Jesus set us a very low bar: “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who…
Open Thread – Fri 4 Aug 2023
- TULIP versus ruinous Labor
- Open Thread – Weekend 18 May 2024
- Bumtree #15
- Bumtree #14
- Open Thread – Thurs 16 May 2024
You shouldn’t laff .. but ..! .. This one caught me off guard .. I had no idea the Taliban…
Gotta luv the optimism of “our” ABC .. full-on promotion for the latest series of DOCTOR WHO .. the series…
Protesters then forced their way past security into the building, prompting a major security alert with MPs locked inside the…
Gotta luv Labor & priorities ..! Oz folk stranded in New Caledonia amidst riots not as important as legal “advice”…
New OT up.
Indeed it is and a lovely picture to boot.
Happy Friday.
Tird!
Oh no you don’t!
Over 100 aboriginal “first nations” [ https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/map-indigenous-australia ] and 5 States plus federal, that’s at least 600 agreements that may be in the pipeline. The Voice is laying the banquet table for a Lawyerfest.
The Town of Victoria Park (in Perth) has gone full Woke, even before the Screech has been imposed on the citizens of our once-great country. If you want to waste a few minutes of your life, you could look at the other things that are occupying the minds of the councillors:
https://www.victoriapark.wa.gov.au/community/diversity/youth/advocacy-arts.aspx
Hello from Barcelona!
BTW, don’t bother…a big reasonably dirty city full of vapers and marijuana fumes.
Has about four nice things and once you’ve done them you can go.
I’ve been to Barcelona several times, in the winter though, very fond of all things Gaudi, been on the funicular to Mont Juc, to the beautiful little Romanesque church and cloister in El Ravel, the gallery in the royal palace, the museum with Roman ruins in Gotika? and day tripped to Tarragona and Montserrat.
Don’t recall ever smelling vaps and dope.
I wouldn’t go in summer though.
For the first time in a week, I had cartoons ready to go, but the Cat’s formatting buttons have disappeared!
Johannes Leak: https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/ff2185c7574ecbb8f89def040f3ac604?width=1024
Thanks Tom.
100 upticks.
From the AFR and courtesy of Michael Smith News –
The recent decision by the Albanese government to block Qatar Airways from launching 28 new flights per week between Doha and Australia has caused quiet amazement in the corridors of Parliament House.
Transport Minister Catherine King’s clarification last week elevated the matter to high farce. She insisted the decision was not related to a human rights incident at Doha Airport in 2020 and instead linked it to her desire “to decarbonise the transport sector”. That was such an arrant non sequitur that the only rational response was laughter.
The dazzling irony is that King offered this implausible explanation for yet another government measure fortifying Qantas’ market power as she stood in London touring Britain’s high-speed rail lines – a mode of travel Qantas’ lobbying machine has successfully obstructed in Australia for at least the past 30 years.
It is genuinely difficult to fathom the hold Qantas seems to have over this government. Air fares are at record highs (and a key factor in high inflation) while customer service levels are recovering from record lows.
In the year to June 30, 2022, the Australian Competition and Consumer Competition received more complaints about Qantas than any other company – the airline blamed COVID-19 disruption but claimed “things have improved and we are getting Qantas back to its best”.
Breaking news: the ACCC told this column on Wednesday that Qantas remained the most complained about company in Australia in the year to June 30, 2023!
And yet King forced the ACCC to discontinue its airline monitoring program in June by refusing to extend its funding. It’s scandalous, but it’s only in keeping with the long tradition of every Australian government indulging Qantas to an immoderate extent. If there’s any evidence to the contrary, please show it to me.
To be understood, all of this must be viewed through the lens of Anthony Albanese’s incredibly tight relationship with Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, a bond that jars so badly with Albo’s misty-eyed working-class origin story.
What Australian company has in recent years done more to bleed mug punters and even its own workers? Qantas illegally sacked 1700 baggage handlers in November 2020 (all while sucking back $2.7 billion of non-recourse government COVID-19 subsidies). An appeal was heard in May by the High Court, where every presiding justice is a member of the Chairman’s Lounge.
Tinpot republics
Speaking of the Chairman’s Lounge, which comfortably generates the highest return on invested capital in the entire Qantas Group, you would not believe who has earned himself access to the pleasures hidden behind its discreet entrance. None other than the prime minister’s 23-year-old son, Nathan Albanese. It’s the stuff tinpot African republics are made of.
Everyone knows Joyce personally curates the Chairman’s Lounge membership list. Did Qantas offer this extravagant benefit to Albanese or did Albanese request it for his son? When asked this week, neither the airline nor the Prime Minister’s Office would explain. But did any of them really think a university student sweeping into the Chairman’s Lounge like a lord wouldn’t stand out like dog’s balls?
Albanese has never disclosed Nathan’s membership in his statement of registrable interests with the parliament. The PM might argue it’s not required if his son is not technically a dependent (although the Labor leader did say in 2022 that “We’re close, we live together”).
Irrespective of the sophistry relied upon, his son has received this benefit only because of his father’s position. It should be declared, especially by the guy who was elected on an integrity platform. Ask yourself: would Ben Chifley have done this?
Otherwise, where does it end? Should young Nathan get an unlimited balance in his SportsBet account or perhaps a discount from Meriton on his first apartment, all beyond our line of sight?
I have sympathy for Nathan. This is not even about him. This is about the prime minister’s inability to resist a secret freebie, a sly gratuity of public office, or to grasp how compromised he looks.
Albanese was regulating Qantas as transport minister for six years in the Rudd and Gillard governments. What other favours might Qantas have done him (or those close to him) that he felt were unnecessary to declare?
https://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d02c1a6d00eb0200b-pi
Barcelona is the only city that I’ve been to that relies on buses predominantly where the system actually works well. Usually buses suck. Lowest form of transport. I need a coffee.
But we don’t have a national carrier, Johnny. It’s privatised don’t you know. Hence the CEO should get paid market rates. No protectionism here. Aussies get screwed again. Fake privatisation without the benefits of true privatisation.
Top Ender, the Miro Museum up on the hill is worth a look if you are in Barcelona and an art fan. Even if not and you’re looking for something to do then the view from there is pretty good too and it’s a nice building. There are some constructed beaches just outside the city which are quite pleasant too.
Here I am, up too early and thinking I might need to cancel my dance class today. I think I need sleep more. I got over-enthusiastic re exercise yesterday and went for a longish walk up some of the local hills here and am feeling the consequences now in my legs. All that airport walking was on the flat. Not the same thing at all.
And we are going to see Oppenheimer later today. Hairy wasn’t too keen at first thinking they would refuse to be true to Oppenheimer’s commo sympathies, but some positive reviews and the good opinion of it I tell him some Cats report has changed his mind.
Before I head back to bed, here’s a link again which I put up on the previous thread to Jon Cadigan’s excellent account of why EV’s are such a danger in your garage under your daughter’s bedroom let alone the public danger of a major fire (i.e unstoppable chemical reaction creating temperatures as in a kiln) in an underground car park. h/t there to Roger Franklin’s editorial column on Quadrant, where I first came across this and where the video is just there ready to be opened (given Dover has had to short ration us on links).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBpcyJeHmww
OK, I think we have link above, it didn’t look like it was working in the comment box but hope it does so now it’s up.
“Hairy wasn’t too keen at first thinking they would refuse to be true to Oppenheimer’s commo sympathies, ”
Lizzie,
It is and it isn’t.
I see that Mr Minns in NSW now wants to build a giant mattress. It looks quite comfy actually. Cheap at $750 million.
Inside the ‘state-of-the-art’ redevelopment industry chiefs say could rival the Sydney Opera House as the country’s most popular tourist venue (Sky News, 3 Aug)
From Lee Fang overnight.
In addition to straightforward charges of assaulting police officers and violent entry, federal prosecutors are trying to lock up former President Donald Trump and other Jan. 6 defendants for violating an obscure criminal statute –penal code 18 U.S.C. 1512(c)(2) – never used before in a similar context.
The charge under this statutory provision makes it a crime to “corruptly” obstruct, influence, or impede any official government proceeding, and carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The provision, part of the Sarbanes-Oxley law passed after the Enron scandal, was originally intended to create harsh penalties for accountants destroying evidence during a government investigation. The application of the Sarbanes-Oxley provision for interrupting congressional proceedings by protest is completely unprecedented. The provision has only been used in relation to document-related cases.
On Tuesday, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith indicted former President Donald Trump with several new charges related to the Jan. 6 riot, one of which was the 1512(c)(2) crime of “obstructing a government proceeding.”
Using the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Wall Street is having a big laugh at this.
Things just keep getting worse in Victoriastan. Hun:
So that’s the first part of the article. Second part might just blow your mind, or head a la Scanners.
The subway works very well in Barcelona too.
The Barthelona thubway.
Let me guess if any particular group is over-represented in wiped convictions.
Second part after coffee:
Top o’ the mornin’ and Happy Birthday to FlashCat.
Now…there are no handy buttons, so let me see if I can repost my piece of Ronald Searle artwork to celebrate. Here.
And many thanks to Dover on the unicycle doing all the heavy lifting while the rest of us have a ball.
“Ask yourself: would Ben Chifley have done this?”
LOL. Ben Chifley would not recognise anything about the Australian Labor Party in 2023.
However, further to Nathan’s little perk, imagine the screeches, wails and howls if Nathan was a child of say, Tony Abbott, or John Howard, or Scott Morrison? Those screeches, wails and howls would be audible in another galaxy. Oh, and did the Irish homosexual ever personally extend an invitation to any of Tony Abbot’s three girls? I doubt it.
‘Happy Birthday to FlashCat’
What? Shit.
Now I have to whip down to the shops and get a tie or a box of hankies or something.
Advance notice – the present will not be wrapped.
Looks like a pool blanket.
1970 during the Franco fun park era the gf and I parked our clapped out Transit (on its 5000th trip around Europe and probably never serviced) on the square behind the main city beach in Barcelona.
One of Franco’s comic opera cops complete with rusty machine gun tapped on the window and demanded a shakedown.
Girlfriend in her very best SF Spanish told him to take a walk.
Young and naive! That was scary.
ArthurB at1:59 AM
The Town of Victoria Park (in Perth) has gone full Woke, even before the Screech has been imposed on the citizens of our once-great country.
No surprises there. Vic Park is Freo with Hells Angels. I spent a lot of my rehab in East Vic Park. A really mixed suburb by Perf standards. One (long) street had a burnt out 1950s Housing Commission flat in the middle and beautifully restored weatherboard houses with Range Rover Evoques at the other end. If you want to get in touch with your inner derro Franklins tavern on Albany Highway is a good starting point.
Huh?
I can see mine.
They look a bit different but they are there.
Barcelona – possibly the most overrated tourist destination on Earth. San Sebastián is nice though.
We don’t have to imagine.
Remember when Abbott’s daughter got a scholarship and the details were leaked all over the SMH?
Than Thebathtian ith topth.
Every Labor child wins a prize. The perks of the Nomenklatura.
On Barcelona…I will hopefully be there next May for one night only. Booked to see the interior of the cathedral first up (didn’t realise first time we visited that you had to book or wait in a two block conga line). Then pick up a car and off to Zaragoza – a much more attractive prospect.
Second time in Spain – we’ll be “doing” the pilgrim trail (roughly), dump the car, tour to Morocco, pick up another car and then southern Spain. Rome – cruise – Rome – home.
Feel tired already. But….I’ll have a new knee! 😀
Oh. Okay.
Some people have buttons. Some people do not have buttons.
I have no buttons. Zero buttons.
Classist mongs. Come on, non-button-havers! Rise up!
Rise up, in an unspecified manner!
For the record we suffered an attempted pickpocketing on the train from the airport and I think I got my Guillian-Barre there. It still sucks.
Ah, memories.
“That’s nice dear. What is it?”
“A HQ fanbelt and a quart of Mobil 1.”
…
When the only thing open on Christmas Day was the servo.
Housing Australia Future Fund | Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain
Perks for the nomenclatura is the hallmark of any good regime. Suck it up lumpen proletariat.
I think I have a button which can put a stop to that, too.
Something in blockquotes.
Because I can.
Bwah ha ha ha
Buttons.
This is like sitting in Business Class, holding my champers and peering disdainfully over my Erko glasses at the Economy Class passengers as they file past.
Not that one would do that, of course.
Sloppy grifter news (the Hun):
‘The author of the explosive Hawthorn racism report has been charged with scores of offences after allegedly stealing from a body set up to help Indigenous communities.
Victoria Police financial crime squad detectives arrested former Richmond forward Phil Egan in February.
The Herald Sun revealed he was expected to be charged over the matter and on Thursday he was hit with 73 offences.
“Detectives from the Financial Crime Squad have charged a man today (Thursday) as part of an investigation into allegations of fraud relating to the management of a Robinvale-based organisation,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.’
Let’s see.
Indig bloke rorts indig organisation for years, siphoning off some of that $33 billion we’re paying every year.
Same bloke then scribbles out lengthy yet indistinct ‘racism’ report, referencing a number of very minor and not really provable things against a footy club (and league) with plenty of cash, with indig painted as victims.
The path of least resistance, had the report not sucked so hard and had the evil monsters at its heart (Clarkson et al) not jacked up and called bullshit at the volume they had, would have been oodles of go-away money for the aforementioned ‘victims’.
I wonder how much Egan had planned and pre-arranged with the ‘victims’ to skim off the go-away money?
For those suffering button loss, try this site for tutorials in coding. You only need to know a couple to get by.
Here.
Copy the code into your notes (or whatever place you dump handy stuff on your machine), then it’s there to use in case of formatting emergencies.
And…you can impress your children and grandchildren with your HTML-Fu.
I spent a bit of time last night rewalking around Barcelona.
The cathedral and its cloisters are also worth a visit, and not far away the tiny rediscovered synagogue.
Every church in Barcelona was attacked/burnt during the civil war and had a story to tell.
Barcelona buses are okay but if you want to move around quickly the metro is excellent.
Buttonless, unformatted posts.
It’s like putting a top hat and tails on a houso dragged out from under a bridge.
Whoops! Bold appears not to work.
That’s because it’s strong, not Bold. Gee I’m rusty at this!
People without buttons are … dare I say … off the pace.
Seconding Calli’s Birthday wishes Dover, here is my contribution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE
Happy Birthday Cats!
If you haven’t had someone try to pickpocket you in Barcelona you haven’t really been there.
I’m still disappointed no-one took one of my dummy wallets.
Zaragosa is also well worth visiting, a very enjoyable train trip from Barcelona too, along the coast to Tarragona then turning inland, I still remember sheep, shepherd and sheepdog.
And storks, many storks.
Oh, gosh!
I do hope the button shortage doesn’t curtail our links to trusted sources on the innernet.
I really do.
If Nathan Albanese had honour, he would not accept the Qantas freebie. But that would require higher order thinking and a degree of independence from Dad. Pretty impossible.
Dummy wallet.
Or, in my case, a real wallet that Mrs Panzer has been into.
Clearly, this unbuttoned environment is unconstitutional. According to my copy retrieved from the glovebox, anyway.
TeH People are sovereign! I do not consent to this!
Do you hear me Klaus? NO CONSENT!
But what of the infamous blink tag?
“Remember when Abbott’s daughter got a scholarship and the details were leaked all over the SMH?”
Oh yes I remember, but it was worse than that. Frances Abbott’s personal scholarship details were HACKED into and released by a young far-left skank who, I’m pretty sure, was encouraged in her criminality by one or two noted far-left activists. The skank was charged but then no conviction was recorded (she did send Frances a letter of apology). I recall at the time (2014) that the Guardian referred to the far-left skank as a “whistleblower”….of course. Oh and of course again, we didn’t know then that the Guardian had been set up in this country with the financial assistance of the then so called Liberal member for Point Piper. Oh no, those details were revealed much later, much later, and just remember, the Liberal Party made this hideously creepy man PM in September 2015, which as far as I’m concerned, was the beginning of the end for the Liberal Party of Australia.
We’ll be staying in an old converted convent in Zaragoza, recommended by a friend who loves the place. Really looking forward to it.
My brother tells me to beware the end of the trail – they only swing the censer on selected days in Santiago de Compostela. No worries, I’m there for the beauty of the place, not the floor show. Apparently it had something to do with stinky pilgrims originally (sounds truthy, but who knows).
I will definitely be in fresh clothes and deodorised. Standards must be maintained.
For info, I am using an i-Phone 13 over a VPN.
If that means anything.
Happy Birthday. I’m pretty sure the first person to make a comment here was Rosie.
Albanese gets fact checked.
Caveats are found.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-02/fact-check-indigenous-australians-support-for-the-voice/102673042
I was also first on the very first open forum here.
The termite owns the Liberal Party. They’ll never be rid of him because they can’t pay him back. How is buying a political party not corrupt? Especially in a two-party system.
You have no standing.
And no buttons.
Meh. I was first on C.L.’s!
Firsts at twenty paces, ma’am! 😀
Nathan Albanese got lucky, infused with far less of the rat DNA than his father, still a worrying amount but it must be a recessive set of genes.
Second up was St Ruth, calling Rosie a COW!, a tRaIToR and a shill for Big Klaus.
‘You have no standing.’
Nobody will be standing when the Attwood Concentration Camp is up and running, which it will be. Soon. Very, very soon.
I have an inside industry source who reckons the gas pipes are about to go in. Gas pipes and control panels. Lots and lots of control panels, all with switches that need flicking.
it’s not solipsistic
it’s real
gonna say i told youse
mongs
The censer causes damage to Cathedral, apparently.
We were there outside the walking season so it was pretty quiet.
Stayed in a first floor or second floor apartment maybe a couple of hundred metres from Santiago Cathedral, in one of those beautiful porticoed streets, reminiscent of Bologna.
Daughter and I were excited to find free Netflix was part of the deal. Spend the evenings after a hard day of foot slogging watching American Sniper.
Kellie-Jay Keen issues a warning to Daniel Andrews, John Pesutto and others…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JqM3kuOmVg
By the way, here are some names of so called “Liberals” who joined Labor and the Greens to block Pauline Hanson’s inquiry into gender reassignment procedures in Australia…
Andrew Bragg
Jane Hume
Marise Payne
Simon Bummingham
Please note the names and don’t vote for them.
Any Liberal bigwig who comes here to read this site, please be advised that there is no way in the world I will vote for a party with men and women such as the above who support the mutilation of children. It’s clear that the Liberal Party has learnt nothing since May 2022.
Yes, we have no buttons. We have no buttons at all.
The fat fascist fool still thinks that an event substantially less violent than an average BLM or Ante-fa afternoon stroll through town was an “insurrection”. The only unarmed “insurrection” in world history still gives him wet dreams.
To say nothing of the multiple undercover FBI and other agents provacateurs.
I’m still confused; if the camps are for the unvaried and the vaxxed are all dead, WHO will guard the inmates, and on WHO’s behalf?
“I wath waised on welfare in a counthil flat, you know”
“And how about your son, Mr Prime Minister? How’s he getting on with kickbacks and luxury lounges?”
Knuckles I thought you would have gone to your maker by now. The grate ( correct spelling for pedants) oracle truck and bus, but not boat driver said so. Of coarse you may have not been slated in the first batch.
Still very interested in the fall out from the Sofronoff enquiry.
What else did the rogue DPP do?
Seems strange. People are not allowed to speak about people who have spent convictions yet just now on the television, reporter very excited to talk to people about a Powerball winner of $50 million.
How could anyone waste precious gas on a concentration camp when Dastardly Dan desperately needs it to keep Victorian lights on?
I noticed Darth Monty made an appearance last night.
It’s very sad how the US has crashed into a full-on fascist dictatorship this quickly.
I don’t have a problem with people who have a minor conviction getting their records expunged after ten years of keeping their noses clean.
It shouldn’t haunt you for the rest of your life.
Trust Dan to go that step too far and scrub very serious convictions.
The buttonless kaftan cat.
Let yourself go.
This from an article in the Hun about the Mannahill Hotel, which is on the Barrier Highway in South Australia, 150kms from the border to NSW. So pretty much the middle of nowhere.
And some entitled moron takes an electric vehicle out there. Not real bright.
“Ben Chifley would not recognise anything about the Australian Labor Party in 2023.”
Ben Chifley wouldn’t be tolerated in the ALP in 2023.
Some debate on the old thread (where everyone had buttons) about the junior lawyer in Dumgold’s office who signed off on the legal privilege document.
I wonder if it isn’t drummed into people like it used to be.
When you certify or witness a legal document you are hanging your reputation and possibly your career or financial well-being off that signature.
I hold a qualification which enabled me to certify and witness documents.
Several times I refused to witness pre-signed documents, and once a woman acquaintance got decidedly pissed off that I wouldn’t witness her husband’s signature without him present.
“She was very upset,” says Mrs P. “Couldn’t you just sign?”
My answer.
“What if she is having a bad run on the Pokies and is signing her husband up to a second mortgage he doesn’t know about to fund the problem? Where would that leave him? And me?”
…
Oh.
Gas is banned.
It’s going to be solar powered electric chairs.
“…some entitled moron takes an electric vehicle out there. Not real bright.”
Teal voter…odds-on.
“By the way, here are some names of so called “Liberals” who joined Labor and the Greens to block Pauline Hanson’s inquiry into gender reassignment procedures in Australia…
Andrew Bragg
Jane Hume
Marise Payne
Simon Bummingham”
——————
I am not a bit surprised with the other three except Jane Hume. I thought she was a rational person, obviously not. She will regret it when people find out before the next election.
Robert Sewell
Aug 4, 2023 8:11 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcJJ6aK7lzU
Interesting method of water well construction in Senegal from a mob probably called Water Without Borders. No machinery, just hand labour and skill. Bugger all dependency on the supply chain for consumables apart from cement.
At some risk of becoming Obi-wan Tagobi…
Frank, Aug 4, 2023 7:50 AM
…there’s a name I’ve not heard in a long, long time.
A long time.
Farmers body in Western Australia is preparing a High Court challenge to the Aboriginal Heritage Legislation. Watch this space.
I have a drawer full of buttons that I’m happy to trade at mate’s rates. Some are very noice too, especially my Italian couture buttons with lion’s heads.
Also…I have a selection of press studs, hooks and eyes, velcro, zips, safety pins and iron on tape.
Put in an order. Free shipping.
From houso to the Chairman’s Lounge in one generation. How good is Australia?
Millions Flock To Worldcoin To Have Their Irises Scanned To Receive A Digital ID As Founder Orders Services To Be Made Available To Governments
https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/worldcoin-iris-scans-orb-world-id-mark-of-the-beast-666/
And this was one I couldn’t post yesterday
Kenya suspends Worldcoin’s crypto project over safety concerns
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/kenyan-government-suspends-activities-worldcoin-country-2023-08-02/
I guarantee you, if they get sufficient numbers for something like this it will be exactly the same as for the vax, take it or else.
Wonderful start to the day, Cats – gave some screeech spruikers outside the station a blast on my way to work.
Five of them – all white superannuated boomer hippies.
Noticed an Asian woman giving them a rather brusque brush off as well.
Oh – and collectivists – could you stop automatically assuming that I’m a fellow ideological traveller, thanks. The soviet grey and charcoal Canadian Tuxedo is not some sort of “tell”.
Benny Johnson
@bennyjohnson
No *real* election looks like this.
Everyone knows it.
This is an algorithm:
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1687169266754158592
I see Dan Murphy’s is “asking staff” if they’d “like to volunteer” to support da Voice.
It might be time for the abandoned loaded trolley tactic.
Capitol Police Chief Calls January 6 a ‘Cover-Up’ in Leaked Unaired Tucker Carlson Interview
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/02/capitol-police-chief-calls-january-6-a-coverup-in-leaked-unaired-tucker-carlson-interview/
White superannuated boomer hippies – I hope you reminded them about the next Friends of the ALPBC meeting.
Anheuser-Busch lost a staggering $390 MILLION in second quarter as Bud Light’s sales to retailers plunge 14% in wake of brand’s partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12369087/Anheuser-Busch-lost-staggering-395-MILLION-sales-plunged-14-year-Bud-Lights-partnership-transgender-influencer-Dylan-Mulvaney.html
> Trust Dan to go that step too far and scrub very serious convictions.
On the one hand, for crimes which historically/criminologically have very low rates of recidivism, no matter how serious they were, it makes sense to permit the person to become productive by having others treat them as average again.
On the other hand, quite possibly dictator Dan is giving himself a soft landing too? 😀
It really ought to prompt reflection on the official name of the prison system and whether that name is just vapid double-speak. If the “correctional services” don’t actually correct anybody who goes through them then why do we call them that?
EXCLUSIVE: Tafari Campbell’s drowning death is deemed an accident but Massachusetts police are STILL withholding basic information about Barack Obama’s personal chef under the guise of an ‘ongoing investigation’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12369343/Tafari-Campbells-drowning-accident-Massachusetts-police-withholding-basic-information-Barack-Obamas-chef-cover-up.html
Tom
Aug 4, 2023 4:02 AM
For the first time in a week, I had cartoons ready to go, but the Cat’s formatting buttons have disappeared!
Tom,
set your post up on
https://joannenova.com.au/ site using all required enhancements – preview, the copy and paste to newcatallaxy blog
PS while you are there
Labor Party sells out Australia, panders to the UN, to avoid a naughty reef sticker
United Nations Command Logo
Laura Loomer
@LauraLoomer
Stuck at the airport so I grabbed some food. I sat down to eat and the waiter was from Hong Kong. He asked me where I’m going and I said back to the US. He said “oh you live in America? I saw today they arrest Trump.”
I asked him what he thought about it. He said it’s obvious they are trying to stop him from being President.
Folks, it’s so obvious that a waiter from Hong Kong at the airport in Europe can tell what is really happening.
He then said he loves Trump because Trump “gets things done and is tough on China.”
The rest of the world is watching. And they can see through this charade for what it is.
ELECTION INTERFERENCE.
https://twitter.com/LauraLoomer/status/1687183038663286784
> Bud Light’s sales to retailers plunge 14%
Is that a misprint?
It was ONLY a decrease of 14%?
I’d expect about that much change between summer and winter every year.
If that figure is correct then the so-called boycott practically didn’t exist.
The Supreme Court of QLD has ruled that Sikhs can carry ceremonial knives into schools, previously banned under the Weapons Act.
It’s being reported that the court found that the Act contravened Section 10 of the Racial Discrimination Act (1975), which upholds equality before the law.
This in turn enacts domestically Article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966).
Article 5 declares the right of freedom of religion, among others.
Among those other rights is the right to “security of person and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm.”
Indeed, the order in which the rights are listed suggests that this right is more fundamental than the right to freedom of religion, such that the latter, while it is to be protected, must bow to the more fundamental right.
I’d say the Supreme Court has erred.
Murder has a low rate of recidivism.
And it is bullshit that people are “restricted from being productive”.
There is no legal barrier to any job on account of criminal record unless the offence is directly relevant to the job.
This is aimed at expunging the records for specific groups in society to “overcome generational and structural disadvantage”.
Let’s hope the Sikhs (and those around them) enjoy good mental health.
“The Supreme Court of QLD has ruled that Sikhs can carry ceremonial knives into schools, previously banned under the Weapons Act.”
My fathers ancestors were Scots. Do I have the right to carry a ceremonial dagger, as part of my dress?
Meme
Thanks OldOzzie for the Jo Nova suggestion. It works. And that UN article over there while horrifying just confirms what we already know is happening.
“My fathers ancestors were Scots. Do I have the right to carry a ceremonial dagger, as part of my dress?”
Given that the International Covenant protects the right to participation in cultural activities, I’d be interested to see the Supreme Courts ruling on that given the precedent they’ve set.
What a clever little Vegemite you are, OldOzzie! And it gives Jo some extra traffic and eyeballs too.
For those asking, I am in crunch mode for the game I am developing, so I don’t have much time for this place at the moment.
It is fun watching the Trump indictments pile up, though. Can the total reach more than the 60+ failed Kraken lawsuits?
Also, I expect a lot of blistering hatred from you lot towards Judge Chutkan over the next year or so. Presses all your buttons, she does. Represents everything you hate about the world. And she won’t give a tinker’s.
“For those asking, I am in crunch mode for the game I am developing, so I don’t have much time for this place at the moment.”
Don’t let us keep you.
H B Bear
Aug 4, 2023 8:39 AM
From houso to the Chairman’s Lounge in one generation. How good is Australia?
This is why we need to regain incorruptible uptick/downtick buttons.
I suggest a raiding party on Calli’s sewing room.
Is that the judge who worked for Burisma?
I can’t see a conflict of interest.
The People’s President Delivers Remarks Departing Washington DC – Video
August 3, 2023 | Sundance
Prior to departing the airport in Washington DC, President Trump paused to deliver brief remarks to the assembled media following his persecution on behalf of a corrupt regime. WATCH: 46 Secs
Always reserved to honor. Always deliberate in brutal honesty. Always professional, even in pragmatic approach!
Inasmuch as it is infuriating to see our great constitutional republic being shredded by the leftists, Marxists and overt communists that have infiltrated the institutions of political power, I must say there is just something incredibly inspiring about how one man, Donald John Trump, is willing to face down this entire system on our behalf.
I do not meter these words lightly. This is an era of incredible consequence in the history of our nation, and one man is standing in the gap to persevere against almost insurmountable odds.
None of us alone could face the severity of this opposition and yet retain this level of internal fortitude.
There is something much larger than us protecting, guiding and providing this inspiration.
President Trump is facing down much more than a well-fortified corrupt political enterprise; he is standing in front of us against a collective force of intent that would crush any other person.
We bear witness to the most remarkable and inspiring act of internal strength, transferred through a vessel, into something far greater than the ordinary perseverance of men could accomplish.
Let there be no doubt, all of the lesser men attempting to play their various roles in republican opposition to candidate Trump – are small.
There should be a collective shame upon those who cannot set aside their need for affluence and unite behind Donald Trump.
No man is a monolith unto himself, but in this era – against this enemy, those who claim to stand for righteousness and yet challenge the one true warrior in our national arena, reduce themselves to insignificant gnats in the annals of history.
. I am damn proud of Donald John Trump.
. I am proud to support President Trump.
. I am inspired by what President Trump is willing to do on behalf of our nation.
. Deserving his effort on our behalf will remain my focus.
. There is no value in the ‘might-haves’ of the past. We have one mission now….
… Do, or do not; there is no try!
I am a cheese fan. Can I carry a two-handled cheese wire where ever I go?
I think the French word for it is Garotte. Very handy in certain circumstances.
“For those asking, I am in crunch mode for the game I am developing, so I don’t have much time for this place at the moment”
Don’t let us keep you here, MontyFa.
Catturd ™
@catturd2
Well Well Well – what have we here?
New Poll Numbers on Biden Are So Bad, Even CNN Admits They ‘Stink’ and Are a ‘Very Worrying Sign’
“From houso to the Chairman’s Lounge in one generation. How good is Australia?”
Absolutely nothing to do with Albanese pulling the ACCC off the airlines’ case.
Classist mongs. Come on, non-button-havers! Rise up!
Rise up, in an unspecified manner!
I’ll be down at the end of my driveway with a candle at dawn tomorrow.
And he has a sense of humour too, something the left could never be accused of.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/watch-california-7-eleven-workers-beat-tar-man/
In another video shot by the customer, the thief says he was beaten so badly that he can’t stand up and walk out on his own. The customer convinces the employees to let him lead the thief out of the store but has no patience for the suspect’s whining.
He tells the thief “he better walk tonight” and ignores his cries for a soda as they leave the store.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/mike-pence-sends-campaign-email-begging-cash-after/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=2023-08-03
Mike Pence Sends Out Campaign Email BEGGING for Cash After He Trashes Trump Following Latest Garbage Indictment – Is Begging for Measly $1 Donations So He Can Qualify for Debate Stage
“Everything Appears To Be A Cover Up”: Capitol Police Chief Challenged J6 Narrative In Never-Aired Tucker Carlson Interview
BY TYLER DURDEN
FRIDAY, AUG 04, 2023 – 01:30 AM
In never-before-seen footage that was withheld by Fox News, former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that January 6th was a complete debacle and a “cover up.
“Everything appears to be a cover up,” Sund tells Carlson in footage obtained by the National Pulse. “Like I said, I’m not a conspiracy theorist,” he continued. “…but when you look at the information and intelligence they had, the military had, it’s all watered down. I’m not getting intelligence, I’m denied any support from National Guard in advance. I’m denied National Guard while we’re under attack, for 71 minutes…”
Beginning around 19 minutes into the conversation, Sund tells Tucker: “If I was allowed to do my job as the chief we wouldn’t be here, this didn’t have to happen,” adding that he’s “pissed off” about being “lambasted in public” over what happened that day.
The full interview has thus far been hidden from the public at the behest of Rupert Murdoch’s increasingly left-wing Fox News channel, which unceremoniously fired its prime time host Tucker Carlson allegedly as part of a private settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. -National Pulse
“It sounds like they were hiding the intelligence,” Carlson said, to which Sund responds: “Could there possibly be actually… they kind of wanted something to happen? It’s not a far stretch to begin to think that. It’s sad when you start putting everything together and thinking about the way this played out… what was their end goal?”
Last month Carlson told Russell Brand that Sund said the crowd on January 6th was ‘filled with federal agents.’
“I interviewed the chief of the Capitol Police, Steven Sund, in an interview that was never aired on Fox, by the way — I was fired before it could air, I’m gonna interview him again,” Carlson said.
“But Steven Sund was the totally non-political, worked for Nancy Pelosi, I mean, this was not some right-wing activist. He was the chief of Capitol Police on January 6, and he said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that crowd was filled with federal agents.’ What? ‘Yes.’ Well he would know, of course, because he was in charge of security at the site.”
“So, the more time has passed… it becomes really obvious that core claims they made about January 6 were lies,” Carlson explained.
“The amount of lying around January 6, and it was obvious in the tapes that I showed, is really distressing.”
Watch:
Sikhs have long been permitted to carry knives in Vic, schools, anywhere. Religious exemption I think.
“The Wuhan Cover Up” by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
A brief review, book scheduled for release September 12, 2023
ROBERT W MALONE MD, MS
4 AUG 2023
<I have been aware that this sequel to RFK’s “The Real Anthony Fauci” has been in the works for quite a while, and had advanced notice of some of the scope and content. Unlike the predecessor, I was not involved in editing this one.
I was recently provided an advanced pre-print version of this current book for review, and realized that what has been produced is a potential game changer of much broader scope and depth than I had anticipated. The following is my initial assessment of the work. I just hope that people read it and pay attention.>
The title of US Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new book, “The Wuhan Cover Up”, does not really represent the scope and nature of this seminal work.
This book is the most comprehensive historic summary and indictment of the history of the United States’ biowarfare/biodefense program ever written.
Summarizing an amazing sweep of untold censored history, it begins with ancient Mediterranean and European examples of both chemical and biological warfare, proceeds to an open discussion of the shocking truths concerning Imperial Japan’s WW II biowarfare program (Unit 731), the importation of both Japanese and German biowarfare experts and technologies into Fort Detrick to create USAMRIID (operation Paperclip), strategic evasion of global biowarfare “treaties”, through to the present Wuhan Institute of Virology CIA/Intelligence Community/Chinese CCP collusion and cover up, and concludes by glancing into the future.
What is often overlooked by academia, corporate media and the Washington DC political caste is that the history of modern biology (particularly microbiology, molecular biology, and virology) and the infectious disease pharmaceutical industry is intimately entwined with the American biowarfare enterprise.
It has been estimated that total Federal expenditures on biowarfare research and development from the end of WW II through to the implementation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (1975) exceeded the costs of the US Nuclear Warfare program during this period, and this biowarfare program (and funding stream) is intimately linked to academia. Most of the leaders of the American Society of Microbiology were also leaders in the American DoD/CIA-funded biowarfare program. This background and context is necessary to understand how the fundamental corruption of academic medicine, peer-reviewed journals, the CDC, FDA, biological and academic research have been so comprehensive, as has been revealed by the COVIDcrisis. Just follow the money.
Which leads us to the most recent and egregious sordid chapter in this sorry tale, The Wuhan Cover Up. A case study demonstrating the consequences of the situational ethical slide which often occurs when a massive administrative bureaucracy fuses with an “intelligence community”. The resulting Leviathan, steeped in the utilitarian “ends justify the means” logic typical of all those skilled liars who have practiced spycraft throughout the ages, eventually forgets both its purpose and its commitment to serving the citizenry, and becomes a predatory monster. With his masterful summary, Mr. Kennedy has provided the receipts on how this modern embodiment of the slouching beast foretold in Yeates’ “Second Coming” has been born and nurtured via a cooperation of convenience between the western and eastern military/intelligence/industrial complexes.
Now, looking forward, the open question is whether this globalized Leviathan will continue to succeed in its efforts to deploy advanced psychological and information control methods on the entire human community to avoid the consequences of its actions? Or will this book and the work of so many others trigger an awareness, awakening and effective reaction among citizens to the deep corruption of medical-biological research, medical ethics, and the entire western “health” enterprise which has occurred over the last century.
With this book as a guide, we can see the enemy, the face of creeping globalized utilitarian evil, and it is us.
Now what are each of us going to do about it?
Amazon Pre-purchase link here.
watch-california-7-eleven-workers-beat-tar-man
Speaking of California…
‘Governor Of State People Are Fleeing From Agrees To Debate Governor Of State They Are Fleeing To’
— Babylon Bee
Farmers are taking the state governments to court because of changes to land use laws and yet we are expected to believe the InVoice politburo won’t do the same.
‘Knuckles I thought you would have gone to your maker by now’
Deep, deep into red time.
According to some.
*put your buttons out*
Re the dead Chef. Nothing to see here. What is it? Maybe like in Chinatown where the corpse drowned in the ocean but has freshwater in his lungs. Have they found the phone with Micheal’s dick pix on it? Case closed so no information forthcoming coz its an ongoing investigation. You know it makes sense. Paperwork filed with bummers nationality status and edumication records of being a foreign student. I could be a conspiracy theorist but I’d have to join the queue of people correctly having educated guesses at the shenanigans of the last 5-10 years.
“My fathers ancestors were Scots. Do I have the right to carry a ceremonial dagger, as part of my dress?”
If I identify as Nipponese, can I engage in tsujigiri*?
*The testing of a new sword on a chance passer-by.
Not sure if everyone cares but Beny Johnson just did a video about how Rogan has moved from a liberal Democrat to a MAGA Trump supporter.
Rogan’s audience is a large swathe of young males who are open-minded, “sceptics” and lean to progressivism but are anchored somewhat to libertarianism.
It might be significant. His audience is also ethnically diverse because of who fights in the UFC – so you get black and latino representation too.
Rogan is saying he’ll vote for the Prince of Orange and no one believes that Biden is ahead or level with Trump.
“*put your buttons out*”
Go home and get your shine box.
“*put your buttons out*”
Indians don’t mess around.
“ACTUALLY! YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO THIEVE FROM THIS GAS STATION! YOU WILL PASS OUT OF HERE WITH BRUISES YOU MOTHER F&^%ING DOG! YOU WILL SERVE ME AS A WATER CARRIER IN THE NEXT LIFE!. NOW, REVERT BACK TO ME YOU DALIT!”
Actually…
watch-california-7-eleven-workers-beat-tar-man
Gee whiz, ……, Marisse Payne supports the mutilation of children, …., wow.
Isn’t she the longest serving, (female), senator?
She MUST have a list of achievements longer than Noel Pearson’s demands.
Interesting article in Politico yesterday, talking about scenarios, should the Muscovites take out, the greatest human being to draw breath, St Volodymyr the Pure.
The article starts by claiming ‘elensky’s phenomenal oratory skills, win over all those lucky enough, to be in earshot. It then moves to suggest that the “Sniffer in Chief” is less than ecstatic about St Volodymyr NOT following instructions on the battlefield.
Recall that a few weeks ago, ‘elensky (confidently) announced that Ukraine had everything it needed, to push the vile enemy back into Russia.
After two months, the UKR Army is STILL in the Grey Zone, ie not yet even at the the first line, of Ivan’s defence, anywhere! Massive casualties and many spoke other than Ukrainian.
Then it moves to the loss of ‘elensky. (How could the world go on?)
We are nearing the end of this tragic farce and the clown has limited time before the axe falls. He could contact Putin, beg forgiveness and move to Russia, possibly saving his worthless skin, but not his wealth, or, continue on as is, thinking he is a real leader and “outsmart” those, who wish to simplify matters, but keep his wealth.
I’m backing the latter and he will simply be a metaphor for the conflict as a whole.
Bye bye Volodymyr!
Get your heads together and think of the best way to catch these germs.
Cash reward? Imagine a thousand people giving a hundred bucks each.
Torn between sadness and total anger. Stocks and birching needed.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12367149/Familys-heartbreak-pet-dog-tied-tortured-dumped-sea.html#comments
I am off to my sainted mother’s sewing cabinet for buttons.
“Roger
Aug 4, 2023 8:55 AM
The Supreme Court of QLD has ruled that Sikhs can carry ceremonial knives into schools, previously banned under the Weapons Act.”
I have asked Sikhs I have met while travelling if they held on them, all the required devices of their religion, comb, iron/steel bangle, knife .. underpants I don’t want to know about and the turban is pretty obvious.
They usually show me a comb with the image of a knife on the top bar .. they have all said that’s sufficient to meet the religion’s requirements.
Generally they arel horrified at carrying a knife around as a lot of countries have laws against it and it is a tad medieval.
Most people don’t want to push boundaries like this business going on here.
I suspect it is some faction here angling for political primacy in their community as it’s unusual for Sikhs to behave in this manner outside of militant groups in the Punjab.
Mind yo, I giuess they see every other group successfully demaning special treatment for their identity, like LGBT+++, like the Voice etc, so it lowers the entry barrier to demands to underline their differences and uniqueness.
I would float another thought on this but might be out of line in some people’s opinions and I don’t need the angst. (it is Friday after all!)
The Cosmic Context of Greek Philosophy, Part Two
Laura Knight-Jadczyk
I know I said in the previous post that I would get right to the discussion of philosophers and philosophy in this post, but as I review my 400 page text, I realize that a few other things should be covered first. It will become clear why it is essential to know what was going on to fully understand what the Greek philosophers were and what they were about.
Cúchulainn: The Comet of a Thousand Faces
Was the Irish Hero Cú Chulainn Actually a Comet?
It was the Egyptians who first used the description ‘hairy star’ which then became, in Greek, kometes or ‘hairy one’. An unidentified hieroglyph which, for many years, was interpreted as ‘woman with disheveled hair’ may, in fact, directly refer to a comet since this hieroglyph is almost identical to that of the sky goddess Nut, except for the addition of the flowing hair. (Clube and Napier (1982), p. 167.)
In Mesopotamian, Greek, Egyptian, Celtic and Native American mythology (and others), we are able to see the characteristics of comets, their celestial ‘Olympus’, and come to some reasonable understanding of their adventures. The representations of gods taking the form of animals and animal-headed gods can be seen in the many forms and configurations taken by comet heads and tails, not to mention their electrical activities. And obviously, there were some of the comets in the ancient sky that were regular, recognizable visitors that became the principal gods.
Fragmenting comets acquired partners, children and extended families. Comets could have ‘virgin births’ or parents could devour their children or vice versa. The name of the principal comet can be traced in the various cultures and the time described when the founder of the dynasty of the gods was single and alone in the sky: the giant comet that entered the solar system perhaps 70,000 years ago. As years passed, the stories mixed and mingled in confusing ways. But still, the primary features remain clear as long as the ‘supernatural’ elements are not stripped out, (which is what I was doing myself in the early days of research). Mike Baillie gives an example using the Celtic god, Cúchulainn:
Cúchulainn became … a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of. His shanks and joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or a reed in the stream. His body made a furious twist inside his skin, so that his feet and shins and knees switched to the rear and his heels and calves switched to the front. The balled sinews of his calves switched to the front of his shins, each big knot the size of a warrior’s bunched fist. On his head, the temple-sinews stretched to the nape of his neck, each mighty, immense, measureless knob as big as the head of a month-old child. His face and features became a red bowl: he sucked one eye so deep into his head that a wild crane couldn’t probe it onto his cheek out of the depths of his skull; the other eye fell out along his cheek. His jaw weirdly distorted: his cheek peeled back from his jaws until the gullet appeared, his lungs and liver flapped in his mouth and throat, his lower jaw struck the upper a lion-killing blow. His heart boomed loud in his breast like the baying of a watch-dog at its feed or the sound of a lion among bears. Malignant mists and spurts of fire – the torches of the goddess Badb – flickered red in the vaporous clouds that rose boiling above his head, so fierce was his fury. The hair of his head twisted like the tangle of a red thorn bush stuck in a gap; if a royal apple tree with all its kingly fruit were shaken above him, scarce an apple would reach the ground but each would be spiked on a bristle of his hair as it stood up on his scalp with rage. The hero-halo rose out of his brow, long and broad as a warrior’s whetstone, long as a snout, and he went mad rattling his shield, urging on his charioteer and harassing the hosts. Then, tall and thick, steady and strong, high as the mast of a noble ship, rose up from the dead center of his skull a straight spout of black blood darkly and magically smoking… (Kenny (1986), ‘A Celtic Destruction Myth: Togail Bruidne Da Derga’, quoted by Baillie in his introduction to The Celtic Gods (2005).
This description of Cúchulainn is not what most people read in their edited children’s versions of the myths. This one describes Cúchulainn’s ‘riastradh’ or frenzy, which Baillie calls a “warp-spasm.” The point is that Cúchulainn is being described shaking violently, covered with lumps and bumps, making terrifying sounds, his hair twisted and standing up with “vaporous clouds boiling above his head” and with “a spout of dark blood jetting from his skull”. That pretty much describes a very, very close comet interacting electrically with the atmosphere and magnetic field of the earth.
Cúchulainn next climbs into his “thunder chariot” that was bristling with all kinds of spikes and bits of metal that are there to rip the enemy to shreds, then the chariot is “speedy as the wind … over the level plain” pulled by two horses with flowing manes. Cúchulainn starts killing people first a hundred at a blow, then two-hundred, then three-hundred, and so on. His chariot wheels sink so deeply into the earth that they tear up boulders, rocks, flagstones, gravel, creating a dyke high enough to be a fortress wall. He mowed more people down, leaving the bodies six deep. He made this “circuit of Ireland” seven times according to this particular story and “this slaughter … is one of the three uncountable slaughters on the Táin (One of Ireland’s great legendary epics.) … only the chiefs have been counted. … in this great carnage on Muirtheimne Plain, Cúchulainn slew one hundred and thirty kings. not one man in three escaped” without some injury.
Most people don’t know about this aspect of Cúchulainn since the woman who translated the tales from Irish into English (Lady Augusta Gregory), thought that “the grotesque accounts of Cúchulainn’s “distortion” only meant that in time of great strain or danger he had more than human strength, so she changed all that to “the appearance of a god.” Baillie reacts to this:
Reading these comments carefully, the idea that the full description of Cúchulainn’s frenzy reduces to ‘more than human strength’ does seem like an understatement. That he ‘took on the appearance of a god’ likewise does not do full justice to the awfulness. … But it appears that, in studying and trying to make sense of the myths, it is the supernatural elements – that seem to make no sense – that are regarded as gilding. They are seen as exaggerations, or padding, or the product of over-fertile imaginations. thus they are often the bits that are ignored, or left out of the tales … the result of this is that the tales tend to be left with only the natural elements. King Arthur, a Celtic god, ends up described only as a king; Cúchulainn becomes a heroic Irish youth. thus readers are pressurized towards regarding these heroes as real flesh and blood people, when in reality they were always supernatural or, if you like, gods. (Baillie & mccafferty (2005), The Celtic Gods: Comets in Irish Mythology, p. 15.)
– Legends of the Fall and Genetic Mutations
– Spirals and Cosmic Divers
– Werewolves, Vampires and Cannibals, Oh My!
– The Electrophonic Cosmic Logos
– Celestial Intentions
– Köfels’ Impact Event
– End of the Early Bronze Age
– The HITTITES
– Ancient Mesopotamian Myths
– The Storm God
– Gilgamesh
– End of the Late Bronze Age
Continue to Part 3
Indian security & low rank state police carry shotguns and big canes as a gentler method of deterring theft.
Bird shot seldom kills and a caned up thief makes for an easy arrest plus the visual lesson handed out to the crowd in the street.
Bring it back!
To tell the truth, in all the excitement, I kinda lost count.
Do we have six months?
Or only five?
———–
How about Putin allying with “Chechen terrorists” that still practise FGM?
Farmer Gez – “Farmers Don’t Count BUT”
Brolga and bat ruling a ‘death knell’ for Victorian wind farm
Angela Macdonald-Smith
Senior resources writer
Strict conditions set around a proposed $1 billion wind farm in Victoria to protect nesting brolga and a tiny, critically endangered bat have sounded a “death knell” for wind power in the state’s south-west and make renewables targets unachievable, according to the project developer.
The unprecedented rules imposed by Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny on the controversial 400-megawatt Willatook wind farm north of Port Fairy – which has been on the drawing board for more than a decade – have shocked the renewable energy sector, which is already struggling with cost inflation, social licence problems and slow approvals and connections for projects.
The conditions intended to protect the brolga – an iconic indigenous crane famed for its dancing rituals that is threatened in Victoria – and the 55mm-long, cave-dwelling southern bent-wing bat include wider buffer zones around wind turbines that effectively cut the number of turbines that could be installed at the site by almost two-thirds.
In addition, they impose a five-month ban on construction work at the site every year, which Ben Purcell, managing director in Australia of project developer Wind Prospect, said “just can’t happen” given the required deployment of 300-400 people and major crane equipment at the site that cannot be just set aside.
“This is not just a Willatook wind farm issue; if you apply these buffers to other projects it is hugely problematic,” he told The Australian Financial Review.
“This is a much bigger policy issue – does the government actually want to meet their targets? Do they actually want to mitigate climate change?”
But the tougher requirements to protect brolga are supported by some local farmers and bird conservationists in the region, who dispute Wind Prospect’s assertion in its environment effects statement for Willatook that only one pair of brolga has been regularly nesting within a wetland area in the central north part of the site area between 2010 and 2021, saying there are five or six, at least.
“We want to see the brolga protected,” said Paul Lewis, a beef and lamb farmer in Hawkesdale who has joined other landholders in the area to oppose the project and is concerned about the major expansion of wind power in the region.
“There’s a massive build-up in our area, they are just trying to put them everywhere, all on top of everybody down here,” he said, pointing to the drawcard for developers of the 500 kilovolt transmission line that crosses the region. “There are a lot of people not too happy about it.”
Moyne Shire Council, which includes the wind farm site, has called for the Victorian government to cease issuing any wind farm planning permits in the Shire until strategic land use planning in the state’s designated South West Renewable Energy Zone is completed in consultation with affected councils and communities.
A spokesman for the Victorian government rejected the suggestion that the ruling imperils targets for emissions reduction and renewables if the conditions were applied to other projects.
“The minister for planning’s assessment of the environmental effects of the Willatook wind farm project is to be published shortly, which will help inform decision makers on approvals for the project,” the spokesman said.
“Victoria is on track to deliver 95 per cent renewable energy generation by 2035. We currently have 73 large-scale onshore wind and solar projects commissioned or in commissioning – this will deliver a combined capacity of 5.5 gigawatts.”
Still, one renewables industry source described the issue as “very concerning”, particularly as the conditions appeared to come out of the blue after a lengthy environmental impact approvals process that has been going on for about two years.
“If these are the types of restrictive conditions we are going to see on wind farms then there is no way we will meet the government’s targets for renewable energy or greenhouse gas emissions,” said Nic Aberle, policy director at the Clean Energy Council, which represents the renewable energy industry.
“This is a project that has had essentially two-thirds of the turbines cut out, and the consequence of that is we just keep burning more coal for longer.”
The conditions on Willatook, handed down to Wind Prospect last week and expected to be made public imminently, represent the latest hurdle thrown in the way of the expansion of renewable power generation capacity in Australia needed to help replace closing coal power stations as well as meet federal and state renewables and emissions reduction targets.
‘Cause for significant worry’
On some estimates the pace of the buildout is only half of what is needed to meet the Albanese government’s 82 per cent renewable energy target in 2030, dogged by issues including delays in planning approvals and grid connections, a lack of community acceptance for new transmission lines, supply chain logjams and rising costs.
Only one clean energy project reached financial close in Australia in the March quarter of 2023, according to the Clean Energy Council – a battery in Melbourne – at a time when additions of clean energy to the grid need to be accelerating.
Danny Nielsen, vice president and Australian head of Vestas, one of the world’s biggest providers of wind turbines, described the slow progress towards achieving the 2030 renewables target as “a cause for significant worry” and said the issue of development approvals stretched beyond Victoria, with no approvals in NSW for about two years.
“All wind projects in Australia are struggling with environmental conditions in some shape or form. That could be bats, that could be footprint, you name it,” Mr Nielsen told the Financial Review.
Vestas is not involved in the Willatook project but has two projects under construction and expects to secure a number of wind farms by the December quarter. It keeps a close eye on projects edging towards a final investment decision.
“If you look at New South Wales … we’re looking at the amount of projects that come through that actually have a development approval and it’s quite a number of years ago since the last project reached development approval. That shows that the speed for us to get new projects to market is not quite there,” he said.
Vestas Australia head Danny Nielsen says project approvals and grid connections are the big hurdles to reaching 2030 climate targets. Louis Trerise
Mr Nielsen said the hold-up in planning and approvals meant the task for reaching 2030 targets was just getting harder and harder, particularly given the supply chain problems impacting across energy and infrastructure.
“We are creating a tremendous backlog that puts even more strain on what you can call the supply chain,” he said, calling for immediate action to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy projects, streamline regulatory processes, and provide favourable policy frameworks that encourage investments.
“We should not forget that we are also in a renewables arms race with the race of the world, so we are competing for capacity to decarbonise.”
The Willatook site, 22km north of Port Fairy, lies within a zone designated by the Victorian state government as suitable for renewable energy, with easy access to an existing 500kV transmission line.
The 25-year project would involve up to 59 turbines, the top of which would be 250 metres above the ground, up to three 170m-high wind monitoring masts, a substation, battery storage, maintenance buildings, underground cables and above-ground transmission lines.
The conditions set by Victorian Planning Minister Ms Kilkenny require larger buffer zones around each turbine, which would reduce the number of turbines on the site from 59 to 18.
Wind Prospect said the proposed brolga nesting buffer zone was already roughly four times the size of Melbourne’s CBD.
However, the assessment handed down calls for a wind turbine-free area more than 3½ times larger, and includes areas that brolga would not breed such as small farm dams or areas that only hold water for a short period. Buffers for bats, which provide minimum distances between turbines and bat habitats, are also required and also affect the viability of the project.
The bent-wing bat is critically endangered.
“The recommended bat buffers do have a massive impact on the viability of the project as well: it is mainly the brolga buffers, but the bat buffers absolutely have a major impact,” Mr Purcell said.
In addition, construction is to be banned under the environmental conditions between July and November each year to prevent disturbing nesting brolga, which the company says is simply not feasible for a project with a two-year build timeline. The moratorium on construction also fails to recognise the buffers that have already been provided for, it says.
“This assessment represents both a process and a policy failure, which sounds a death knell for wind power in south-western Victoria and will render Victoria’s renewable energy target unachievable,” a spokesman for Wind Prospect said.
Victoria is aiming for 65 per cent renewables use by 2030 and 95 per cent by 2035 under updated targets announced last October.
“Anyone who has an interest in renewable energy in Victoria should take notice of this unprecedented and flawed assessment, which essentially applies a hard brake on our energy transition,” the Wind Prospect spokesman said.
But Hamish Cumming, a farmer and bird conservationist who gave evidence at the panel hearing on the Willatook project, said tough conditions on the project were fully justified given the latest scientific evidence that showed that brolga required a 5km non-disturbance zone from their nests, greater than the 3.2km included in an interim guideline on brolga management for wind farm ventures.
“Willatook cannot happen,” Mr Cumming said, noting that the proposed project does not even comply with the 3.2km buffer advice. “There are only 200 breeding pairs left of southern brolga, and Willatook was going to have an enormous impact.
“The only reason they want to put the turbines in this area is because of the 500 kilovolt power line that is coming through. If that line was not there, the wind farms would not be interested in this area because it is too environmentally sensitive.”
Still, the Wind Prospect spokesman called for the state government to revise its decision, suggesting the conditions rendered the project unviable and had major implications for similar projects in the state.
“We urge the government to reconsider this decision, and will pursue all available avenues for appeal, with the goal of developing this important project responsibly and with established best-practice,” he said.
Wind Prospect, a UK-based wind power developer that set up in Australia in 2000, has had the Willatook project on the drawing board since 2010, originally as a 190-turbine project. The Victorian government decided in December 2018 that a full environmental effects statement was required due to potential threats to biodiversity that is protected under state and Commonwealth legislation.
The assessment from Victoria’s minister for planning, which is informed by a report of an independent panel that thoroughly examined the project and public submissions, will be considered by the environmental or planning authority that will make a recommendation to the minister for a final decision.
Russia MOD claims only what, 5,000 dead Russian soldiers and Sputnik news has tried to imply recently that 1.4 million Ukrainian soldiers have died.
They have claimed/implied a 280 : 1 kill ratio and they still can’t beat a smaller country into submission? They can’t advance any further? They can’t force Ukraine into a treaty? Plus their initial invasion was largely repelled and called a feint?
What’s the weather like in South Canberra, Boris?
Rita Panahi:
‘Go home and get your shine box.’
Mother f*ckin’ mutt! You, you f*cking piece of shit!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on, come on, come on!
Motherf*cking… He bought his f*cking button! That fake old tough guy! You bought your f*cking button! You mother f*ck… F*ck! Keep that motherf*cker here, keep him here!
Take on a made man, and you get what you get.
Sanchez claimed:
> There is no legal barrier to any job on account of criminal record unless the offence is directly relevant to the job.
Note the weasel word “legal”. When a job application requires you to consent to a police background check, this is a sneaky way of refusing to hire someone with any previous conviction even if that conviction does not relate to the job being applied for. Because if you consent then they find out and don’t hire you, and if you don’t consent they also don’t hire you. All totally legal. Also arguably unjust.
On the government AusCheck web site we find: “We include all findings of guilt made in a court. The AusCheck scheme requires that we treat all findings of guilt as convictions, even if a conviction is not recorded by the court.” Apparently they know better than the judge.
The time for which the spent conviction is considered unspent (10y), minus the maximum imprisonment time for which a conviction can be spent (2.5y), leaves a post-imprisonment period of differential treatment of at least 7.5 years, during which you can be legally excluded from jobs unrelated to your conviction by any employer who pays the search fee.
If a custodial sentence was more than 2.5y it can never be spent and will always appear on a background check. This again raises the question of why prisons are called “correctional services” if in reality we act as though they don’t actually do that.
And before Cynical Sanchez accuses me of having skin in the game, I’ve consented to to several police checks during recruiting and this has never worried me because my only naughtyness was one speeding fine from way back, which is a misdemeanor at worst. I only found out just now from reading the site above that this fine probably did not show up at all on such checks as it was not a court conviction. I didn’t know that and just assumed no employer would refuse me simply from having a speeding fine.
It’s interesting isn’t it that our justice system endorses as standard practise the idea that people cannot be trusted to do the right thing with the truth and so they are not told the whole truth. Totally legal practise for some, but not for others.
“Danny Nielsen, vice president and Australian head of Vestas, one of the world’s biggest providers of wind turbines, described the slow progress towards achieving the 2030 renewables target as “a cause for significant worry” ”
Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?
I note the fat lesbian’s presence here coincides with the sham proceedings going on. The missus might be in for a rough few days, given the sexual glee he receives from Trump. Phuck off dickhead.
“Premier Roger Cook pens letter to ABC over attendance at home of Woodside’s Meg O’Neill during protest
Headshot of Josh Zimmerman
Josh Zimmerman
The West Australian
Fri, 4 August 2023 2:00AM
Comments
Josh Zimmermann
Roger Cook has penned a withering letter to ABC chair Ita Buttrose, blasting the public broadcaster over its “morally wrong” attendance at the home of Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill as it was descended on by climate protesters.
The Premier wrote it was “doubtful” the activists would have targeted Ms O’Neill’s residence “if your TV crew was not present to publicise such appalling actions” — which he said had “encouraged” the attack.
“Wittingly or unwittingly, the ABC was complicit,” the Premier wrote.
The scathing correspondence came a day after Mr Cook lashed “extremists seeking to terrorise” Ms O’Neill and her family and called ABC managing director David Anderson to raise his concerns directly.
Four Disrupt Burrup Hub activists have been charged over their alleged plan to graffiti Ms O’Neill’s home and lock at least one of the group to her gate early on Tuesday morning. The quartet were joined outside the City Beach residence by a television crew and a journalist filming for the ABC’s Four Corners”
Pumped hydro is clean and green. It’s also hard and expensive
Pumped hydro was championed by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017 as a “game-changer” for transforming the grid, but the reality seven years later is very different.
Mark Ludlow
Queensland bureau chief
In 2017, when former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project as an “electricity game-changer” for the power grid, many thought it would herald the start of a string of similar schemes across the country.
Although not a new technology, pumped hydro – which has been around for more than a century and involves generating electricity by moving water from an upper to a lower reservoir – was touted as a replacement for the old, carbon-intensive coal-fired power stations that had formed the backbone of the National Electricity Market for decades.
But the stark reality of getting pumped hydro projects up and running is they are hard and complex, not to mention expensive.
Fast-forward seven years from Turnbull’s 2017 declaration and the $5.6 billion Snowy 2.0 project is now expected to cost at least $10 billion – and its completion date will now be pushed back to later this decade.
A string of other pumped hydro projects, including EnergyAustralia’s Cultana project in South Australia, which attempted to use saltwater, have been abandoned.
One glimmer of hope is Genex Power’s $777 million, 250 megawatts pumped hydro project at the abandoned Kidston gold mine, about 380 kilometres west of Townsville.
Although it has taken 10 years to come to fruition, it is expected to finally come online next year – the first new pumped hydro project in four decades.
It will provide up to eight hours of continuous energy for the grid at the end and start of each day when renewable energy output is at its lowest.
Pumped hydro can be clean and green if powered by renewable energy, such as wind and solar, to pump the water from the lower to upper reservoir.
Interestingly, even though Genex has a solar farm next door – and is planning to build a wind farm – it is going to use power from the grid to move the water, saying it made more commercial sense.
Genex’s experience is a clear warning for proponents and politicians, including Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who has pinned her hopes on two mega-pumped hydro projects (expected to cost a total of more than $30 billion) to allow the phase out of the state’s fleet of coal-fired power stations by mid-2035.
The listed minnow energy company Genex Power – which has a market capitalisation of $214 million – is the first to admit its project is small by comparison to Snowy Hydro.
And it is mostly funded by taxpayers, with a $610 million loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (which it has to pay back) and a $47 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
The abandoned gold mine will generate about eight hours of continuous energy when it opens next year. Snowy 2.0 – which has much larger storage capacity – will provide seven days of storage when completed.
Genex Chief Executive Officer James Harding at the Pumped Hydro project at Kidston. Brian Cassey
But Genex’s chief executive James Harding said the bigger the project, the more complex and potentially expensive they become.
There are only three existing pumped hydro projects in Australia – Snowy Hydro’s Tumut 3, Wivenhoe in south-east Queensland and Origin Energy’s Shoalhaven in NSW – for a clear reason.
They are geographically specific, you need two reservoirs relatively close to each other, and then you have to connect them via complex tunnelling.
Even though the tunnelling at the Kidston was relatively close at 340 metres, it’s still struck a water source late last year which cost an extra $10 million to $15 million to change the route.
Then there is the crucial issue which afflicts renewable projects scattered around regional Australia – connecting to the grid.
There was an existing 132 kV power line to Kidston, another relic from the gold mine which closed in 2001, but it wasn’t big enough to cater for the pumped hydro project.
Again the Queensland government has stepped in with $147 million of the $258 million 275kV transmission line to connect the pumped hydro to the grid.
It is arguable the Kidston project would not have got off the ground without taxpayer funding.
Pumped hydro will be one piece of the puzzle to help Australia wean itself off fossil fuels on the transition to net zero, but it certainly won’t be the panacea.
Someone said Dan went too far, but dismissing old convictions is okay.
Frivolous AVO applications or a defiant girl sending lewd images to an older boy in high school are the regrettable or uncontrollable chaotic landmines that can stop careers dead.
None of these people should have their lives ruined. Obviously, Andrews is not pragmatic and the worst criminals will be treated with the sympathy I have for the unfortunate people in the situations I mentioned.
no one believes that Biden is ahead or level with Trump
This factlet is of no relevance, given who’ll be counting the votes.
Fatty Trump will never win another US presidential election.
I watched the first four episodes of the Wu Tang Clan biopic.
There’s no way the average black man with self-respect votes for Joe Biden.
It’s time to consider that “90% black support of Democrats” has been a sham for a very long time.
91% of black people in California voted for Walter Mondale in 1984?
“Sure, I’ll vote for a lawyer from the midwest…he understands what I’m going through!”
Strict conditions set around a proposed $1 billion wind farm in Victoria to protect nesting brolga and a tiny, critically endangered bat have sounded a “death knell” for wind power in the state’s south-west and make renewables targets unachievable, according to the project developer.
I recently finished a book about ‘Wind Turbine Syndrome’ (adverse health effects from wind turbines).
My take home message – it is the (unheard) infrasound that causes the most trouble, with minimum safe distance between your dwelling and the fans being 1 mile, 2 miles if you are sensitive (eg prone to migraines or motion sickness) or in mountainous terrain.
Grate. The blogue’s new format does not even recognise HTML text formatting.
“Give us back our steenkin’ buttons!” 😡
The AFR View
US political chaos catches up with finances
After the debt rating downgrades, investors are also tired of congressional games of chicken with the US debt ceiling and payment of basic government expenses.
As Fitch becomes the second agency after S&P Global Ratings to strip its triple-A endorsement from the United States’ US$32 trillion of government debt, America’s chaotic politics are catching up with its finances.
Fitch says that Donald Trump’s indictment for trying to overturn an election and reinstall himself as an illegal president is a factor. But investors are also tired of congressional games of chicken with the US debt ceiling and payment of basic government expenses.
Washington has a new consensus: Democrats agree to keep on spending, Republicans agree not to raise taxes, and they both agree to just keep borrowing heavily from the future to cover the yawning gap.
It’s no help that most governments don’t look any better. In the cheap money era after the global financial crisis, borrowing costs kept falling even as debts rose.
Governments found it easier to keep splashing and subsidising than to challenge voters’ expectations.
In the pandemic, governments shouldered payrolls and carried companies, too generously in the end. Unpopular energy bills? Across Europe, governments just added them to already massive social entitlements.
China’s local governments owe US$23 trillion, entangled in a bursting real estate bubble that is paralysing consumers and its post-pandemic recovery.
Even Australia, with its relatively modest gross federal government debt, cannot afford to be complacent.
Japan has government debt of over 250 per cent of GDP, supported by vast domestic savings. But a string of half-effective stimulus policies says Japan never really recovered from its late-1980s debt bubble.
Now the tide of easy money has gone out fast as interest rates normalise and the US moves towards the highest borrowing costs in its history, dwarfing even defence spending as bonds cost more than bombs.
Markets are still mostly shrugging this off. Wednesday night’s Wall Street sell-off after the Fitch downgrade was more about American economic resilience and the chance of another interest rate rise by the Fed.
JP Morgan Chase boss Jamie Dimon says he worries about geopolitics, not America’s creditworthiness.
Bond traders say America retains its “exorbitant privilege” to borrow in the world’s reserve currency, with 10-year bond yields well inside forecasts. Spending such as the US$4 trillion Inflation Reduction and CHIPS acts means massive fiscal and industrial expansion, with growth and jobs.
Standout post-pandemic performer
The Fed may have to keep tapping the brakes, but it’s making the US, not China, the standout post-pandemic performer.
Even as America expands, however, its annual deficits are growing to 7 per cent of GDP, or debts of 250 per cent of GDP by the 2050s.
It has unfunded liabilities of US$130 trillion in ageing-driven Medicare and Social Security pension costs locked in during the 1960s and 1970s.
Slashing defence spending is no longer possible, and the costs of the green transition will be huge – and are still largely unknown.
Most developed nations share comparable burdens, some even bigger.
The bigger the debts get, the less chance there is of countries outgrowing them. Any stimulus effect of government spending will be outweighed as borrowing costs suck up capital, starve investment, and destroy productivity and growth.
Even Australia, with its relatively modest gross federal government debt (by today’s standards) at 36.5 per cent of GDP by 2026-27, cannot afford to be complacent. As a medium-sized commodity exporter, it’s vulnerable to turbulence from outside.
That might happen as developed peers start making painful adjustments to spending – or, worse still, if America’s budget impasse melts down into default or shock spending cuts.
But that’s what the rating agencies are now putting into the realm of possibilities.
“Joe Biden Has Never Met a Bribe He Didn’t Like – It’s Always Opposite Day with the Media” – Kari Lake Trashes Media and Biden Crime Family Following Devon Archer’s Testimony (VIDEO)
“Genex’s experience is a clear warning for proponents and politicians, including Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who has pinned her hopes on two mega-pumped hydro projects (expected to cost a total of more than $30 billion)”
“More than $30 billion”…that’s based on government “estimates”, btw.
That reporter should ask the state auditor about this government’s spending habits.
Grate. The blogue’s new format does not even recognise HTML text formatting.
I thought it was just me. Having a bad day with technology. Removed Instagram from an android phone after it stuffed it up on my iPad. Pixel phone went from 100% battery to 48% battery overnight sitting by my bed while I slept. iPad screen stayed on after sleep timer taking that to 40% battery. I miss 90s era internet.
Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney Fiasco Such a Disaster It’s Going to Be Taught in College Business Classes
The Chook is doing a pretty good Chairman Dan impression. For the sake of all those Victoriastanis who fled over the years they better finish her off soon.
Unlike the Trump indictments, the case against Biden is straightforward.
The average American understands bribery, greed, and lies, concepts that are as old as mankind.
And
The straightforwardness of the Biden family’s influence peddling operation makes it easy for all but the most rabid Democrats to understand.
Indeed. Read her entire post.
UNLIKE THE TRUMP INDICTMENTS, THE CASE AGAINST BIDEN IS STRAIGHTFORWARD
Those of us who follow the news for a living understand the details of the three indictments to date against former President Donald Trump. The average American understands only that he’s been indicted three times and that a fourth is likely on the way in Georgia. Those who get their news from legacy media sites are told that Trump threatens the very fabric of our democracy. But from there, it gets nebulous.
On the other hand, the accusations against President Joe Biden and his knowledge of and involvement in his son’s overseas influence peddling business are far more straightforward. The average American understands bribery, greed, and lies, concepts that are as old as mankind.
Evidence is mounting that, during Biden’s tenure as vice president, his son was on a mission to exploit his ability to sway U.S. policy for the family’s financial gain. At the right price, Joe Biden’s influence was for sale.
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump shows how wildly he had to wrestle with the truth to arrive at an indictment.
Smith may have jumped the shark with his latest indictment. Especially since it came the day after Hunter Biden’s former business partner and longtime friend Devon Archer reportedly confirmed that Hunter had put then-Vice President Joe Biden on speakerphone at least 20 times during meetings with his foreign business associates.
Paramount among Archer’s statements was that Hunter was “selling the brand,” meaning access to the second most powerful man in the U.S. government on a moment’s notice. Now that’s impressive.
According to a committee press release, “Devon Archer testified that the value of adding Hunter Biden to Burisma’s board was ‘the brand’ and confirmed that then-Vice President Joe Biden was ‘the brand.’ … Archer admitted that ‘Burisma would have gone out of business if the brand had not been attached to it.’”
I imagine that outside of Biden’s base, the implication of these phone calls in a pay-to-play scheme wasn’t missed.
The predatory, political and contrived nature of the indictments against Trump, and the degree to which Jack Smith and his team had to strangle statutes and reality to arrive at a predetermined conclusion is not lost on Americans.
The straightforwardness of the Biden family’s influence peddling operation makes it easy for all but the most rabid Democrats to understand.
FROM THE COMMENTS:
I was impressed with Stauffer’s post and began wondering about Insta-reader reaction. Glad I did. Context: I recall commenting on a couple of Insta-reader comments seven or eight years ago. Googling fact-checkers, check it out. Which leads to this reader comment. I think this comment expresses the media-legal situation succinctly and with the Watergate reference provides relevant historical context: “In the Trump case, vast amounts of resources are needed to “prove” ephemera. Joe Biden’s former allies, like Devon Archer, are at a late-Watergate stage of confession.
Only the presence of a man with less legal objectivity than Roland Freisler, aka Merrick Garland, is keeping the Biden regime away from major criminal investigations.”
Congrats to the commenter. Garland is a corrupt actor and among fact-based historians will likely go down as one of the worst attorney generals in American history — vying with Eric Holder and Mitchell Palmer. But in the “worst AGs” evaluation I defer to legal historians like Glenn.
“Do I have the right to carry a ceremonial dagger, as part of my dress?”
A ceremonial claw hammer, anyone?
Peole are so beaten down that submissiveness is the normal response to all Government outrage.
Bolt did a session on Andrew’s latest outrage which makes rural councils subordinate to the local blackfella scam.
He interviewed a fellow from a local council group who, despite the prima facie evidence of the absolute destuctive extremism of the policy, felt constrained to focus on how rural councils show so much respect for their local grifters and how the policy would have to be considered in conjunction with said grifters.
He did achieve something memorable; Bolt was speechless.
“The Chook is doing a pretty good Chairman Dan impression.”
The Chook has just killed the golden goose.
She hiked minerals royalties but mining capital will go elsewhere where it can.
In the meantime she’s already effectively spent the windfall that accrued to treasury.
“He did achieve something memorable; Bolt was speechless.”
Now that’s funny!
The Marrackville thug is becoming more expensive.
It only cost Fox two barbie snags to be given a transport industry monopoly, but our houseo thug has charged the lepreconian a Chairman’s Lounge membership to destroy airline competition.
Hubris and greed. The eternal destroyers of Labor.
That NYT poll the other day was ridiculous. It reckoned a swing of ~25% among non-whites to Trump, and a swing to Biden by whites. Trash.
There are only about four purple states, and they are all heavily trending Biden. He wins those, he retains government regardless of national vote.
“He interviewed a fellow from a local council group who, despite the prima facie evidence of the absolute destuctive extremism of the policy, felt constrained to focus on how rural councils show so much respect for their local grifters and how the policy would have to be considered in conjunction with said grifters.”
What did Bolt expect? That fellow knows which side his bread is buttered on. As long as he doesn’t rock the boat , he’ll continue getting money for jam. A locked on parasite.
The Obama Factor
A Q&A with historian David Garrow
BY
DAVID SAMUELS
AUGUST 03, 2023
The election of Joe Biden in 2020 gave the Obamas even more reasons to stay in town.
The whispers about Biden’s cognitive decline, which began during his bizarre COVID-sheltered basement campaign, were mostly dismissed as partisan attacks on a politician who had always been gaffe-ridden. Yet as President Biden continued to fall off bicycles, misremember basic names and facts, and mix long and increasingly weird passages of Dada-edque nonsense with autobiographical whoppers during his public appearances, it became hard not to wonder how poor the president’s capacities really were and who was actually making decisions in a White House staffed top to bottom with core Obama loyalists. When Obama turned up at the White House, staffers and the press crowded around him, leaving President Biden talking to the drapes—which is not a metaphor but a real thing that happened.
That Obama might enjoy serving as a third-term president in all but name, running the government from his iPhone, was a thought expressed in public by Obama himself, both before and after he left office. “I used to say if I can make an arrangement where I had a stand-in or front man or front woman, and they had an earpiece in, and I was just in my basement in my sweats looking through the stuff, and I could sort of deliver the lines while someone was doing all the talking and ceremony,” he told Steven Colbert in 2015, “I’d be fine with that because I found the work fascinating.”
Even with all these clues, the Washington press corps—fresh off their years of broadcasting fantasies about secret communications links between Trump Tower and the Kremlin—seemed unable to imagine, let alone report on, Obama’s role in government.
Near the end of June, for example, Politico ran a long article noting Biden’s cognitive decline, with the coy headline “Is Obama Ready to Reassert Himself?”—as if the ex-president hadn’t been living in the middle of Washington and playing politics since the day he left office.
Indeed, in previous weeks Obama had continued his role as central advocate for government censorship of the internet while launching a new campaign against gun ownership, claiming it is historically linked to racism. Surely, the spectacle of an ex-president simultaneously leading campaigns against both the First and Second Amendments might have led even a spectacularly incurious old-school D.C. reporter to file a story on the nuts and bolts of Obama’s political operation and on who was going in and out of his mansion. But the D.C. press was no longer in the business of maintaining transparency. Instead, they had become servants of power, whose job was to broadcast whatever myths helped advance the interests of the powerful.
There is another interpretation of Obama’s post-presidency, of course—one shared by many Republicans and Democrats. In that interpretation, Obama was never the leader of much of anything, neither during the Trump years nor now. Instead, he was focused on buying trophy properties, hanging out with billionaires, and vacationing on private yachts while grifting large checks from marks like Spotify and Netflix—even if his now-stratospheric levels of personal vanity also demanded that every so often he show up President Biden for the sin of occupying his chair in the White House.
In the absence of what was once American journalism, it is hard to know which portrait of Obama’s post-presidency is truer to life: Obama as a celebrity-obsessed would-be billionaire, or as a would-be American Castro, reshaping American society from his basement, in his sweats.
OldOzzie
Aug 4, 2023 9:17 AM
The People’s President Delivers Remarks Departing Washington DC – Video
August 3, 2023 | Sundance
Prior to departing the airport in Washington DC, President Trump paused to deliver brief remarks to the assembled media following his persecution on behalf of a corrupt regime.
———————
Contrast Trump with Biden who doesn’t know most of the time where he is and when is aware acts nastily. Yeah sure, he won 81 million votes.
Oh dear. mUnty on US politics. The Cat equivalent of a Ukrainian press release.
Let me guess, it’s a version of Star Wars where Darth Monty is the hero, and Alderaan was a planet full of MAGA supporters.
Oh look, the pervert apologist appears.
If it comes to a choice between “clear air” for convicted crooks, and the right of the public or employers to know exactly who they are dealing with, I am OK with crooks carrying the tag for life.
I am sure Sarah Cafferkey who was bashed, murdered and stuffed in a wheelie bin by Steven Hunter would agree with me if she could.
Hunter was on parole for another murder but apparently his neighbours and newly made friends (including Sarah) didn’t need to know, because he “was unlikely to re-offend”.
“so I don’t have much time for this place at the moment.”
Well, we’ve never had any time for you at any moment.
“Do I have the right to carry a ceremonial dagger, as part of my dress?”
“A ceremonial claw hammer, anyone?”
I find a Patt1907 bayonet, as hand-held by the Light Horsemen in the charge at Beersheba, a brilliantly symbolic arm. The point just speaks of seriousness.
The Patt1897 infantry sword is cute, just not real enough. Suffice to say that as a subaltern in WW1 Monty (obviously not ours, I mean the pommy Prima Donna) carried it when he went over the top.
“m0nty
Aug 4, 2023 9:10 AM
For those asking, I am in crunch mode for the game I am developing, so I don’t have much time for this place at the moment.”
The fact that you are here at all suggests that you are blowing smoke to distract from the many actual crimes of the Biden “family business”.
I hope that you are being paid for your pathetic efforts.
PS, how is traffic at the Dead Fat Cat?
BoN.
Stop that.
Star Wars is dead.
Continued references to it are pop necrophilia.
“As long as he doesn’t rock the boat , he’ll continue getting money for jam.”
Rate payers might have something to say about that before long.
And yes, I now realise my error in making a Star Wars reference only just this morning.
Devon Archer’s Full Biden Story
VP Biden mixed the family business with his Ukraine diplomacy.
By The WSJ Editorial Board – Aug. 3, 2023
As soon as Devon Archer’s closed-door sitdown with the House Oversight Committee ended Monday, New York’s Daniel Goldman emerged to give the Democratic spin: President Biden’s conversations with his son’s business partners were innocent discussions about the weather or other niceties. That was exposed as false on Thursday when the committee made the complete transcript public.
Mr. Archer is a former business partner of Hunter Biden and served with him on the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma. Mr. Archer described the value-added that Hunter brought to the business as the “brand,” which was the Biden name. When Hunter put his father on speakerphone with his business clients, “there was [a] brand being delivered.”
He further clarified that it was Joe Biden “that brought the most value to the brand.” In other words, Hunter was selling his father’s power in Washington. That is what Burisma was paying for, and it looks like it got its money’s worth. “Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn’t have the brand attached to it,” Mr. Archer said.
Joe Biden famously bragged of his role in using $1 billion in U.S. aid to get Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired during his December 2015 visit to Kyiv. Mr. Archer says Mr. Shokin, who was investigating Burisma, was not “specifically on my radar,” and that he was spun a tale how of Mr. Shokin was actually “good for Burisma.” But he also said he wasn’t on the phone with Hunter, Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky and Burisma exec Vadym Pozharski when they “called D.C.” after a meeting in Dubai to discuss how Washington might alleviate the pressure on them.
All of this underscores Joe Biden’s horrendous judgment in blending his son’s business with his duties as Vice President. Mr. Biden was the Obama Administration’s point man for Ukraine, which was fighting Russia’s first invasion, and he can’t claim ignorance about his son’s dealings.
Amos Hochstein, a senior energy official in the Obama Administration, warned the Vice President in 2015 that Russia-backed media were using Hunter’s presence on the Burisma board to “undermine” the U.S. anti-corruption message. The following year a top diplomat in Kyiv, George Kent, was even more blunt in a message to State.
“Ukrainians,” Mr. Kent said, “heard one message from us and then saw another set of behavior, with the family association with a known corrupt figure whose company was known for not playing by the rules in the oil/gas sector.”
Mr. Archer also explained how Hunter received $142,300 from Kazakh oligarch Kenes Rakishev to buy an “expensive car”—either a Fisker or a Porsche. Mr. Rakishev attended a spring 2014 business dinner at Washington’s Cafe Milano with the Vice President and his son. Also in attendance was Elena Baturina, the wife of Moscow’s mayor, who wired $3.5 million to a company linked to Mr. Archer. The House Committee says it will provide more details when it releases its next tranche of related financial documents.
When the public first learned of Hunter’s sleazy deals, Joe Biden denied ever discussing his son’s business with him.
But Mr. Archer has also released a letter from Mr. Biden—on official vice presidential stationary—saying how “happy” he was that Mr. Archer was in business with his son. The letter was written right after a lunch he and Mr. Archer attended with visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao.
It’s one thing to develop relationships in office that turn into business opportunities later, the way Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, did in the Middle East.
It’s another to leverage the office while in office to promote the family business. As Mr. Archer said, the advantage of the Biden brand is that legally “people would be intimidated to mess with them.”
Whether or not Joe Biden took a dime from these dealings, this is a form of political corruption.
Covered up by the press in 2020, it will be an issue in 2024. Democrats should worry that as more facts emerge about the Biden mix of politics and business, it could help Mr. Trump neutralize his many legal vulnerabilities.
Former ALP MP Peter Baldwin on the progressive case against the Voice at Quadrant online.
Did Bruce Pascoe write about the First Nations’ nuclear submarine fleet? Or is that going to be in the Dark Emu sequel?
Voice should have say on nuclear subs: PM adviser (Paywallian, 4 Aug)
Wow, the Voice is shaping up to be a gigantic bunch of insufferable blak Karens.
From the idiot news.com.au:
‘Land tax’: Secret document reveals demand for ‘percentage of GDP’ under Indigenous Treaty
Taxpayers may be forced to pay “reparations” to under a proposed treaty, with suggestions that “a fixed percentage” of GDP be handed over.
Frank Chung
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously committed to implementing “in full” all the elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which calls for “Voice, Treaty, Truth”.
If the Indigenous Voice to Parliament passes at the upcoming referendum, the next step would be the Makarrata Commission, which would lead the process of treaty-making between First Nations people and federal, state and local governments.
The PM has likened the Uluru Statement to the Gettysburg Address, calling it “a short document long in the making” that is a “master class in spare eloquence”.
But according to Sky News host Peta Credlin, FOI documents released by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) earlier this year reveal that, contrary to Mr Albanese’s characterisation of the Uluru Statement as a “two-minute” read that can “fit on one A4 page”, the 2017 declaration is actually 26 pages.
The “full” Uluru Statement was included in a lengthy batch of NIAA documents, which also contains minutes from 13 “regional dialogue” consultation events with around 1200 Indigenous people that informed the final wording.
Credlin told viewers on Thursday that the tenor of the full statement was actually one “of anger, grievance, separatism, and the need to undo, as far as possible, the last 240 years of Australian history”.
“And it’s the whole 26 pages of the Uluru Statement from the Heart that every Australian should read, not the PM’s sanitised one-pager, before they cast their vote in the upcoming referendum,” she said.
The second part of the statement begins by noting First Nations people coexisted on this land for “at least 60,000 years” and that “our sovereignty pre-existed the Australian state and has survived it”, arguing the “unfinished business of Australia’s nationhood includes recognising the ancient jurisdictions of First Nations law”.
“The law was violated by the coming of the British to Australia,” it says.
“Australia was not a settlement and it was not a discovery. It was an invasion. The invasion that started at Botany Bay is the origin of the fundamental grievance between the old and new Australians — that Australia was colonised without the consent of its rightful owners.”
It speaks of the “Tasmanian Genocide and the Black War waged by the colonists” in the “evil time” marked by “massacres, disease and poison”, ultimately leading to “new policies of control and discrimination” as the violence subsided.
“At the heart of our activism has been the long struggle for land rights and recognition of native title,” it says.
“This struggle goes back to the beginning. The taking of our land without consent represents our fundamental grievance against the British Crown. Makarrata is another word for Treaty or agreement-making. It is the culmination of our agenda. It captures our aspirations for a fair and honest relationship with government and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.”
It adds, “By making agreements at the highest level, the negotiation process with the Australian government allows First Nations to express our sovereignty.”
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney in Prospect. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney in Prospect. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe
‘Reparations for criminal acts’
The document goes on to outline “reform priorities” that were expressed with the “highest level of support across the country” during the dialogues. “Treaty was seen as a pathway to recognition of sovereignty and for achieving future meaningful reform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples,” it says.
“Treaty would be the vehicle to achieve self-determination, autonomy and self-government. The pursuit of Treaty and treaties was strongly supported across the Dialogues. In relation to content, the Dialogues discussed that a Treaty could include a proper say in decision-making, the establishment of a truth commission, reparations, a financial settlement (such as seeking a percentage of GDP), the resolution of land, water and resources issues, recognition of authority and customary law, and guarantees of respect for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.”
One section from the minutes from the Dubbo dialogue noted support for a treaty that would provide “reparations for past criminal acts and compensation for present and future criminal acts”.
Participants in the Hobart dialogue stated that a treaty “must include” land and sea rights, “a fixed percentage of gross nation [sic] product” through “rates/land tax/royalties” and “Aboriginal control”.
A number of participants said the Voice to Parliament must be “better than ATSIC”, the scandal-plagued Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission which was abolished by the government in 2005.
“We lost ATSIC at the stroke of a pen,” one Brisbane dialogue participant said. “Would you abolish Westpac Bank if two or three of its directors were not doing the right thing? I don’t think so.”
The NIAA has been contacted for comment.
It comes as Mr Albanese faced attacks from the Opposition in parliament this week after he was seen in resurfaced footage at a Midnight Oil concert wearing a T-shirt reading “Voice, Treaty, Truth”.
Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley used Question Time on Monday to ask about a recent radio interview in which the PM said the upcoming Voice referendum was not about a treaty.
“I thank whoever was interjecting about my T-shirt because yes, Mr Speaker, Ben Fordham has exposed the fact that at the Midnight Oil concert, I wore a Midnight Oil T-shirt,” the PM said.
“I know, Mr Speaker … hold the front page. I am talking about what the referendum is about and it strikes me that the opponents of the referendum, those who are advocating a No vote, want to talk about everything but what the question is about — recognition, listening, in order to get better results.”
Liberal MP Paul Fletcher also asked Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney how the Makarrata Commission would work should the Voice be successful.
As she took to the dispatch box, Mr Albanese could be heard interjecting, “It’s a separate issue.”
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott told 2GB on Tuesday that Mr Albanese had misled Australians when he said the Voice was not about a treaty.
“Quite apart from anything the Prime Minister chose to wear at a concert, I go back to that initial statement he made as Prime Minister,” he said.
“The new government is committed to the Uluru statement from the Heart in full — in other words, ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth’ in full. It was, as I said, a moment of amnesia for the Prime Minister to deny here in this chair last week that the Voice had anything to do with treaty. It has everything to do with treaty. The whole point of having a Voice, if the activists are to be believed, is to start the treaty-making process, and government ministers have said as much.”
Credlin said the NIAA documents were at odds with Mr Albanese’s claim that treaty-making processes would be led by states and territories, rather than on the federal level.
“Contrary to PM’s current, poll-panicked claim that the Voice is not about treaties, these official documents confirm that treaties, indeed, are the Uluru Statement’s precise point,” she said.
Voice supporters this week attempted to hose down treaty talks, with prominent Yes campaigner Marcus Stewart telling The Sydney Morning Herald treaties “will come at no cost to Australians and could take 10 to 20 years to be negotiated”.
Yes campaign leader Dean Parkin accused the No side of scaremongering and said the upcoming referendum was “about one thing and one thing only, and that is about getting an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to close the gap”.
“It’s important to understand that treaty processes, as the leader of the opposition well understands, are decades-long processes and take a long time to finalise,” he told the newspaper.
Speaking to RN Breakfast on Wednesday, Mr Albanese said processes to negotiate treaties were ongoing with the states and likened being asked if he supported treaty to “like saying do you support the sun coming up”.
“It’s occurring in Victoria, it’s occurring in Queensland, it’s occurring in the Northern Territory,” he said.
Ms Burney has been contacted for comment.
Whoa! Wall of text.
Had to make a visit to a Perf tertiary hospital yesterday for some running repairs. Phone call and letter from the GP bypassed the Emergency triage queue completely. Nurse came down from the relevant ward with the necessary stuff. About 2 hours door to door from home. I hardly got any reading done.
Too important to leave on the OT (apologies if my HTML blows up):
Most people (including myself) understood the Uluru Statement was the single page of folkloric waffle written on a piece of painted bark, telling us:
This piece of poetry led Uncle Luigi to tears and has had Australia’sbien pensants, the Great and Good, captains of industry, QANTAS, and Colesworth assure us that this is a modest and generous ask, of little significance other than improving communication to Parliament on what matters to Indigenous communities. Only a flinty racist could object.
In reality, the Uluru Statement has 25 pages of explanatory notes that illustrate what the full intention is – and what Albanese has generously agreed to implement in full.
What it makes clear is that:
So, far from being an advisory body on Aboriginal issues, the Voice is expressly intended to be a segue into resolving “Unfinished Business” via Treaty.
The concept of Unfinished Business is also spelled out in detail:
In effect the creation of a patchwork of self-governing microstates (and potentially formal State/Territories), with local laws and governance – independent of Australia, except for ongoing funding and the ability to give advice to government on any issue the Voice sees fit.
Arguably this is not a best-in-class way to run a modern nation.
Peter Baldwin?
Didn’t the NSW ALP Left once mistake him for a Torrie?