! ..I didn’t “italic” my bit .. but ….. duuuuuuuh!
No matter how many times I tick .. remember me .. it don’t!
“The tides here are huge, eight metres. It’s fun to watch the bobbing little boats gradually turn on their buoys and finally run aground in their miniature harbours.”
——————
Saw the same in the Bay of Fundy, even a river that runs inland when the tides comes in.
“I don’t like the direction this country is headed. But back to bank accounts, yes, they’re coming for our bank accounts and people like you, me and others here will be targeted.”
Bullseye, as usual Cassie. The pandemic seems to have exacerbated the totalitarian trends we have noticed in recent years. I am still “out to lunch” on whether the whole debacle was guided (if not planned) by the same forces that are bent on dismantling western democracy. At the moment I still favour stupidity and incompetence over malice and intent as an explanation.
Nevertheless, it is impossible not to observe the accumulation and use of power by the so called “elites” and their hangers-on around the world. And it is not designed to “free the masses” or even to feather the nests of the middle classes. Have they observed the extraordinary wealth obtained by the hegemonies of the socialist world? Or are they intrinsically fantasists who actually think they can preserve planet Earth by their superior planning?
Cassie, the truly unsettling thought is that you and I, and people like us, probably know someone – or a member of their family – who operates in this sphere. No one in their circle of friends and acquaintances makes any comment, because we are “too polite” – yes, even firebrands like us! In my case, I recognise a young in-law of a friend who fits the bill – in a top position (despite his relatively young age) who flies constantly around the world for his well known global giant. I am not mentioning the type of business because I am getting a bit conscious of all of this. But I glance at him on the few occasions I see him and he returns the glance with almost recognition of what I am thinking. Very spooky.
Hope everyone now doesn’t think I am going around the twist. But the closure of Farage’s bank account has reminded me just how vulnerable we all are.
On the other hand, Robert Malone has weathered all sorts of similar attacks on him. But it is early days.
Results of the SCOTUSpoll taken June 17-20 regarding the SCOTUS Affirmative Action decision:
Anyone know if Albo was lucky enough to get tickets to see Tay-Tay? Can’t wait to see him bopping around in the front row.
A tiny bit of pushback.
Faith Wins: Barclays Bank Pays Settlement After Debanking Christian Organization (29 Jun)
One smear is all it takes, even when it isn’t a smear. After all if a child can now be surgically and chemically treated to convert its sexuality why can’t someone who doesn’t want to be gay get support to change their sexuality too?
Barclays are evil bigoted bastards to cancel a Christian organization for being Christian. Betcha they’d never try doing it to a Muslim group.
Tintarella di Luna says:
June 30, 2023 at 6:41 am
Oh but it’s cold outside – had to put on something warm
——————
I hop out of bed in the morning, turn on the heating and then get back into bed. I get up when it warm enough. The pleasures of retirement.
Weasel words from the Grand Chief Vice Penguin.
The belief at that time, based on the understanding of the recruiting process and interpretation of the legal advice, was that this practice demonstrated acceptable, positive action. We now know that it did not, and I apologise unreservedly to all those affected.
(Don’t have enough internal RAM to remember HTML and the location of the car keys.)
Matt Kean accusses Gladys of ‘dating a weirdo’
Pot, kettle.
“forget taxation without representation, this is income tax without income.
Thankfully they seem to have precedent on their side. Unrealised “dividends” simply are not income.”
——————–
Didn’t we have the same issue some time ago with deeming of interest on bank deposits for people who did not put their money in high interest accounts? I believe this mostly affected retired people.
Ironic that the 14th Amendment is one of the Reconstruction Amendments that liberal scholars like Eric Foner maintain remade the US Constitution & eventually the nation.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/steve-kirsch-during-pa-state-senate-hearing-we/
Steve Kirsch on the Amish experience of both COVID and autism
Take aways:
Virtually none of their kids are vaxxed and have a zero autism rate
They ignored the official guidelines for COVID, and had a death rate 90 times lower than the rest of the US population
“If they’re smart they won’t because there’s a market niche for them in that.”
Youda think so Roger, but the woke operate like Indonesian pythons, once they latch onto something, they slowly strangle and eat it.
Cassie, there are people trying to setup an Aussie branch of the FSU, they may like a hand, if you contact Toby by email he may be able to put you in touch with them if you would like to help.
In that case there will be a lot of Democrats secretly happy to see Affirmative Action ended without having to take responsibility for it – they can continue publicly to rant about systemic inequity and disadvantage, and blame it on the right!
…Something NQR about her, either way….
Says the doughnut hoover who took his kids to get their noses reamed by strangers during Covid because the wobblejowled sook was scared they would give it to him.
Here is a handy guide to ‘Pride’ flags, which are proliferating faster than the letters in the QWERTY alphabet:
https://www.prideflags.org/
Rosie says:
June 30, 2023 at 7:49 am
Things for all Australians to look forward to.
As long as we have the Voice, right Woolies and Coles? Who arbitrarily stopped selling 15c plastic bags because they are Captain Planets.
—————–
Now Woolies sell you the paper bags for 25c which are not reusable. So much for their greenery.
My final say on Gladys and my lack of sympathy ….
Both myself and youngest daughter live in adjoining areas that were subjected to the additional restrictions (Blacktown & Fairfield) and during this period, at 74, ! was cycling the 40kms return trip over to have a cup of tea/coffee with her a coupla times a week (she was working from home) because she was afraid to drive to me in case she got pulled over …….
NEVER FORGIVE NEVER FORGET …….!
Big Brother is watching you.
– George Orwell
“I don’t like the direction this country is headed. But back to bank accounts, yes, they’re coming for our bank accounts and people like you, me and others here will be targeted.”
—————-
That’s why the push to allow intervened comments only under your real name. This is the media’s new push, they know we are undermining them and their lies.
“Youda think so Roger, but the woke operate like Indonesian pythons, once they latch onto something, they slowly strangle and eat it.”
In which case employers may have to start paying people with cash or cash cheques.
The law of unintended consequences!
The supremes have been fairly careful in their judgement.
They’ve effectively argued that BLANKET admissions policies based on race are against the law
But at the same time left it up to institutions to define how they could allow individual “leg ups’ to deserving people.
Which Id imagine would allow bequests and grants to individuals to still be allowed.
So for example the blanket “you are black, you will be allowed in despite a low academic score” would be barred, but if the institution had a defined policy of ” we will take the top academic achiever from “x” school” (and its a 95% black school) then it might be fine.
Lots of stuff here to read.
https://www.city-journal.org/awaiting-the-supreme-courts-verdict-on-affirmative-action
Deeming was introduced because of the somewhat bizarre practice of putting money in non interest bearing, or do I mean baring? accounts in order to maximise age pension payments.
Quite often with the idiotic result of people having significantly lower incomes than they might otherwise have so desperate they were to access taxpayer funds.
Bit more on that low-life who got topped in Bondi .. yesterday i mentioned that despite being gaoled for 16 years in 2011 he was roaming the streets free long before he should have been .. turns out, and being a “houso” I have to admit I wasn’t aware of this get-out-of-jail loophole for the “professionals” on the murkier side of the law .. he was given “early release” cos he shopped some other lags over a gun importation operation and customs/plod seized a fair whack of illegal weaponry and a coupla live bodies ..
Might also help to explain why he isn’t doing any more “snorting” ….. LOL!
Flimsy useless paper bags at that.
When I was working after school at a supermarket they provided big study paperbacks with no handles and they were free.
READ: Clarence Thomas’ Straight-Fire Response to Ketanji Brown Jackson in Affirmative Action Case Concurrence
the United States Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote Thursday that the race-based college admissions processes used by Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) violate the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, effectively striking down the use of affirmative action programs in college admissions.
In Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissenting opinion in the UNC case, Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to the Supreme Court in part based on a campaign promise to nominate a black woman, accused the court’s conservative majority of “let-them-eat-cake obliviousness,” proclaiming that the Justices “detached” themselves from “this country’s actual past and present experiences,” while lecturing the “ostrich-like” members about so-called “lived experiences”:
In his concurrence with the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas responded accordingly to Jackson’s dissent. Here are some noteworthy excerpts:
Accordingly, JUSTICE JACKSON’s race-infused world view falls flat at each step. Individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them. And their race is not to blame for everything—good or bad—that happens in their lives. A contrary, myopic world view based on individuals’ skin color to the total exclusion of their personal choices is nothing short of racial determinism.
JUSTICE JACKSON then builds from her faulty premise to call for action, arguing that courts should defer to “experts” and allow institutions to discriminate on the basis of race. Make no mistake: Her dissent is not a vanguard of the in-nocent and helpless. It is instead a call to empower privileged elites, who will “tell us [what] is required to level the playing field” among castes and classifications that they alone can divine. Post, at 26; see also post, at 5–7 (GORSUCH, J., concurring) (explaining the arbitrariness of these classifications). Then, after siloing us all into racial castes and pitting those castes against each other, the dissent somehow believes that we will be able—at some undefined point—to “march forward together” into some utopian vision. Post, at 26 (opinion of JACKSON, J.). Social movements that invoke these sorts of rallying cries, historically, have ended disastrously.
Unsurprisingly, this tried-and-failed system defies both law and reason. Start with the obvious: If social reorganization in the name of equality may be justified by the mere fact of statistical disparities among racial groups, then that reorganization must continue until these disparities are fully eliminated, regardless of the reasons for the disparities and the cost of their elimination. If blacks fail a test at higher rates than their white counterparts (regardless of whether the reason for the disparity has anything at all to do with race), the only solution will be race-focused measures. If those measures were to result in blacks failing at yet higher rates, the only solution would be to double down. In fact, there would seem to be no logical limit to what the government may do to level the racial playing field—outright wealth transfers, quota systems, and racial preferences would all seem permissible. In such a system, it would not matter how many innocents suffer race-based injuries; all that would matter is reaching the race-based goal.
Worse, the classifications that JUSTICE JACKSON draws are themselves race-based stereotypes. She focuses on two hypothetical applicants, John and James, competing for admission to UNC. John is a white, seventh-generation legacy at the school, while James is black and would be the first in his family to attend UNC. Post, at 3. JUSTICE JACKSON argues that race-conscious admission programs are necessary to adequately compare the two applicants.
As an initial matter, it is not clear why James’s race is the only factor that could encourage UNC to admit him; his status as a first-generation college applicant seems to contextualize his application. But, setting that aside, why is it that John should be judged based on the actions of his great great-great-grandparents? And what would JUSTICE JACKSON say to John when deeming him not as worthy of admission: Some statistically significant number of white people had advantages in college admissions seven generations ago, and you have inherited their incurable sin?
The full opinion can be read here. Thomas’ full response to Jackson starts on page 97.
“If social reorganization in the name of equality may be justified by the mere fact of statistical disparities among racial groups, then that reorganization must continue until these disparities are fully eliminated, regardless of the reasons for the disparities and the cost of their elimination”
The US clearly needs a Voice.
I see there is some schadenfreude on the matter of Gladys being pinged by ICAC for corruption, and I suppose it has a place.
But it is not justice. She has been had a finding of corruption made against her but that is not actually what she did that has earned her so much ire at The Cat.
There is no law or standard that would prevent the debacle that was the Covid response that she was found to have breached and instead got her on what is almost certainly commonplace and she has been spared for what she did that was most egregious.
Which is to say that ICAC will go after people over a trifle and spare people who have wrought ruin.
Does that sound like something we should be cheering?
And in the future ICAC will continue to stalk people who may have done nothing significant and the next insane overreach of government will be waved through.
Oh, and if you are Labor, you are safe. No matter how bad they get they are safe.
sfw says:
June 30, 2023 at 8:47 am
Cassie, there are people trying to setup an Aussie branch of the FSU, they may like a hand, if you contact Toby by email he may be able to put you in touch with them if you would like to help.
———————
I recall UK of some years ago when Jacob Rees-Mogg was touting himself as ultra conservative while Toby was seen as flighty yet here we are, Toby is a free speech and freedom fighter while Rees-Mogg fled with his tail between his legs.
The woke will undoubtedly try on anything they can to evade the finding, but here’s the thing, they can now be sued extremely easily. As in “Why school X and not school Y? Which leads to discovery, which means the woke have to open up the books and explain their processes and reasoning.
That option wasn’t really available before SCOTUS stepped in. In fact, this finding was driven by two of those suits which took years to get to SCOTUS. Now it’s available at the local court level and the left hate that.
Oh, and if the Uni takes federal funding (and they ALL do) they are really screwed because they can lose that funding over a case like this.
Crossie says:
June 30, 2023 at 8:30 am
Would be the ideal place to use tidal power generation, is there any?
We are planning for that ‘privileged elite’.
In Australia we call it ‘Voice’.
Clarence Thomas’ biography is testament to how individuals deal with their personal circumstances, it’s one of my highly recommended reads. Iirc he was angry at a choice he made in relation to tertiary education because he thought he might be tainted by affirmative action.
I’m truly no Gladys fan, but what the ICAC did is beyond the pale and we would never see this for a labor leader, think KKK and Nathan Rees. They’ve labelled her corrupt on pretty flimsy grounds then because it’s clearly not very convincing released her prviate text messages. Ironically, those text messages just reveal some strange language, if Maguire was truly the boss they would have some evidence to back up that text message.
Where are Kristina Kenneally private messages to Eddie Obeid?
Zatara.
Thats why I think its a clever ruling.
It puts the onus back onto institutions to prove they are admitting individuals, not blobs based on skin colour.
The sheer gall of treating Billy Buckwheat from lower povertyville as less deserving than, for instance, one of obamas spawn based on skin colour is vile.
‘The supremes have been fairly careful in their judgement.
They’ve effectively argued that BLANKET admissions policies based on race are against the law
But at the same time left it up to institutions to define how they could allow individual “leg ups’ to deserving people.
Which Id imagine would allow bequests and grants to individuals to still be allowed.
So for example the blanket “you are black, you will be allowed in despite a low academic score” would be barred, but if the institution had a defined policy of ” we will take the top academic achiever from “x” school” (and its a 95% black school) then it might be fine.
Lots of stuff here to read.’
—————————————————————————
I can understand why they did this.
There is a fine line between abhorrent racial discrimination and attempts to give a leg up to deserving applicants of whatever background. For example, merit based scholarships can quite reasonably be means tested, and individuals should be free to endow scholarships based on whatever they prefer. The institution can refuse endowments if they find them repugnant.
Hardline blanket measures risk breaching free speech and free association.
Mind you, no doubt the universities will continue to try to find ways around the ruling in order to pursue their ideological objectives. But the blatant stuff has to stop, and vigilant parents will no doubt be watching closely, especially the Asian-American ones.
How exactly do I find out what race I am?
Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
– George Orwell
test
Testing the “save my address” feature (which has just appeared).
What sorcery is this? Haven’t been on the Cat for a couple of days and everything’s changed. Didn’t recognise the place. By the way, where are the ‘bold’ and ‘italic’ buttons?
The banks shouldn’t be left off the hook here – they had a deliberate practice of shepherding pensioners into the low interest accounts for a very obvious reason. Absolute bastardry. Again.
Seems using the “log into wordpress id” isnt working for me.
Bugger.
This is pretty horrible.
Seems the casting couch was alive and well for boy bands as well.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jun/29/secrets-of-the-bay-city-rollers-review-one-of-the-most-disturbing-accounts-of-abuse-imaginable
But this programme proves to be far more troubling than that – it is one of the most disturbing accounts of abuse imaginable. Presenter Nicky Campbell uncovers a near inconceivably sadistic and far-reaching network of cruelty that the young men comprising Scottish pop rock band Bay City Rollers were forced to endure – as their manager Tam Paton controlled every aspect of their lives, sexually and emotionally abused them and facilitated their abuse by others.
…..
Part of Patton’s design for the Rollers was to be continually cycling in younger, fresher faces, meaning 24 boys would become “Rollers”, and others were “near Rollers”, including Gert Magnus, who appears to explain how, as a teenage musician, he was offered a place in the band in exchange for sex with Patton.
Yes, agree with commenters above about Gladys being singled out.
It is classic ‘process is the punishment’ stuff, in that it took the high powered sleuths at ICAC nearly three years to finalise the investigation. That’s ridiculous. They are utterly incompetent, corrupt, or both. I’d love to see a timeline of that investigation – who did what, how long each step took, what other work they had on that prevented prioritising an investigation into a former Premier.It’s bullshit.
Also, the release of embarrassing emails and other information about the sexual relationship is in contrast to material released about other investigations. It is a hit job, pure and simple.
I’m not defending what she did, but as someone who lived through, for example, the Wran years, the pattern of ICAC’s assassination of Liberals for minor matters (a bottle of wine, FFS!) is unmistakable.
hzhousewife, I looked in the form guide. Race 5 at Randwick, odds on favorite.
Well, if you are a lying hypocrite like Sen Elizabeth Warren you just pick the one that gives you the biggest affirmative action leg up. American Indian for instance.
If you are up for some laughs watch her get universally ratioed for this non-self aware tweet today.
Hmmm. Doesn’t seem to save my details for next comment. Also, cannot seem to log in.
As for Beryl Gladyschlocklian, I’d be very happy for her to experience HOP Time™ as a participant. She’s right up near the top of my list, especially due to what I was subjected to as a resident of one of her “LGAs of Obsession”. We were subject to a curfew, FFS – over a largely harmless flu variant.
She knew about Maguire’s dodgy development deals with my beloved local council (which is why he came to the attention of the ICAC in the first place) and his receipt of various payments for “services rendered” (i.e. the abuse of his parliamentary position) and did nothing.
That is corruption, pure and simple in my book.
Would be the ideal place to use tidal power generation…
Look, if you want fish stock, then just chop them up at home with a blender!
The email and name “save” feature doesn’t….
lol Ranga ! I’ll notify the Government
And yes, the ICAC is staggeringly incompetent, vindictive, partisan, utterly useless and should be shut down with extreme prejudice and anyone who ever worked in it barred from practising law ever again.
So it’s very fortunate for them that we’ve been gifted with a new labore government that’s likely to be in power for 12-16 years at least, courtesy of the worst NSW coalition government ever, of which Beryl and mouth foaming lunatics like Health Hazzard, Keane and Elliott were exemplars.
Top Ender says:
June 30, 2023 at 9:45 am
Good one, but I was a bit sarc the UK being all green power an all.
Democrat Kentucky Governor Claims Puberty Blockers and Hormones for Child Sex Changes Are ‘Basic Medical Decisions’
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/democrat-kentucky-governor-claims-puberty-blockers-hormones-child/
It works for me, sing Firefox.
‘using’ – dammit.
I just typed a comment and added my usual email and username – saved from then on.
I gather that people trying to log in to WordPress may have a different experience.
Wuhan Virologist Admits COVID Was Engineered As a ‘Bioweapon’
https://theleadingreport.com/2023/06/28/wuhan-virologist-admits-covid-was-engineered-as-a-bioweapon/
Lucky them.
Scientists Claim Placebo Vaccines in EU
https://theleadingreport.com/2023/06/29/scientists-claim-placebo-vaccines-in-eu/
Thanks Buccaneer, Mother Lode and Johanna.
I don’t expect people to like Gladys, I don’t think highly of her, however my animus towards her isn’t over Covid, it’s over those horrendous abortion laws she passed in 2019, because she and the party did a deal with that piece of excrement, Greenfilth.
But seriously, this judgment is ludicrous and ICAC’s history of solely going after Coalition politicians yet ignoring Labor is highly suspicious. Three Liberal premier scalps, yet not one Labor scalp. Ridiculous, and one over a bottle of vino. Oh and ICAC only looked into Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi when it woke up after the Liberals landslide win in 2011. Before then, it was asleep, nothing, nada, zilcho. And speaking of conversations about “who’s the boss”, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall listening to conversations between Mrs Keneally and Mr Obeid back in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and don’t forget, Steady Eddie Obeid made no secret about how he was the boss, the kingmaker of NSW Labor. he was El Obeido.
Biden says Supreme Court has ‘done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history’: Slams affirmative action ruling and explains why said justices are ‘not normal’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12247965/Biden-slams-Supreme-Court-college-affirmative-action-ruling.html
TheirABC’s ‘fact checkers’ addressed Linda (I see nothing) Burney’s statement in Parliament that Da Voice would not interfere in matters like Australia Day.
There must have been a bit of a flurry of reaction for them to take it up.
They were forced to admit (buried deep in the verbiage) that of course they could. Most of the article was a series of ludicrous and unsupported assertions that they would never do such a thing.
It’s a wonder that none of the flying pigs hit the windows of their comfy offices.
Brave can automatically remember email and name – type the first letter in each box to prompt it. That’s a lot easier than retyping the whole lot.
It’s a work in progress, so patience Grasshoppers, when you can steal a stone from Dover’s hand you’ll have format buttons back.
Re the recent report that scientists have found placebo doses amongst the mRNA Covid vaccine batches:
I have read the comments of Malone and others on this report. If this is the case, it is scandalous that clinical research was being conducted without the consent of the patients at large. In other words, some of the vaccinated were not even receiving the vaccine they thought they were. And yes, they were damn lucky, and I am hoping that my family were amongst them.
This still does not eliminate the possibility that some adverse effects were caused by contaminated vials that were contaminated during manufacture or stored incorrectly. And, of course, the toxicity of the spike protein that was generated is another issue.
But the presence of placebo doses just adds to the incredible violation of procedures that occurred with no redress, or even acknowledgment.
This Biden?
1977 – Biden says integrating black students would turn schools into “A jungle… A racial jungle.”
“I don’t want my children to grow up in a racial jungle”
ML:
***There is no law or standard that would prevent the debacle that was the Covid response that she was found to have breached and instead got her on what is almost certainly commonplace and she has been spared for what she did that was most egregious.***
Gladys & her predecessors all knew what ICAC is, yet they did nothing about it, especially after O’Farrell got pinged for a bottle of wine.
It looks like the country will never see a RC into govt responses to covid. At least not this financial year, given that Luigi & Charmless did not allocate any budget funds to it, despite having promised it at the last election. Which will leave it in the too hard basket in the lead up to the 2025 election.
As to Gladys, I’m reminded at this juncture of Al Capone. It woz tax evasion that got ‘im.
Ps my laptop won’t work on the site – just the phone. Anyone else having that problem?
Good to see the cat has already achieved ‘net zero’
“Re the recent report that scientists have found placebo doses amongst the mRNA Covid vaccine batches”:
1) If true (and I dont doubt it was – they likely also had batches with a variety of ‘doses’ of the mRNA as well), this is (another) clear violation of the Nuremberg Code, which states ‘the voluntary consent of the test subject is absolutely essential’.
2) Given the vaxxes a) didnt work b) caused problems of their own, unless the ‘placebos’ contained NO active ingredients (especially the mRNA payload AND the LNP delivery system), these were not placebos, they were ‘nocebos’.
“The ultimate head of the Submarine Tracking Room, Rodger Winn, was a barrister who had wanted to join the RN but was not fit enough because of childhood polio.
He won over one Commander North-Western Approaches with a macabre bet.
Two tankers were on the way to the UK. Winn predicted submarines on one route, and suggested they be diverted. The Admiral was not sure, and asked for proof, which could only be provided by diverting one tanker, and letting the other continue. The diverted tanker made it through safely, the other was sunk.
From then on the Admiral took his advice.”
There are a few tales like this in the series, Boambee John. I’d heard about the Uboat Wolf Packs but I didn’t quite comprehend the extent of the carnage and the importance of getting some tactical advantage against them. Fix it, said Churchill, or the war is lost. The dramatisations are excellent, good characterisation and computer-assisted explosions interspersed with real footage. The women are really, really well done, casting is spot on, language and manners perfect in tone for the 40’s. I started work in the 50’s and some of that still lingered, and not all of the separation of sex roles was bad back then. The complimentary nature of men and women working together as men and women (not as some agglomerate mass) has changed so much since I was a girl. Oh, and those WREN uniforms are to die for, especially the near-tricorn hats.
The good old random placebos and massive variations in dose strengths again.
Other than evil scientists seeking world domination or wanting to provide compelling evidence that breakfast before midday is bad for you, why, why would they do that?
#carnivoresforevah!
Wallaroos (female rugby team) trounced 50-0 by NZ. Yikes!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-30/wallaroos-lose-50-0-in-pacific-fours-new-zealand-opener/102545346
A teenage female rugby team stayed here a while back. At least half of them were Islander/Maori girls, and I tell you what, if one of those mountains of meat and muscle came running towards me, I’d just give them the ball. I’d even offer to take it over the line for them. Anything rather than having one land on me and leave me looking like a pizza.
At least in men’s contact sports, there are big boofy white guys who have a chance against the Pacifica boys. In women’s sport, fuhgedaboudit. Tackling one of the girls that I saw would be like tackling a fire hydrant, and about as productive.
Cassie:
****I don’t expect people to like Gladys, I don’t think highly of her, however my animus towards her isn’t over Covid, it’s over those horrendous abortion laws she passed in 2019, because she and the party did a deal with that piece of excrement, Greenfilth.****
Showing the type of leader and person she really is.
At the time of their introduction into the parliament, I wrote to her and received a reply. It seems she “could do nothing about it – it was not in any way under her control”. I responded that she could have the legislation pulled before it was introduced into the Legislative Assembly.
The other day, I put up a link to Father Frank Brennan address at the St Thomas More Forum Dinner 2023. Father Frank spoke of More’s adherence to 1) precision 2) process 3) conscience. Insofar as the abortion laws, what the state found was that Gladys had no understanding of any part of any of that. Which is why the same lack in her during covid.
It’s official: Kathleen Kennedy is the depleted uranium wrecking ball of American pop culture./strong>
Bounding Into Comics
@BoundingComics
29 Jun
‘Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny’ Box Office Projections Described As “Abysmal,” Film Could Lose Upwards Of $250 Million https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/06/28/indiana-jones-and-the-dial-of-destiny-box-office-projections-described-as-abysmal-film-could-lose-upwards-of-250-million/
In rubbing-our-noses-in-it news: Brett Sutton named Victorian of the Year
Roger, on minor (regional) banks being non-woke. Take a look at B Certification, which seems to have sucked in a few:
“On the advice of saving the planet, and despite your ability to furnish the repayments for that car/boat/small business we may have to refuse you a loan”.
Now Woolies sell you the paper bags for 25c which are not reusable. So much for their greenery.
Looking at one right now.
Reusable, made in Vietnam.
Those handles are quite sturdy too.
The best thing about the series called ‘War Gamers’ (on Netflix) is that it shows how a new idea can meet with entrenched official resistance. In wartime, that resistance matters, because the proof then is very much in the pudding, which means lives lost (men died drowning in oil-bathed seas when tankers went down, and tankers were prime targets due to their tonnage, for Admiral Donitz (very well played) used tonnage competitions to spur on his Uboat captains.
The whole show is delightfully non-woke; the stern battleaxe leader of the WRENS is just sufficiently feminist about ‘her girls’ and no more. You get to like her a lot. Another one similar to Miss Pierce in Foyle’s War. The female historians commenting were also unwoke, just admiring of the women’s achievements which are obviously well studied. the male historians were also on top of their material; I had no idea that Uboats entered the naval waters we passed by in Florida and sank US ships in view of the US coastline; the entry of the US to the war saw the Wolf Packs have a feeding frenzy till the captains were trained in the new tactics. We saw two episodes last night to take my mind off other matters stressing me. Hard to say that submarine attacks were relaxing, but they quietened me down a bit. 🙂