Open Thread – Weekend 18 Nov 2023


Misty Morning, Ivan Shishkin, 1885

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bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 7:06 pm
cohenite
November 19, 2023 7:07 pm

The latest narrative regarding the massacre at the music festival is that hamas just stumbled on it, didn’t know it was on and that most of the casualties were caused by an Israeli Apache helicopter*.

Bullshit. The way the propaganda is going, in a year’s time, this abomination will be turned into a mass suicide ala Jones Town with the poor old pallis having nothing to do with it.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 7:09 pm
Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
November 19, 2023 7:10 pm

JC

Nov 19, 2023 12:36 PM

I don’t know what’s going on with the place. Maybe it’s incidental, but everything I’ve bought or had bought for me that’s packaged, like medications, etc., is packed so tightly that you can’t open them up. You need scissors to get to the meds and lids are impossible.

It’s called child-proof packaging I think.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:11 pm

“We’re worried by the trajectory of this all, and it all began with some vicious chants, and sermons by clerics in Western Sydney, inciting their flocks against our community and we’ve seen it progress to physical confrontation, vandalism of shops and where it goes from here is terrifying and a sobering thing to think about.”

8 1

Who is this vile anti-Semite here?

Cass said to me yesterday she’s beginning to prefer the term anti-Jew.
Who is that here?

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
November 19, 2023 7:11 pm

Lizzie I was referring to the perky titties. I didn’t see any lady with a tea tray.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:15 pm

Not really. Some of the camps may have become apartments but they weren’t all like that. Not at all, certainly not in the 70s. Further, they were still stateless. They weren’t incorporated pre-67 nor post-67, except in Jordan.

Dover, they were given numerous opportunities to creat a Palestinian State, but rejected them all in favour of constant jihad against Israel. This jihad only led to further defensive measures taken by Israel.

Getting rid of Hamas now has to be the circuit breaker in all of this.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:22 pm

Ranga, sorry, I thought you saw me as the grey-hair old dear passing around tea at the end of Rabz’ music video.

Look, my boozies have been endless fun here, as a little flirtation, and they really are not false nor wizened, for not every woman my age is a dried up old prune. But it’s all just a joke, Joyce.

Just as some of you old geezers still like to imagine yourselves in your prime, and maybe some of you are even in pretty good form. I like to imagine so anyway, for a little flirting, as was agreed here long ago, is the stuff of life.

Let’s not forget though that the main sex organ is the brain and I see evidence of plenty of good brains here, both male and female, of all ages.

Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 7:23 pm

And this was long before Covid. But, somehow, the information never quite made it to the public domain.

The Vaccine Study That Should Have Brought Down The Empire.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 7:24 pm

mole:

Nice Shot

To be fair, the door was wiiiide open for that one.

Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 7:27 pm

Net zero means precisely nothing. As this article points out, it takes on whatever meaning is attributed to it. Just like carbon “offsets” are a total fake. The entire fraud of global warming exists for the sole purpose of enabling those in power to take control of our lives, while enriching themselves.

Achieving “Net Zero” will be so expensive no Government will even attempt to Estimate the Total Cost

Rabz
November 19, 2023 7:28 pm

Jump Around, Cats … 🙂

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 7:29 pm

@Elizabeth

How the word Byzantine turned from a noun to an adjective?

“they were given numerous opportunities to creat a Palestinian State, but rejected them all in favour of constant jihad against Israel. ”

I don’t know if this is true. Already a lot of people have made thier minds up and the precipitating events are now so long in the past that they are beyond contest.

God Have Mercy on Us all ..since we fail to have any upon each other.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 7:33 pm

Blawaaah – lots o’ protein does not fill the tummee, Cats!

Not happee! 😕

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:33 pm

“Did my penis distract you?”

Correct answer to this potty-mouth male basketballer in a female team would have been, no, your penis is far too tiny to distract anyone, but you are seven inches taller than a woman, and that’s what is ‘distracting’ about you.

Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 7:35 pm
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:35 pm

Blawaaah – lots o’ protein does not fill the tummee, Cats!

In your freezer, Rabz.

My forgotten and/or redundant yummy cheese and spinach filo pastry triangles.

Twelve minutes at 180 and your problems are solved.

calli
calli
November 19, 2023 7:36 pm

The answer is, “what penis?”. Then point and laugh.

P
P
November 19, 2023 7:37 pm
Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 7:40 pm

Really the main reason I come to the Cat is to see if there is an answer to the “Palli Intransigence” theme.

You people have your own views .. I respect them …

The way I have had a whole personality and political perspective invented for me..

All the better to slag me off.

calli
calli
November 19, 2023 7:40 pm

Just about to venture forth into Trondheim, third largest city in Norway. It’s currently -6C.

The sun is shining, pretendingbto be warm. It sits so low in the sky many areas are in permanent shade and will be until next year.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:41 pm

Worth putting up the detail here. Basically similar to Australia but some differences due to the welfare nature of the State, which applies across the board, whereas it doesn’t in America.

A strong case can be made that assessed by characteristics of middle class security and prosperity rather than income, the middle class has effectively shrunk to 10% of households as only the top 30% of households earn enough to afford what was within reach of the top 60% in decades past.

By definition, the top 20% cannot be “middle class.” The top 20% is comprised of the upper-middle class, the wealthy and the super-wealthy (the 80% to 95% bracket, top 5% and the top 1%).

Attempting to define the middle class by income alone is futile due to regional differences in costs and purchasing power. $100,000 annual household income that will barely pay rent and necessities in a major metro city can stretch considerably further in smaller cities far from high-cost zones.

Regardless of income, households that are living paycheck to paycheck don’t qualify as middle class if we qualify “middle class” by these characteristics:

In Why the Middle Class Is Doomed (April 2012) I listed five “threshold” characteristics of membership in the middle class:

1. Meaningful healthcare insurance (i.e. not phantom coverage that only kicks in after thousands of dollars are paid in cash).

2. Significant equity (25%-50%) in a home or other real estate.

3. Income/expenses that enable the household to save at least 6% of its net income.

4. Significant retirement funds: 401Ks, IRAs, etc.

5. The ability to service all debt and expenses over the medium-term if one of the primary household wage-earners lose their job.

I then added a taken-for-granted sixth:

6. Reliable vehicles for each wage-earner that are fully covered by insurance.

Author Chris Sullins suggested adding these additional thresholds:

7. If a household requires government assistance (SNAP, Medicaid, rent subsidies, etc.) to maintain the family lifestyle, their middle class status is in doubt.

8. A percentage of non-financial hard assets such as family heirlooms, precious metals, business equity, rental income property, land, etc. that can be transferred to the next generation, i.e. generational wealth.

9. Ability to invest in offspring (education, extracurricular clubs/training, etc.).

10. Leisure time devoted to the maintenance of physical/spiritual/mental fitness.

Correspondent Mark G. suggested two more:

11. Continual accumulation of human and social capital (adding new skills, expanding social networks and markets for one’s services, etc.)

And the money shot:

12. Family ownership of income-producing assets such as rental properties, bonds, etc.

The key point of these thresholds is that propping up a precarious illusion of consumption and status signifiers does not qualify as middle class. To qualify as middle class (that is, what was considered middle class a generation or two ago), the household must actually own/control wealth that won’t vanish if the investment bubble du jour pops, and won’t be wiped out by a medical emergency. In Chris’s phrase, “They should be focusing resources on the next generation and passing on Generational Wealth” as opposed to “keeping up appearances” via aspirational consumption financed with debt.

So how much does it cost to meet these qualifying standards? Two generations ago, public school teachers, healthcare workers, skilled craft workers and others with median-level incomes could meet all of these qualifications, for the purchasing power of their earnings was extremely high compared to now. A median wage bought a lot of shelter, vehicle, healthcare, college education, etc.

According to the US Census Bureau, Real median household income was $74,580 in 2022. (Source: Income in the United States: 2022) This is the “middle income” that presumably qualifies as “middle class,” but it would take extreme frugality and sacrifices to stretch $75,000 to cover the qualifications listed above, even in low-cost regions.

As a general guideline, $75,000 would only stretch to meet these qualifications if 1) the family home was owned free and clear, i.e. no mortgage, either via inheritance or extreme efforts such as building your own home with cash savings, 2) no student loan debt, either by gaining desirable skills outside college or completing college on scholarships, with family financial aid, etc., and no vehicle loan, i.e. a reliable used car/truck that is owned free and clear.

These may strike younger readers as impossible fantasies, but as I’ve often noted here, forty years ago I worked my way through a four-year university program with part-time jobs and built a house from scratch with only savings, income from temp construction jobs and a $5,000 bank loan ($17,000 in today’s dollars) which we paid off in two years.

Even with extreme frugality, this debt-free lifestyle is no longer within reach of the non-wealthy, as costs for college, land, permits and building materials have skyrocketed, along with the costs of healthcare, insurance, vehicles, childcare, etc.

I submit that for most households in higher-cost regions, these qualifications can only be met with an annual household income of $150,000 or more, which according to the Census Bureau, is the cutoff level for the top 20% (top quintile) of American households.

According to the Census Bureau, the top 20% earn 52% of all income, and the top 5% earn 23.5% of all income. The top 10% of households have an income of $216,000 or higher, and the top 5% have incomes of $295,000 or higher. The top 1% bracket is $867,000 and up. (TableA-4a, Income in the United States: 2022).

In lower-cost regions, it may be possible for frugal households in the 70% to 80% income bracket to qualify. According to the Census Bureau, this bracket earns between $118,700 and $153,000. This 10% might qualify as middle class. Households earning less would likely qualify only if they inherited significant wealth from their families or received substantial financial aid from their families, such as college paid for in full, a down payment for a home purchase, etc.

In summary: if we set minimum standards for qualifying as middle class by what was within reach of typical American households two generations ago, relatively few households qualify as middle class. Middle class means more than being able to charge a lavish cruise or foreign vacation on a credit card or buying a new truck with a huge loan. It once meant owning assets, not owing debt on assets.

Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 7:42 pm

This is what happens when you lose respect for life.

80% of Dutch support assisted suicide for people without terminal illnesses: poll

bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 7:43 pm

The answer is, “what penis?”. Then point and laugh.

Exactly! enything more is just babbling.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:44 pm

In Australia, superannuation is a compulsory asset, which can also be used as a savings vehicle.

Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 7:44 pm
Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 7:45 pm
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:46 pm

Exactly! enything more is just babbling.

No, the penis is just the insult component.

Not worth much if you don’t point out the real differential.
The height of the basketballer who is male.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 7:47 pm

All the better to slag me off

Which we shall now unrepentently do …

Bolto is such a joke, that his mother* when she’s not busy getting around in armee boots, is busy washing his two pairs of socks.

I tells ya. 😕

*Gowd bless her, etc

Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 7:49 pm
Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 7:51 pm

In the Final Analysis I dont know if I am right or wrong .. probably never will on this side of the Dirt Nap and perhaps, not even then?

Sometimes I think some insoluable questions are not worth asking.

But the reality is with us right now …

But inchoate answers are coming at us aplenty …

Dot
Dot
November 19, 2023 7:52 pm

To be fair, the door was wiiiide open for that one.

It was that crab on the stairwell. They work in pairs. I know what I’m talking about, I graduated from Annapolis, goddammit.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 7:53 pm

Enjoy Trondheim, Calli.

I think winter or approaching winter is the best time to visit the Arctic.

Summer if beautiful there but winter is what the deep north is about.

If you get to Tromso, don’t miss seeing the Cathedral of the Arctic, in winter.

Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 7:54 pm
Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 7:56 pm

@ Rabz

Why arent you the clever one? Wanna find out ? You have to dig Her up and ask Her…

Shame …

bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 7:58 pm
Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:01 pm

@ Rabz …

It would never enter my mind to insult someone’s Mother !?!? But to such as you it is all part of the hilarious repartee.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:02 pm

Bolto – tell it to those wide eyed li’l students at the Henry Kissinger Peace Academy.

They are not being needing a re-Ron (again) … 😕

Indolent
Indolent
November 19, 2023 8:05 pm
JC
JC
November 19, 2023 8:05 pm

Nice apartments in Liz Bay, Bern. Have they reached $400 million for each yet in Sydney?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
November 19, 2023 8:05 pm

Knuckle Dragger
Nov 19, 2023 3:25 PM
Today – 19 November – is International Men’s Day.

Ladies, put your embroidery down and get cracking.

Nothin extravagant. Ham, cheese, a bit of turkey, mustard and geez, would it kill you to toast it?

Then go away. The World Cup final’s on in a couple of hours.

I might go quietly here.
Had a visit today from the granddaughter of one of the former owners of our place. There are funny little bakelite switches in a few main rooms which I had always assumed were redundant electric light switches.
But no. They were to summon the help.
I suggested they’d be great to get them hooked up again for uninterrupted crickit watching. One buzz for drinks. Two buzzes for snacks.
Apparently that won’t be happening.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:06 pm

@ Rabz

But I am getting what I came here for. An Idea of the sort of mindset you people have.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:08 pm

insult someone’s Mother

Implying that a womanage of a certain age might choose to get around in armee boots is an insult?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 19, 2023 8:10 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J4Z0ckaY5o

Ciao, Gina Lollobrigida, Queen of Italy…

bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 8:10 pm

you people

Oh! Really.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:11 pm

Complacent, uncaring, unfunny, snot gobblers at an “insiders only “.. Oh gosh arent we all hillarious !!? Slapping each other on the back …. Folks pretending to be seeking Truth.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:15 pm

as It happens my Mum did wear army boots ..when she was on this side of the turf…

so slap your knees and see how funny you are… Got me a biggie there Sparky …

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 8:15 pm

Oh my.

Magnificent outfield catch by Travis Head.

The Alintas in the game, despite their idiot captain choosing to bowl first.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 19, 2023 8:16 pm

The answer is, “what penis?”. Then point and laugh.

“Call THAT a penis?” Then point and laugh.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:18 pm

Bolto, you humourless b’stard – just lighten up, FFS 🙂

bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 8:19 pm

Stfu! Stumpy.

cohenite
November 19, 2023 8:20 pm

Indolent
Nov 19, 2023 7:45 PM
Why the Support for Hamas?

This is an interesting but ultimately incorrect over analysis of the psychology of hamas and islam in general.

In the criminal law system you quickly realise that the vast majority of all crimes are recidivist; that a small minority of people do them. As consequences diminish that minority drag a few more in, still a minority but sufficient to threaten social cohesion. Some societies have taken this degrading process, wrapped it in an ideology and used it to dominate. Nazism is one example, communism another; but islam has perfected it. Behaviour and actions in islam which would be abhorred, or used to be, in the West are fundamental in islam. This behaviour is focused and motivated towards designated groups, everyone who is not muslim. These targets have a hierarchy: Israel/jews, then the West, then differing types of islam.

Saying as the article does that something in Jews, their success, the biblical antecedents, which breeds motivating jealousy in islam ignores this basic fact: islam is motivated to hate Israel, Jews and the West not by any quality they have other than they are not part of islam. The motivation is within islam itself: it is a culture of hate and war.

The fact that our leaders and media ignore this means an otherwise imminently beatable enemy, islam, is winning.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 8:20 pm

Complacent, uncaring, unfunny, snot gobblers at an “insiders only “.. Oh gosh arent we all hillarious !!?

Did you not get the applause you were looking for at the lollipop blog?

Make your point, and defend it if necessary. That is the nature of debate.

If you turn up here – or anywhere – and obfuscate, fence-sit and be deliberately obscure, of course you’re going to be ignored or taken to task.

This giant display of sookage demeans everyone. Mainly you.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:21 pm

@ Rabz ..

No Mate you had me in stitches !!!

cohenite
November 19, 2023 8:24 pm

But inchoate answers are coming at us aplenty …

Inchoate answers?! WTF are the questions.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 8:26 pm

How do you make this ‘electricity’? I don’t know, replies the securely-clueless hapless modern yoof.

A window on our future? Says it all, really.

How would you explain it to ancient greeks, Lizzie?

They were quite open the the idea of unknown forces in nature as well as being interested in things as yet unexplained, Dr. BG. Don’t forget they invented trigenometry and astronomy. They weren’t bad at brain work.

They were already wondering about electrostatic materials, such as amber.

I’d start there.

Our current yoof have only Gaia to guide them; back to deities and magic for them.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:26 pm

@Knuckle Dragger

If I am undecided about a certain controversy what is wrong with not having an opinion? And even if I did, here is scarcely the place to try to engage in worthwhile discussion.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:27 pm
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 8:29 pm

The point of the Powerline pic was that these yoof feel absolutely entitled in the rightness of their opinions about everything, and would happily take on the instruction of ‘lesser mortals’ in earlier times; these yoof however not having much in the way of scientific analysis and knowledge to guide them in their ‘teaching the ancients’ project. Dumbed down schools and universities are to blame for that.

rosie
rosie
November 19, 2023 8:30 pm

No no bespoke, there is some evidence of people who may have been killed haaretz only suggests a few, a security guard at a kibbutz, possibly people in a house in bee’ri by a tank, I didn’t look hard enough at the helicopter story, though it was hamas in Jeeps fleeing to the border who may have had hostages but the Nova story is a fabrication.

Israeli army did not fire on own civilians at Nova music festival

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
November 19, 2023 8:32 pm

Dinner now, then the second hour of Outsiders and another hour of The Crown.

Another very good lazy Sundy around here.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:33 pm

Oh, no – a song about tastee womanages of a certain age … 😕

Miss Laydee …

bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 8:35 pm

Cheers rosie.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:36 pm

Thanks to the abundant lack of Truth, from both sides, in the conflict reemerging in the Middle East … it has gone world wide and every one can re imagine the issues to suit their own agenda.

He who smiles constantly will crack a chuckle ….

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:37 pm

Who else could get out the full string section, except

Reply
Dot
November 19, 2023 8:41 pm

Weird shit. Contemporaneous historical accounts too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_Mountains_Mummy

Read it before Wikipedia gets censored by the people Voltaire used to mock.

The direct connection between the stories pertaining the race of tiny people, known as Nimerigar, attacking with a blow to the head allow theorists to make a direct connection to the remains of “Pedro” and “Chiquita”. The theory of a race of “little people” in America has been peddled throughout history, and had been a topic of interest for Anthropologists, Scientists, and Geologists alike. It was widely reported in the New York Times and The Anthropological Journal in 1876 that a six acre graveyard was discovered in Coffee County, Tennessee and contained a tribe of people who were measured at around three feet of height. They were also said to have been found in sitting and standing positions, and were also found to have wisdom teeth, suggesting that they were not children. This is referred to as a pygmy grave, and is still a mystery in the sense that we do not know what these beings were doing all together in this grave. Also reported with this specific news, it was discovered that there was an eerily similar find at a site in Ohio, near Cochocton.

???!!!

If human habitation in the Americas predates Clovis, you have to wonder if people slowly adapted to become smaller and smaller? I’ve seen some estimates of up to 45,000 years in the Americas. Lewis and Clark….well I leave you with this: from Wiki again:

“…on August 25, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and 10 other men traveled about 9 miles (14 km) north of the river’s junction with the Missouri River to see the “mountain of the Little People”. Lewis wrote in his journal that the Little People were “deavals” (devils) with very large heads, about 18 inches (46 cm) high, and very alert to any intrusions into their territory.”…”

Astonishing if you think about it.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 8:42 pm

And even if I did, here is scarcely the place to try to engage in worthwhile discussion

Look. Champ.

This is one of – nay, the – greatest and most robust platforms in this wide brown land. This is the home of ‘worthwhile discussion’, and you actually don’t discuss anything.

It’s like listening to the mad uncle at Christmas you are subjected to every year as small children. ‘When I was in prison, I used to – oh, look at that bird. I give birds my own special names. Anyway, I wore an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time’.

What do you expect? By the way, you appear to be pretty thin-skinned for a bloke that apparently showered with other blokes for years on end. Even that story turned into a remarkable shadow of The Shawshank Redemption.

Lay off the LSD strips and just make a point.

shatterzzz
November 19, 2023 8:43 pm

Banks .. ya gotta luv ’em … FFS!
Looking at my CommBank monthly credit card statement and sighted an entry I’d never seen before .. “monthly charge $6” nothing else …. soooooo checked those “terms & conditions” emails I never read and, lo & behold, one from October .. “from this month (October) instead of a yearly fee your card now has a $6 month charge”…….
Yearly it was $35 now it’ll be $72 ……..

Boambee John
Boambee John
November 19, 2023 8:45 pm

dover0beach
Nov 19, 2023 7:09 PM
By at latest the 1970s, those “camps” were comprised of multi-story reinforced concrete apartment blocks.

Puts a different light on the “refugee” status. Not quite glamping, but certainly not the Somalia/Kenya border style. For all practical purposes, except harassing Israel, they were migrants settled in a new country.

Not really. Some of the camps may have become apartments but they weren’t all like that. Not at all, certainly not in the 70s. Further, they were still stateless. They weren’t incorporated pre-67 nor post-67, except in Jordan.

They were still stateless, probably for two reasons:

First, no Arab nation wants them as citizens, which might say something about them;

Second, Arab nations saw value in having the large population of “refugees” as a means to stir up trouble with Israel.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
November 19, 2023 8:45 pm

They were already wondering about electrostatic materials, such as amber.

I’d start there.

It’s a loooong long way from amber to a generator. You’d have to find magnets and copper wire for starters. I agree that the yoof have no idea how ignorant they are. It’s a worry. But they’ve always been like that. It’s the fact that their teachers are every bit as bad that’s the bigger problem.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 8:47 pm

If human habitation in the Americas predates Clovis, you have to wonder if people slowly adapted to become smaller and smaller?

You realise you are heading deep into the giant race of Tartaria…..

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:48 pm

Yearly it was $35 now it’ll be $72

LOL, shatterzzz, that’s only a 105% increase.

So stop your grumbling, again … 😕

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:50 pm

@ Knuckle Dragger

I already did … I made it abundantly clear. I am a student of propaganda … I like to go where it is promulgated and get the feel of it.

The reason why I gave a truthful account of my background is why I always do. To see if I can find some commonality with the people I am hoping to engage with… invariably their life experiences will be different from mine.

But I love the words “I dont know” …

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:51 pm

KD – being the authorithah that you are about Tartania – were the womanages hot, I asks ya?

Rabz
November 19, 2023 8:53 pm

British Communists, circa 1979 … 🙂

rosie
rosie
November 19, 2023 8:54 pm
Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 8:57 pm

@ Knuckle Dragger

as to prison? I have been there … I hope you havent … but as to your jibes about “showering with men” it doesnt work like that. And nor should it.

Best I can do is tell young stupid young blokes (like I was) how to avoid such life shattering entanglements…

P
P
November 19, 2023 9:01 pm

shatterzzz,

Being alive is costly but compared to the alternative it appears to me to be cheap at this moment of time.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 9:02 pm

A brunette in a red dress, wandering around a wood … 🙂

rosie
rosie
November 19, 2023 9:02 pm

Well we can confirm at least one death by friendly fire but as the article says helicopters targeted the borders to prevent more hamas and thousands of ‘civilians’ penetrating into Israel.
And yes if they were shooting at retreating vehicles that possibly had hostages aboard there would have been more idf caused Israeli deaths.
It should be pretty obvious though that ‘IDF killed everyone at the Nova festival’ is a bit fat lie.

Plasmamortar
Plasmamortar
November 19, 2023 9:03 pm

Comic relief

I’m guessing this article is genuine as nobody could make this up…

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
November 19, 2023 9:04 pm

That is certainly one of the spins

The Left and the taqiyya jockeys are in overdrive.

Far-left Tries to Deny Israeli Women Were Raped, Assaulted During Hamas Attack (17 Nov)

Many other stories around about such contortions and gymnastics. They can’t cope with the idea that Hamas muslims are bloodthirsty baby killers. So they deny reality. Their imaginary world is quite intricate, and a complete fantasy.

bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 9:07 pm

Best I can do is tell young stupid young blokes (like I was) how to avoid such life shattering entanglements…

Please stop you know nothing.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 9:07 pm

The same brunette in a white dress

Pure beauty, Cats – if you might find yourself cross and depressed and generally not feeling that great – just watch. 🙂

bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 9:08 pm

… werdio.

rosie
rosie
November 19, 2023 9:09 pm

Wondering how many invading gazans were included in the dead innocent civilian count by Hamas.
We know the invaders included women and children.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 9:12 pm

@KD

“This is the home of ‘worthwhile discussion’, and you actually don’t discuss anything.”

Oh really ?

When I first started posting I got a deluge of derision from people who had already decided who I was and where I came from ..

I didn’t mind the rudeness.. that sort of interaction happens. But the way I had already been strawmaned and categorized … before I even had the chance to explore any kind of discussion …

I became a figment of your imagination …

As I have always said .. I am here to explore the phenomenon of propaganda…

Dot
Dot
November 19, 2023 9:15 pm

You realise you are heading deep into the giant race of Tartaria…..

I swear I have provided an X-ray, an excerpt from Lewis and Clark’s diaries and contemporaneous accounts of discoveries in the popular and academic press.

It doesn’t count?

Okay. I’ll make You Tube account and drive around random cities and assume any building I can’t get in is run by the Freemasons.

John Brumble
John Brumble
November 19, 2023 9:21 pm

Obvious trolling is obvious.

Please just stop feeding it.

Dot
Dot
November 19, 2023 9:21 pm

The reason why I gave a truthful account of my background is why I always do.

You told us you did 12 years for a very serious crime (you say you were falsely accused) and yet you can’t say what years you went in and out of Acacia Prison.

This is very strange. You have used your “real name” but me asking this question is doxxing you?

Bizarre.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 9:25 pm

Me, earlier:

This is the home of ‘worthwhile discussion’, and you actually don’t discuss anything.

Then:

I am here to explore the phenomenon of propaganda…

Oh my wordy lordy.

‘Hello. I am here to discuss the nature of propaganda.’
‘What is propaganda?’
‘I was a shoppie (that should enhance my cred).’
‘Why is the sky blue?’
‘I went to prison (massive cred, surely).’
‘Where do the butterflies go when it rains?’

You’re either not serious, or you are serious and only post when you’re having a break from mowing the roof.

C.L.
C.L.
November 19, 2023 9:25 pm

A brunette in a red dress…

The greatest music video of all time.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 9:25 pm

On the more interesting topic of propaganda. Syriangirl is all pumped up and ready to blast. And has a coterie of fumbling adoring simps. That kinda stuff works.

She probably lives near the “Booka” …

Will she mow my lawn if my mower shits itself … ? Unlikely …

Blessed be the Peace Maker…

Rabz
November 19, 2023 9:26 pm

Cats – you know you’ve just made it when it’s a Sunday evening and you’re imbibing a beer of not especially auspicious providence out of a Cap’n Morgan plastic mug, I yells ya! 🙂

MatrixTransform
November 19, 2023 9:27 pm

I’m guessing this article is genuine as nobody could make this up

is that a hint of a hint of smile on the bloke’s face?

not judging … love is love

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 19, 2023 9:27 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLLBGMSaVFA

Brian Blessed’s finest moment,in “I, Claudius.”

“Is there any among you who has NOT slept with my daughter? Take them out, I’ll deal with them later!”

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 9:27 pm

I became a figment of your imagination …

What follows is a series of short vignettes on Mr Bolton’s time in the bin:

‘Taking it off here, boss’

‘What we have here, is a failure to communicate’

‘Nobody can eat 50 eggs’

Rabz
November 19, 2023 9:28 pm

While listening to some Johnny Marr on the Guitar

Dot
Dot
November 19, 2023 9:29 pm

Mark Bolton

What “claims to justice” does Hamas have???

bons
bons
November 19, 2023 9:29 pm

Rabz,. At the risk of being door knocked by JC’s goons, I am prepared to humbly suggest that Christina may be a challenge to the magnificant Kate Hepburn.

No no, please don’t hit me again, I’m sorry.

‘Candyman’ is an extraordinary production and she gives most of those four octives a workout. Shame about the fat calves!

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 19, 2023 9:31 pm

Second, Arab nations saw value in having the large population of “refugees” as a means to stir up trouble with Israel.

That’s been the policy since 1948 – leave the refugees to fester in the camps, and make trouble with Israel.

Dot
Dot
November 19, 2023 9:33 pm

I wish you’d stop being so good to me, Captain Knuckles.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 9:35 pm

@Knuckle Dragger

as I said before … I never said the things you attribute to me … but do congratulate you on making out as if I did … it makes your outrage so much more justifiable…

That is the nature of propaganda.

To quote the late great Proff Julius Sumner Miller

“Beautiful to contemplate” …

C.L.
C.L.
November 19, 2023 9:35 pm

I just timed a Paul Murray question.

40 seconds.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 9:35 pm

Kohli gone. Call centre blokes now 4/148 after 28 overs.

So far, so good.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 9:37 pm

Miss Planet – brunettes just doing it right, again 🙂

bespoke
bespoke
November 19, 2023 9:43 pm

You’re not going to get rid of Hamas. You might dent it temporarily but it will only multiple following these events.

I shouldn’t ask since my is let the Israelis do what they see fit. Thay have enough outsiders stirring the pot.

What is your solution?

bons
bons
November 19, 2023 9:44 pm

Madam forced me to watch the idiot Johanna Lumley doing her breathy silly travel homilies. “These darling little brown people”.

Suddenly a revelation: she had to be the inspiration for Andrew Doyle’s genius creation Titania McGrath.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 9:45 pm

@ Rabz …

Mate either “cold spoon time ” or go some manual relief…

Where is your head?

Rabz
November 19, 2023 9:49 pm

the fat calves

She has a farm?

Johnny Rotten
November 19, 2023 9:49 pm

BS And The Plonkers are trying it on again. Dip sticks. LOL.

My MP tried this and he was a Fark wit. Black Out Bowen or some Tosser or some fink

cohenite
November 19, 2023 9:50 pm

Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)

One of the best beat builds in the business. And while the lady is not a cute owl I’ll make her an honorary one.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 9:51 pm

I just timed a Fatso Murray question

For when there is nothing else on this planet worth engaging in. 😕

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 9:52 pm

@ bespoke

for the Arabs a “no loose” situation has been set up… they dont give a rat’s about the Pallis… infact the worse it gets for them the better … a Petri Dish victim group. They need contribute no resources .. but can use the conflict to justify thier own ends.

Pallis played themselves…

Rabz
November 19, 2023 9:57 pm

Where is your head?

Paper Romance

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 10:05 pm

@ Rabz

Must confess .. the Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak… some dribble e did go down my chin .. but not a word to Mother 😉

Rabz
November 19, 2023 10:07 pm

Peoples – the Bolto is being laid into on the basis that he’s stuck his li’l mole head out – some of his comments, as much as I hate to admit it, deserve a sensible response.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 10:09 pm

Except, to prove me wrong, again, his last one …:?

Rabz
November 19, 2023 10:13 pm

A kissed out li’l red floatboat

A cover, courtesy of a blonde in Vegas … 😕

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
November 19, 2023 10:13 pm

The Crickit Whirled Cup final is in progress.
Between Straya and the Injuns.
“Where is Engerland?” I hear you ask.
Well, they’ve been home eating kippers and complaining about the weather for three weeks, having finished seventh.
Something to reflect upon. The Poms are great at inventing sports for the rest of the world to beat them at (and then complain when they fall foul of the rules they wrote themselves).
It’s not just crickit.
They just buried their last winning soccer whirled cup captain, who died of old age and possibly exasperation with the increasingly novel ways Engerland would find to exit whirled cups before the semis.
As far as International competition goes, it’s been pretty slim pickings since the Armada and Waterloo.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 10:14 pm

@ Rabz

wasnt Iggy the the promulgator of “live fast and die pretty ?? But then he went on to do niether.. and both … how the Hell did he get away with it?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 10:14 pm

The call centre operators have a loooong tail.

5/178 now. 15 overs left. Straya will not be chasing 300+.

The reversing pill will not make it easier.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 10:18 pm

@ Rabz

Probably a better joke .. and one that might take time to sink in … I love his song “I am a Conservative.”

Rabz
November 19, 2023 10:20 pm

A goil

Rabz
November 19, 2023 10:23 pm

“I’m a Consoivative”

I’m not! 🙂

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 10:25 pm

Actually if I could live forever, even if it meant sinking my fangs into the jugular of young virgins (which I do anyway ) ..wouldnt it be worth it to see what the Future holds?

https://youtu.be/sSciv_hdeZk

Rabz
November 19, 2023 10:27 pm
Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 10:35 pm

I dug Mum up asked her .. yeah she was fine with the crack about “Army Boots” ..and gotta tell you .. I walk in Hers.

No Harm no foul .

Peace Brother !

cohenite
November 19, 2023 10:37 pm
Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 10:41 pm

Legitimate Grievances news (the Hun):

A Jewish man has been assaulted outside a Bentleigh East synagogue in what police are treating as a “racially motivated” incident.

The Herald Sun can reveal a man, aged in his 70s, was assaulted while walking into the Chabad on Cecil St about 10.40am on Saturday, November 18.

Attacked with a syringe, after the coward noticed Hebrew calendars in the old bloke’s car.

Nice, Palis. Real nice ideology you got there.

Rabz
November 19, 2023 10:47 pm

Let’s have some Sunday Evening Romance, Cats! 🙂

I met you at JC Penney
Your name tag, it said, Jennee,
Like a fruit that’s ripe for the pickin’
I wouldnee do you like that
Psycho chickens 😕

Goil, you know I just wanna be with you
Cos only you’ve got the thang
I’ve just got to get with

I’ll pick you up late at night after woik
I said laydee, step inside my Hyundai
I’m gonna take you up to Glendale
I’m gonna take you for a real good meal

Cos, when our eyes did meet
Goil, you knew I was packin’ heat …
Cos you’ve got the thang
That I’ve just got to get with …

You’re just drivin’ me crazee, you li’l thang … 🙂

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
November 19, 2023 10:52 pm

Call centre operators now 7/211. Six overs left.

Cautiously optimistic. However, never underestimate the Alintas’ ability to cock something up.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 19, 2023 11:03 pm

Nice, Palis. Real nice ideology you got there.

An ideology with no place in a civilized society.

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 11:05 pm

If only we had the strength of character to examine ourselves from the inside out…. It may be terrifying to begin with …

https://youtu.be/_zCQ5kHfcVk

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 11:23 pm

That said ..when it comes to Asians I far prefer the VN ..far less neurotic..love a smoke and a drink and a good laugh …

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 11:33 pm

Oh you simps and dribblers … gotta own it… surely you didnt pass this one by ?

https://youtu.be/vC_bFDPiqYA

Old School Conservative
Old School Conservative
November 19, 2023 11:43 pm

In “get ’em while they’re young” news I see the ABC is refusing to review its kids programme Behind The News despite numerous complaints about bias and harmful information.
No review = definite bias and “intellectual poison” (Peter Wertheim).

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 11:46 pm

Also Debbie … I was in the hospital system back in they 80s ..sure AIDS was passed on by sexual intercourse … a lot of beautiful people died .. RIP Kenny Everet … but it was more complicated than we were being allowed to discuss…. some things never change .. the name “Faucci” keeps popping back up …

Mark Bolton
November 19, 2023 11:48 pm

@KD ..
yes I do have opinions … and might be up for some conversation ….go ahead and gore my ox you big old bugger…

Mark Bolton
November 20, 2023 12:00 am

@KD

but here is the problem .. you and your grubby mates have already decided for me what my perspective is…

So if we were to have an honest discussion you would be starting off on the standpoint of engaging an interlocutor you have invented for yourself.

Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
November 20, 2023 12:06 am

… and Warner, in a change from dragging balls on, this time edges one down the throat of Kohli.

Shami is all over the shop, though.

Arky
November 20, 2023 12:11 am

Mark from Melbourne
Nov 20, 2023 12:06 AM
… and Warner, in a change from dragging balls on, this time edges one down the throat of Kohli.

Shami is all over the shop, though

..
Cricket Mark?
I didn’t know you were gay.

Bruce in WA
November 20, 2023 12:15 am

Merry Christmas everybody …

First! First! I’m first!

MatrixTransform
November 20, 2023 12:15 am

RIP Kenny Everett

Mr Angry of Mayfair

Mark Bolton
November 20, 2023 12:17 am

Back in the 80s Medical students got a tap on the shoulder ….dont speak the Truth about AIDS if you value a career.

Mark Bolton
November 20, 2023 12:24 am

I knew some folks that worked with him … apparently he was impossible.. probably why he was sacked so often.

You either got it or you didnt … probably the same with my beloved Spike …

And Barry Humpfries and Bill Leak … God Bless the Mad Buggers .. they give us at least a clue in how to try to stay sane …

Mark from Melbourne
Mark from Melbourne
November 20, 2023 12:35 am

Oh, I came out as a cricket tragic years ago, Arks!

Heck… I’m pretty much just a sport tragic. Very fond of curling, which is not something you admit to except amongst friends.

And in the time it took to pen that purple prose, Smiff is gone and the Alinta’s (h/t KD) are in more trouble than the early settlers.

Mark Bolton
November 20, 2023 12:39 am

from Melbourne

I was relegated to spear fishing… not a sport probably .. but quite a strenuous activity … and at least I came home to breakfast.

Arky
November 20, 2023 12:57 am

I admit I experimented with watching cricket when I was young and easily influenced.
I’m not proud of it.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
November 20, 2023 1:12 am

the Little People were “deavals” (devils) with very large heads, about 18 inches (46 cm) high

Big, if true.

😉

Boambee John
Boambee John
November 20, 2023 7:57 am

Dover

Re 1, the Jordanians accepted over a million.

And turfed a lot out in the Black September events of the 1970s. Again, the Palestinians never lost an opportunity to lose an opportunity. (Jordan is the nearest thing to a Palestinian state ever likely to exist, and they shat in the nest.)

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