Guy digs a tunnel from his house to his shed.

This thread dedicated to the use of unfamiliar yet apt words, including but not limited to:

Concomitant
Popery
Decolletage
Minutiae

Have decided now we’re in Seville that I would like to see a bullfight one day.

The highlight of this southern Spanish city was the bull ring for me. Bullfighting remains an interesting part of Spanish culture today. We went through the museum located inside the Seville bullring, and then out onto the sand.

One interesting aspect of the museum was that there were no photographs. Matador costumes; paintings, saddles, lances and so on, but no pix – apparently the best photographers would want continuing payments and own the copyright so the museum doesn’t. The shops had flamenco dresses for children and of course lots of fans – which people do use, both men and women. Apparently you can book a ticket for either the “shade or the sun” for the fight.

The last stop for the matadors is a small chapel. So far over 300 years of records nearly 600 have died in the ring – about two a year – so a dangerous occupation. There are a lot of ritual aspects to the game. Apparently one of them is for a matador who has excelled in his bravery to be carried out of the royal gate on the shoulders of the crowd – happens about every 30 years.

No fights scheduled for the days/cities we have left, but should be able to make it one day. Unless of course it’s outlawed by then.

It’s a marvellous painting, and it’s enormous. A treasure of the Met.

Did you know Church always placed a church in his paintings as a type of signature?

It must be terrible to be so unhappy so early in the morning. Cheer up, Net Zero.

Today will be another beautiful day.

One of the up-sides of jet lag and its subsequent insomnia is the pleasure of an early morning dip into all the little mementoes of travel, some purchased weeks ago.

It was like Christmas morning today, paper and wrapping everywhere as I unstuck parcels and unwound bubble wrap. Music CDs from churches we visited, a little textured rolling pin from Iceland, lovely tea towels, fragrant soap, some hand spun and dyed wool (bought to prolong the visit into next winter), French cookware.

Taking each one in turn, I retrod the path we took across England and Wales, up to Iceland and then into France. Naturally…other goodies to remember the trip are safely in the snug of the grog cupboard, including a bottle of Icelandic Christmas gin to be enjoyed with the girls come the season. The Beloved’s scotch will do for the boys.

In Tom’s place I would try an other mouse, preferably a wireless Logitech.
Now that you mention it I had the same problem and it was an incompatible mouse driver, the old mouse just wouldn’t work, kept scrolling.

Although I had help with it I must admit, not a computer whizz I am.

Here’s Janet’s article in full sorry it’s a word wall and apologies for not taking the fiddly bits out and we’re off to the markets now.

In Higgins saga, how close is too close?
The media’s role in the Brittany Higgins imbroglio has escaped scrutiny for too long.

By JANET ALBRECHTSEN
Brittany Higgins at the Women’s March4Justice in Canberra in 2021. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
Brittany Higgins at the Women’s March4Justice in Canberra in 2021. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
From Inquirer
July 29, 2023
14 MINUTE READ
There is no one-size-fits-all model for journalism. Journalists will court a source and maintain that relationship in their own way. Looking inside a story is a little like watching a sausage being made. Not always pretty. There is much preparation, even mess.

This applies even more so in the case of investigative reporting which, almost by definition, involves persuading someone to say things they are reluctant to share.

It often requires great powers of persuasion to convince a source they and their story are in safe hands, and to do so may require a degree of cajoling, or of feigned intimacy. There is also, often, a great deal of genuine care and compassion shown by a journalist to a person who is telling a story that is deeply personal and difficult.

READ NEXT
On February 15, 2021, journalists Samantha Maiden and Lisa Wilkinson broke the story of political staffer Brittany Higgins’s alleged late-night rape in March 2019 in the office of her boss, defence industry minister Linda Reynolds. It was the first day of a sitting week in Canberra. That week, and for months to come, many of our elected representatives in the nation’s parliament casu­ally tossed aside the presumption of innocence.

At the end of that week, Maiden thanked Higgins: “Just having played my little part in your operation has been one of the greatest moments in journalism I’ve ever had. So, thank you,” she texted.

The “operation”, as Maiden called it, raised concerns from those early days that the combined media and political frenzy was undermining justice. This, after all, was an extremely serious allegation. Bruce Lehrmann – the fellow staffer accused by Higgins – was entitled to due process, a fair trial and the presumption of innocence, principles that underpin the rule of law in a healthy democracy. Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence.

READ MORE: ‘Prefer to silence victims’: Higgins slams Reynolds | ‘Recklessly indifferent to truth’: Reynolds blasts DPP | Higgins, Lehrmann CCTV footage handed to court | Higgins hit with Reynolds legal action threat | ‘Time to stop’: Higgins lashes out against Reynolds | Victim angry over Sharaz tweet | Brittany Higgins’ book: ‘Here I am in the mud with the pigs’
He was not named in Maiden’s or Wilkinson’s report. Wilkinson’s story is now the subject of defamation proceedings brought by Lehrmann, who says he was identifiable in the Ten story.

Higgins aired her allegations in the media before she progressed a formal rape complaint with police. Texts revealed by this masthead between Higgins and her then boyfriend, now fiance, David Sharaz, show another part of their strategy was to seek Labor’s help to prosecute her claims in the political arena.

Higgins and Sharaz sought out favoured journalists to amplify the political angles. They picked Wilkinson and Maiden.

Once Higgins decided on media and politics first, and formal police complaint second, the behaviour of the media – along with the behaviour of politicians, the police and the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions – inevitably would come under scrutiny in this national political scandal.

An undated social media image of journalist Lisa Wilkinson and Higgins.
An undated social media image of journalist Lisa Wilkinson and Higgins.
Higgins’s strategy led to a trial by media that enveloped Lehrmann. Because of sub judice rules, had Higgins gone to the police first and Lehrmann been charged, any public reporting would have had to proceed on the assumption he was innocent, making clear there had been no finding of fact against the former staffer. Instead, the only law that might have restricted publication was defamation.

Reynolds, who subsequently was wrongly accused of covering up the alleged rape, has lodged a submission in recent days to the ACT board of inquiry run by Walter Sofronoff KC that there should be a criminal deterrent to stop people airing an alleged criminal offence in the media and in the political forum to advance their own interests. Reynolds has suggested changes to the ACT Crimes Act to reflect NSW provisions that make it an indictable offence for anyone who knows or believes a serious indictable offence has been committed and fails to report it to police.

Though there are exceptions for circumstances where disclosure is not required, they do not let a person off the hook where a complainant wants to first pursue a claim through the media and through parliament.

Higgins responded that this would “silence victims”. In fact, Reynolds’s submission is that the proper operation of the criminal justice system will allow prosecutions to take place free from media frenzies.

There may be room for law reform. There is, most definitely, room for reflection. In a sign of how skewed this story became, the evidence to date suggests the only two people who encouraged Higgins to go to the police when there was an inkling of sexual activity were Reynolds and her former chief of staff, Fiona Brown: the same two people who were pilloried in the media, day in, day out, for not supporting Higgins.

There was, however, plenty of support from others in the media. Inquirer has seen many text messages exchanged between Maiden and Higgins from January 2021 until mid-2022. If these were simply exchanges between two friends, they should remain private. But these are texts between a woman who alleged rape and a political cover-up, and a journalist who chose to tell the story and pursue many angles of the story as told to her by Higgins and others.

On January 22, 2021, three weeks before Maiden published her exclusive story, the journalist texted Higgins suggesting she get legal advice about a potential workplace claim:

“I spoke to the lawyer from Maurice Blackburn. He’s happy to talk to you informally – no charge next week. But only if you want to – I just want to make sure you’ve got some sort of advice about potential employment claim.”

Samantha Maiden, national political editor of news.com.au. Picture: Hugh Stewart
Samantha Maiden, national political editor of news.com.au. Picture: Hugh Stewart
Three weeks later, on February 18, 2021, Maiden texted Higgins again about getting legal advice. Higgins responded: “I’m really cognisant of not wanting to go after anyone for money.” That evening and the following day, in another 10 text messages, Maiden continued to encourage Higgins to speak with an employment lawyer and mentioned ComCare and the Department of Finance.

“I think a specialist employment lawyer who has experience with Comcar [sic] claims and department finance would he [sic] good,” she texted Higgins.

Higgins did put in a claim with the Department of Finance – for $3m – using a lawyer from a different firm.

The claim was uncontested and settled by the commonwealth in December last year. The secret settlement, reported to be about $2m, has generated a great deal of public interest. Reynolds has revealed that she may refer the circumstances around the payment to Higgins to the new National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Testimony given at the Sofronoff inquiry uncovered many examples of how red-hot media coverage affected the workings of the criminal justice system in this case. Australian Federal Police Commander Michael Chew, deputy chief of ACT Police between August 2018 and 2021, told the inquiry that intense media pressure led to him directing his subordinate Detective Superintendent Scott Moller in early August 2021 to charge Lehrmann despite police concerns about lack of evidence.

The AFP acted in haste, presumably under similar media pressure, and wrongly included protected material in the brief of evidence that went to defence lawyers and the ACT DPP. It’s hard to imagine media pressure did not play a part in the DPP going to extraordinary lengths not to disclose certain documents to the defence.

ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates’s presence with Higgins in front of the cameras raised concerns that a jury would be confused about whether Higgins was a victim or a complainant.

ACT DPP Shane Drumgold’s public statement when he declared there would not be a second trial but said he believed he would have secured a conviction had there been one fed the sense that here was a trial by media. His expression of sympathy for Higgins, with no word about Lehrmann’s right to the presumption of innocence, added to the media circus.

Those who know Maiden say she is a tenacious journalist. A range of her text exchanges with the former Liberal staffer shows a diligent reporter at work: checking details with Higgins, for example as to when she went to the cops in 2019; asking questions, for example of the former staffer’s photo of her bruised leg; seeking quotes from her; discussing other journalists, politicians, staffers, the Women’s March, politics of the day; and so on. Indeed, in March last year I congratulated Maiden on being a great journalist. It was many months before this newspaper revealed a swath of material that shed more light on the saga.

That includes the five-plus hour audio conversation between Wilkinson and Higgins and texts between Maiden and Higgins. In those texts seen by Inquirer, Maiden does not discourage Higgins from speaking to police, nor does she encourage her. Wilkinson’s exchanges with Higgins, recorded by her own producers, include the journalist strategising about how the story could be politically amplified by senior Labor figures. Maiden’s texts with Higgins include nothing like this.

But other text messages from Maiden to Higgins raise questions about whether she got too close to Higgins. And how close is too close?

On March 22, 2021, Four Corners ran Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a story that featured Maiden speaking about the rape claim. During that program Maiden said this of Higgins: “She’s highly intelligent. She’s very analytical. Uh, she’s very impressive. And she’s very dignified … If you think about what she’s actually achieved, of all the investigations that have been triggered. She put everything on the line, right?”

After the program aired, Maiden texted Higgins:

9:21:06pm Maiden: I hope that was ok

9:21:06pm Maiden: I hope I said the right things

9:21:23pm Maiden: You’re a hero never forget that

Minutes later, Higgins told Maiden she didn’t watch the program.

Jumping forward to August that year, Maiden said “I’m proud of you” and “if you ever need somewhere to stay in Canberra you’re welcome to stay with me”. In late September, Maiden suggested to Higgins that they go on a road trip to Tamworth for the Walkleys award night next year.

Throughout the period Maiden was, of course, covering other stories, apparently without fear or favour, and a story on Wilkinson in October 2021 caused some friction.

In her memoir, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Like This, Wilkinson claimed she left the Nine Network due to the gender pay gap and that she could no longer stay silent and “keep men’s secrets”. Maiden revealed there was more to Wilkinson’s claim about being paid less than her co-host, Karl Stefanovic, than first met the eye: “Multiple sources familiar with the contract negotiations at the time have told news.com.au that while there was a longstanding pay gap between the two hosts, it was the other way around,” she wrote. “They insist that for half a decade it was Stefanovic, not Wilkinson, who was getting far less money than the other co-host.”

A few hours later Higgins tweeted: “Pressing update in the midst of a sitting week from the political reporter of news.com.au.”

That evening Maiden, clearly upset at Higgins attacking her in public, texted her 38 times. When Higgins insisted she was entitled to her own opinion, Maiden responded.

6:22:16pm Maiden: Yes no worries – publicly attacking me though I think given I will always be supportive was unnecessary and sad. I think you probably owed me a ohone [sic] call but so be it.

6:22:35pm Maiden: I will say I will never publicly attack you – ever.

6:22:50pm Maiden: I simply wouldn’t

In mid-November there was another exchange where Maiden appeared upset.

5:15:08pm Maiden: Hey there sorry to be paranoid, but you keep liking tweets where people are having a go at me or something it’s beginning to feel a little strange? Happy to talk if you want to. I’m just Weirded out as you don’t follow me on Twitter.

5:16:29pm Maiden: I’m a bit confused about what’s going on and I feel like I’m in an episode of mean girls or something. And it’s just upsetting that’s all.

5:16:44pm Higgins: Sam, chill. I accidentally liked it scrolling through Twitter. We’re fine.

Was Higgins freezing Maiden out of her “operation”? Perhaps.

Given Higgins’s media strategy, Maiden’s relationship with Higgins is every bit as relevant as that of Wilkinson, whose conduct in this saga has been dissected and critiqued. Wilkinson’s foolish Logies speech led to the trial being delayed. The Sofronoff inquiry revealed a dispute over the DPP’s warning to Wilkinson about her intended Logies speech. Sofronoff may make findings about this.

Regardless, many have asked, not unfairly, whether someone who has worked in the media as long as Wilkinson should have worked out for herself that her words that night could derail a trial.

Wilkinson’s conduct during a five-plus hour chat with Higgins before The Project interview that aired has been scrutinised too, with questions as to whether the Ten Network celebrity showed enough curiosity and whether she coached Higgins. Wilkinson said to Higgins: “I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but if you can enunciate the fact that this place is all about suppression of people’s natural sense of justice.”

On Wednesday, February 9, last year, a sitting week in Canberra, Higgins appeared on stage with Grace Tame at the National Press Club in Canberra. On the Monday, as Maiden and Higgins text about spare seats, and pursuing strong angles that will go into question time, Higgins texted Maiden: “I’m crashing at Laura’s house tonight.”

National Press Club president Laura Tingle with Higgins last year. Picture: Getty Images
National Press Club president Laura Tingle with Higgins last year. Picture: Getty Images
Laura Tingle became president of the press club in December 2020. If Higgins stayed at Tingle’s house, is this another example of a senior journalist getting too close to an interview subject whose serious allegations of rape have not been tested by a court?

There is a larger question about the level of professionalism at the National Press Club. Did no one on the board of that organisation raise concerns about having Tame, who was a victim of sexual abuse, and Higgins, who had made an allegation with no finding of fact yet made, on stage together? Did anyone consider that the celebration of Higgins alongside Tame might undermine the presumption of innocence for a defendant?

That distinction went over the heads of a room full of senior journalists. Not to mention the scores of female journalists who attended that event. Why didn’t any of them raise this issue in their reporting? Was there some #MeToo spell cast over the many female journalists who wrote about this saga with so little curiosity or care?

Tingle’s texts with Higgins raise concerns about whether their relationship, also, was too close. When Higgins told Tingle about a complaint she planned to lodge about the inclusion of protected material in the brief of evidence sent to defence lawyers, Tingle texted back: “Oh Britt. I’m so sorry. You need this like a hole in the head. How sh.t. How f…ing outrageous.” Tingle texted “lots of Hugs” and signed off with a kiss.

As revealed during the Sofronoff inquiry, the irony is that the febrile media environment caused police to make these mistakes in their rush to pull together the brief of evidence.

Many female journalists attended the March4Justice in early March 2021 where Higgins spoke. It is not unreasonable for journalists to protest against a rotten culture in their workplace – in this case Parliament House. But celebrating Higgins had become a vehicle to do many additional things: advance careers, join the #MeToo juggernaut, indict politicians in general and Scott Morrison in particular.

Behind the scenes, senior male journalists have expressed their concerns to me that the atmosphere at press conferences they attended where these issues were raised had become overwrought and that questions went to women by default as if this had become women’s-only business.

This is not a sign of healthy journalism. It raises the possibility of vigilante journalism by some female journalists who are too invested in an issue to report it fairly by exploring every angle and keeping in mind fundamental principles of our criminal justice system.

The feverishness among some of these journalists matches their hypocrisy. Many journalists and commentators can hardly disguise their squeamishness at new disclosures about the Higgins scandal run by this masthead and elsewhere. There are complaints about privacy and needless political point-scoring, for example aimed at Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and her level of knowledge about the rape allegation before it was made public. The critics were not concerned with privacy and political point-scoring at the start of those scandals.

That’s not how journalism works. No, this is not the time for us to down tools. The media’s role has escaped scrutiny for too long.

In March last year, Maiden texted Higgins: “To the vast majority of Australians – and to me as an outsider your name has been exalted as a hero.” But Maiden was no outsider in this scandal. She assumed a central role once Higgins settled on a strategy of making this a political and media story instead of solely a criminal justice matter. A month earlier, Maiden had won the Gold Walkley for her coverage of the saga.

On June 14 last year, with the trial approaching, Maiden gave Higgins some sage advice: “You’re [sic] only guiding principle is trial. Don’t talk about this in public. Respect the court. Don’t do anything on social media.” Days later, that trial was derailed by Wilkinson’s Logie speech and coverage of it. Maiden knew better than to report what Wilkinson had said that night.

Delaying the hearing in the ACT Supreme Court, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum castigated Wilkinson and other sections of the media where, she said, “the distinction between an allegation and a finding of guilt has been obliterated”.

“I trusted the press,” she said, “and I was wrong.”

Journalists must establish trust
By Samantha Maiden

As anyone who engages in daily journalism knows, one of the elements of writing a news story – especially based on the disclosures of a frightened or stressed source – is to establish trust.

I do not have any retrospective concern about my recommendation to Brittany Higgins that she seek the advice of a respected employment lawyer before going public with her story.

Ultimately, she did not take up the suggestion at the time and did not speak to the lawyer I suggested.

But the original suggestion was entirely about ensuring she had ongoing access to healthcare, counselling and mental health support, a fact confirmed in other discussions in the brief of evidence.

I was not involved in any way in the legal claim that was negotiated years later, including her choice of legal representation.

As for my reassurances to her during a period of great stress and turmoil: what of it? I formed the view from the outset that she was a young woman under great stress and, as such, I did believe her to be courageous. The Australian has published on Saturday some messages I exchanged with Higgins, provided under subpoena to police, prosecutors and the defence team but never tendered in evidence.

I would estimate that the people I contacted in researching this story would number in the hundreds.

You haven’t seen the messages that I continue to exchange with parties who disagree with or challenge Higgins’s version of events including Bruce Lehrmann’s legal representatives and supporters.

That’s how journalism works – you seek the views of all participants in an issue and do not cherrypick the evidence to suit a preferred narrative.

Over the years we had differences of opinion on various issues from time to time, as is the case in any normal relationship.

I continue to respect her and care about her wellbeing.

In fact, I caught up with Higgins recently, and I was struck by the fact that the kind and thoughtful woman I spent time with bears no relationship to the person who emerges in some of the reporting by those who have never bothered to pick up a phone and speak to her.

Samantha Maiden is the national political editor for news.com.au

JANET ALBRECHTSEN COLUMNIST

Thanks, Tinta. It was my pleasure (and I also thank Dover for indulging me).

It’s a beautiful world out there, and all of us were robbed of enjoying it for three long years. All over nothing. It’s as if it never happened, and the most rabid and cruel are pretending everything’s okay…hell, they’re even being rewarded (like that creep Sutton). A positive take away is that I’ve learned a few unpleasant things about myself too – a bit too willing to go along with things and not rock the boat, particularly where family is concerned, is one of them. What I’ve learned about others in my immediate circle I will not forget easily. Like the SSM debate, it was fraught and full of hyperbole and emotional blackmail.

And no matter how much they try to whitewash it, I will never forget what our governments did, lock step with perilously few questioners. This does not bode well for the future, because they will try it again. I can see them gearing up right now over climate, instilling fear and anger into entire populations.

Plenty to see around Cairns while Himself is working.

Corny and touristy, but I loved the Yellow Submarine!

TheirABC:

Trump took boxes of classified documents home and kept them next to his toilet. Here’s why it could land him in jail
By Matt Bevan and Yasmin Parry for If You’re Listening

I thought that Zoe, who asked her children for insights into US politics, hit the bottom of the barrel.

I was wrong.

Yes it is- Cairns is a great spot hoping to get up there later this year

You notice the condescending tone of that ABC garbage too- that these graduates are doing us a great favour by taking the time to ‘enlighten’ us ordinary working people.

Test

Leak Jnr

Here you go Eric:

Johannes Leak

The trick is to right click on the cartoon and pick ‘copy image address’. Then paste just the image link. Otherwise you hit the paywall. That’s in Brave, I’m sure there’re similar functions in other browsers, but I don’t know how you’d do it on a phone.

Is “The Big Guy Mr 10%” getting it with his War in Ukraine?

Bidens Wanted Billions, Not Millions, From Burisma

Was Joe Biden planning to buy his way back into the White House using Burisma’s money?

The release of an FBI informant’s allegations about the Biden family’s dealings with Burisma finally explains what a Ukrainian energy company wanted with a corrupt American political clan.

The FBI’s informant lays out an implied picture of just how much money the Bidens were chasing. This was not about the millions of dollars, money that Hunter casually wasted on crack, prostitutes and a lifestyle beyond his means, but potentially billions of dollars.

From the Comments

– And then there’s this huge elephant in the room, a war in the same country.

There’s only one question left: Do they get away with it?

Have decided now we’re in Seville that I would like to see a bullfight one day.

I know a chap who went to one way way back.
He said the cruelty haunted him for years.

Gentlemen do not phone.

In the mid 80’s the WEA (Workers Education Association) in Sydney offered a course titled something like: Letter Writing, A Dying Art. It was cancelled due to lack of numbers.

DOJ Adds Charges to Trump a Day After Sweetheart Hunter Biden Deal Exposed

While critics of former President Donald Trump celebrated, the juxtaposition of these two events is certain to lend weight and urgency to the charge that the DOJ is rife with political bias and continues to be weaponized.

As Breitbart News reported, the plea bargain that DOJ prosecutors reached with Hunter Biden’s lawyers fell apart on Wednesday after Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned its terms.

Specifically, she queried a clause in an annex to the agreement — which she was apparently only shown right before the hearing — that would have given Hunter Biden immunity from any further prosecution related to his lucrative foreign business dealings.

Here’s a wild detail from the Hunter Biden court transcript:

The infamous “paragraph 15” — which contained a stunning non-prosecution agreement for Hunter — wasn’t provided to the judge until just before the hearing.

JUDGE: “I didn’t get a copy of paragraph 15”

Judge Noreika asked both the prosecution and the defense whether there was any precedent for such a deal in the history of the DOJ.

Both said that they were not aware of any such precedent; it was a special agreement.

The following day, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against Trump that added three new charges, plus a new defendant, Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira, to the original case.

Also on Wednesday, the DOJ announced that it was dropping campaign finance charges against billionaire Democratic Party donor Sam Bankman-Fried. He still faces other charges, but the political charges are gone.

Trump calls for jailing of DOJ’s Jack Smith, Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at special counsel Jack Smith and President Biden’s Department of Justice, calling for Mr. Smith and others to be jailed.

Mr. Trump said his lawyers warned after the meeting that another indictment against him would be unjustified, and destroy an already divided country.

Son-in-law in Melbourne really into Pickleball

Pickleball is the biggest sport you’ve never heard of

Gus McCubbing
Reporter

Sydneysider Rohit Ninan found out about Pickleball through TikTok and now is hooked on what has become the fastest-growing sport in the United States.

“The beauty of the game is that it’s simple to learn but unravels in strategic complexity as you improve and actually requires a fair bit of brain power,” Ms Dunstan said. “It is easy to become addicted to the sport.”

What happens when you make a product no one wants, in a country where electricity is too expensive.

Ford Expects to Lose $4.5B on EVs This Year (28 Jul)

Automaker Ford estimates its electric vehicle division will lose $4.5 billion this year, $1.5 billion more than it predicted in March.

Fortune said Ford’s revised forecast comes from a sluggish receptiveness by consumers to the new battery-powered vehicles.

Europe faces Chinese cheap car ‘invasion’, Vauxhall owner warns (27 Jul)

Vauxhall owner Stellantis has warned of a coming “invasion” of cheap Chinese cars as it pressures its suppliers to cut costs to compete.

The firm, which also owns Peugeot, Fiat and Jeep, will also use its heft to demand lower prices from partners as it tries to bring down the cost of electric cars.

China has low cost coal-fired electricity, plus access to the metals needed for battery manufacturing. Western producers have neither. And soon they won’t have a car industry too if they keep on believing the climate crazies. Which China doesn’t.

US only lifted its restrictions in May

‘Land of the free’.

Gold Coast Glory

Not their full name. Up the…oh my.

I’m sceptical of new sports because there are a lot already that are similar.

AFL/Gaelic
Soccer/European Handball/Hockey/Lacrosse/Shinty/Hurling
Union/League/Calico Fiorentino/Grid Iron Football games
Netball/Basketball
Cricket/Rounders/Baseball
Tennis/Squash/Badminton…Pickleball?
Bowls/Curling/Bocce/Croquet/Indoor bowling
Cue sports
Darts, shooting, archery

How is it going to get up with that competition plus extreme sportz, track and field, gymnastics, swimming, bodybuilding, cross fit (believe it or not), pugilism & many other martial arts and indoor/outdoor/and modified versions of the above?

Plus the “unathletic lefty non binary couch potatoes are rooly gud at it” angle.

That’s what sets off my spite and jealousy alarms.

I do recommend Balti in Perf Chitty.

Not perfect but the food was very good and the customer service was very good.

Service for main was not as quick as I liked but they did well to keep everything going. It’s run well and I could smell it a block away, yum yum.

The old thief is a rancid old turd. Amoral and immoral. What kind of a place is Delaware?7

PS

I will be happy if Hockey and Rugby don’t die in their own self importance and decay cycles and boxing and other martial arts are not banned by coots like the Mayor of Wolllongong who publicly rebuked Alexander Volkanovski.

Sumo is awesome.

Man-beast vs man-beast!

What else could you ask for!?

Join us or perish! Do you dare to take Dot’s 600 lb diet challenge! I’m disrespectful to dirt!

What does it matter dot?
Isn’t this just a grass roots game that doesn’t need to worry about inclusion in the Olympics?

If it is a “grass roots game” the ABC wouldn’t be wanking about it.

It is the sort of game Kevin & Therese Rudd could get medical clearances to play.

I’m ashamed of our colour on that map. I never thought Australians were that credulous.

At least we know where the real low IQ countries are.

How you Victorians elect people as dumb and aggressive as Lily d’Ambrosio?

Never heard of it.

Bruce of Newcastle
Jul 29, 2023 8:59 AM

That ship is going to be a write-off even if it doesn’t sink.

500 EVs Among The 3000 Cars On Burning Ship Off Dutch Coast (28 Jul)

BoN, I’m thinking, wouldn’t it be better, if possible, to create a safe method transport of batteries and shipping them separately?

After all we are transporting some really dangerous chemicals across the oceans already.

Imagine being on a container ship with only EV batteries though!

Four people are feared dead after an Australian military helicopter plunged into the ocean off the Queensland coast overnight during Exercise Talisman Sabre.

Last time I did TS, I did a short hop out to sea in a US CH46. Whilst boarding, I noted the obvious discomfort of another passenger who was seated right next to the open door (apparently afraid of fallling out!) , and chivilrously offered to change seats – always sit near an exit, particularly in helicopters flying over water 😉

The proposed section 129 creates another Commission the Federal government controls.

It is about POWER and nothing else.

My mate is on a better income than I am but he also spoils his nephews.

No wonder my parents said “no”, they had to keep the water and power on and keep us fed and clothed.

Lego Icons:

Rivendell (actually amazing for a Lego set)
Lion Knights Castle (I always wanted the ye olde medieval stuff, only had City and dabbled in the Space stuff).
El Dorado Fortress (Never liked the Pirate stuff as a kid, I think I had a bad eye…)

Total cost for three “Fire station” sized Lego kits:

> $1700

I think he’s a sucker enough to buy them.

Rosie
Jul 29, 2023 8:41 AM
Not just May 2020.
My daughter and granddaughter flew down to Melbourne for a baptism in early December 2020 then a bunch of us rendezvoused in Nelson Bay just before Christmas 2020.
I drove up to Queensland again to visit them in May or June 2021, my daughter flew down to Melbourne with the baby for another week in early 2021, none of those trips had anything to do with vaxxed or not vaxxed; it was a matter of taking the chance every time the opportunity arose.

So, Rosie, you’re quite OK with Australian citizens being shut out of their own country, not allowed to travel freely within their own country, separated from family and excluded from funerals, unable to support loved ones in illness or impending death by arbitrary state government closure of internal borders and other inhumane measures – so long as you have the means and opportunity to take advantage of the unpredictable, brief and passing gaps in the closures and lock-outs to satisfy your own desires?

In the Army we called that attitude “jack”; as in the selfish and callous had the attitude of “I’m alright, Jack, so stuff you”.

We must never forget what our own governments did to us – all in the name of supposedly protecting us.

We must never forget what our own governments did to us – all in the name of supposedly protecting us.

All of us.

1. Some were forced to follow silly rules.
2. Some were punished by silly rules or questioning them.
3. The rest were punished by refusing to comply and say what the people often in groups 1. and 2. were thinking.
4. The bench acted spinelessly, hearing meaningful arguments after the executive had already inflicted damage on society and our economy, after they refused to hear arguments when it was relevant; in NSW for example the executive was effectively ruling by decree after Parliament had not sat for months on end and there was no way to disallow changes to delegated legislation. Clearly, this was not what was meant by the plenary powers of the Parliament that are shared in all other State constitutions. It is either a step away from precedence or repudiates the spirit of the Magna Carta [and its antecedents and descendant rules and principles], or both.
5. The High Court twisting section 92 of the Commonwealth Constitution which is plainly written and unambiguous into a post-modern mess of gibberish to support a concerted effort to ignore the constitution and impose an illegal emergency State has stained the careers of those judges forever. On top of Cole v Whifield, section 92 has effectively been repealed by lunatic judgments by politically appointed judges and has enshrined patronage which was only ever a gentleman’s agreement and occasionally a non partisan judge could be appointed. The High Court rolled over for a tummy rub and a schmacko.

Here’s the thing.

What States have repealed their Public Health Acts after the years of COVID nonsense such as lockdowns, forced medical experimentation and suspension of normal Parliamentary procedure?

None of them.

The public and separated parents should not be liable to pay race-based welfare payments or child support without proof from DNA-based ancestry and paternity testing.

Albrechtsen, who must surely be a pariah in her own industry right now:

The media’s role has escaped scrutiny for too long

Massive, throbbing uptick.

Reposted for excellence – calli, at 6.12:

What I’ve learned about others in my immediate circle I will not forget easily. Like the SSM debate, it was fraught and full of hyperbole and emotional blackmail.

And no matter how much they try to whitewash it, I will never forget what our governments did, lock step with perilously few questioners. This does not bode well for the future, because they will try it again.

Imagine being on an overnight car ferry.

The Norwegian ferry line Havila Kystruten banned EVs in January this year. I don’t know whether that ban has held, or if they had to back down.

And instead of bringing on a forward when the Matildas were trailing 3-1 to the Super Falcons, he brought on a defender in Clare Polkinghorne.

Hmm yes because you can’t win even if they keep on scoring more goals than you. Which players were buggered? Defenders? A strategy of scoring three unanswered goals purely by attacking really disregards the abilities of the other team.

That makes sense. The fresh guys can link up with and rotate through the midfield.

Were trailing 3-1 and lost 3-2.

So it sort of worked. They conceded too many unanswered goals early on.

No no, there shouldn’t be a discussion of why goals were let in, why goals were not scored or if the midfield was outplayed.

No, sack the coach!

Imagine being on a ship full of EVs….

Imagine being in a lift when an E bike goes nuclear

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/amazing-but-true/on-cam-e-bike-bursts-into-flames-inside-an-elevator/videoshow/82630172.cms

Core logic guy on TV:

It takes 10 years to save 15% of your income to get a 20% deposit for the “average” home.

Sure, save with “low” inflation of 6% and gas and electricity bills going up 20-25% per quarter.

If the people had said no, it would have finished in a week.

I held out for as long as I could on the vaccines.

People I worked with got vaccinated so they could go to the pub.

We all have corruptible principles but some people have a price that is far too low.