Open Thread – Tues 25 July 2023


The Choice of Hercules, Annibale Carracci, 1596

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bespoke
bespoke
July 25, 2023 8:03 pm
Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 25, 2023 8:05 pm

Lizzie.
Storm in the Earl Grey.
Someone made an observation that Dover had done a sterling job of blocking and booting a few Cat colleagues whose sole purpose was to be destructive and abusive.

Razey
Razey
July 25, 2023 8:09 pm

The Soviets lost 27 million people in WW2. In contrast, German losses were around 7 million, and the Woke West thinks it can defeat Russia? Russia have a long history of sacrifice. The Woke West don’t have and never had a chance of victory.

Delta A
Delta A
July 25, 2023 8:17 pm

Sniffy Smiff, Labushagnee and the Cheating Ranga all waving their arms and directing traffic.

Really? What has Labushagne done to be sandwiched between those two cheats?
#weloveMarus

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 25, 2023 8:20 pm

Glad you are enjoying the champagne tea, Calli. We have just come in from High Tea at our accommodation, an old now enlarged in style, Colonial era hotel overlooking the golf course. This link tells the tale of the founder of the current premises, Jim Thompson, who met a sticky end … perhaps. One of the Somerset Maugham sorts of stories that abound in these parts. He went for a jungle walk one day and was never seen again. A well-known figure, vanished.

Prior to our arvo tea we went for the hotel’s complimentary 2-hour walk around the golf course perimeter with a Dutch family and a local guide, a Malaysian Indian man who pointed out things about the flora and then, when half way around and on a jungle-edged road, he started on the fauna. Were there monkeys? the Dutch wife asked, and the answer yes, big ones, don’t go in there (gesturing at the jungle), luckily they keep pretty much to themselves. There are also tigers, he adds. Endangered? I ask. The WWF says yes, he sneers, says there are only 150 of them left around here, but they just ask for the money to save them and then pocket it themselves. I know, he continues on, because I know the Orang-Asli people, they are my friends, and they say there are at least 500 of them. They believe that if a man disappears into the jungle, he becomes a tiger and that is what they say happened to Mr. Thompson…. the guide then went on to say that people do disappear every few years and no-one knows what happens to them. Stories of ju-ju abound about it. But it is tigers, he adds.

He then brings out his phone and shows us some pictures of the area around the golf course where a tiger is walking down the road, a tarmac road with lines on the edges, just like the one we’re on now. It takes a graceful leap up into the foliage. Just here there was a tiger, he says, pointing down our road, and Orang children were playing and I said to move them, but the parents said the tiger was theirs, and they wouldn’t be harmed. It walked by them. Then he says there are also bears, and shows us a picture of a friend, lying flat out on a sarong, with one hand out, zoom in and the hand is hideously mangled with five huge cuts on it and up the arm, with bubbles and hunks of flesh everywhere. He was waiting for the ambulance. This was done by a bear, says our guide. Razor sharp claws. Worse than the tiger. They live here in this jungle too.

The Dutch family looked dubiously around and suddenly wanted to pick up pace.
Hairy and I know how tour guides like to shock, and weren’t worried. But tigers do exist around here, near human habitation, and they do attack. Interesting.

An old Orang-Asli man, bent and wizened, aged about seventy with dirty clothes walked by us as we turned the corner. He nodded to our guide. That man knows tigers and he knows the spirits, said our guide. He looked rather like some remote area aborigines you see hanging around up north in Australia. The guide says you can’t hire them because they want to bring ‘friends’ and then don’t do the work. Sounds a familiar sort of tale. The Malaysian government do have welfare supports for them, we are told, but limited ones.

Muddy
Muddy
July 25, 2023 8:20 pm

More future headlines to choose from:

‘No’ is code for genocide completion: N****rs Over.

The No Vote trending upwards is a sign of subnormal I.Q. says academic.

ABC to partner with ASIO to profile Anti-Unity terrorists.

‘No’ voters more likely to abuse women and children, survey says.

VicPol to purchase crowd control mortars in preparation for Voice violence.

Dot
Dot
July 25, 2023 8:20 pm

Random question

Anyone remember the Nike (?) ad from the early 1990s with the off season of an MLB player, “you got a problem with that!?” – it’s driving me nuts.

Delta A
Delta A
July 25, 2023 8:21 pm

oops! That would be Marnus.

#stillloveMarnus.

bespoke
bespoke
July 25, 2023 8:23 pm

Doctors from France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, South Africa, and the United States signed a joint letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal Friday warning that American medical leaders, such as Endocrine Society president Stephen Hammes, are dangerously cavalier on this issue.

Muddy
Muddy
July 25, 2023 8:23 pm

Such a waste of a once promising contributor to Australian public life.

I may be confusing him with someone else, but was it Pearson who won kudos as a school principal in Cherbourg quite some years ago?

Dot
Dot
July 25, 2023 8:25 pm

Razey
Jul 25, 2023 8:09 PM
The Soviets lost 27 million people in WW2. In contrast, German losses were around 7 million, and the Woke West thinks it can defeat Russia? Russia have a long history of sacrifice. The Woke West don’t have and never had a chance of victory.

Once again, it’s Russia when convenient, Putin is ex KGB which routinely funded the propaganda spearhead of woke vis a vis in the institutions in the West and lastly the USSR did not stand a chance without the Lend Lease programme.

Quite a few of the “Russian” dead were shot by punishment battalions.

Crossie
Crossie
July 25, 2023 8:27 pm

Razey
Jul 25, 2023 6:29 PM
What kind of shit marketing Twitter is an ‘X’ now? Surely a ‘T’ would have made more sense…

Razey, it does make sense as his rocket company is called SpaceX.

Crossie
Crossie
July 25, 2023 8:30 pm

Was it Henry Bolte when told there were protestors outside Parliament?
“They can march up and down until they’re bloody well footsore for all I care!”
Of course, that doesn’t compare with Robert Askin’s more succinct and brutal, “Run the bastards over!”

Sancho, it won’t be long before we all say “Run the bastards over” if the Just Stop Oil pests keep blocking roads. It seems Europeans are getting a bit short with them as it is.

Delta A
Delta A
July 25, 2023 8:32 pm

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Jul 25, 2023 7:53 PM

and Bespoke (never one I trust)

Ridiculous!

Dunny Brush
Dunny Brush
July 25, 2023 8:40 pm

I may be confusing him with someone else, but was it Pearson who won kudos as a school principal in Cherbourg quite some years ago?

No I think that’s another bloke call Chris Sarra. Noel is a Cape York heavy from Hopevale who runs the Cape York Institute. Opinion on the Cape about the Pearsons is, um, varied.

cohenite
July 25, 2023 8:40 pm

Sky has some anaemic doco about the screech and some hapless journo asks pearson who is wearing a trilby – why do these 3rd nation wankers all wear ridiculous hats?- no doubt what he thought was a tough question: why has it taken you fu.ktards so long with the screech (he didn’t really say fu.ktards, I just imagined it):

Pearson’s response said it all for me: he paused theatrically and I don’t mean possum gizzards and white ash spread over your arse which is what passes for 3rd nations theatrics and then turned and looked sternly and arrogantly at the camera and intoned: that is blackfella business; saying what we know already that bastards like him are all about power and the only group he scorns more than the pissant whitefellas are the 20% of 3rd nations he and his fellow shitheads keep under house arrest in the outback to use as a guilt bludgeon against white idiots. .

Real questions that should be asked of pearson while kneeing the mongrel in the cods as you ask:

Is Australia the best nation in the world? If not which nation is better? Why is that nation better? Is that nation’s aborigines the same as 3rd nations? What customs/ laws/technology have 3rd nations contributed to Australia? If nothing why should all other Australians give 3rd nations anything? Are 3rd nations better off then they were 200 years ago? If not why don’t you give up every aspect of Western culture and go back to living like they did 200 years ago? Is Bruce Pascoe a real 3rd nations? If so where is the proof? If not why should we believe anything he says?

Anything else?

Muddy
Muddy
July 25, 2023 8:44 pm

Last lot of future headlines:

Voice sabotage likely to leave no evidence.

Mental health epidemic predicted among Voice ‘No’ voters.

Albanese rejects Voice bone pointers.

White cultural jealousy a burden on indigenous progress.

First Nations footballers to boycott remainder of 2023.

Siltstone
Siltstone
July 25, 2023 8:45 pm

Muddy @8:20
It was Chris Sarra Cherburg school principal, I believe, not Noel Pearson. I am told by people who have been on the end of it, that Mr Pearson gives out vicious and filthy tongue lashings.

Muddy
Muddy
July 25, 2023 8:48 pm

Dunny Brush.
Thanks, I think you’re right about that one. Chris Sarra rings a bell.

Muddy
Muddy
July 25, 2023 8:52 pm

Thanks, Siltstone.
I do recall Pearson being a darling of the Brisbane Courier Mail and other assorted know-betters for a while. I’ve been largely unplugged from the mesozoic media for some time though.

I have family in Murgon, near Cherbourg, and the atmosphere is … interesting.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 25, 2023 8:58 pm

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Jul 25, 2023 7:53 PM

and Bespoke (never one I trust)

Ridiculous!

Why? Perfectly rational to me. He has often promulgated silly snarks about me here and so I don’t trust his assessments of others under discussion in the instance above. Trust is earned.

Let it be, Delta.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 25, 2023 8:59 pm

I am told by people who have been on the end of it, that Mr Pearson gives out vicious and filthy tongue lashings.

I’ve heard the same from a reliable source – Noel Pearson started as a moderate, but he now sees himself as having a future in Aboriginal politics.

Crossie
Crossie
July 25, 2023 9:00 pm

What customs/ laws/technology have 3rd nations contributed to Australia? If nothing why should all other Australians give 3rd nations anything? Are 3rd nations better off than they were 200 years ago? If not why don’t you give up every aspect of Western culture and go back to living like they did 200 years ago? Is Bruce Pascoe a real 3rd nations? If so where is the proof? If not why should we believe anything he says?

Cohenite, I would like answers to these questions before we shell out one more billion to the aboriginal industry.

Delta A
Delta A
July 25, 2023 9:03 pm

Bespoke is and always has been a respected Cat contributor.

Muddy
Muddy
July 25, 2023 9:15 pm

This cannot be emphasized enough; from Cohenite above:

… bastards like him are all about power and the only group he scorns more than the pissant whitefellas are the 20% of 3rd nations he and his fellow shitheads keep under house arrest in the outback to use as a guilt bludgeon against white idiots.

Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.

Those indigenous who have less of a voice (due to distance of representation, fewer resources, propaganda, etc.) are being used as primitive tools; valued only as long as they can create a product for the tool-user, and then discarded.

Black Ball
Black Ball
July 25, 2023 9:17 pm

Gez you headed to Boort tomorrow night? I believe there is a meeting to see what legal options are available to those who will more than likely have the transmission lines cross their property.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 25, 2023 9:21 pm

If not why don’t you give up every aspect of Western culture and go back to living like they did 200 years ago?

My late uncle “went droving ” out of Alice Springs in 1947, before managing cattle stations in the Kimberly’s for over twenty years. (He described the food chain in the Aboriginal camps as the men getting first choice of what was cooked on the fire, the dogs came next, then the women and children got the scraps.)
His answer to that question was “well, they are too used to whitefella’s Toyota’s, tucker and lollies.”

Black Ball
Black Ball
July 25, 2023 9:22 pm

Sorry if posted but Rita Panahi is in fine form:

The race-based referendum is exposing the true colours of some Yes advocates and it’s sadly one ugly spectacle.

They began the debate by smearing opponents of the Voice as “racist” while simultaneously playing the victim.

But the events of the past 48 hours represent a new low even by the Australian Left’s deplorably low standards.

One would hope that after No advocate Warren Mundine spoke about being driven to the brink of suicide by the racial abuse he has copped from some Yes campaigners that his ideological opponents would back off, express some sympathy or at the very least opt for a period of silence.

But sadly, many who pride themselves on being morally superior and “on the right side of history” doubled down on the attacks against a man who has shown enormous courage in detailing his struggle.

The former Liberal candidate and national president of the Labor Party told me on Sunday it was abuse from those he had known for years that was particularly painful.

“You looked at Noel Pearson’s comments and he made a dreadful racist comment against me in The Australian,” he said on Sky News.

“You’ve got him, you’ve got Marcia Langton who I’ve known for 30 years … it’s not like they’re the fringe and so that really hurt me.”

For around three terrible months Mundine struggled with suicidal ideation.

“I planned it twice … I went out to the backyard because I’ve got a 20m drop at the back of my house and so I went out and I was going to throw myself over.

“And I just laid in the rain thinking about it and I thought about my family. Another time I got off the plane in Sydney and just walked straight into the office and was going to the 30th floor and throw myself off but again I thought about my family and I thought about what that would do to them and stopped myself.”

The response from the hard Left was predictably vile, including ABC regular Paul Bongiorno who tweeted: “This is transparent, blatant politics. Hardly worth a second of sympathy. Only the gullible and opportunistic racists will fall for it.”

The callousness and cruelty show the depths of iniquity some will sink into in pursuit of their political goals.

Did anyone catch what Pearson said?
As for Bongiorno, FMD the less said about that khunt the better.

Gabor
Gabor
July 25, 2023 9:24 pm

Delta A
Jul 25, 2023 9:03 PM

Bespoke is and always has been a respected Cat contributor.

He is alright, despite the Woodstock cans. nobody is perfect

miltonf
miltonf
July 25, 2023 9:31 pm

How old is Bungjurno now? 110? Stills sounds like a saphic second year uni student. The psychopathy is strong with these horrible people.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 25, 2023 9:32 pm

Bespoke is and always has been a respected Cat contributor.

That doesn’t obviate my lack of trust, Ma’am.

I have my good reasons and some others seem to have had them too.

It’s not a popularity contest. Bespoke makes good comments quite often.

I will leave it at that. Let’s call it a broad church in here. If you are in it and I am in it then it must be.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
July 25, 2023 9:32 pm

It’s been a while since I’ve watched Ozzy Man.

Good stuff.

Ozzy Man Reviews: MEGA COMPILATION #14

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 25, 2023 9:32 pm

Is Bruce Pascoe a real 3rd nations?

As white as Snow White’s bum……

calli
calli
July 25, 2023 9:34 pm

Uh oh. Serves me right for Premature Gloating.

Terminal 5 Heathrow. Known as the 10th Circle of Hell. It is seething with travelling humanity bound for…somewhere else. Please.

We have a nine hour lay-over but no complimentary lounge this time (PE). So the Beloved booked six hours in a private one. All a bit tired and worn and totally packed. I consider my First World Problems minor compared to the hordes down in the terminal. But again, I’m paying for a level of comfort during the long wait (reminding myself of Peter Smith’s excellent thread).

If we are to have storms in teacups, make mine Golden Gunpowder. With a dash of full fat milk. And a nice neenish tart.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
July 25, 2023 9:37 pm

ABC QandA has modest kerfuffle over the public servant who failed upwards from Robodebt.
https://youtu.be/VHM3fuQfNXA?t=122

Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman, seems to spend a lot of time defending the current practice of the public service deciding its own job descriptions, pay levels, hiring process, and being “the institution that sustains between governments”, and uses this supposed independence from politics to refuse to comment on this specific person and position. If politicians can’t reign in PS excesses, who on Earth can? Where does the will of the people, a mob though they may be, get a look in?
It’s all sounding like Permanent Canberra in the same vein as Permanent Washington.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
July 25, 2023 9:39 pm

The Border Collie @ 10:04 from Ozzy above is absolute GOLD!

miltonf
miltonf
July 25, 2023 9:44 pm

It’s all sounding like Permanent Canberra in the same vein as Permanent Washington.

agree 100%

miltonf
miltonf
July 25, 2023 9:46 pm

Most of the pollimuppets are vile but it’s the canbra pubic parasites that wield the real power.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 25, 2023 9:47 pm

The response from the hard Left was predictably vile, including ABC regular Paul Bongiorno who tweeted: “This is transparent, blatant politics. Hardly worth a second of sympathy. Only the gullible and opportunistic racists will fall for it.”

Warren Mundine is an exceptionally brave man to withstand this leftist barrage. For the left, absolutely everything is political. There is no humanity in that, no room for compassion. It’s extra hard for Warren because he’s been on the side of aboriginal advancement all of his life and he very much still is. To have old friends deny his anguish over their treatment of him due to what amounts to simply a difference in opinion is very bitter. We on the No side need to add as much support as possible to help him overcome what must be a challenging self-doubt at times. You are on the right side of history, Warren. Hold true to yourself.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 25, 2023 9:51 pm

Warren Mundine is an exceptionally brave man to withstand this leftist barrage

One of the news services – can’t remember which one it was – showed some of the texts he had received. Vicious, to say the least. Funny, it’s always the left in this country who holds the high moral ground….

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 25, 2023 9:54 pm

But again, I’m paying for a level of comfort during the long wait (reminding myself of Peter Smith’s excellent thread).

At a certain stage in one’s life paying for things that would have seemed unnecessary and/or a great waste of money in one’s youth becomes a more solidly acceptable proposition. This is particularly so as airline travel has become so fraught with delays and difficult connections, especially if you’re looking to get a good deal on flight costs, and who isn’t?

So bra undone, shoes off, kick back and enjoy the paid-up rest time, Calli.
Have a safe and easy trip home.

calli
calli
July 25, 2023 9:59 pm

Also, with “tea” mentioned, I discovered something very interesting. It’s all to do with class, and it appears that I have got it wrong.

Low Tea is very Downton Abbey – a snack (yes, pull the other one) served to tide the well heeled over until the dinner hour. It was served from low tables, like our coffee tables, and consisted of tea (and coffee for the barbarians), sandwiches, cakes and scones. They all sat around in afternoon finery looking dapper and refined.

High Tea was served at high tables and was a proper tea for the working class. Hard worker fuel. Meat was often included as well as other staples. Just like my family, “it’s tea time” meant the evening meal, with a great big pot of tea at the ready. Some called it a “meat tea”.

And then the “cream tea” (my personal favourite). Scones with lashings of strawberry jam and cream. Mmmmmm…

On Queen Vic (and other Cunard vessels), they simply call the first category “Afternoon Tea”, with white gloved waiters serving delicious things from silver trays and busily tempting everyone to eat too much.

But it’s served at high tables. Confusing, and reminds me of Alice…nothing seems to make much sense.

I used to call my waiter my own personal “tempter”. But he was much more benevolent than Wormwood.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 25, 2023 10:01 pm

Just watched “College Admissions Scandal” on Netflix.
Potted version (rough numbers only).
There were different types of college admissions:-
1. Academic ability;
2. Affirmative action (now goneski);
3. Gifting $10 m to the uni of choice pretty much guaranteed admission;
4. Gifting $1 – $2 m made sure your kid got a second look, but no guarantee of admission;
5. Paying a “college admissions counsellor” who would fudge entrance exams and/or bribe a sports coach to admit you on sporting ability.
Not surprisingly, type 5 was the subject of the doco, and a lot of it was pretty blatant (e.g. a 5’5″ kid was admitted as a candidate for the basketball team).
This went on for years, and was pretty widespread, involving a lot of parents, students, universities, coaches and admission committees, but no-one was wise to it apparently.
Something doesn’t make sense.
Parents who paid $2 m but their kid didn’t get in, but later hear there is a guaranteed “side door” (that’s what they called it) for $500k?
They’re not pissed off?
Kids who are genuinely good at a sport miss a spot but find the one-legged kid of a billionaire made the team?
I mean, a lot of the sports were minor (tennis, sailing, water polo). They mostly avoided basketball and football. Even in the USA, these sports are relatively small communities. It is surprising that this went for 20 years, and no-one tumbled that these kids not only were no good at these sports, that frequently they had never played them.
Parents and coaches got done, but the universities did not, and the DoJ seemingly made no attempt to entrap confessions out of them as they did with the others.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
July 25, 2023 10:02 pm

Sorry, I was really mixing two different questions:

If politicians can’t reign in PS excesses, who on Earth can? Where does the will of the people, a mob though they may be, get a look in?

1) Courts, or a Royal Commission, can determine what rule or norm was supposed to be followed in a particular circumstance and whether a person broke it.
2) Politicians could, if they dared, change the norms and rules of the PS. If they actually did this reform in a way that met public opinion it would undermine the Uniparty hypothesis of auspol, which would be surprising at this point.

Muddy
Muddy
July 25, 2023 10:03 pm

Insider-Outsider.
Support-Vilify.
Accept-Erase.
Simple.

That’s gang life.
Be a hunter, or be prey.

Understand that what insiders say to outsiders is how they position their targets. The words are intended to sedate you.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 25, 2023 10:03 pm

bispoke is grate

Rosie
Rosie
July 25, 2023 10:03 pm

Not so long ago nine hours in London would have seen me dumping suitcases at a left luggage and rushing off to see some sights.
Which I did do with my children on the way home from Scandinavia the first time we ever travelled to Europe.
I think we caught the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and that decided us, we were going back, and we did.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 25, 2023 10:04 pm

Buggeure, Just been told the dining room is unavailable tonight. We can still have the same menu, but must eat it in the bar area where they serve High Tea. There is an official function on. A line of expensive and important cars is drawing up outside. On our walk today we did pass by the hill on which the King’s residence sits – a magnificent Tudor pile up high on a cliff edge. The King is a Sultan and the Sultans take turns at kingship every four years. There is below the King’s residence a large residence in the style of a South African Dutch architecture, strange to see below the Tudor stuff above. The Dutch family were quite taken with it. Many famous visitors including British Royalty have stayed there. Looks like that crew du jour are all dining chez nous tonight, without us the nous part though.

I wonder if they will still have their Shepherd’s Pie on the menu, or something grander.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 25, 2023 10:07 pm

Defence whistleblower wants charges on show at War Memorial
Angus Thompson
By Angus Thompson
July 25, 2023 — 5.09pm

A Defence whistleblower charged with leaking confidential material to journalists about potential war crimes by Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan wants his court summons displayed in the Australian War Memorial.

Former army lawyer David McBride, who is facing trial this year, wants evidence of his own treatment by the justice system displayed, after the War Memorial erected signs acknowledging a landmark judgment dismissing disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation case against media outlets.

“The War Memorial is about telling the truth,” McBride told a press conference in Parliament House on Tuesday, adding that the Anzac legend initially inspired him to speak out.

“I believe I did my job. My job was to stand up when I saw things [that were] wrong.”

McBride will be tried in the ACT Supreme Court on five charges relating to the disclosure of classified documents between 2013 and 2017. The federal government is facing calls to intervene in the prosecution, with ACT Veterans Minister Emma Davidson telling The Guardian the case was not in the public interest.

Comment has been sought from the War Memorial, which has installed plaques next to two displays honouring Roberts-Smith that say the museum is considering what further content should be added to the exhibits in light of the defamation decision. Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko found the newspapers had proven to the civil standard – on the balance of probabilities – that Roberts-Smith was a war criminal who was complicit in the murder of four unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan.

“The memorial acknowledges the gravity of the decision in the Ben Roberts-Smith VC MG defamation case and its broader impact on all involved in the Australian community. This is the outcome of a civil legal case, and one step in a longer process,” the plaques read.

Roberts-Smith is seeking to overturn the findings as part of an appeal launched this month.

McBride said an exhibit highlighting his prosecution would be seen by school children and overseas visitors who visited the War Memorial.

“A lot of people go through there. I imagine it would be thought-provoking to say, ‘Here was someone who didn’t agree with what was going on, someone that stood up’,” he said.

Comment has been sought from Robert-Smith’s defamation lawyer on McBride’s proposal.

Greens senator David Shoebridge has written to War Memorial director Matt Anderson in support of McBride’s bid.

“For telling the truth, David McBride has been singled out and punished by the Australian government,” Shoebridge said in the letter sent on Tuesday.

“The charges, taken together, carry the prospect of decades in jail for the crime of telling the truth.”

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
July 25, 2023 10:11 pm

Rosie, once ten hours between flights saw us race from the airport to the Rockefeller Centre in NY, don hired skates and with our two little children have a fine old time skating there in front of the huge Christmas angel, after throwing snowballs at daddy in Central Park in front of the Plaza Hotel. We then caught a cab to Newark International but got caught in an horrendous traffic jam around the Lincoln Tunnel, where our Croatian driver was getting out and beating on the sides of cars in the way. We only just made the plane, but we’ll always remember the joy of that day. I don’t think they have that rink in the Rockefeller Centre any more.

These days of course we avoid the big transits and if we get one we pay our way out.
That’s age and spending the inheritance for you.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
July 25, 2023 10:12 pm

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Jul 25, 2023 9:54 PM

So bra undone, shoes off, kick back and enjoy the paid-up rest time

[ Boing sound effect ]

Pics please.

Joking folks, just joking Elizabeth ( :

Rosie
Rosie
July 25, 2023 10:13 pm

Always been afternoon tea* in my family especially if you were doing manual labour, then tea at sixish.
A lot of work in meal preparation and clean up, fine to have it late when there are servants to prepare and clean away.
Upper classes play the same games as the Spanish with their very late lunches.
They’re all hoeing into substantial snacks at eleven to keep them going.
I remember Noel Streatfeild’s bio when her vicar’s wife mother kept them on short rations so she had sufficient gardening money, ‘supper’ was cocoa made with water, and not much else.
*not as fancy as tea with Mr Tumnus

calli
calli
July 25, 2023 10:13 pm

Rosie, Heathrow. Bags in transit. We are captives.

To leave, we have to go land-side (immigration hall, Dante’s 9th circle), catch the rail through to Kings Cross/St Pancras, tool around on the Underground to wherever, gawp at something, back on the Underground, back to the heavy rail, through security to air-side (9th Circle’s Twin) and pray that everything is on time.

And when we fail to arrive, our bags are dumped on the tarmac for the scavengers. 🙂

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
July 25, 2023 10:18 pm

John Stossel:

Politicians love to make plans for us. But the best of life happens when politicians just leave us alone.

Government Central Planning Fails—Free People Create Order On Our Own.

calli
calli
July 25, 2023 10:19 pm

I flatly refuse to undo my bra in the lounge. Mum would be horrified.

Such comfort seeking must wait until cruising altitude is reached, dinner is served and removed and the cabin lights are dimmed. Other passenger’s sensibilities must be respected. 😀

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 25, 2023 10:22 pm

The King is a Sultan and the Sultans take turns at kingship every four years.

Years ago, in Langkawi, the Sultans motorcade was arriving, and certain Australians were complimented for having the manners to remove their hats as the cavalcade arrived…

Dot
Dot
July 25, 2023 10:23 pm

I’ll keep on asking.

Random question

Does anyone remember the Nike (?) ad from the early 1990s with the off-season of an MLB player, “You got a problem with that!?” – it’s driving me nuts.

MatrixTransform
July 25, 2023 10:26 pm

just watched BubbleBoy again for the first time in 20 years

and smiled at everything from a giggling Heather Graham to road-killed sacred cows

“back off bitch … he’s the messiah”

“Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped
by a six-armed goddess?
I’ll take that as a no!”

LoL. what a joy.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 25, 2023 10:27 pm

Does anyone remember the Nike (?) ad from the early 1990s with the off-season of an MLB player, “You got a problem with that!?” – it’s driving me nuts.

No.

Zatara
Zatara
July 25, 2023 10:31 pm

Florida Democrats Scurry to Rebuild Mail-in Voter Rolls After New Law Wipes Them Clean

Florida’s wide-ranging new voting law, SB 90, is chock-full of rules that button up election integrity. Among its many actions is this one: “limiting the duration of requests for vote-by-mail ballots to all elections through the end of the calendar year of the next regularly scheduled general election.”

But as any Democrat official will tell you (in so many words), Democrat voters are too stupid to participate in their own society by doing things like having a valid ID or using a computer. So naturally, party officials are simmering with outrage at the harsh new law.

The wailing and gnashing of teeth is music to honest citizens’ ears.

Dot
Dot
July 25, 2023 10:34 pm

Trickler that tobacco stuff was interesting.

Nicotine is itself addictive* but no I agree that “herbal” cigarettes would not be as addictive.

*(Defining addiction can be a can of worms).

A possible cause of cancer rates from the death sticks is that the rock phosphate causes bioaccumulation of naturally occurring radionuclides.

Smoking definitely helps mental acuity and schizophrenia as well as counterintuitively helping mild asthma and allergies.

The benefits of smoking are very hard to find, it has been censored by hook or by crook – either a flood of well-intentioned misinformation or groupthink.

What we know is that 1 – 2 cigarettes a week are actually beneficial. What would that look like without additives or bioaccumulation of Pb-201, Ra-226 and U-238?

Rosie
Rosie
July 25, 2023 10:41 pm

I think our bags were in transit too, looking back. We were more than happy to run the gauntlet though it was almost exactly this time of year, I think number one priority had been platform 9 3/4 so totally worth it for my children, the youngest of whom was then very young indeed.
I probably wouldn’t bother now, we’ve got seven hours in Singapore coming up and plans at this stage are probably a massage and a flat chair.
We had long stops in Japan twice, and dashed into Narita shopping centre then I paid about $20 each to use the baths at Narita airport with complimentary access to recliners.
Luxury.

MatrixTransform
July 25, 2023 10:43 pm
Indolent
Indolent
July 25, 2023 10:46 pm
Steve trickler
Steve trickler
July 25, 2023 10:56 pm

calli
Jul 25, 2023 10:19 PM
I flatly refuse to undo my bra in the lounge. Mum would be horrified.

Such comfort seeking must wait until cruising altitude is reached, dinner is served and removed and the cabin lights are dimmed. Other passenger’s sensibilities must be respected. ?

Severe turbulence might challenge that after the strap release.

X: Damn, look at those things go!

?

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
July 25, 2023 10:56 pm

Emoji’s at this end are no go.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 25, 2023 11:01 pm

Steve trickler

Jul 25, 2023 10:56 PM

Emoji’s at this end are no go.

If you talk to Dover about upgrading to Platinum membership, that is one of the benefits.
🙂

Dot
Dot
July 25, 2023 11:05 pm

“Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped
by a six-armed goddess?
I’ll take that as a no!”

This one time, at Archon camp…

Crossie
Crossie
July 25, 2023 11:05 pm

It just occurred to me, Chris Kenny is starting to look like Kevin Rudd. Kenny is also turning into a lefty, particularly with his Voice advocacy.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 25, 2023 11:13 pm

It just occurred to me, Chris Kenny is starting to look like Kevin Rudd.

That is an appalling accusation to make against anyone, no matter what you might think of them.

Crossie
Crossie
July 25, 2023 11:18 pm

Since people are reminiscing about end of holiday arrangement, here is mine. On our last cruise, pre covid, we finished up in Los Angeles in the morning with a late evening flight home. I booked us a room at an airport hotel, left the luggage there and then called a taxi. It was a surprise when a limo turned up and took us to Santa Monica Pier. The driver promised to come back and pick us up later in the afternoon. We had a wonderful time at The Pier and a short walk up the Santa Monica Boulevard, shopping and a lunch at a seaside restaurant.

The driver and the limo turned up as promised and even took us to Venice Beach on the way back to the hotel. We tipped him generously as we had a most enjoyable time. The rest of the time we had a nice lie down before checking out and getting the hotel’s shuttle to the airport. A very nice closure to the Panama Canal cruise.

Crossie
Crossie
July 25, 2023 11:21 pm

Sancho Panzer
Jul 25, 2023 11:13 PM
It just occurred to me, Chris Kenny is starting to look like Kevin Rudd.

That is an appalling accusation to make against anyone, no matter what you might think of them.

Chris Kenny deserves it for the way he went after Gary Johns on his Sky program.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
July 25, 2023 11:24 pm

Kevin Rudd. Founder of the website “ bitter old men who are morphing into old lesbians who look like blokes. Com”

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 25, 2023 11:37 pm

It is with great sadness I have to report that menwholooklikeoldlesbians.com has gone to the Web in the sky.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 25, 2023 11:41 pm

Joining another couple of my favourites – The Worst of Perth and Hot Chicks with Douchebags. Make the internet great again.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
July 25, 2023 11:43 pm
Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 25, 2023 11:58 pm

thefrollickingmole

Jul 25, 2023 11:24 PM

Kevin Rudd. Founder of the website “ bitter old men who are morphing into old lesbians who look like blokes. Com”

My favourites were Tony Windsor, Neil Finn and Sarah Ferguson.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 12:02 am

Sarah Ferguson

Gender roles aren’t exactly clear in that household in the ALPBC tradition.

calli
calli
July 26, 2023 12:22 am

Was it Charles Barkley Dot?

As for you guys risking your return flights…good luck to you. Too much uncertainty in flight schedules these days for this little black duck.

John H.
John H.
July 26, 2023 12:29 am

Dot
Jul 25, 2023 10:34 PM
Trickler that tobacco stuff was interesting.

Nicotine is itself addictive* but no I agree that “herbal” cigarettes would not be as addictive.

*(Defining addiction can be a can of worms).

A possible cause of cancer rates from the death sticks is that the rock phosphate causes bioaccumulation of naturally occurring radionuclides.

Smoking definitely helps mental acuity and schizophrenia as well as counterintuitively helping mild asthma and allergies.

The benefits of smoking are very hard to find, it has been censored by hook or by crook – either a flood of well-intentioned misinformation or groupthink.

What we know is that 1 – 2 cigarettes a week are actually beneficial. What would that look like without additives or bioaccumulation of Pb-201, Ra-226 and U-238?

Nicotine is addictive. Hardly surprising given there is a specific receptor it binds to(nACHR).

The radioactivity element is very small part of the risk. Any smoke inhalation is dangerous. in relation to tobacco smoke contains many mutagens. The growth related enzymes RAS and RAF are relevant because occupation of the nACHR can elevate RAS and RAF functions with further downstream effects potentiating cancer formation that is contingent on the relevant mutations.

It helps with concentration because boosting ACH function helps with that and memory consolidation. High ACHRs in the hippocampus obviously helps with improving the attentional network. Nicotine also potentially has an anti-inflammatory effect because nACHR occupation on microglia keeps those cells in a ramified state hence less likely to release inflammatory mediators. A trial of nicotine patches for Alz failed because it was too late to have any benefit as the microglia have already shifted into an ameboid state and are constantly bombarded with danger signals.

I have read studies showing that in males only smoking is protective against Parkinson’s Disease.

Can you provide a reference for the 1-2 cigs a week being beneficial?

Top Ender
Top Ender
July 26, 2023 2:25 am

Meanwhile in the Territory:

LandCruiser to break underwater drive records in Darwin Harbour

A team of engineers, mechanics and divers has converted a LandCruiser into a SeaCrawler ahead of a record-breaking drive attempt across Darwin Harbour.

The first and final test before an attempt at a record-breaking 7km underwater drive across Darwin Harbour was a huge success.

A team of engineers, mechanics and divers held their breath as a rusty orange 1978 LandCruiser drove into the depths of Casuarina Beach.

It was up to Luke Purdy and Taylor Smith to give the engine one last check before the car rolled beneath the waves.

Mr Purdy said what happened during Tuesday’s test would indicate whether Saturday’s record-attempt would sink or swim.

“The aim for today is to try and get as much data out of this thing as possible to try and calculate – if possible – power usages, issues that we may have crossing the harbour,” he said.

“This is really our first live field test and there’s only four days to go until the crossing.”

Mathew Mitchell joined the project 12 months ago and looked forward to seeing the car drive 7km from Mandorah to Mindil Beach.

“The car itself has been built over the last six months,” he said.

“Prior to that, we started doing seabed surveys and mapping the route out – there’s quite a lot of obstacles.”

Mr Mitchell said a team of up to 30 divers would rotate throughout the trip to drive the car, swapping every 12-15 minutes.

He said another team tried to cross Darwin Harbour in 1983 but only made it 4km before they got stuck.

Mr Mitchell said the team was inspired to attempt the record by a four-part LandCrusier docuseries.

“When they were working out what they were going to do with the show, they thought, ‘LandCruisers have done some pretty cool things around Australia from bull-catching to being the dominant vehicle on mine sites and things like that’,” he said.

“The craziest thing they could think of that’s been done in a LandCruiser was (this record), so we thought, ‘let’s give it another try’.”

But the record attempt meant less to Mr Mitchell than the experience of working with a “great bunch of guys” did.

“We’ll get the car to Mindil Beach one way or another,” he said.

“There’s going to be a lot of setup at Mindil Beach – they’ll be livestreaming videos from the divers, I think there’s a jumping castle down there, a bar.”

Mr Mitchell said he hadn’t been very focused on the party-planning side of the project, but was happy to know he could get a beer when the divers emerge from the water.

Mr Mitchell said the test “could not have gone better” and estimated the car could have kept going for about 12 hours.

He said divers took the car for a 1km spin at a depth of about 5m.

Mr Mitchell said the LandCruiser moved through the water at about 1.7 knots using anywhere from 10-50 per cent of the car’s power.

He said all that was left to do before Saturday’s record attempt was to make the car “pretty” with a new coat of paint.

NT News of course

Johnny Rotten
July 26, 2023 3:27 am

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

– George Orwell

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 3:52 am

George Orwell?
That one was George Best.

Johnny Rotten
July 26, 2023 3:57 am

I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.

– George Best

Tom
Tom
July 26, 2023 4:03 am
Tom
Tom
July 26, 2023 4:04 am
Tom
Tom
July 26, 2023 4:06 am
Tom
Tom
July 26, 2023 4:07 am
Tom
Tom
July 26, 2023 4:08 am
Tom
Tom
July 26, 2023 4:09 am
Tom
Tom
July 26, 2023 4:10 am
Johnny Rotten
July 26, 2023 4:19 am

Thanks Ton.

Johnny Rotten
July 26, 2023 4:20 am

I mean, thanks Tom.

Whoops.

Johnny Rotten
July 26, 2023 4:24 am

Ukraine is a Disaster, Putin is the Moderate, & Truth is the Victim

COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong, At first, I questioned why you were more pro-Putin than the media. But given your reliable forecasting and being renowned for your sources, I kept an open mind. Whilst it is becoming clear that Putin has been going after the people who wanted to nuke and totally invade Ukraine, the media seems to overlook that agenda of invading all of Ukraine. Yevgeny Prigozhin disagreed with Putin on only protecting the Donbas. Igor Girkin, who advocated the invasion of Ukraine, was also arrested. The press even tried to pretend that China’s Xi warned Putin not to use nuclear arms in Ukraine when he was against it. Putin did tell the leader of Chentna that a nuclear on Kyiv was off the table. I can see what you have been pointing out. Putin has been the moderate.

Now the British press is admitting that Ukraine is a disaster. The WSJ also just came out and said the United States knew Ukraine was not up to this offensive. I must say, you and your sources are better than anyone out there. Your comments that you had dinner at Trump’s place when he was president and wanted to exit Afghanistan because he was anti-war were very interesting. You actually have the contacts, not conspiracy theories.

I just wanted to say that now I value your comments more than anyone else.

Keep up the good fight. I hope Scotty does not beam you up just yet.

Paul

REPLY: “Thank you. My sources are renowned because they all share the same passion for truth. We all work together, sharing information that is off the grid so-to-speak. We all understand how we are being manipulated by the media, which I am so disappointed in for not being independent. The mainstream media was supposed to protect our liberty – not sell it to the highest bidder. News to them has become opinion – not fact.

I feel sorry for all of those who have been brainwashed to hate Trump, for they have been manipulated into being supporters of World War III. When Iran shot down an unarmed and unmanned American drone, Bolton was pushing for the US to attack Iran. As I have said, he would bomb Canada for one Russian. He is a hateful Neocon. Trump said no. It was not manned, and it was unarmed.

John Bolton would have started another war over a drone. The Neocons have launched all of these actions against Trump BECAUSE they know if he ever got back into the White House, they would be fired or perhaps even put on trial. As I have said, if they did this outside of Washington, they would be charged criminally for hate crimes.

I have met many heads of state. I am the longest person ever held in civil contempt for refusing to turn over the source code to Socrates. I have stared these people in the eyes face to face. What I write is not a conspiracy or just an opinion – it is a fact. I was asked to covertly invest $10 billion to take over Russia back 1n 1999. They blackmailed Yeltsin in their attempt to rig the 2000 Russian election. That is why Yeltsin turned to Putin, who was a nobody – not a politician, not a communist, and not an oligarch. I was in the middle of all of this shit. I know what happened.

They threw me in with the terrorists from the World Trade Center, all to prevent me from communicating with my lawyers while they took them away. They threw me into solitary confinement and took all my legal preparation away so they could sift through it all to see what my defense would be. They even tried to kill me, but I survived to their dismay.

You do not know what these people will do to ensure they win. They own Wikipedia, which is now joining the agenda to shut down all dissent on climate change, for that is in the works for the next lockdown when civil unrest rises. I feel sorry for the people who actually think elections are not rigged. Wait for 2024. We will see massive civil unrest, for it will become obvious what they are doing to the world.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/press/ukraine-is-a-disaster-putin-is-the-moderate-truth-is-the-victim/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

Black Ball
Black Ball
July 26, 2023 4:43 am

From the Hun website:

Indigenous Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has broken down while revealing the moment that cemented her stance on the Voice.

The prominent No campaigner has been vocal about how she doesn’t believe the Constitution should be amended to recognise Indigenous Australians as the nation’s First Peoples and enshrine a permanent, independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait advisory body, or “Voice”, to parliament and the executive government.

In a tearful interview aired as part of the Sky News documentary The Voice: Australia Decides, Senator Price revealed the devastating effects the campaign has had on her own family, including a horrific attack on her grandmother.

After travelling 300km with reporter Matt Cunningham from Alice Springs to her family’s property of Yuendumu, the pair said they weren’t welcome in the community.

The senator said she was “disappointed, disrespected and completely disregarded” after arriving to speak with her grandmother, who was later violently beaten in front of her.

“I should have been able to come in and talk directly to my family members about their thoughts as Australian citizens and individuals in their own right about what they do know and don’t know about the referendum,” Ms Price said.

“Without fear of backlash, they should have the freedom to have their voice heard, ultimately.”

When Ms Price and Mr Cunningham arrived, they attended a land council royalties meeting, where the politician claims she witnessed her grandmother “being punched”.

Through tears, Ms Price said she witnessed her grandmother being threatened and attacked so badly that now she “can’t even talk”.

“Now her voice is not being heard,” she said, explaining she posted a graphic image of her grandmother’s injuries on social media to show the blood streaming down the elderly woman’s face.

Ms Price said it’s hard for people to understand what it’s like when they don’t live in remote communities, explaining she has had multiple family members die, including two uncles, as a result of alcohol and an aunt who was stabbed to death in an alcohol-fuelled attack.

She said the relative was stabbed and “drowned in her own blood” because her “ex didn’t want her to live in NSW and have an opportunity at life”.

“I’m a tough person, but there’s kids living in this and this is normalised to them,” she said.

Ms Price argued that Indigenous communities are “simply not respected” as individual people and are instead treated as a “collective” which is controlled by “the powerful”.

While she stands firmly on the No side of the campaign, the senator said she went into politics because of the need in Canberra for an understanding of traditional culture.

She said she has wanted to use her role to save lives and stop burying loved ones.

But she claims those in the Yes camp of the campaign are missing the point; saying campaign director Dean Parkin spoke “nonsense” when he said a gap exists generally between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous people.

“The Gap exists between (those who are) marginalised and those who aren’t,” Ms Price said.

“Dean Parkin is not marginalised but he’s Indigenous, but the proponents of the Voice are suggesting that as a race of Australians we are inherently disadvantaged.

“I’m not disadvantaged, Dean Parkin isn’t disadvantaged, Noel Pearson certainly isn’t disadvantaged, he lives in Noosa, but the truth of the situation is the gap exists between the marginalised and those who aren’t.”

But according to Bongiorno, this is only politics of which he implores his handful of Twitter followers to pay no heed to. Crocodile tears!

bespoke
bespoke
July 26, 2023 5:26 am

In a tearful interview aired as part of the Sky News documentary The Voice: Australia Decides, Senator Price revealed the devastating effects the campaign has had on her own family, including a horrific attack on her grandmother.

Disgusting. All the more reason for the no supporters to stay rational and not say or do enything foolish. Let the yes supporters expose themselves for what thay are.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 26, 2023 5:45 am

BB that was horrific what happened to Jacinta’s grandmother. Of course nothing will happen to the aggressor. These communities are being kept to show how marginalised Aboriginals are so the activist industry can live the high life. Sit down munny has ruined this country for blacks,whites and all the colours in between. I care not what people do for work. The loss of dignity providing for one’s self is imperative to mental well-being. The past is a different country. I worked with a guy whose daughter moved to some dump of a town in Queensland so they didn’t have to work. The only work was a shop, pub and petrol station. He used to send her money coz she was on the bones of her arse. I told him he wasn’t doing her any favours as she and most of the people in town were a blight on Australia. The whole town had that attitude. Makes me sick.

bespoke
bespoke
July 26, 2023 5:54 am

providing for one’s self is imperative to mental well-being.-GreyRanga

johanna
johanna
July 26, 2023 6:17 am

Awful story about what happened to Jacinta’s Gran.

So much for traditional culture respecting elders. In remote communities, older people are used as permanent babysitters while the parents party, and are humbugged remorselessly on pension day.

It’s about time the ugly truth was brought home to the wider public about the spurious claims surrounding ‘culture’ and ‘country’, which are just a cover for degradation and misery at taxpayers’ expense.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 26, 2023 6:39 am

The Justice Department sued Texas over a buoy barrier at the border.

In a complaint filed in the Western District of Texas, federal prosecutors said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had violated the Rivers and Harbors Act by stringing together the buoys in the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border without federal authorization. The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about the complaint.

Via the WSJ.
It’s almost like the Biden administration wants an open border.

bespoke
bespoke
July 26, 2023 6:51 am

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Jul 25, 2023 8:58 PM
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Jul 25, 2023 7:53 PM
I don’t trust his assessments of others under discussion in the instance above.

I did not make eny “assessments” all I did was to inquiry on the validity of Sancho accusations against a past commentator.

Trust is earned.

Indeed. And context is vital to truths.

Let it go.

Chuckle.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 26, 2023 6:52 am

It would appear Mr Armstrong’s ChatGPT bot has developed Munchausen’s Syndrome.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 26, 2023 6:58 am

From TE’s piece overnight, and apropos of the Landy driving across the Darwin Harbour seabed:

Mr Mitchell said the LandCruiser moved through the water at about 1.7 knots using anywhere from 10-50 per cent of the car’s power.

He said all that was left to do before Saturday’s record attempt was to make the car “pretty” with a new coat of paint.

If that coat of paint includes an OceanGate logo, I’m going for a look.

johanna
johanna
July 26, 2023 7:01 am

In a complaint filed in the Western District of Texas, federal prosecutors said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had violated the Rivers and Harbors Act by stringing together the buoys in the Rio Grande along the U.S.-Mexico border without federal authorization. The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about the complaint.

Must be an old report.

According to Breitbart a couple of days ago, the Governor’s response was ‘see you in court.’

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
July 26, 2023 7:08 am

Also from the NT News:

The UK’s Armed Forces Minister has flagged the potential for troops from the military of Australia’s oldest ally to be stationed alongside US Marines in the Top End.

Great. Just what we need.

More pasty colonialists wandering about with knotted handkerchiefs on their heads, complaining that the beaches have sand on them rather than gravel and howling about the lack of blood pudding and kipper outlets.

132andBush
132andBush
July 26, 2023 7:16 am

Delta A
Jul 25, 2023 9:03 PM

Bespoke is and always has been a respected Cat contributor.

His predilection for consuming engine de-greaser notwithstanding.

johanna
johanna
July 26, 2023 7:18 am

Zuckerberg’s foray into the Twitter market is not going too well:

Forbes reports that since its launch, Threads, the new social media platform introduced by Facebook, has seen a dramatic decline in user engagement, with a sharp dropoff in daily active users and average usage duration. Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter Clone has experienced a nearly 70 percent decline in the number of daily active users since its peak on July 7.

Oh, dear.

In the rest of the article, it explains that Facebook is now Meta and Twitter is now X. What is it with the egomaniacs in tech who junk brand names worth many millions (at least) on a whim? I guarantee that Facebook has a 99% recognition factor, and Meta is in low double figures at best. Same for Twitter.

Mind you, I’m still smarting from the Bank of New South Wales being (inexplicably) rebranded as Westpac. It is an east coast bank, and rebranding merely heralded declines in customer service. 🙁

Rosie
Rosie
July 26, 2023 7:41 am

Jacinta is correct.
People like Grant and Pearson Cloak themselves in the disadvantage of others.
And I’ll keep saying the suffering of previous generations shouldn’t be ‘redressed’ by treaties and payments.
There is a long, long line of other people with families who have suffered grevious harms even one generation back.
No-one talks about treaties and reparations for the families of victims of the Irish Famine, the Shoah, the killing fields of Cambodia, the Vietnam War, communism etc.
We are all individuals, not parts of an amorphized intergenerational blob.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
July 26, 2023 7:46 am

How can you say such things about convicted felon Armstrong, Knuckles. His imagination is far greater than ChatGPT.

Cassie of Sydney
July 26, 2023 7:58 am

Just on two weeks ago, Nigel Farage revealed to the world how his bank, Coutts, owned by NatWest, informed him they were closing his bank account. Farage had banked with Coutts for decades and so, somewhat gobsmacked and mystified (rightly so), Farage then tried to open a bank account with other leading UK banks, alas to no avail. It seems Farage had been or was being deplatformed from UK banking services, something that in this day and age would make life completely unliveable in the West. The talk at the time was that Farage was deemed “politically exposed”, and the line of responsibility for this deplatforming led back to a mediocre UK Labour parliamentarian who, last year, used parliamentary privilege (always the resort of cowards) to smear Farage as a “Wussian agent”, and he’d said that Farage had received money from Putin and Wussia. Crikey! All bullshit of course. Never one to take things lying down, Farage then used a subject access request to source from NatWest the reasons why he had been “deplatformed”, and thus, a few days ago, he received a forty or so page dossier from the bank outlining the reasons for the account closure. This dossier outlined a myriad of Farage crimes, one being his friendship with Donald Trump, others being the architect of Brexit, and on and on the thought crimes went. Here’s the top line, the medium line and the bottom line….Nigel Farage’s account was terminated for one thing only…..HIS POLITICS.

Now, NatWest is a thoroughly woke bank in 2023, with a very woke female CEO (of course) by the name of Alison Rose. But this is where it gets interesting, very interesting, and it’s why Farage did the right thing by using his media clout to expose and fight this wokery (I still maintain he should have spoken up years ago to defend the likes of Katie Hopkins, Tommy Robinson and others). Last week, before Farage received the forty page dossier, the mainstream UK media (outlets such as the BBC and Sky (no relation to Sky Oz) and uber UK progressives eagerly joined in the Farage lynching, parroting their glee on both social media and in the mainstream media about Farage’s cancellation. They didn’t even try to hide their happiness at what had been done by Coutts. Now, youda thinka that there’d still be some wise old figures on the left who’d urge caution about cancelling and silencing someone for his or her politics, who would dare stand up and speak up for Farage, but alas it seems no, there’s no one left standing on the left in the UK (or here in Oz) with any decency and integrity, prepared to stand up for the speech of their political opponents, which is perhaps telling because I don’t think the left have ever been really truly interested in free speech for all of us, and now that they control everything, they’re turning the screws, very tightly, on us. Actually, there remains one or two of the “old left” who’ll speak up for free speech, men such as George Galloway, but Galloway now exists on the political and media fringe, and few take him seriously.

But all actions, all deeds, all deplatformings sooner or later incur consequences. It’s the law of gravity, it will always come back to bite you in the bum. I’m always reminded of tsunamis, bodies are always washed up on the beach afterwards, and the stench is palpable. Last week, a BBC reporter tried to further humiliate Farage by releasing information on Farage’s Coutts’ accounts, informing the public that the reason why Coutts closed Farage’s account was because his balance fell below the required minimum (Coutts is, after all, a rather snooty bank). Everyone in inner-city London shouted “hooray, hooray”, except that this didn’t quite smell right. Farage was personally contacted by other Coutts’ customers who told him that their bank accounts often fell below the Coutts’ threshold. Well, well, well, where did this BBC journalist source this information? To quote Churchill, “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”, except it isn’t. The BBC and the journalist in question have since apologised to Farage, but the question remained, where did the information come from? Everyone kind of suspected, but we now have da proof, and overnight the woke Ms Rose, boss of NatWest, has now released a weasel statement, where she’s admitted to “discussing Nigel Farage’s Account With BBC Journalist

Her position is now completely untenable. Ms Rose’s tenure as head of NatWest is on borrowed time. The plant that Ms Rose’s surname is named after, the rose. The rose plant can be attacked by a disease called “dieback”. Dieback is the blackening of the tip of the rose stem which then travels down toward the graft. This is a near perfect description of what has happened to NatWest under Ms Rose’s tenure along with a myriad of other corporations across the West. In the corporate world it’s called “DIE”, diversity, inclusion and equity, however this diversity and inclusion never extends to political diversity. Woke is a social dieback, I’ll call it DIEWokery. It rots and kills everything. So, the remedy here is, as with pruning roses to kill dieback, Ms Rose needs to be pruned. It’s time to get out those rose cutters, not just to snip the rose, but to cut it down to the stem, because the disease of DIEWokery is as nasty as the disease of dieback, it needs to be severed, at the root, NOW.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 26, 2023 8:05 am

The CEO of a bank admits disclosing customer information?
Clean out your desk buddy.

Disclosed customer information with the intent to smear them?
Natwest shareholders should expect to be cutting a cheque.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 26, 2023 8:07 am

Actually, there remains one or two of the “old left” who’ll speak up for free speech, men such as George Galloway, but Galloway now exists on the political and media fringe, and few take him seriously.

A nasty fellow.
But a nasty fellow who was 100% right regarding Iraq War II : Bush’s revenge.
Who was falsely smeared over being bribed by Saddam Hussein himself.

feelthebern
feelthebern
July 26, 2023 8:11 am

Christopher Walken in the next instalment of Dune.

“Paul Atreides, do you know how many years I hid my fathers watch up my arse on Arrakis?”*

*may not be a direct quote from book or movie.

Johnny Rotten
July 26, 2023 8:15 am

We’re working on New Glenn, which is our orbital vehicle, but we have in our mind’s eye an even bigger vehicle called New Armstrong.

– Jeff Bezos

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 8:22 am

Farage then tried to open a bank account with other leading UK banks, alas to no avail. It seems Farage had been or was being deplatformed from UK banking services, something that in this day and age would make life completely unliveable in the West.

Discussion on Brisbane ABC morning radio this week about “the coming cashless society.”

Not a mention of the ability of banks in Australia to likewise deplatform customers, which you’d think would have been on their radar after the Farage story, especially since the hosts, perhaps surprisingly, weren’t entirely on board with the cashless future the expert was predicting.

Rosie
Rosie
July 26, 2023 8:24 am

Is there any more tedious reading than bromide quotes from actors?

Other than slabs of Armstrongixer self indulgent nonsense?

-Just about everyone

Rosie
Rosie
July 26, 2023 8:25 am

The breach of customer privacy by the CEO is extraordinary.
Where is the Privacy Commissioner?

Cassie of Sydney
July 26, 2023 8:27 am

“Discussion on Brisbane ABC morning radio this week about “the coming cashless society.””

I am now making an effort to carry cash and pay with cash.

johanna
johanna
July 26, 2023 8:31 am

Another teary ‘I was trying really hard’ excuse for failure and stupidity:

The founder of failed plastic recycler REDcycle has defended continuing to collect materials in the lead up to the business’s public collapse in November last year.

Speaking to the ABC’s War on Waste program, REDcycle founder Liz Kasell said she never doubted that soft plastic being stockpiled in warehouses would eventually be recycled, and that no-one was more “heartbroken” by the collapse of the scheme than her.

The scheme, which linked in with Australia’s major supermarkets, was paused late last year due to a lack of demand for the material, and environmental watchdogs in multiple states later found large soft plastic stockpiles across warehouses.

REDcycle was charged by Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority in December and has since been declared insolvent, with millions owing to creditors.

Ms Kasell spoke to Craig Reucassel in the first episode of the new season of the War on Waste, which aired on Tuesday evening.

She said up until a fire in a Melbourne warehouse run by recycling company Close the Loop in June 2022, material being collected through the REDcycle program was being recycled.

The fire destroyed a production line in the factory that was turning soft plastics into an additive and binding agent for asphalt, which was the main end-point for the collected materials.

“The material was absolutely being recycled and I think that’s really important to say — that our recycling partners were accepting everything that they could possibly manage, that they had the capacity [for], even up until June 2022 when Close the Loop had their tragic fire,” Ms Kasell said.

“In my heart of hearts, there was no doubt this material was getting recycled.

“It just was sitting at a very long red light, because downstream capacity was coming. I never … stopped believing this was going to be recycled.

“If it goes to landfill, it doesn’t have a chance.”

It doesn’t have a chance at what?

It’s hard to tell how much of this is due to delusion, incompetence, outright dishonesty, or all of the above.

What is clear is that plastic recycling is difficult and expensive, and should never be in the hands of someone whose business model is ‘I believe.’

Scaremongering about plastics is on an upward trajectory, and the ‘solutions’ uncannily follow the agenda of greenies who want us all to be poorer and more humble towards their ideology.

We haven’t heard much about the alleged huge raft of plastic in the Pacific lately, as inquiring minds kept asking for photos, which never appeared. But, after years of the story being spread, the damage was done.

If a sea creature is found dead with plastic in its guts, the whole world hears about it. Since many millions of sea creatures die each year, it’s hardly convincing.

I do agree that the plastic waste flowing into the oceans from poor countries should be dealt with, but that requires overseas aid funding unglamorous things like garbage disposal, instead of gender equity, arts precincts and promotion of ‘organic’ farming practices.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
July 26, 2023 8:31 am

Her position is now completely untenable.
Unfortunately, her position is totes tenable. As has been witnessed in the effortless tenacity of Gallagher, Higgins, Gillard, and Whelan-Browne, our culture turns a blind eye to corruption and incompetence in woke.
I expect Rose to stay indoors for a few days, release a statement, holiday on the continent for a few weeks, do a glossy interview about the “impact” on her family, retire with full colours from banking, and land a position with the UN.

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 8:33 am

Great. Just what we need.

More pasty colonialists wandering about with knotted handkerchiefs on their heads, complaining that the beaches have sand on them rather than gravel and howling about the lack of blood pudding and kipper outlets.

Otoh, you can rib them about the Ashes.

Speaking of which, I think Stuart Broad – of all people – was claiming England may have lost the Ashes but they had a moral victory over Australia.

Bwahaha!

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
July 26, 2023 8:34 am

*woke wimmin

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 8:35 am

I did not make eny “assessments” all I did was to inquiry on the validity of Sancho accusations against a past commentator.

Oh?
What accusations?
And against who exactly?
And, in any case, my opinions don’t require your validation.

Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 8:37 am

We’re working on New Glenn, which is our orbital vehicle, but we have in our mind’s eye an even bigger vehicle called New Armstrong.

– Jeff Bezos

What sort of vehicle will be the New Gagarin?

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 8:37 am

I am now making an effort to carry cash and pay with cash.

Cassie, the ABC hosts maintained that using cash made it easier to stick to a budget and avoid the fees and charges associated with card use, which add up over time.

Eminently sensible coming from ABC employees! 😀

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 8:38 am

The UK’s Armed Forces Minister has flagged the potential for troops from the military of Australia’s oldest ally to be stationed alongside US Marines in the Top End.

It Ain’t Arf Hot, Mum?

Perfidious Albino
Perfidious Albino
July 26, 2023 8:38 am

Nailed it again Cassie, A+ on the Farage Farago…

Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 8:40 am

Cassie of Sydney
Jul 26, 2023 8:27 AM
“Discussion on Brisbane ABC morning radio this week about “the coming cashless society.””

I am now making an effort to carry cash and pay with cash.

In retaliation banks will keep closing branches and ATMs. This is another issue that has to be shoved up the government’s nostrils. Do we have legal tender or don’t we?

Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 8:46 am

Wally Dalí
Jul 26, 2023 8:31 AM
Her position is now completely untenable.
Unfortunately, her position is totes tenable. As has been witnessed in the effortless tenacity of Gallagher, Higgins, Gillard, and Whelan-Browne, our culture turns a blind eye to corruption and incompetence in woke.
I expect Rose to stay indoors for a few days, release a statement, holiday on the continent for a few weeks, do a glossy interview about the “impact” on her family, retire with full colours from banking, and land a position with the UN.

The UN is already crowded with all manner of failed and corrupt political operatives. Where will they fit them all?

On the other hand, with each new addition the UN is sinking further into irrelevance and at some point it will just collapse under its own weight.

Rosie
Rosie
July 26, 2023 8:48 am

I draw out cash at the supermarket or the post office.
With so many alternatives these days I can see why banks don’t want to bother.
Only times (twice) I’ve bothered going into a bank in the last several years was to deposit a large cheque and make a large withdrawal to buy foreign currency, which I ended up redepositing at the PO because it was cheaper to buy the currency online and get it delivered to the PO.

Morsie
Morsie
July 26, 2023 8:49 am

Upthread about Malaysia and motorcades.All dignitaries in Malaysia get a motorcade and you must get out of the way unless you want to be arrested.You can tell the importance of the person by the size.If you only have one motorcycle cop you are not very important.We lived in Kuching on the road from the airport and could always tell when Najib the PMwas going past as his motorcade included an ambulance,he was perhaps not well loved.
Some enterprising guys in KL started a business of fake motorcades to beat the horrendous traffic.For a fee they would get you across town quickly ,until the cops shut them down.

The Beer whisperer
The Beer whisperer
July 26, 2023 8:50 am

“You’ve got him, you’ve got Marcia Langton who I’ve known for 30 years … it’s not like they’re the fringe and so that really hurt me.”

No, they are the fringe. They are radicals dressed up as moderates. Their past comments betray this simple fact.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 8:58 am

Speaking of which, I think Stuart Broad – of all people – was claiming England may have lost the Ashes but they had a moral victory over Australia.

I often look for moral guidance from Wisden. No luck so far.

Pogria
Pogria
July 26, 2023 8:58 am
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
July 26, 2023 9:00 am

Daily Tele.

My News

Albo’s Voice just one big trick or treaty

Documents reveal a manifesto sitting behind the Uluru Statement from the Heart, with a proposed “Makaratta” commission to take on the role of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission”.
James Morrow
July 26, 2023 – 7:17AM
38 comments

A successful referendum on the Voice to Parliament could lead to a powerful First Nations treaty-making commission that would sit above parliament and the executive government to act as an “umpire” in their dealings with Aboriginal groups.

Documents released under freedom of information laws by the National Indigenous Australians Agency reveal a long manifesto sitting behind the Uluru Statement from the Heart also reveal this “Makaratta” commission would take on the role of a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission”.

This commission would also take over the functions of the National Native Title Tribunal.

The revelations come in the wake of an ongoing controversy that has seen Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dogged by questions over whether he supports a treaty between the Australian government and Aboriginal Australians.

On Monday Mr Albanese tried to hose down concerns after images surfaced of him wearing a “Voice, Treaty, Truth” T-shirt.

“I just say to you and I say to your listeners, read the question you are going to be asked about. It’s not about treaty, it’s not about compensation. It’s just about listening in order to get better governance,” Mr Albanese said.

At 25 pages, the final Uluru Statement document and road map is much longer than the single page Uluru Statement from the Heart which Mr Albanese has repeatedly said can fit on a “single A4 page.”

Along with a Makaratta commission, the document also calls for the Voice to have offices “on an appropriate site within the parliamentary circle in Canberra” that would be “supported by a sufficient and guaranteed budget with access to its own secretariat, experts and lawyers.”

A “road map” contained in the report reveals that the Makaratta commission would be established at the same time the Voice to Parliament was legislated.

In one diagram, the Makaratta commission was envisioned as sitting above both parliament and the Voice.

Shadow Aboriginal Australians minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said: “Is the plan for this to be implemented in full?”

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 9:00 am

Jacinta is correct.
People like Grant and Pearson Cloak themselves in the disadvantage of others.

I think it was Stan Grant who wrote recently that he as was addressing a gathering of Voice movers and shakers he realised that probably never before had so many indigenous millionaires been gathered in the one room, including himself.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 26, 2023 9:02 am

Her position is now completely untenable.

Appears that way.
Presumably Sir Buffton Tuffton has spoken angrily to a NW director about that appalling Farrago fellow still banking at Coutts – which has led to a brisk booting.

The 40-page dissertation is a bit of a giveaway of reconstructed, post facto justification.

Unfortunately for NW’s crack management team, HM Government is a controlling shareholder as a result of baling out previous banking whoopsies. Too juicy for the Brit meeja, which has the organisation and its Establishment links in its sights – even down to the Grauniad, no friend of Farage’s, gleefully reporting:

Farage said: “Alison Rose has now admitted that she is the source. She broke client confidentiality, and is unfit to be CEO of NatWest Group. Meanwhile, Coutts’ CEO, Peter Flavel, must take the ultimate responsibility for debanking me based on my political views. Sir Howard Davies is responsible for overall governance. He has clearly failed in this task, least of all by endorsing their conduct. In my view they should all go.”

A Bud Light moment.
Over the side you go…

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 9:03 am

Looks like we have another day free of Ed Googlery and his fellow travellers.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 9:03 am

And, in any case, my opinions don’t require your validation.

A blue check mark wouldn’t go astray. I’ll go see my man at the Peshawari market about obtaining one.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 9:03 am

The Aussie version of Nicola Sturgeon has wrecked the Commonwealth Games, says Tim Smith

“Dictator Dan” is one of the most divisive politicians in Australian history, writes Tim Smith.

The Labour Premier of the Australian state of Victoria, Daniel Andrews – the Aussie version of Nicola Sturgeon (when she was an annoying Scottish First Minister) – has struck again, cancelling the 2026 Commonwealth Games with eight hours notice.

Victorians are horrified, Australians enraged.

The politician who signed Victoria up to Communist China’s Belt and Road Initiative, inflicted the world’s longest Covid lockdown, 263 days, on the people of Melbourne, and supports every woke cause in existence, has now potentially destroyed the Commonwealth Games.

The Commonwealth Games, which have only been held outside Britain or Australia once since 1998, have been held every four years since 1930.

They weren’t held in 1942 and 1946 because of World War Two, when what became our Commonwealth of Nations defended the world from Nazism.

Known as Dictator Dan, Andrews is one of the most divisive politicians in Australian history.

During the pandemic, Andrews used the police to shoot anti-lockdown protesters in the back with rubber bullets, arrest a young pregnant mother at home in front of her children for organising an anti-lockdown protest, whilst allowing a Black Lives Matter protest to proceed, despite it being unlawful during the pandemic.

Daniel Andrews and his minions are telling anyone who will listen, both in London and Australia, that the cost to the Victorian taxpayer of hosting the Games has ballooned from £1.4bn (A$2.6 Billion) to £3.13 Billion (A$6 Billion) and is too expensive and not economically viable.

But this an absurd suggestion as the 2024 Paris Olympics, an event that dwarfs the Commonwealth Games, will cost £2.6 Billion. (The English obviously have not met the CFMEU)

The honest answer is that, typically for the Labour Party either in Australia or the UK, they’ve bankrupted the state of Victoria.

Labour could never afford the Commonwealth Games and now face the very real prospect of hundreds of millions of pounds in penalties for reneging on this contract.

Be in no doubt, this decision by the state Government of Victoria has tarnished Australia’s reputation.

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 9:04 am

I often look for moral guidance from Wisden. No luck so far.

If Broad consulted the MCC Rules of Cricket, he’d find listed under ‘the Spirit of Cricket’ the admonitions to always accept the umpire’s decision, to respect your opponents and to show self discipline when things go againt you.

Whingeing isn’t listed.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 9:05 am

Looks like we have another day free of Ed Googlery and his fellow travellers.

Mother is the real winner. He’s never been more productive.

Indolent
Indolent
July 26, 2023 9:07 am
OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 9:08 am

West is knowingly throwing Ukrainians into Russian meatgrinder, says Stuart Crawford

We have condemned brave Ukraine soldiers to the kind of warfare last seen at the Somme, writes Lt Col Stuart Crawford.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive has been going on for a couple of months without any signs of significant progress, let alone a breakthrough. Putin had been crowing that the UkrAF summer campaign has “failed”.

Is there any truth in this? Well, it’s still early days and operations on this scale tend to take weeks and months, not days. A look back at the big battles of the Second World War can be illuminating here. The two Battles of El Alamein in North Africa in 1942 lasted roughly four months in total before Rommel and his German/Italian armies were forced to retreat.

The Battle of Stalingrad, in which the Soviets turned the tide on their German invaders, lasted five months before the German 6th Army surrendered. And in the Battle of Normandy, or Operation Overlord if you prefer, it took the Allies three full months before they broke through the German defences on their way to liberating France and the Low Countries.

So in historical terms it’s probably too early to say whether the UkrAF have been foiled in their plans and their aims defeated. However, there may be a number of contributing factors to why their advances have been much less than many commentators expected.

Firstly, conventional wisdom has it that an attacking force requires a minimum 3:1 ratio in troops over the defenders to ensure success. This is a rough rule of thumb; when the 2nd Battalion of The Parachute Regiment defeated the Argentinians at Goose Green in the Falklands War in 1982 the ratio was more or less reversed.

On the other hand, planners for the Allied Normandy invasion in 1944 were looking for a force ratio of 6:1 to ensure victory. The problem for the UkrAF is that they’re not achieving favourable force ratios as they attack, not consistently anyway. That makes for a hard shift and increased casualties.

This disadvantage has been exacerbated by what many see as the mealy-mouthed, grudgingly-donated dribble of weaponry coming to Ukraine from the west. This has meant that the UkrAF had to delay operations until they had built up their strength, which consequently has given the Russians more time to develop their defences.

Consequently the Ukrainian attackers are faced with a complex and powerful matrix on defence works in multiple lines, which in some places stretch to a depth of up to 50 kilometres. These lines have been hardened with concrete emplacements and are protected by vast minefields, anti-tank ditches, and other obstacles.

Tackling such defences calls for well-coordinated, all arms cooperation where tanks, infantry, artillery, engineers and so on complement each other in taking the battle to the enemy. Sadly, it would appear that the UkrAF do not yet have the training or sophistication in modern military methods to be able to produce such operations above company level, although of course they are learning all the time.

Breaking into and through such defended locations is one of the most difficult tasks in war. Minefields and obstacles are inevitably covered by direct and indirect fire, and the Russians have plenty of both. Clearing and capturing trench systems and dugouts is dangerous and exhausting work. And the Russians make it more difficult by sowing remotely delivered additional minefields as the battle develops.

So we shouldn’t be too surprised that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has not made the progress that many assumed it would.

We are now stuck in an attritional struggle which might be familiar to those of my grandfather’s generation who served in the First World War trenches. Minimal gains at great loss were the order of the day over a hundred years ago and seem to be once again today in Ukraine.

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 9:08 am

I just say to you and I say to your listeners, read the question you are going to be asked about. It’s not about treaty, it’s not about compensation. It’s just about listening in order to get better governance,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr. 32% boiling the argument down to “Just trust me.”

Very courageous, Prime Minister.

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 9:09 am

Goodness…is it that time already?

Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 9:09 am

I think it was Stan Grant who wrote recently that he as was addressing a gathering of Voice movers and shakers he realised that probably never before had so many indigenous millionaires been gathered in the one room, including himself.

Roger, these millionaires will also be making rules such as whether a suburban family even own their home on which they are paying an enormous mortgage.

Indolent
Indolent
July 26, 2023 9:12 am
Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 9:16 am

Dr Faustus
Jul 26, 2023 9:02 AM
Her position is now completely untenable.

Appears that way.
Presumably Sir Buffton Tuffton has spoken angrily to a NW director about that appalling Farrago fellow still banking at Coutts

Sir Buffton Tuffton? Is that a typo? Do his friends call him Buffy Tuffy or Tuffy Buffy?

Indolent
Indolent
July 26, 2023 9:17 am
Rosie
Rosie
July 26, 2023 9:18 am

Looks like it is Roger.
To other pursuits!

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 26, 2023 9:18 am

Teenage son of basketball megastar LeBron James rushed to hospital after heart attack

Now why would an elite athlete (young Bronny James has already been signed to Nike for $14million) have heart issues?
Grizzled and cynical old journos would perhaps look for links to covid vaccinations, but they are a dying breed.

Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 9:18 am

Indolent
Jul 26, 2023 9:15 AM
Jim Ferguson
@JimFergusonUK

Ghislaine Maxwell was found guilty of sex trafficking children. The judge refuses to release the list of who she sold them to. Up until the list is released, we have only one conclusion: all of them are on it. Every last damned billionaire, prince and politician. Every media mogul, banker and person of influence.

We do know that Trump is not on the list.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 9:19 am

WOW – Story Changes: Barack and Michelle Obama WERE on Martha’s Vineyard When Their Private Chef Mysteriously Drowned

Hmm – Some would call this an interesting coincidence while others may suspect something more.

Cassie of Sydney
July 26, 2023 9:19 am

“I draw out cash at the supermarket or the post office.
With so many alternatives these days I can see why banks don’t want to bother.”

As do I….usually supermarket.

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
July 26, 2023 9:19 am

Snap Indolent.
Great minds etc etc

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 9:20 am

To lose one private chef is misfortune …

Johnny Rotten
July 26, 2023 9:20 am

What sort of vehicle will be the New Gagarin?

Ask the Russians.

Tom
Tom
July 26, 2023 9:21 am

Happy 80th birthday, Sir Michael Philip Jagger!

Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 9:23 am

OldOzzie
Jul 26, 2023 9:03 AM
The Aussie version of Nicola Sturgeon has wrecked the Commonwealth Games, says Tim Smith

“Dictator Dan” is one of the most divisive politicians in Australian history, writes Tim Smith.

Victorians are horrified, Australians enraged.

Tim, I disagree. I have seen some unhappy Victorians however, most seem to just shrug their shoulders. If they were really horrified there would be street demonstrations and calls for his resignation.

Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 9:26 am

Johnny Rotten
Jul 26, 2023 9:20 AM
What sort of vehicle will be the New Gagarin?

Ask the Russians.

In that case, what sort of vehicle will be the New Buzz, or a New Aldrin?

I think he should go with The New Astro Boy.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 9:29 am

Don’t try the Ted Kennedy Uber option if you’re ever in Martha’s Vineyard.

Crossie
Crossie
July 26, 2023 9:30 am

Cassie of Sydney
Jul 26, 2023 9:19 AM
“I draw out cash at the supermarket or the post office.
With so many alternatives these days I can see why banks don’t want to bother.”

As do I….usually supermarket.

Cassie and Rosie, this works now as enough people pay with cash so the supermarkets have that money on hand. As more and more people just scan to pay that cash stash gets smaller and smaller.

I use this method a lot, more than ATM to withdraw cash, though many times I have been informed that the till does not have the required amount.

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 9:31 am

I have seen some unhappy Victorians however, most seem to just shrug their shoulders.

The Guardian was yesterday citing a survey finding that c. 44% of Victorians agreed with the cancellation and attempting to spin it as a positive for Andrews.

Mind you, they haven’t yet got the bill for not hosting the event.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
July 26, 2023 9:33 am

I don’t think the left have ever been really truly interested in free speech for all of us

I have long suspected this.

Back in what are popularly seen as glory days for the left they spoke of free speech. Not that the government censored them in any way. They were angry because no one was interested in what they had to say. And why not? Spotty conceited little nobodies who thought they were the first ones to discover sex, drugs, and marxism.

The ‘squares’ who responded to their whining by thinking it would be nice to give them some space at the podium were gradually pushed out.

Now they have infested politics, media, and teaching. Professions where responsibility for error is diffuse and the results downstream of their actions – unlike an engineer whose bridge develops cracks, or the mechanic who changes the tyres on a car and one of them comes off down the road, or the accountant whose inattention causes a business to fail.

Now, as before, they with to be heard. Wanting ‘equal’ access to the public ear was just the manifestation of ‘We want people to listen to us’ when people simply did not want to.

The current demands for cancelling and censorship and re-writing history is the manifestation of the same drive when they see some other people are still being listened to.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 9:35 am

If we have a laugh about Mavis needing knee pads for his regular Keating interviews, it looks like he has leant them to Janet A for her regular catch up with JWH, who rode the Lieborals into the ground and put it away wet where it remains to this day.

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 9:38 am

As more and more people just scan to pay that cash stash gets smaller and smaller.

Things don’t always go as predicted.

The ABC hosts I mentioned above who were not welcoming the prospect of a cashless economy are millenials.

There is a reportedly a trend among young people of returning to cash as a means of controlling their spending as the cost of living bites.

My daughter, for example, withdraws what she intends to spend each week & uses the envelope method to divvy it up according to her budget.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 9:40 am

Cash is typically required for … ahem … other purchases at the pub.

Johnny Rotten
July 26, 2023 9:40 am

I’ve always loved airplanes and flight. The space program was really important to me as a kid. I still have a photo of Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon in my living room.

– Bill Nye

Rabz
July 26, 2023 9:41 am

arrest a young pregnant mother at home in front of her children for organising an anti-lockdown protest

She didn’t organise the protest, she merely publicised it on spacechook.

Nothing like being reminded of that seemingly interminable two year nightmare. I’m still mightily annoyed the perpetrators haven’t been hung drawn and quartered.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 9:48 am

H B Bear

Jul 26, 2023 9:03 AM

And, in any case, my opinions don’t require your validation.

A blue check mark wouldn’t go astray. I’ll go see my man at the Peshawari market about obtaining one.

Blue check marks are just soooo 2022.

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 9:51 am

Blue check marks are just soooo 2022.

Never hurts. Sometimes genius isn’t self evident, going by my efforts at monetising this crap.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 9:53 am

H B Bear

Jul 26, 2023 9:20 AM

To lose one private chef is misfortune …

Well, the next one won’t over-boil the carrots, will he?

H B Bear
H B Bear
July 26, 2023 9:55 am

I’m still mightily annoyed the perpetrators haven’t been hung drawn and quartered.

You mean the ones not made State Governors?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 9:55 am

Tom

Jul 26, 2023 9:21 AM

Happy 80th birthday, Sir Michael Philip Jagger!

Flamer!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
July 26, 2023 9:57 am

Wanting ‘equal’ access to the public ear was just the manifestation of ‘We want people to listen to us’ when people simply did not want to.

The current demands for cancelling and censorship and re-writing history is the manifestation of the same drive when they see some other people are still being listened to.

And they get really angry when ordinary people stop listening to them. The latest screeching hysteria with red-as-blood weather maps that show perfectly average temperatures is an example. How dare they not be terrified?

Our society’s ‘top brains’ have gone mad — and dysfunctional politics is the result (24 Jul)

“Suppose we got it all wrong and the real crazies are the TV people in nice suits and $300 haircuts?”

That’s an observation by Richard Fernandez on Twitter, and he has a good point.

There’s a lot of craziness in the air these days.

But for the most part it seems to be flowing from the top down, not bubbling up from the bottom.

Ordinary Americans haven’t been claiming the way to promote free speech is to censor people or the way to end racism is to classify everyone by race and consequently treat them differently.

It’s not the working class that wants to “save the planet” by blocking traffic, starting forest fires or banning pickup trucks or gas stoves (though private jets remain surprisingly free from criticism).

A century ago, the people running our government, our economy, our academy and our media were varied.

Now they’re all members of the same class, educated usually at the same elite institutions, incestuously intermarried and driven by class solidarity.

The trouble is what these elites think is self evident actually is wrong. But because ordinary people stop listening to what they feel so strongly about they then decide the have to MAKE them listen, for their own good. Which it isn’t. This isn’t going to end well.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 10:01 am

Voters are finally waking up to net zero’s miserable impact, says Ann Widdecombe

At last, the voters are realising that we are not all going to be burnt to a crisp this afternoon and that net zero will have a disproportionate impact, writes Ann Widdecombe.

Three cheers for the citizens of Uxbridge who gave both Sadiq Khan and Keir Starmer a severely bruised nose over Ulez (ultra low emissions zones).

We can expect the London mayoral election next year to show a similar preoccupation with the impact of green policies on ordinary lives and the only candidate for the post so far to have done a proper cost-benefit study of Ulez is Howard Cox of Reform UK and founder of Fair Fuel. His study showed a cost to London businesses of approximately £200million.

At last voters are waking up to the miserable and disproportionate impact of the Gadarene rush to embrace net zero. People who are already anxious over their budgets do not want to have to contemplate costly new boilers and electric cars.

Furthermore, people know that Britain contributes only about 1 percent towards global carbon emissions while China contributes over a quarter.

What is the point of wearing the hairiest shirt when we are already so little to blame?

You might as well chuck a sugar cube in Loch Ness and claim to have sweetened the water.

In theory, net zero is fine but when it impacts adversely on ordinary lives people are justified in rejecting it.

Voters are also waking up to the fact that we are not all going to be burnt to a crisp by Tuesday afternoon.

Climate alarmism is already beginning to cause scepticism, with the BBC routinely attributing every sneeze to climate change.

Those of a certain age can remember the great freeze of 1963, the summer of 1976 drought and other one-offs and are not inclined to believe armageddon is nigh every time the weather behaves freakishly.

You do not have to be drawing your state pension to remember the 15-year pause in global warming, which the scientists failed to predict and which occurred just when China and India were belting record levels of carbon into the atmosphere.

Roger
Roger
July 26, 2023 10:02 am

Elbow’s dilemma:

If the Voice referendum fails and he proceeds to legislate for it regardless, he’ll be seen as breaking faith with the electorate, particularly if the Voice requests a truth telling commission and a treaty, as is the stated policy.

Otoh, if he doesn’t legislate for it, he’ll be seen as breaking faith with the aboriginal industry, the ABC, the luvvies & the UN, which insists on self-determination for indigenous peoples the world over.

Either way, it would likely end any possibility of a second term.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 10:03 am

Wildfires are devastating but they’re nothing new, says Tim Newark

It surely is terrifying for the flock of tourists caught in the Rhodes island inferno but wildfires are natural and Mediterranean conifer forests are in fact dependent on them for regeneration, writes Tim Newark.

It was always lightning that ignited vast fires that raged uncontrollably in prehistory. And nature evolved to make the most of it – even producing the kindling to fuel it.

Ash provides nutrients in the soil faster than decomposition. Fewer dead leaves on the forest floor intercepting rain allows more water to enter the soil.

Some conifers produce flammable oils on their leaves to exacerbate fires that enable their seeds to germinate and outcompete other plants in a burnt landscape.

Rabz
July 26, 2023 10:11 am

In theory, net zero is fine

No, it is not. It is not a theory, nor is it “fine”.

It is anti-scientific fact and evidence-free bull ordure, ceaselessly spruiked by frauds, ignoramuses and grifters, to the detriment of everyone else on the planet.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 10:11 am

There is a reportedly a trend among young people of returning to cash as a means of controlling their spending as the cost of living bites.

Works fine for a single person I suppose.
For a couple, a debit card topped up every week does the trick. With cash, you never know how much the other has left in their wallet.
Invariably leads to issues on day 6 or 7.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 10:12 am

Unreal VIDEO: I’m Beginning to Seriously Believe DC Is Run By Literal Demons

I speculated some time back at Armageddon Prose that the governing authorities in the West might be demonically possessed.

My speculation — which was actually more tongue-in-cheek than sincere at the time — was based on the explicable behavior of one WEF-backed Canadian technocrat Chrystia Freeland, a top lieutenant of Chinese dictatorship admirer Justin Trudeau.

But, these days, I’m coming around more and more to the possibility that it might literally be true.

Consider the following exhibition by an aide to Jeffrey Epstein acolyte Rep. Stacey Plaskett at a recent House hearing.

If there’s a better explanation for what you see here, I’m all ears. – 8 mins 31 Secs

Drugs are, of course, an alternative explanation. But, due to social circles I once swam in, I’ve seen a lot of people on a lot of stimulants over the years, and I’ve seen their eyes do wild stuff.

They never looked like that. Never anything close to that.

Some kind of CIA mind control ventriloquism – of the sort attempted on the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski in clandestine experiments – is another theory.

In furtherance of it, the aide does seem to be miming Plaskett’s speech, even correcting her error at one point.

But is it more plausible than demonic possession?

Possibly. But, then again, maybe not.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 10:17 am

Nothing To See Here”: Members & The Media Panic As The Biden Scandal Mounts

BY TYLER DURDEN
WEDNESDAY, JUL 26, 2023 – 01:15 AM

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

Below is my column in the New York Post on the last ditch effort of the members of Congress and the media to get the public to just “move on” from the Biden corruption scandal.

The message has been clear and amplified, as former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) insisted on MSNBC, “Everybody needs to back off!” As evidence and public interest increase, it is a bit late for spin or shiny objects. This week, the scandal is likely to be even more serious for the Bidens and the country.

The media is increasingly taking on the appearance of Leslie Nielsen in Naked Gun yelling that there is “nothing to see here” in front of a virtual apocalyptic scene of fire and destruction.

Here is the column:

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
July 26, 2023 10:17 am

It is anti-scientific fact and evidence-free bull ordure, ceaselessly spruiked by frauds, ignoramuses and grifters, to the detriment of everyone else on the planet.

So.
I get the feeling you’re not fully on board yet.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
July 26, 2023 10:21 am

Sir Buffton Tuffton? Is that a typo?

A Private Eye reference, crossie, a caricature outraged Conservative MP.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
July 26, 2023 10:23 am

Interesting article at Gateway Pundit about Dr Peter McCullough urging actor Jaime Foxx to tell the public what caused his recent medical problem.

Foxx had previously discussed the vaccine with the Dr and it is obvious what the Dr thinks caused his problem.

Meanwhile the healthy son of Le Bron James had a cardiac arrest during basketball practice. Am guessing his school or college mandated vaccines.

Wishful thinking but imagine if Foxx and Le Bron both spoke out about the vaccine if in fact it was the cause.

Vicki
Vicki
July 26, 2023 10:23 am

In keeping with his modus operandi, when Noel is faced with not getting what he wants, he resorts to “bombing” (i.e. bullying) his opponents.

Such a waste of a once promising contributor to Australian public life

Agreed.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 10:24 am

“Meet General Charles Q. Brown, Biden’s choice for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff.

If the Senate approves his nomination he will be the highest ranking officer in the US Military, top advisor to the President, NSA, Homeland Security, and Secretary of Defense.

He believes diversity is the greatest tool to defeating China and Russia, and has stood behind a General who said “too many Air Force pilots are white.”

Under his leadership, technology and weapons development won’t be priority, but instead the US will focus on hiring more minorities.

The “best person for the job” belief system will no longer apply and the US will fall behind even further. General Brown went viral after the George Floyd death where he called for making diversity improvements institutionally.

Who else will feel less safe with a man like this in charge of our military?” [Link]

“These guys right here do not care about diversity, equality, or inclusion” [Link]
Merde…

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
July 26, 2023 10:28 am

The Polish Response to Putins Challenge

Russia’s warning to Poland not to send troops into the western Galician region of the Ukraine has fallen on deaf ears in Warsaw. Instead, electioneering ahead of an October national parliamentary vote has dictated different priorities for the governing party, the main opposition party, and the rising Konfederacja (“Confederation”) party.

No major politician in the country has commented. The government downplayed by summoning the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw on Saturday to be told that Poland “strongly condemn[s] the threats and unjustified questioning of [Poland’s] borders.”

Speaking from Washington, Radoslaw Sikorski, now a Polish member of the European Parliament under financial investigation, said Putin “is clearly up to something. He’s provoking Poland. Wagner’s mercenaries are in Belarus… He’s clearly preparing some kind of provocation, probably to draw Belarus into the war. I don’t expect him to attack NATO [Poland] because clearly Russia would lose… Let me be absolutely clear. Poland has zero territorial designs on anybody. This is just looking for some kind of provocation. Mr Putin’s war is not doing well. Umm, yee, perhaps he’s trying to scare us into, errr, us self-deterring so to speak.”

To capture or hold the votes of Poles already concerned at the impact on the country of unrestricted Ukrainian and muslim refugees, and the losses to farmers of dumping of Ukrainian grain exports, Putin’s warning is not triggering public debate, or exposing significant differences between the government and the opposition parties.

Independent Polish political analyst Stanislas Balcerac comments “there’s not much coverage, Poland is more concerned about Wagner in Belarus. There are other topics – the election campaign, toxic waste fire in Zielona Gora. Confederation may be stealing some of the younger voters from the PiS [Law and Justice, the government party], but it is unclear how the PiS wants to deal with it between now and the election date.”

Vicki
Vicki
July 26, 2023 10:28 am

Ash provides nutrients in the soil faster than decomposition. Fewer dead leaves on the forest floor intercepting rain allows more water to enter the soil.

That is why I put last night’s ashes from my (evil) wood burning fire on my garden!

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