How much is government incentives to raise the fertility rate actually costing? Vast amounts of money are needed to encourage…
Open Thread – Wed 7 Feb 2024
- Madame Cackle and her media mates
- Open Thread – Weekend 27 July 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 25 July 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 22 July 2024
- All the drivel fit to print
It’s curious and more than a little suspicious, that when eco terrorists want to protest oil, they stop highways providing…
If a guy with an Indian accent calls to offer solar panels with government incentives and you suggest that you…
Jim had a slow, southern drawl. His father was from Georgia. You can listen to him speak in interview too.
I’m not surprised you weren’t impressed John.
I just read that out to Elsie – she just shook her head and farted.
I think you are telling fibs. You would never wish to be me, you couldn’t handle the Gloriousness of Winston.
J.C:
I’m going to bed now, and I promise you that I will not be sitting here staring at the monitor until about midday tomorrow, thinking of you.
You understand that the blog will have moved on from now but I wont be able to see it until I refresh the page? Which will be tomorrow. Do you understand how it works now, Mister Brain As Large As A Planet?
Why wouldn’t you just make any gifts and settle any trusts during your life time? There are some stamp duty and tax consequences but if your main concern is to remove any uncertainty they are not really prohibitive. Can’t have everything.
JC.
How is the little one going? All the best.
Cash weighs 165 lbs. Rowdy is 300. I remember the clip when they first met at a dog park …. afterwards, Stevo and Eric twigged they went to the same high school.
Cash 2.0 Great Dane meeting new people in Ventura Harbor 28
The mph figures are mental. So cool seeing all the teams at this track. This event is going to be bonkers.
Woo Hoo!
JOHN FORCE RACING’S BRITTANY FORCE SETS THE PACE FOR DAY ONE TESTING IN BRADENTON
Tickler
My grand daughter? She’s gorgeous. A little blob of love.
Any differences between Gaza and Northern Ireland.
No I can’t think of any either.
I’m drinking a little bottle of ‘ichnuso limone’
It’s lemon flavoured beer, only 1.3% alcohol so I’m allowing it.
It’s very refreshing.
A gift from my landlord.
Oblia looked a bit ordinary at the bus stop, near the railway station and I was feeling a bit dubious about staying here.
I’m in the old quarter, around the corner from a romaneque basilica with a colourful domed roof so feeling a bit more reconciled to my decision.
The beer may have helped.
MAFS is pure trainwreck TV.
There is a very young bird Tori. Walking up the aisle, she was painfully awesome, parading for her mates, flashing tatts, wisecracking about her match. Her bloke Jake is a toxic narcissist, tattooed, man-bunned, unshaven- tho they all are- and rude with a flush of vein-popping workout.
Now he’s lounging around a claustrophobic padded hotel cell, in trackies, oestrogen-soaked white bonds singlet, and a beanie, perusing 8x10s of the other augmented bints, lording over their bodies and boobs.
Tori has been hollowed out mentally, physically she is trying to make a defeated slouch look like a coy bundle, offering her face, nose, and boob job as worthy of Jake’s approval.
Morbidly awful. Every tweenage girl should be watching this, in real time.
Rosie, I’m enjoying your travelogues. But tell me are you mindful to meet people, as well as seeing the sights?
John Spooner.
Brett Lethbridge.
Brett Lethbridge #2.
Christian Adams.
Michael Ramirez.
A.F. Branco.
Matt Margolis.
Steve Kelley.
Al Goodwyn.
Chip Bok.
Henry Payne.
Lisa Benson.
Ben Garrison.
Not really Wally, I’m happy to say hello and have a chat but I don’t think people are super interested in meeting middle aged women and I’m a bit wary of random strangers.
I chat to family at home and I pay my visits and attend mass.
Besides, not a lot of English spoken here, except for retail and hospitality.
Mr FAFO showing the effects of three months of semi starvation.
Odd that the ABC didn’t choose a library in inner-city, in Alexandria, or Darlinghurst, or here in Surry Hills. Wonder why?
The ABC complex is large enough to host whatever kind of shit they want to.
The lobby is the size of a couple of tennis courts.
Why not host it there?
And invite the kids of ABC staffers?
What, they don’t want that shit on-site?
Dover try not accuse people of “cope” for at least at day. Not only it has become all to predictable its demeaning to the original meaning.
Wally Dalí
Feb 8, 2024 2:20 AM
MAFS is pure trainwreck TV.
Who watches that crap? With that said, I refuse to watch TV at all. It’s muck!
Bespoke
Feb 8, 2024 5:17 AM
Interesting, what would that original meaning be then?
Probably better phrased on my part as ‘traditional use’ rather then ‘original meaning’, Kevin.
Bespoke
Feb 8, 2024 5:56 AM
Probably, I looked it up out of curiosity, and it has a meaning for a religious garment as well, fancy that?
This weekend is going to be hoot!
I still can’t believe they are at Bradenton.
The Most Amazing Day Testing ! Top Fuel In Bradenton ! Unbelievable!
…. a hoot.
This is for Pogria…
The heroic fight for the life of IDF’s Oketz unit dog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5HiuWCehOc
Dog give us light particularly in times of darkness.
As no one else has said it. Thanks once again Tom.
Rosie 8/2 @ 1:35am
What context is your question re the difference between Northern Ireland and Gaza.
BoM’s nearest says it was 12.5C overnight, which is cold for Feb. At my place in Danisbad, I recorded 10.1C
Where can I buy a penguin suit?
Haley’s comet melts down in Nevada.
Her vote of 31.9% was thrashed by “None of these candidates” at 61.6%.
Gateway Pundit
Powerful solar flare unleashes colossal plasma plume, sparks radio blackouts across South Pacific
Was that about the time when the Cat went wonky as well?
Tik has coined a new phrase “ideobabble”. Examples and definitions in his 2 videos this week.
She did better than Mike Pence. I don’t think Republican voters like him very much these days.
Very embarrassing for Nikki though. The rules were candidates could either stand in the primary election, which was legislated and administered by Democrats, or they could stand in the Republican caucus tomorrow, which is what awards the delegates. She chose the primary as a way to draw in Democrat voters to prop up her campaign with a win. Didn’t work. It’s entertaining that even with Dems supporting her she got so few votes.
I watch MAFS spasmodically as a psychologist because of the mismatching . Pick the narcissist and have we got some doozies this time .
Two OCDs , an introvert, with no libido, one with BDD and an inferiority complex , an immature giggling man who is anxious about his performance ability so probably suffers ED ‘ and the likely couple he has sleep apnea so goes to bed with mask on . All in 15 minutes’.
They likely will not see what you see Wally.
They will see who they want to emulate.
That’s the sun complaining about MAFS.
1. Cope – verb
a. to deal with and attempt to overcome problems and difficulties —often used with with learning to cope with the demands of her schedule
b. to maintain a contest or combat usually on even terms or with success
2 archaic : MEET, ENCOUNTER
3 obsolete : STRIKE, FIGHT
obsolete : to meet in combat
obsolete : to come in contact with
obsolete : MATCH
4. a long enveloping ecclesiastical vestment – The priest wore a cope for the benediction. something resembling a cope (as by concealing or covering)
… the dark sky’s starry cope …—P. B. Shelley
In the Expose:
Professor Norman Fenton: The climate crisis, like the covid crisis, is massively exaggerated by flawed models and statistics
Once you realise they lied to you about one thing …. you realise they lied about *everything*
feel my pain………
Dilbert
Pence just stinks. Obviously capable of unlimited self delusion.
Socialist UN head Mr Guterres is unhappy that socialism has caused chaos all over the world during his term.
U.N. Chief Guterres Despairs ‘Age of Chaos’ Enveloping the World (7 Feb)
Maybe if he stopped chasing climate fairies, and also stopped trying to kill us with impotent mRNA “vaccines” people might listen to his attempts at diplomacy. Funny how Trump was so successful getting peace in the Middle East. I wonder what his secret was?
Where’s the beach gone? Massive high tide in Port Douglas right now.
Webcam: https://tourismportdouglas.com.au/beachcam
I attended a lecture yesterday by a professor of mathematics on sabbatical from Ontario on mathematical modelling in eg health issues . Anyway when I was trained in stats research and analysis we ploughed through the methodology and the Data etc . How often do we get more than a conclusion in today’s scientific outputs re climate change etc or even one scientist refusing to pass on data He did give a very good talk, lots of humour but for general public so basics not explained . However he did suggest stats be taught in school as most don’t know difference between median , Mean and average .
Gee, really? Whodathunkit and knock me down with a feather.
AND
cope is also a slang term used on the internet, especially on social media platforms like Twitter, to mock or insult someone who is perceived to be upset, angry, or in denial about something. For example, “Cope harder, loser. You’re just mad that your team lost.”
Min – should that not be mean, median and mode?
An Open Letter to the Davos Crowd
Force is all they understand.
EU Politicians Threaten to Sanction Tucker Carlson for Interviewing Vladimir Putin
DC_Draino
@DC_Draino
I don’t know why people are mad at Elon for calling out the media’s puff piece interviews with Zelensky
I mean, watch with your own eyes
This is hardhitting journalism!!
Calls grow to get Mitch McConnell out of there
The Norman Fenton article mentioned by Flyingduk above. There are a fair number of other links in it.
Another stinking ridiculous ol’ geriatric who doesn’t know who he is, what his job is, what day it is or what planet he’s on.
Big Fish
@BigFish3000
40,000 sworn affidavits and documents were delivered of suspected illegal election activity to R Governor Brian Kemp’s office. He later claimed the election was secure and fair and he was not aware of any instances.
This is being called a peace plan.
Its pretty well the surrender of Israel.
Blinken says ‘a lot of work’ remains on Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks
Remarks by US secretary of state come after Hamas responds to Israel plan with three-stage proposal to end conflict
….
Hamas put forward its three-stage plan late on Tuesday via Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Under the proposal, Palestinian militants would exchange Israeli hostages they captured on 7 October for 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, secure the reconstruction of Gaza, ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and exchange bodies and remains, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.
EXCLUSIVE: Campaign Highlights Oreo’s Partnership With ‘Militant’ LGBTQ Group
No dice.
Juanita Broaddrick
@atensnut
This POS dictator Zelensky has put Tucker Carlson on a “Kill List” for interviewing Putin.
Biden has helped him with your tax dollars.
No dice.
Id like to think so, but the kiddie sniffing corpse needs a “win”, what better one than to break Israel and declare “peace in our time”.
A plan designed to fail. That is consistent with the idea that what Hamas wants is the war to continue because that puts Israel in an increasingly difficult position politically and militarily.
Tim Pool is really scraping the bottom of the barrel with his anti Porn Hub stuff. The intent might be great but it is a fail.
1. Allowing some very derpy antisemitism in the comments.
2. VPNs would destroy any ID plan.
3. Sure, government IDs to look at porn? A bit of a joke considering Twitter pre Elon was full of explicit adult content. Sure I can really trust an non political FBI, IRS etc…
4. Having any underage stuff on porn hub would make it easier to track and collect evidence.
5. There’s no “pattern recognition” here you insecure losers (which is why you are an antisemite). The owner did specialise in defending people accused of child abuse – but also firearms offences. Hey, what’s this Wee Care law enforcement scandal again? Mike Nifong wants to learn about precedent.
6. Before the internet tough guys squeal “wood chipper” what offences are used perjuriously in family law to deny men access to their children? “Just pick the right woman” doesn’t cut it. Maybe after poundmetoo we should be you know, careful?
Indolent Avatar
Indolent
Feb 8, 2024 9:03 AM
The Norman Fenton article mentioned by Flyingduk above. There are a fair number of other links in
I’ve been reading Fenton for quite a few years. His textbook on Risk Assessment is excellent.
I watched as he was dragged into the whole bureaucratic cover up and hocus pocus. He was, and is, a simple honest mathematician. Very much the boy in the crowd seeing the naked emperor. He has a newsletter [email protected]
Now that almost everything is ‘data’ analysis, the bureaucrats have upped the data poison.
Cope is a weird insult now where you are basically trying to shame people into agreeing with you.
“Lindy Chamberlain coped so hard until she appealed her way to freedom”
*Yes, but she was right*
“C O P E”
Breathing, eating, sweating, drinking water, sleep, shelter and regular defecation & urination, are in fact, biological C O P E.
With all respects to Tom, I think this might be the best cartoon of the day.
Tuckers return.
Try and see how many people it pokes in the eye in only 4 panels.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GFvi_WLXwAAmwJR?format=jpg&name=small
kitten corner: snowed in
for if it prosper, none dare call it treason…
Massive high tide in Port Douglas right now.
This will be trotted out as evidence that the seas are rising way too much because of climate change – formely global warming, but now extreme weather events, hot or cold, windy or flooding, freezing, whatever.
Too many people have grown up in air-conditioned stasis.
Check out the hidden agenda in this one:
Victoria’s cultural heritage laws are delaying key water and wastewater infrastructure projects and threatening to hike up the price of residential water bills, insiders say.
As revealed in the Herald Sun, developers, farmers and landowners say they are facing major delays and being charged “extortionate” prices to get legally mandated cultural heritage management plans ticked off by Registered Aboriginal Parties.
According to multiple sources, the delays and cost blowouts are also flowing to major water infrastructure projects.
One industry insider told the Herald Sun essential water and wastewater infrastructure projects “have been significantly impacted both in time and cost as a result of the obstructionist behaviour of the relevant RAP.”
“Water authority projects delivering sewer and water infrastructure to growth areas … have experienced multiple cultural heritage approvals extending beyond 12 to 18 months,” he said. “This has resulted in significant cost of delay which ultimately will be reflected in future customer water charges.”
Another industry source said the system was “broken”.
“The Labor government policy concerning Aboriginal affairs … is not in sync with the intent of the legislation,” he said, adding the industry was “spending a great deal of taxpayer money” on meeting cultural heritage requirements due to complications and growing delays.
“The TOGs (Traditional Owner Groups) are not adequately resourced to be fulfilling these other expectations.”
He said a typical development project was facing a wait of up to 12 months just to meet with RAP representatives.
Premier Jacinta Allan has refused growing calls for a review into the state’s cultural heritage laws, saying RAPs are one of many third-party agencies developers needed approval from and should not be “singled out”.
First Nations Assembly co-chairman Reuben Berg says RAPs need additional investment from the government to reduce delays.
The revelations come after Melbourne Water struck deals with multiple Indigenous groups in the metropolitan region, awarding them greater powers over key water sources, including Melbourne’s Western Treatment Plant and the Thomson Reservoir.
Senior Liberal David Davis said distributing power over such assets “leaves Melburnians’ water security exposed”.
“The Thomson, Melbourne’s biggest dam supplying 60 per cent of the city’s water, should not be subject to control by a small group who can regulate what water is ‘taken off country’,” Mr Davis said.
A Melbourne Water spokesman said it worked “to ensure the cultural heritage approval process is undertaken as efficiently as possible, and this includes ensuring that a significant number of Melbourne Water projects are streamlined through our internal cultural assessment process.”
“We work closely with RAPs in ensuring cultural heritage values identified as part of our programs … are managed in line with relevant legislation.”
A state government spokesperson said: “The Essential Services Commission – the state’s independent prices regulator – sets water prices to ensure water corporations can continue providing essential water services that represent best value for their customers.”
“Victorian customers have among the lowest water bills in Australia.”
Herald-Sun, and the comments are not kind
Bing Bong JC, I’m baaaack!
One comment to the above was:
Minimum cost of a heritage consultant for domestic build that could be up to 4 townhouses is $20K. may seem like a small amount but this consultant then wants travel, acoomodation etc. on top of the fee. Takes about 3 – 6 months to arrive and another 3 months for the report
Rabz yes too much MAFS last night .
It’s natural that a parasite should see nothing objectionable about parasitism.
Miltonf
Feb 8, 2024 8:29 AM
I’d say he is just following Hillary’s orders – any votes he pulls away from the others is a victory for the Old Crone.
Sounds like an extortion racket.
PVO in the Oz.
BTW, not sure what has happened to PVO, but he appears to be making more sense ATM than usual.
Interesting…then again if I was the beak I’d have given her five years…
A woman given a “heavy” sentence of two years’ jail for stealing from a North Hobart ladies boutique, biting the shop owner when confronted, has failed to prove her punishment was manifestly excessive.
The store, Shine Retail Therapy, has since closed down.
Beverley Anne Banfield, 40, has a long history of stealing offences, including an occasion where she stabbed a security guard with a syringe when he tried to stop her taking items from a shop.
Banfield has been described as having a “very unfortunate background”, with her childhood marred by exposure to “extreme violence”.
In a newly-published judgment, a trio of judges on the Tasmanian Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed Banfield’s appeal – saying her sentence was “heavy, though not too harsh” and didn’t meet the thresholds necessary to prove manifest excess.
While sentencing her in May 2022, Acting Justice David Porter said the shop owner was alone behind the counter in February 2020 when Banfield robbed the North Hobart store by taking jewellery from a cabinet.
When the shop owner confronted Banfield, she at first said “it’s not me, it’s the woman out the door”.
As Banfield refused to return the jewellery, she bit the shop owner’s hand, punched her face and upper arm, and pushed her to the ground, causing the woman to hit her head.
Banfield fled with about $3350 worth of jewellery – but left behind a pair of her sunglasses, which police used to match her DNA.
She was jailed for two years, with a non-parole period of 14 months – with the shop owner said to be left “traumatised” and ultimately closing down the shop.
None of the jewellery was recovered.
In the appeal, Banfield’s lawyer argued her sentence “ignored her background of profound childhood deprivation”, ignored her attempts to address her longstanding drug addiction, and was “crushing” upon her, as she was already serving a 13-month sentence for an unrelated crime.
But Justice Stephen Estcourt said he was unable to rule that the sentencing judge’s sentence was “unreasonable or plainly unjust”.
He said while it was “perhaps at the upper end” of the range of sentences, it was within a proper exercise of the judge’s sentencing discretion.
“It is well understood that judges of the Court of Criminal Appeal have no remit to effect minor adjustments to a sentence on the basis of individual or idiosyncratic viewpoints,” Justice Estcourt said.
Hobart Mercury
Of course it is. So is the government.
Smashing the Covid Narrative! – Jennifer Smith PhD
Peter Hoysted, aka Jack the Insider, reflecting in the Oz about his cancer diagnosis and the importance of familial ties at such times. It is very sad if doors are completely closed.
You’re going to need more than tax reform* to ensure that, sonny.
*”Tax reform” in the Australian context is usually code for increased taxes. Credit to PvO for addressing cuts to government spending as part of the reform process.
Correct.
And the subtext is always: whatever it takes to make the government bigger.
Labor, the Greens, the Jacqui Lambie Network and Lydia Thorpe voted down a motion for an inquiry into Australia’s excess deaths yesterday in the Senate by 35:30.
To their credit, the Liberals, the Nationals, the Country Liberal Party, the United Australia Party, One Nation and David Pocock voted in favour of the motion.
Zulu, Battle of Lepanto? 😀
SEPT12 would be a good one too.
Of course, non-reaver cheering people have more class.
It’s been so since 1942, Tom.
The crisis of WWII was a great stimulus to Canberra.
Amazed this got through.
TOURS 732
My b-i-l (retired US medico) is quite convinced McConnell has had a number of mini-strokes (TIAs) when he seems to go into a waking sleep (my description).
I think you only get six characters Roger. Things might have changed since I got my cryptic one.
LOL. I don’t use it everyday, when I do its apt, and certainly less than you use, Sigh.
No, von Wrongsolen. That bird has flown.
Australian “governments” are now unrepentantly committed to destroying our quality of life, especially those unfortunate enough to be in your “future generations”. See for example, Net Year Zero, among other inexcusable destructive lunacy these quisling cockheads are busy inflicting on the populace.
How can blithering numbskulls like von Wrongsolen not see this? Oops, I just answered my own question.
LOL. I don’t use it everyday, when I do its apt, and certainly less than you use, Sigh.
Quite so.
Darn.
TRS 732 is probably too cryptic for the intended audience.
Looks like the Ukraine is resorting to seeing how many Simps they can recruit.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1754572717909561468
(yes Putin bad etc etc, but this is basic – get the boys thinking with their balls/ protect the wimmins stuff)
Peter Greagg
Feb 8, 2024 9:55 AM
PVO in the Oz.
BTW, not sure what has happened to PVO, but he appears to be making more sense ATM than usual.
If there is a welcome development the government’s deceit on stage three tax cuts has elicited, it’s the burgeoning debate about the need for wider tax reform. But will
The question I want to hear is:
“How much will we need to cut the PS by to enable the cancelling of income tax?”
Until that question is asked, the debate is dead on arrival.
Richard Marles gets a new nickname.
‘War pig’: Deputy PM Richard Marles and other Geelong pollies targeted by pro-Palestinian supporters (8 Feb)
I agree with my learned Ursine friend on this one.
Any adult child feigning some sort of dependency is almost certainly going to have a win challenging a will.
You can’t “Judge proof” a will now.
Simply distribute it during your lifetime as you see fit and have the mechanisms ready to roll at a moment’s notice.
Example … have a reverse mortgage on the house negotiated but not drawn down. If a doc gives you a terminal diagnosis you can draw it and distribute it. If you become legally incapacitated (dementia) have a power of attorney with very explicit instructions about your care and distribution of assets as you wish.
Not a perfect solution but better than burdening underserving beneficiaries with years of ambulance chasing after you’ve gone.
It would be uncharted territory for ambulance chasers to attempt to roll back distributions made during your lifetime back into the estate for distribution under a will.
And, if the estate is a few hundred thousand rather than millions, with 3-4 competing beneficiaries, the marginal gains become less attractive for a “no win-no fee” outfit.
Grandpa and Grandma … “My grandchild is the most gorgeous thing to have ever existed”.
Independent observer … “Yeah, nah. The kid is indistinguishable from millions of other plain kids born every day”.
Ah, so your view in this case is that this door plug should be in two parts that are then bolted together for fitting.
Well, you wouldn’t have avoided this accident which was caused by an omission of replacing the bolts after some air frame work. The outside part would still have fallen off.
Geoff Chambers in the Oz nails the idiocy of big business and its cosying up to Labor, the left and woke issues…
Bruised business leaders find little comfort in Canberra
Business and industry groups have been left bruised and battered by Tony Burke’s bloody-minded and unflinching execution in legislating an industrial relations wishlist exceeding the expectations of Labor’s trade union comrades.
Company chiefs and industry bosses who chummed up to Anthony Albanese ahead of the 2022 election, wooed with broken promises to end Bill Shorten’s class warfare obsession and not impose sweeping IR changes, are licking their wounds.
The trust of business in Albanese and Burke evaporated shortly after the kumbaya-ambush that was Labor’s Jobs and Skills Summit. Within three months, multi-employer bargaining was law.
Starting on the backfoot, and facing a new same job, same pay IR omnibus bill, business groups formed an alliance and rolled out a multi-million-dollar mining tax inspired campaign.
Burke, who forced business leaders to sign nondisclosure agreements and spooked many into remaining silent, stared down industry leaders as he picked off the handful of crossbenchers he needed to enshrine one of the nation’s biggest IR shake-ups – with a few token amendments.
The Albanese government’s planned changes to industrial relations are set to pass. The workplace reforms now, have the necessary support after independent Senator David Pock convinced the government of a series of amendments. The changes – which will come into effect 18 months after legislated – will give workers greater
After cleaning up on almost all of their demands, the unions can’t ask for much more.
Albanese, who commands a majority in the lower house, is blessed with a friendly crossbench that has effectively rubber-stamped Labor’s election manifesto and other emergency bills.
Aside from public theatrics and funding demands from the Greens and independents, including David Pocock who is dubbed by some as the “27th Labor senator”, the government has legislated its policy agenda with relative ease.
“The math was always in their favour. They only really needed one vote, which happened to be Pocock, a senator to the left of Labor,” a business source said.
Other business insiders, bracing for higher taxes and complex environmental regulations as Labor overhauls the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, say the IR defeat had “brought them closer together”.
“The experience has united the business community and built a solid foundation. Given the Senate and the numbers, we had low expectations. We are focused on fighting new taxes and environmental laws that will make it even more difficult to remain competitive.”
Industry chiefs warn the negative impacts of the IR changes will flow across the economy in the back end of 2024, as businesses grapple with flatlining productivity and growth, insolvencies and cash flow pressures.
On the other side of the aisle, Peter Dutton is not ready to welcome big business back into the Coalition tent after it abandoned the Liberals, donated in favour of Albanese’s doomed voice referendum and fell into a vortex of woke issues and cancel culture. Dutton’s public call to boycott Woolworths after it removed Australia Day merchandise shows he remains hostile to the big end of town.
A few observations…
1. You reap what you sow and big business is doing that, however these absurd laws will also negatively impact medium sized and small business and it it those businesses I feel sorry for.
2. ‘friendly crossbench’, we can thank the stupid effing Liberals for the dog’s breakfast that is the senate crossbench. Pocock and the Jew hating Islamist Labor senator from WA are thanks to the uselessness and spinelessness of the Liberals.
3. Big business used to donate to organisations like the IPA and CIS. No more because they became too gutless, crouching in fear of woke mobs. So, Instead they have thrown their money at wacky woke rubbish like da Voice, Pride and so on. Too shit scared to donate money to organisations that will speak up for business, instead they allied themselves and donated money to people, organisations and a political party that has always hated business and always will business, be it small business, medium sized business and large business.
Holly Valance (ex Neighbours; I wouldn’t know her from a bar of soap, even TV soap), asked for a comment at a London conference:
It looks like Little Annie Fani is a bit of trouble…
Amateur builder bragging time.
Building a pergola out the back and the builder has kindly delegated the layout and hole digging to me, after giving me a lecture about making sure it was laid out square and true.
Banged in some star pickets in by eye.
Took the measures of a triangle making up two sides and a diagonal and punched them into my Pythagorean calculator to see how close I was to a right angle.
The corner angle is 90.004 degrees.
High fives!
4. Terminate the “government liason” consultants.
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Feb 7, 2024 9:53 PM
For military Cats – David Sabben, MG, was a platoon commander, in 6RAR, in the fun factory from June 1966 until June 1967, taking in the battle for Long Tan. His new book “Mentions in Despatches” – based on his letters home to his wife – goes through the day by day routine of infantry in the scrub, for a year, at the pointy end. Well illustrated and damnfine reading. Highly recommended, indeed!
Zulu,
Thanks have purchased
The 6 Sample pages look excellent – https://sabbenmidbook.com/
and introduction by Company Commander Harry Smith
M E E T THE A U T H O R by Harry Smith SG MC.
Dave Sabben was born in Suva, Fiji in 1945 and si aall, handsome, and a very inteligent and competent man. He came to Australia and spent time in boarding school.
In 1965, when his marble for National Service did not roll out, he decided to volunteer for National Service and then applied to attend the 1965 First Course at Officer Training Unit, (OTU), Scheyville. He graduated as asecond lieutenant in late 1965, and
was posted to the 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment at Enoggera Queensland in January 1966.
He joined my Delta Company as Platoon Commander 12 Platoon the day after his 21st Birthday.
Having told him not to wear his shiny pointed Italian shoes instead of his issue shoes, we got on very well.
Dave had mastered most military subjects at OTU and got top marks in Map Reading. Consequently, when I wanted my Company to get to a place quickly, I always put Dave and his 12 Platoon in front.
At Long Tan ni August 1966, Dave commanded his platoon with excellence and took a heavy toll on the attacking enemy forces of 275 VC Regiment, especially those trying to outflank us around 1 Platoon.
His platoon, along with 10 Platoon, and the artillery support of 24 guns at Nui Dat, forced the enemy to withdraw before the APCs arrived, leaving behind 245 bodies, and carrying many others away. It was an outstanding victory for the Delta Company.
Sadly, his OTU mate Gordon Sharp, who commanded 1 Platoon, was killed in the battle.
On return to Nui Dat Base, I was asked to recommend my officers and soldiers
for gallantry awards and Icited Dave for aMilitary Cross (MC).
But, although not at the action, the Task Force and Battalion Commander decorated themselves, downgrading the awards, with Dave getting a lowly MID, not the appropriate awards for a gallant platoon action.
My CO got the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) although he was not at the battle, with me being awarded a Military Cross.
This was the start of a rort with awards and saw al battalion COs and some ATF Commanders decorated with awards that should have gone to those who fought.
Because of a thirty year secrecy period, I was unable to seek Awards justice until 1996 and then it took until 1998 to get Dave upgraded to Medal of Gallantry, the MC being no longer an available award in the 1990 Australian system of awards.
Dave has amassed an enormous amount of detail in this book, sourced from
his letters to his first wife Sue.
With a variety of maps and charts it is essentially a day by day account of his platoon activities in South Vietnam 1966-67
Despite the passage of years, Dave’s book is well worth reading and young officers would be well advised to get a copy and understand what makes a good platoon, commanded by a very good platoon commander.
I commend his book to all.
Harry Smith SG MC, Lt Colonel (Retd) former OCD Coy GRAR SVN 1966-67
Bruce in WA
They certainly appear that way.
Aged like a fine red wine. I’m a sapiosexual now too.
Nelson_Kidd-Players Avatar
you start, either making money or trying to run a business
It is when you are contributing value.
All the old lefties I know are still on a government pension of some kind ( I include academics as living on government pensions).
Sorry about the format fail – it looks like I mixed some of the formatting from a quote. Here’s what I meant:
Peter Greagg
Feb 8, 2024 9:55 AM
PVO in the Oz.
The question I want to hear is:
“How much will we need to cut the PS by to enable the cancelling of income tax?”
Until that question is asked, the debate is dead on arrival.
Superb.
Personalised plates give you an additional character to play with, should you wish to do so.
A scathing Auditor-General’s report has confirmed what many travellers have long believed – the Australian Passport Office is slow and inefficient, and complaining doesn’t help.
Last year my passport came up for renewal. The term was for ten years but I asked them to add 2 additional years for the time the government rendered me unable to travel.
“Oh no, sir, I can’t do that” was the response. “Why not?”, I said. “The previous passport was for ten years but you only let me use it for eight.”
“Take it up with your local member.”
Ar$eholes!!
I’ve concluded that “company chiefs and industry bosses” are actually those who finish running a lobby group because they’re too dumb and gullible to run a successful business.
Don’t “sigh” me, champ!
The most shameful aspect of the whole episode.
MENTIONS IN DESPATCHES
An Infantry Platoon in Viet Nam
June 1966 – June 1967
by Dave Sabben MG
A day-by-day account of an Infantry platoon in the first year of the Australian
Task Force at Nui Dat in Viet Nam.
FOREWORD
General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove
AK, CVO, MC, former Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia.
What a remarkable book!
Leading soldiers in combat, in any place and at any time must be one of the
most daunting, challenging propositions any human can perform.
In the chaos and danger there is always of course the personal risk but overwhelmingly the welfare of those entrusted to that person, relying on that person.
Readers of this magnificent work might ponder on the influence of natural instinct, intuition, inspiration on the leader’s action and performance.
There is no doubt that there is always an element of that and you can see from this brilliant commander David Sabben’s account that he was indeed very gifted in this regard.
But, and this resonates on every page of this gripping story, so much of what he and his men did was the result of enormous training before Vietnam and experience (amounting to further training) while in that theatre of war.
Apart from the tremendous insights into that year-long episode in 1966-7, we are brought to understand the ceaseless application of Australian jungle warfare and its refinement in the hands of David and his men.
Simply put, David has endowed the Australian Army with a magnificent guide on combat leadership at the foundation level, where the toughest fighting gets done.
The fact that the conflict was in a tropical, jungle warfare environment against a seasoned, often elusive and brave opponent only added to challenge.
Key ot the fascinating nature of David’s story and wholly supporting its great credibility, is the ceaseless correspondence home that David undertook throughout his tour of duty.
It’s my experience that soldiers by and large are rotten correspondents – loved ones aer lucky to receive every now and then something like ‘Dear Mum, Hope you are well – I am and I’m still counting the days till I get home.
Please make sure Dad’s got a cold beer in the fridge.
Give my best regards to the family, your loving son xxxx.
Perhaps it’s a little different ni these days of digital communication but I doubt whether such personal and prolific correspondence is the norm.
In any event I found it absolutely fascinating to read the day-by-day account of professional behaviour intertwined with vigilant and often boring repetition and always with the possibility of deadly encounters.
Such is the life and often life-and-death of the infantryman.
One of those deadly encounters was the Battle of Long Tan on 18th August 1966 – which has become emblematic of Australia’s entire war in Vietnam.
David and those other heroes swept up in that action would be the first to acknowledge the other significant battles of Australia’s more than a decade of commitment there and indeed the countless smaller actions that are part of that historical fabric.
Equally though in so many ways the Battle of Long Tan illuminated that a new generation of Australians and their Kiwi cousins, were true inheritors of the Anzac legend.
To think that this overwhelming challenge occurred in the middle of a patient, exhausting and often frustrating litany of patrolling, searching, guarding, digging and just enduring, only underscores the way we expect our infantry to perform.
David Sabben has written powerfully and eloquently of the life and times of a young officer and his precious soldiers in a war over five decades ago.
His letters home brilliantly record and signpost that time in a forensic and invariably
wry account that will fascinate any reader.
It is intimate. raw in places. sometimes shocking, always authentic.
To those who would aspire to lead that part of the Nation’s treasure, our men and women ni military uniform, read this book:
it will help your understanding of junior command in the most testing of circumstances and thus to learn your trade
David, congratulations and thank you.
Peter Cosgrove
Infantry Platoon Commander, Vietnam – 1969/70
LEST WE FORGET
Battle of Long Tan Documentary – Vietnam War – Danger Close
3,477,676 views 16 Jan 2012 #VietnamWar #DangerCloseMovie #BattleofLongTan
Award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary, The Battle of Long Tan narrated by Sam Worthington, first broadcast on The History Channel on 16 August 2006.
Last year my passport came up for renewal. The term was for ten years but I asked them to add 2 additional years for the time the government rendered me unable to travel.
They certainly charge enough.
You know it is a prison when you have to bribe the warders to get out.
URBAN2
BLMSHL
BLDWN4
KTMPLR
Well good on Pocock. Lambie is coming in for quite a bit of criticism for voting No. She was very aggressive in pushing for people to get jabbed.
“David Pocock voted in favour of the motion”
EL CID
There was a nasty and vicious rumour that one of those officers had spent the course of the battle, in his tent, wondering how he would explain the annihilation of an infantry company to the “high ups.”
Allegedly, and by corridor gossip, one of the battalion commanders was considered to have done a less-than-adequate job in Vietnam. As punishment, his DSO was supposedly delayed for a year.
YGONA3
The degenerate in chief…
Tanned, rested and ready for another 4 years…
https://twitter.com/i/status/1754999705354805487
PS, not necessarily related to Long Tan, the rumour related to all battalion commanders over the course of the war.
Prof van Wrongselen seems to have been struck by a cluebat. The shelf with reports into the Australian tax system is particularly dusty and overloaded. And it is still too heavily dependent on taxing income (particularly individuals), is too intertwined with transfer payments IMO. Hard to see anything much happening as the criteria now seems to be that no one is worse off.
Which means that in time we’ll all be worse off.
Ask the Argentinians.
Harry Smith SG MC is incorrect. Should only be SG.
For many years Smith campaigned to get awards for Long Tan upgraded and I have no problem with that. He received a Military Cross but thought he should have got a DSO. However the “quota” for DSO’s was taken up by higher ranks including his battalion commander who was not involved in the fight.
After many years the medal tribunal agreed he deserved equivalent of DSO but by that time it was no longer in use as had been replaced by Star of Gallantry. The tribunal approved the upgrade to the SG on the basis that the MC be returned. It never was and he wore both.
It was an upgrade not an addition. Smith covers this in his own book where he says he got legal advice about it. No legal advice can counter the approval and ruling by the Medals Tribunal.
I think I first saw the War Memorial using the SG MC after his name and it has carried on from there.
Not knocking the man’s command and leadership at Long Tan and his support for his men over the years but wrong to wear both medals.
Testink.
The Sex Binary: what it is and why it matters
Long, but scientifically clear; stick with it. Two things of note – firstly, the number of major scientific journals that have published what amounts to scientific nonsense (an eye-opening disgrace) that is contrary to the scientifically clear empirical position put forward in this video, and secondly, that evolutionary biologists who speak out against this nonsense and its clearly confused logic can’t get published and are deplatformed (see the discussion at the end re this).
As with climate ‘science’, how deeply flawed is the scientific establishment, caught up as it is in the dominant socio-political paradigms of the day.
The lessons about biological scientific groupthink, now enshrined in the Semmelweis saga regarding Victorian ‘childbirth fever’, need to be learned all over again.
Steven Miles may have just run out of pages in the populist playbook of Queensland premiers.
In the two months he has been in the top job, the union-installed Labor leader has tried it all to reverse plummeting support for the third-term government ahead of the October state election.
He has donned emergency services gear and talked up Queenslanders’ resilience over the summer of disasters, demanded the Reserve Bank cut interest rates, and blasted the supermarkets over grocery prices.
Labor Party insiders have been quietly crowing that the strategy has worked, with secret union-commissioned polling apparently showing a 3 per cent bounce in the primary vote since Annastacia Palaszczuk quit.
And Miles, as well as his Police Minister Mark Ryan, has once again turned to a tried and true formula in attacking magistrates as youth crime continues to fester as an issue that could defeat Labor.
It has dogged the government, with youths seemingly running riot for years in regional centres like Townsville and Mt Isa, and a number of horrific murders, allegedly at the hands of teenagers, occurring in the suburbs of Brisbane in the past 18 months.
In its first term in power, back in 2016, the Palaszczuk government watered down the state’s youth justice laws, making jail a “last resort” sentence for recidivist youths and bail the preferred option for those arrested.
In response to opposition attacks and growing community anger, the government moved twice to toughen the bail laws it had relaxed, specifically for serious young offenders.
But a series of particularly heinous crimes – most recently with last Saturday’s shocking stabbing murder of Ipswich grandmother Vyleen White, allegedly by a teenager who was out on bail – has kept the issue red hot.
Last year, Miles echoed earlier comments by Palaszczuk in saying “the courts were not meeting community expectations” in granting bail to youths who committed “further crimes” on their release.
On Tuesday, Miles again had a go at magistrates who shut out media wanting to cover the court appearances of those allegedly involved in the murder of Ms White and the theft of her car.
And, after it was revealed that the alleged murderer was out on bail at the time of the killing, Ryan again blasted magistrates and publicly called on them to “use the tools in their toolbox” to refuse bail for repeat offenders.
It was a classic deflection that aimed to paper over problems with the Youth Justice Act and Labor’s own appointment of a cohort of magistrates that one top Labor insider lamented privately was full of “activists”.
Miles got blasted by Queensland’s Council for Civil Liberties over his “weak and repetitive attacks on Queensland’s judiciary” for following the laws they were given by Labor.
After nine years in power, Labor had hoped a new premier and a promised policy reset – including a review of the plans to rebuild the Gabba that he championed in cabinet last December – was enough. It isn’t.
Youth crime is the first issue to expose Miles’s main obstacle in seeking re-election – the government’s record.
Oz
Note too the nonsense that is published in these ‘reputable’ journals is what will be regarded as evidence in any examination of the validity of chopping the skin of an adolescent girl’s arm to make for her a penis, or of filling the poor child with hormones to make her body ‘match’ her mind.
No it is not. It is a piece of passive aggression.
Champ.
Regarding Carlson and Putin ,I was interested to find out the other day that Hitler was writing an occasional column in Hearst newspapers in the 30s.
Ask the guys at the Holden assembly plant how those union hard won benefits are working out for them?
In today’s performance the part of Kristina Keneally will be played by Steven Miles.
Well it’s very Soyberpunk, isn’t that kewl?
Or in operatic terms, the Chook has sung.
Biden blames supermarkets for high prices; Coles blames the farmers and other suppliers.
I blame the government every time, particularly when they do stupid tyrannical stuff like impose lockdowns and cause shortages, and impose awful chemical injections on us in order to be allowed to shop at all.
Never forget. They will probably try it again.
Well girls, I’m about to pee out of my vagina for the very first time!
For some reason the spaminator doesn’t like my response to the article on Luigi’s IR laws.
Ah, but you haven’t seen my two uniquely wonderful and gorgeous granddaughters yet. Nor indeed my four fine grandsons, youngsters of such spirit and promise.
Say what you like, you’ll never change my mind about this. 🙂
Murdering someone’s grandchildren is one of the cruellest acts, an inhumanity practiced in history and sadly even today (Oct 7).
Well it’s very Soyberpunk, isn’t that kewl?
My people will be talking to your people etc, etc…
92 million people have viewed Tucker’s clip about his interview with Putin (which I think will be released tomorrow morning).
I wonder how many will watch the actual interview. Thank you Elon.
lol. That’s not what it’s for. But you knew that.
Sadly, some are deluded enough to believe otherwise.
Been a while since any government – State or Federal, could run for reelection on its record of achievement.
Maybe he should have a look at El Salvador. The voters hate rampant crime and love pollies that do something muscular about it.
That’s low tech compared to Hayley Lujan.
Boys, don’t die for e girls!
Ba-KAAAAAK….
You did not pick a very good surgeon !
Sancho, apologies, I thought it was Bespoke saying he didn’t use it everyday, and when he did it was apt. I should read back more.
Bespoke is a passive aggressiver sigher. Not you.
I think your ‘champ’ put-up-yer-dukes is a very appropriate response.
Fight passive aggression with real aggression.
Re Cassie’s link to PVO’s article at 10:51.
Good to see Dutton is cool towards the Big Ender Town on IR.
They are notorious for expecting the Libs to do the dirty work, but vacating the battlefield at the first puff of smoke from the enemy artillery.
See also, Workchoices.
He should frame a policy exempting small/medium business from Luigi’s IR laws, but leaving them in place for Colesworth and co.
When they arrive with their sad face on, simply say, “You have demonstrated you are quite capable of running a political campaign, so hop to it. When I see your CEOs and Chairmen thumping the table on Q&A or The Project, I might think about backing you. Oh, and by the way, it would help if you STFU on social warrior causes at the same time.”
Trump’s new ad.
Biden should be nuked.
Hayley Lujan.
Did that end up being a real e-thot or just an AI generated thing?
Also, this isnt a bad rean on the Pomgolian covid bit.
https://thecritic.co.uk/were-lockdowns-ethical/
/spoiler: No.
Hitler was writing an occasional column in Hearst newspapers in the 30s
Hitler became a millionaire due to his writings, especially through the sales of Mein Kampf. Then again the government he led purchased thousands of copies to give newlyweds their own book as a marriage present.
Somewhere I have an article I slammed together for an arms collectors’ journal on his paintings. There ia a heap of them in storage in the USA. Apparantly no-one knows what to do with them – they are historical artefacts, but putting them on display would run into a lot of problems. From memory they’re not very good.
Dot never got an owners manual. I suspect like most of us he’s more of a tinkerer.
I think you actually side-swiped Dover.
But whatevs.
Just testing today, to check out the downticking.
Using ‘science’. 🙂
Now measure the other diagonal, Sancho.
The two should be equal. No need for that Greek chap.
That’s just silly and misinformed. Girls – obviously, and I can’t even believe I have to explain this – pee from their fallopian tubes, and it just sort of falls out.
That’s why girls use forty times as much toilet paper as boys.
It’s also why fat chicks are fat – the tubes get calcified over time and blocked. The ‘fat’ in fat chicks is actually urine build up. They don’t need to get on the treadmill, they just need a bit of a re-sleeve and a gigantic lemon squeeze afterwards.
Re awards for Long Tan.
My understanding – admittedly from WWII, so conditions may have changed in the intervening two decades – is that the DSO was, as the title of the award states, awarded for a period of service rather than a specific act/s of gallantry, though examples of the latter could contribute to the citation.
As I’ve not been able to access the citation for Col. C.M. Townsend’s DSO, it is difficult to know if factors other than Long Tan contributed to the award.
A few years ago, I was able to meet Col. Smith and have a brief chat, and prior to that, I had met and interviewed Lt. Col. Charles Mollison, who was commanding the APCs, and he likewise was polite. I also had the opportunity to meet Bob Grandin, who piloted one of the RAAF relief choppers (apologies for forgetting Mr. Grandin’s rank at the time), but did not talk to him about Long Tan, though he signed my copy of his book.
The nomination process for awards, and the ‘quotas’ for the same, is something I find intriguing, but it is difficult to pin down formal instructions`or guidelines, other than the usual, concise eligibility notes.
At the risk of being screamed down by other posters, while I admired the passion and loyalty with which the late Col. Smith pursued formal acknowledgements for his men, I have no doubt that the Australian awards system (sparse compared to the U.S. system, though again, my knowledge only relates to WWII), also denied many other potential and equally deserving awardees.
Oh noes!!!
I thought he was ‘cope’ not ‘sigh’.
I would swipe him for that anyway. I was fascinated with the linguistic discussion of ‘cope’ today. 🙂
She’s real boys.
She’ll never love you, until she hands your weeping mother a tricorner folded flag and salutes.
Oh…she’s trad, pro 2A and supa kawai-i too!
lol. filed in the ‘things I never knew’ basket.
Just do a joint exhibition with Hunter Biden’s paintings and it will be fine.
Oh dear, my darn typing again, I wouldn’t, for Dover, not I would.
Time for a cuppa and a lie down.
BoN I found out a bit more about that horrible animal cruelty at the local wildlife park.
It was a patron who threw the little hen into the alligator pen. The silky was a foster mum for clutches of curlews and trusted humans.
The thing that caught her and smugged for the cameras laughed off what he did. I wonder what else he gets up to back in Singleton. Might be someone to keep an eye on.
As in “I’m not a gynaecologist, but I’ll take a look”?
and she trusted humans
Makes it even worse. She was a pet.
Timing the downticker. Ohh she’s fast.
Steven Miles was the Minister for ‘Health’ during the covidiocy. So firetruck him and the syphilitic cassowary he rode in backwards and drooling on. That’s one pulsing faecal clump that needs a super-high-pressure hosing (I’ll choosing my words carefully).
I think Dover’s duco is pretty thick. Possibly self healing.
I have no doubt that the Australian awards system (sparse compared to the U.S. system, though again, my knowledge only relates to WWII), also denied many other potential and equally deserving awardees
Indeed. As some Cats know, I wrote on this in Teddy Sheean’s biography.
Not to get started, but there are a host of naval blokes who deserved much more than they got. Robert Rankin, for example, commanding HMAS Yarra, has never received anything, after a convoy defence that saw his ship engaging a Japanese force more than 10 times her firepower. One of his gunners, Ron Taylor, did very much what Sheean did but he too is unrewarded.
Many Australians seem to have a mentality that it’s wrong to hand out medals retrospectively, whatever that means. The Americans, by contrast, have given the Medal of Honor, their highest award, given to a host of worthy receipients.
“He should frame a policy exempting small/medium business from Luigi’s IR laws, but leaving them in place for Colesworth and co.
When they arrive with their sad face on, simply say, “You have demonstrated you are quite capable of running a political campaign, so hop to it. When I see your CEOs and Chairmen thumping the table on Q&A or The Project, I might think about backing you. Oh, and by the way, it would help if you STFU on social warrior causes at the same time.””
Yep.
I leave plumbing up to the experts.
I haven’t marked out that corner yet as it involved chopping out some vegetation which I was loath to do without approval from on high.
(Is it a transplant or is it green waste?)
But, yes, once that is gone, I can do it using the measures I already have.
Don’t tinker.
Best call Jim’s Gynaecology.
An interesting observation re the progress of the Presidential elections from Jim Rickards:
The 2024 presidential election is emerging as one of those elections where third parties could play a decisive role. Almost all presidential elections include some third-party candidates, but these are rarely of much importance.
The Green Party has been on the ballot in recent years, but its candidates don’t get more than 1% or 2% of the vote. That’s insignificant, although the Green Party Candidate may have cost Hillary Clinton the state of Wisconsin in the 2016 election because Trump won by a smaller than 1% margin. The Libertarian Party is also on the ballot in all 50 states, but rarely gets more than 2% of the vote.
But there are important exceptions. In 1992, Ross Perot won 19% of the popular vote (and no states) and probably cost George H. W. Bush his chance at re-election. In 1968, George Wallace got 13.5% of the popular vote and won 5 states, hurting Humbert H. Humphrey’s chances of beating Richard Nixon. In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt ran as the candidate of the Bull Moose Party, got 27.4% of the popular vote, won six states and actually ran ahead of the Republican Party candidate William Taft. Taft would likely have won re-election except for the Bull Moose Party. Instead, Woodrow Wilson won, which ushered in the income tax, the Federal Reserve, and US participation in World War I.
This looks like one of those years where third parties might have a major impact. Jill Stein is running on the Green Party ticket again and Cornel West is seeking ballot access as well. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is attempting to get on the ballot in key states as is the No Labels Party. No Labels does not have a candidate yet, but Joe Manchin and John Huntsman are frequently mentioned possibilities.
This article reports a major development in this trend. The article reveals that RFK, Jr. is in talks with the Libertarian Party about being their candidate. That’s hugely significant because the Libertarian Party is already on the ballot in almost all 50 states. If RFK, Jr. were to run as a Libertarian, he might get 15% to 20% of the popular votes based on recent polls.
Since his support would come mainly from Democrats who don’t want Biden, that number of votes would be more than enough to sink Biden and elect Donald Trump. We haven’t heard the last of this. Get ready for one of the most tumultuous elections in over 30 years.
I will. Last night we fixed our Argentinian itinerary.
Fly from Brazil to the Valdez Peninsula in Northernmost Pategonia (animals), then down almost to Usuaia at the far southern end of Pategonia to El Calafate (glaciers) then fly back up to Cordoba, Argentina’s second biggest city on the foothills of the Sierras, then fly out to Santiago in Chile. Should give us a range of places to see how Milei.is faring in both rural and urban settings.
“Hamas put forward its three-stage plan late on Tuesday via Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Under the proposal, Palestinian militants would exchange Israeli hostages they captured on 7 October for 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, secure the reconstruction of Gaza, ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces and exchange bodies and remains, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.”
My two stage plan – after a 1 week warning of impending doom to any who remain, Israel drops 10-20 Fuel/Air explosive devices over Gaza, sweeps the rubble into a big hill at the border and tells HamArse to GTFO out of Israeli land permanently. Stage two is exactly like stage one, but focus moves to the West Bank, Hez-bowler and Lebanon. Anyone who attempts to stop either move gets the same thing happen to them as soon as they cross, or fire across, the border. No retreat, no surrender, no mercy.
I call it the FA&FO plan. You F’ed around, now you find out.
Yes, Calli, it’s a tell when a guy does something like that. Been a number of swan killings in the UK lately too. Similar behaviour. Unfortunately plod is too busy arresting Christians for praying and singing to track psychopaths.
I suppose the breakdown of society increases such things too, as those who get off on such brutality feel more empowered.
PUNISHMENT DUE
The 2024 presidential election is emerging as one of those elections where third parties could play a decisive role. Almost all presidential elections include some third-party candidates, but these are rarely of much importance.
The Green Party has been on the ballot in recent years, but its candidates don’t get more than 1% or 2% of the vote. That’s insignificant, although the Green Party Candidate may have cost Hillary Clinton the state of Wisconsin in the 2016 election because Trump won by a smaller than 1% margin. The Libertarian Party is also on the ballot in all 50 states, but rarely gets more than 2% of the vote.
But there are important exceptions. In 1992, Ross Perot won 19% of the popular vote (and no states) and probably cost George H. W. Bush his chance at re-election. In 1968, George Wallace got 13.5% of the popular vote and won 5 states, hurting Humbert H. Humphrey’s chances of beating Richard Nixon. In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt ran as the candidate of the Bull Moose Party, got 27.4% of the popular vote, won six states and actually ran ahead of the Republican Party candidate William Taft. Taft would likely have won re-election except for the Bull Moose Party. Instead, Woodrow Wilson won, which ushered in the income tax, the Federal Reserve, and US participation in World War I.
This looks like one of those years where third parties might have a major impact. Jill Stein is running on the Green Party ticket again and Cornel West is seeking ballot access as well. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is attempting to get on the ballot in key states as is the No Labels Party. No Labels does not have a candidate yet, but Joe Manchin and John Huntsman are frequently mentioned possibilities.
This article reports a major development in this trend. The article reveals that RFK, Jr. is in talks with the Libertarian Party about being their candidate. That’s hugely significant because the Libertarian Party is already on the ballot in almost all 50 states. If RFK, Jr. were to run as a Libertarian, he might get 15% to 20% of the popular votes based on recent polls.
Since his support would come mainly from Democrats who don’t want Biden, that number of votes would be more than enough to sink Biden and elect Donald Trump. We haven’t heard the last of this. Get ready for one of the most tumultuous elections in over 30 years.
Dot
Feb 8, 2024 1:03 PM
PUNISHMENT DUE
AND you will be duly punished for posting all that bold type. 200 down thumbs for you.
Lizzie – keep a close eye on things. Lefties are starting to organize against Milei. It could get messy.
Argentina police battle protesters opposed to ‘omnibus’ reform bill (2 Feb)
That’s the point, dumbarse.
The amazing Lofoten War Museum (scroll to get the sense of it) has some of Hitler’s paintings on display. They are very ‘chocolate’ box pictures reasonably well drawn, of pleasant houses and gardens. You look at them and think if only some postcard publisher had said forget politics, Adolf, you have a splendid talent for pretty stuff, spend your life doing your painting, champ, then the world may have had a different history and a few chocolate box covers and postcards home might have been signed by an unknown hack painter called A.Hitler.
This museum is a must for anyone taking the Hurtigruten ferry up the coast. A stone’s throw from the dock and you could spent hours in here. Except when they start up the WW2 air raid siren they have.
I think the region with the animals is spelt “Petagonia”.
Since I visit infrequently these days, fare enough.
This will lead to Australians being blamed for higher water costs and higher building costs. Is this what our leaders want?
Thanks, Bruce. It is to be expected, and I’m glad rubber bullets are being used for something useful, not as Vicpol here used them. We decided to avoid Buenos Aries this time, in part to avoid major disruptions. Had enough of those re Ecuador. We’ve been to Buenos Aries and seen it, done tango stuff, and thought Cordoba may be more interesting for our ‘urban’ Argentinian experience on this trip. It’s a city with seven universities though, so I expect we’ll see a bit of leftie action while we are there. I’ll be interested in how Milei is seen in more rural and tourist places. The USD is King there now after the devaluation.