The mongstradamuses of the government has the gall to bung on 25% or so in inflation then crow about 7%…
Open Thread – Weekend 18 Nov 2023
- Bumtree #16
- Open Thread – Mon 20 May 2024
- Guest Post: Wally Dali- Archibald Prize predictions
- TULIP versus ruinous Labor
- Open Thread – Weekend 18 May 2024
Leaving work today I donned a scarf because it’s a bit nippy here in Sydney tonight although not as bitter…
Hostess was Mossad agent and fed them poisoned pork snags …
Morocco’s Jewish population peaked in the fifties, perhaps quarter of a million, now there are around 5000. Israel paid the…
one for yer (post-budget) blues … “I got the same old blues”
Winston Smith
Nov 18, 2023 3:30 PM
Johnny Rotten
A Rolls Royce Hearse would never have any of these issues. The show must go on..
JR:
I double downticked you for your insolence, boy.
LOL. Boy? Please, I am a Geezer. And they are down thumbs BTW.
bespoke
Nov 18, 2023 3:55 PM
Nothing as visually vile as that, but Germany has Taliban officials giving sermons in mosques.
Check his link.
sky News a week ago
Amazing how blind people are.
Symptoms of lung cancer and TB are indistinguishable but nobody ever once thought the massive 20th century fall in TB accompanied by a massive rise in lung cancer could have just been diagnostic switching.
(Actually, TB and lung cancer are two sides of the same disease).
Cachexia is because an animal would never stop to graze when it’s chased by a predator. A human suffering the equivalent trauma cannot eat and therefore waste away.
But for some bizarre reason if you try and actually make any biological sense of specific symptoms you’re a “conspiracy theorist”.
In short, TB is still common and lung cancer/TB has nothing to do with smoking.
Sure.
Can you point to one instance – just one – where the BBC say “Hamas claim casualty figures are x thousand. This has not been independently verified.”
Ok but if you’re wrong I’ll go Caddyshack on ya both.
Just came across this video: BODYCAM: When A Woke ‘Non-Binary’ Person Gets Pulled Over (You Tube, 3.5 minutes)
The video title doesn’t say nearly enough. Sh-, no h-, no they(?) claimed every excuse, amongst non-binary, social anxiety, indigenous, “you’re being a white man” (to the cop finally arresting … err … they). As one commenter said, 20 years ago this would have been a comedy sketch. The Pythons must be wishing they’d thought up this material.
Because the indications I’m getting is that Hamas have only engaged 5K of their fighters so far, the rest are being held in reserve.
Where would they be “holding” the reserves …?
I watched a sad movie and felt like shit.
The resulting bowel cancer was, according to the ‘doctors’, to be…ahem…treated by surgery, instead of a course of Marx Brothers’ movies.
Such is the mad world we live in.
That’s why I celebrate my birthday every day.
The Great State of Victoria
I don’t know. But I do know that Hezbollah up north certainly do publish their losses. I’d have to look more closely but I’d be surprised if this wasn’t the case for Hamas too. My inclination as to their casualty figures is that they are probably in the three figures; I have seen little direct fighting and its been about three weeks since the IDF moved in.
In the south.
Symptoms of lung cancer and TB are indistinguishable but nobody ever once thought the massive 20th century fall in TB accompanied by a massive rise in lung cancer could have just been diagnostic switching.
x ray tuberculosis
x-ray lung cancer
Or it could already have been explained if you actually searched rather than opened you mindless maw and vomited forth your “thoughts”.
Tuberculosis causes changes in the lungs which can lead to later cancer, even after the original condition is cured.
Cancer and tuberculosis can be present at the same time.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5585804/
6. CONCLUSION
Patients with cured pulmonary tuberculosis represent a group at risk for developing lung cancer. Metaplastic and proliferative changes in the bronchial and alveolar mucosa which tuberculosis leaves behind, can not be ignored and must be taken as a possible place of later malignant alteration. Therefore, patients with any form of pulmonary tuberculosis have to be controlled continuously.
Just a quick google:
I find it difficult to believe that anybody this bonkers is allowed to drive a motor vehicle.
Even the gruinaid has prefaced a few of their reports with “Hamas claim” rather than blandly posting the numbers.
Not all the time, but enough.
Tinta,
When circumstances allow I also recommend a foldable knee scooter for getting about outdoors. It can be awkward indoors but pack it in the car and drive to a suitable park and you can get a bit of exercise scooting along a suitable path.
I bought and used one for 6 weeks when I had to keep weight off one of my ankles post surgery. I got rid of it a couple of months ago otherwise you could have had it gratis.
Nonetheless you can rent them to try out from certain pharmacies so worth a look.
Rabz, check your email.
So true
Orthonica Knee Walker Scooter
Not surprised they stock them.
Mine will have twin G.P.M.G’s mounted on it. Get out of my way, you revolting brats.
You have to catch me first, Zulu.
In Queensland that’s a formal Not For Resuscitation request.
Thanks for that, I have actually been using a knee walker for about 10 days and indoors it’s been find – you’ve seen my very long corridor – I was finding the crutches really difficult to use — it’s been a real boon. Thanks for the offer I hired the one I’m using from the local pharmacy @$30 a week — The future is in God’s hands, and of course the orthopaedic surgeon’s.
Man! Hamas must really be on the mat.
If you’re drinking XXXX, I would have to agree. IV Coopers green might be a different story.
When you’ve lost Teh Grauniad it’s time to think about your 72 virgins.
Think it started after the hospital bombing claims were shown to be BS.
I had a great morning at the Vintage Farm Machinery Day at my local Town’s Showground. Although I am not bad with machinery, the engines on display today were an awesome homage to man’s inventiveness and ingenuity. Not to mention the love and care that has gone into restoring these old beauties.
The other thing that really had me humming was, once the grid goes down, the blokes and farmers with these vintage work horses will still be able to get the job done while the sookie-la-la’s will be crying into their untoasted bread whilst stabbing futilely at their smart phones.
Dozens of early tractors, dozers and harvesters. Learnt things I never knew. The Howard Tractor has its 100th anniversary this year. A totally Australian made tractor.
They had a display of Army Land Rovers and my favourite was a beautifully restored Austin Champ. I had never heard of these, talk about want, want, want one!
Several Iron Wheeled lovelies and one small French Steam Engine, lovingly restored that had been used in shops such as Jewellers, Woodturners etc in the eighteen hundreds. It would have fitted on a small side table.
Great day.
The direction that Israel has just announced it intends to move next? Which has the Mediterranean on one side, Israel on another, and Egypt (another closed border) at its back? Interesting times ahead.
They left 1500 dead in Israel which are almost certainly included in their death total.
Thefrollickingmole
Why did you post that?
Do you honestly believe that the typical case of TB in 1850 was dx using an X-ray?
How could anybody be that much of an imbecile?
But it’s worse than that because you never bothered to read your own links which actually allowed a large degree of uncertainty and ambiguity in the use of said X-rays.
By the way, as I said, TB and lung cancer are two different stages of the same disease. The mycobacteria phase (TB) is actually the non-cachexia part and the cachexia phase won’t have significant mycobacteria activity. However, from the view of a doctor (especially in the 19th century) it would be impossible to discern.
The TB phase is healing but because it involves coughing up blood the patient (encouraged by the doctor) panics and reverts back to lung cancer. This happens over and over until the wasting wins out.
That’s why a “positive mindset” actually works. An animal has no doctor to tell them they’re going to die if they cough up blood so they heal just fine.
https://www.lakegoldsmithsteamrally.org.au/
Might be of interest to you. Usually held in May and November.
That’s hugely interesting Dot. I always had a question in my mind how the sudden drop in population could create an environment of rising real wages. Real incomes can only rise when an economy is in the safe zone.
Great article in the Oz by Angela Shanahan –
I would suggest ways for you test out your crackpot theories but you’ve proven chicken in the past.
So I won’t.
I’ve offered many times to visit hundreds of doctor offices and hospitals where – presumably – I’ll die an agonising death from the dastardly germs. Of course, I’d probably never make it past the first hospital what with germs being so super duper deadly and all but if I make it through that I’ll visit another and another.
Let’s compare and contrast this act of extreme bravery on my part vs you. All you need do is get the entire infant vaccine schedule in one go. Adjusted by body weight.
But you won’t.
Zaf,
the Lake Goldsmith Rally sounds great, but I am not keen on visiting Victoria.
Before I moved further South, I used to go to the Thirlmere Festival of Steam every time it was held.
I get so frustrated by Jews voting for Democrats but then I think of the fact that so many men vote Labor/Green politicians who are doing everything they can to destroy them and their families.
I am not keen on visiting Victoria.
why not?
It was test, Figures. Stand in a septic tank and think happy happy thoughts.
Me vs an imbecile:
Me: being around sick people isn’t dangerous.
Imbecile: what nonsense! You would never put your money where your mouth is!
Me: I’ll visit a place filled to the brim with sick people. Then I’ll do it again and again.
Imbecile: that doesn’t count! Going to places filled to the brim with sick people isn’t dangerous and people do that all the time!
Me: Ummm.
Back in the 1980’s, false accusations of domestic violence and child abuse were considered a perfectly legitimate tactic among the sisterhood – “nobody will believe a man, when he says he didn’t do it.”
You’re blind as well as an imbecile.
Visit India and head out to any river. You’ll see people bathing in what is barely any cleaner than a septic tank. Now I’m glad I don’t live in squalor and I’m not sure about my gag reflex if I were in that situation but it doesn’t make germs dangerous.
Geebus!
hamas supporters protesting Labor MP Peter Khalil’s office in Sydney Rd Coburg.
@Zulu
… and the idea then was that there was so many rape charges and so few convictions that the Law needed to be changed.
Percentages !! ..
The TB phase is healing but because it involves coughing up blood the patient (encouraged by the doctor) panics and reverts back to lung cancer. This happens over and over until the wasting wins out.
Figures humours are unbalanced by the accumulation of yellow bile in the logic and reasoning compartments of the brain.
I propose a course of rectally applied leaches, its cruel, but as far as I know the RSPCA doesnt cover invertebrates.
Mother Lode
Nov 18, 2023 2:43 PM
Take the effort of a trip into device settings and turn off auto-corrupt. I can still see suggestions which helps with spelling/typing errors that I can see and allows me to type a word without the apostrophe but select the correctly-spelled word with the apostrophe. Any subsequent errors are my own.
Joanna suggested this yonks ago. I did it and haven’t looked back.
None of the DV advocates who speak in terms of “gendered violence” and male “toxic” behaviour look at the root causes of violence.
Women can outsource the violence part to the state.
This is an interesting lady, started first womens refuge in England.
Was forced out by militant feminists because she didnt promote the “all women are blameless Madonna’s” line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOqjLeSLa68
Such wit! Except your analogy is inverted. Yours – like bloodletting was – is the side of appeals to authority and makes no attempt to actually understand the purpose of what we call disease.
Bloodletting, vaccination, chemotherapy it’s all exactly the same principle – there’s something evil in our body and it must be destroyed or eliminated.
The Australian Labor Government is sponsoring TV ads saying people should not touch children inappropriately.
For some reason there’s no mention of aborting children or encouraging transgenderism.
Explain how monoclonal antibodies are like bloodletting.
Finally started harvest.
Barley which is yielding very well and top quality malt specifications.
Good beer coming.
Cheers. Sent the link to the wife who will pass it on.
@ Zulu
and it wasnt so much changed as reinforced … this sort of thing … A written note of
“I want to come over to your house this weekend to bonk you stupid” as evidence
Becomes Inadmissible .. the Jury dont get to see it …
But they DO get to see you tell the coppers in the interview .. ” Oh She was tottally Up for it .. It was consensual !! ”
And she weeps piteously ..Oh Nothing I ever said ..
Having fun with the System …
It is Percentages …
Air hellair.
OK to those not up to speed. A letter written to the “Rapist” a cupulla days prior counts as “Prior sexual History” and hence the Jury must NEVER see such things.
Bloke says “she was up for it !! ” Not to mention the ‘phone calls … she weeps piteously … Jury walks away thinking the Bloke is a Sex Maniac… bloke goes off the clink for 12 …
Percentages.
Tinta, did you by any chance sustain the injury at a Robbie Williams concert?
Is that what Jenner based his theory on?
“miltonf
Nov 18, 2023 5:31 PM
I am not keen on visiting Victoria.
why not?”
Why, all the Grampian Nazi’s of course!
The Victorian Government has changed Laws and placed major warnings about that vile scourge of innocent Victorians. 😀
The federal opposition has demanded Anthony Albanese reveal whether he confronted Xi Jinping at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco over an incident in which Australian navy personnel were injured in an interaction with a Chinese warship.
The Australian government waited until after the conclusion of APEC to reveal that divers with the Royal Australian Navy suffered minor injuries after being subjected to sonar pulses from a Chinese warship. The incident occurred off the coast of Japan, with the government confirming the personnel were hurt on Tuesday November 14 – a full day before the Prime Minister left to attend the APEC leaders’ meeting.
“This conduct by the People’s Liberation Army Navy is irresponsible, dangerous and aggressive,” opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson told The Australian.
“To deliberately harm Australian navy personnel operating within the exclusive economic zone of Japan is particularly egregious and totally contrary to the pronouncements of friendship we saw in Beijing.
“It’s certainly not the act of a friend and it is completely contrary to the warmth and the apparent friendship that was displayed in Beijing only a couple of weeks ago when the prime minister and the foreign minister were there,” Senator Paterson added.
“On one hand, China says it wants a better relationship with Australia and on the other hand it takes dangerous manoeuvres that put the safety of Australian personnel at risk and in fact has caused them injuries in this case.
“This is very malign behaviour and it is yet more evidence of why the relationship with China is far from normal
“The Prime Minister should immediately explain whether he confronted President Xi about this when they were together in San Francisco this weekend, and what other steps the government is taking to deter this malign behaviour from occurring again.”
While Mr Albanese said he had spoken earlier in the day with Mr Xi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the conclusion of the summit, he did not say whether he had raised the incident with them.
The divers were hurt while performing a mission in support of United Nations sanctions enforcement, with Defence Minister Richard Marles saying on Saturday the HMAS Toowoomba was in international waters inside of Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone enroute to commence a scheduled port visit when the incident occurred.
Oz
Wonder if Luigi apologised for damaging the sonar?
Part 2
The Australian vessel had stopped to conduct diving operations in order to clear fishing nets that had become entangled around its propellers.
Mr Marles said HMAS Toowoomba was approached by a People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) destroyer, despite communications from Toowoomba which repeatedly advised that diving operations were being conducted.
Mr Marles said that HMAS Toowoomba communicated its intention to conduct diving operations on normal maritime channels and used internationally recognised signals, but that the Chinese destroyer closed in towards the Australian navy vessel.
The Toowoomba again advised the PLA-N destroyer that diving operations were being conducted and requested the ship keep clear but, despite acknowledging Toowoomba’s communications, the Chinese vessel approached at a closer range.
It was then detected operating its hull-mounted sonar in a manner that posed a risk to the safety of the Australian divers who were forced to exit the water.
Mr Marles said this was unsafe and unprofessional conduct. Medical assessments conducted after the divers exited the water revealed they had sustained minor injuries — likely due to being subjected to the sonar pulses from the Chinese destroyer.
Mr Albanese has used the APEC leaders’ summit to talk up the normalisation of the relationship between Australia and Beijing, saying his talks with Mr Xi in San Francisco were positive. He rejected criticism from Peter Dutton over his extensive international travel schedule, saying that he was standing up for Australia’s national interest on the global stage.
Mr Albanese also welcomed an agreement to resume military to military dialogue between the US and China, arguing it was critical to ensure “guardrails” were put in place to avoid the outbreak of “real conflict” because of strategic miscalculations.
Mr Marles posted on social media that the government had “expressed its serious concerns to the Chinese government following an unsafe and unprofessional interaction with a People’s Liberation Army Navy destroyer.”
The government said that Australia expected all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a professional and safe manner.
It clarified that Defence had undertaken maritime surveillance activities in the region for decades and did so in accordance with international law, exercising the right to freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace.
Government sources told The Australian the delay in making public the incident was because representations and objections were being made to the Chinese government, and that it had taken 5 days for the Morrison government to reveal, on February 22 2022, that an Australian maritime patrol aircraft had detected a PLA Navy vessel which was targeting the plane with a laser – a serious safety incident.The plane was illuminated by the laser five days earlier on February 17 while conducting a routine surveillance flight over Australia’s northern approaches.
That’s wicked. I’m sure several Cats would like to know more detail.
Can you please post your link for that?
The Palestinians complaining about the Kiwi haka guys is hilarious. The haka group in Brisbane last Saturday was perhaps 30 and the Palestinian supporter mob on the other side of a few police was literally thousands. Yet the Palestinians were scared.
No wonder the All Blacks win so many games if that is how powerful the haka is.
I see Rushkan and Avi in Brisbane for a Saturday talk with Craig Kelly, Senator Roberts and a few like minded types. No idea where it is but will be interesting to see if attracts any protesters outside.
dover0beach
Nov 18, 2023 4:20 PM
Where would they be “holding” the reserves …?
In the south.
Makes sense. It would have been easy for Hamas operatives to slip out with the rest of the Gazans moving south as directed. IDF heads will have known this, of course.
You’re making this up. It doesn’t even make sense. A love letter stating an intention for intimacy is not “past sexual history” unless the judges and lawyers are all virgins.
If you were clever you would have tried to say it was hearsay.
@ Zulu
all these people wetting thie pants and wanting to dox me…
Mate if you ever get done on a bullshit rape charge my name will be mentioned if your lawyer is and bloody good… and I paid for it all my self both in cash and year in clink , but you owe me ..both your thanks and your freedom … but Never make the same mistake I did putting your hands on an insane woman … either way Peace Brother
The j’ismists want to believe. Just like the Liars media releases.
Gez, with BoM pushing a (perfectly normal) doom and gloom el Nino, I had the impression that crops were not finishing well and in fact, failing. I know results change from district to district, but what is your top-of-your-head opinion of the season?
How are you being doxed by volunteering information no one asked for?
All I wanted to know was the years you were put in and came out of Acacia prison.
I was just watching the film called ‘Dr. Strangelove. And the US President played by Peter Sellers said – “You can’t fight in here – This is the War Room”. LOL
The Modern World in a single photo.
Follow up proof to the above link.
Does Albo have any political capital at APEC either?
Oh, and I would appreciate input (re this season’s crops) from other farmers across the country. TIA.
Try again!
Thanks for that link, Poggie. Until now I was under the impression that it was Martin Armstrong that landed on the moon. 😀
Having just spent weeks on a referendum and losing 40:60 the foreign briefings back to their home foreign affairs areas must have made interesting reading.
Delta A
This ladies books might be worth a look.
From her wiki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Pizzey
Erin Patria Margaret Pizzey (/?p?tsi/;[2] born 19 February 1939) is a British ex-feminist, Men’s rights activist and advocate against domestic violence, and novelist. She is known for having started the first and currently the largest domestic violence shelter in the modern world, Refuge, then known as Chiswick Women’s Aid, in 1971.
Pizzey has been the subject of bomb threats and boycotts because her experience and research into the issue led her to conclude that most domestic violence is reciprocal, and that women are as capable of violence as men. These threats eventually led to her exile from the UK. Pizzey has said that the threats were from militant feminists. She has also stated that she is banned from the refuge she started.
The Real Housewives of Hamas.
Back in the early 2000s the Feminists just wanted men in jail .. it became a passion .. almost a cult with them … and the formed political pressure groups to make sure Men got chucked in jail …
Nelson,
Naughty-naughty!
Some pushback against brain dead young leftie students (sic) in the US:
Republican Lawmakers in Florida Target Scholarships and Grants of Students Who Support Hamas
George Washington University Suspends Students for Justice in Palestine Over Anti-Semitic Projections on Building
Oh Dot … Dot you have so much expertise on so many different topics…. Like Law ! You so totally understand the legal definition of “Hearsay” .. if only I had had you in my corner back then !!
thefrollickingmole
Nov 18, 2023 6:29 PM
Thanks, Mole. Interesting link. I’m just not sure how that relates to ZK2a’s post.
Heres why she was ostracised by the feminists.
https://www.humanrightsaction.org/violence/Pizzey/english.html
Those of us working in the field of domestic violence are confronted daily by the difficult task of working with women in problematical families. In my work with family violence, I have come to recognize that there are women involved in emotionally and/or physically violent relationships who express and enact disturbance beyond the expected (and acceptable) scope of distress. Such individuals, spurred on by deep feelings of vengefulness, vindictiveness, and animosity, behave in a manner that is singularly destructive; destructive to themselves as well as to some or all of the other family members, making an already bad family situation worse. These women I have found it useful to describe as “family terrorists.”
In my experience, men also are capable of behaving as family terrorists but male violence tends to be more physical and explosive. We have had thousands of international studies about male violence but there is very little about why or how women are violent. There seems to be a blanket of silence over the huge figures of violence expressed by women. Because family terrorism is a tactic largely used by women and my work in the domestic violence field is largely with women, I address this problem discussing only my work with women.
Whose moods set the tone?
The potential for terrorism may rest dormant for many years, emerging in its full might only under certain circumstances. I found that in many cases it is the dissolution, or threatened dissolution, of the family that calls to the fore the terrorist’s destructiveness. It is essential to understand that prior to dissolution, the potential terrorist plays a role in the family that is by no means passive. The terrorist is the family member whose moods reign supreme in the family, whose whims and actions determine the emotional climate of the household. In this setting, the terrorist could be described as the family tyrant, for within the family, this individual maintains the control and power over the other members’ emotions.
The family well may be characterized as violent, incestuous, dysfunctional, and unhappy, but it is the terrorist or tyrant who is primarily responsible for initiating conflict, imposing histrionic outbursts upon otherwise calm situations, or (more subtly and invisibly) quietly manipulating other family members into uproar through guilt, cunning taunts, and barely perceptive provocations. ( The quiet manipulative terrorist usually is the most undetected terrorist. Through the subtle creation of perpetual turmoil, this terrorist may virtually drive other family members to alcoholism, to drug-addiction, to explosive behavior, to suicide. The other family members, therefore, are often misperceived as the “family problem” and the hidden terrorist as the saintly woman who “puts up with it all.”)
While the family remains together, however miserable that “togetherness” might be, the terrorist maintains her power. However, it is often the separation of the family that promises to rend the terrorist’s domain and consequently to lessen the power. Family dissolution, therefore, often is the time when the terrorist feels most threatened and most alone, and because dangerous.
And now it is ‘Fried Green Tomatoes” – A most marvelous film.
Hmmmm.
I am surprised the BBC haven’t blamed the October 7 attacks on “less structured young and naive combatants”.
Calli country…
Protesters march in Hawks Nest against wind farm proposal (Ncl local news, 18 Nov)
I like the signs: Bugger Off Bowen!…Boofhead Bowen!
Blokes and Blokesses .. tell your children . “Dont put you hands on a crazy member of the opposite persuasion ” .. and never talk to the Coppers …
https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/voting/current-elections/mulgrave-district-by-election/mulgrave-district-by-election-results/results-by-district/mulgrave-district-results
Yet to see any movement in the polls from for Dan’s old seat.
Bumped into a guy letterboxing for Ian Cook while walking at lunchtime yesterday. Hopefully a result that makes Labor (note the exclusion of u) worry.
Cossie as to whether I sustained my injury at a Robbie Williams concert? No but would you believe I was practising a yoga position and the bed gave way?
Interesting that the VEC expects the two-candidate runoff to be ALP versus Ian Cook rather than the Gliberals.
If only you were on a business trip for your public service job at the time, Tinta…
Tinta! 😀
Good luck with the surgery.
And greetings from Alesund. I’m on one of those Hurtigruten ferries and just about to sail into port. A world of differences to other cruises we’ve done – a window only on account of the weather for a start. Little pockets of frost about, but no snow.
And it looks as though we Aussies have brought sunshine (but no warmth) rather than rain. With a varied group of 20 people and good company so far.
Gotta zip.
@Tintarella di Luna
Nov 18, 2023 6:50 PM
Everytime you post .. I get this in my head ! I am not saying it like it is a bad thing …
Just distracting
https://youtu.be/iHxVLekxK6Q
I Luuuurve it !!!
No but would you believe I was practising a yoga position and the bed gave way
/1970s Wukka wukka wukka music intensifies…
I expect they have been burnt in the past. Never underestimate the Victoriastan Lieborals.
Nelson_Kidd-Players
Nov 18, 2023 6:49 PM
https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/voting/current-elections/mulgrave-district-by-election/mulgrave-district-by-election-results/results-by-district/mulgrave-district-results
Yet to see any movement in the polls from for Dan’s old seat.
Nothing at the abc either:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/mulgrave-by-election-2023
https://www.catholicextension.org/stories/priest-delivers-twin-babies-at-cathedral/?fbclid=IwAR2tXfKpOVqsuDhsgc9wZE2AvGb1GwL7VZ69kPoFCxYmFs33q2oYLsC3isk
I am not Bird.
@Tintarella di Luna
Nov 18, 2023 6:50 PM
When Mina was busy singing that I was busy being born … ~nice tears~
Ah Mark Bolton he Marvellous Mina- a legend in Italian popular music
Bruce, Nikita was doing a good job till she launched into infotorial mode and spruiked the overstated job opportunities and energy output of these white elephant projects.
Like the proposed solar farm adjoining my suburb this will be pushed through.
Who’re in turn being ostracised.
‘Utterly ashamed!’ JK Rowling blasted by Lisa Nandy as MP challenged over trans policy (17 Nov)
Popcorn anyone? Meanwhile the feminists are getting it from the other direction too.
The Women’s Movement Is Worthless | Power Line (16 Nov)
So there you go, UN feminists are luvvin’ themselves some Hamas rapist-murderers. I think the feminist movement is on it’s last legs. The poor Suffragettes will be spinning in their graves.
I would consider this an act of war, particularly when the Chinese destroyer was informed by our Navy and simply ignored it.
Tintarella di Luna
Still more~ happy tears~ ….and still she went on to do amazing things…
I would consider this an act of war, particularly when the Chinese destroyer was informed by our Navy and simply ignored it.
I agree which should have elicited a 5″ shell across the bow. But sleazy is too busy with his “attaboy kneepads” with Winnie the pooh to care at the moment.
thefrollickingmole
Nov 18, 2023 6:40 PM
Ah, now I see your point. But as she says,
‘He said, she said’, although from the post, it sounds as though he was more inclined to say it with a whack.
Like it not, good grounds for refusing child custody, if one believes that article. Either way, it doesn’t mention or condone
or that lies
I’ll wait for ZK2a’s link.
Why do you guys not share amazing things like the Cat used to … ? Like the TV series “Gomorrah “… and having a Chitty Chitty in your lawn , yet you piss and winge about stuff that is mostly not happening … and yet fail to share really wonderfull things that really do exist?
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Nov 18, 2023 7:07 PM
My Lady now had the living piss belted out of her by her ex … only way I could exact retribution is to dig the POS out of the ground and cop a proper flogging.. I reckon The Lord Almighty is involved right now… out of my hands thankfully …
Any Man that lays his hands … well you know the rest…
Poll in the Herald-Sun in an article debating whether Luigi will be a one-term PM:
Do you think Anthony Albanese will be a one-term PM?
Yes – Labor will flop at the next election 90 %
No – The Coalition can’t make up the gap 10 %
465 votes
Tell us Mark Bolton
What “claims to justice” does Hamas have?
@ Dot
great question ! And not the first time you have answered it for me… Go On Mate do what you are best at …..
Did Bolton just say he flogged a corpse?
What, Elon’s enormous rocket is too small? The attempted launch is due in 4½ hrs. While we are waiting for it he launched another 23 satellites and landed the booster onto Just Read the Instructions three hours ago.
I also put up a photo of my barber…
World Economic Forum Stripped Naked
Monica Crowley
@MonicaCrowley
Everything you’ve been told about January 6th is bullsh!t.
The real insurrectionists are those who framed Trump to try to stop him from ever being President again – & who framed YOU as “domestic terrorists” to try to crush America First.
They have failed – and they will pay.
What “claims to justice” does Hamas have?
great question ! And not the first time you have answered it for me…
I have NEVER answered it for you.
You can justify your statements yourself, GO!!!
Benny Johnson
@bennyjohnson
Random people on social media have done a better job going through and distributing J6 footage for free in two hours than the supposed “January 6th Committee” did in nearly two years and with over $4 million in taxpayer dollars.
Truth was not their goal.
Pogria I really expected to see a row of postboxes. Ive seen it somewhere.
Benny Johnson
@bennyjohnson
Protesters inside of the Capitol on January 6th at the supposed “Insurrection” vs. Pro-Palestine protesters at the DNC headquarters this week
Citizen Free Press
@CitizenFreePres
Here’s a January 6 video they’ve never shown the public.
A protester is uncuffed by Capitol police and then fist bumps another officer down a hallway away from everyone.
Oh the Irony: Ukraine’s Zelensky Is Trying to Reach Donald Trump to Negotiate Continuing US Military Help to Kiev
@ Bruce
But the whole Elon “Imagine living on Mars” and his evacuated tubular transport systems are so clearly impractical. OK Impossible. It just looks like a grift.
Not saying I dont like the guy but he is no innovator. He is a silver tongue .. and we could use some of those.
Why Tony Blair Never Went Away
Release the nanowrigglers
@ Bruce
“The attempted launch is due in 4½ hrs.” I am gonna have to see that… What is not to like?
No signs with Ray Hadley’s epithet “Casanova Bowen”? (He f**ks everything he touches.)
In case they didn’t hear, release the nanowrigglers.
Mark – I think he believes. Good on him. The idea is possible, but not easy.
There was a nice result this week in the science news:
Researchers develop neutron-shielding film for radiation protection (Phys.org, 15 Nov)
It’s based on boron carbide and a hydroxylated titanium carbide, minxed into a polymer. I can be produced in flexible sheets or even painets on, and an only 0.1 mm thick layer is sufficient to stop neutrons completely. Neat work, they guys deserves a Nobel in Chemistry or Physics.
Something like that would be a wonderful shield for a Mars passenger ship.
Oh dear my seplling is enev wrose that uusal. I was hoping for Rabz Radio Show but sadly not to be.
In the balance? Early days yet but the count shows ALP plus combined socialists approaching 49%, while Liberal is ahead of Cook. I can’t recall FF’s HTV as to whether they put Cook over Liberal or vice-versa. It may be ALP versus Liberal , after all.
Candidate Party 1st pref. votes % votes
KING, Ethelyn Libertarian 156 2.61%
ACKERLY, Celeste Sustainable 50 0.84%
COOK, Ian Independent 1129 18.92%
FOREMAN, Jane Family First 150 2.51%
MANN, Courtney Liberal 1333 22.34%
CVETKOVA, Kelly Socialists 182 3.05%
GARAD, Rhonda Greens 359 6.02%
FOSTER, Eden ALP 2366 39.64%
THEODOSSOPOULOU, Tina Independent 147 2.46%
CURRIE, Bronwyn Animals 96 1.61%
Update: the figures moved as I was typing this up and it looks like ALP’s in if preferences tightly follow the HTVs.
Did Bolton just say he flogged a corpse?
The love that dare not… nah, I got nothing..
/ Bolton, yesterday, 2023, colourised
@ Bruce
I think Elon is totally full of it .. His Ideas are not His own and they wont work anyway. And even if he is a grifter which I reckon he is …
BUT .. he inspires people to imagine a better future .. even if it is bullshit … how can it be worse than imagining doom and gloom ..
A better future is entirely technologically possible but wont ever be realised if people …hey like me … haven’t tried to kiss the stars.. they are up there and will kiss you back if you pucker up…
Yes men dominate in physical violence states. It is fact. I think her point Delta is that wall silence still exists when it comes to women do the same.
If we have to make our own radio show, what about slightly forgotten favourites?
Hi Honey…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=zmJt4KT0log
Bird, yeah? Funny as.
We have made the decision to mow and bale the sorghum crop. It’s disappointing but there is always an element of risk with a winter seeding on the Gregory.
We have had three brilliant seasons that have permitted two crops per year, so we are in the black.
Perhaps we should have paid more attention to BOM’s forecasts, but who does these days? Even our consultants were not convinced.
We will retain a higher than normal level of fodder on the property because there are lots of warning signs that the ‘wet’ may fail.
Despite all, farming continues to be a superior lifestyle to living in cities.
Haha, Mark. SpaceX is on track to launch more missions this year than the rest of the world put together. And far far cheaper than anyone else. Tesla, whether you like it or not, is the preeminent EV manufacturer on the planet. The Boring Company is doing ok last I looked. Not many guy can achieve that amount of success. Indeed a dozen space hopefuls are trying to catch up with Elon and have been failing utterly.
I might know a thing or two about innovation, since that was my career. I’ve a lot of patents to my name. Elon does what I was doing – seeing different science and tech things and adding them together. Then he’d get a bunch of experienced and talented guys together and say off you go…
My brother has been doing the same, he has a large innovative team and a profitable business with a lot of very high profile customers. He’s too hands on though. If he could detach better, and do an IPO, he’d be a billionaire.
Twitter is Elon’s biggest faceplant after SolarCities, but Twitter was a hobby and SolarCities part of his tech bag for Mars.
Sure is.
Absolutely. People are desperate to get out of the cities.
Check out what people will pay on Air B&B to live in a “glamping” tent on a farm with a hot tub. 2k for four or five nights! In the off-season!
Outrageous! …and profitable!
That comment again:
Link: https://newcatallaxy.blog/2023/11/15/open-thread-wed-15-nov-2023/comment-page-5/#comment-638431
Zafiro
Nov 16, 2023 10:22 PM
Hamarse are a sideshow controlled by Mossad. Tell me I’m crazy!
Here Bruce. Enjoy
@Bruce
Hells Bells!! Mate I have rewritten faulty manuals… The Present is far more amazing than I I could ever have drempt of twenty years ago ..having an iPhone in my hand and what it can do !!! In the 70s i would have scoffed.. But it is here and now ….only way this can ever happen is if people make it so.
In your own precious way…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=kGP8pO2r_V4
Critically-acclaimed transgender horror author hails Osama bin Laden’s ‘principled’ destruction of Twin Towers – months after sharing her desire to slit JK Rowling’s throat
THEY’RE COMING FOR YOU
The U.S. Army is ‘Begging’ Unvaccinated Soldiers to Return
Something went somewhere.
A likely story! Giggle, giggle.
CDC Claims on Vaccination and Natural Immunity Made Without Seeing Underlying Data: FOIA Document
UN Women, more accurately written “un-women”?
Did any of you read Osama Bin Laden’s “Letter to America ” when he first published it ?
Back from handing out HTV cards for Ian Cook. Highlight of day was asking J Persutto if he wanted one.
Low light was having some fwit Pally chicks ranting about Palestine.
Anyhoo time for a beer. I suspect the Reds will take it but hey u have to try.
Zafiro – pasting a url usually works.
I’m reading SF book rather than doing music, although there’s a degree of crossover, since music is a theme. I’m on the second in the trilogy which starts with this one:
Five-Twelfths of Heaven – Melissa Scott
Some nice Frank Herbertish cultural and technological stuff.
Some tiny shit hole that is less than a quarter of the size of Port Philip Bay. But yeah mate heaps of rockets getting in there and shot at Israel. Must be the tunnels that Mossad are unaware of. Faaaaark.
Sorry Bruce. I was trying to post something in regard to Musk, but found out it was ‘unsecure” or something.
Yes. This is largely the media running silent on cases of violent women. Unfortunately, it won’t change because no-one – not the media, the politicians, the women’s groups or even the public – want to hear that women can be violent towards partners and/or children.
We live in unicorn land.
insecure
Well done Fairshake
interesting little interview on France 24
does not even live anywhere near Mulgrave
… 20 minutes on Eastlink at least
@bruce I am big on J G Ballard ..a slow stroll through where we do not want to find ourselves . And and a clue how not to ..let us all continue to be positive and productive…
More IgG4 evidence + importance to health – IgG4 part 7 – update 116
the U.S.’s rejection of Islamic Sharia law in its governance
accuses Jews of controlling the United States “policies, media and economy
Mhmm.
Mark – I haven’t been into J G Ballard but I liked the movie of Empire of the Sun. One I thought was Ballard turns out not to be: The Genocides, by Thomas Disch. Very stark and the blurb hat tips Mr Ballard for the style. Beware extraterrestrials, they may not be our friends, or even notice we exist.
Aaaaaaaaaaand we’re off.
Anything that requires magic or alchemy to power a starship is not SF. It has to at least give the impression that there is physics involved. Even speculative physics.
Any magical stuff and it’s just fantasy set in space.
Always has been.
And? 😀
I like Dune a lot. Also anything with hyperspacial travel is just as fantastic. Which eliminates most SF.
Sadly the likelihood of humans getting to the stars is very small due to the brutal implications of special relativity. Doesn’t stop me wishing for a clever way around Einstein though.
Some of Robert Forward and Arthur Clarke’s stuff restricting to known physics are pretty good, but even they have to fake the energy balances to make their novels work. Physics sucks.
So if you think you’ve got it together…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=32MZDLbRLyo
When did man “officially” last set foot on the Moon? November 1972. Apollo 17.
That is 51 years ago. The Russkis were meant to be leading the Yanks in space race back in the ’60s, but never pretended to go to the Moon. They didn’t have Stanley Kubrick.
What were we doing back then? Driving EH Holdens and XP Fords. Landline telephones. Black and white TV. Computers were kind of non-existent except for some huge things that took up a room and ran on big cassette tape reels. Faaaark!
Maybe we haven’t been back because we collected all the Moon rocks we wanted.
Zk2a, at 5:39 PM, you made a derogatory comment about women in the 1980’s, stating that
I asked for a link to support this serious allegation. You have ignored my reasonable request.
Please provide some form of proof to support your statement as it reflects very badly on 80’s women, many of whom are proud to call themselves Kittehs.
Black Sorrows, excellent Aussie band! I’ve put up Chained to the Wheel once or twice. Ripper song.
Bin Laden, may he be eaten continually by termites, regurgitated and eaten again for eternity, got lucky due to the infighting amongst US security. People forget this muslim cockroach and his vermin had tried before to destroy the Twin Towers in 1993. Before the successful 9/11 second attempt the same skid marks had destroyed the Twin Buddhas in Afghanishitan.
Islam’s one purpose is to destroy the West and then humanity and in the process itself. I’m coming around to the opinion that the bastard who started islam was an alien who for a lark decided to destroy humanity from the inside out. When islam was taking too long because of infighting he reappeared as Marx and set up another insidious humanity destroying ideology.
It’s either that or humanity is a sophisticated form of Lemming.
GreyRanga
Nov 18, 2023 7:33 PM
Pogria I really expected to see a row of postboxes. Ive seen it somewhere.
GreyRanga,
10,500 ft Dirt Road on New Mexico Plateau in the middle of nowwhere – 10 Post Boxes on a Railing with Carson City Post Office – could not see a building within miles nor any humans in the last hour – why were the post boxes there?
Shout -out to whoever recommended the Netflix movie .. The Killer .. very well dun and keeps you interested … 10/10
And if you like sci fi mixed with detectives this NetFlix 8 episode mini series is quite good .. I found the ending a bit weak, but that’s me, for the rest of it .. a pretty good effort .. 8/10
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18347622/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_bodies
The liars retain Mulgrave despite a 11% swing against and one of the best independents, Ian Cook, ever to run. May the voters get herpes.
Bin Laden LOL
Time is running out to scrap inheritance tax
The Conservative party must offer something to voters – a tax cut would be a return to first principles
TELEGRAPH VIEW
With a general election likely less than a year away, the Conservative Party is trailing in the polls and in desperate need of a boost. Next week’s Autumn Statement could be one of few remaining opportunities to fire up the thrusters.
Rishi Sunak has achieved his goal of halving inflation. Combined with better than expected economic conditions, the Government now has the fiscal headroom to take bold action. As Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said in an interview for The Telegraph, “taxes are too high”. Few voters would disagree. There is one tax cut which could improve the Tories’ prospects at a stroke: abolishing inheritance tax.
There’s good reason to believe this will work. In 2007, the mood in the Conservative Party was morose. Two by-elections had seen the Tories finish third behind the Liberal Democrats and Labour was posting polling leads in the double-digits. Another spell in Opposition was on the cards. A bullish Gordon Brown was eyeing an early election, and there were even mutterings that a third successive loss could trigger a split within the party.
This changed overnight when David Cameron and George Osborne went to party conference with a bold offer: if elected, the Conservatives would raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1?million. The party soared in the polls, Brown retreated, and the Tories went on to triumph in 2010.
Mr Sunak and Jeremy Hunt will not be able to repeat this verbatim in 2023, despite the fact that George Osborne never actually delivered on this pledge. The most notable difference is that the Conservatives will enter this election having been in power for 14 years, rather than out of it. Promising jam tomorrow will not be enough for an electorate which has been waiting for over a decade.
This time, the Tories must immediately follow through with the cut. Doing so would act as a downpayment on the policies that could drive the next five years of Conservative government. It would give wavering voters a reason to get to the polling booth, when many are considering staying at home. And, importantly, the Brexit promise of a low tax, high dynamism economy would begin to be realised.
The fractious party needs something to rally around. Inheritance tax is antithetical to Conservative values.
It is anti-family, anti-aspiration and anti-prosperity.
Moreover, the death duty is unpopular with the electorate, which rightly views it as an unfair levy on money already taxed in life.
It is also an issue which will only grow more salient as frozen thresholds and rising property prices drag ever more ordinary middle class families into paying it.
There will be voices that urge Mr Sunak to wait, worried the move could hand Labour an opportunity to suggest he is “out of touch”.
These are concerns he should ignore, while reminding voters that Norway and Sweden manage perfectly well without it.
The cut may not be enough to sway the results of the election. But it would signal the party’s return to its first principles, and set a trap for a future Labour government. It is one thing to object to abolishing this immoral tax. But would Sir Keir really reintroduce it?
Numero Uno is about Heroin.
Charles Leclerc on pole as Las Vegas looks to move on from F1 practice chaos
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took a historic pole position at the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix as Formula One tried to move on from a bruising 24 hours in Sin City.
A day after fans were left furious after being forced to evacuate the circuit at 2am local time, half an hour before a heavily delayed second practice finally got underway, qualifying at the £500 million race passed off without a hitch.
Ferrari were consistently quickest, with Leclerc the only driver to dip into the 1:32s in Q2. And so it was again in Q3, Leclerc taking pole under the lights with a 1:32.726, which was just 0.044sec faster than his team-mate Carlos Sainz managed.
Max Verstappen was third quickest, three tenths slower again, but the triple world champion, who will be chasing his 18th win of the season on Saturday, will start alongside Leclerc on the front row as Sainz has a 10-place grid penalty due to changing elements of his car after hitting the infamous ‘manhole cover’ in FP1 on Thursday.
“It was enjoyable out there,” said Verstappen. “I think we maximised today. I hope of course tomorrow in the race that we are good on the tyres again and we can work out a way forward.”
Next on the grid will be Mercedes’ George Russell who for some reason was able to extract much more out of the car than team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton did not even make the final top 10 shootout, exiting in Q2.
The surprise package of qualifying was undoubtedly Williams, with Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant taking sixth and seventh on the grid, which will become fifth and sixth once Sainz takes his medicine.
At the other end of the scale, McLaren had a disastrous session with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failing to make the cut in Q1. They were only able to qualify in 16th and 19th.
Norris said it was “painful” but admitted it was “not a surprise” to the team, who were not hopeful coming into the week given the low-downforce nature of the circuit, not a particular strength of the McLaren.
Race organisers, who were heavily criticised for their handling of Thursday’s debacle, and again on Friday when they failed to apologise to fans, only offering a small percentage of ticket holders $200 worth of vouchers in recompense, will be praying the race lives up to the hype.
Not quit the same, but back in the day I was good enough at cricket to get onto the Y12 school team playing other schools but was bumped when a couple of dudes in their 20s decided to finish Y12, who were a lot stronger than I was. Other teams started to complain, and they were ultimately booted from the team. The school then were begging me and a couple of others tore-join the team. No dice. Those assholes made their choice.
These men who were shafted by clot shot Nazis will never come back. Same as us who were disowned and tried to be destroyed by society will never forgive nor forget. Damage has been done.
Err, no.
That is one individual hostage which was easily ID’d by Israel. The “not verified” element relates to the date of death.
Among all those claims of thousands upon thousands of civilian casualties in Gaza I am looking for one which was regurgitated by the BBC with the “not independently verified” tag.
Afghanistan is where vast majority of Heroin is being produced. And the opium poppy grown. Yeah/Nah?
Man up and grow a pair? Not on our watch, says police force
Staffordshire Police orders officers not to use gender-based stereotypes or any other ‘discriminatory’ language that may cause offence
By Will Bolton, CRIME CORRESPONDENT
Police officers have been told not to say “man up”, “OAP” or “policeman” when dealing with the public in case they cause offence.
The 12-page guidance document, published by Staffordshire Police, warns that “discrimination through language causes offence, patronises and may be unlawful”.
The guide, issued to officers in June, also warned police not to use the phrase “high poverty rates” and instead call deprived areas “communities with access to fewer opportunities”. – G’Day Shatterzzz
A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said the language advice had been issued after a consultation with “external consultants” to ensure everyone was treated with the “utmost courtesy and respect”.
The guidance states that the examples included are “by no means exhaustive or definitive” as language is always changing.
The recommendations also advise against using gender-biased expressions or expressions that reinforce gender stereotypes, such as “man up” or “grow a pair”.
‘Elderly’ and ‘middle-aged’ banned
The guide makes further suggestions for the way officers identify individuals by their jobs.
The term “cleaning lady” should be swapped for “cleaner” while “spokesman” should be switched to “spokesperson” and “statesman” should be replaced with “official”, “diplomat”, “political figure”, or “leader”.
The word “policeman” has also been banned with officers told to use the “police officer” instead.
On the list of banned phrases for older people are the terms “elderly, middle-aged, pensioner and senior”.
Officers were also told that they could not use the phrase “confined to a wheelchair” “suffering from” or “diabetic person” when referring to people with disabilities.
People who describe themselves as Christians or Muslims should not be referred to as such – instead, officers should call them “Christian people” or “Muslim people”.
Language around mental health was also referenced, with the phrases “suffers with anxiety” and “struggles with depression” also on the banned list.
Police were instead encouraged to say, “the person has anxiety and depression”.
‘You’d think police have enough on their plate’
Speaking to the Sun, Nigel Mills, the Conservative MP, said: “You’d think the police have enough on their plate without spending time worrying about which perfectly acceptable, normal language they can and can’t use.”
The guidance is the latest inclusive language advice issued by public service organisations.
In April last year, Hertfordshire Constabulary ordered staff not to use “sir” and “ma’am”.
The Scout Association has published a 60-page guide on how to use more inclusive language.
It calls for postmen to be referred to as postal workers, and firemen to be called firefighters. And mankind should be replaced with humankind.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service told workers to use language that embraces diversity, swapping “he” and “she” for “they” or “them”.
and another thing Bronwyn
while you still have the Animal Liberation poster decorations on yr front fence from the last failed attempt at getting elected somewhere
probably best NOT to keep rabbits in a cage on yr front lawn
… just sayin’
See if you can catch my vomit, Old Ozzie.
The curious case of the slow-moving US aircraft carrier
What was the Ike carrier group and its friends up to? Someone knows
TOM SHARPE
Since the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, the US Navy has been proactively moving large numbers of warships around the Middle East with a view to deterring other regional actors from joining in the Hamas-Israel war. It has been a display of maritime manoeuvre at its most fundamental and effective – two nuclear powered aircraft carriers with air wings the size of most air forces, nine cruisers and destroyers and an unknown number of submarines: all essentially warning Iran and her terrorist proxies not to get involved.
It hasn’t worked perfectly.
Between 17 October and today there have been 55 attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria.
The US has conducted three strikes on weapons manufacturing capabilities supplying Iran and her proxies.
There have been relatively low-level skirmishes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces in Southern Lebanon, and the Houthis of Yemen – another Iranian proxy – have not been put off at all from being as troublesome as they can. But there is no doubt that the level of containment has so far proven better than anyone dared hope as the conflict in Gaza began.
Tracking one of the nuclear powered aircraft carriers, USS Dwight D Eisenhower – Ike – helps paint the picture. She deployed earlier than scheduled and crossed the Atlantic while working up and conducting flying operations on the way.
Ike’s rendezvous in the eastern Mediterranean with one of the few warships in the world that is bigger, USS Gerald R Ford, grabbed the headlines but was only part of the story.
Halfway across the Mediterranean Ike went past the USS Mount Whitney, a command-and-control ship released from Nato duties to coordinate the huge international armada in the eastern Med.
This includes the French Tonnerre Amphibious Ready Group containing two heavies and two escorts. There are also the eight ships of Nato’s Standing Maritime Group 2 up in the Adriatic, consisting of two heavies and six escorts, commanded by a Royal Navy Commodore embarked in HMS Duncan.
The UK’s Littoral Response Group is also in the area with two ships from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) who have been there from the start, busily working up plans to evacuate large groups of people should that be needed.
These aren’t warships, but they do have a force of Royal Marine Commandos aboard who can provide security for the shore end of any evacuation operation.
Dotted about are a further eleven ships of the US Navy support and sealift commands who between them have five escorts from three different countries.
In total there are over forty warships, supply ships and submarines from thirteen different countries operating in eastern Mediterranean waters.
Once through the Suez Canal and into the Red Sea, Ike would have encountered two large US amphibious ships with elements of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26 MEU) aboard, USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall, two US destroyers and three Israeli corvettes.
Things here were even more interesting because now Ike was in range of Houthi missiles and drones being fired at southern Israel.
Abdulmalik al-Houthi made it clear as soon as this conflict began that he was joining in when the Houthis fired four or five cruise missiles and nineteen drones up the Red Sea towards Israel.
He doubled down on this recently saying, “our eyes are open to constantly monitor and search for any Israeli ship in the Red Sea, especially in Bab-el-Mandeb, and near Yemeni regional waters,” before firing yet another drone, this time in the direction of the US destroyer Thomas Hudner (which she knocked down).
The Bab-el-Mandeb (the “Gate of Tears”) is the narrow strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, and the Houthis control the Yemeni side of it.
Three things are clear right now.
First, the Houthis have not been deterred by the increasing naval presence in the area – it seems they see it as a challenge.
Second, efforts to interdict Iranian weapons reaching the Houthis in Western Yemen have not worked – their numbers and sophistication have increased.
Third, Ike and her group have now passed through the Bab-el-Mandeb without, reportedly, having any problems.
US Ohio-class SSGN submarine transiting the Suz Canal southbound, November 5, as part of the US response to the Israel-Hamas war. Not the dry deck shelter docking bay, capable of deploying a mini-sub for SEAL special operations
What is not clear is whether there were any counter-Houthi strikes or operations as Ike and her group went through the Red Sea.
A landing by the Marines of the 26th MEU might be seen as overly interventionist, but air or missile strikes would certainly seem possible.
And there might have been – or may yet be – completely covert, undisclosed operations ashore.
As well as the Ike group and the Marines, the US has an Ohio-class SSGN submarine in the area.
This carries not only a massive arsenal of Tomahawk cruise missiles, but a special operations force of Navy SEALs plus a mini-submarine to take them ashore if need be. Such an underwater intrusion would be very difficult to detect.
Ike certainly stayed longer in the Red Sea than one would expect if she was simply passing through.
Maybe Abdulmalik al-Houthi’s bombast and recent drone firing is him lashing out with whatever is left.
Maybe Ike facilitated some Saudi strikes but minimised US footprint for fear of getting involved ashore.
Maybe the carrier merely hung around in case a SEAL covert operation went wrong, or was waiting until the Bab-el-Mandeb area had been made safe for her to pass. Or maybe the US Navy is in purely defensive mode and only engaging targets when they are in the air.
The accurate answer to this will only be known inside the Pentagon but the frequency of Houthi missile attacks over the next few weeks might give us a clue.
The Hudner shoot-down was an interesting development as that drone was coming at the ship, as distinct from the Carney engagements against crossing targets fired at Israel.
The US Department of Defence has since issued a statement that the latest Houthi drone wasn’t coming directly at the Hudner (which they would say under the current theme of de-escalation) but the American captain considered the danger serious enough to knock it down, so the difference between what happened and being shot at would seem to be small.
It seems unlikely that the US Navy’s tolerance for being shot at will be particularly extensive.
In fact, one certainty when fighting them is that you only get to shoot at them so many times before some form of retribution is authorised.
Back in 2017, after several Houthi cruise missile attacks aimed at US warships near the Bab-el-Mandeb, a US destroyer launched Tomahawks and took out all the Houthis’ radar stations, putting an end (for a while) to their ability to cause trouble in the area.
Some form of action against the Houthis may be needed simply for self defence. US warships equipped with the Aegis combat system are extremely adept at missile-to-missile engagements, they have proven this many times.
However, there is no such thing in anti-air warfare as a 100 per cent ‘probability of kill’ – missile systems don’t work that way. If the Houthis are permitted to keep taking pot shots at US ships, eventually they will get lucky: so they probably won’t be permitted to, or have already had their options severely cut back.
Meanwhile, Ike and her group are now reportedly just outside the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Gulf.
This will severely curtail the Iranians’ ability to interfere with shipping there, which ought to calm the jittery world oil and gas markets at least.
It also swings the balance of naval power in the Gulf firmly back to the West, as the absence of US warships had meant that just lately China ruled the waves there.
The option is open for Ike to carry on into the Gulf itself, which would make her the first US carrier there in three years. That would offer various options including moving up to extend an air umbrella over recently-attacked US bases in Iraq.
As for the Houthis, I would be very surprised if they pose as much of a menace to Israel and to shipping in the Bab-el-Mandeb as they did a few weeks ago.
It would seem that the rules-based international order isn’t dead yet: and as ever, one of its primary backers is the US Navy.
Tom Sharpe is a former Royal Navy officer and warship captain
Nah.
The Taliban have a thing about heroin, they’ve nearly eradicated poppy growing since Biden bugged out.
Instead of that they now make meth.
Afghanistan: Opium supply drops 95% after Taliban drug ban (5 Nov)
Heroin bad, meth good. Go figure, muslims are weird.
Correct.
That was my go to authority to shut a couple of people up.
“Gruaniard reports that the White House have confirmed hospital used by Hamas for military purposes.”
Not so the BBC, but.
Ah, no. Did not happen.
There is a difference between mature age students and eligibility to get onto junior sports teams – school or otherwise.
As an aside, ‘a lot stronger than I am’ is not necessarily a game-changer with crikkit. It is about hand-eye co-ordination and transfer of weight – in both the field and wielding the stick.
To emphasise – you do not get 25 year olds running around the park going ‘oh yeah, I’m in the Year 12 team’.
Especially halfway through the season, as (apparently) described.
Afghans are the new Gus Fring? Maybe. That shit hole is also the biggest Heroin producer in the world. #Terrorists and what not. Faaaaark!
Knuckle Dragger
Nov 18, 2023 10:35 PM
I was good enough at cricket to get onto the Y12 school team playing other schools but was bumped when a couple of dudes in their 20s decided to finish Y12, who were a lot stronger than I was
Ah, no. Did not happen.
Knuckle Dragger,
as a Marist Boy, going to watch Joeys Play Rugby, the comment was the Joey’s Boys arriving for the Game with their Wife & Kids