Open Thread – Wed 31 Jan 2024


Prometheus, Arnold Böcklin, 1883

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P
P
January 31, 2024 1:48 pm

Faith leaders reject ‘Equality’ Bill
January 31, 2024

The leaders of NSW’s major Christian denominations and other faith traditions have joined Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP in a call for the rejection in full of Sydney MP Alex Greenwich’s “Equality” bill, set to be debated when parliament returns in early February.
.
Archbishop Fisher also mentioned the Equality Bill at this year’s Red Mass for the beginning of the year’s legal term, held on 29 January and attended by the upper echelons of NSW’s legal fraternity.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 31, 2024 1:50 pm

‘I was in charge of gathering the bodies after the Nova Festival massacre… they were still smouldering 12 hours later’: Israeli official gives devastating account of sickening scene after the Oct 7 Hamas terror attack that plunged the world into crisis

. Haim Otmezgin led the clean-up effort at the Nova Festival massacre
. He said he only slept four hours a night when he worked there
. Haim has spoken out about his experience for the first time

Dot
Dot
January 31, 2024 1:53 pm

Layoff announcements in 2024:

Reddit?
FaceBook?

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 31, 2024 1:54 pm

‘Cowardly response’: Ashley Gordon’s parents hit out at Victoria’s handling of youth crime crisis after young doctor was killed in Melbourne home invasion

The parents of a young doctor allegedly murdered by two teenagers in a home invasion have broken down in a teary interview as they pleaded for more to be done to combat youth crime.

Patrick Staveley – Digital Reporter

The heartbroken parents of Melbourne doctor Ashley Gordon have teared up in a gut-wrenching interview as they spoke of their pain following the 33-year-old’s death.

Police allege Mr Gordon, 33, was killed in the early hours of January 13 after he chased down a pair of 16-year-old home invaders who he awoke to find inside his unit in Doncaster in Melbourne’s north-east.

He was allegedly stabbed before being left to die on the street less than a kilometre from his home.

Both teenagers were subsequently charged with murder, aggravated burglary and theft.

Mr Gordon’s parents Glen and Catherine struggled to hold back their tears as they described their son as an “overachiever” who completed two degrees to become a GP before he opened his own business in Richmond.

Catherine said she struggled to believe the news her son had died, first hanging up on Mr Gordon’s flatmate and then a detective who called, before receiving the devastating news from police on their doorstep.

The couple’s emotions shifted from grief to anger when they spoke of their frustration over how youth crime is handled by lawmakers, claiming alleged offenders get off lightly.

“I’m sick and tired of all these politicians making suggestions that they’re going to do this they’re going to do that and they never do a damn thing,” Glen told a visibly emotional Ally Langdon on A Current Affair.

“(The) Victorian government’s a disgrace. They should get out of office.

Glen was incredulous when Langdon recounted a quote from Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes, who said she did not want to discuss a youth crime crisis that “doesn’t exist”.

“What planet are they on? They’re certainly not on ours. That’s a cowardly response from them, that’s all I can say,” he said.

The young doctor was farewelled by about 700 people at a funeral held in a hall in Victoria’s La Trobe Valley last week.

Among the grieving crowd were Mr Gordon’s four older siblings – Natalie, Kerry, Tammy and Brad – who have joined their parents in crying out for an urgent change to the justice system to deal with youth offenders more effectively.

The doctor’s sister Natalie has been vocal in calling for tougher punishments for youth offenders as youth crime rises in Victoria.

“The reason I am speaking so publicly about this is… to raise awareness that we need to have tougher punishments in place, more discipline in place and I want Ashley’s memory to live on in doing good exactly what he wanted to do with his life,” she told Sunrise days after her brother’s death.

According to crime statistics published in September, youths aged between 14 to 17 in Victoria were committing more serious and violent crimes.

Offending from that age group jumped 26 per cent over a year to June 2023, with the report showing there were 3,758 assaults, 1,928 burglaries and 1,495 cars thefts.

Crime among 10-13-year-olds also rose to 3,187 incidents.

Dot
Dot
January 31, 2024 1:56 pm
Rabz
January 31, 2024 1:58 pm

Cameron Milner is director of GXO Strategies

He was on Crudlin last night, selling this gibberish:

tackling the crippling cost-of-living crisis and delivering genuine labore tax reform

More and higher taxes is not “tax reform”, you collectivist crackpot.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
January 31, 2024 1:58 pm

GreyRanga
Jan 31, 2024 1:47 PM
If Michael Ohomo does run, the first thing Trump should say is “show us your cock”.

LOL!

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
January 31, 2024 2:01 pm
GreyRanga
GreyRanga
January 31, 2024 2:06 pm

Sounds like the seal on your windows has failed Megan. The argon leaks out over a 5-10 year period anyway.

Fair Shake
Fair Shake
January 31, 2024 2:10 pm

‘Cowardly response’: Ashley Gordon’s parents hit out at Victoria’s handling of youth crime crisis after young doctor was killed in Melbourne home invasion

As I posted back in December, a good friend / work colleague had her home in Berwick (SE Melbourne) invaded by teenagers of non-white appearance. Her husband was stabbed whilst getting out of the bed to see what the noise was. Three of the four had a long list of priors. Three of the four appeared without their parents. One of the four because of age 18yo went thru the adult system and received a mandatory sentence. Observations: Teenagers were let off with very light sentences. Each received full legal aid and used every possible avenue to avoid facing up to what they had done.
Siktoria has a youth crime problem but more importantly a youth justice problem. The Police catch them, process them, and the courts release them. This is known by the community, the police and the perpetrators. If the Vic Government Ministers lips are moving, its a lie.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 31, 2024 2:11 pm

I first learned to code in Fortran IV.

Heh, Chris, me also in 1979. Then in 1980 I did my first stint in the coal mining industry…

The UniSyd mainframe at the time had a 64k memory core made out of ferrite rings with wires threaded through them. Amazing how things have progressed. A pocket calculator would be far more powerful these days.

Cray 1978 versus iPhone 2022 (20 Jan)

If you want to see a truly amazing trip down 44 years of memory lane, check out this comparison of the 1978 Cray computer, at the time the most powerful computer in the world, and the 2022 iPhone.

And yes I did a lot of VB macros too. 😀

Dot
Dot
January 31, 2024 2:12 pm

OldOzzie Avatar
OldOzzie
Jan 31, 2024 11:48 AM

Sinn Fein claims Irish reunification ‘within touching distance’ after DUP ends Stormont deadlock

It’s inevitable.

There were some good blogs about this in the last 8 – 13 years, but I can’t find them anymore.

Indolent
Indolent
January 31, 2024 2:19 pm
OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 31, 2024 2:23 pm

Albanese slams door on Labor’s own tax aspirations

Robert Carling – Economist

Australia’s personal income tax structure has been in a state of flux over many years, and the Albanese government’s backflip over the already legislated stage three tax cuts is best assessed in that context.

Although the government would not put it in these terms, it wants to restore the marginal rate scale to where it was in 2010-11 – at the end of a long stream of tax cuts put in place by the Howard government, starting with the GST compensation cuts in 2000-01.

The last few reductions in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 were implemented by the Rudd government, but were set in train by the Howard government; partly in legislation and partly still to be legislated after the 2007 election.

Rudd (unlike Albanese today) honoured his election promise to implement what the Coalition had set in train.

One small difference is that in 2010-11, the lowest marginal rate was 15 per cent, and now it is to be 16 per cent in the reshaped stage three.

Otherwise the marginal rates are the same: 30 per cent, 37 per cent and 45 per cent, although the standard Medicare levy has been increased by 0.5 per cent since 2010-11 – thereby boosting all true marginal rates by that amount.

The Howard government had also announced a cut in the top rate from 45 per cent to 42 per cent from 2010-11, which Rudd ditched before the election.

This was shortsighted, but not a broken promise.

The later increases in the 15 per cent marginal rate to 19 per cent and the 30 per cent rate to 32.5 per cent were the work of the Gillard government in 2012 when the tax-free threshold was simultaneously lifted to $18,200 as compensation for the carbon tax.

Stage three, as revised by the Albanese government, therefore reverses a couple of marginal rate increases under a previous Labor government.

It is ironic that a tax policy goal of a previous Labor government is now being torn up by another Labor government.

So should Albanese be praised for going back to what John Howard and Peter Costello – gold medal tax cutters – had put in place?

Not so fast.

For one thing, that assessment depends on whether the thresholds have been increased since 2010-11 to offset bracket creep.

The CPI has risen by about 45 per cent since then and average full-time earnings by a little over 50 per cent.

By comparison, the tax-free threshold has been trebled (pass), the $45,000 threshold represents an increase of 22 per cent (fail), the new $135,000 threshold is 69 per cent higher (pass), and the new $190,000 threshold is a token 6 per cent above where it was in 2010-11 (fail).

While annual indexation of all thresholds would be the surest and most transparent way to correct for bracket creep, there are many different ways to achieve the same aggregate outcome – and the government says this is what it is doing – but the tax cuts in stages one, two, and three do not offset 14 years of bracket creep for the vast majority of taxpayers.

Albanese says circumstances have changed, but is it just that Labor has changed from aspiration towards redistribution?

The egregious failure is the very small increase in the top rate threshold.

Whether it is to be $200,000 as in the legislated stage three or $190,000 as the revised stage three is really beside the point: which is that a much larger increase is justified.

As a multiple of average earnings, the top rate threshold is already quite low by past standards and very low by international standards.

And it will become lower year by year, drawing increasing numbers into the top two brackets.

What about the marginal rates themselves?

The Howard government, as noted above, had a firm proposal (included in the forward estimates but not legislated) to cut the top rate from 45 per cent to 42 per cent in 2010.

A re-elected Coalition government would have been very likely to honour that.

The Howard government also aimed to cut the 37 per cent rate to 35 per cent and the 42 per cent rate to 40 per cent by 2012.

That intention was subject to much more uncertainty, including another election in 2010, but Labor also had its “aspiration” tax plan – the goal of a simpler marginal rate scale of 15 per cent, 30 per cent and 40 per cent by 2013-14 – spelt out in the 2008 budget.

Note the elimination of the second top rate, which Albanese has now retained at the level of 37 per cent.

It is ironic that a tax policy goal of a previous Labor government is now being torn up by another Labor government just as it was about to be implemented.

Albanese says circumstances have changed, but is it just that Labor has changed from aspiration towards redistribution?

The same can be said of Labor’s stated 2008 goal of a 40 per cent top rate by 2013-14.

Although the sincerity of it is dubious – given that Labor had already rejected the cut to 42 per cent in the 2007 election campaign – the fact remains that the adoption of such a goal by Labor today would be unimaginable.

For that matter, the Coalition had nine years in office but never even attempted to cut the top rate.

We will probably be stuck with the rates and thresholds that take effect on July 1 for a long time; which is one of the tragedies of the backflip.

We have a “once in seven to 10 years” tax cut shaped by the ephemeral pressure of a cost of living issue and an imminent by-election.

It could be a long time before the stars align for another tax cut shaped by aspiration and incentive.

Fair Shake
Fair Shake
January 31, 2024 2:27 pm

Being only quite young in 1973 I was not aware of the geo-politics surrounding OPEC. Recently i listened to a podcast ‘The Oil Weapon’. It referred to how 1973 was an exciting time. Nixon was enveloped in the Watergate affair, Israel was under attack again and OPEC launches its first effective price hikes. On one particular day Israels PM sends a letter to Nixon requested further weapons as theirs are being depleted rapidly and there is a chance they will be wiped out. The same day OPEC send Nixon a letter advising any country assisting Israel will have their ration of oil cut and the price hiked. As a result USA, Britain, Japan, Netherlands… felt the full impact of OPEC.
The Middle East tyrants have form.

Indolent
Indolent
January 31, 2024 2:27 pm
Barking Toad
Barking Toad
January 31, 2024 2:27 pm

Janet A is worryingly correct about the Sleaze.

“My word is my bond” spitteth the dunderhead.

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 31, 2024 2:27 pm

Dot
Jan 31, 2024 1:56 PM

Another way to look at it:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-the-major-tech-layoffs-in-2024-so-far/

Thanks Dot,

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ is a fun site

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 31, 2024 2:29 pm

Brilliant letter to the Editor

Wednesday, 31 January 2024

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
January 31, 2024 2:34 pm

Letter To The Editor

Lovely darts OldOzzie.

I could hear people cheering through the TV when that young fella got the last wicket.

Fcuk off Capt’n climate and cheaty McSook.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 2:38 pm

From his home in Adelaide’s leafy lefty suburbs, Peter Broelman has his cartoons syndicated to dozens of rural and regional daily newspapers.

His cartoons appear in the local rag.

Why, I can’t imagine, as this is one of the most politically and socially conservative electorates in the country.

Unless his task is to p*ss readers off.

Robert Sewell
January 31, 2024 2:38 pm

Muddy:

If this allegation – a massacre of pally civs in a school ‘execution style’ (strangely, several people who were conversant with the exact details managed to live and tell their story, unwounded), has been debunked already, don’t worry about it.

They’re Arabs.
They’re lying.
Now what was the question?

P
P
January 31, 2024 2:52 pm

OUR CHRISTIAN NATION
by Josh Hawley
February 2024

Josh Hawley is a U.S. senator for Missouri.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 31, 2024 2:54 pm

The footage of Jill Biden at the LVMH event is just embarrassing.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 2:57 pm

Dover, the predominant heritage of Israeli Jews is from Arabs lands. In 1945, nearly 1 million Jews were either forced to leave or found the environment hostile to them in these places. They moved to Israel for the most part.

There was essentially an ethnic swap, with most Israeli Arabs continuing to live in Israel. If you’re just focusing on one side of the ledger, you’re not going to square the balance sheet.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 3:02 pm

feelthebern
Jan 31, 2024 2:54 PM

The footage of Jill Biden at the LVMH event is just embarrassing.

Where’s the vid?

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 3:05 pm

Bush

I still maintain, the Obama bloke is too lazy to run.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 31, 2024 3:07 pm

Only seen it on TikTok so far.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
January 31, 2024 3:10 pm

The UniSyd mainframe at the time had a 64k memory core made out of ferrite rings with wires threaded through them. Amazing how things have progressed. A pocket calculator would be far more powerful these days.

Yes. And the Kray supercomputers were used for nuclear physics, cosmology and weather forecasting. The iphones are used mainly for updating facebook pages and sending dickpix.

We have almost the entire knowledge of the human race available on the interwebzy thingo, and its main use is watching videoporn.

This is telling you something important about the species. There are a very small number of intelligent, creative people, who make a living making computers available and accessible to morons.

Rosie
Rosie
January 31, 2024 3:11 pm

Suspending unwra funding won’t affect the flow of donated aid, it will affect the bloated salaries of unwramas teachers (who are currently not teaching) and various other unwramas functionaries.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 3:14 pm

Let’s assume for a moment that they made the campaign easy for the Obama bloke, and he won due to mass lawfare and cheating. There’s the job. Unless you’re somewhat committed, it’s a thankless job, as there’s a lot of work to be done and appointments to keep. I’m not sure he’s interested; he appears to be even lazier than his husband and Dementia Joe.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 3:18 pm

feelthebern
Jan 31, 2024 3:07 PM

Only seen it on TikTok so far

Thanks, I’m not a subscriber, but I’m sure it will make its way to X.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 31, 2024 3:21 pm

Cassie of Sydney

Jan 31, 2024 8:20 AM

I realise this is aimed at me, specifically, for being a ten poud tourist .. uncitizened .. but how do you aquire ‘citizenship’ if you can’t speak English ..?

Perhaps they do speak English, but not in the home. I just don’t think people in glass houses should throw stones.

I think the Vietnamese have been a gift to this country.

Phuoc yeah!
Not least because of what they were fleeing from. Their healthy mistrust of government and resultant sense of self reliance is something we could learn from.

Katzenjammer
Katzenjammer
January 31, 2024 3:22 pm

I referenced British Mandate reports, etc

I don’t rely on whatever I can find that someone chooses to quote on the internet when a topic crops up that I want to dispute.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 3:29 pm

If the Democrats can get the Wookie up the US really is finished.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
January 31, 2024 3:33 pm
JC
JC
January 31, 2024 3:34 pm

Wookie?

Vicki
Vicki
January 31, 2024 3:34 pm

From Jim Rickards on the insanity of the current US government:

We’ve written extensively about the War in Ukraine. There’s no need to repeat all the details here. It’s enough to say that the US provoked the war from 2008 to 2022, Russia responded with a special military operation in 2022, Russia is winning, and Ukraine is close to defeat.

On the financial side, the US sanctions have failed. The Russian economy is booming and on a war footing even as the US heads into recession and is out of ammunition. It gets worse. The EU will not approve more money for Ukraine because of a Hungary veto, and the US will not approve more money without border reform that Biden won’t agree to. Ukraine is practically broke, and they need cash to bribe the oligarchs.

In the face of this impasse, Biden came up with a hare-brained scheme to steal the $300 billion of Russian reserves (in the form of Treasury securities) now frozen in US and European banks. Freezing assets happens with some frequency, but actually stealing them is tantamount to a default by the Treasury. Biden would give the stolen $300 billion to Ukraine.

Of course, a lot of that would return to the US in the form of campaign contributions and other gratuities to Democrats, with 10% for the Big Guy. But this would destroy confidence in the US Treasury securities market, hike interest rates, downgrade the US credit rating, and more. Biden has some buy-in on this from GOP senators (all warmongers except for Rand Paul) and from Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House. Johnson seems just not to know any better about international finance and is along for the ride.

Is this the dumbest plan ever? Not quite.

As reported in this article, some genius dreamed up a way for Ukraine to issue ‘Reparation Bonds.’ The idea is that Ukraine would issue $300 billion of bonds to be repaid with reparations from Russia once Russia loses the war.

One obvious problem is Russia is winning the war and destroying Ukraine in the process, so there won’t be any reparations, but never mind. The Reparation Bonds would be secured by the $300 billion of frozen Russian assets. If Russia wins the war (they will) and no reparations are actually paid, the $300 billion would be used to pay off the bonds. It’s like a deferred steal instead of an immediate steal.

Wait, it gets better! Who would actually buy these bonds? The Wall Street eggheads would structure them in tranches, with some more senior in payment and with greater collateral than others. The senior tranches (probably ‘AAA’ rated just like sub-prime mortgages in 2006) could be sold to institutions and the lower rated tranches would be sold to…wait for it…central banks! These central banks would buy the Reparation Bonds with printed money. That printing causes inflation so you end up paying the price since your money is worth less.

This idea has everything — shell companies, stolen collateral, Ponzi economics, kickbacks to Democrats, inflation, and the destruction of confidence in the dollar. I’m fairly sure Biden is too senile to think of this. Maybe, Hunter?

Indolent
Indolent
January 31, 2024 3:38 pm

An incentive program? Like to doctors to push covid jabs?

Right-Wing Watchdog Sues San Francisco Over Transgender Guaranteed Income Program

Johnny Rotten
Johnny Rotten
January 31, 2024 3:38 pm

Texas Can Survive as the Lone Star State

“Most importantly, Texas has oil, gas, and refining capacity and would continue to produce and refine fossil fuels. Without Texas, the United States would not be able to wage war, lacking the energy to fuel its tanks. Texas could stand on its own, and to ensure energy, other Red States would join hands against Washington.

There is rising sentiment toward separation due to the Biden Administration’s abuse of executive orders. The Biden Administration thinks executive orders are the way to change the character of the United States without the people’s consent. Truman seized all the steel mills without statutory authority using an executive order that the Supreme Court reversed. We have so many violations using executive decrees without statutory authority, circumventing Congress and the people. The abuse of this power is causing severe discontent. People are talking about separating, even in Florida. When historically a centralized government seeks total control, it collapses like the Soviet Union. Most people do not know that Lenin wanted to copy the United States, whereas each province retained its sovereignty. Stalin poisoned Lenin and his wife and usurped total central control. Biden has endangered the survivability of the United States. Washington cannot override the sovereignty of the states.”

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/civil-unrest/texas-can-survive-as-the-lone-star-state/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS

Indolent
Indolent
January 31, 2024 3:40 pm

Of course, you always disown the one common sensed one.

Uganda disowns its dissenting judge in court ruling on Israel genocide claim

Katzenjammer
Katzenjammer
January 31, 2024 3:47 pm

The motives for separating the areas had more to do with the Brits hamfisted attempt to discharge their promises to Hussein bin Ali for support against the Ottomans and protecting their new oil pipeline.

>On 8 March 1920, Abdullah was proclaimed King of Iraq by the Iraqi Congress but he refused the position. After his refusal, his brother Faisal who had just been defeated in Syria, accepted the position. When French forces captured Damascus after the Battle of Maysalun (24 July 1920) and expelled his brother Faisal (27 July–1 August 1920), Abdullah moved his forces from Hejaz into Transjordan with a view to liberating Damascus, where his brother had been proclaimed King in 1918. Having heard of Abdullah’s plans, Winston Churchill invited Abdullah to Cairo in 1921 for a famous “tea party”, where he convinced Abdullah to stay put and not attack Britain’s allies, the French. Churchill told Abdullah that French forces were superior to his and that the British did not want any trouble with the French. Abdullah headed to Transjordan and established an emirate there after being welcomed into the country by its inhabitants.

The family were generously repaid at the expense of the intended Jewish state by granting them a country invented with no precedent in history. Jordan is probably the most artificial country in the world, invented by a foreign empire with an imported royalty supported by British military. That departure from all precedents has put it among the most stable Islamic states.

Installing him as king didn’t necessitate the alteration of Mandate clauses related to permitting Jews to live east of the river. Jordan – the first Judenrein Islamic state, a British invention.

Chris
Chris
January 31, 2024 3:47 pm

We have almost the entire knowledge of the human race available on the interwebzy thingo, and its main use is watching videoporn.

I accept the bad with the good.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 3:51 pm

It may actually work in tricking the American Left into believing this.

Don’t let Trump cheat. Demand Voter ID and Only Paper Ballots.

Delta A
Delta A
January 31, 2024 3:53 pm

Talk about the never-ending story! From The Australian:

Drumgold claims ‘bias’ in Sofronoff inquiry
The former ACT chief prosecutor will attempt to prove Walter Sofronoff engaged in an ‘unreasonable’ relationship with Janet Albrechtsen while he was conducting an inquiry into Shane Drumgold’s conduct.

I fail to see how any J A/Sofronoff relationship could benefit Drumgold. Certainly she reported on the case frequently and they might be BFFs, but she is in no way connected with any of the legal procedings relating to this soap opera.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 3:55 pm

ALPBC MD shows why he is the perfect man to run the collective.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 31, 2024 3:57 pm

More on the ‘never ending story” from the Daily Mail.

Bombshell as identity of person Bruce Lehrmann inquiry judge called 55 times is revealed

Walter Sofronoff made 55 calls to a columnist from The Australian
Calls were made during the inquiry into Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial
Ex-ACT DPP Shane Drumgold claims Mr Sofronoff was biased

OldOzzie
OldOzzie
January 31, 2024 3:57 pm
DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
January 31, 2024 4:01 pm

An incentive program? Like to doctors to push covid jabs?

Right-Wing Watchdog Sues San Francisco Over Transgender Guaranteed Income Program

If you make the world safe for whackos, you’ll get more whackos.

If you make the world safe and comfortable for the ignorant and stupid, you’ll get more ignorance and stupidity.

I’m of the opinion that we already have plenty of ignorance and stupidity, and far too many whackos.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 4:05 pm

Doc

More people means the distribution doesn’t change. You may have lots of morons, but it also means also more smart people too.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
January 31, 2024 4:08 pm

We have almost the entire knowledge of the human race available on the interwebzy thingo, and its main use is watching videoporn.

I accept the bad with the good.

Which do you think is which?

Chris
Chris
January 31, 2024 4:10 pm

Which do you think is which?

If it weighs the same as a duck…

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 31, 2024 4:10 pm

Old Ozzie at 10:34.

In the case of floating wind turbines, their platforms require major engineering stabilisers to ensure the towers are strictly rigid during operation.

They glibly quote examples of floating oil and gas platforms as an alleged illustration of how feasible it might be.
Floating oil and gas platforms, whilst not particularly aerodynamic, have a yuuuge mass, particularly FPSO facilities. The largest FPSO (Egina off Nigeria) weighs 220,000 tonnes, so takes a bit of shifting.
An offshore floating turbine is actually designed to catch the wind. Without getting the butcher’s paper out, the dynamic loads on a wind turbine are many times higher than an FPSO.
And for what?
In terms of energy, Egina pulls out 200,000 barrels a day.
I am not sure how many hideously expensive turbines you would need to generate the equivalent ergs.

Robert Sewell
January 31, 2024 4:15 pm

Jeez. Some frigging rain would be nice.

Robert Sewell
January 31, 2024 4:17 pm

Old Ozzie:

Then what in the Heck is this Tunnel going to do/improve?

Maaates bank balances. And it will deplete ours.

Black Ball
Black Ball
January 31, 2024 4:21 pm

The Dealer’s Missus and Short Willie have been vevvvyy quiet lately.

Plotting against the imbecile and his carbon idiot.

Indeed Barking Toad. All Tits Shorten need do is to make pronouncements that NDIS is being rorted by whoever, blame the Coalition for past inaction and vowing to weed out perpetrators rorting the system. Media will fellate him, saying he’s a safe pair of hands and has done well in his portfolio. Tits then has his ego swell to the size of his forehead and challenges Albo. He also has the added bonus of not actually contesting the election.
We really are governed by the dregs of society.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 31, 2024 4:29 pm

More than six million people have been put on health alert after the first case of mpox (formerly monkeypox) was recorded in Victoria in almost six months amid a large international outbreak.

It’s no coincidence this happens straight after the Australian Open.

Big_Nambas
Big_Nambas
January 31, 2024 4:29 pm

Mate of mine has been struck by gerbil warming sea level rises! He has owned a house on a canal at South Yunderup for over 20 years, January 2024 is the first time his boat was unusable due to sitting in mud the whole time (not enough water).
The cult of gerbil warming is a joke.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 4:32 pm

I paid the highest ever to fill up today. $158 for a full tank at $2.46 a liter of 98.

bons
bons
January 31, 2024 4:34 pm

Robert.

I purchased Office 2021 from these folks. They were very cheap but helpful. The licence has expired twice but they renewed it immediately.

Based on the Gold Coast I think.

Hope this doesn turn out like a restaurant recommendation.

shop.winandoffice.com.

Eyrie
Eyrie
January 31, 2024 4:42 pm

1 Barrel of oil = approximately 6 GJ of energy
Largest offshore wind turbine according to GE is Haliade-X which can generate
74 GW-h per annum which is 0.2GW per day which is 720GJ.
So it takes only 120 barrels of oil to generate that.
What was the output of Egina? 200,000 barrels /day, so 1670 of the Haliade-X daily output.

Hope I got that right.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 4:54 pm

I’m just focusing on claims made re Palestine. You’re just changing the focus here.

I’m not. Those people had nowhere to go except the Jewish state. You really can’t ignore what happened and simply “focus” on one side of interlocked historical events.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 4:56 pm

You’d also need to remove this cohort as they began arriving in the late 80s.

Between 1989 and 2006, about 1.6 million Soviet Jews and their non-Jewish spouses and their relatives, as defined by the Law of Return, emigrated from the former Soviet Union. About 979,000, or 61%, migrated to Israel.

Dot
Dot
January 31, 2024 4:57 pm

The same day OPEC send Nixon a letter advising any country assisting Israel will have their ration of oil cut and the price hiked. As a result USA, Britain, Japan, Netherlands… felt the full impact of OPEC.

The countries that suffered the most from the “oil shock” also had the highest rates of money printing.

Oil well goes grrrr
Money printer goes brrr

Robert Sewell
January 31, 2024 4:59 pm

bons
Jan 31, 2024 4:34 PM

Robert.
I purchased Office 2021 from these folks. They were very cheap but helpful. The licence has expired twice but they renewed it immediately.
Based on the Gold Coast I think.
Hope this doesn turn out like a restaurant recommendation.
shop.winandoffice.com.

That was the one I got caught on – they say they’re a German outfit, but it comes from Thailand and it altered my settings to Thai language which is why I thought they were dodgy.
No great problem, though. I needed to sort out my CC account.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 5:14 pm

It’s no coincidence this happens straight after the Australian Open.

Not so straight sets.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 31, 2024 5:16 pm

Israeli hit squad raids West Bank hospital

Any of the bush lawyers here help out? If the nasties are using the hospital as a base for operations, don’t they forfeit any rights under the Geneva Convention? Doesn’t the hospital become a legitimate military target?

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 5:18 pm

I paid the highest ever to fill up today. $158 for a full tank at $2.46 a liter of 98.

Run a shitbox.

Dot
Dot
January 31, 2024 5:21 pm

The topic was the demographic composition of Palestine up to ’47. What you’re referring to only started in ’48 and has nothing to add to that discussion.

Okay, but what were the demographics of 1947 era 1948 bordered Israel? If someone had the breakdown by province and city, that would be very interesting.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 31, 2024 5:24 pm

OldOzzie

Jan 31, 2024 1:54 PM

‘Cowardly response’: Ashley Gordon’s parents hit out at Victoria’s handling of youth crime crisis after young doctor was killed in Melbourne home invasion

The parents of a young doctor allegedly murdered by two teenagers in a home invasion have broken down in a teary interview as they pleaded for more to be done to combat youth crime.

Fcking disgrace.
Two days after this guy was murdered, a Lady Plod is on the radio trying to hose it all down.
She constantly refers to the crooks as “children” as if they are just some mischievous little moppets. In fact, they were 16 years old and no doubt big lumps of warriors. At least one was already on bail.
She then goes on to say that only 10% of ag-burgs result in a face to face contact, so no real biggie.
Oh, and to rub a bit of salt into the open wound she tut-tuts about people initiatiating a confrontation with the crooks … “look what you made them do”.
Christine “I had to eat” Nixon casts a long shadow (as well as a wide one).
And, of course, leave the car keys near the door to make the car theft more efficient.
Not a word about catching the scum-bags.

Vicki
Vicki
January 31, 2024 5:26 pm

The topic was the demographic composition of Palestine up to ’47. What you’re referring to only started in ’48 and has nothing to add to that discussion.

This is a perilous path to follow. There is barely a country on this planet that has not had people dispossessed at some stage in their history. It is a futile argument.

The nation that is Israel has prospered in the short post war period as few (if any) nations have prospered. It is an extraordinary feat in view of what they began with in 1948. People….this is what it is all about! The Palestinians want the towers, the industry, the technology…the lot!

And they think that Muhammad sanctions every slash of the sword.

bons
bons
January 31, 2024 5:26 pm

Robert.

That is fascinating. I contacted them three weeks ago for a replacement key and they provided it within the hour.

[email protected]

Wierd. Their business address and phone is German. It must be Da Roussians playing games.

I was wrong about the Gold Coast, that was the outfit from whom I purchased Windows – apologies.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 31, 2024 5:27 pm

I apologise to Dr Jill Biden.
She wasn’t acting the goose at the LMVH event.
It was Macron’s pedo wife (as confirmed by the both of them).
I confused old hags.

Jock
Jock
January 31, 2024 5:27 pm

I note Chalmers is chuffed about the latest inflation numbers. They had the Kouk on TV saying interest rates will fall. God help me. Inflation is merely going up at a slower pace. Prices have risen over 17% in the last 2.5 years. Why are all Finance or Economics “Reporters” so dumb?

Tom
Tom
January 31, 2024 5:28 pm

If the Democrats can get the Wookie up the US really is finished.

Don’t worry your … unattractive old head about that, Humphrey.

American voters aren’t dumb and they’re now in the process of enduring the Obama third term’s attempt to destroy the country — run by the same people who ran Obama’s second term, via America’s latest puppet president.

They’re not going to line up for another four years run by the bloke who married Barack — unless the DNC can gee up the base for another bout of cheating in the swing states.

OK, it’s possible. Trump Derangement is the gift that keeps giving for the DNC.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 5:29 pm

Not much has changed with VicPlod and Melbournibad. Andrews wasn’t really the problem?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
January 31, 2024 5:31 pm

Capital City Derro Analysis (CBD only):

Melbourne – derro numbers 4/10. Space taken up by derros – 7/10. Aggressiveness of derros – 4/10. Ratio of Pom derros – 0%.

Brisbane – derro numbers 7/10. Space taken up by derros – 8/10. Aggressiveness of derros – 8/10. Ratio of Pom derros – 15%.

Perth – derro numbers 8/10. Space taken up by derros – 3/10. Aggressiveness of derros – 9/10. Ratio of Pom derros – 65%.

Darwin – derro numbers 9/10. Space taken up by derros – 1/10. Aggressiveness of derros – 5/10. Ratio of Pom derros – 0%.

There’s a PhD in there somewhere.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 5:31 pm

I’m not sure I share your optimism Tom.

Katzenjammer
Katzenjammer
January 31, 2024 5:32 pm

No, you referenced two works that I’m unable to peruse.

That’s right. Whatever someone has chosen to put on the internet that somone else discovers to respond to a topic that crops up is never the whole story.

The devastation of the present war has made a big hole in the Palestinian population and colonists will be all the more necessary. If the Zionists do not go there I am confident that someone will, nature abhors vacuum. It took the Turks and all their men to keep the country a desert before the war and if it remains in their hands after the war they will be too exhausted to resist the spirit of the age.

Sykes to Drummond, 30 Octrober 1917, FO.371/3083/143082
Quoted in “Britain and Zion” by Frank Hardie & Irwin Herrman, pub. 1980

Don’t assume continuity of Arab population across the war time. If numbers after the war appear to be due to natural increase, with evidence like this that the population was vastly reduced during the war, it means there must have been a large wave of Arab immigration. We know there was a large emigration of Jews from Palestine – a wave of a few dozen from earlier 19th century Palestine settlers even arriving in Freemantle and settling in Australia. Arabs just moved to alternate regions of Syria to join other family members. Circassian and Balkan military families who the Ottomans had brought in returned to their sources. The bulk of Muslims in Palestine (the southern region of the Syrian province of the Ottoman Empire) before and after the Great War were an ever changing population, and were not all Arab.

Robert Sewell
January 31, 2024 5:32 pm

Montana Child Protective Services Medically Kidnapped Teen Girl to Wyoming for Gender Affirming Care, Fully Revokes Parental Custody

Vicki
Vicki
January 31, 2024 5:33 pm

I paid the highest ever to fill up today. $158 for a full tank at $2.46 a liter of 98.

Bear, today we paid $2.01 per litre for diesel less 8c a lite discount through Woolies card at an Ampol in the Blue Mountains.

Don’t ask me why – but we find that petrol and diesel are cheaper outside the city than in the suburbs of Sydney. It used to be the other way round – when they argued that cartage was responsible for the higher price. Go figure.

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 31, 2024 5:34 pm

Biden doesn’t use the usual stairs anymore when using Air Force One.
They use the shorter stairs that go to the underbelly of the plane.
This hoax has to end.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 5:36 pm

Ha ha – that was JC and some Eurotrash taxi. I put 95 in the bike once. That was enough for me.

Katzenjammer
Katzenjammer
January 31, 2024 5:36 pm

We know there was a large emigration of Jews from Palestine – a wave of a few dozen from earlier 19th century Palestine settlers even arriving in Freemantle and settling in Australia.

This was during the war time – one example of demographic groups who left.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 31, 2024 5:41 pm

Drumgold claims ‘bias’ in Sofronoff inquiry
The former ACT chief prosecutor will attempt to prove Walter Sofronoff engaged in an ‘unreasonable’ relationship with Janet Albrechtsen while he was conducting an inquiry into Shane Drumgold’s conduct.

“while he was conducting”?
Sofronoff did drop his final report to a couple of journalists after the enquiry was done, and when it became obvious that the ACT Shire Council was going to shelve his report.
Two things the very dim Dumgold should steer clear of:-
1. Opening up chatter about improper relationships during legal proceeding; and
2. Accusations that Janet Albrechtsen was effectively pulling Sofronoff’s strings.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 5:42 pm

If the nasties are using the hospital as a base for operations, don’t they forfeit any rights under the Geneva Convention?

The hostiles certainly do.

Doesn’t the hospital become a legitimate military target?

Only under certain conditions. Any attack on a hospital being used as a base for hostile operations has to be proportionate and accompanied with a warning to evacuate civilians. In this instance I believe there were three hostiles and the IDF sent in a dozen or so special forces who targeted them precisely. So, it was a proportionate response. Blowing up the entire hospital to account for the three hostiles would clearly be disproportionate. I know there’s been some discussion about proportionality in war here but that’s essentially what it means and Israel has a multi-tiered system of review to ensure it complies with international law in this respect.

Robert Sewell
January 31, 2024 5:42 pm

bons
Jan 31, 2024 5:26 PM

Robert.
That is fascinating. I contacted them three weeks ago for a replacement key and they provided it within the hour.
[email protected]
Wierd. Their business address and phone is German. It must be Da Roussians playing games.
I was wrong about the Gold Coast, that was the outfit from whom I purchased Windows – apologies.

It’s cool bons, as I said, no problems.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
January 31, 2024 5:43 pm

Referring to career criminals as ‘children’ is, in the absolutely best possible light, disingenuous and highly misleading.

As mentioned just upthread, the vast majority of these ‘children’ are very well physically equipped to deal with most things. I am the same height now (six-one) as I was at 14, and I am not an outlier.

Some of these muppets have been before the courts over 120 times at 16. They drink, smoke, are druggies and engage in serious criminal shit 24/7. They are not children. They are more streetwise and ferocious than 90% of the adult population.

Nobody, least of all some tart in a uniform who’s never pinched anybody and never walked on anything other than carpet or concrete is going to tell me not to ‘initiate a confrontation’ with someone – regardless of age, not that you could tell in the middle of the night – who is stealing my stuff that I worked for, and that I earned.

Piss off, girlie cop.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 5:43 pm

accompanied with

Or preceded by.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 31, 2024 5:47 pm

JC

Jan 31, 2024 4:32 PM

I paid the highest ever to fill up today. $158 for a full tank at $2.46 a liter of 98.

With all those warning lights going off and smoke issuing from under the hood (not to mention all the dodgem car touch parking dings), I’d be wary about over-capitalising the jalopy at the pump.
I’d say keep the refills under $25.

John Brumble
John Brumble
January 31, 2024 5:47 pm

There’s a PhD in there somewhere.

What topic? Insipid arrogance of Mexican clowns?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 31, 2024 5:52 pm

They were patients, I believe.

Yes. They went in healthy and came out dead.
Terminal and very rapid lead poisoning. Tragic.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
January 31, 2024 5:58 pm

‘Insipid arrogance of Mexican clowns?’

Brumble. Quenthland derros are winning by a street.

Also, Joe Burns is never playing for Australia again.

calli
calli
January 31, 2024 6:04 pm

A story about following thieves, and how it might go horribly wrong.

Years ago in the dawn of the world the Beloved, out on the front porch for his early morning dart, watched a local scumbag pinch an expensive pushbike, the neighbour teenager’s pride and joy.

Not missing a beat, he followed the mongrel, barefoot, up to the end of the street, where the thief turned for home. The Beloved recognised him. It just so happened that a passing police car pulled over and questioned the Beloved, who instantly gave account of what he had seen and where the thief was headed. Thank you sir.

Later, a search warrant, and a raid. Firearms of the illegal variety found, along with the bike and other stuff.

Result: felons arrested, bike returned, Beloved in one piece.

Now, you may ask, why did the police pull over to the kerb and quiz The Beloved?

He had pursued the criminal dressed in a t-shirt and polka-dot shorty shorts, thus attracting their instant attention.

😀

johanna
johanna
January 31, 2024 6:05 pm

Steve trickler
Jan 31, 2024 1:58 PM

GreyRanga
Jan 31, 2024 1:47 PM
If Michael Ohomo does run, the first thing Trump should say is “show us your cock”.

LOL!

This is precisely the sort of crackpot nonsense that makes it so easy for the MSM and the Deep State to rubbish genuine right wing/conservative movements and players.

Just like the idiots who attend right wing/conservative rallies and behave like Antifa, to the glee of their opponents, there seems to be a substrate of weirdos who are sexually excited by imagining that Michelle Obama, mother of two children, is a man.

I don’t want to speculate about the fantasies and fantasists that drive this kind of bizarre weirdness. Not looking into that abyss.

But let’s just say that they should stick to alien abductionism – it’s politically a lot less damaging,

Harlequin Decline
January 31, 2024 6:07 pm

Australian citizenship was not what it seemed in the later 1980’s.

My family immigrated from the UK in early 1950’s I was 2 years old.

I got my first Australian passport around 1970( I think it said Australian and British citizen). Travelled on it and renewed it around 1980 and then went to renew again around 1989 for work related travel.

I was told you can’t renew it.

‘Why?’

‘Because you aren’t an Australian citizen.’

‘WTF, why aren’t I? ‘

‘The rules have been changed, since you arrived after 1949 you now have to apply for citizenship.’

I was incredulous,

‘I’ve been here longer than you, voted, paid taxes, owned a house, had 2 previous passports, had to register for conscription and now you tell me I’m not an Australian citizen, WTF?’

‘Sorry- rules is rules.’

‘How long will that take?’

‘About 4-6 months’

I left shaking my head then, when I calmed down, I applied for citizenship.

About 4 months later I underwent a somewhat farcical citizenship ceremony and became a citizen.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 6:10 pm

They were patients, I believe.

This makes an interesting case study.

Were they hors de combat?

Arguably not if they were plotting an attack.

Were they armed?

Were they willing to surrender without a fight?

Katzenjammer
Katzenjammer
January 31, 2024 6:10 pm

Strange, given the argument I’m responding to is that they weren’t dispossessed because they weren’t largely even there

It’s the fake tale that the vast majority of Arabs in 1948 ‘Palestine’ had long term roots in that territory. A large proportion were from parallel migration in the same period as the well known and well documented Jewish immigration. The difference is that the research of Arab immigration hasn’t been widely broadcast – it’s only known of in specialist research.

Don’t assume continuity of Arab population across the war time.

I’m not, but people who move to join family elsewhere during wartime can move back once the war is over.

That’s an assumption. Other studies found large number of resident Arabs who left their communal agricultural leaseholds for better and more reliable pay working on infrastructure for the British – roads, rail, ports. This caused tyhe berakdown of traditional heirarchical clan relationships in villiages. There’s very little published about the internal disruption of Arab society after the war, with Jews and British arrivals, large immigration of unrelated Arabs. Don’t expect to discover anything much about it on the internet. If a tree falls in the forest and it’s not reported on the internet, did it really occur? Read some books.

132andBush
132andBush
January 31, 2024 6:11 pm

JC,
Hope you’re right.
You can just see them pulling a Newsome/Obama ticket at the last minute, just after they take the corpse off his meds and he dribbles to the floor.
I think there are enough dumb people to fall for it.
Especially if they can slow the border down.

Re “Wookie?”
What’s the difference between this and Michelle Obama?

billie
billie
January 31, 2024 6:12 pm

Two things the very dim Dumgold should steer clear of:

You’d think so.

The activist side of things is probably reinflating all available egos, since the Voice, you know like as a thing.

It just has to be someone else’s fault with some people, consequences just don’t happen to them in their own minds.

cohenite
January 31, 2024 6:12 pm
Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
January 31, 2024 6:14 pm

About 4 months later I underwent a somewhat farcical citizenship ceremony and became a citizen.

Was that the one where you surrendered your knotted hankie and cloth cap and got a gum tree seedling?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 31, 2024 6:19 pm

This makes an interesting case study.

Roger – Made even more murky by it being a West Bank hospital. In Gaza the laws of war are clearer since Hamas is the administrating power, but in the WB it is nice Mr Abbas and his lot. So if the hospital were harbouring combatants, as it seems they were, yet were under administration from a neutral (ho ho) power, who exactly is at fault? Perhaps the hospital admin staff could front up to the ICC to explain.

I’m not holding my breath for that.

Boambee John
Boambee John
January 31, 2024 6:21 pm

Katz

The bulk of Muslims in Palestine (the southern region of the Syrian province of the Ottoman Empire) before and after the Great War were an ever changing population, and were not all Arab.

And the arabs did not arrive there in numbers until Mo started his wars of conquest/colonisation.

Bleats about “settler/colonists” are best directed at the arabs.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 31, 2024 6:32 pm

Only under certain conditions. Any attack on a hospital being used as a base for hostile operations has to be proportionate and accompanied with a warning to evacuate civilians

Thanks for sorting that one.

Chris
Chris
January 31, 2024 6:35 pm

About 4 months later I underwent a somewhat farcical citizenship ceremony and became a citizen.

Was that the one where you surrendered your knotted hankie and cloth cap and got a gum tree seedling?

And a piece of sandpaper…

Katzenjammer
Katzenjammer
January 31, 2024 6:35 pm

And the arabs did not arrive there in numbers until Mo started his wars of conquest/colonisation.

Bleats about “settler/colonists” are best directed at the arabs.

That’s a little too early for this discussion.

Harlequin Decline
January 31, 2024 6:37 pm

Sancho Panzer Avatar
Sancho Panzer
Jan 31, 2024 6:14 PM

Nothing so elaborate.

Conducted by a relatively recently arrived young woman of subcontinental origin about 50 people there to be granted citizenship.

Some preliminaries then she said ‘You have a choice-Pledge of Allegiance or Oath of Allegiance, you have to choose one. Please recite after me the one you have chosen-‘

She recites the pledge sentence by sentence and maybe 10 people in the room mumble something after the first sentence.

She recites the oath sentence by sentence and I was the only one repeating the lines, others in the room turned round to see who was talking with a puzzled look on their faces.

And that was that-no gum tree, billy tea or damper, and I was a citizen once again.

Mind you there was no welcome to the country so there was that.

Cassie of Sydney
January 31, 2024 6:43 pm

The video of the Mista’aravim entering the Jenin hospital to kill three Jew haters was like a scene out of Fauda.

Nice, very nice.

132andBush
132andBush
January 31, 2024 6:43 pm

Bruce of Newcastle
Jan 31, 2024 7:10 AM
Bushie – Republican voters will vote for anyone provided two things:

1. The policies espoused by the candidate are basically Tea Party policies
2. The candidate is at war with the GOP elites and wishes to take control of the party away from them.

Unfortunately there’s only one candidate that meets those two criteria. Vivek partly met (1) and does meet (2) but fell down on tax policy and Israel policy.

All the rest of the stable fell at the first hurdle, mainly by cosying up to the party elites and the donor class. DeSantis’s numbers collapsed right after he attended the elite donor meeting which Trump was banned from.

All very noble sounding sentiments, Bruce.
And anyone who dared run against Trump is establishment, got it.
I still don’t see evidence of Florida being run in an “establishment” manner, whatever that is. Nor the rhetoric from DeSantis being anything but virtually spot on.

If you think Republicans will vote for anyone so long as those two criteria are met then think about this; by all accounts Democrats and a lot of independents will vote for ANYONE so long as that person is standing against Trump, period.
One criterion vs two (which seem to be up for interpretation depending on your level of idolatry ).

You don’t have to like it, I certainly don’t and I want Trump to win.
His VP pick will be crucial.

Rosie
Rosie
January 31, 2024 6:45 pm

I loved the guy carrying his wheelchair.

calli
calli
January 31, 2024 6:46 pm

I, too, have been admiring it Cassie.

They must have had inside help. Someone very brave, and someone very fed up. It’s like a house of cards.

Chris
Chris
January 31, 2024 6:48 pm

This is precisely the sort of crackpot nonsense that makes it so easy for the MSM and the Deep State to rubbish genuine right wing/conservative movements and players.

Indeed, johanna.
But I feel we should not apologise for those people who parrot f***wit ideas like this. If we let others have the moral right to condemn us, based on others juvenile jokes we let ourselves down.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 31, 2024 6:50 pm

I loved the guy carrying his wheelchair.

He’d signed for that wheelchair…

Cassie of Sydney
January 31, 2024 6:51 pm

Mum has rung me to tell me that she has watched the video of the Mista’aravim going into the hospital several times today. LOL.

I told her it was real life Fauda.

They must have had inside help.

Yes. Calli, have you watched Fauda? It’s good, very good. All those actors in now in the IDF, many fighting in Gaza.

Cassie of Sydney
January 31, 2024 6:54 pm

132andBush
Jan 31, 2024 6:43 PM

Well said.

Rosie
Rosie
January 31, 2024 6:55 pm

The Fauda actor who is a singer was injured in Gaza, another off camera crew member was killed.

cohenite
January 31, 2024 6:59 pm

Michael Mann personifies the climate change fraud; he and the rest of the bastards were exposed in Climate Gate in 2010 when their private emails revealed they were lying and censoring sceptic scientists. Steyn is now defending himself against the bastard and here is a good summary:

Some Notes On The Trial Of Mann v. Steyn

Top Ender
Top Ender
January 31, 2024 7:02 pm

Your money not at work:

Federal Education Department fat cats are being accused of living it up and wasting taxpayers’ money after details emerged of travel costs for meetings around the country, fine dining in fancy restaurants and multiple costly Welcome to Country ceremonies.

The trips and perks were revealed in questions on notice from a budget estimates hearing, where Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson grilled federal bureaucrats about a series of one-hat restaurant meals and a $5100 price tag for Indigenous “cultural activities”.

In the first six months of last year, the department spent $172,691 on events and catering — and another $118,404 on accommodation and travel costs for the bureaucrats to attend “planning meetings” — all billed to the taxpayer.

Some of the events included meetings of the “Early Childhood Care and Development Policy Partnership” team in March last year — who decided to spend $4500 of taxpayer money on a “Cultural dance performance by the ‘Koori Youth Will Shake Spears” dance group.

The Canberra bureaucrats also billed $11,088 to the taxpayer for audio visual support and $3000 for their member dinner, held in Melbourne.

The Federal Education Department employs almost 1500 public servants, with most living in Canberra.

Taxpayers were also billed $5100 for a Welcome to Country ceremony combined with “cultural activities” at a March 2023 meeting of the “Early Childhood Care and Development Policy Partnership”.

The same group of bureaucrats then went on to enjoy another “Welcome to Country and cultural activity” at a cost of $1700 in Alice Springs in June 2023.

The government officials — as well as members of the “First Nations Peak Body” then had dinner at the Hanuman Restaurant at the Double Tree by Hilton at taxpayer expense of $1870, after already spending more than $2000 on catering on their breakfast, morning tea and light lunch.

Another bill sent to taxpayers was $1209 for the National Research Infrastructure Advisory to enjoy dinner at the one-hat Courgette Restaurant in Canberra in March and chat about their “work plan” for the next year.

Other restaurant meals were held at the Ginger Indian Restaurant at Harris Park in Sydney, Black Fire Restaurant, Mezzalira, and Brunello Restaurants in Canberra, Big Esso in Melbourne, Tattersalls Hotel in Armidale and Malt Dining in Brisbane.

Opposition education spokeswoman Senator Sarah Henderson blasted the spending.

“The Albanese Government could not care less about the cost-of-living crisis so many Australians are facing,” she said.

“As the senior minister in the education portfolio, Jason Clare has treated taxpayers with contempt.

“Holding so-called meetings at fine dining restaurants including Canberra’s ‘one hat’ Courgette is nothing more than a restaurant rort.”

Libertarian Party Upper House NSW MP John Ruddick says our constitution assumes education is a matter for the states.

“The extraordinary waste recently exposed in the senate is merely the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

“The entire department is waste.

“The Libertarian Party advocates for the abolition of the federal Department of Education.

“Somehow we’ve ended up with a federal Department of Education which doesn’t operate any schools – it claims its purpose is to ‘provide advice’ on education to the federal government.”

Asked about the spending, Education Minister Jason Clare said: “I have instructed my department to ensure taxpayer’s money is spent appropriately.”

In NSW, Labor Premier Chris Minns announced in December he planned to order executive teachers in leadership positions back into the classroom, to cope with teacher shortages.

The Federal Education bureaucrats were also fond of their morning tea and “light lunch” events, with taxpayers footing the bill for multiple events, including:

$500 for catering for Harmony Day in March last year,
$548 for department officials from the “Accord Panel” to have light lunch in February,
$356 for a “non-government schools managers forum” in March and,
$525 for afternoon tea in May for officials to meet with various universities.

Daily Tele

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 31, 2024 7:03 pm

I still don’t see evidence of Florida being run in an “establishment” manner, whatever that is.

Bushie – the rank and file are angry. Very. Thus when DeSantis attended the elite donor meeting arranged by the RNC, who banned Trump from attending, his numbers cratered like a detonating MOAB. It was fun to see. Vivek stayed away and that did him some good.

DeSantis has good instincts, but he has to detach himself from the elites. Trump and the Republican voters have two enemies: the Dems and the elite McConnell Rinos. Any candidate for the Republican Party must also be at war with those two enemies or they won’t get up, since the Republican voters won’t vote for them.

This is the problem. If DeSantis somehow got up as candidate (which he can’t since he pulled out) the Trump base would stay at home and watch WWE on television rather than vote. Ditto if Haley got up like a female Steven Bradbury. They would NOT vote for a grandee Republican puppet, no matter what nice things he or she might say.

DeSantis has faceplanted terminally because of this. He will not get a run in 2028, the Tea Party base has seen him and now knows him. Like Pence he had his life’s test and failed it.

Until the RNC is wrested from the McConnell grandees no one can get the base’s vote unless they declare war on it. The anger is incandescent. Kari Lake seems the likeliest to do so, which may stand her in good stead for 2028.

On the other hand I’m not sure there will be a 2028 election. Not even sure there will be a 2024 election. The US seems too far gone for that.

Politics has changed drastically. It’s 1859 all over again. Unless you understand that you won’t understand what is happening.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 7:04 pm

Thanks for sorting that one.

That’s a summary, Z. but accurate as far as it goes.

Oh, and I inadvertently used the term”hostiles” because I’ve been reading about the plains Indian wars lately 😀

Now the US Cav did use some questionable tactics in that conflict.

Muddy
Muddy
January 31, 2024 7:04 pm

Robert Sewell
Jan 31, 2024 2:38 PM

Muddy:

If this allegation – a massacre of pally civs in a school ‘execution style’ (strangely, several people who were conversant with the exact details managed to live and tell their story, unwounded), has been debunked already, don’t worry about it.

They’re Arabs.
They’re lying.
Now what was the question?

Sure.
WE know that, but this tactic of making any allegation at all (or multiple allegations, thus giving the Filth Filter a choice) has been, and will continue to be, very successful in damaging Israel’s international reputation (which of course has economic, diplomatic, and other consequences).

I stated early on, that one of the most important operational domains for Israel to dominate, will be the informational one, in terms of public relations and counter- propaganda. Unfortunately, the reactive fact-checking tactics of the Israelis have not had a measurable effect on the quantity of propaganda the subhumans and their ‘allies’ have been delivering.

I find this of interest because it has similarities with the conservative strategic impotence.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 7:07 pm

About 4 months later I underwent a somewhat farcical citizenship ceremony and became a citizen.

If you’re not a citizen you have to keep a very close eye on the immigration laws. A family friend ended up having to get married to get back into Australia after living in Dubai for a few years despite living here since he was two or something. And as been noted, the laws can change at any time.

Top Ender
Top Ender
January 31, 2024 7:09 pm

And in More Woke News:

Senator Lidia Thorpe has joined a group of Indigenous activists who say they will remain “forever” at a camp at Kings Domain until the site is returned to the Aboriginal community.

Prominent Aboriginal activist Robbie Thorpe has set up camp at Kings Domain, and intends to remain “forever” — or until the area is returned to the Indigenous community.

The group of protesters led by Mr Thorpe — the uncle of Independent senator Lidia Thorpe — is calling for the land to be given back to the people of the Kulin nation, and become a place for education and healing.

Known as the Kings Domain Resting Place, the site is a burial ground for the remains of 38 Aboriginal people repatriated by the Museum of Victoria in 1985.

The Gunaikurnai man organised a 60-day sit in at the location 18 years ago, but this time plans to remain “forever”.

“They’re exactly the same issues back then as there are now,” Mr Thorpe said.

“Nothing’s changed.

“We’re making people aware of the issues as peacefully as we can.

“We want a stone house built here, a cultural interpretation centre.

“(People) can take part in a ceremony or learn what these places are about.

The group is also demanding the area be renamed, removing any reference to the King or the “Windsor crime family”.

“We want to call it Camp Sovereignty, or its proper name, Yalukit Willam,” Mr Thorpe said.

Senator Lidia Thorpe joined the congregation on Wednesday afternoon to broadcast live with Mr Thorpe on community radio station 3CR.

Ms Thorpe told the Herald Sun the sit-in, which had ballooned in size, had her full support.

“This is about sovereignty, and the whole notion of sovereignty in this country has never been resolved,” she said.

“That’s why I’m here, I’m wanting to show my support in every way that I can, but also be part of the healing and the ceremony that people come here to be a part of.

“It’s a peaceful sit-in on Country, where we share stories, and we practice our sovereign rights on our own land.

“The movement has been going for almost 250 years … This is the 2024 version, and a statement to say: we’re not going anywhere.”

Chairs and cushions encircled a ceremonial “ceasefire peace fire” that has been burning since January 26, after the activists made their way to the site at the conclusion of the “Invasion Day” march.

The group is sleeping on mats and in sleeping bags, there are tables for communal food preparation, and piles of firewood to keep the fire burning.

“We’re about peace, healing, teaching, education and cultural awareness,” Mr Thorpe said.

“We’re the proper custodians… The land needs us and we need our land.

“If we don’t win here, we got nothing to go to.

“Where do you go for a dose of Aboriginal culture close to the CBD?”

He said the group wanted to work with the City of Melbourne, and had complied with orders to remove tents and marquees from the space.

A meeting took place on Wednesday morning between the protest organisers and council members.

The Aboriginal elder said similar fires were burning in Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra, and if he was moved along, he would set up somewhere else.

“We’re not going away,” he said.

Herald-Sun. Mere squatting, taking full advantage of political correctness scaring the authorities away. Imagine if a family on holiday set up camp there…

feelthebern
feelthebern
January 31, 2024 7:10 pm

Asian Dawn
@AsianDawn4

Damn, the Indian military ain’t messing around…..

https://x.com/AsianDawn4/status/1752579276099191236?s=20

Cassie of Sydney
January 31, 2024 7:12 pm

Further to Palestinian demographics and emigration in the 19th century.

I don’t know if many here know but Chile has a very large Palestinian community, consisting of descendants of Palestinian Christians who left Ottoman Palestine in the early 1900s. Many Christians and some Jews did leave Ottoman governed Palestine, due to dire poverty, but there was another crucial reason why Christians and Jews left….forced conscription.

Until the early 1900s in the Ottoman empire only Muslim males were subjected to conscription and made to serve in the Ottoman army. Until the early 1900s, Jews and Christians living under the Ottoman yoke were forced to pay the military exemption tax called the ‘bedel;. In 1909 military service was made compulsory for all Ottoman male subjects of a certain age. The result, thousands of Palestinian Christians left for South America.

H B Bear
H B Bear
January 31, 2024 7:14 pm

As a single guy living by himself, leftover sandwiches and party pies (if rescued in time) were always fair game after a boardroom lunch.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 7:20 pm

“This is about sovereignty, and the whole notion of sovereignty in this country has never been resolved,” she said.

Shouldn’t have accepted land rights from the Crown then.

Really, you can’t have it both ways.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
January 31, 2024 7:20 pm

From Courier Mail article about the RAAF Commanders management style at Tindal

“Wing Commander Pearce, a noted ADF champion of recruiting women into service, has had a stellar career including most recently prior to Tindal as gender adviser at the Office of Military Affairs in the United Nations Department of Peace Operations”.

Clearly ideally suited for an important operational job and no doubt being groomed for higher rank.

Just a pity about those below requesting transfer out.

Cassie of Sydney
January 31, 2024 7:22 pm

WE know that, but this tactic of making any allegation at all (or multiple allegations, thus giving the Filth Filter a choice) has been, and will continue to be, very successful in damaging Israel’s international reputation (which of course has economic, diplomatic, and other consequences).

Before Israel even responded to the atrocities of 7 October there were protests, howls and outrage from the left, Muslims and scum like Penny Wong.

Israel no longer cares about ‘consequences’. And nor should it. The consequences of “caring” about what the world thinks were plain to see on 7 October 2023 when Jewish men, women and children were butchered, raped and kidnapped.

Back in 2014, Israel went into Gaza. I remember walking into my office, sitting down and a colleague, pretending to read the paper, peered at me over the paper with his little eyes squinting and said….”Morning Cassie, do you think what Israel is doing in Gaza is over the top”?

He knew I was Jewish.

So, I cleared my throat, I stood up and I peered back at him over the paper, my eyes met his eyes, and I said to him…

Israel will do what it has to do

132andBush
132andBush
January 31, 2024 7:24 pm

Trump and the Republican voters have two enemies: the Dems and the elite McConnell Rinos.

They have three enemies.

The third one being themselves.

Top Ender
Top Ender
January 31, 2024 7:25 pm

Update from Hobart:

A 17 year old has been charged with manslaughter after he allegedly pushed a 27 year old man into the water at Hobart’s Princess Wharf, moments before he tragically drowned.

The teen is one of four people charged over the incident, with three others facing the singular charge of aggravated robbery, a charge the 17 year old male will also answer to.

It’s alleged the group had attempted to steal the handbag of the woman accompanying the man who landed in the water.

The woman was also allegedly pushed into the water, but she was able to swim to safety.

The group were detained and will appear in the Hobart Magistrates Court tomorrow.

and in other info:

In Tasmania, murder is set out in section 158 of the Criminal Code. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for the term of the offender’s natural life.

Manslaughter is set out in section 159 and carries a maximum penalty of 21 years.

JC
JC
January 31, 2024 7:28 pm

Cronkite

I saw a pic of Steyn leaving court about a week ago. He was in a wheel chair? Do you know what’s wrong with him?

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 7:29 pm

Cronkite will doubtless have more information, but Steyn has had serious heart issues of late.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 7:31 pm

Poor Prometheus. Bound to a rock and eternally tortured.

Full of fortitude and rescued by Herakles.

Anthropomorphic figures found in mountains are as old as humankind itself.

We’ve seen more than a few recognised ones on our world travels, dating to the paleolithic and neolithic, and have just come back from seeing some more in the valleys and clifftops of the Great Dividing Range. Aboriginal traditions in this case.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
January 31, 2024 7:35 pm

Heard on 4BC radio earlier.

I think it was last week that Qld had 36,000 homes without power. Only hours earlier the Energy Minister had assured people there would be no problem.

Well it seems that when the 36,000 lost their power the wind power was 1% and coal 60%.

Dump coal they say but blind freddy can see renewables can’t handle the demand.

Just went past a BWS and a large poster in window going on about “Price” something. Definitely not pride in your country.

KevinM
KevinM
January 31, 2024 7:36 pm

JC
Jan 31, 2024 7:28 PM

Cronkite

I saw a pic of Steyn leaving court about a week ago. He was in a wheel chair? Do you know what’s wrong with him?

Serious heart problems, has been going on for nearly a year.
According to him, mistreated in a US hospital, nearly killed him there, he is under care of French doctors.

johanna
johanna
January 31, 2024 7:37 pm

This is telling you something important about the species. There are a very small number of intelligent, creative people, who make a living making computers available and accessible to morons.
8

Yep, just like that unthinking fellow Gutenberg made the books of Robert G Barrat available to people who wouldn’t pass your IQ test. Or the books of Agatha Christie, Jo Rowland, and countless other popular authors.

No prizes for guessing who should be in charge of the ‘intellectual’ elite you favour.

Indolent
Indolent
January 31, 2024 7:37 pm
miltonf
miltonf
January 31, 2024 7:38 pm

‘Cowardly response’: Ashley Gordon’s parents hit out at Victoria’s handling of youth crime crisis after young doctor was killed in Melbourne home invasion

The parents of a young doctor allegedly murdered by two teenagers in a home invasion have broken down in a teary interview as they pleaded for more to be done to combat youth crime.

canbra imports people who attack taxpaying citizens- I bet the marxist pubes with their ANU ‘degrees’ have a good giggle about rubbing the right’s nose in diversity.

Indolent
Indolent
January 31, 2024 7:39 pm
Cassie of Sydney
January 31, 2024 7:40 pm

The third one being themselves.

Yep.

Muddy
Muddy
January 31, 2024 7:44 pm

Israel no longer cares about ‘consequences’. And nor should it.

Put it this way: Reacting to, rather than dominating, the narrative, requires resources (in fact-checking, communicating the results, etc) that Israel could more effectively use elsewhere. Would it be the case also, that the more international pressure applied to Israel, the greater the potential is for internal dissent?

I don’t profess to know the answer, and have never claimed to. My point is to emphasise the importance of countering the enemy’s propaganda (and eventually switching from a reactive to proactive/initiative stance), which so far has been all-conquering.

It’s a topic I find interesting, and which, as stated above, has potential lessons for domestic politics.

cohenite
January 31, 2024 7:44 pm

Trump and the Republican voters have two enemies: the Dems and the elite McConnell Rinos.

They have three enemies.

The third one being themselves.

That’s deep. WTF do you mean?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 7:45 pm

Now we’re home again and once more within internet and mobile phone range, and of course mine started to ping once we reached small settlements. I confirmed my specialist’s review appointment for tomorrow while we had ourselves a very pleasant lunch at the Hydro Majestic overlooking the grand sweep of the Megalong valley.

Good for the soul.

Then at home, in come more calls, check your email, why am I out of touch, and it’s twenty year old grandson anguished on holiday in Thailand as his account with all of his money in it has been scammed. We’d already put a thousand in ten days ago to tide him over because his money wasn’t out of fixed deposit for a week. Now his sad little $3000 has all gone due to a scam and he is locked out from his account while the bank takes his holiday month to sort it out. He’s had trouble getting onto the bank, but they then managed to contact him. Yes, it’s a scam. Poor kid didn’t pick up the problem via the grammar used in the pop up instruction in the screen shot he sent me : ‘your security number have changed’, which then asked him to put in his old password first and press submit.

My first husband, his grandfather, has put a loan for the full amount into his girlfriend’s account, as they’re travelling together. Well done Grandpa. Now grandson’s emailed me he’s going to be the absolute model boyfriend for this trip now she holds the pursestrings. lol.

On top of that, my eldest son, autistic and hence thoughtless at times, minding Attapuss, went swimming in the harbour at our local beach. I have to have the shark talk with him about that.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 31, 2024 7:45 pm

They have three enemies.

The third one being themselves.

Nope. Sometimes it becomes time to take a stand for the truth and reject evil. It’s beyond the time to compromise, since the people urging compromise are compromised. Haley for example last week invoked climate fairies and E. Jean Carroll with a straight face. Neither are acceptable in justice nor truth. Yet she is who the elites are backing.

We have the same problem here, the Liberal and National Parties are both captured and are skin suits demanding respect and votes from sorely pressed right wing voters. Well, no chaps and yxes, you will not get my vote. Have you noticed that your primary vote is falling below snail slime levels?

The Rino elites prefer the Dems to win than to allow the base to gain control of their party. The base will not support them whatever they promise, which is why Trump is getting 100,000 desperate and frightened people attending his rallies in Lesser Woop Woop. This is an existential fight not seen since Jan Sobieski rescued Vienna.

miltonf
miltonf
January 31, 2024 7:45 pm

That’s deep. WTF do you mean?

I was wondering the same thing

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
January 31, 2024 7:47 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atXLqd972uw

For any Cats who wanted answers to certain questions…

Tom
Tom
January 31, 2024 7:49 pm

Because Blot is on Sky, I’m watching Michael Palin’s documentary on the Himilaya, which recalls my visit to Lhasa, Tibet, in 1986, when I gasped for breath in Lhasa’s main street because of the thin air, froze in an unairconditioned hotel and was bailed up by People Liberation Army soldiers with rifles.

I’ll never forget meeting an exquisitely beautiful young Chinese girl who fell in love with a Canadian tourist I was travelling with, as a result of which the Chinese government destroyed her future career as a kindergarten teacher.

Stuff that was going on in China in the 1980s is now happening in the West. The Western left is a perfectly reproduced replica of the fascist 2020s Chinese government .

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 7:50 pm

Well said, Muddy, 7.44pm.

It’s complex and no-one has ready answers. Israel has to do what it must.

Crossie
Crossie
January 31, 2024 7:51 pm

“We want a stone house built here, a cultural interpretation centre.

The group is sleeping on mats and in sleeping bags, there are tables for communal food preparation, and piles of firewood to keep the fire burning.

Stone house? Sleeping bags, tables? So much cultural appropriation. Can we charge them royalties for these inventions?

cohenite
January 31, 2024 7:53 pm

Steyn had a couple of heart attacks, the second very severe. He’s not a well man. I like Steyn. I also liked professor Tim Ball who previously won against the POS Mann but died penniless because Mann refused to pay Ball’s court ordered costs. The debt Mann owed to Ball was not transferable to Ball’s heirs so Mann got away with not paying the best part of a mill.

Mann is a slimebag. Steyn has to live long enough to beat him and then bankrupt him. From the viewpoint of AGW this is seminal. The Hockey Stick is the symbol of this bullshit and while it has been disproved many times a Steyn victory may stake the wretched thing for good.

calli
calli
January 31, 2024 7:53 pm

Dover, can you please remover the word j erk from the forbidden words?

That @rsehole Rotten has made it difficult for normies to comment here. If you are disinclined to ban him (and rightly so, I detest bannings) I think he realises that he can’t use the word anyway in order to get through the filter.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 31, 2024 7:54 pm

Hasn’t been much discussed here but the face off in Texas is very pertinent to what I am saying.

Last week Gov. Abbott gave the finger to Joe, and stood his ground when DC tried to force Texas to dismantle border razor wire. Scotus weighed in and Texas defied them too. They had a legal basis for doing so, but it was a Rubicon moment.

Then Vapid Joe floated the thought bubble of federalizing the Texas National Guard.

Immediately 26 Republican states responded by promising to send their national guards to the Texas border.

Joe backed down. The Second US Civil War very nearly started last week, and almost no one is talking about that. Including Cats.

That’s how incendiary things are right now.

calli
calli
January 31, 2024 7:55 pm

remove

Anger causes typos.

Crossie
Crossie
January 31, 2024 7:57 pm

Just watching it on Bolt, UK is gone. Islamic call to prayer on London Bridge but a gospel singer was ordered not to sing in the street. I was shocked when the policewoman stuck her tongue out as she walked away from the gospel singer. What is wrong with British female cops?

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 8:00 pm

The Second US Civil War very nearly started last week, and almost no one is talking about that. Including Cats.

I’m keeping a weather eye on it, BoN.

I suspect quite a few cats are doing the same.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 8:02 pm

Usual naysayer leading the way I see.

Thanks, btw to Cassie, for speaking some truth to narrative-makers last night around 8.50pm. I just scrolled through two days of mostly interesting comment here cathcing up and saw that.

I do get disspirited here at times, as Cass notes but I will not change who and what I am to suit. I do no more than comment on life’s trials and joys, always with a shared socio-political angle, just as others do. It clearly doesn’t suit some. They should examine their prejudices and the privileges from which they come.

calli
calli
January 31, 2024 8:04 pm

Oh do pi55 off you foolish downtickers. I have said I don’t like banning commenters. All I asked for is a freedom to use a certain word. And I know who made that word ban-able.

What’s wrong with you? Are you completely nuts?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 8:06 pm

That @rsehole Rotten has made it difficult for normies to comment here.

I’m very much a normie and I have a great deal of difficulty being heard here, often. Yet here we are, with a near civil war starting in the US and Australia in the grip of climate lunacy and deindustrialisation, and sniping is the name of the game on this site, where a lot of clever and intelligent centre-right people congregate. Go figure.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 31, 2024 8:10 pm

All I asked for is a freedom to use a certain word.

J*rk chicken is staple street food in Kingston. Yummy too!

Tiny url to evade censors.

Muddy
Muddy
January 31, 2024 8:11 pm

Oh do pi55 off you foolish downtickers.

I’m getting into the swing of things and starting to give you a run for money on that account, calli. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I get downdicked without even trying. It’s a talent, I guess.

That and my excess charisma.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 8:12 pm

Eff off downtickers of normal women making comments. You are sickos.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 8:15 pm

It’s complex and no-one has ready answers. Israel has to do what it must.

1 4

Don’t just downtick. Argue against it. Oh that’s right, you can’t.

calli
calli
January 31, 2024 8:16 pm

Lizzie, I don’t claim to know who is heard and who isn’t. I don’t care if people read my comments or not. Or if they like them or not (apart from my amusing ever present fan club of one).

I just object to them being held in moderation for something nothing. A simple, eloquent, Steve Martin word.

132andBush
132andBush
January 31, 2024 8:17 pm

That’s deep. WTF do you mean?

The “It’s Trump or I’m not turning out” cohort.

Ridiculous.

I see the points made about wresting control back to the real people, I agree.

How about ensuring you’re in power in conjunction with that?
Surely it’s not just Trump who wants to clean shop?

bons
bons
January 31, 2024 8:19 pm

“My word is your bondage’.

Anon.

Cassie of Sydney
January 31, 2024 8:20 pm

went swimming in the harbour at our local beach.

Where did he swim? In a place that’s not netted? Tell him…NO.

Seriously, what planet are these people on? The bimbo from Elizabeth Bay apparently regularly swam outside the netted pool AT DUSK and in the EVENING! Well, she got her comeuppance. Look, I’m glad she’s alive (she’s lucky to be alive) but in any battle between silly people swimming in Sydney Harbour outside netted pools and beaches in the evening and bull sharks, I come down on the shark’s side.

cohenite
January 31, 2024 8:22 pm

Surely it’s not just Trump who wants to clean shop?

As a GOP candidate for POTUS: yeah he is.

Muddy
Muddy
January 31, 2024 8:25 pm

bons
Jan 31, 2024 8:19 PM

“My word is your bondage’.

Anon.

Was that from the first ‘Fifty Shades…’ or the sequel?

cohenite
January 31, 2024 8:36 pm

There is something really weird happening with biden. On Watters he was shown in profile gobbling and he looked unreal. Literally, he looked plastic or rubber.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 8:41 pm

I just object to them being held in moderation for something nothing. A simple, eloquent, Steve Martin word.

Here’s a workaround, calli (if it doesn’t go into moderation):

Schmuck.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
January 31, 2024 8:43 pm

‘the bimbo from Elizabeth Bay’

This chick appears to be on the same level as the other one a while back that face-planted a roller coaster trying to retrieve her phone before said roller coaster dragged her 30 metres in the air and dropped her.

On her face.

The refrain will be the same in both cases – ‘I never thought this would happen to me, and am I still pretty?’

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
January 31, 2024 8:45 pm

Now this is interesting – tort lawyers from Melbourne’s leftist legal establishment turning on each other:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-31/sexual-abuse-survivors-sue-waller-legal-class-action/103409372

One wonder what obscure intra-left factional splits are at work here, and whose side the ABC is on.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
January 31, 2024 8:45 pm

What a difference a day makes. A low pops off the coast near Rocky and could be what models were hinting at yesterday.

All the ingredients there with vorticity, upper divergence and lower convergence. Wind shear is good and it’s expected drift path has decreasing shear. Sea surface temps hovering well above temp required for cyclogenesis. Expected to head NE for a few days. Strap in tropical Queensland.

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
January 31, 2024 8:46 pm

What’s wrong with you? Are you completely nuts?

Yes. Either that or seriously retarded.

shatterzzz
January 31, 2024 8:48 pm

Doesn’t the hospital become a legitimate military target?

What is this fascination with “rules of law” when dealing with terrorists ..?
“Rules of War” have never, ever come up in the media before when terrorists have been targetted .. This is more about Israeli bias than any ‘rules of war” …
NO one waffled “unfair” when Bin Laden was dealt with, no one squealed, “unfair” when Gaddafi’s tent was hit and several of his wives killed ……. but Israel after decades of dealing with daily terrorist attacks finally takes action it’s, suddenly, “rules of war” time ….. never any heated media led discussions surrounding the “rules of war” when excuses and outright denials are in play over October 7 ……… FFS!

Cassie of Sydney
January 31, 2024 8:50 pm

From the Daily Telegraph…. if we are going to ‘unmask’ Nazis on the far-right, we need to unmask Muslim Nazis on the far and not so far-left.


A Jewish group has called on the Minns Government to discipline a NSW Government employee after social media accounts in his name were used to make extremist posts in support of terrorist groups, denying that Israeli hostages were raped and calling for more terrorist rockets to be fired at Israeli civilians.

Mahmoud Elmaadawy, a program manager at the NSW Department of Service, also had inflammatory postings on his LinkedIn account, underneath his official government work details, sparking concern in the Jewish community.

The Australian Jewish Association says the Minns Government needs to “call out extremism within its own ranks”.

On January 25 on X, formerly Twitter, the social media account in the name of Mahmoud Elmaadawy tweeted that: “It must be tasty like grilled IDF soldiers” in response to a social media post condemning a new Jordanian restaurant opening up with the name “October 7”.

The account also commented in response to a tweet from the Australian Jewish Association, about the death of 10 Israeli solders when two buildings collapsed, saying: “May the numbers rise more and more Amen”, and included a prayer emoji.

A posting by the account of Mahmoud Elmaadawy, stating in response to terrorist rockets being launched on Israel: “May resistance send more and more for all the civilians who died in Gaza, Amen.” which the Australian Jewish Association says could breach public servant social posting rules.

On January 22 a post claimed: “we haven’t seen a single photo/video of one Israeli child murdered. Emily the kid who was held hostage with her mum was smiling and waving goodbye to resistance soldiers. Her mom even wrote a message to Hamas” and was followed by a laughing emoji.

Other social media postings include a comment on a map showing a barrage of rockets fired by Hamas on Israel, with the comment: “May resistance send more and more for all the civilians who died in Gaza Amen.”

Mr Elmaadawy’s official Linked In account posted, in response to a thread discussing his boss, Customer Service Minister Jihad Dib being a Muslim: “I don’t think you need to be a Muslim to speak up and talk about the genocide and war crimes IDF is committing against civilians, you just need to be human!”

Australian Jewish Association chief executive Robert Gregory said Jewish people felt uncomfortable about seeing such posts alongside the name of a NSW Government Department. He called for him to be disciplined.

He also pointed out that the department’s own social media rules for public interaction forbade the public from making political or offensive comments.

“It’s politically easy to condemn a handful of neo-Nazi thugs for marching but it’s crucial that the NSW Government calls out extremism within it’s ranks,” he said.

“To see the name of a NSW Government Department appear alongside hateful and extremist posts would make Jewish Australians feel very uncomfortable.

“Free speech is a cherished value but calling for proscribed terrorist groups to fire missiles at innocent civilians, crosses the line.

“It’s notable that the department doesn’t allow offensive content from customers, when interacting with it on social media. The community would expect that the department’s staff would set a good example.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has been contacted for a response.

Watch Pretty Boy Minns do nothing.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
January 31, 2024 8:54 pm

Surely it’s not just Trump who wants to clean shop?

You haven’t worked it out yet Bushie.

The reason DeSantis prostituted himself to the elite donors is money.

Which he thought he needed. And that’s why he faceplanted. The base is fed up with such betrayals. Any wonder that the congresscritter with the lowest favourability rating is McConnell? The base hates him and the Dems hate him. Yet he keeps on day after day just to prevent the Tea Party from gaining the machinery.

I like DeSantis and I like Abbott, who is similarly squishy but who gets things done in Texas. But the old ways which may still work at state level vehemently no longer work at Federal level.

It’s notable that the only two candidates who have attracted base support have been Trump and Vivek…billionaires who don’t need the Danegeld.

(Ok yes DeSantis did get some base support for a while, until he betrayed them. Then his numbers collapsed.)

Trump’s genius is he can attract so many base voters to raise funds from that he isn’t even drawing on his capital very much. The rally system is a money machine. This way he completely shuts out the RNC elite tribute and quid pro quo system.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 8:58 pm

Strap in tropical Queensland.

Just imagine if all the billions spent subsidising renewables in QLD had been spent on the mitigation of the effects of cyclones instead.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 8:58 pm

And, of course, leave the car keys near the door to make the car theft more efficient.

This is what our son-in-law in a quality suburb in Brisbane does. His car keys are in sight every night on the kitchen benchtop, night light on, so that the buggers won’t come upstairs with knives near his wife and children. They have two invasions in the past year.

Both times he’s caught them on security video and alerted the police, who have found them. No real punishment though.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 9:02 pm

What is this fascination with “rules of law” when dealing with terrorists ..?

It’s the rule civilised nations like Israel voluntarily bind themselves to.

And asymmetrical actors like Hamas are held accountable by it too, regardless of their callous indifference to its standards.

We are better than them.

Roger
Roger
January 31, 2024 9:04 pm

And asymmetrical actors like Hamas are held accountable by it too, regardless of their callous indifference to its standards.

Which means they are legitimate targets for lethal force.

shatterzzz
January 31, 2024 9:05 pm

. A family friend ended up having to get married to get back into Australia after living in Dubai for a few years despite living here since he was two or something.

If your not a citizen you have to have a re-entry permit ($300/3 years back in 2016) and when it expires can only be renewed in Oz ……..

Delta A
Delta A
January 31, 2024 9:05 pm

He had pursued the criminal dressed in a t-shirt and polka-dot shorty shorts, thus attracting their instant attention.

Well done, your Beloved.

It’s because of men like him that Kittehs all over swoon over – and – marry, wonderful, sexy Apha males.

We just love ’em.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
January 31, 2024 9:07 pm

Lizzie, I don’t claim to know who is heard and who isn’t. I don’t care if people read my comments or not.

Well, I do. I’m here to contribute, not simply for my own amusement.

If people who are literate respond then I find it interesting, often debatable.
If people downtick out of spite, I find that reprehensible.

And I dont condone moderation, but if it meant I had to change a word, I might change it for the sake of the blog owner’s feelings.

Delta A
Delta A
January 31, 2024 9:08 pm

That was meant to be,” All over the world.” But’all over’ is probably enough.

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