Looks like the phantom downticker found a new victim. How childish can you get? So be it, I can live…
Open Thread – Thurs 20 July 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
Exactly. How different would it be if we had an enemy choose our system of power generation?
Why are we fixing something that isn’t broken? And then why are we choosing the least effective and the costliest…
Now that’s a pantry I like, not a carrot in sight. And no refrigeration in those days either!
Real love and devotion to each other. We hear about the divorces and cheating of celebrities but hardly ever of…
Hahaha, sprung! Who do I believe the MSM or my lying eyes?
The New 42C (20 Jul)
Walgett Aboriginal elders demand housing help 18 months after men’s homeless shelter demolished
Zulu
Yes, it was the series with Hoges.
Cassie, I remember watching a televisual feast when I was about 15 on that very topic. The goil who played Betsy was absolutely gorgeous.
Just to remind people that Katie Hopkins has been denied UK banking services for years.
Yet somehow she has managed to work around it.
Putin Strikes Back: Ukrainian Ports Devastated To Cap Grain Deal’s Termination
SIMPLICIUS THE THINKER
20 JUL 2023
Last night Russia struck Odessa and virtually every other port involved in the grain deal (there are others like Yuzhne, Ochekov, Nikolayev, etc.), as well as other cities in west Ukraine. Odessa’s mayor called it the worst strikes of the entire war thus far:
Incidentally, it was said that the man who filmed the wild video of Odessa arrivals above has already been captured by SBU and ‘mobilized’:
CNN disingenuously ratcheted up the sensationalism, claiming they’ve “never seen anything like it”—I guess the reporter wasn’t around in Baghdad in March, 2003:
By the way, it’s interesting that Western media and officials are making such a big deal about Russia’s “barbaric attacks”, not only from a hypocrisy standpoint—after all, Kiev literally just attacked the Crimean Bridge the other day, killing civilians on camera and now they’re complaining that Russia has hit ‘civilian infrastructure’ in Odessa. But also, the fact that the U.S. has done the same thing many times to no great outrage.
Case in point: here’s an LA Times article from 1990 showing the U.S. utilizing the same tactics during the Gulf War:
Seized Iranian oil just happens to be ‘stuck’ off the coast of Texas, phrased in that immortal passive-voice Newspeak style MSM loves to employ when they need to hide the culprit of the crime. You know, like when they report on Israeli missiles hitting Syria as “Damascus is hit by missiles”, leaving their dimwitted readers to wonder whose missiles they were. If you click on the actual article above, only later on do they mention that this is seized oil, nor do they mention illegally seized.
Now, MSM has the gall to repeatedly cry that Russia’s utilization of the same tactics is somehow more ‘barbaric’.
Getting back to the strikes, here’s another large compilation of strike videos from last night:
This move was clearly to finish off Ukraine’s grain deal infrastructure so that they cannot continue carrying out the deal without Russia, given that Zelensky had already attempted to woo Turkey and others into continuing the deal as if nothing had happened.
Screenshots from a Ukrainian air defense unit were reportedly leaked showing a swarm of missiles and drones:
Screen shots from the ACS “Virage-Tablet” of Ukrainian air defense operators near Odessa speaks for itself.
Dozens of targets representing Caliber, Onyx and Kh-22 missiles, as well as Geran-2 kamikaze drones.
The mayor of Odessa said “that we do not remember such a scale of attack since the beginning of the war”??
This ACS (Automated Control System) Virage system is said to be another analog of Ukraine-Western ‘Nettle’ and Delta systems, which is a data aggregator from a variety of sources, which can be air defense radars, manually inputted from spotters, NATO AWACs, etc. The Fighterbomber channel once explained it as such:
We also know that Tu-22M3s specifically were up in the air, which typically launch Kh-22s, rather than the Kh-101s the Tu-95 Bears launch. So, all in all, last night was a smorgasbord of missiles which probably included: Kh-59s, Kh-22s, Kh-101s, Kalibrs, Onyx/P-800s, sub-launched P-120s and P-700s, and possibly even others like Kh-35s or Iskander-M or K (R-500) variant, as well as a mass of drones led by Gerans/Shaheds.
In short: it appears Russia has finished off Ukraine’s port and grain future. Western apparatchiks are already rushing in to salvage what they can:
Note Samantha Power Wicked Witch of the West has just arrived in Odessa who along with Victoria Nulad have been for many years the Non Stop promoters of War
Meanwhile, Whitehouse spokesman Karen Jean-Pierre has stated that the U.S. has not decided on any action as of yet, and Turkish officials have likewise hinted that they will not be pursuing any ‘bruteforce’ actions to militarily intervene or attempt to use their warships to escort grain cargo.
Moscow has firmly stated that as of July 20, any and all ships heading toward Ukrainian ports will be treated as adversarial targets:
Russian MoD re: ships sailing to Ukrainian ports: In connection with the cessation of the functioning of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the ?losing of the maritime humanitarian corridor, from 00.00 Moscow time on 20 July 2023, all vessels sailing in the waters of the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports will be regarded as potential carriers of military cargo. Accordingly, the countries of such vessels will be considered to be involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kiev regime.
In addition, a number of sea areas in the north-western and south-eastern parts of the international waters of the Black Sea have been declared temporarily dangerous for navigation. Corresponding information warnings on the withdrawal of safety guarantees to mariners have been issued in accordance with the established procedure.
BBC reports that upwards of 60,000 tons of grain was destroyed in the strikes, quoting Ukraine’s agriculture minister:
Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast have destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain and damaged storage infrastructure, officials say.
Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi said a “considerable amount” of export infrastructure was out of operation.
A cursory search seems to give me that a typical large grain ship carries about that much grain, so this would appear to be the equivalent of one full grain ship destroyed—if the reports are even true. Also, it’s claimed that it would take up to a year to restore the damaged terminals.
Recall that at the time of the strikes, Ukraine’s typical fake reports were claiming that “all missiles and drones” were being shot down by their valiant air defense teams.
But now that the damage was too severe to hide, they’re forced to change the story, and now reports like the following abound:
??????Even the Ukrainian TG channel
And in fact, as of this writing, a large new series of strikes is happening on Odessa for the second night in a row. This is typical as Russia will wait a day for the smoke to clear and do satellite BDAs (Battle Damage Assessment), then launch a new strike to finish off the objects which weren’t satisfactorily hit the first time around.
Putin made a number of statements on the situation:
Here is a summary of most salient points:
?? President Putin on the grain deal:
— The grain deal was concluded exactly a year ago, on July 22, 2022. We extended this deal again and again, showed miracles of endurance and patience;
– Nobody [in the West] was going to fulfill the agreements, they just constantly demanded something from Russia. Just outright arrogance;
– The authority was undermined, among other things, by the leadership of the UN secretariat, which acted as a guarantor of the grain deal. I believe that the UN staff sincerely sought to fulfill all the promises made by the West, but they could not achieve anything, they did practically nothing to ensure the normal operation of the deal;
– The West did everything to derail the grain deal, spared no effort;
— The withdrawal from the sanctions of Russian exports of grain and fertilizers to world markets has not been completed. Moreover, Russia is being hindered even from donating Russian fertilizers to the poorest countries;
– Russia will replace Ukrainian grain in the food market both commercially and free of charge;
— The continuation of the grain deal in its current form has lost all meaning. Starting from July 18, its implementation was completed;
– Russia will consider the possibility of returning to the grain deal only if all the principles of Russia’s participation in this deal, without exception, are fully taken into account and implemented.
And presidential advisor Podolyak explains that it’s not the carriers but the insurers who won’t take up the risk on insuring ships crossing the contested warzone waters:
However, Ukraine is now begging companies to continue shipping with the promise that they’ll provide some sort of quasi-insured ‘damage guarantee’ to them:
??????Ukraine said in a letter to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is a United Nations agency, that it has created a mechanism to provide “damage guarantees” to companies and ships visiting ports Ukrainians after the completion of the grain deal, Reuters reports, citing the letter.
Kiev says the mechanism will work for ships that are in Ukrainian territorial waters or heading to or from Ukrainian ports.
Yes, because the big shipowners are gullible enough to believe that the Kiev regime has the money to reimburse the cost of huge ships and insure their crews. As soon as, so immediately, yes??????
There were reports that Russia is not yet finished, which appeared to prove true as a new series of attacks is ongoing as of this writing. British intel claims the following:
“MI-6 has transmitted new intelligence to the Office of the President and the General Staff, indicating that Russian military forces are preparing a series of strikes on maritime infrastructure using deep-sea and naval drones. By employing this method, the Kremlin aims to demonstrate Russia’s possession of new types of weaponry that have not yet been utilized in Ukraine. British intelligence believes that the attacks on seaports are intended to prevent Ukraine from reopening the grain corridor in a unilateral format.”
? As always, take what Rezidents says with a grain of salt.??
Another such report states that Ukraine plans to create a provocation with the intention of drawing Western powers into the conflict:
Of course, this is all par for the course. The entire dog and pony show that Zelensky is currently doing by begging companies to continue shipping under the guise of some ersatz insurance ‘damage guarantee’ is all done under the intention of either creating a falseflag by blowing up these ships and blaming it on Russia, or simply by hoping Russia accidentally hits the ships anyway. As usual, the desperate ploy here is to create the appearance of Russia striking or harming the West in some way, shape, or form in order to finagle them into a clash with Russia. It’s the same tired old trick being used over and over in every instance. However, most Western companies are likely hip to it and know they would be ‘sacrificial lambs’ used to incite a larger war and would rather not take the chance of having their ships and crews destroyed in a falseflag.
For now, Kiev is considering a new route for transporting the grain through Bulgaria and Romania and one can see that as of now all the ships are lined up by the Romanian coast, according to some heading to Ukraine’s port Izmail on the Danube:
In the meantime, things are looking worse and worse for Ukraine and the West. Judging by Putin’s statements, he’s becoming increasingly hardened and jaded to their games and repeated double-crosses which can only mean good news. Lavrov, too, issued a statement cementing Russian resolve by stating that Russia will never back down from the goals of the SMO.
The West is simply running out of options as the grain deal was one of their last big trump cards and leverage points in Ukraine.
Ayden has a good take on this in his thread:
First we have the grain silos and elevator in the Odessa port. Ukraine still had ambitions to force the grain deal without the attendance of Russia following the collapse of the grain deal. By destroying the functionality of the port Putin has removed leverage that Ukraine had over the EU and Turkey, as well as reducing the Ukrainian economy as one does in a war. I won’t even get into the rumors of weapons smuggling through the port but that’s also a factor here.
He correctly points out that NASA’s FIRMS heat-sensing satellite showed major strikes on Odessa’s Shkolny airfield as well:
One full list of the attacks was as follows:
Heavy attacks were made on:
– Odessa commercial seaport
– Black Sea Commercial Sea Port
– Rybport
– Bridge across the Dniester estuary (bridge in Zatoka)
– Bridge across the Dniester in Mayaki
– Odessa airport
– Shkolny airfield
– fuel storage facilities
– uncertainty atm about the ports of Yuzhny, Reni, Izmail and Kiliya
Urgent calls for blood donations in the Odessa region were made:
Occasionally I post a series of headlines showing the souring morale as judged by the lens through which the MSM reports the conflict. Now, it’s getting worse than ever with headlines like the following:
The press lackey calls for U.S. to get into a ‘wartime footing’ in order to compete with Russia. In fact, more and more the realization is hitting Western leadership that they simply can’t compete. For instance, one European minister even called for the creation of a federated ‘United States of Europe’ as it’s beginning to dawn on them that Europe simply can’t compete with the modern world unless fully united under one central government. Interestingly, he named the U.S., China, Russia, and India as the main powers that a united Europe must compete against, which the individual European countries can’t do. We hear so much about Russia being a weak ‘gas station’ it’s revealing to see how these technocrats really regard it.
Admitting that this position is “not at all popular,” the minister proposed that the European Union should be turned into “a European Federation or a United States of Europe,” which he claimed would put it in a position where it could be “a truly equal partner in the game between China, America, or Russia and India.”
Another stroke in this direction is this report that the leadership of five Nordic countries want to subordinate their armed forces to NATO entirely:
This is all just part of the slow consolidation of Europe into an increasingly centralized command structure as they are economically gutted out by the global-geopolitical realities stoked by the U.S. The weaker each individual state gets the more servile they will become, scrambling to give up more and more of their sovereignty as the world slowly drifts towards a much wider future European war.
Seeing that Ukraine is now doomed and stands no chance, with options running out, the U.S. intelligence state will push to accelerate the above developments so that they can unify Europe under one rule and then preferably use them as the next fodder with which to attempt to dismantle Russia.
The point being that, slowly, the powers are converging to continue their war on Russia in any way possible once Ukraine is used up and discarded like a wet rag. Unfortunately for them, Russia at that point will be by far the most experienced, powerful, and technologically advanced military nation in the world, having sharpened its teeth on NATO’s latest and best thrown into the cauldron of the Ukrainian war.
We’ve seen them testing the waters before, with Lithuania attempting to blockade Kaliningrad last year by banning Russian trains, as well as the Baltic Sea nations, like Estonia and Finland, threatening to blockade the passage of Russian ships, which I wrote about extensively long ago. They have several means to do this, by extending their maritime economic zone borders and playing other such geographic ‘technicality’ tricks.
Now, Poland (as well as all of NATO in general) is setting up more and more troops near the Belarus and Kaliningrad border, and the Russian Duma Defense Committee chair already let the cat out the bag, as I mentioned here, about Wagner being positioned in Belarus for the purpose of defending the Suwalki corridor.
My prediction is the following: there are huge tectonic shifts currently underway for which the Ukrainian war serves only as a surface level symbolic playing field. The true play happening beneath the surface are the major moves that BRICS are making. Now that a lot of the long awaited summits and other milestones of the past few months have passed, the next big milestone to look forward to is the BRICS summit on August 24th in South Africa.
But my point is the following. Should these things continue to develop down this path, it brings an existential crisis to the U.S. and the entire Western banking hegemony which uses the fiat spell as their last grasp over their vassals of the world. They absolutely cannot allow this, which means that the closer that Russia brings the world towards either de-dollarization or some sort of global currency bifurcation, then the more the U.S./UK deepstate will push the world toward a great reset ‘war’, which will presumably start as a continental European war.
The scheme will be perfect for them: just like in WW1 and WW2, they can get Russia and Europe to destroy themselves, bringing their infrastructure to ruin while completely collapsing any chances of the world moving away from the dollar, or at the least, the dollar’s upcoming replacement—under their control—by way of some Western central bank or BIS CBDC.
The U.S.’s goal in this would be to create a low simmer style war that doesn’t break out into a complete nuclear exchange. They can do this by managing it carefully and making sure the deepest ‘red lines’ aren’t crossed, while both sides still suffer massive losses and infrastructural/economic ruin.
The best way to do that, by the way, is simply to ensure that it’s Russia which is doing the invading, while keeping the others from triggering any sort of nuclear Article 5—which U.S. can easily do. The reason being that as long as Russia itself is not invaded or faced with an ‘existential threat’, then the chance of them launching a nuclear first strike is low.
The U.S. can likewise easily goad Russia into attacking Poland or the Baltics first as there are many pressure points the U.S. can puppeteer its vassals into pushing which would leave Russia with no choice but to act on—the aforementioned Kaliningrad blockade being one of them, of course. After all, Ukraine was the same type of pressure point. The U.S. activated it exactly at the point it wanted to by simply ordering its abject vassal to begin attacking, which evoked the perfectly expected and desired response from Russia.
With all that said, the timeline for such things could still be several years off. It all depends on how quickly Russia-China can fast-track their de-dollarization efforts.
But getting back to the earlier idea of NATO ‘running out of options’ in Ukraine: this is happening in concert with major Russian battlefield victories which are now utterly undeniable. Ukraine has desperately attempted another series of assaults in the Orekhov and Vremevske Ledge (near Velyka Novoselka) directions, and since these were particularly desperate attacks, they were rebuffed with an elevated brutality. These three videos from today alone tell a story of yesterday’s assaults—though a warning, they are slightly 18+:
Since they have no artificial gimmick by which to do this for the time being, I predict the only thing left will be to scrabble tooth and nail with massive meat assaults in order to grind out some token victory at any cost. That means we should expect to see continued reinforcements pouring into the hottest areas with nothing but human-waves hoping to overrun Russian positions with unprecedented losses.
By the way, this is how Western media is processing the current setup:
Their ‘cope’ take is that this recent broad-fronted strategy of shifting from Levadne, Rabotino, toward Vremevske, etc., is causing Russian units to “weaken” and fatigue. The claim is that Russia is forced to plug the gaps by sending its best units ‘hither and thither’ endlessly which is wearing them out. I’ve seen this same new analysis repeated ad nauseam by several of the top pro-Ukrainian analysts on Twitter.
It’s interesting, though, that we’re meant to believe Russia is tiring out from running back and forth massacring the AFU while the Ukrainian units themselves—according to this logic—suffer no ill effects from the abominable losses they’re taking, particularly in the new meat assaults where they’re hardly using any armor at all.
As a last note on this, here’s an interesting write up of current mercenary force disposition:
ABC headline: ‘What being a godparent as an atheist means to me’
Yet another example of the prog-left modus operandi as summarised by David Burge
@iowahawkblog:
1. Identify a respected institution.
2. kill it.
3. gut it.
4. wear its carcass as a skin suit, while demanding respect.
Any priest who permits an atheist to serve as a godparent is collaborating with the enemy.
Hence his many ‘rhoid rages as the battle wore on, not necessarily to the Emperor’s advantage …
Of course Dictator Dan knew that cancelling the Games was an easy decision.
He has no political opposition in Victoria.
The press will not attack him.
Sporting bodies who criticise him will have their complaints marginalised.
He has thousands of Government funded press hacks who will aid him by obfuscation.
He has form in cancelling contracts no matter what the financial penalties are.
Overseas criticism will be directed at that amorphous mass “Australia”.
Cancel the Commonwealth Games? No biggie.
Very bad news for those in the Horn of Africa.
Happily the Romanians have offered Constanta and the Bulgarians seem likely to cooperate as well.
Why does Big W think it needs to weigh in on political issues? What does it think will happen with people planning on voting ‘No’?
I think we need an intervention. We should get the senior level managers from Big W, Woollies, Coles, and any other, sit them down and explain things to them.
“Fellas, not a single one of your customers goes to through your shop without noting at least one thing suddenly overpriced, usually more. They know you are cheaper than some other places but they also know how you cut costs. Going to your shops is accompanied by the feeling of not being able to go anywhere better.
“Your customers must walk through canyons of products they are not interested in and all to often get to the place where they expect their item only to find that space bare. They look around to the gremlins charged with keeping the shelves stocked and find them either alone playing on their phone, or else a few that have clumped together like lint and are intent in conversation with no thought between them of stocking shelves.
“All around their are posters and placards screaming in lurid inks ‘Value’ and ‘Bargain’.
Or others showing perfect human specimens in corporate livery with glowing, flawless skin and scintillating teeth, above slogans about being your (the customers’) best friend.
“The lights are sickly, the floors are sticky, if not puddled with mysterious spilled liquids. The trolley wheels wobble, kids scream, and there is the constant need to squeeze past other customers who all have differing degrees of spatial awareness and proprioception. The cashiers, if present, are utterly indifferent, unable to summon up even the least interest, sometimes not even looking at the customer. Or the self-check out (I mentioned before how you cut costs) which like poker machines at random intervals begin to flash with messages about objects in the bagging area and how you must wait for an assistant.”
“So, guys, do you really think any of the people who go into your store consider you an exemplar or oracle of political opinion?”
These companies are like dinosaurs – enormous physical presences guided by tiny pea-sized brains. When Big W decided to push the voice, who and how many were involved in that decision? I would guess a dozen senior people at most made the decision and everyone below them were required by their job to carry it out. But it is still the same pea-brains.
If the CCP were to conquer this land aborigines would be the next Uyghurs. No more Dreaming, sit down money and trashing your house if you don’t like the colour of the walls.
I take it as a recommendation that those ceiling fan cleaner poles really work then?
When we return I will buy one and see. I saw the TV Global Shop Direct (yeah, yeah) ad for them and thought firstly, our fans can get really grubby because I don’t clean them often, so surely the gadget would just smear the mess around, and secondly when I clean them I hold the blade being careful not to pull on it and make the top attachment loose. Those gadgets look as though you’d have to tug them along quite solidly.
But if Cats, the great experimenters and first adopters of this world, recommend the gadget, I will get one.
Meme
On second thoughts, I could just enlarge the Chinese cleaners’ regular duties.
Though that does smack of defeatism. Never go back, never give in? Onward, troops, etc.
I have heard something similar last year at work. The aboriginal woman who was training staff in The Culture offhandedly referred to her godchildren and earlier she explained that she was raised as a Catholic. Both her aboriginal father and white mother were Catholics but she is now into The Spirituality. I hoped that she was chosen as the godmother when she was still Catholic.
Or the self-check out (I mentioned before how you cut costs) which like poker machines at random intervals begin to flash with messages about objects in the bagging area and how you must wait for an assistant.”
Nothing like conditioning the kiddies.
I absolutely despise the self service checkouts.
Best ‘Please Explain’ yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVNAuSSAgTk
I don’t know if Catholic Canon Law touches on that, Crossie, but I would imagine that a person who apostasises from the faith ipso facto excludes themselves from continuing to act as a godparent or sponsor.
And most of it due to the poor lighting. I went into my local Woolies and noticed it was rather dark in there, particularly in the aisles. Looking up I noted that every second tube was not lit. This may not pan out as well as they think, people may not buy things because they may not be able to see them.
China was recipient of Ukraine grain, interesting to see how they will be affected by Russia’s play.
Re Walgett homelessness and no funding – could we have an audit please on where funds allocated to assist aboriginal people in that region have gone? What bureaucrats have been responsible for its allocation, and why are they not being questioned about this? How much money? Where has it gone? These are questions to be asked throughout regional and remote Australia.
We don’t need a damned voice to tell us these problems exist. What we need is an immediate far-seeking audit of where all of the $30-40 BILLION yearly has been going? How much goes to ‘Voice organisations’ already? Why in the case at point was a domestic violence refuge prioritised over homeless dero men? Surely both are required in a proper examination of cause and effect? What does their extensive ‘team’ of expert employees, white or blak, do? How about ‘cultural’ organisations? How much and how useful are these? AUDIT PLEASE. NO MORE VOICE.
The sooner they end up thrashing helplessly about in a tarpit after a massive meteor strike, the better.
woolworths obviously no longer needs my custom, nor will it be receiving it. Time to take my money elsewhere.
Re: Cleaning fan blades.
It is possible to buy stretch fabric or plastic fan blade covers to ease the cleaning thereof. BigW for example. Ladder still required, but less manipulation and overreach.
Re: Cleaning fan blades.
It is possible to buy stretch fabric or plastic fan blade covers to ease the cleaning thereof. BigW for example. Ladder still required, but less manipulation and overreach.
I posted here yesterday that Xi has ordered vast tracts of new forest planted in the 2000s to be ripped up and replaced with grain crops. Reports are the clearance exceeds what’s happening in the Amazon. We’ll see how this works out as much of that land was probably marginal for cropping in any case.
Worth repeating, Barry. 😀
Simplicius the Thinker: attacking a bridge is terrorism
Also Simplicius the Thinker: attacking grain export terminals is just fine
Betcha he didn’t report this story:
Ukraine Chief Rabbi awarded medal for heroism (19 Jul)
Obviously Putin’s denazification is working. /s
Attacking ports and attacking bridges is standard for wars. But without at least some pretense towards even handed reporting a source is just a propagandist. Also my scrolling finger risks RSI.
Has he reported the Wagner casualty numbers they themselves put up on Telegram? Somehow I doubt it.
Audits are racist.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Chief Rabbi is in exile in Hungary after receiving death threats from antisemites due to his opposition to the war. He has advised Russia’s Jews to leave the country.
FMD oldozzie, if I read these text walls you put up I would run out of time for coping.
Yes, and I mentioned that China was one of the biggest customers for Ukrainian grain via the agreement with Russia, which Erdogan mediated.
Now Russia has damaged the Chinese consulate in Odessa in the latest overnight attack. How to win friends, not. I wonder if China will screech like they did when Bill Clinton bombed their embassy in Belgrade that time?
LOL Sancho. I hope not, but this is the son with a tendency to unusual behaviours and while he’s very morally conscientious and Attapuss is safe, I have banned his use of the BBQ so far because he’s not crash hot with dials and getting things right. He missed his flight home from Thailand because he misread the date, time and place. All three things, not just one. I thought I might let him BBQ, as the drip tray is now empty and wouldn’t catch fire, but will push the air fryer as the better alternative. We have a basic model, leave it on 200 heat, then one twist of the dial to both turn on and time, and it’s done.
One of my saucepans for some unknown reason, although rated for induction stovetops, only works on two of our four stove rings. Telling him which ones, and which saucepan, he will find confusing, so I have removed the offending saucepan to a place where he will leave it alone, a display cabinet behind glass in my study. He won’t find that at all curious. Autism again.
For Christmas last year I received a platform ladder from my practical minded son. Apart from easily accessing fan blades for cleaning, it has proved surprisingly useful, given my style of gardening is to let things run wild and then attempt to cut them back, safer now I have something solid to stand on.
While on the mess in Ukraine:
US Pressuring Ukraine For ‘Decisive Breakthrough’ & More Aggressive Tactics: WaPo (20 Jul)
I said weeks ago that against the sorts of fortifications the Russians have built that the Great Summer Offensive™ would be as much an exercise in managing the US and EU, and that Zelensky would come back and say “if only we had more tanks and ammo”! Then beg for more money and stuff. And guess what…
I’ve also banned him the use of the dishwasher, for similar reasons. It’s a complex Miele, the love of Hairy’s life as he scientifically stacks it daily (even I am not allowed to do that) and he will blow his stack if son messes it up with differently abled stacking.
He’s ok with the washing machine. His sometime ex-partner has put him through a years-long rigorous training and development session with that.
Funnily enough, he’s really competent with computers and electronic things. He can even pull them apart internally and add more memory etc to them, knows about hard drives and things too. He has work-arounds for some quite arcane stuff. Hairy says don’t let him anywhere near ours, for he has to rejig the Foxtel after each stay, but I do have to admire my son’s capabilities shown there. In contrast to mine, of course, it may not be such a difficult hurdle to leap.
A question that could reasonably be asked of the NIAA, the Commonwealth’s lead agency for indigenous affairs, reporting directly to Linda Burney and Assistant Minister Malarndirri McCarthy.
One of the NIAA’s core functions is administering the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. This was a Coalition initiative linking Commonwealth and State governments with an indigenous advisory group, the Coalition of Peaks – the Albanese Government is still participating in the process.
So, Australian governments, in a “genuine partnership”, are plugged into the “views and expertise” of Elders, Traditional Owners and Native Title holders, communities and organisations.
The Coalition of Peaks has its roots in the failure of Rudd’s weepy 2008 Closing the Gap initiative. Formally formed in 2016:
Some 800 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.
Let that soak in.
If this much indigenous representation, and this level of “genuine partnership” with government is not delivering results, it behooves Albanese to explain exactly how it has failed – and why and how the Voice is going to do any better.
And why he hasn’t sacked Burney and McCarthy.
Sadly, nobody in public discourse is asking these bleedingly obvious questions.
This is a massive Strawman.
Nobody is describing the guy in the Media as a murderer, so what’s the issue here?
That someone somewhere someday might say that?
The guy needs to accept that his 15 minutes of fame is over, and move on.
Lizzie keeps whining and making stuff up – situation normal:
What ‘huge stalking form’? I take it that the slightest whiff of criticism is now ‘stalking’ in this vain, silly woman’s addled brain.
As for getting my wish and booting Saint Lizzie, talk about projection. It was not me who threatened to stop funding the blog if someone wasn’t booted.
And then the old refrain about not ‘feeling welcome here.’ Honey, it’s a blog, not a support group. Grow up. If you are so upset about the lack of 100% approbation, go somewhere else. Otherwise, stop whingeing. Nobody is entitled to ‘feel welcome’ here, including me.
The plaintive, attention and sympathy seeking bleats about a single pisstake of about 150 words days ago are now running at a ratio of about 6:1 in relation to my comments since. If you could bear not to be utterly focused on your tender, bruised feelings like a typical neurotic leftist, everyone would have forgotten about it long ago.
As it stands, you retain the title of the Michael Mann of Catallaxy.
Some 800 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.
Let that soak in.
+100
On Quora many are full pelt on attacking the Voice. The MSM cowers before the activists. Skynews is the only FTA medium going after the nonsense claims. As the recent appallingly biased Dark Emu demonstrated, the ABC is hopelessly biased and needs to be called to account.
Probably hopeless optimism on my part but I hope and even as an apatheist pray that this ongoing media and corporate bias will finally persuade the broader public that the MSM can’t be trusted and no-one should tolerate corporations preaching to us.
When one war isn’t enough…
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/20/us-navy-persian-gulf-war-iran-repeat/
(Paywalled)
Is anyone feeling the ‘fever’ that TheirABC assures us is being felt throughout this wide brown land about the Wimmenses soccer thingie?
Perhaps it’s just my social circle, not to mention the coffee shops and other retail outlets I patronise, but nobody has ever even mentioned it.
And I do hope somebody asks them next time in Estimates why they have promoted the Barbie movie over and over again, and how it fits in with that rice paper document called the Charter.
Ceiling fans if you can get up the ladder slip an old pillow case over the blade and everything comes off
I used know a pubic servant who travelled return from canbra to a remote Aboriginal community in NT to check on an infrastructure installation. Nice 5 day trip as it was scheduled over a weekend so she could enjoy the poorly cooked smallgoods of Darwin. Accommodation picked up by the taxpayer. Did not have a clue as to what she was looking at. Dripping wet greenie. Loved OPM.
Hardly any of that grain found itself to the Horn of Africa so whatever impact will be related to prices or other.
Daughter’s Miele dishwasher started giving trouble after two years. Fortunately it stayed with their former house when they sold it. Her three year old Miele washing machine threw grease marks all over my new white, bamboo sheets. Suggests to me that Meile is no longer the giant of white goods.
After much research, Best Man bought Bosch appliances for the new house: dishwasher, oven, range hood and washing machine. So far, everyone is very happy with them.
Contrary to what I thought, the wimmins soccer won the ratings:
https://tvtonight.com.au/2023/07/thursday-20-july-2023.html
In Penny Dropping at Their ABC news:
Questions raised about ‘overly generous’ power price rises amid tumbling wholesale costs
I know I bang on tediously about this, but one last time.
The current power price death spiral is the inevitable outworking of handing monopoly essential services over to corporate rent-seekers (for a handful of beans) – and then sandbagging the inevitable profit maximisation at the expense of the wider social economy with lashings of OPM, impractical renewables policies, badly considered market rules, and ivory tower Arts/Law administration.
The legal ramifications and cost of unscrambling these eggs will be horrific – and now probably too hard to contemplate without some sort of nation-changing crisis.
Too cheap to meter?
As silly sausages, we are forked.
Another tidal power project is dead in the water. TheirABC is not happy:
Right. The fact that no tidal power project, ever, has worked has nothing to do with it.
Best of all:
Oh, the ironing. 🙂
Not could, is described by some
This is simplistic beyond belief. This is comparable to proaborts arguing that removing a dead fetus and removing a live fetus is the same because the procedure is the same.
Banderite advisor to Zelensky: Hey guys, I have a brilliant idea. If we give the Chief Rabbi an award, Western audiences may continue to ignore our continuing persecution of our ethnic Russian/ Russian speaking enclaves and discount the ‘Nazi’ appellation.
Zelensky to Banderite advisor: Worth a shot. It’s worked so far with me.
Hardly any of that grain found itself to the Horn of Africa so whatever impact will be related to prices or other.
Percentage wise, yes.
Your link shows 200,000 tons to Ethiopia, 50, 000 tons to both Sudan and Somalia.
Live “view” of where India’s rocket is on its way to the moon….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCZwn_l9Zg
….only six days to go…
Turd Case
“This is a massive Strawman.
Nobody is describing the guy in the Media as a murderer, so what’s the issue here?”
You have so described him here. That could become an issue.
R-sole.
Hottest July for 120,000 years.
Michael Mann says so.
Who believes this tosh ?
You have so described him here. That could become an issue.
New Catallaxy isn’t The Media.
Even in the Bloggia, it’s not listed on the 50 busiest sites.
Not even comparable to someone describing him as a murderer on page 94 of the Oodnadatta Gazette.
‘Cocaine Sharks’ may be feasting on bales of drugs off Florida’s coast
Hunter Biden rumoured to be in the market for a boat.
No it isn’t, as I remarked yesterday when he claimed striking a legitimate target is terrorism. It isn’t, and by claiming that he discredits himself.
Both sides are stinky, as often is the case. Like the Iran-Iraq War, the Ethopia-Eritrea War and the one I often mention the Italo-Greek war. I could think of quite a few others. What I don’t like is being forcefed propaganda in great swathes.
And yes there may be some propaganda behind the medal given to the chief rabbi, but I note he or a colleague was given an award back in 2020 too, which is before the current unpleasantness. I’d have to go back an find the link again, but surely you could too.
Set fan to high speed.
Pressure washer.
Best take the Brett Whiteleys off the wall first.
If you have a Jackson Pollock, don’t bother.
You have to watch the Bosch. They have factories in Germany and Turkey. If you see 2 similar model numbers(they have the same numerals, but a different alpha prefix) or specs, the cheaper is the one made in Turkey, and are not as reliable as the made in Germany.
Contacting Lehrmann’s solicitors was easy enough.
I can’t imagine BRS’s firm will be hard to find.
Remember Googlery.
You are being watched.
And yet again, it proves that conservative politicians are immortal at TheirABC. In the last few weeks, we have had eulogies for three Labor politicians (one I’d never heard of) but I can’t even remember the last one for a politician from The Dark Side.
johanna Jul 21, 2023 11:18 AM
A quick calculation suggests that this project (as claimed) would deliver generation at ~$9 million/MW installed. About 2x the cost of solar/wind.
Even playing around with two basins, given the low head, the projects wouldn’t deliver 24/7 generation without destroying the Doctor’s Creek environment.
It’s a wild and whacky world out there in OPM-land.
LOL, hypocritical virtue signalling is so expensive these days.
Demand for offsetting is low when carbon credit prices are high, finds New Zealand report (Phys.org, 20 Jul)
The edging move away from ESG by companies is fun, since it is likewise about “credibility, and brand value’. Bit of a tightrope walk though, since they have to balance between ululating greens and GWGB. So buying carbon indulgences fits that balancing act…so long as it doesn’t cost too much.
Diogenes you are right about Bosch. We bought a new Bosch dishwasher & had immediate problems with it. It was almost impossible to get a serviceman via Bosch to come to our rural address. We ended up taking it back to retailer & got another brand.
The Well-Being index attached to the Budget, deja vu. It is not new at all.
When I joined the Prime Minister’s Department in the 1990s, my first task was to work on the Social Justice Statement to be issued in conjunction with the Budget. It was Deputy PM Brian Howe’s baby. The task was to produce a publication to be issued with the Budget that outlined the Government’s achievements and targets in a range of ‘social justice’ areas – even though almost all of them were actually State responsibilities.
I quickly realised that the whole thing was a con job and concentrated on layout and design and proofreading. I could do that with good conscience. But, my eagle eyed bully of a branch head detected my lack of enthusiasm for the Cause, and it was the beginning of her crusade against me (which I won, but that’s another story).
Anyway, it’s nothing new, contrary to TheirABC’s headline, and it’s as much of a con job as it was in the 90s.
Simply saying bridges and ports in war are legitimate targets is simplistic. We need to know a bit more about any strike before determining whether a strike is licit, like, where reasonable measures were taken to lessen the likelihood of civilian casualties, and, was the military benefit intended proportionate to the foreseeable side-effect of civilian casualties, and so on.
Anyway, this entire situation came about because NAFO, etc. post-bridge incident have been applauding the death of the couple and the injuries suffered by the daughter, much as these same moral idiots were applauding the death by shark of a Russian expat in the Red Sea. First they are cock-a-hoop about the bridge incident and then next when the Russians strike the air and sea ports of Odessa they are wailing about Russian war crimes.
Turd Case
Keep wriggling.
Aaand hot rocks are back…
The whole article which Instapundit links to could’ve been written by Tim Flannery fifteen years ago. I wonder if the Geodynamics name is available? Greens do like recycling old clapped out stuff.
I suspect offshore wind will go the same way that tidal always does, since the problem is the incessant pounding by waves plus the corrosion issues from salt spray. You can’t build gear that can survive the assault and make it cheap enough to show a profit from the anemic amount of electricity produced. The data is increasingly showing offshore wind turbines are maintenance black holes with high capital cost.
(Geothermal does work, but only if you have a convenient dormant volcano, like in Iceland or New Zealand.)
Western Australia has a major contribution to sharks’ cocaine habit! Three WA boaties were arrested a week after they had to be rescued. They abandoned ship on their first outing, and were relying on their esky for flotation. Turned out they had large packages of ‘informal sector produced pharmaceuticals’ in the seats of their salvaged boat.
Obviously rocket scientists…
https://rumble.com/v2zs3r0-a-scott-ritter-investigation-agent-zelensky-part-1.html
https://rumble.com/v30nd8w-a-scott-ritter-investigation-agent-zelensky-part-2.html
Haha, Dover, pull the other one. The Kerch Bridge is about the most justifiable military target in the whole theatre. Just like the Antonivsky Bridge and the Kakhovka Dam were.
The crazy thing is that Russia seems to’ve encouraged people to go on holiday in Crimea, thus putting themselves at risk. It has led to many interesting videos from tourists showing missile strikes and whatnot in Crimea. I suspect encouraging summer tourism to Crimea is a propaganda ploy, but it ain’t a responsible one.
What like hitting Kiev and other cities with cruise missiles? Some might call that a “terror strike”. I do not. None the less it is a bit rich for someone to say a family driving over a red-hot military target isn’t worthy of a Darwin Award but that people living in their own homes in a city are acceptable collateral damage. I am sad for the family killed on the bridge but they were stupid. If you go on holiday to a high risk destination don’t complain if it goes badly, like the woman who fell off the cliff the other day whilst doing free climbing.
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Shocking extent of Ukraine’s unrelenting demographic collapse
Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
Prior to the unfortunate dismantling of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was one of its most prominent republics, even rivaling Russia itself in numerous aspects. In many ways, it was a sort of “Soviet California”, as approximately 30% of the USSR’s massive industrial and scientific might was situated precisely in Ukraine. Much of Soviet shipbuilding, advanced electronics, rocketry, chemical industry, metallurgy and numerous universities and scientific institutions were based all across the country. Moscow built an enormous and highly robust energy infrastructure that Ukraine uses to this very day and without which it would never have been a functioning country.
The “evil Moskaliv” held Ukraine in such high regard that several of the USSR’s top leaders were actually Ukrainians, including Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev, arguably two of the Soviet Union’s most prominent Cold War-era leaders.
In 1954, Khrushchev even “gifted” Crimea, a Russian-populated peninsula, to Ukraine, with virtually no opposition from anyone in Russia. At the time, Ukrainians and ethnic Russians were seen as virtually the same people (which they have been for well over a thousand years at that point), so the move was seen as a trivial bureaucratic matter that made absolutely no difference on the ground.
And indeed, nothing changed – until 2014.
That year, the infamous “Euromaidan”, an illegal NATO-orchestrated coup (Victoria Nuland), brought the Neo-Nazi junta to power, pitting the two East Slavic peoples against each other. However, it should be noted that the stage for this disastrous conflict was set in 1991, when Ukraine gained its supposed “independence”. Since then, generations of Ukrainians were taught (or brainwashed, to be exact) that the “evil Moskaliv” have been doing nothing but “oppressing Ukrainians” and supposedly “preventing their development”. This initially crawling process was largely limited to Western Ukraine until 2014, when the then newly installed Kiev regime started forcing its rabidly Russophobic agenda everywhere.
As we all know, the result was the war in Donbass, a conflict that has taken close to 15,000 (mostly civilian) lives until early 2022. The mainstream propaganda machine routinely blames Russia for the outbreak of hostilities, as Moscow is regularly accused of supposed “imperialist revisionism”, despite the fact that it was precisely Kremlin that gave Ukraine independence in the first place and that it would make no sense for it to do such a thing only to then “attack Ukraine completely unprovoked” to regain control over it. And yet, precisely this is the official stance of both the political West and its vassals and satellite states, including its favorite puppets in Kiev.
So, what exactly has Ukraine “gained” since “independence”, but particularly since “freedom and democracy” clawed its way into the unfortunate country?
Well, it should be noted that Ukraine had a population of 52 million in 1991, as well as the aforementioned industrial and scientific capacity that was rivaled by very few countries not just of its size, but also much larger.
By 2015, the number of inhabitants fell to 42 million. And yet, that’s not nearly the end of Ukraine’s troubles.
Namely, according to experts cited by Corriere della Sera, one of the longest-running Italian news media, only 28-31 million people still live in Ukraine, with a tendency of further reduction.
Citing local sources, official data and statistics, as well as other methods of collecting information, the Italian newspaper states that both urban and rural areas are essentially empty, while countless families have been divided (likely forever), particularly as wives of many soldiers forcibly deployed on the frontlines have gone abroad and never returned. Corriere della Sera insists that Ukraine is going through a catastrophic demographic crisis and that the population collapse will soon cause very serious economic and social problems in the country, as it has an estimated 15 million residents less than in early 2022.
“From 52 million to less than 30 in three decades. It’s a very serious loss for the country as it threatens our chances of reconstruction after the end of the war, prevents economic normalization and sinks the pension system,”
Alexander Demenchuk, Director of the Faculty of Political Science in Kiev told Corriere della Sera, adding: “Children are missing, therefore the future is missing. Young, upper-middle-class women with an excellent level of education left. And what is even more serious, more than half of them do not intend to return to Ukraine.
Children study in German, Polish, Austrian, French or Dutch schools. The mothers found work immediately. The European welcome policy initially seemed to us a miracle of generosity, but now it turned out to be a curse.”
According to Ella Libanova, a distinguished demographer at the National Academy of Sciences, all this affects the fertility rate, which has fallen to 0.7%, one of the lowest in the world.
Families fall apart overnight as soldiers and officers increasingly complain that their wives leave them for other men in host countries. This is resulting in even higher divorce rates, exacerbating a problem that has already been quite common in previous years.
There is virtually no public debate about these burning issues, the Italian newspaper warns, adding that no one in Ukraine is dealing with these problems because all efforts are supposedly directed toward the front.
Dan knows best, regardless of the collateral damage
At some stage in this country, the definition of “good politics” needs to be expanded beyond doing what it takes to win elections. Legacy should also matter.
Phillip CooreyPolitical editor
Given Daniel Andrews’ track record of gaslighting his population during the pandemic, it’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt over the Commonwealth Games cancellation.
Sure, at face value, paying an alleged $6 billion-to-$7 billion to host a 12-day athletics carnival that is second tier by world standards is certainly a poor use of taxpayers’ money and sufficient grounds for pulling the pin.
Especially in a state that is in such bad shape financially that it has been reduced to taxing schools and beach houses to try to make ends meet, while still unable to make a dent in its massive debt.
But this week’s events reek of more than fiscal prudence in straitened times.
COVID-19 hit the Commonwealth and every state hard, but none more so than Victoria. Thanks to its government’s initial ineptitude, especially on contact tracing, followed by an ongoing determination to double down on stupid, Victoria fared the worst on every meaningful indicator.
Today, Victoria’s economy is every bit as bad as it was in the early 1990s yet Andrews, who cruised to another election victory in November last year, was happy to use the Commonwealth Games no one else wanted to help secure that victory.
Andrews has never shown much regard for economics, and he grabbed the Games because of the political dividend.
Touting a total cost of $2.6 billion, the Victorian government maximised that political dividend by pledging to host them in the regions.
So, he just killed the Games, claimed it all to be someone else’s fault, and refused to apologise.
This, however, would be much more expensive, given temporary venues would have to be built. Why not, for example, use the perfectly good velodrome in Melbourne? Because you could chase votes by building a temporary facility in Oonawoopwoop.
“We were talking about ways of containing costs for the delivery of the Games and the operational costs of the Games,” said Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips.
“Some of those suggestions from us were to start to look at being pragmatic and reduce the reliance on temporary builds in regional locations – to come back to existing venues, particularly here in Melbourne.
“But we were told by the Victorian government: ‘Not interested.’”
Dan knows best. Sound familiar?
Andrews disputes this, claiming all options were explored and even if the feds were willing to pay half the alleged blowout cost – which they were not – the Games were not worth it.
So, he just killed the Games, claimed it all to be someone else’s fault, and refused to apologise. All while seamlessly flicking the switch to a virtuous prioritisation of schools and hospitals over bread and circuses.
Well, almost. Rather than save all the money, he’s still going to blow a fair bit in the regions to mitigate against political blowback.
“It was the most Andrews thing ever,” noted one Labor source.
“Do a press conference indignant about the cost, and act as if you are about to do a royal commission into who commissioned it.”
Andrews will most likely get away with it because he is bulletproof, a “good politician” as his defenders always contend, regardless of the human and economic costs involved.
Well-heeled codes
At some stage in this country, the definition of “good politics” needs to be expanded beyond doing what it takes to win elections, regardless of the collateral damage. Legacy should also matter.
If any good is to come of his shameless deflection about this being purely about spending priorities, it is the highlighting of the growing penchant by governments to hurl money at sport, especially the well-heeled codes, in return for votes.
That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, but a little more scrutiny of governments being shaken down wouldn’t hurt.
Anyone who was in Adelaide for the AFL’s Gather Round in April could not dispute the value of the Malinauskas government paying $15 million to host the event.
The city was heaving like it hasn’t heaved since just before it was wiped out in the recession the early 1990s. Unlike Melbourne.
Still, Premier Peter Malinauskas needs to be careful. He paid tens of millions more to secure Gather Round for another three years while also being on the hook to help fund a new training facility of the Adelaide Crows, to which the feds have already pledged $15 million.
The funding-starved arts crowd in Adelaide has started labelling Malinauskas a “bogan”, more so after he tipped in an undisclosed amount to secure the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tournament at Grange Golf Club, just so golf could be defiled by drunken yobs throwing beer all over the players and the course, under the guise of that was what the game needed.
The AFL has more money than God, but after Josh Frydenberg once gave Carlton $15 million to upgrade its facilities at Princes Park, the other clubs put their hands out as well.
Exhibit A right now is the blowback in Tasmania against the proposed $715 million Australian Rules stadium in Hobart, a condition of that state being given its long-desired AFL side.
Anthony Albanese thought he was on to a winner when he went to Tassie to announce the Commonwealth would contribute about $240 million towards the project. Instead, he was heckled by protesters, while Jeremy Rockliff’s government has been brought to its knees by defections.
Cautionary tale
The fact no other state wanted the Commonwealth Games also speaks volumes.
And then, of course, there’s the Brisbane Olympics scheduled for 2032. The Games will proceed, but there’s a cautionary tale.
In the late 1990s, in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, then SA premier John Olsen held a press conference on the pitch of the then-undeveloped Hindmarsh soccer stadium to announce SA would host seven Olympic matches, including a quarter-final.
There was a cost, of course, but Olsen banged on about it being the state’s biggest sporting coup since the Grand Prix – despite every other state also getting matches – and SA would benefit from the international exposure, etc etc.
From the back of the press pack, a reporter asked Olsen if he could remember where the soccer qualifiers were played during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
He couldn’t, so the reporter then asked: “So what makes you think anyone is going to notice Adelaide?”
Starting to fume, the premier said the stadium would be pasted with the “Sensational Adelaide” slogan and beamed into living rooms around the world.
The journo again: “But, under the International Olympic Committee rules, all signage is banned at venues except ‘Sydney 2000’.”
And that was it for the press conference.
Quite so, Diogenes. Best Man discovered that early in his research. Hundreds of dollars difference in the prices, but he resisted temptation and went for German made.
Local VFF
St Arnaud Branch Nuclear Discussion
Speaker Robert Parker President of the Australian Nuclear Assoc.
Everyone is Welcome Friday 4 August 7pm
St Arnaud Town Hall
Not only are we fighting transmission lines but we’re broadening out the debate.
Defence in depth and raiding for effect.
Don’t piss farmers off!
..
I don’t care what you think of the war, or even if it’s true or not, that last bit is funny.
..
https://funker530.com/video/popular-russian-mil-blogger-killed-in-cluster-munition-strike/
This is a 19th century lesson that appears to have to be learned again, and again, and again…
Not being up on contemporary country, I hadn’t heard of him either. But, he is a star.
The best part of the story is that he approached Tracy Chapman and made a deal to use her song. It hit Number One in the country charts.
Then, some stupid (white) bint wrote a story in the MSM about how it was just another example of racism, because Tracy (a black lesbian) would never have made it in the country music charts. It’s all at American Thinker if you want links.
As the admirable Andrea Widburg pointed out in successive articles:
(i) Tracy Chapman made a financial deal to let Jason Aldean cover her song, he didn’t steal it:
(ii) Best of all, Tracy Chapman’s back catalogue has soared since then, and she may have made more money than he did.
I have one of her songs, Give Me One Reason, on a mix tape from the 90s. She has a heavenly voice and doesn’t fit easily into any niche.
Once again, the do-gooders get in the way of actual progress by those they claim to be protecting.
Good for her, and sucks to white people telling her how to run her career.
Asko are the go at our place. ‘Inspired by Scandinavia’, but made in Slovenia it seems.
New dryer $2000. I bought an old one on gumtree for $20 the same week. This Asko one collects distilled water, a praiseworthy feature! And they have gone a couple of years so far very well.
Strangely, the best Sky interviewer – and, arguably, the best presenter – is Bernardi. His diction is slightly monotone but he’s a natural. His demeanor is calm – most of the others often do weird performative voices, gesticulations, one-upmanship etc – and he lets people speak.
The most annoying thing is listening to the anchors ask a ‘question.’ Paul Murray’s ‘questions’ sometimes go on for a minute and are, in fact, elaborately explained standpoints (of his) in search of an affirmation.
Glad to have Sky, sure, but its after-dark formats are tired. We all hate woke, for example, but Sky loves it for filler. Instead of having tuckshop lady Teena McQueen tell us what she thinks about the latest trans-‘woman’ in a toilet story, why not get the Liberal energy spokesman and berate the living bejesus out of him for not dumping net zero?
I agree regarding PML. The problem with after dark is that as I go from one talking head to the next it is the same talking points all night. That quickly becomes tedious. They need to co-ordinate their discussion subjects to avoid that.
You are spot on about how they carry on about the latest trans or woke story. Criticism is necessary but it must be balanced with a positive message. They don’t put enough time into putting forward the positive aspects of their ideas and how those can benefit the country as a whole. Rather they seem far too much preoccupied with mocking the latest wokey nonsense.
Genuine question – why are the Bosch from Turkey inferior ? Surely, parts and manufacture are identical. Is it some kind of quality control issue ? Or are the Bosches just wary of ‘solutions’ ?
Day 6 in ‘Nam…
Had my first ever cosmetic surgery on eyelids.
Better 1/2 was getting her lips tattooed and asked/ hinted would I like some discolouration ( lipids) removed.
Hour later it was done.
$400.
Quite spooky as he was flaying the eyelid to realise the sudden increase in light on the closed eye was because the skin had been peeled away.
I’m ready to my closeup now and DeMille
“Glad to have Sky, sure, but its after-dark formats are tired. We all hate woke, for example, but Sky loves it for filler. Instead of having tuckshop lady Teena McQueen tell us what she thinks about the latest trans-‘woman’ in a toilet story, why not get the Liberal energy spokesman and berate the living bejesus out of him for not dumping net zero?”
I agree 100% about Bernardi. His interview a few weeks ago with Chris Kenny re. the voice was a corker. Personally, I think Sharri is okay.
I’m not a huge fan of either McQueen or MacSween.
I’ve lhad Meile washer/dryer combo for 13 years, dishwasher 25 years and rangehood 15 years. The only problem was the dishwasher plastic feed pipe cracked on the molded join.
“latest trans “
Nothing wrong with exposing “the last trans” nonsense. It was whilst being interviewed on Credlin that Johnny Prosciutto made a complete fool of himself. That was a cracker.
As for critiquing the trans cult, Sky Oz and ADH-TV are the only two outlets that will do it, and for that I’m grateful.
For the Sandgroper Cats…
I see the WAEC is going to abolish the regional seats of Moore (held by Nat) and North West Central (held by Nat) and create a new merged electorate called Mid-West.
So, the Nats are going to be down 1 MP before the election is even held… notwithstanding the changes to voting rules for the Upper House to make WA one whole electorate and not have regional electorates for the Upper House…
given that large tidal power stations typically run at 25% capacity factor, that’s 10MW.
BFD. Liddell produced about 1GW on average, so that tidal generator is 1% of Liddell.
Old Ozzie at 12:51
(When you’ve lost Phabulous Phil Coorey …)
It’s not the where, but the how.
Most people were scratching their heads at the conflict between commissioning temporary facilities whilst claiming the games were about a “lasting legacy of improved sporting facilities in the regions”.
Doesn’t make sense.
Until you realise that temporary facilities have to be built and dismantled, which means more CFFFFMEU jerbs over a longer period.
And, of course, somewhere there will be a maaaate who will pick up the decommissioned facility for a song.
Even be paid to take away stuff which has been used for about a week.
They don’t put enough time into putting forward the positive aspects of their ideas and how those can benefit the country as a whole. Rather they seem far too much preoccupied with mocking the latest wokey nonsense.
Regale us with the positive aspects of fat arsed, rouge covered drag queens wiggling their arses in front of kids. Plus this:
Two adults who are obsessed with talking to your children about sex have been made known to the Australian general public. Their names are Yumi Stymes and Dr Melissa Kang and their book ‘Welcome to Sex: Your no-silly-questions guide to sexuality, pleasure and figuring it out’ is currently on sale in various outlets excluding Big-W.
Or maybe the exponential rise in major invasive surgery and drug treatment (sic) for propagandised trans kiddies.
Maybe just name one woke issue which has any worth at all apart from its exponents being used as targets on gun ranges.
Labor in WA dissolving the filthy kulak klass kuntry wreckers and saboteurs political representation in favour of the imported dog box class of government apparatchiks.
Going the full Stairman Dan.
Political numbers is now WAs new growth industry.
Firstly, no, it isn’t. They are very likely moving more freight to Zap and Kherson units using the land bridge than they are via Kerch bridge and Crimea. Secondly, they didn’t even hit the rail bridge and only managed to hit the road bridge which is still in use. Thirdly, we don’t even know the means or the conveyance they used to hit the bridge and they are relevant.
It’s not crazy at all. Crimea is no different to Krasnodar here.
No, this is all over the place. Russians aren’t just ‘hitting Kiev and cities’ willy-nilly, they are targeting military or military-related infrastructure. Still, this doesn’t give them a free pass when engaging these targets because their actions can still be illicit if the likelihood of success is low, or the civilian costs are disproportionately larger than any licit military advantage gained. These qualifiers simply can’t be papered over and ignored.
Has anyone got Joe Vialls’ hot take on the Auckland shootings?
You can’t build gear that can survive the assault and make it cheap enough to show a profit from the anemic amount of electricity produced.
Key difference between Left and Right: The lefties would have no problem blowing up a few turbines were they not besotted by them.
By contrast, such a thought never enters conservatives’ heads.
In that entire paragraph “they” is a reference to the commentators, not the wokes. I was referring to the preoccupation of Skynews with attacking opponents rather than spending more time articulating the benefits of conservative ideas.
Sure, but how about getting to the root of the trans-stuff. Raising the roots in gender ideology/ queer theory/ and beyond. Finding a speaker that can lucidly talk about Bulter, Foucault, and so on to a mainstream audience, rather than just saying: Oh, look, that’s weird, etc. The enormity of trans-surgery for minors ought to be low-hanging. How about questioning vigorously the idea of trans-surgery for adults? Has any Sky after Dark show ever questioned surrogacy per se? What about abortion? Has it ever investigated the number of late term abortions in this country? Or the reasons adduced for these? Or why it is difficult to audit these as a matter of policy?
Ahem.
“dover0beach
Jul 21, 2023 2:22 PM”
Most of that won’t happen on Sky, but it is happening on ADH-TV with the likes of Lyle Shelton and others.
A “ wastewatch” segment once a week might fly on sky.
A good hour spent picking over the entrails of failed & failing government spending in depth.
One on the absolute state of Australia’s migration “ industry” would be an eye opener.
With the pollies nominally in charge of the spend brought on to explain the squander.
Left or right, shit spending and waste needs penalties attached.
In that entire paragraph “they” is a reference to the commentators, not the wokes. I was referring to the preoccupation of Skynews with attacking opponents rather than spending more time articulating the benefits of conservative ideas.
Fair enough. But that’s because they are not true conservatives; for instance every time an ostensible conservative interviewer interviews an ostensible conservative pollie about alarmism and/or renewables they all agree that ruinables will take over but are not just quite ready yet and that climate change is real. If they can’t extricate themselves form that mindset they’re not conservatives.
Have any of the watch aficionados heard of Breton’s. It’s a British watchmaker established in 2002.
Some of their watches look good.
https://au.bremont.com/
I should also add that the long term future of right of centre digital media in this country is ADH-TV. It is not Sky.
With such a tiny audience it won’t make much difference. The target audience shouldn’t be old farts, it must be the younger generations. They are much more into social media and there are many attacks on transgender issues in social media. My bias is I’m over it. I’ve heard enough about it, the continual bleating adds nothing to my understanding. I know it is nonsense and prefer not to waste my time on the subject because the backlash has already happened in Europe and will soon be happening here.
As a regular user and officeholder of an club operating a ‘gun range’, I must strongly protest this proposed misuse of our facilities.
After all, we removed even symbolic human silhouette targets in the mid 1970s and now exclusively use round bullseye targets all so that the slathering demonic anti-shooter forces would have one less rhetorical criticism of our sport.
Using pedos and groomers as targets would bring the wrong kind of people to our clubs; pedos and groomers for a start. We have to have working with children cards, and don’t want that sort on our premises.
Simply unbelievable this is just allowed to happen, as a matter of law and/or policy.
FM
in the WA electoral “shake up” I’m presuming Love wins over Beard.
It’s only Beard’s first term and Love is Leader. For non WA Cats, the Libs were so decimated at the last election that the Nats have more numbers, meaning the Leader of the Nats is WA’s Leader of the Opposition… it’s weird I tells ya…
Cassie, good to hear. Will have to give ADH-TV a look.
Cohenite society has gone too far down the ruinables road. Self-proclaimed conservatives backing it are cowards. The ridiculous state of affairs of where the Liberals refuse to back nuclear but a number of polls find Australians increasingly in support of it. What drives me nuts about ruinables is the support it receives from the leafy suburbs where they don’t have to worry about their views and landscape being destroyed by props on sticks and shiny things on the ground. Zeihan’s analysis of the logistical issues for ruinables should be enough to make people realise how ridiculous doofi like Bowen are. If only.
“With such a tiny audience it won’t make much difference. The target audience shouldn’t be old farts, it must be the younger generations. “
Firstly, it isn’t just “old farts” who watch Sky, and so what if it was, “old farts” vote.
And it isn’t “tiny”. Sky has a broad reach, and more and more people are watching it, particularly in regional Australia, where they’re turning of their ABC and tuning in to Sky.
What is ADH Tv, where do I get it from?
Just google ADH-TV…then you can go in and sign up. It’s free. You can also download the app.
If they can’t extricate themselves from that mindset they’re really stupid. And pig ignorant.
Thanks Cassie!!! I’ll check it out for sure!!!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2023/jul/18/trump-classified-documents-biden-2024-election-desantis-live-updates
DeSantis finally went onto CNN and had a “mongrel fight.” I think Americans want to see more of this…. where’s the “mongrel” in DeSantis? Is he willing, as Trump, to go on enemy networks and make fun of them, fight, win, lose but most of all… be entertaining?
His policies, generally, are sound but his personality is about as inspiring as a retired librarian.
Yes!
And a segment that compares ‘predicted’ or ‘modelled’ outcomes of policies (used in their justifications) to actual outcomes.
Every budget would be a feast. Every budget forecasts ‘sunlit uplands’ and resuscitation of the economy. If half of them panned out we would all be eating bowls of pearls instead of Rice Bubbles for breakfast, and have boxes of single-use Mercedes Benzes like tissues in the garage.
The jibby jabbed will be getting worried…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12317251/Pfizer-factory-quarter-countrys-injectable-meds-created-destroyed-tornado-135mph-winds-tears-North-Carolina-town-leaving-path-carnage-wake.html
Instead we’re increasingly getting this …
Good!
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/21/europe/spain-vox-womens-rights-intl/index.html
The Death of Free Speech Is the Beginning
“Tunisia is actually criminalizing free speech under the claim that it is spreading “fake news” to end free speech in the country. The problem is this is the trend in the aftermath of COVID. Anything disagreeing with the government narrative is increasingly moving toward criminalization. This was the very same trend that the LEFT took under Marxism. I find it ironic that all we hear is that China is this horrible communist government that suppresses free speech when the United States is doing the same. I went behind the Berlin Wall before it fell with a friend to visit his family trapped there. If anyone was close to us, the rhetoric of how wonderful the government was became the speech. Then came the truth when we were alone. This is where we are headed.
The number of people censored and de-platformed under COVID was the launch pad for the termination of the First Amendment in the United States once and for all. The government has been directing private platforms to censor and remove people and then claim that the First Amendment only applies to the government – not to private companies. Robert F Kennedy, Jr. came out and also told the Democrats that they were weaponizing the government. Yet even the military has come out and confirmed that the COVID vaccines were causing serious side effects in the military. They hate RFK as much as Trump, for he, too, threatens their authoritarian style of government. Meanwhile, Congressman Jordan has put Pfizer on Tight Timeline to produce all evidence of Collusion with the Executive Branch and Social Media. This is going to be VERY interesting.
The Biden Administration taking its orders from the Neocons, has sent a letter advising Trump he is now a target in the January 6th nonsense, calling it sedition so they can bar him from ever holding any political office under the 14th Amendment. This outright interferes with the 2024 election, but nobody can indict the Department of Justice. Meanwhile, Edward Snowden is in Russia because they would prosecute him for treason for telling the people that the government is violating the Constitution. We have lost the Rule of Law, which is one of the last straws before the decline and fall of any nation. Senator Chuck Grassley released the FD-1023 form, alleging that Mykola Zlochevsky, Burisma’s founder, paid a $5,000,000 bribe each to Vice President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden to have Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired.
I seriously doubt we will hear this story on CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, New York Times, other than perhaps claiming it is a conspiracy theory. The media is now AGAINST the people and have formally crossed over into the camp of totalitarianism, refusing to report the truth about anything from election fraud to the war in Ukraine. The days of honest independent journalism are over. FOX fired Tucker for this very reason – they were given their marching orders.
It is confirmed that the FBI has circumvented the Constitution and violated the civil rights of everyone in this country by colluding with social media to censor citizens, which the First Amendment states that they cannot do under the rule of law. When the FBI raided my office and home, they NEVER produced any inventory. Things were missing I have never located ever since, and the lawyers will tell you you “cannot accuse the FBI of theft,” plain and simple. They then can claim they found whatever they want on a raid when they do not make an inventory. A former VP of the NY Post told me personally that the government calls the press or a journalist and starts they have a “favor” to ask. If you refuse, they send the IRS after you and tear your personal life apart. The government dictates even Wikipedia. That is why universities now tell students Wikipedia is NOT to be used as a source. It is not trustworthy. NOTHING is safe anymore. Even the pretend Fact-Checkers are not independent and are just part of the whole scheme.
Freedom of speech is only free when it applies to everyone. I must defend the right of free speech even when disagreeing. True freedom of speech is incredibly dangerous for those in power when they have abused that power and are desperate to retain that power. This is what we face going into 2032. Those in power are losing their grip. I warned that our computer was projecting a rise in civil unrest and international war post-2014 at our 2011 World Economic Conference. That is now becoming obvious to many, including those in power.
It was Free Speech that was under attack in England. Remember the English Civil War between Royalists and Parliamentarians raged from 1642 to 1651. The Puritans won, beheaded the King, and imposed their religious beliefs upon everyone. It became a felony to kiss your wife in public. They outlawed all sports and Christmas and authorized spies to look in people’s windows to ensure they were not celebrating Christmas. Against this backdrop, in 1668, William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was imprisoned in the Tower of London for writing pamphlets Truth Exalted: To Princes, Priests, and People and The Sandy Foundation Shaken. This was all about protesting religion. The Bishop of London ordered that Penn be held indefinitely in prison without bail until he publicly recanted his written statements. I know how that goes also for Free Speech.
This is what Free Speach Was All About. Allowing the censorship of social media is outrageous. This is merely a sign that 2032 will be the collapse of governments. They know they have abused their power, and this is really the time for the Neocons. They care nothing about the country, or your future, only their insane hatred and cheer on the destruction of Western Society without ever considering what if they lose as they have consistently done since the 1960s.
The wisdom of those who rose to create a new way of government against monarchy is no longer revered. They tore down Jefferson’s statue until they claimed he was a slave owner. He inherited the slaves through his wife. Jefferson was the one who was against slavery and wrote the Declaration of Independence that stated all men were equal. But to free the slaves in 1776 would have been a death sentence. There was no employment at your local Starbucks. How would they survive? Those who judge others in the past by standards today are the greatest fools of all. Yet they preach hatred rather than bother to understand the core issues of freedom.
In 2013 a reporter asked Justin Trudeau which country he most admired. “There is a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to turn their economy around on a dime,” Trudeau smiled and stated with seriousness. He went on to say how he admired (i.e., envied) how dictators could implement laws on a whim without the people’s consent and added a nod to climate change policies, as the left does not see that as a problem yet. Trudeau is a graduate of Klaus Schwab’s authoritarian school and has strived to infiltrate the entire world and impose his social-economic doctrine to circumvent democracy and our personal freedom, all because we are too stupid to understand how the world should function according to what he believes everyone should bow down to him and gobble at his feet – herr führer (my leader).
The next 8-years going into 2032 will be the most difficult. History warns us that society will shed its skin like a snake. We will embark on a Great Reset, but many believe Schwab is using our model and trying to force this to go in his direction of totalitarianism. Democracy suddenly became Populism when Trump won in 2016. They will no longer tolerate our right to vote because we are not intelligent enough to understand that they are in power so shut up and sit down.
That Trump victory upset everyone at DAVOS. Suddenly they feared that they might be voted out of power. Thus, democracy became evil populism, and now Freedom of Speech also threatens their designs of indefinitely retaining power.
This UNELECTED Climate Tzar is also against democracy. He is using climate change for absolute control. They will attempt to use this to lock us down when things start to go against them. They are delusional to think that they can retain power but abuse and authoritarianism. History warns that NO GOVERNMENT has ever survived indefinitely. They all fall because of precisely what is taking place. The more they feel that power slipping between their fingers, the worse they will become.”
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/freedom-of-speech/the-death-of-free-speech/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS
I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.
– Dean Martin
Google?
Download?
App?
What mumbo-jumbo is this?
“society has gone too far down the ruinables road. “
Correct. But the mood will change when the blackouts and load shedding begins.
I also believe most Australians want nuclear and will support nuclear because they know that whilst renewables have a role, it’s a small role, and that the only reliable clean energy has to be from nuclear.
But the debate, for now, is over. They won, mainly because the right never fought, not ever. The last chance to curb this nonsense was back in September 2013 when Abbott was elected but instead he and his government chose to walk on eggshells around the nonsense. The current demonisation and war on gas will cripple us. Gas was supposed to be the transitional energy and it’s clean. Everything, from government departments and policies, to big and medium sized corporations, to retailers etc. are now completely signed up to and obsessed with clean renewable energy, greenism, ESG, and so on, contracts now have climate policies and so on. Companies won’t be able to get loans without ESG conditions and on an on it goes.
Is there a gay brain? The neuroscience of homosexuality
Some interesting details in this presentation.
No need to sign in to take a look:
e.g.
https://watch.adh.tv/browse
then press Play
Dr Faustus
Jul 21, 2023 1:03 PM
I suspect offshore wind will go the same way that tidal always does, since the problem is the incessant pounding by waves plus the corrosion issues from salt spray. You can’t build gear that can survive the assault and make it cheap enough to show a profit from the anemic amount of electricity produced.
Dr Faustus,
Manly Catholic School on flat just back from the beach, had to replace Aluminium Windows after 30 years – my son’s place down there, takes a pounding from the salt air off the ocean
When you consider the gearboxes of Wind Turbines what is the ongoing cost of the following Maintenance for Wind Turbines OffShore
The operation and maintenance (O&M) of a wind turbine is not simple: (i) it is necessary to work in an installation that is located more than 80 m high (on average); (ii) it depends on atmospheric conditions such as wind, cold, heat, thunderstorms, to name a few; (iii) it involves working with electrical, electronic, mechanical, hydraulic, physical, and chemical processes; and (iv) hundreds of signals are generated in a wind farm producing millions of data that must be processed and analyzed [6].
These variables depend on all kinds of internal and external factors, and it is not straightforward to correlate them together or add others that are not easily standardized in order to reach reliable conclusions [7]. Despite the circumstances that hinder the O&M of a wind farm, high levels of availability and capacity factor, in addition to wind turbine conservation, are always sought to be achieved.
Even though individual components have been commonly used in the industry (e.g., gearboxes, generators, converters or transformers), their inclusion into newly designed multi-MW wind turbine generation (WTG), with all the aforementioned operating conditions, undoubtedly, has an impact on the uncertainty of the equipment lifespan. Aspects such as the limited space in wind turbines, the aggressive and special environmental conditions to which they are subject to (especially in offshore locations), or the lack of standardization between different technologies have historically been key factors in the global operation of the assets [8].
The gearbox is one of the elements subjected to the greatest loads and entails high substitution costs because it requires the intervention of external large-tonnage cranes. A standard gearbox in a 2 MW wind turbine can weigh about 15 tons, has more than 20,000 kNm of torque, and has about 250 L of oil. It usually has a combination of planetary gears and parallel shafts to reach a transformation ratio that can be around 1:105 in a standard high-speed 2 MW wind turbine [9]. Depending on the turbine model, the gearbox can have different dispositions and design of gears, bearings, and shafts. In the case of the gearless drive concept, the manufacturer looks to avoid the maintenance costs fixed to a component such as a gearbox in addition to other benefits. The equipment is fixed to the rest of the wind turbine on two silent block supports attached to the frame. In the front, it will be attached to the main shaft or in some cases directly to the rotor, whereas in the back, it will be fixed to the flexible compact joint (cardan) and subsequently to the generator (the mechanical brake is usually coupled directly to the quick shaft of the gearbox). This flexible joint is the weakest part in case of misalignment in the power train and it is the one that assumes the loads to protect important equipment such as the gearbox or generator [9].
In the case of the gearbox, there are routine tasks included in the preventive maintenance. To name a few, some of the actions that are checked periodically, include: (i) cleaning of cooling system; (ii) revision of the silent blocks rubber; (iii) revision of the condition of the joint with the main shaft; (iv) check of oil level or pressure value; (v) control of tightening screws. According to their relevance, other techniques are used in order to determine the condition of the gearbox and to avoid corrective actions. The most common ones are: (i) videoscopes, to directly observe the condition of the internal components; (ii) vibration analysis, either occasionally or permanently; or (iii) oil analysis, with the double function of establishing the condition of the gearbox and the oil itself [10].
What Maintenance Do Wind Turbines Need?
Wind turbines need maintenance just like any other machine. But unlike most machines, wind turbines require regular maintenance specifically designed for them because of how they’re made and because they’re exposed to extreme weather conditions.
Here are some common maintenance tasks:
. Check the blades regularly for cracks and damage – Blades can crack over time due to exposure to sunlight, extreme temperatures, and corrosion.
. Inspect the gearbox regularly for wear and tear – Gearboxes can fail after prolonged use.
. Make sure the generator is working correctly – Generators can stop working due to mechanical problems or electrical issues.
. Check the bearings regularly for signs of wear – Bearings can become damaged if they aren’t appropriately lubricated.
. Clean the nacelle regularly – Nacelles collect dust and debris from the air, which can cause serious health risks.
. Keep the rotor free of vegetation – Vegetation can get caught in the rotor blades and cause them to break off.
. Check the wiring regularly for damage – Wiring can short out and cause fires.
. Change the oil regularly – Oil helps keep the gears moving smoothly.
Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain on Therapeutic Albanese’s Full Service Thai Massage
Reminds me of the anecdote about the luftwaffe dropping boxes of condoms into the Stalingrad kessel as “relief supplies” for the sixth army.
UK By-Elections: How Did Tories, Liberal Dems & Labour Fare?
The UK’s set of three by-elections in west London, North Yorkshire and the Somerset are expected to give insight into how voters are adjusting to the ruling Conservative Party as the nation battles labor uproar, inflation and increasing interest rates.
Initial predictions suggested the Conservative Party would experience straight losses on Thursday; however, final results proved that forecast wasn’t entirely off base.
With Tories only winning one out of three by-elections, the results saw the Conservative Party lose a 19,000-vote majority in Somerton and Frome and another 20,137 in Selby and Ainsty.
Tories Grasp BoJo’s Uxbridge Seat
When it came down to the Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, the UK’s ruling Conservative Party successfully managed to gain control of the parliamentary seat once maintained by former UK Prime Minster Boris Johnson.
The final vote count came down 13,470 ballots in favor of the Labour Party’s Danny Beales and another 13,965 to give the winning ticket to Tory candidate Steve Tuckwell. The results came shortly after a recount was called.
“This message from the Uxbridge and South Ruislip residents is clear,” Tuckwell said after his win. “Sadiq Khan has lost Labour this election, and we know that it was his damaging and costly ULEZ policy which lost them this election.”
Liberal Dems Win in Somerton and Frome
Beating the Tories out, the Liberal Democrats clinched a win with the Somerton and Frome by-election after candidate Sarah Dyke took home the majority of votes with some 21,187 ballots.
The final count for the Conservative Party came down to 10,179 and just 1,009 votes for the Labour Party. The Thursday win came after the seat with previously firmly held by conservatives.
Labour Clinches Selby and Ainsty
Overturning a majority of just over 20,000 votes, the Labour Party managed to come out on top in the Selby and Ainsty by-election after the constituency recorded a voter turnout of 35,866.
The final tally saw Labour winner Keir Mather nab 16,456 ballots while Tory contender Claire Holmes gained 12,295. Liberal Dems’ Matt Walker took home just 1,188 votes.
Mather’s Thursday win marks him the youngest member of Parliament at just 25 years of age, and documents one of the more shocking wins as the constituency was seen as a safe seat for Conservatives.
Mather’s Thursday win marks him the youngest member of Parliament at just 25 years of age
Older than Black Adder PM Pitt The Younger – Wonder if he had the same experience with Hot Crumpets – 2 mins 20 secs
I disagree with a lot of his policies and ideas – particularly dealing with gerbil warming, but boy his likeable.
Skynews or Sky after dark, whatever you want to call it has some dreadful presenters and regular guests, most of whom should be ditched, toot sweet. These include:
Blot
Gen Buck Keane (Retd) of the HKPA
Annaliese Neilsen
Kosha Gardre (?) (a Jewish Annaliese Nielsen)
The nuclear milkman
Jenna Clarke
Paul “is wrong again” Kelly
Amanda Stoker
Fatso Murray
The gliberal tuckshop ladies
Bronny Bitchop
The Hildebland
Shazza M
And no doubt there are others, that I’ve either forgotten about or (thankfully) never see or hear.
An Augean Stables type effort is required.
Would be great to see a “Where are they now” on that wunderkinder in Lord Waffleworth’s government.
Contrary to my predictions I understand Rob Oakshotte did not end up with Jim’s Mowing franchise.
This illustrates that the Liberal/National side has no leaders, only troughers. Instead of leading the charge for nuclear energy they waited until most of their voters were already for it before they felt brave enough to talk about it. How can they possibly win another election when they do nothing but follow a wave instead of making it?
The recent missile strikes against Ukrainian military targets in the Odessa region have once again highlighted the inadequacy of Ukraine’s air defense forces.
The damage done to Ukrainian assets was apparently so serious that the Ukrainian military, which is usually keen to embellish its accomplishments, now alleges that they only managed to intercept less than a half of the missiles launched at the targets in the Odessa, though the veracity of these claims could not be immediately confirmed.
While Ukrainian President Zelensky immediately used this opportunity to demand even more air defense systems from the West, it remains unclear whether these weapons – if they are shipped to Ukraine in the first place – would help Kiev gain an advantage over Russia on the battlefield.
USAF Ret.Lt.Col. Karen Kwiatkowsky, formerly an analyst for the Pentagon, told Sputnik that the anti-air systems the West supplied to Ukraine – such as Patriots, NASAMS and IRIS-T – “have shown themselves to be less than reliable, difficult to operate under battlefield conditions” and “not integrated into the Ukrainian battleplan.”
“The experimental nature of the Ukraine battlefield for the West is, in part, to get to see what improvements might be made in operations, tactics, logistics and training for these systems.
But it has come at a high cost for both US and NATO taxpayers and especially for Ukraine,” she remarked.
“I think there have been some successes in air defense, where missiles and drones are countered, but I suspect the dedicated systems analysts in the Pentagon and the manufacturers of these systems (Raytheon, Kongsberg (Norway), and Diehl Defense (Germany) are studying the field deployments and performance of these systems, and pointing fingers.”
According to Kwiatkowsky, the potential arrival of new Western air defense systems to Ukraine and their deployment on the battlefield would likely result in swift destruction of these weapons by the Russian forces.
“If mobility, logistics, training, an integrated battle plan, and excellent intelligence and battlefield visibility all are excellent and present – those systems can work OK. It is simply not feasible for Ukraine to integrate them into what they already are working with,” the former DoD analyst explained. “We in the West are still learning how to use these systems effectively in an active battlefield, so to expect combat-ravaged Ukrainian troops to add this to their list is insane.”
Noting that the West cannot provide Ukraine with some sort of an “impenetrable air shied” because no one has invented such a thing yet.
Kwiatkowski shared her thoughts on why the United States actually sends military hardware to Kiev.
“In my opinion, this war, like many wars the US has groomed and promoted, has a profit motive that relates directly to our domestic defense and population control systems,” she said. “Just as with the older weapons, and the expired cluster bombs we are “giving” Ukraine, we see that even in the larger systems of defense and offense, like the Patriot, the US and NATO is giving the Ukrainians trash – getting the Russians to destroy all the junk for free on Ukrainian land – so that restocking and new system development can become huge profit generator for major US companies (with the help of their congressional lackeys in both parties), and their carefully selected European partners.”
Kwiatkowsky also observed that for Kiev, trying to “integrate a mixed batch of military systems, from different manufacturers, delivered randomly and often small numbers, without air support,” and then trying to “conduct a combined arms operation,” is a difficult, if not outright impossible task.
“And that is largely what Ukraine’s military is trying to do- even though supposedly NATO was preparing and arming them for battle since 2014,” she continued. “It is a testament to NATO’s own dysfunction, and conflicting goals of the US and NATO members with regards to Ukraine, which many of the members see as an experimental or sacrificial battlefield for another objective altogether.”
OldOzzie
Jul 21, 2023 3:49 PM
Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain on Therapeutic Albanese’s Full Service Thai Massage
Outstanding
Watch it, Sonny.
Exactly. The number of times I end up shouting at the TV when some alleged “conservative” says something like “yes, nuclear might have some merits, but how about those dreadful carbon emissions, eh what, Carruthers” are too numerous to count. Not good for the blood pressure.
Or Chris Kenny briefly exhibiting some semblance of common sense on a fairly straightforward issue, before getting all misty eyed and maudlin about the wondrous wondrousness of the bloody screeech, at which point I invariably turn him off in disgust.
About the only talking heads on Sky I invariably agree with are Rowan Dean and il Bernardi. Among the women it would Rita and Sophie Elsworth, the latter of whom rarely takes any prisoners.
Otherwise, it’s mainly dire fare.
C.L. over at his place links to an excellent article by Sachs, The Real History of the War in Ukraine: A Chronology of Events and Case for Diplomacy.
Sorry…. *no offence to retired librarians*
Quite so. Good on him.
Though he still sends semi-moronic tweets.
I’d hoped his new vocation may have kept him too busy for social media & public comment.
Though s’pose a few tweets here & there are no harm.
He should stfu & pay attention to his new job, he’ll garner a helluva lot of respect if he sticks to it.
Re Further upthread article on Ukraine diminishing population
“No Limit” On Number Of Ukrainian Refugees To Be Allowed Into Canada: Federal Memo
BY TYLER DURDEN
FRIDAY, JUL 21, 2023 – 11:00 AM
With 230,000 Ukrainians having already emigrated to Canada to flee the war, a recently disclosed internal memo from the Immigration Department says there is “no limit” on the number of Ukrainian war refugees that can be allowed into Canada.
The government closed applications on July 15 for Ukrainian refugees looking to obtain temporary emergency visas and free flights to Canada, but about 1.1 million Ukrainians applied for visas prior to the deadline—of which about 800,000 had been approved as of the beginning of July.
“There is no limit,” said a Department of Immigration memo sent to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs and obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.
The memo, titled “Information On Ukrainian Nationals Coming To Canada,” also elaborated on Ottawa’s recently announced plan to facilitate permanent residence status for any Ukrainian nationals and their family members already in Canada.
The new policy, which Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced on July 15, is set to come into effect this October.
The new plan will provide permanent residence status to Ukrainian nationals who have fled the war and want to stay in Canada. To qualify, Ukrainian refugees must be in Canada with temporary resident status and have at least one family member in the country.
The memo said that the new policy will benefit Ukrainians coming into Canada “from anywhere in the world,” regardless of whether they were fleeing Russian aggression, so long as they applied for temporary visas through the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel program prior to July 15.
I think the recent targeting of the port, apart from establishing that there was going to be no final reset of the deal, was to force Ukraine to activate their AD in order to defend the port, so their locations could be identified and destroyed. Which is why the airport, for instance, was also under fire over the last three days. It may also indicate that Russia is serious about closing up any further military operations that threaten Crimea out of Odessa.
I just don’t understand his cognitive dissonance re the Shriek. Is he trying to placate the trophy wife?
dover0beach Avatar
dover0beach
Jul 21, 2023 4:34 PM
C.L. over at his place links to an excellent article by Sachs, The Real History of the War in Ukraine: A Chronology of Events and Case for Diplomacy.
Thanks Dover,
Bookmarked & Downloaded
That’s another thing that irritates me about Sky, they took Rowan Dean’s weekday evening show and gave it to Kenny. Rowan is great on The Outsiders and he could do more.
On the other hand, Rowan is also the Spectator Australia editor so perhaps he thought the weekday show was too hard to fit in as well.
Explosive FD-1023 Exposes More Biden Bribery Dirt — And Teases Damning Evidence To Come
BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND – Federalist
JULY 20, 2023
So much for Democrats’ claim that there is no evidence of Joe Biden’s complicity and corruption.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, just released a minimally redacted copy of the FBI’s FD-1023 detailing a confidential human source’s reporting of a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and the Ukrainian business Burisma. According to the FD-1023 summary, Burisma’s owner specifically referenced the firing of Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin — the same man Biden bragged about Ukraine firing after his threat to withhold aid from the country while he was vice president.
After months of pushing the Justice Department and FBI to explain what investigative procedures they had undertaken in response to evidence implicating then-Vice President Biden in a criminal bribery scheme, Grassley released the unclassified copy of the FD-1023, which documented claims made by the “highly credible” confidential human source (CHS). Grassley had acquired the FD-1023 via legally protected disclosures by Justice Department whistleblowers.
While some of the information included in the FD-1023 has already been revealed by members of the House who previously reviewed the summary of the CHS’s reporting, the public release provides new explosive details related to the firing of Ukrainian prosecutor Shokin.
Among the CHS’s conversations with Burisma’s owner Mykola Zlochevsky, one took place shortly after Joe Biden made his first public statement about Shokin “being corrupt.” At the time, according to the CHS, Shokin was investigating Burisma, and Zlochevsky told the CHS that “Hunter will take care of all of those issues through his dad.”
Then, following Trump’s election in 2016, the CHS spoke again with Zlochevsky, who expressed dissatisfaction with Trump’s victory but noted that “Shokin had already been fired, and no investigation was currently going on…”
Zlochevsky’s statement proves significant because Joe Biden had long claimed he pushed for Shokin’s firing because Shokin was not investigating Burisma — which is the exact opposite of the details summarized in the FD-1023.
Beyond putting the already known details in black-and-white for the public to read, such as Zlochevsky’s representation that he had 17 recordings of the Bidens and had never paid the “Big Guy” directly, the release of the FD-1023 is significant for another reason: The American public now knows the many details the FBI could have and should have investigated.
For instance, did Burisma or any other related entity purchase a Texas-based oil and gas company for approximately $20-$30 million during the relevant time period? Were the CHS and his business partner in Kiev in the 2015 and 2016 time period? Did the CHS’s U.S. business partner confirm the details of the meeting? Was the CHS in London during the relevant time in 2019? And did the FBI ever ask the CHS to record his conversations with Zlochevsky or attempt to turn Zlochevsky into an asset?
According to the FD-1023 report, in 2019, the CHS had offered to assist Zlochevsky if he wanted to speak to the U.S. government about the Bidens and what Zlochevsky claimed was their coercion of Burisma to pay the bribes. Did anyone ever ask the CHS to contact Zlochevsky? If not, why not?
The public release of the FD-1023 is significant now for a third reason: It comes on the heels of the IRS whistleblowers’ testimony Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee that suggested the CHS’s reporting corroborates other evidence.
During Wednesday’s hours-long hearing, IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler both told lawmakers they had never seen the FD-1023.
Significantly, Ziegler then stated: “There’s things that are contained on that document that could further corroborate other information that we might be having an issue corroborating because it could be regarding a foreign official. So if we have information regarding that in a document or a witness, we can further corroborate later evidence.”
Chris Kenny will shill for whatever is in the Murdoch’s interests.
That’s how he keeps his job.
Journalists are kept on a very short leash.
What’s Glenn Milne doing at the moment?
It’s pretty much the only station I watch these days. Not only conservative but a decent amount of actual world news presented without inserting political ideologies.
ADHD-TV, lol.
These people aren’t Christians, they’re Kooks.
You can be both. But Christian kooks are much nicer than the woke kooks, and nothing like as kooky.
“It is a testament to NATO’s own dysfunction, and conflicting goals of the US and NATO members with regards to Ukraine, which many of the members see as an experimental or sacrificial battlefield for another objective altogether.”
No kidding. That Ukraine is being used as a testbed has been obvious for a long time. For both arms manufacturers and NATO the opportunity to try out assorted arms in a European battlefield, rather than during an exercise, is pure gold.
And as they ramp up so will Russia, thereby allowing even more opportunity to ‘test’. Meanwhile, Ukraine is bludgeoned. “Fight to the last Ukrainian” is a twisted black joke.
Aaannnd … here we go again …
(OK, I’ll take the .338 Lapua Magnum and you take the 12 gauge. Now, back to back, walk 100 paces, turn and fire. Ready? Go!)
Here
QLD businesses told they will have to prove their green credentials if they want to bid for c. $12 billion of 2032 Olympics contracts.
If you were a dyed in the wool greenie, you might aver that that’s a bit rich coming from a government that is only in the black (for now) thanks to coal royalties.
If the Mong hates ADH-TV, I’m definitely signing up (even if I don’t have to, I’ll send them a donation)…
Can you watch it on a normal smart tv.
It is not clear whether the firearm used by Reid had been registered. Pump-action shotguns are
Course it was registered.
Registration is just Stage 1 on the road to confiscation.
Killed 2 Mouli and wounded 10 with a shotgun.
Sounds like he’s waited there all night on the scaffold in the liftshaft and opened up on the blokes that screwed him over.
It’s a hard life on Auckland High Rise, they woulda been runnin in all directions.
For those who haven’t watched it I urge you watch today’s The Five. Watters and Gutfeld are outstanding. In the 2nd segment about the leftie outrage about Jason Aldean’s song: Try That in a Small Town, Gutfeld nearly loses it about how the slimebags in the MSM attach any criticism of crime to racism, thus doing themselves what they accuse others of doing: (justifiably) blaming blacks for crime. Gutfeld actually tells them to stick it up their arses.
No, it’s already been reported they saw him arrive with the 12g and thought it was some sort of prank.
“Can you watch it on a normal smart tv.”
Yes, have you got a chromecast? They’re cheap. This is what I do, I now mainly watch Youtube stuff on my tv, I go into Youtube on my computer (I’ve also noticed on my tv that Youtube is appearing as an app), open say, a Gad Saad Youtube discussion, and then cast it to my televison.
The Builder had been fired by his company the previous day.
That doesn’t happen in Australia any more, because of our Gun Laws.
Oh yeah. So refreshing to see a sane Democrat. I really hope it is an RFK vs Trump election.
The Deep State’s nightmare, which is why it won’t be allowed to happen.
No shit. Nato AD has been pretty much useless, to the point where there is practically zero over Odessa at the minute.
It is embarrassing now for the Nato MIC. Very embarrassing.
The UK by-election results were predictable, sure they held on to Blowjob’s constituency in London but that’s only because Labour’s governance of London, under the Islamist Sadiq Khan, has been disastrous. The Conservatives, like the Liberals, have spent decades squandering any and all goodwill among conservative and right of centre voters. There’s a piece in the UK’s “Critic” magazine which sums up why the UK Conservatives are going to be annihilated at the next election, and much of the malaise applies to the Liberal Party here. There is simply no point voting for them.
https://thecritic.co.uk/the-tories-deserve-to-be-hated/
A good read.
Probably, however we can hope. There is a bit of reason for optimism in that Biden is fast becoming a liability. OldOzzie’s post above is another example of the walls closing in on the evil, demented tosser.
Turd Case is never concerned with minor details like reality.
See also: The Strange Case of Mizzz Knickerless.
Cassie.
The Pomgolian “ right” had an absolute mandate to lower migration and focus on making things better for its citizens.
Instead it has spent 10 years trying to appease “ the blob” at the expense of those who voted for them.
Sound familiar?
Being fired doesn’t happen anymore because of gun laws? Sh1t-fer-brains strikes again.
Not to mention kicking erstwhile Red Wall voters in the guts.
Allowing an RFK junior versus DJT election would be an acknowledgement of surrender by the Democratic Party/Deep State and that ain’t gonna happen.
Neither will a DJT victory because the Dems are still in charge of the cheating systems in the swing states.
BTW, Trump has said barely a word about election cheating in the past year, which tells me he’s not serious about winning in 2024.
2024 election night will be a rerun of the wall-to-wall cheating of election night in 2020. Biden will simply be replaced by the DNC machine’s next useful idiot, most likely Newsom.
Ed October, submarine expert:
That company – NZ Mutton and Gypsum Emporium – will never be the same again.
Not clear to whoever wrote that imbecilic swill maybe.
New Zealand Police reveal first details of two victims shot dead by Matua Tangi Matua Reid, 24, in Auckland’s CBD (Sky News, 21 Jul)
Pray tell how restricting legal ownership will do anything about the illegal firearm issue? Perhaps they could um, enforce the existing laws, you know, on perps like this guy who was actually wearing a monitoring ankle bracelet at the time he went postal.
“Sound familiar?”
Very familiar, which I why I despise the Liberal Party.
I see Kahu Mahanga Reid was wearing an ankle monitor and got fired the day before.
Was he perhaps on bail/parole with a condition that he had to be employed?
Huh? He bangs on about it at every rally. If he wasn’t serious, he would have withdrawn over a year ago and probably saved himself the legal hell they are putting him through at the minute.
Yes it is, but so depressingly similar to what the SFLs have dished up these last 10 years.
Yes it is, but so depressingly similar to what the SFLs have dished up these last 10 years.
Dr. John Campbell
Microscopic evidence
Propaganda writ large
DOJ Whistleblowers Sent FBI Form With Biden Bribery Allegations To Chuck Grassley, Senator Says
BREAKING: Ukraine Launches US-Supplied Cluster Bomb Attacks on Russian Forces – Weapons that are Banned in 120 Countries that Were Condemned Last Year by the Same Biden Regime
The shooter did not have a licence to hold a gun.
In other words, the shotgun was registered, Mr Reid wasn’t the owner.
I see Kahu Mahanga Reid was wearing an ankle monitor and got fired the day before.
Huh?
Last I read, Kahu Mahanga was still alive and living in Perth.
Biden could eat a child in front of the entire media and nothing will happen, they will cover for him. There could be film of Hunter Biden receiving a suitcase of money and the media will cover for him. Nothing will happen until the Democrats work out how to first get rid of Kamala. Only then will they move on the Bidens.
DC_Draino
@DC_Draino
BIG: Senator @ChuckGrassley releases FD-1023 form alleging Joe Biden was involved in a $5,000,000 bribery scheme w/a Burisma executive
This means the FBI and DOJ *knew* he was compromised and chose to ignore it
The Deep State must be destroyed
Biden $10M bribe file released: Burisma chief said he was ‘coerced’ to pay Joe, ‘stupid’ Hunter in bombshell allegation
Words fail me….
Julie Kelly
@julie_kelly2
Oh I’ll do you one better.
The head of DOJs public integrity unit–the section responsible for investigating “criminal abuses of the public trust by government officials–from August 2010 until January 2015 was none other than…
Jack Smith.
Not really interested in Hunter Biden’s private life.
It’s only smoke, the real issue is his connections to Ukraine Biowarfare labs.
Miranda Devine
@mirandadevine
Where is the New York Times (“All the News That’s Fit to Print”) on this scandal? Where is the Washington Post (“Democracy Dies in Darkness”). Or CNN, NBC, CBS, etc. Orwellian level coverup. Today you can see which media outlets you can trust and which you can’t. It’s a red line.
Following their use by the Russians in Vuhledar, Okhtyrka & Kharkiv, with civilian casualties.
No shortage of hypocrisy among supporters of this war.
Exclusive: Clinical Trial Documents Suggest Moderna Skimped on Autopsies, Discounted Serious Injuries — Did FDA Know?
Food additive E171 Titanium dioxide. Banned in Europe but in common use in the US. Not sure of the position here.
Dangerous NANOPARTICLE in our Food?
Who cares? Both sides have already been using cluster munitions, from original Eastern Bloc stocks. Polite international agreements seem to go out the window when the stakes get high, eg the Ottawa Treaty, which no one has been squawking much about. It’s a mystery.
Global cycling governing body BAN female transgender athletes who transitioned before puberty from international races
Painters dying like flies? Nah, it’s rubbish.
Every bit of paint these days is basically pasted on TiO2 nanoparticles, since they’re 200-250 nanometres in size to best diffract incident light, which is roughly twice that wavelength.
This rubbish is everywhere now, like the PFAS thing. If PFAS was remotely dangerous we’d all be dead, since we’ve been eating vast amounts of it from decaying Teflon frypan coatings for nearly fifty years.
What it is is religious scientism, which is rampant right now. The poor proles haven’t been educated and can’t work out what is bulldust and what isn’t. So they are easliy frightened out of their wits by governments. The latest is WHO’s screeching last week about saccharine. The amount of aspartame that has gone down people’s throats would since an aircraft carrier. The stuff is harmless, or we’d know by now.