Open Thread – Thurs 10 Aug 2023
- Open Thread – Mon 25 Nov 2024
- The more you gets the less you eats
- Open Thread – Weekend 23 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 18 Nov 2024
Cash 2.0 Great Dane at the Canoga Park Block Party 2024
His name is Cash. Cash 2.0 Great Dane at the Canoga Park Block Party 2024
Gotta start somewhere, even if it is second…
Am I lucky this morning?
Um…posted here again… 🙂
Looks like Liberland is almost a real country.
WOW!
Wow, just wow.
A tad of nepotism.
Victorian governor is spouse of Glyn Davis, parliamentary secretary of Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet.
One appointed by Andrews, the other appointed by Sleaze.
Jobs for bloke mate
Canada jumps the shark.
Justin/Justine has a gay old time.
When the No vote gets up, will it be, like Brexit, the voters were lied to.
The voters are so stupid, they believed lies rather than made up their own minds?
There seems to be the usual lack of understanding about how democracy works.
Like Brexit, I expect the losers, will demand another vote because reasons.
Albo will have his place in history, and an albatross around his neck and rightly so.
(Albo has called the 26 page version of the Uluru Heart, a QAnon conspiracy. His headspace is, worryingly, the demons of other countries. QAnon is a USA thing isn’t it, Tories is a UK thing? What is reverse projecting called, paranoia?)
Cash!
Cash 2.0 Great Dane meeting new people in Marina Del Rey 25
The Brexit vote was voluntary. The Voice vote is mandatory.
It’s a stark difference.
The quality of trolls @ “The Cat” has significantly decreased #Imisshammy
Top ten…
06:20 here in Ardernia Land /Un Zud…election coming up and Labor promising to spend big with money the country doesn’t have.
Beertruk
Aug 10, 2023 4:22 AM
Top ten…
Situation normal then as far as politicians go.
Tom. Where are you?
“YES” only edition of Q&A lowest rating ever.
Diversity celebrity Dan Bourchier’s rise and rise at the ABC continues.
He now holds the hotly contested record for the least watched edition of Q&A of all time.
93,000 people across Australia’s capital cities tuned in – a share of 4% of the available audience.
And who would be surprised?
The show was all “YES” supporters (including the host), broadcast at enormous expense from the Garma festival in the outback.
The ABC just keeps going further down the chute.
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/08/yes-only-edition-of-qa-lowest-rating-ever-.html
John Spooner.
Peter Broelman.
Dave Brown.
Michael Ramirez.
A.F. Branco.
Matt Margolis.
Al Goodwyn.
Steve Kelley.
Tom Stiglich.
Lisa Benson.
Ben Garrison.
Thanks once again Tom.
Situation normal then as far as politicians go.
That’s it, ‘same shite, different country.’
We finally see a phenomenon that is likely to increase temps a bit, but it is a natural one, the Hunga-Tonga volcanic eruption, which sent perhaps 40 trillion gallons tons of high-altitude water vapor into the air and might warm the northern hemisphere by more than a degree over the coming years.
Other volcanic eruptions which spew more particulate matter into the atmosphere in minutes than mankind has in all of history get ignored by the activist ‘scientists’ with marxist agendas. Let’s see how much attention this one gets since it is mother Gaia doing the heating and can’t be blamed on humans.
I wonder what stream of non-answers could be obtained from here.
e.g. How will members of the Voice be chosen?
Well, sometimes it doesn’t pay to believe your own press.
NSW ex-plod Gary Jubelin was flogged up big-time in court for arresting a bloke called Spedding for historical child sex offence matters while trying to flip him in the William Tyrrell disappearance a couple of years back.
Jubelin thought Spedding would provide crucial mail into Tyrrell’s death, when faced with the prospect of being ‘outed’ as a peddler. Spedding said he didn’t know what Jubelin was on about.
Jubelin arranged for a film crew to cover Spedding’s arrest. Spedding spent 56 days on remand before being bailed, and ultimately acquitted after strenuously denying any involvement in both the offences he was arrested for, and any knowledge of the Tyrrell disappearance.
Jubelin was described, among other things, by the beak as ‘high-handed’ and ‘grandstanding’. Spedding is now $3.5 million richer after launching a malicious prosecution beef with NSW Plod, which lost the first case then appealed it.
Jubelin was described as a ‘rock star’ among the detective fraternity. Plenty of profile, which he actively sought, and plenty of sponsors further up the Tree of Brass. All of these things evidently developed into a mentality where nothing he did could have been doubted, let alone questioned.
Sacked by Big Plod for doing things including but not limited to breachng surveillance device legislation, he’s been pumping his yuuuuuge appetite for self-promotion by running a podcast called ‘I Catch Killers’ in which he routinely brings on local scrotes to attest his brilliance, and how ‘the machine’ did him wrong.
I have heard it said in certain circles that there are ways and means to progress investigations of the Tyrrell type. Publicly arresting local dodgy blokes in the hope of embarrassing either a confession or admissible evidence against ‘the real killer’ is not one of them.
Amnesty freaking International? A left leaning international organization which “campaigns to end abuses of human rights”?
Go ahead mateys, tell the world that the Voice is an attempt to “end abuses of human rights”. See what the voter/taxpayers think of that.
Good morning Cats. Waking to more hysteria – this time the wildfires in Hawaii.
While we, as bushies, empathise with those fleeing the fires ( we suffered the Gosper Mt fires not too long ago) the absolute OTT coverage is part of the Fear epidemic current in the media. Yes – people are fleeing into the sea to escape fires – but so did Aussies on the NSW South Coast recently. Horrific – but part of living in country areas when conditions set the scene for fire.
BTW Zatara – you are exactly right re the influence of these deep water volcanic eruptions causing changes in high atmosphere & ultimately affecting weather. Ian Plimer has been explaining this in respect to the Tonga eruption for some time – but few listen.
It all feeds into the Narrative, Vicki. Also…no pictures, no story. The age of the smartphone means that anything can be uploaded without context for the world’s viewing pleasure.
Also, see Zatara’s 6:46 post on Hunga-tonga. We’re going to get some heat, but not because of us. Of course, you can’t tax a volcano.
“I have heard it said in certain circles that there are ways and means to progress investigations of the Tyrrell type. Publicly arresting local dodgy blokes in the hope of embarrassing either a confession or admissible evidence against ‘the real killer’ is not one of them.”
It’s curious how Jubelin ignored the idea that the person/persons behind William’s disappearance might have been standing right in front of him.
I did a little travelogue on SincCat when we were in Japan years ago. It was a beautiful, three week trip that barely scratched the surface of this wonderful country. Modernity, cultural gems, natural beauty…a sophisticated, respectful culture and a great contrast to all the other places we had visited over the years.
Because of my family history, in the back of my mind was always the niggling thought…what the hell went so wrong? How did they go from the modernisation of the Meiji period and their acceptance into the great outside world to the horrors of WWII? I came away without a simple answer, I doubt whether there is one.
On visiting Hiroshima, I wondered what emotions it would evoke in me. Honestly, I felt nothing.
Even as I type the tears come…not over the bomb, but the vision of a young teenager and her father waiting anxiously on their island in the Pacific. Who would arrive first – the US navy or the Japanese? Grandfather knew what their fate would be if it was the latter, and he had made preparations.
Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. It might be a good idea if our leaders heeded that, but they won’t. They think they can get away with anything.
“Other volcanic eruptions which spew more particulate matter into the atmosphere in minutes than mankind has in all of history get ignored by the activist ‘scientists’ with marxist agendas. Let’s see how much attention this one gets since it is mother Gaia doing the heating and can’t be blamed on humans.”
None. We now live in a post-science world, where the only currency that matters is hyperbole and hysteria, and yet, those same activists think they’re being scientific. We’re about to destroy our electricity grid in the name of junk science, actually, our electricity grid is already probably done and dusted In a meeting the other day I sat stony faced, listening to so called intelligent people talk hysterically about how the climate is changing for the worse, how the Northern Beaches will soon be covered with water (I kid you not), how this country is far too slow rolling out renewables, how we must increase trade with China (never mind the massive human rights violations in China), how we must hurry up the implementation of ESG across all businesses (and yes, they also mean small businesses, which will kill business).
All the while in such meetings I sit, my already white skin getting whiter, quietly grinding my teeth, my heart rate increasing, saying nothing. I sometimes think people here have no idea just how far this progressive Marxist ideology has taken root in companies and corporations. It’s over, they’ve won. People like us are now a minority. We will only see change when the load shedding begins, when the blackouts start, when people get stuck in elevators for hours because of power shortages, when people can’t buy groceries, in other words, when we end up living in like something from those pictures I used to see of life in Eastern Europe from the 1960s and 1970s. The only way these completely indoctrinated hysterical and hyperbolic zombies will begin to think outside the square is when they are forced to go without.
I expect the hyperbolic zombies will be the very last to go without.
People here are already suffering, our little food and essentials charities are constantly assisting people who can’t afford groceries and business (if you could call it that) is booming.
The well heeled can afford their useless little environmental hobbies and indulgences. Others…not so much.
Yes, Cassie. Sometimes at our coffee group, a floating population of around 15 with a core of regulars, a woman can surprise me by suddenly being so very woke on some climate or gender issue whereas she is normally not so. The zeitgeist rules for some of them. For group harmony, the core members who are skeptics don’t directly attack but the lack of a warm reception to such mouthings can be noted. Silent disapproval can work, so keep on doing it. And small murmurings in the opposite direction will soon be picked up and the leftist one/s will get the message.
It’s like a religion for some and hard to fight with rationality. I’m not sure even blackouts would change the true believers. They’d see it as doing their bit for the planet.
Every institution, including the judiciary has its share of black sheep and corrupt judges.
– Prashant Bhushan
The only way these completely indoctrinated hysterical and hyperbolic zombies will begin to think outside the square is when they are forced to go without.
Yes and ‘Crash and Burn’ works. The Phoenix rises from the ashes.
That’s your mistake right there Cassie. You are a treasure here because you write exactly what you feel. Should have done the same with the climate spruikers. In no uncertain terms.
Victoria Nuland will be Pleased!
SECRET PAKISTAN CABLE DOCUMENTS U.S. PRESSURE TO REMOVE IMRAN KHAN
“All will be forgiven,” said a U.S. diplomat, if the no-confidence vote against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan succeeds.
THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to a classified Pakistani government document obtained by The Intercept.
The meeting, between the Pakistani ambassador to the United States and two State Department officials, has been the subject of intense scrutiny, controversy, and speculation in Pakistan over the past year and a half, as supporters of Khan and his military and civilian opponents jockeyed for power.
The political struggle escalated on August 5 when Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on corruption charges and taken into custody for the second time since his ouster.
Khan’s defenders dismiss the charges as baseless.
The sentence also blocks Khan, Pakistan’s most popular politician, from contesting elections expected in Pakistan later this year.
One month after the meeting with U.S. officials documented in the leaked Pakistani government document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, leading to Khan’s removal from power.
The vote is believed to have been organized with the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military.
Since that time, Khan and his supporters have been engaged in a struggle with the military and its civilian allies, whom Khan claims engineered his removal from power at the request of the U.S.
The text of the Pakistani cable, produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan, has not previously been published. The cable, known internally as a “cypher,” reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not.
The document, labeled “Secret,” includes an account of the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Asad Majeed Khan, who at the time was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S.
The document was provided to The Intercept by an anonymous source in the Pakistani military who said that they had no ties to Imran Khan or Khan’s party.
The Intercept is publishing the body of the cable below, correcting minor typos in the text because such details can be used to watermark documents and track their dissemination.
Cats and Kittehs called it early. Hun:
Cassie of Sydney
Aug 10, 2023 7:50 AM
We will only see change when the load shedding begins, when the blackouts start, when people get stuck in elevators for hours because of power shortages, when people can’t buy groceries, in other words, when we end up living in like something from those pictures I used to see of life in Eastern Europe from the 1960s and 1970s.
The only way these completely indoctrinated hysterical and hyperbolic zombies will begin to think outside the square is when they are forced to go without.
The Australian today on the Front Page under Editorial
“Time to go Nuclear before We Run Out of Usable Power”
Reasonable to question energy-IQ of those leading the transition.
Paywalled
Perhaps the Penny is Starting to Drop?
The Australian today on the Front Page under Editorial
“Time to go Nuclear before We Run Out of Usable Power”
Reasonable to question energy-IQ of those leading the transition.
Paywalled
Perhaps the Penny is Starting to Drop?
Black Ball, Cassie was at work. It’s sometimes not possible in a woke organisation to shout out, although other forms of disagreement, facial expression, rolling of eyes upward and exasperated sighs etc, can be used.
In our coffee group some of us, including me, will say outright that they think climate responses are exaggerated (to say the least), or that gender-based messing around with children’s bodies is abhorrent (again, to say the least). There’s something of an unspoken agreement not to rock the boat too much though, as this is a dance-focussed group and politics is thought to be a private matter. It is tacitly recognised who is leftist (often the ex-teachers) and who is not. Happy to say that the leftists are far fewer than those towards the right. We do have two women on the right who are firmly outspoken no-nonsense types and good on them. They tend to set the tone.
The screening of Openheimer brings to mind one of the many anecdotes about GEN Groves the bulldozer who drove the Manhattan Project to completion.
When he was building his huge cyclotrons in Tennessee and his reactors in Oregon he decided that copper was an inadequate conducter. He needed silver. But silver was in very short supply due to all of the solder being consumed by the massively expanded electronics production.
He confronted Sec Tres Morgenthau. The august gentleman agreed to help and asked Groves how much silver he needed.
“15,600 tons”. The shocked Sec replied: ” Young man in Treasury we account for silver by the troy ounce”.
The. bureaucrats were horrified and attempted to impose all kinds of accounting bureaucracy and hinderences. Groves flicked them off. At the end of the project he returned all of the silver except for 200 lbs consumed in chemical reactions.
In typical fashion he had accounted for every ounce.
In defense of the mushroom lady, it may be that she prided herself on her cooking and had special recipes she used when she wanted to impress, and that these involved mushroom flavourings. That said though, you’d think if her husband had such serious gut problems that she might have looked at what she’d fed him and had some doubts. But nevertheless, innocent till proven guilty.
I rather think you misunderstood.
Cassie @ 7.50 am
Cassie, my fear is that when load shedding does come it’ll be for the productive and the poor and not the gullible city slickers who voted for net zero.
March 7, 2022 Pakistani Diplomatic Cypher (Transcription)
The Intercept is publishing the body of the cable below, correcting minor typos in the text because such details can be used to watermark documents and track their dissemination.
The Intercept has removed classification markings and numerical elements that could be used for tracking purposes.
Labeled “Secret,” the cable includes an account of the meeting between State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Asad Majeed Khan, who at the time was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S.
I had a luncheon meeting today with Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu. He was accompanied by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Les Viguerie. DCM, DA and Counsellor Qasim joined me.
At the outset, Don referred to Pakistan’s position on the Ukraine crisis and said that “people here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us.”
He shared that in his discussions with the NSC, “it seems quite clear that this is the Prime Minister’s policy.” He continued that he was of the view that this was “tied to the current political dramas in Islamabad that he (Prime Minister) needs and is trying to show a public face.” I replied that this was not a correct reading of the situation as Pakistan’s position on Ukraine was a result of intense interagency consultations. Pakistan had never resorted to conducting diplomacy in public sphere.
The Prime Minister’s remarks during a political rally were in reaction to the public letter by European Ambassadors in Islamabad which was against diplomatic etiquette and protocol.
Any political leader, whether in Pakistan or the U.S., would be constrained to give a public reply in such a situation.
I asked Don if the reason for a strong U.S. reaction was Pakistan’s abstention in the voting in the UNGA. He categorically replied in the negative and said that it was due to the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow.
He said that “I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister.
Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead.” He paused and then said “I cannot tell how this will be seen by Europe but I suspect their reaction will be similar.”
He then said that “honestly I think isolation of the Prime Minister will become very strong from Europe and the United States.”
Don further commented that it seemed that the Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow was planned during the Beijing Olympics and there was an attempt by the Prime Minister to meet Putin which was not successful and then this idea was hatched that he would go to Moscow.
I told Don that this was a completely misinformed and wrong perception. The visit to Moscow had been in the works for at least few years and was the result of a deliberative institutional process.
I stressed that when the Prime Minister was flying to Moscow, Russian invasion of Ukraine had not started and there was still hope for a peaceful resolution.
I also pointed out that leaders of European countries were also traveling to Moscow around the same time. Don interjected that “those visits were specifically for seeking resolution of the Ukraine standoff while the Prime Minister’s visit was for bilateral economic reasons.”
I drew his attention to the fact that the Prime Minister clearly regretted the situation while being in Moscow and had hoped for diplomacy to work. The Prime Minister’s visit, I stressed, was purely in the bilateral context and should not be seen either as a condonation or endorsement of Russia’s action against Ukraine. I said that our position is dictated by our desire to keep the channels of communication with all sides open. Our subsequent statements at the UN and by our Spokesperson spelled that out clearly, while reaffirming our commitment to the principle of UN Charter, non-use or threat of use of force, sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, and pacific settlement of disputes.
I also told Don that Pakistan was worried of how the Ukraine crisis would play out in the context of Afghanistan. We had paid a very high price due to the long-term impact of this conflict. Our priority was to have peace and stability in Afghanistan, for which it was imperative to have cooperation and coordination with all major powers, including Russia. From this perspective as well, keeping the channels of communication open was essential. This factor was also dictating our position on the Ukraine crisis. On my reference to the upcoming Extended Troika meeting in Beijing, Don replied that there were still ongoing discussions in Washington on whether the U.S. should attend the Extended Troika meeting or the upcoming Antalya meeting on Afghanistan with Russian representatives in attendance, as the U.S. focus right now was to discuss only Ukraine with Russia. I replied that this was exactly what we were afraid of. We did not want the Ukraine crisis to divert focus away from Afghanistan. Don did not comment.
I told Don that just like him, I would also convey our perspective in a forthright manner. I said that over the past one year, we had been consistently sensing reluctance on the part of the U.S. leadership to engage with our leadership. This reluctance had created a perception in Pakistan that we were being ignored and even taken for granted.
There was also a feeling that while the U.S. expected Pakistan’s support on all issues that were important to the U.S., it did not reciprocate and we do not see much U.S. support on issues of concern for Pakistan, particularly on Kashmir.
I said that it was extremely important to have functioning channels of communication at the highest level to remove such perception. I also said that we were surprised that if our position on the Ukraine crisis was so important for the U.S., why the U.S. had not engaged with us at the top leadership level prior to the Moscow visit and even when the UN was scheduled to vote. (The State Department had raised it at the DCM level.) Pakistan valued continued high-level engagement and for this reason the Foreign Minister sought to speak with Secretary Blinken to personally explain Pakistan’s position and perspective on the Ukraine crisis. The call has not materialized yet. Don replied that the thinking in Washington was that given the current political turmoil in Pakistan, this was not the right time for such engagement and it could wait till the political situation in Pakistan settled down.
I reiterated our position that countries should not be made to choose sides in a complex situation like the Ukraine crisis and stressed the need for having active bilateral communications at the political leadership level. Don replied that “you have conveyed your position clearly and I will take it back to my leadership.”
I also told Don that we had seen his defence of the Indian position on the Ukraine crisis during the recently held Senate Sub-Committee hearing on U.S.-India relations. It seemed that the U.S. was applying different criteria for India and Pakistan. Don responded that the U.S. lawmakers’ strong feelings about India’s abstentions in the UNSC and UNGA came out clearly during the hearing. I said that from the hearing, it appeared that the U.S. expected more from India than Pakistan, yet it appeared to be more concerned about Pakistan’s position. Don was evasive and responded that Washington looked at the U.S.-India relationship very much through the lens of what was happening in China. He added that while India had a close relationship with Moscow, “I think we will actually see a change in India’s policy once all Indian students are out of Ukraine.”
I expressed the hope that the issue of the Prime Minister’s visit to Russia will not impact our bilateral ties. Don replied that “I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective. Let us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly. Otherwise, we will have to confront this issue head on and decide how to manage it.”
We also discussed Afghanistan and other issues pertaining to bilateral ties. A separate communication follows on that part of our conversation.
Assessment
Don could not have conveyed such a strong demarche without the express approval of the White House, to which he referred repeatedly.
Clearly, Don spoke out of turn on Pakistan’s internal political process.
We need to seriously reflect on this and consider making an appropriate demarche to the U.S. Cd’ A a.i in Islamabad.
“In defense of the mushroom lady, it may be that she prided herself on her cooking and had special recipes she used when she wanted to impress,”
Lizzie, except those “special recipes” she didn’t partake of herself!
Righto Lizzie thank you. Still think if you can’t air your concerns, which are afforded to anyone, then what hope do we have?
I know of some people who work in parliamentary offices who are voting no to Teh Voice but cannot say so because of fear of unemployment. I would hope this is not the case with Cassie.
Cats, I’ve become increasingly reluctant to comment on the dangerous mass stupidities that beset us in this so called modern world, purely so as to avoid unnecessarily elevating my blood pressure.
The increasingly unhinged gerbil worming hysteria probably annoys me the most, although the screeech and the staggering incompetence corruption and sheer unrelenting idiocy of the so called governments blighting this country come a close second.
Catastrophic human induced climate change is a anti-scientific fact and evidence free crock of shite. I’ve been aware of this indisputable fact since the ice age hysteria back in the seventies.
Of recent note, how do you explain for example, the bloody minded overreach and disgusting marxist lunacy of those labore imbeciles in WA?
Property rights have been not so subtly under attack in this country since that stinking little mongrel hoWARd and now they’re seemingly being grabbed wholesale, all at once.
We face a deliberately engineered cost of living crisis exacerbated by incredibly stupid collectivist government “policies” that do nothing except reduce our quality of life and further increase inflation.
Everywhere you look, collectivist stupidity, corruption and the blatant self interest of our “elites” abounds. For example, just look at this headline grab from the Oz and note the sheer arrogance and block headedness evident:
In other words proles, you will have millions more non English speaking third world migrants shoved down your throats, whether they can find anywhere to live or not, so our profits are guaranteed.
This is barely the tip of the iceberg, Cats. There are obvious solutions to the monumental stupidity besetting this country (and the rest of the world) but they are invariably howled down by the seething mass of collectivist crackpots that infest our societies. Nuclear reactors for example, are a simple workable solution to the staggering idiocy of replacing base load generating capacity with hideously expensive, unworkable wind and solar.
But no, it’s not about going greenfilth, it’s about going without. This is the ultimate agenda – the vast bulk of humanity existing in grinding poverty, denied everything that makes life worth living, while monitored 24/7 by a monstrous high tech surveillance state that even Orwell couldn’t have envisioned in his worst nightmares.
This is our futures, Cats. Collectivist totalitarian tyranny never results in the betterment of humanity, but the exact opposite. Every. Single. Time.
Rant over/>
Vicki, in this case the wind was blowing down from the mountains inland toward the Lahaina Roads channel. The town of Lahiana is on the shoreline downwind.
IMO the chances of this being a naturally caused “wildfire” are close to nil. It is a developed area consisting of golf courses, condos, hotels, and the beautiful historical whaling town. Not forest or dry fields.
As hateful as it sounds, my money is on an arsonist being involved and it is absolutely heartbreaking.
Victoria Nuland, Washington’s ‘regime change Karen’, wants to speak to the manager in Niger
Famous for her puppeteering during the 2014 Ukraine coup, the thinking behind this choice of envoy couldn’t be clearer
Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist, and host of independently produced talk-shows in French and English.
France has been kicked out of Niger by its new military government, by extension placing US interests there in peril. Who would ever have thought that the US footing the bill for training Nigerien soldiers would result in a net gain for Russia and China? Apparently not the US State Department.
Enter Victoria Nuland with demands to speak to those in charge. Officially the acting US deputy secretary of state, Nuland should really change her title to ‘Regime Change Karen’. In modern parlance, a ‘Karen’ is a middle-aged woman “who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviors.” Karens can often be spotted at the customer service desks of big box stores demanding to speak to the manager – or in this case, the military leaders now in charge of Niger.
Nuland rocked up to Niger and demanded to speak to the ousted president, but was refused the opportunity. Instead, she got to meet with one of the coup leaders – the new army chief of staff, Brigadier General Moussa Salaou Barmou, who not only trained at Fort Benning and at Washington’s National Defense University, but was photographed alongside US Special Operations in Africa Commander Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga just a few weeks ago at a US drone base in Niger.
In a State Department teleconference on Monday, Nuland said that she was in Niger “because we wanted to speak frankly to the people responsible to this challenge to the democratic order.”
That didn’t actually require a foreign trip, though. She could have just stayed home and called a staff meeting.
You made this mess yourselves, guys.
Washington and Regime Change Karen here are unabashed control freaks.
Nuland was long obsessed with Europe’s Nord Stream pipeline of cheap Russian gas – until it was mysteriously blown up.
She was spotted in Ukraine back in 2014, handing out cookies to anti-government protesters and caught discussing the potential roles of Ukrainian opposition leaders post-regime change.
That recording leaked, featuring Nuland expressing just how much she values US allies and international law when they don’t quite align with Washington’s agenda for Kiev once US-friendly puppets are installed. “So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing, and have the UN help glue it, and you know… F**k the EU,” Nuland told US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt.
At a Senate hearing earlier this year into “Russian aggression in Ukraine and beyond,” Nuland demonstrated that she couldn’t even resist keeping her hands off neighboring Belarus, underscoring that the US was “working intensively with the Belarusian opposition.”
Regime Change Karen has her nose in everyone’s business. It seems to run in the family, as her husband, Robert Kagan, is a prominent neoconservative interventionist whose biography on the State Department website describes him as an expert on “NATO expansion.” He also co-founded the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) think tank, which set out the blueprint for endless US regime change wars against countries that didn’t adhere to Washington’s agenda.
In Niger, that agenda includes keeping the door unlocked so that Washington can come and go as it pleases, like it has in Ukraine, up to and including the point of being able to exploit the country’s resources or use it as a crash pad for operations against its geopolitical foes.
Which would explain why the CIA set up a drone base in Niger for its African operations in the wake of the Benghazi fiasco in Libya, after which Washington lost its foothold there. It’s likely not a coincidence that Libya is right next door.
Washington apparently did not foresee that Nigerien troops would take their US-funded training and use it to start defending themselves against what they perceived to be Western interference. Regime Change Karen seems miffed that they didn’t follow the usual path of getting trained up by the US to subsequently be used and exploited to fight Washington’s war
Newspeak had a term for that, Lizzie and it was monitored ruthlessly by the Party.
facecrime
Not going to produce the article but the sub heading should give a clue as to why:
If you hate air turbulence, you’d best buckle in for the long haul and it’s all because of climate change.
Is there anything it can’t do?
Rabz Avatar
Rabz
Aug 10, 2023 8:42 AM
Rant over/>
Rabz,
sensible Rant, but our “I would prefer to be Overseas on my 24th Trip” Prime MInister Elbosleezy is more concerned that the Voice is 1 page rather than 26 Pages
As for “Labor will reduce your Electricty Bills by $275 per Year – Sucker Australian Taxpayers can Go Jump
She might have disposed of the food dehydrator after that disastrous lunch in a panic of guilt and worry about police charges. It doesn’t necessarily mean that she was a deliberate poisoner.
Another one of those interesting cases where the forensics and the motivations will await a Court decision. That’s if police decide to prosecute, which depends on their evidence and assessment.
Meme
Germany buys scrapped tanks for Ukraine
Berlin has acquired 49 Leopard 1 tanks from a Belgian arms dealer
German defense giant Rheinmetall has purchased 49 mothballed Leopard 1 battle tanks from a Belgian arms dealer for use in Ukraine, a spokesperson for the company told The Guardian on Wednesday. The vehicles are reportedly in such poor condition that many will be suitable only for spare parts.
The spokesperson said that 30 of the tanks would be recommissioned and given to Kiev, with the rest presumably cannibalized for parts.
A German government spokesperson said that they would form part of a military aid package announced by Defense Minister Oscar Pistorius during a NATO summit in Lithuania last month.
From the Comments
Ukraine, now the world’s largest garbage compactor…
Nuclear reactors for example, are a simple workable solution to the staggering idiocy of replacing base load generating capacity with hideously expensive, unworkable wind and solar.
I present you this Rabz, Andrew Bolt:
And another thing that the media appears to have consigned to the forgettery –
Mr. 32%’s campaign promise to reduce immigration and fund the upskilling of locals.
Well, I’ll employ it as long as I can, Rabz.
Being retired is a wonderful things when it comes to political opinion. Only then do you feel really free, and even then, if you want to have a harmonious social life it can sometimes make you self-monitor and censor more than you feel you should. That’s where the subtle disagreement signals can be useful. Even silence, disengagement and refusal to speak at all about some things.
Ultimately though, self-censoring is emotionally damaging and you have to let rip. Keeping it civil, of course.
Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.
– Mark Twain
The Propaganda Garbage Continues
Quit gas, electrify everything and save up to $4320 a year
A new report calls for policies to ensure all households can share in the financial benefits of electrification, which requires upfront investments.
Ben Potter – Senior writer
A fully electrified, energy-efficient home with solar panels, battery and electric cars could save its owners $3500 a year by 2030 and $4320 by 2050 compared with a household using gas appliances and petrol vehicles, a new report says.
The report, by Energy Consumers Australia based on modelling by CSIRO and consultancy Dynamic Analysis, calls for policies to ensure all households can share in the financial benefits of electrification, which requires upfront investments that not everyone can afford.
The savings include about $500 a year from energy efficiency measures such as insulation, $660 a year in 2030, rising to $820 a year in 2050, from quitting gas appliances, $1420-$1520 a year for switching to electric vehicles, and $1250-$1470 off power bills for typical households with solar panels and batteries.
The savings are annual averages over the 20-year lives of appliances, vehicles, solar panels and batteries installed in the years specified.
But the report notes that low-income households, renters and apartment dwellers may struggle to access these savings because of their cost, landlords’ reluctance to invest in solar panels, batteries or energy efficiency, or inability to persuade body corporates to disconnect gas and electrify.
The share of income devoted to energy bills can be as high as 12 per cent for households bringing in less than $20,000 a year, and as low as 1.5 per cent for those earning more than $150,000.
“All households should be able to access these savings – not just those that can afford the upfront cost or own their own home,” the report says. It calls for financial incentives for low-income households, education for households and other policies to manage decarbonisation, including winding down the domestic gas sector.
Current policies are limited to the ACT’s $15,000 interest-free loans for household electrification and Victoria’s recent ban on gas connections in new homes, which NSW Premier Chris Minns quickly shot down as an option for his state, and other Victorian incentives.
The modelling assumes 65 per cent of households have solar panels, and most homes also have batteries and electric heating and cooking by 2050, based on the Australian Energy Market Operator’s Step Change scenario in its 2022 Integrated System Plan.
It warns gas bills for households that can’t afford to electrify and are forced to continue using gas will soar, as the costs of maintaining large residential gas distribution networks fall on fewer and fewer households.
A typical household’s annual gas bill is expected to rise steadily to $1750 a year by 2050, with network costs accounting for 70 per cent, from less than $1000 now.
“This creates a vicious cycle for gas networks and their remaining customers. As more customers leave, the network prices progressively rise, leaving those who may be unable to make the switch to electricity with higher bills,” the report says.
Gas pipeline companies such as Jemena argue that green biogas or hydrogen can be substituted for methane to keep their residential networks in business. But the report assumes that “neither … will be a suitable alternative to decarbonise most Australian homes”, and says this is consistent with the ISP’s step change and many independent studies.
“Governments have an important role in ensuring that the transition is fair and that those with the least resources aren’t left to bear the burden of the costs or poor service,” the report says.
Australia The Stupid Country with Loads of Gas!
The evolution of a lie.
FBI agents shoot, kill Provo suspect connected to Biden threats
Apparently 200lb. and disabled. In his late 70s.
Just for context
I don’t recall any of them being
In his recent speech to the IPA which I attended, where he unveiled in a terrific speech his nuclear ambitions, he also said that so many countries were now in the line up to purchase small modular reactors that we had better get a move on and get in that line fast, like yesterday, or we were likely to be at the back of a very long queue.
What an irony if we agree to go nuclear and then find we can’t. No places left in the queue for years to come. And too late to save our industries. Our only hope would be to crank up whatever gas and coal fired power stations we hadn’t destroyed. And build a million local generators using local oil (which is where? and when?)
Talking about Dutton’s speech in my comment above.
The woman reportedly stated to police that she purchased the mushrooms at a local shop.
That (as unlikely as it sounds given there hasn’t been a spate of poisonings in the area) is going to be fairly easy to check and is where she may come undone if she is trying to conceal a crime.
Australian Labor Party Scrapes the Bottom of the Barrel with this Incompetence
Blocking flights ‘could cost $500m’, but minister says it saves jobs
Ayesha de Kretser – Senior Reporter
Blocking Qatar Airways from adding flights will cost the economy more than $500 million a year in tourism revenue, according to industry modelling, but Transport Minister Catherine King told parliament the decision was made to protect local jobs.
Numbers from airline industry sources seen by The Australian Financial Review detail a cost of between $540 million and $788 million annually in incremental economic activity, based on approximately 50 per cent of the seats being sold to overseas visitors.
Virgin Australia, which had planned a “strategic alliance” with Qatar Airways, is also expected to suffer as a result of the decision because it will no longer be able to fly the Middle Eastern carrier’s extra international passengers to domestic ports across Australia.
Ms King, who has previously not clearly explained her decision to block Qatar Airways from expanding flights to Melbourne and Sydney, told parliament on Wednesday that she did so to protect the national interest.
“We only sign up to agreements that benefit our national interest, in all of its broad complexity, and that includes ensuring that we have an aviation sector, through the recovery, that employs Australian workers,” she said.
“The government has determined that agreeing to the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority request for additional services is not in our national interest, and we will always consider the need to ensure that there are long-term, well-paid, secure jobs by Australians in the aviation sector when we are making these decisions.”
The latest industry modelling backs similar estimates by Airline Intelligence and Research, who’s chief executive Tony Webber reckons the average spend by additional tourists from Europe from the extra flights sought could amount to $500 million a year.
Qantas, the main beneficiary of the Qatar decision, has angered unions by illegally sacking baggage handling staff, outsourcing jobs to New Zealand on its newly reinstated service from Sydney to New York, and wet-leasing aircraft from FinnAir, complete with Finnish crews.
Transport Workers Union national secretary Michael Kaine said rebuilding the aviation sector “needs urgent attention and has become incredibly complex following the mass exodus of skilled workers during the pandemic, including the illegal outsourcing of 1700 Qantas ground and fleet presentation workers”.
“Protecting Australian aviation jobs is important. Ensuring those jobs are well paid and secure is even more important, which is why we’ve been calling on Qantas management to reverse its destructive business model to fragment the workforce into 38 different employing entities with declining standards at each,” Mr Kaine said.
The explanation prompted disbelief from some corners, after Virgin Australia boss Jayne Hrdlicka told an event last week that bringing tourists back – at a time when the weak local currency makes us an attractive destination, but high airfares are putting international visitors off – should be the government’s number one priority.
Australian Airports Authority chief executive James Goodwin said more flights would result in more tourists and that was good for the recovery.
“More flights into Australia will simply mean more jobs in the tourism and aviation sector. That is something we should all be striving for,” he said.
Industry sources also blasted suggestions Qatar Airways had acted nefariously in flying empty planes from Adelaide to Melbourne to get around limits on the number of flights they can land in popular east coast airports.
“It just shows the government’s rules are not fit for purpose if Qatar is exploiting a loophole to bring tourists here,” said one source.
Together with Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand, Qatar Airways maintained services into Australia for passengers and high-valued exports when there were caps on arrival numbers that severely curtailed the economics of flying.
Senator Bridget McKenzie asked Tourism Minister Don Farrell on Wednesday what advice he had given the government or taken from airlines, but he dodged the questions. It is understood Senator Farrell supported the expansion, backed by both tourism operators and high-value exporters.
Singapore Airlines has applied for approval to add 4700 seats a week to and from Australia, which would give increasingly frustrated travellers another option to reach destinations in both Asia and Europe.
United Airlines is also seeking approval to add flights to Brisbane.
Mr Goodwin said the government’s lack of solid justification would prompt wariness from overseas entities looking to expand.
“The Qatar situation sends a really bad signal for anyone wanting to do business in Australia. People are getting nervous now,” he said.
“If this was a really big decision and the minister has paused every other decision for the white paper, why wasn’t this part of that paper? Why did she rush out and block it?”
Alex Soros Vows To Eradicate Conservatives From the Internet: “I’m 100 Times Worse Than My Dad”
And they’re still at it.
Moved on to about their third “strong suspect”.
If you want to see some ‘Chamberlaining’, that’s it, right there.
Electric Air-fryers on the Christmas list for two of my sons having financial problems coping with gas and electricity bills, which we help out with. These are great, easy to cook with, and use far less energy than heating up an oven, whether electric or gas.
BOOM! Ron DeSantis suspends another WOKE Soros backed DA and Leftists are BIG mad
Video: No other Governor has ever removed a Soros prosecutor, Worrell will be DeSantis’ second.
No wonder Floridians want him to stay on as their Governor.
Big Fish
@BigFish3000
Michigan election investigators are being criminally prosecuted for uncovering dirty elections.
Wyatt
@austerrewyatt1
Filling up a 20K seat arena is NOT normal.
People waiting in line for days for a rally is NOT normal.
Media won’t tell you this but this isn’t supposed to happen in years 6 or 7 of a political movement.
Trump and MAGA is a movement like none weve seen before.
It TERRIFIES the Swamp.
Aha, Roger. But are those mushrooms the real culprit? Were there others add, or other sorts of enhancements which only complex forensics can uncover?
Yet more cloud cuckoo land horse shite, replete with factlets plucked out of the authors’ fundaments.
*But won’t.
A classic example of “let me make the assumptions, and the model will “prove” what I want”.
Does anyone in CSIRO seriously believe that current appliances, EVs, solar panels and batteries have a “20-year” useful life? How many of the modelers are living their electric dream, having disconnected from the grid?
And could shop-purchased mushrooms also have a wild card mushie in amongst them?
Unlikely if from a mushroom farm, but if they were gathered then all bets are off. Or is there a deliberate poisoner targeting the shop and slipping in an odd mushie or two?
We can all be Agatha’s in cases like this.
Please stop taking swipes at my “Chamberlain” comment, Sancho. You know perfectly well that I was referring to the media, not commenters here.
Because I said so quite clearly.
Trudeau Liberals spend $1.1 MILLION on ‘Purge Fund’ to target ‘hateful’ parents who oppose LGBTQ indoctrination
New World Odor™
@hugh_mankind
Translation: “We just manufacture vaccines to make profits. If they harm or kill you…oh well, not our problem. Yay, PROFITS!”
When it comes to climate change, trans rights, migration, multi culti programs, women’s sports etc we are not able to choose our own path. Our politicians know that. Our country, as much as Niger or Pakistan, doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Its strings are pulled by the UN and other groups such as the WEF to produce compliance. Were we to go our own way and use our coal or gas for our own benefit the way the Chinese use it we would be treated as lepers. Tariffs. Penalties. Boycotts. Exclusion. Our politicians don’t want the grief. But we citizens are going to pay the price for their and our gormless, craven, pusillanimous surrender to our own diminution and loss.
Which will be destroyed by the massive increase in immigration?
Alan Jones
Australia and New Zealand must urgently wake up! | Winston Peters
Not sure that particular standard holds water in Victoria.
The Greens laugh at Jab Injuries
Boambee John
Aug 10, 2023 9:11 AM
The savings are annual averages over the 20-year lives of appliances, vehicles, solar panels and batteries installed in the years specified.
A classic example of “let me make the assumptions, and the model will “prove” what I want”.
Does anyone in CSIRO seriously believe that current appliances, EVs, solar panels and batteries have a “20-year” useful life?
How many of the modelers are living their electric dream, having disconnected from the grid?
SIL living in Mackay had to replace Inverter and Solar Panels after 8 years – $10K cost
That will cruel the NPV projections.
Biden: I’ve Declared a Climate Emergency ‘Practically Speaking’
Dirty Jack Smith Got Secret Search Warrant For Trump’s Twitter Account
Dead simple and it will work like a to immunize Trump if the Rep Congress has the cajones to do it. The fact that it’s exactly the sort of tactic the progressive marxists would use is the olive in the martini.
Australia and New Zealand must urgently wake up! | Winston Peters
Oh wait, they already have.
Why did he replace his inverter and solar panels? Hopium?
How about a review of our international treaties and covenants then?
To ensure they’re all in the national interest.
https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-releases-third-bank-memo-detailing-payments-to-the-bidens-from-russia-kazakhstan-and-ukraine%ef%bf%bc/
19 Pages
https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Third-Bank-Records-Memorandum_Redacted.pdf
Turn
Test post
‘The most secure election in history.’
Grrrr…in a week’s time the surgeon will be having at me with his angle grinder and chainsaw.
Just to add to any pre-op nervousness, I’ve just been told I have to produce a negative RAT on admission. So after xrays, blood letting and all the other palaver, plus the good fortune in getting an early surgery date, it might all come to nothing because dodgy “test”.
And I kid you not, but the phone admissions admin was named…Karen. 😀
Litigating? “I’ll have $20 on Gina for the win thanks.”
While posting a perfectly innocent piece, referring to:
Voice conspiracy theory rubbished as Coalition continues to question length of Uluru Statement from the Heart
Voice conspiracy theory rubbished as Coalition continues to question length of Uluru Statement from the Heart
Fact Check: The 25 pages – Our Story – are a succinct summary of the expectations of the First Nations authors of the Uluru Statement.
Our Story forms part of the same document that contains the one pager “Statement from the Heart“.
These expectations make clear that the Voice is not expected to be “advisory” but a tool to develop Treaty and self-determination/self-government for indigenous people.
‘Our Story’ appears to be “secret” because it was not published and required an FOI application to be revealed to the Australian people.
Neither Albanese nor the rest of the Yes Industry are prepared to be up-front that either:
Note to the Opposition: floundering around in the weeds on what is and what isn’t the Uluru Statement – and failing to focus on the above – will lose you this point.
Australia is being humbugged by its political leadership.
In Over the Target news:
A couple of items of interest from the Daily Telegraph.
Une:
Woman charged with intent to murder after alleged domestic violence incident at Schofields
A female driver has been charged with intent to murder after allegedly swerving off the road and hitting a man known to her in Sydney’s west.
Deux:
Closing remarks heard in Private Maya Rose Mitchell’s sexual blackmail trial
A military court tribunal has heard how a male colleague felt like his career could have been ended by a female private who allegedly blackmailed him for sex at a NSW army base.
Trois:
Rugby World Cup: Wallabies drop Michael Hooper, Tate McDermott to lead squad
Michael Hooper is a high-profile victim of Wallabies coach Eddie Jones’ pivot to youth for the 10th Rugby World Cup.
Last one very chortle worthy. First two very serious.
I’ll file that under “P” for “Possible”.
Let’s see how the “I bought them at a local shops” thing plays out.
The wording at 9:50 appears to have been the offensive bit.
The wondeful Jacinta is gracing our little town next week.
I can’t wait. What a star.
I saw her at CPAC a few years ago when she was still a little uncertain, but now – wow.
No wonder none of the barely literate union thugs is prepared to debate her.
Megan Davis’ bio here.
Clearly a victim of systemic racism.
RTWT.
Probably got a bit confused by nearly seven decades of the United States’
Manifest Destiny for Me, Not for Thee.
Also: When Admiral Perry held a gun to their heads and said “Trade or die.”
He forgot to add “Trade is us selling and you buying.”
Dr F, can you email me what you have in the comments box that gets that error. Cheers.
Well, if it is able to cause volcano eruptions (we have already heard that if can cause earthquakes) bouncing your plane about would be a piece of cake.
In defense of the mushroom lady…
…nevertheless, innocent till proven guilty.
That is sooooooooooo 2019-ish! …… LOL!
And yet there it is on-line, talking about invasion, resistance, sovereignty never being ceded, indigenous warriors being acknowledged, Makarrata and treaty.
Mmmm, does have a Moe pigs head vibe going on. I’m sure VicPlod are on top of it.
I had that twice yesterday but couldn’t for the life of me see what might have blocked it.
I didn’t call anyone a mong or a wanker or anyfink.
I think the comment eventually went through but I can’t remember if I edited it.
Quite so.
That doesn’t preclude a little bit of Clouseau of the Champignon Squad sleuthing.
(If anyone reading this is likely to be in the Korrumburra and Leongatha jury pool, look away now).
Well, the Dandenong slug got away on them, so I’m not confident.
Further to KD’s post yesterday considering the “malicious – stupid” dichotomy, “stupid” is now paying $1.01 on Ladbrokes.
Courts and the common law have historically had an uneasy relationship with that whole spearing the leg thing. I think it has been parked for the time being. In polite company at least.
“Let’s see how the “I bought them at a local shops” thing plays out.”
Indeed. I watched a Youtube Talk Radio clip this morning from overnight. The mushroom story has gone viral, it’s now global. They had on News Corp journalist Jenna Clarke from Oz (Zac Cockup’s girlfriend) who gave a background as to where the poisoning happened, an Australian woman who is expert mushroom forager, and an American pathologist who’s examined dead bodies poisoned by mushrooms. The foraging expert said, rightly, that it would be impossible for anyone to buy such mushrooms from the shops. It would NEVER happen.
The woman who cooked the mushrooms (and didn’t eat them) either picked them herself or someone else picked them, as the foraging expert said, either option is highly dangerous. I buy my mushrooms for the supermarket, there’s no way I’d go picking and there’s no way I’d even buy mushrooms from a farmer’s market.
The pathologist said that after eating such mushrooms, you don’t get sick immediately, it takes 12 hours or longer for the body to start displaying the symptoms of the poison……exactly what happened to the four, three of whom are now dead, one fighting for his life in hospital.
Whilst there might be no malice involved, there most certainly is gross irresponsibility and recklessness.
It has only happened at The Club when a scoundrel broke into another chap’s locker and used his squash racquet.
And that was back in the 1970’s.
Believe all women poisoners.
In Trooble at t’Mill news:
Author of NT government’s renewables road map criticises regulation of solar farms amid calls for further investment
I doubt anyone on the Cat is wonky enough to want to see the NT GPS, but suffice to say, NT UtiliCom wants Australian Standard electricity to come out of the wall socket at 240v 50hz whenever the customer asks for it.
The real problem is that the NT electricity system is heavily ‘islanded’, with three non-connected networks and about 80 standalone local diesel generators. A quick dab of finger paint on the butchers’ paper tells us that dropping large scale asynchronous and intermittent solar into the mix without battery support stuffs things up bigly.
Whoever commissioned the four stranded PV stations only had to ask.
In good hands.
The “bought them at the shops” line could be a clincher.
I was prepared to consider the possibility of a market stall, but regular shops sourcing from accredited growers?
Nup.
Leongatha and Korrumburra are very small towns. It would take all of ten minutes to check that story.
As you say, it takes a while for the effects to take hold, and the poisoning process goes through stages. A key question is, when did she “find out” they had fallen ill with suspected food poisoning?
If she had cried “OMG! The mushrooms!” immediately, OK.
But did she wait days until Plod informed her it looked like Death Caps and suddenly “remember”?
Knowing exactly what the nature of the toxin was immediately might have helped.
A few dried porcini never goes astray. But get them from a bag.
Here you go Dover.
A New Day, a New Type of Election Fraud (8 Aug, via Lucianne)
Michigan and Wisconsin were both states with a mysterious and just big enough vote dump before dawn.
The article is actually very positive – the author has a team working to provide election analysis software so that frauds can be easily outed. But the darker aspect is it’s clear that the whole electoral apparatus is compromised by the Left in a highly organized and industrial way. Of course even when such things are detected nothing ever happens since they also control the legal and justice systems.
“I was prepared to consider the possibility of a market stall, but regular shops sourcing from accredited growers?
Nup.”
The foraging expert was adamant it just wouldn’t happen from a regular supermarket.
Also, the mushroom varieties we buy from the supermarket are grown differently.
Dirty clean power.
Sounds like NTUC has been spooked by that cloud.
Oopsie solar-battery fail? Cloud causes System Black event at Alice Springs affecting thousands (2019)
How dare holy solar providers be required to prevent system black whenever a cloud goes over their sacred panel-farm!
Hope meets physics.
What will bring the Funghi Fatty undone, if she has pulled a Lucretia Borgia, will be her electronic history. The Police are very likely right now combing through her online history. If she has been stupid enough to have really tried to take out the people who have been nothing but kind to her, she is stupid enough not to have carefully wiped her search history.
Many killers have been brought undone this way.
Will add, I have collected and eaten wild mushrooms for forty years. Never been sick.
You have to be shown by an experienced forager and the first lesson taught is, “if in doubt, toss it”.
Done.
You have to be shown by an experienced forager and the first lesson taught is, “if in doubt, toss it”.”
Yep.
Apparently a popular pastime in Leongatha; even the mayor picks them.
The plot thickens.
Tears before bedtime.
In news that will shock no-one, Courier Mail:
Good looking people, alcohol, 15 minutes of fame. Not a great recipe
Stick to the script. This would never happen on MAFS.
Must have thought he was on a 3 day P &O cruise. Hopefully she wasn’t dead.
The Commonwealth Games Committee.
In the Sacristy.
With the vaccine.
Look at this characterization.
Look and laugh…
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/aug/09/fiasco-podcast-leon-neyfakh-1984-subway-shooting-new-york
On 22 December 1984, Goetz, a 37-year-old electronics engineer, was riding the subway when four Black teenagers asked him for money
My audition applications keep getting knocked back.
I am sure all Cats will be thrilled to know that Kevin Rudd’s Official portrait will be unveiled tomorrow, and, like Claire O’Neill, can’t wait. — I wonder will it really look like a rat peering through a toilet brush —as in the accompanying photo H/T Michael Smith News
Labor’s faceless factional operatives are struggling to keep a lid on several contentious issues ahead of next week’s national conference in Babylon by the Brisbane.
AUKUS being one.
The party’s membership is now dominated by the Left, which will attempt to use its numbers to shift policy and gain dominance on the National Executive, giving them control over pre-selections.
Comrades.
Mole, perhaps they were collecting for their church charity. Teh Grauniad really is beyond parody, much like Lord Waffleworth himself. It’s fun trying though.
Liar national conference has trouble sticking to the script too. The Legover Man got away with it.
Via Tim Blair comes 2 items of note from Mike Carlton and Thomas Mayo
It has only happened at The Club when a scoundrel broke into another chap’s locker and used his squash racquet.
And that was back in the 1970’s.
And it wasn’t so much a spearing for a punishment. More likely the chap had three squash balls inserted in him to teach him a lesson. Two yellow dots followed by a red dot. He will never re-offend.
Cassie
In NSW, some are grown in abandoned railway tunnels, some of which were used to store mustard gas during the Second World War. Adds to the piquancy!
Haha.
So, how are you all surviving the Hollywood strike? (8 Aug)
A hundred days and counting. I saw somewhere that late night ‘comedians’ weren’t doing live shows on the US free to air networks because they had no writers for their ‘gags’. So the networks ran old repeats instead. Nobody noticed.
As to Hollywood not having writers to write woke movie scripts, well that’s a fine thing!
Maybe they could try something different? Like writing unwoke indie shows for the half of the population who aren’t green-progressives? Just might work. Or they could always learn to code I suppose. Joe Biden suggested it once.
lotocoti
Aug 10, 2023 9:58 AM
…what the hell went so wrong?
Probably got a bit confused by nearly seven decades of the United States’
Manifest Destiny for Me, Not for Thee.
Also: When Admiral Perry held a gun to their heads and said “Trade or die.”
He forgot to add “Trade is us selling and you buying.”
Ha, years ago, when the FTA, Free Trade Agreement, came in between Australia and the USA, one of our smart young TV reporter/entertainers was interviewing a US Congressman about it.
He asked, “do you think the FTA will be good for Australian farmers?”
The US Congressman was clearly confused, “what do you mean?” he says.
Reporter tried to explain, but it was clear the US Congressman saw the FTA as a one way street and had not for one second considered trade going the other way.
Indeed, why should they. The US has forgotten more about protectionism than we’ll ever know.
We’re all so naive, when dealing with the USA.
Was the third item not sufficiently noteworthy?
Mike Carlton lets it ALL hang out on public beach (Daily Tele, 5 Aug, paywalled)
Have I found struth’s true calling?
https://tollbusterbobjarvis.weebly.com/
Democrat J6 Committee failed to preserve records and has no data on Capitol Hill security failures
18 months, 17+ million dollars, 800 pages of propaganda, major national disruption, and you just “failed to preserve” the evidence so your work couldn’t be checked?
Pull the other one, it’s attached to a claymore.
Boy I bet GST on tolls makes his blood boil.
Abbott needs a proofreader.
Although the way things are going it could be read that way.
Australia has not issued gold coins since 1931 and we have not used silver since 1968 IIRC.
WHEN The Voice gets up, the wave of First Nations sovereign citizenry will be wild.
Popcorn Time!
The Voice is a suppository of indigenous wisdom.
Bend over, Australia.
Kevin Rudd: “…like a rat peering through a toilet brush…”
Thank you.
An unkind mind might conjecture the mushrooms were dried for the purpose of disguise.
Somedayz I luv living the OAP dream …..! Painting rooms with the only VOICEs, Conway, George & Merle full blast in the background ….
reminds me of my yoof … Mikie up on the scaffold doing his angelic thing wiv the ceiling and down below, unheralded, the apprentice turning the skirting boards of the Cistene Chapel into, unnoticed by history, workx of art …..
Also if the family suspected there was an attempt to poison ex husband previously why would they ever eat there again?
I’d be all sure we can have lunch, at the local Cafe.
I’d like to believe that last part, but that just isn’t true.
He seems to be a GST extremist. GST invalidates stamp duty for all time, even if the GST is abolished?
What a cool superpower the ANTS Act has!
Oh and you are the children aren’t eating this?
I’ll have what you’re having.
“Citing … the wonderful words of Bob Hawke back on Australia Day in 1988, we are a country with no hierarchy of dissent. We are a country with no privilege of origin.
And there wuz me thinkin’ Bobby’s best wuz, ” NO child shall live in poverty” .. LOL!
Isn’t it a perfect description —
I wish ’twere mine but I pinched from a Clever Cat on here- sorry meant to give credit but the trigger-post finger was just too quick
Not satisfied with irrational government intervention to hike energy prices, this supermarket wants to add an irrational and by its own admission non-scientific levy to products it doesn’t want its customers to consume so it can redistribute money to its favoured (and not transparent) beneficiaries.
If those products are so evil, why not stop selling them?
Looks like all those products will end up on the ‘reduced for quick sale’ shelf.
Wankers.
I suspect only a millennial could come up with such a stupid idea.
Do your wurst, Penny!
Given her photo I think she should ask Stan Grant what formulation he uses.
Thorpe blows up at Labor for ‘whitesplaining’ on Indigenous affairs (Sky mainpage headline, 10 Aug)
Um, lady, I don’t think you’ll like what the proposed inquiry will find…
Mr Abbott received a standing ovation from the 250 attendees in the room.
100+ upticks.
Thanks for posting that ZK2A @11:36
Mum
Don’t blog angry!
Document 14
ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART – 114 Pages
We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of thesouthern sky, make this statement from the heart:
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs.
This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.
This sovereignty is a spiritual notion:
the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is
the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty.
It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.
How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?
With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient
sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.
Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people.
Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.
These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.
We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish.
They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.
We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle.
It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.
We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.
Particularly stupid as Penny is a discount supermarket chain.
Oops Link – ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART – 114 Pages
I’m all for an investigation of Aboriginal Land Councils and Corporations, no need to wait for an inVoice whitewash.
UNVEILING THE MYSTERY OF THE VOICE – THE ULURU STATEMENT IN FULL
By Harry Richardson – August 8, 2023
Please pass this on to anyone who is contemplating voting ‘Yes’ at the referendum and suggest they read the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, not just the one-page document PM Albanese has been spruiking.
It should make them see how divisive the Voice would be – and how much it will cost them and the rest of us.
Harry
Editor-in-Chief
Ummm, mostly incarcerated for crimes of violence against other Aborigines?
I’m ambivalent about upticks on this site, but after
and
my ticking finger is itching to strike.
Pretty please, Dover?
Never underestimate the stupidity of the Millenials from marketing.
Can we have smiley emojis instead of ticks?
Ancient white man’s wisdom:
Don’t want to do the time? Don’t do the crime.
A social worker from Ballarat. Doesn’t bear thinking about..
A deliberate omission Bruce the Novocastrian.
Niger Mutiny: Another U.S.-Trained Military Officer Led Coup
U.S.-trained military officers have taken part in 11 coups in West Africa since 2008.
Troops from Niger ousted the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, last week.
One of the coup leaders had previously received training from the U.S. government, becoming the 11th coup in the region led by U.S.-trained officers.
This week on Intercepted, Nick Turse, investigative journalist and contributing writer with The Intercept, joins Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain to discuss the unfolding events in Niger and the Sahel region.
Turse outlines how Africa has seen elevated conflict and instability as the U.S. has increased its military involvement on the continent over the last two decades.
The United States has poured security aid in, supposedly to bolster these militaries, to make them more effective in protecting their people. But, every year over the last ten years, the number of terrorist attacks have gone up, the number of civilian fatalities has gone up.
And, basically, the only metric where the United States has been successful is training military officers who are able to overthrow their own governments. They’ve been unable to combat the jihadists in any kind of effective way.
We know in Niger, for example, the United States have run something called 127-Echo programs there for years, and these went on under the radar for a very long time, until October of 2017, when there was an ambush by Islamic State forces of U.S. troops. [They] killed four U.S. soldiers, two of them Green Berets, wounded a couple more U.S. troops, and killed a number of Nigerien proxies who were with them.
The United States came out and said this was an advise and assist mission, but really what it was and what came to light was that this was the United States operating under Section 127E of the U.S. Code, which allows U.S. forces to employ local Nigerien forces as proxies in the field.
They’re doing the United States’ bidding, they’re out there to achieve U.S. aims.
But rarely do these come to light. So, we know there are a lot of atrocities by Nigerien forces. Were they accompanied by the United States during these?
You know, it’s often impossible to tell.
The United States has played such a strong role in backing Nigerien forces over the years, there’s a good chance the United States is involved in one way or another, and this is something that often doesn’t come through in reports by human rights groups.
Just in almost every context you can look at where the United States has put real counterterrorism dollars into real significant numbers of U.S. troops, the conflicts have all worsened for the countries involved. And, especially, for the people that are living in these conflict areas. Things have just gotten exponentially worse over this time.
Forget “smileys”.
I want this!
OldOzzie
Aug 10, 2023 8:28 AM
The Australian today on the Front Page under Editorial
“Time to go Nuclear before We Run Out of Usable Power”
Reasonable to question energy-IQ of those leading the transition.
Paywalled
Perhaps the Penny is Starting to Drop?
Here you go:
Time to go nuclear before we run out of usable power
power
EDITORIAL
12:00AM AUGUST 10, 2023
In a properly planned energy transition, it would make sense to consider upfront all options to replace existing sources of generation with more efficient ones that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions using existing network infrastructure. The fact that nuclear is only now being put forward as a proposal by the Dutton opposition to replace coal-fired power plants when they are retired is an alarming reality, given the high costs and big risks being faced in our increasing dependence on intermittent technologies. The fact both sides of politics have been unwilling to support changing the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to allow nuclear to even be considered is testament to the political cowardice that has led to the situation we have today.
By any measure, the Albanese government’s decarbonisation agenda – which requires 82 per cent of power to come from renewable sources by 2030 – is already well off course. The transition is characterised by higher-than-expected costs and lower-than-promised returns. There can be little confidence that things will be turned around quickly, given the obstacles that keep appearing. This includes technical problems with big-ticket projects such as the Snowy 2.0 hydro-electricity scheme.
It is also apparent that community sentiment in favour of the renewable transition is sorely tested by proximity to the projects that will be required. Onshore wind farm developments are under pressure in Victoria because of the potential impact on protected brolgas. Queensland is revising its planning laws because many residents have decided the environmental cost and loss of amenity in wind farm developments in environmentally sensitive areas do not stack up. Offshore wind proposals can expect a similar fate to that being experienced by efforts to build the $20bn worth of high-voltage transmission lines that are needed to make the renewables-dependent electricity network function. It is for these reasons that the Coalition’s timid embrace of nuclear must be urgently considered.
Claims nuclear plants are too expensive and communities will not accept them must be put to the test. Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien has provided evidence for the defence of nuclear in what is happening in other traditionally coal-dependent communities: Wyoming in the US and Poland in Europe. A Bill Gates-backed company, TerraPower, is building a small nuclear reactor in Wyoming that the Microsoft founder says can help “solve our climate goals” and “get rid of the greenhouse emissions without making the electricity system more expensive and less reliable”.
The TerraPower technology, called Natrium, is fully backed by the US Department of Energy and is designed to integrate into grids with high penetrations of wind and solar. A similar transition is under way in Poland and, contrary to what we were told would happen in Australia, local communities in the US and Poland are keen to be involved. Consultants working on the proposals say this is because workers in coal centres have a high energy-IQ; they understand why energy matters, and what the risks and opportunities are.
It is reasonable to question the energy-IQ of those leading Australia’s low-emissions transition. This is particularly so given the facts exposed by Claire Lehmann that put to the sword claims that renewables are the cheapest option – because they do not take account of the billions of dollars needed for firming, storage and transmission upgrades that will be spent prior to 2030.
By putting nuclear on the table for proper consideration, the federal opposition is doing what should have been done at the outset. Given the imminent risks, removing the legislative ban on considering nuclear energy should be a bipartisan priority.
Nah bugger it Bruce. Here tis:
He has attained omnipresent supergalactic oneness,* mainly with himself it seems.
(*HT Ace Ventura)
I want this!
Knuckle Dragger would use this often calli. He’s quite fond of that term lol
BB – I couldn’t resist your quite excellent lead for the Mike Carlton beach story… 😀
Carlton. Another Barker college alumnus. Like Garrett. Never wanted for anything.
Beertruk
Aug 10, 2023 12:25 PM
OldOzzie
Aug 10, 2023 8:28 AM
The Australian today on the Front Page under Editorial
“Time to go Nuclear before We Run Out of Usable Power”
Reasonable to question energy-IQ of those leading the transition.
Paywalled
Perhaps the Penny is Starting to Drop?
Here you go:
Beertruk,
Thanks – much appreciated