Kaiser’s case has ignited a fiery debate on the balance between free speech and hate speech, especially in the context…
Open Thread – Wed 13 March 2024
- Australia ain’t what it was
- A Military Realist’s View of the Ukraine War Thread
- Open Thread – Weekend 11 May 2024
- Bumtree #10
- Bumtree #9
Surprisingly Eurovision was great. Israel entered a moving, subtle song. Thinking of October 7th it was a work of poetry.…
‘Australia’ didn’t vote for that, unless you believe that Wong and DFAT are ‘Australia.’ Major decisions made in the name…
Ghorbani was told by officers that “the flag of St George was sometimes flown by racists and that carrying the…
That’s drawing a long bow .. saw a clip of him somewhere on a news site the other day tottering…
No wonder they hate memes.
Meme
Phrasing.
Top Ender
Mar 14, 2024 9:47 AM
we don’t need subs
Indeed we don’t.
Just purchase Tomahawk Block II TLAM-N. They have a range of 2,500 kilometres and are nuclear-tipped. A nice deterrent to anyone eyeing off Oz.
Unfortunately we have no conceivable enemy within that distance even if we put them in Darwin in a bomber squadron. Sigh!
Jeeves, bring back the drawing board!
“Sir, have you considered silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles?”
Plus drones, lots of them. Plus about 50 new patrol boats and fast destroyers with aircraft capacity; all for about 20 % of the arkarse sub deal.
“Similarly, the Chinese aren’t in a position to invade Australia ”
WA is almost undefended, so if the Chinese decided to take it over, what could we do?
There would be the usual international repercussions (vide Ukraine), a loss of some lives, but we don’t have a significant defence force, so that would be that. End of story. Of course, the aborigines would object, but I couldn’t see them getting much of a hearing.
About 6 gunboats, patrol vessels, a mine layer and a torpedo boat.
Incidentally, Melbourne had a visit from a Confederate “rebel raider” during the American uncivil war. It seems it was recognised as a friendly vessel.
Believe what you will.
I am fanatical about local government elections especially since the implementation of the scam of subjugating previously rural electorates to big regional cities.
We don’t have wards even in TRC. One rural guy standing wants that to change.
While subjugating to the town is egregious the surrounding shires brought it on themselves. They did subdivisions next to the old Toowoomba town Council area so the denizens thereof had very low rural rates while using all Toowoomba services and facilities and getting pelf from the developers.
Let alone Jondaryan Council at its last meeting approving Wagner’s airport (a Wagner was on the council). I wonder what sort of airport they thought they were approving? A farmer’s strip like many others in the shire?
Cows with guns.
Israel trained cattle to spy on Palestinian village, says PA daily (13 Mar)
Shin Bet needs to put out a rumour that they’ve been training rats in Gaza to spy on Hamas. It would keep the jihadis busy for weeks chasing and killing all the rats.
Sounds as if they were aimed at preventing raiding rather than an invasion.
Our military purchases are driven by politics not strategy. A few subs several years into the future amounts to little, we don’t have enough F 35s to make a difference. We don’t have a large enough population or economy to defend the continent. Just build nuke silos and be done with it.
WA’s greatest defensive features are its distance from China and its environment. Moreover, the cost-benefit analysis of such a move makes no sense for China.
The whole of life is everything and given the F 35 upgrade cycle it is a good idea. Other fighter options aren’t cheap, many are more expensive. The F 35 has achieved economies of scale reductions that other fighters have no hope of reaching, except perhaps the Rafale. There are now 1,000 F 35s and more to come, most other fighters are being sold in the 20-50 range.
Incidentally, Melbourne had a visit from a Confederate “rebel raider” during the American uncivil war. It seems it was recognised as a friendly vessel.
I think Mark Twain visited Melbourne around that time. About the same time he penned the Tom Sawyer yarn.
The same reasons the Japanese Army decided against invasion, in 1942. Too large to occupy, too far away.
Even the Brits are getting some sanity back but our Chris Bowen would rather we die in the dark than admit he was wrong.
Counsellor reveals increase in women who are child-free by choice needing therapy because of the stigma they face for ‘threatening the norm’
This woman had no say in being childless.
She makes “crazy eyes” what’s her name on Their ABC look good.
Oh, just came to me: Annabelle Crapp.
and Newcastle.
https://hunterlivinghistories.com/2013/07/20/why-mark-twain-lost-a-tooth-in-newcastle/
Btw, what’s this rubbish about Howard supporting Luigi on 4 yr terms? (Reported in the Oz, though through a referendum at an election).
Very succinct, now if only our Canberra defence personnel could see it and adopt it.
White House Claims ‘Case Closed’ on Account of Senility
“The president’s been fully cleared.”
I find this amazing, the nadir of how fuked the US Justice system is: Trump is charged for taking home classified documents which he had complete legal right to do. The corpse is not charged for doing the same thing when he was a senator and VP, which gave him no rights. That biden should be charged is a open and shut position because he had no right to do what he did. The fact that he is senile now and therefore is not capable of having a mens rea now is beside the point because when he did the crime he was not senile and had a mens rea. A man now demented who committed a rape when he was young can still be convicted of the previous crime: punishment may be affected but not guilt.
Depends. It doesn’t right now. But circumstances could easily change.
Lets imagine what would happen if the Dems do something silly and the US Civil War II starts in November this year. Which is fairly plausible the way things are going.
If the US is consumed by such a civil conflict the opportunity for China is obvious. They’d be into Taiwan like a lion onto a wildebeest. Albo sanctions China and refuses to export coal or iron ore to them. China then invades northern Australia, camps on the Pilbara and announces their latest new province of North Austraria.
We could do exactly nothing about it, and no one would come to our aid. Not Britain, France, Europe – no one. The US would be otherwise indisposed. The cost to China would be minimal, since the population is small and could easily be sent packing. The benefit would be quite significant, since they’d own the best and biggest iron ore deposits on the planet.
Harder for them to capture Australian coal resources, but they’re already buying huge amounts from Indonesia.
Four years? Ha! Another referendum that will go down 60%/40%. I would reduce it to a year and if they don’t do what they promised out they go.
Cohenite,
she looks like Stuart from Big Bang Theory.
For constant governments to cite fairness and equity in the tax system is worthy of the contempt of every taxpayer should heap upon them. Never having to worry about where the next dollar is coming from is beyond a joke. The Remuneration Tribunal is crock. Their own pay is set by government who then sets the pay of the hand that feeds them. Circular logic and a conflict of interest. A lot like the Unions who feed the Liars who then grant them wage rises. Years ago when we were very high earners we paid a small amount of tax. A good accountant helped. I hate to think how much tax it would be today. Working for an employer is the worst thing to do if you want to get ahead unless it is part time to keep the wolf from the door and develop your own business. Government doesn’t care how much anything costs coz they still get the tax, bloody never-ending tax. Every receipt should have a breakdown of every tax, levy, fees and chargesto show the punters how much we are really paying to these bestarreds. Eyewatatering.
He’s used Australian taxpayers, past, present & emerging to fund a very nice lifestyle for himself in retirement
Superb work Bern. I doff my cap sir
I am going into bat on behalf of lugubrious. Its a fine word used to describe a sad or depressive state of being e.g. “Eeyore was feeling rather lugubrious, which was often the case”
Shocked that people don’t use OED or GPT to check words they might not know. Anarchy awaits …
On despised words;
Labor,
the Greens,
“temporary” asylum (as in those fleeing Gaza),
wind turbines,
Bowen,
the Public Service,
Collingwood,
Excise,
I know there’s more…
Empire Hotel – Queenstown, on the west coast of Tasmania.
This is the type of history that should be taught in our schools.
Many travel from far and wide to admire our ‘National Trust’ listed staircase. Locally cut Blackwood was sent to England to be turned and crafted (notice the beautifully detailed classic English acorns), before being shipped back to Queenstown in 1904.
?It was then assembled in our foyer, where it was admired for some 90 years before being meticulously renovated in 1994. Today, it stands proudly in our foyer and The Empire team are dedicated to maintaining this piece of local history for decades to come.
Instead, woke “teachers” encourage boys to become girls. Then make up stories about Abo’s and invasion crap.
empirehotel.net.au
I overheard some reference to this on Sky last night. Obviously we need four year feral parliamentary terms because they’ve been such a raging success in various state jurisdictions.
No frigging way.
I can see why that councillor would remain childless, who in their right mind would want to go there.
Regarding solar panels and agricultural land, there are plenty of the panels on the Darling Downs on prime land. A square kilometer has some pathetic pissant wires out going to a substation.
*Niggardly.
*Aboriginal
//gasp
Musk has a launch licence for Starship flight 3. 10pm tonight Queensland time.
Search Youtube for Starship IFT 3
Dover Beach:
Valid question – not the usual type of question being asked about the subs.
.1 Quieter.
.2 Much longer range therefore more time at sea, less able to have whereabouts predicted.
.3 Time on patrol only limited to biological needs – food and enclosed spaces.
& from what I’ve seen, the space taken up by the reactor is a fair bit less than a diesel engine and tankage. Of course this absolutely depends on the initial plan, but from what I’ve seen the space made available to propulsion nearly always comes at the cost of crew quarters/comforts. And that constitutes a morale problem that limits deployment and crew retention.
There are lessons to be learnt here for if in the future we develop space travel – and by definition, space travel is ‘long time in enclosed spaces’ travel.
Boambee John:
How much of the housing crisis is due to taxes – 40%? – and how much of that is Federal? So how about the Liberals drop the Federal Taxing? Or will that just flow into the developers pockets and stop?
The Gotland sub is the quietest. So quiet the USN leased one for a year so they could figure out how to detect it.
By the time we get the subs China will hundred + of subs, many nuclear powered. 3 subs isn’t going to make much difference. We’d be better off with B1 Lancers equipped with 1,000 km stealth cruise missiles. Cheaper, can buy many, faster to attack, more flexible, and much larger payload than subs.
Regarding solar panels and agricultural land, there are plenty of the panels on the Darling Downs on prime land. A square kilometer has some pathetic pissant wires out going to a substation.
Eryie,
Re solar panels, just waiting on the next major hailstorm then they are landfill.
Just back from the shops – Helga bread marked down to $4.90 from $6.48 per loaf.
When I last went shopping a month ago, the regular price was $4.90.
I even took a photo of it in case anyone doesn’t believe me.
Except I don’t remember which photo uploader I use.
Or just buy sea-drones from the UKR. Won’t stop us being nuked or missiled from a distance but sovereignty of the land and the precious mining stocks secured.
Drones worked against Russian ships because Russian ships suck. The Moskva didn’t even have its radar turned on hence no missile responses and all but one gun off line. FFS! Their Black Sea fleet is now hiding. Other nations will have much better responses.
The only chance we have to secure our sovereignty is to maintain the alliance with the USA. Short of a nuclear deterrent we can’t defend ourselves.
dover0beach
Exmouth gives deep water coverage from about 80Km offshore into the Indian Ocean for their subs. It ain’t much, but strategically, it’s a start.
Apart from that I got nuthin’.
Point taken on russian boats. Seems like the same applies to all Russian hardware.
re defence: kind of pathetic, tbh. we’re hoping we get help from friends until mid 2030’s. Perhaps if we sell enough wine to China they might be too busy sampling the grange to attack for next 11+ years.
Ah, that old chestnut.
Governments proudly announce a gazillion dollars to build new hospitals/schools etc as if that has solved the problem. The cost of actually running these things per year is never mentioned. This is particularly irresponsible when the Feds score the photo ops for construction and then States and Territories are left with the much more difficult and expensive job of staffing and maintaining them.
Not surprised to find that it also happens in Defence.
Mind you, Ministers and Treasurers who have even the slightest understanding of how things work would be well aware of this ancient ruse.
Could it be that they don’t care? Shock! Horror! Well, well, well.
As usual, Churnalists are oblivious.
The Allan government behaving like a banana republic despots.
As I’ve said before the rule books are being torn up.
https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/faster-approvals-more-jobs-and-lower-power-prices
Not that long ago a loaf of basic Coles brand white bread was $0.83. That’s 83 cents!
Now the same is $2.40. That’s an increase of 190% over about 4 years.
No wonder I feel poor.
There’s about 15 cents worth of wheat in a loaf of bread.
Barry
And yet the bastards will stand there and lie to our faces that inflation is almost negligible!
They’ve failed to remember the path to the guillotine started with the comment “Let them eat cake.” That phrase was a symptom of the political caste’s complete divorce from the reality of the peoples lives they ruled over.
It looks like they may have to learn that rule again – “They can learn it the hard way or the other hard way.”
There’s about 15 cents worth of wheat in a loaf of bread.
Are you sure that there is *any* actual wheat in a loaf of Coles brand white bread?
Anyway who wants to eat white bread. German black bread is the best – the darker the better.
Is this an 8 out of 10 cats effect?
Was it Rachel or Susie who didn’t like ‘moist’ ?
Yes, typically 40% to 46% of the cost of creating a new dwelling in Australia.
Are you going to nuke a country because it blocks our coasts and prevents import/export by sea, mainly imported petroleum products?
You need a way of making that too expensive without getting yourself nuked in retaliation. Nukes are good against a demand for unconditional surrender.
I suggest we replace all instances of the word ‘moist’ with the following word:-
damp
Problem solved.
WA will host the Shield final after defeating Victoria. They leap-frogged Tasmania who lost to SA. Wicket at Bellerive was green and moist. Tassie won the toss and elected to bowl, but it back fired.
Neither the Chinese nor anyone else could ‘take over’ WA. They might be able to take over Perth and a few towns. Maybe.
The logistics are impossible, even for local residents. It’s just silly.
(Pops collar)
I buy bakery bread from the servo.
Neither the bakery nor the servo are franchises.
(Slips on Birkenstocks)
Sourdough, weighs double the density of supermarket bread, slice it thinner, juicier toast, chewy and tasty, doesn’t get soggy in the lunch box, doesn’t bleed the butter through.
$6, day old $2, gets family through brekky and lunches for two or three days, keeps a week in winter.
*contains gluten
In that situation, China would have all the cards re Taiwan and the latter would know it; they’d negotiate some sort of deal. Also, if the US is in turmoil, Australia would accept whatever happened as a fait accompli.
Zafiro, you used the m-word. Just because Barry Humphries loved it doesn’t mean that you can trigger any 13 year old girls who might be reading the Cat.
Shame on you!
Just made a nice damp lemon cake. Want some?
The issue with the “all in” cost of the Virginia class subs isn’t the cost itself but how many times higher than other all in costs are compared to a similar platform base.
So far we’ve spent 1 bn for zero subs. We didn’t even get to see any bribes, no champagne, no honeypots (damn). A billion dollar project with no outcomes and no end in sight. Infinitely more expensive than the F-35s!
This is an even bigger fail than the NBN!
And add in another 5-10% to account for increases in NABERS ratings from 6 to 7 stars
Apart from the fact that they’ve had to launch swarms of sea drones to get their kills, here’s an interesting discussion on the last few:
RTWT.
If people can’t access it for lack of Twitter, let me know and I’ll add the complete comment.
Defence force costs of ships or subs don’t really matter in the big scheme of things.
All we need are platforms that allow us to maintain a crewing structure and chain of command, with some method of keeping skills constant by recruitment and retention of senior people.
If we don’t and sometime in the future need to crew warships, then we’d have to relearn the skills.
If not the navy, then who? (Yarra City Council (Melbourne) perhaps? 3 Greens, 2 Socialists and 2 independents /sarc)
It’s easy to get tangled up in the cost of this or that option, when the underlying purpose of a peacetime military escapes unnoticed.
Same with Airforce and Army, all they do is act as placeholders for skills and structures.
btw – I thought the purpose of Australian submarines is not offense, but surveillance and stealthy reconnaissance, maybe I’m wrong .. it’s happened before (it was a Tuesday and it was raining)
This should mirror tonight’s Starship launch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-Mhe9ZIjo4
Not as moist as expected in D-Town today.
So far.
Nothing more than accuracy in reporting (?).
? test
All we need are platforms that allow us to maintain a crewing structure and chain of command, with some method of keeping skills constant by recruitment and retention of senior people.
Rumsfeld pointed out that you go to war with the military you have, not the one you’d like to have.
Farm gate price?
In accordance with Blog protocol, I will post only selected portions.
Just build nuke silos and be done with it.
We could certainly build nuke silos… lots and lots of them. We have plenty of concrete.
Filling them might be an issue though..
The word of choice to replace “moist” amongst my students is “juicy”.
see – when used in the context of describing a woman, for example, the words have completely different meanings.
Not as juicy as expected here on Bribie Island today.
The ceiling in my office is juicy today.
Lady Carmoynes, the illicit woman of my dreams as a regimental Colonel in 1811 ruins another word – RIPE, along with Captain Wickham.
We still have “dewy”, “sopping” and “drenched” in case damp or moist are thrown out by the Court of Indelicate Words.
I’m sorry, but you are wrong, totally wrong. mUnturd has assured us, and shirley he is far more reliable than your lying eyes.
Oh boy.
Those don’t help, but a major part is simple unavailability. Opening up greenfield sites is held back in many ways.
Start with Slime in local councils with restrictions on land clearing, add in their “environmental” controls, then add on the “levies” to ensure that no housing development starts without roads, kerbs and gutters, sewerage, stormwater drains, and, in the future, “renewable” electricity.
Then there are the state and Commonwealth regulations, and red, green and blak tape.
But if we did not have half a million new residents being imported each year, on top of the (admittedly limited) natural growth, we might be able to manage to provide.
Enough circling around the Court of Indelicate Words.
It’s called the wet spot.
Well that settles it, clearly. “M’lud, the defence now calls Ms Lucy Zelic from Australia. She was not present at the incident and knows nothing about it other than what is publicly available. Nonetheless she says she has a ‘feeling’ the police in this matter were, in her words, gunning for the accused. Her evidence is most compelling.”
Now to be known as “Juicy” Lucy Zelic to fit in with the word of the day.
Johanna
And that is why Defence moved to through life costing. Project Manager comes up with a bargain, approved, delivered, then the Project Manager turns up with a new bid for fuel, ammunition, spares etc. (I exaggerate, but not too much.) Burnt a dozen times, shy next time.
Is it damp, moist, sopping or soaked? Its very important to have the right technical term in case of confusion leading to offence and possibly even outraged modesty …
Many thanks, Zafiro. LOL.
I trust Tits Shorten is working the hustings at Ballarat.
moist definitely
An over designed bottle of 1940 scotch, yours for $US 50k
What other platforms are a “similar platform base” A space station perhaps (similar disastrous effects after a leak)? A power reactor?
monty should calculate the entire global land area required to replace all electricity and solid and liquid fuel (being made with more electricity) by using solar and wind (and batteries) alone and to have power and energy supply at least as reliable and as affordable as now.
Remember a few (maybe 10+) years ago, Frontier Economics modelled Gillard’s carbon abatement. It was expensive for very little ecological gains.
Applied globally, the GDP losses would have sent global GDP back to zero/subsistence wages.
About 30,000 nuke sites would easily do it and for a few decades to come, estimated off France’s nuclear power supply.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82042-5
van de Ven, DJ., Capellan-Peréz, I., Arto, I. et al. The potential land requirements and related land use change emissions of solar energy. Sci Rep 11, 2907 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-82042-5
A novel method is developed within an integrated assessment model which links socioeconomic, energy, land and climate systems. At 25–80% penetration in the electricity mix of those regions by 2050, we find that solar energy may occupy 0.5–5% of total land.
So likely you’d need almost 19% of the land surface area of the globe covered in solar panels, to totally replace all electricity and current solid and liquid fuels.
Take out places like Antarctica, the Amazon, mountain ranges, other national parks, inhospitable islands like Baffin Island, places with severe winters (darkness), any towns, farms or where other industries already exist and the need for HV power lines and the costs no only go up to be utterly infeasible, the plan is wholly impractical.
A lot of the tropical, equatorial and sub-tropical zones are oceanic.
The amount of “available” land soon becomes exceptionally marginal.
The F-35 lifetime cost is now reasonable. The AUKUS deal simply wasn’t.
Dot
A conventionally powered aircraft and a nuclear powered submarine are not “similar platform base[s]”.
There are a lot of similarities, whilst being obviously very different:
“Stealth”
Complex weapons and telemetry
Recce & C4I reporting function
Billions of dollars to produce, R&D, decade-long timeframes
Similar weapons can be delivered: cruise missiles with conventional or nuclear warheads.
Highly skilled staff running these platforms, civilian and military, enlisted and officers.
Sure, submarines might be expensive, but they can be given a common cost base, even a modified or weighted one given the different attributes of each platform.
Explain to me why AUKUS was a good deal. I accept that I can be wrong here, so I’m all ears. Roughly I get 5.9 bn AUD for each of the five at purchase and 2.2 bn per year each to run and maintain these subs for 30 years. That assumes we get them immediately.
If these figures are wrong, what do the real costs look like? You can help us out here with some real ballpark figures.
Do you listen to, or watch the news on TV?
The only chance we have to secure our sovereignty is to maintain the alliance with the USA. Short of a nuclear deterrent we can’t defend ourselves.
Sovereignty?
Nukes?
This list is arse about.
More important to focus more on transparency & accountability at all levels of government and the public service.
Once we get these sorted we can focus on these Chinese fleets off WA.
Maybe the rest of Asia might have something to say about said fleets before we need to worry about it.
I’m sorry, but you are wrong, totally wrong. mUnturd has assured us, and shirley he is far more reliable than your lying eyes.
You want pictures from aerial recon?
unusual_whales
@unusual_whales
BREAKING: Congressman William Keating appears to have sold Boeing, $BA, stock on Feb 28, 2024.
The DOJ announced it was investigating Boeing on Feb 29, 2024.
He sold the DAY before it was reported that DOJ was investigating Boeing.
https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1767988861978948000?s=20
Haven’t looked up to see if they’re DNC or GOP.
To me it doesn’t matter.
They need to be tarred & feathered.
To others, it depends on whose mob they belong to before they either hyperventilate or send it to the forgettory.
Went to Little Bay Beach today for the first time.
What a charming, dignified beach.
Well done Sydney.
This recipe includes a moist warning. Might give it a crack tomorrow.
Mutley has solar panels set up in his basement that produce electrickery 24/7 with the lights on. He is a magician. Is there nothing he doesn’t know about? That’s right, he knows nothing.
Biden New Regs Will Cost up to $25,000 per home to Comply
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, you know law like no other analyst. My air conditioner bit the dust, and it was a 14-seer 2-ton split heat pump. The repair company told me that I had to put in a whole new system because Biden changed the specs, and you now must have a 14.5-seer, so everything has to be changed. This raises the cost from at most $1,500 to $12,000 to $25,000, depending on the model you get today.
I remember you did a post on John Kerry complaining about air conditioners contributing to global warming. How can they retroactively now require you to change your complete system instead of a normal repair?
SL
ANSWER: Legally, they cannot. That violates every principle of the rule of law. The Ex Post Facto clauses, in a legal context, are typically used to refer to a criminal statute that punishes actions retroactively. In other words, the government cannot declare something is now criminal that was legal when originally performed and then prosecute you for a crime that did not previously exist. I’m sure they would come up with something in New York City since they do not respect the Constitution ever.”
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/uncategorized/biden-new-regs-will-cost-up-to-25000-per-home-to-comply/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS
Dot
As so often, you are changing the basis of the discussion. Where did I say that AUKUS is a good deal? I can recall commenting months ago that two or three foreign built should be our limit, and we should focus on uncrewed subs.
What I have been trying to do, with no success, is to point out to you that acquisition cost and through life costs are quite different calculations. You have been dividing through life costs by number acquired, and screaming that it is excessive. Is it? If equated to acquisition costs, yes. But I don’t know in relation to through life costs.
On the issue of “similar platform base”, a couple of simple differences. The aircrew do not live in the F-35 at 40,000 feet for weeks or months at a time. The submarine crew live aboard for months at a time. If there is a major problem with the F-35 at 40,000 feet, the pilot can eject. If there is a major problem with the sub 1000 feet down, there is no ejection option.
Stop comparing apples and oranges, and complaining about the broccoli taste.
The only chance we have to secure our sovereignty is to maintain the alliance with the USA.
We don’t have any sovereignty. We are a US satrapy. Get used to it.
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Moist.
moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist, moist.
Now I’ll sit back and watch them have wokefits.
Dot
Mar 14, 2024 2:24 PM
So if the taxes were cancelled, the prices of new houses would – theoretically – drop by that amount?
Which means that the value of all the built housing would have a commensurate drop?
…aaand that’s why the taxes will never be lifted. Those who have benefited will never allow it.
Dover Beach:
The Taiwanese know very well what their fates will be if the Chinese do invade – those that escape the mass graves will be in the slave camps and their homes will be occupied by Han Chinese.
Taiwanese culture will be exterminated for the crime of making Xi lose face.
Taiwan’s only hope is having enough nukes to to severely damage China.
Sloppy seems to work well
I just heard the Trot in the background on Sky announcing that ‘the proposal’ was not his proposal; it was the Peoples’ proposal.
Those who heard him; was he talking about the Voice?
Would that be ‘a Peoples’ proposal like used to happen in his ideological home East Germany?
How exactly do the People go about making a proposal? The only example I have seen is “gas the Jews’, which does appear to have found some favour with Labor.
83% of Republicans support the US flag: 49% of demorats. I wonder what it is amongst our liar, filth, LINO populations.
Digger
That’s the whole idea. Build 100 silos to put our 10 ICBMs in.
Wasn’t this the basis of the ‘racetrack deployment’ for the US ICBM fleet?
Maybe you could answer a question for a change?
You won’t even discuss annualised direct costs of running and maintaining the subs or split-out munitions.
You’re not explaining anything for a field you are an expert in, at least compared to any other civilian. You’re just berating people for asking questions.
Let’s start somewhere.
At what initial cost and annualised maintenance and running costs, net of nuclear fuel and any munitions, would a Virginia class submarine be too expensive in your opinion?
What is a reasonable price to pay?
What’s this moist bullshit; wet and slippery does it for me.
Possibly more. It is killing supply, along with NABERS and absurdly slow planning permissions.
Alamak!
Mar 14, 2024 3:39 PM
local oaf
Just made a nice damp lemon cake. Want some?
The best I heard was:
“Where is your Mistress, Colonel?”
“Contentedly asleep upstairs, Major. Contentedly asleep and leaking, I may add.”
Dank does it for me. On ICBMs: we don’t need them. We have the Rainbow Serpent to protect us.
Squirt?
Gush?
Bring a bucket and a mop for my wet ass pussy
Albo tells me I can drive 500 km with the aircon going full blast on a hot day, then fill up my EV in 5 minutes.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claims electric vehicles ‘can do anything petrol vehicles can’, urges business to cut transport emissions (Sky News, 14 Mar)
Lying Labor lies again. Time to replace all Comm Cars with electric and mandate every MP to drive nothing except Gaia golf carts. And no air travel either, they must be a holy example for us!
Hugh, cats don’t like being bathed like dogs.
Only electric travel for the Masters of Political Intellect. Only charged by wind or solar. Makes the scum live the life.
The Mocker in today’s Paywallion:
Activists in disarray over Kerr racism saga
Would it be asking too much for commentators to stop carrying on as if Sam Kerr is the female version of a young Nelson Mandela?
By THE MOCKER
From Commentary
March 14, 2024
5 MINUTE READ
Lately I have been busy lighting candles for the many activists, academics and commentators who comprise what was known until recently as the ‘Words have consequences’ society. They are in disarray following the revelation that Matildas captain and Chelsea star Sam Kerr faces a criminal charge alleging she racially disparaged a white British police officer.
Typical of their maturity and good grace, these so-called anti-racists have reacted by throwing themselves on the floor, screaming, and ranting about the injustice of it all. To compound their agitation, they have had to contort themselves agonisingly as they employ sophistry to defend their ridiculous arguments and hypocrisy. “It is not possible for a white person to be the victim of racism”, they screech incessantly.
Kerr, who has Indian heritage, has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is entitled to the presumption of innocence. That said, some facts are not in issue. First, this incident arose following a dispute in January last year between Kerr and a London taxi driver, caused by her vomiting in the vehicle. Second, the prosecution will allege the interaction between Kerr and police was recorded on bodycam. And third, Kerr does not appear to dispute she used the adjective ‘white’ in a pejorative sense. It is understood her legal team will argue the phrase used was ‘stupid white cop’ and not ‘white bastard’.
Now given we know little else and that both Kerr and the police are yet to have their day in court, would it be asking too much for commentators to stop carrying on as if she is the female version of a young Nelson Mandela?
Sadly, yes, if soccer journalist and television presenter Lucy Zelic is any example. London’s Metropolitan Police, she declared during her appearance on The Project last week, had been found by the Casey Review to be “institutionally guilty of racism, misogyny, and homophobia”. For anyone familiar with the debating tactic of poisoning the well, you know what comes next.
“And the fact that this now puts before us an opportunity to discuss a) who her accusers are, and b) the fact that she’s a lesbian female footballer has drawn some real issues for me,” said Zelic. “And I can’t help but feel – I know this might be controversial to say – but I can’t help but feel that they are really gunning for her.”
Well that settles it, clearly. “M’lud, the defence now calls Ms Lucy Zelic from Australia. She was not present at the incident and knows nothing about it other than what is publicly available. Nonetheless she says she has a ‘feeling’ the police in this matter were, in her words, gunning for the accused. Her evidence is most compelling.”
Zelic did not produce anything to back up her claim this was a bad faith prosecution. She can slam the Met all she wants for its failings as a police force, but that has nothing to do with the integrity of the two officers who responded to this incident. Smearing them by association is reprehensible.
Citing the opinions of two academics, SBS, unsurprisingly, concluded the phrase “stupid white bastard” did not amount to racism. That would require an “unequal power or institutional power dynamic,” postulated associate professor and racism studies expert Mario Peucker of Victoria University.
“[Anti-racism] law was not made to protect those who are in a position of power, and you can’t think of anyone who has more power than a white police officer,” he proclaimed.
Yes, that is exactly what I thought when I saw images of outnumbered officers kneeling before jeering Black Lives Matter protesters in London several years ago. “Here is a clear example that white police possess power above all others,” I said to myself.
If Peucker really wants to know who controls the streets of London, he should take note of the UK government’s counter-extremism commissioner, Robin Simcox. Just last week he warned London was a “no-go zone for Jews” during recent pro-Palestinian marches. Care to explain this institutional power dynamic thingy in light of that, professor?
And according to human rights law expert and professor Lucas Lixinski of the University of NSW, there will be terrible consequences if the case against Kerr is successful. “[That] … outcome would, in my view, reinforce the very type of social harm or evil that the legislation was put in place to correct,” he told SBS.
That is a most impressive case of doublethink. Racial vilification is a social harm. Holding a person of colour to account for allegedly racially vilifying a white person reinforces racial vilification? Turn it up. Laws that criminalise the racial disparagement of another are either good for all or good for none.
If anything, their selective and inconsistent application fosters resentment and undermines social cohesion. But it would be naive to try to appeal on this basis to the goodwill of race activists. They are contemptuous of concepts such as equality and harmony. Instead they use these laws under the guise of anti-racism to protect their power and privilege by sanctioning legitimate criticism and ensuring a chilling effect. At stake is their billion-dollar grievance industry, which exists only because the mainstream is reluctant to challenge their fundamental tenet of perpetual victimhood. No wonder its advocates go off the deep end when whitey argues the same laws should apply to them.
Let me demonstrate by a soccer analogy in which brown team plays white team. White forward attempts to shoot for goal, but instead loses ball when brown defender sticks her foot out in front of her opponent, causing white player to fall. Referee penalises brown player for tripping.
Not fair, protests the captain of brown team. Tripping was invented by white players long ago and used against brown players to ensure the latter would always lose. The act of tripping reflects unequal power. Therefore it is impossible for brown players to trip white players. Only white players can be penalised. To argue the rules against tripping should apply to all players is to ignore the institutional power dynamic of soccer. It would marginalise even further players of colour.
If anything, these race academics and their musings make for a wry laugh. Take for example Lixinski and his claim that anti-racism legislation should not provide avenues for legal action for what he labels “white fragility”. This is the movement that has demanded, among other things, ‘culturally safe’ spaces, so-called positive discrimination, censorship in the form of microaggressions and triggers, a rewriting of history to suit its agenda, and the renaming of streets and places as part of a wider cultural cleansing.
Calling out this rubbish is not a case of white fragility. Continuing to indulge this parasitic and destructive movement, however, is exactly that.
THE MOCKER
The Mocker amuses himself by calling out poseurs, sneering social commentators, and po-faced officials. He is deeply suspicious of those who seek increased regulation of speech and behaviour. Believing that journalism is dominated by idealists and activists, he likes to provide a realist’s perspective of politics and current affairs.
Doesn’t look as if they are allowing comments.
Guest Column: I Produced an Oscar-Winning Holocaust Film. Here Is Why Jonathan Glazer’s Speech Was So Offensive
Exclusive–Donald Trump Says He’s ‘Honored’ to Be GOP Nominee, But ‘Country in Deep Trouble’ with ‘Lunatic’ Joe Biden as POTUS
Global elite wants control by cuckolding democracies, finishing free speech
The Sam Kerr affair had the ALPBC radio callers tying themselves in knots. After a couple of minutes amusement I just turned it off.
Persackly. Add to that the prohibitions on people living in their block while they build their house.
All of the above were not in force while my parents, their cohort of migrants, and Australians who were already here were working to get a house of their own. I’m talking the 1950s through to early 70s, when greenies combined with councils and later upper tiers of government began to crush the aspirations of young families.
The very successful post war migrant intake relied greatly on the ability of people who worked hard to buy their own home. It wasn’t easy, but it was possible. Included in that was the concept of the starter home, sans bells and whistles, but a roof over your head that you (and the bank) owned.
Nowadays, the ‘starter home’ has to have a six star energy rating, a water tank, disability access and numerous other expensive add-ons. Having mandated these massive price increases, lying governments are blaming everyone but themselves. Not to mention the taxes outlined above.
With that and immigration, the bastards are literally making people homeless.
Their ‘solutions’ always involve taking more money from people’s paypackets and investment returns.
Modern Western governments are just a Ponzi scheme.
Winston
I think that might have been another of the wild ideas (like “dense pack” silos) that went nowhere.
Incidentally, Melbourne had a visit from a Confederate “rebel raider” during the American uncivil war. It seems it was recognised as a friendly vessel.
https://www.thecitizen.org.au/articles/melbournes-confederate-connection-150-years
Tucker Carlson
@TuckerCarlson
Ep. 81 They’re still claiming the Covid vax is safe and effective. Yet somehow Dr. Pierre Kory treats hundreds of patients who’ve been badly injured by it. Why is no one in the public health establishment paying attention?
Incidentally, Melbourne had a visit from a Confederate “rebel raider” during the American uncivil war. It seems it was recognised as a friendly vessel.
I think a few local blokes signed on as crew when it was in Melbourne.
Because I don’t know those, and neither do you.
No, I am pointing out that your “cost” assessments are based on a false premise. You are upset at being challenged. That was the basis for my initial intervention.
If we are confident of never needing to use the sub, it is all to expensive. If the future of the nation depends on it, it is petty cash. You are asking questions that are unanswerable by anyone not intimately involved in the project.
If we need them, and they are an essential part of our national defence, whatever it takes. Neither you nor I have the information to answer that question.
You are diverting from the original issue, your inability to distinguish in your mind the difference between initial capital costs and through life costs.
Re Ponzi: wonder how long until we see a bail-in for one of the industry funds using peoples savings to bail them out of some bad, illiquid investments like renewables.
A technique adopted from Argentina with, no doubt, Labor praising the event as a chance for workers to finally own the “means of production”.
I moist go down to the sea again
To the lonely sea and the sky.
That’s the whole idea. Build 100 silos to put our 10 ICBMs in.
Wasn’t this the basis of the ‘racetrack deployment’ for the US ICBM fleet?
Yes Winston. It is the whole idea and a reasonably good one at that but before doing it we need to demonstrate that we have rockets and warheads to make a potential adversary think twice, but alas…
Alamak.
Genius – terrifying, but genius.
The subs are only an effective deterrent if they have nukes. We may never have nukes. As soon as a sub launches conventional weapons its location is given. It has to run and hide but it has run slowly because a fast sub is a noisy sub. Once its ammuntion is exhausted there is a long journey back to port. The reason I mentioned the bombers is because the attack rate is much higher. A BI Lancer can launch multiple attacks in a week, at best a sub once a fortnight.
None of this is going to happen. We’re not getting nukes even though that is our most reasonable defense. The subs may never arrive because the USA has just slashed production of the Virginias. They won’t sell us BI Lancers. We have a small number of F 35s, not enough to scare anyone away but contrary to armchair warlord bollocks it is a formidable threat to anything in the sky today. They are nuke capable and even in the F111 days it was rumoured if push came to shove we might find a few nukes that had fallen off the back of a truck.
Thank you. If you don’t know what they are, then they are impossible to conflate.
So the best answer a voting non-defence civilian gets is: we don’t even know if we need these for national defence, so any price is a good price, if they’re necessary.
This seems a little absurd.
No.
You are a former defence APS and can’t even make an offhand remark if the subs are/were value for money. You won’t or can’t specify the operating costs, which you belittle someone else for conflating with capital costs.
Secrecy over national defence is fine but the buck stops with the taxpayer and electors.
We just want to know if we are getting screwed.
So far we have spent $1 billion and have nothing at all.
Woah, Peter van Onselen’s brother saying something sensible:
‘We are governed by mongrels’: Driver of housing crisis revealed
A top economist has slammed “mongrel” governments for causing the crippling housing crisis that’s leaving millions of Aussies in precarious positions.
A barber gave a haircut to a priest one day. The priest tried to pay for the haircut, but the barber refused, saying, “you do God’s work.”
The next morning the barber found a dozen bibles at the door to his shop.
A policeman came to the barber for a haircut, and again the barber refused to pay, saying, “you protect the public.” The next morning the barber found a dozen doughnuts at the door to his shop.
A lawyer came to the barber for a haircut, and again the barber refused payment, saying, “you serve the justice system.”
The next morning the barber found a dozen lawyers waiting for a free haircut.
Dot
I will ignore most of your comment at 1842, we are going around in circles, but iI will respond to this bit.
I was around Defence for long enough to know what I don’t know. As a former boss was wont to say, “A shut mouth catches no flies”.
I would not venture to answer your demands, because anything I said beyond my initial intervention would almost certainly be rubbish, as is any answer you venture to offer. Neither of us has the necessary information, give it up and accept that there are some things that even you do not know.
Meme
If we need them, and they are an essential part of our national defence, whatever it takes. Neither you nor I have the information to answer that question.
WTF?
They are an essential part of the financial & retirement planning of the defence contractor ecosystem.
B-1 bombers are being phased out. They are old and high maintenance. You need B-21’s.
They are nuke capable and even in the F111 days it was rumoured if push came to shove we might find a few nukes that had fallen off the back of a truck.
I did hear that many years ago from a high ranked RAAF person. The F-111’s only made sense with a couple of nukes apiece.
WTF indeed.
I will ignore most of your comment
???
How disingenuous.
My default is that all taxpayer money is spent with an embedded amount of waste & grift.
Why should defence spend be any different?
Considering the subs deal is the largest transaction in Australian history, shouldn’t it be scrutinised more than any other?
Or should the humble taxpayer view defence spend & policy as Catholics view a Papal Encyclical?
‘This isn’t freedom’: Douglas Murray on Scotland’s ‘really pitiful’ hate speech legislation
The F-111’s only made sense with a couple of nukes apiece.
At the very least some decent FAE concussion bombs…
I can confirm that the subs are a very poor deal and we are being screwed.
Don’t ask how I know as its all hush-hush stuff.
Did you catch the reference by Dr. Pierre Cory in his Tucker interview that he was contacted by a professor in California who advised him that exactly the same tactics had been used for decades against Vitamin D as were now arrayed against Ivermectin, etc. and for exactly the same reason – it was inconvenient for the pharmaceutical industrial complex.
Vit D research, definitive and significant
Silly Cafe story of the day, although it wasn’t at the Cafe. Out walking in the morning, came to a house on the main drag and the pied butcherbirds spotted me. It was a place that was unusual so only one managed to collect a chunk of mince, the female was cautious. Then a magpie arrived at my feet, so I gave her something too.
At this point the lady of the house drove into their driveway, spotted me and stopped dead sort of half in and half out of the driveway. Wound down the car window. Uh oh, sprung!
She says “what are you feeding them with”. Oops, very sprung.
Says I “a bit of mince, it’s ok as a treat if not too much”. Then the male magpie arrived, and I gave him some too. A cockie turned up at this point, landed on her fence, and I gave it some bread. Behind me the female butcherbird was still squeaking with excitement. It was getting embarrassing.
I explained. The maggies are old friends and their daughter aged 2½ is now resident female here at the Cafe. Says she: you’ll have a big job when they all come visiting. I says sadly they aren’t on speaking terms, being territorial and all.
Nice conversation then ensued – they’ve only recently moved there and she pointed out all the new plants they’ve put in, which are bird friendly. About a foot high now, but will be very welcome for birdies in a year or so. I told her to watch out for the blue faced honey eaters who are pretty tame, and said I was hoping a peewee would arrive. She says she has one very friendly who appears on their back landing, I says that’s her – she grew up at my place and is now living in their area. A Cafe graduate made good!
I got so many brownie points out of all of that. It was epic.
John Anderson
Our First Priority Should Be National Security | Op-Ed
How much would you pay for the 20th bullet when confronted by 20 enemies while you only have 19 bullets?
Big Insurance rooting for Trump
ALX ??
@alx
TRUMP: “Facebook is the enemy of the people..”
Meme
News Nomad
@The_Nomad_News
WATCH: @VivekGRamaswamy gives his nuanced take on the House passing the TikTok bill.
Indolent
So what happens when at a family dinner, the 20 year old Greenie says something that breaks one of these rules and upsets the 18 year old conservative?
Can they go to the police, make a complaint and have the brother/sister/other arrested?
It certainly seems like it, especially if they’ve recorded the conversation.
This evening is a debate on ADHTV between The Mocker and NSW MP John Ruddick.
Topic is vaccine etc.
..
Told ya so.
All youse (which was all of you) who predicted Biden wouldn’t last or run again need to pay me the money you owe me.
There was a pot, wasn’t there?
Why C-19 Vaccines Don’t Prevent Infection
LOL.
Please don’t go all collectivist on us, Arky.
When is the Launch video on? And what’s the link?
(Pleeaassse.)
Thank you for that thoughtful and erudite contribution to the discussion. I’m not sure what it means, but you might know.
All youse (which was all of you) who predicted Biden wouldn’t last or run again need to pay me the money you owe me.
There was a pot, wasn’t there?
Premature, I think.
There is a fair amount of water to go under the bridge before November 5…
Arky
The good news, Arky, is that yes, there was a pot.
The bad news is that it only held rotten apricots.
Yes, it should be scrutinised (See Senate Estimates, Cabinet, ANAO and similar organisations). But if outsiders wish to engage in that, it would be helpful if they started with a knowledge of the difference between capital costs and through life costs.
..
It’s not my fault if not a one here could predict the Biden machine would brutally keep a corrupt, senile, perpetually confused and visibly decaying senior citizen in place to keep the favour- money- votes conveyor running.
Rich
Moist
Tender
Succulent
Smooth
&
very very Creamy
..
You bastard.
They did indeed do so, Beertruk.
Iirc, an Aussie historian wrote a book about it which is still available.
I certainly did.
Well, he could have a stroke tomorrow.
But the bookies have consistently favoured Biden for the Democratic nomination, a fact I’ve pointed out a few times here.
Bruce of Newcastle
Mar 14, 2024 7:21 PM
Lovely story, BoN. Thanks for posting.
I don’t think damp as a substitute for moist is going to be suitable. Terry Southern’s 1958 erotic satire ‘Candy’ uses it as a noun rather explicitly several times.
Quotes available on request.
Previously shared the thought that Trump would win the nomination then lose the election. Shocking stuff.
A pic of the CSS Shenandoah at Williamstown VIC dockyard in 1865 accompanies this article on the Confederate “rebel raiders.”
Good night!
Thanks Delta, there are good times and times less good. Last week my back fence neighbour came around with a corella in a cardboard box. He asked seeing I was inclined to such things if I could help: the corella couldn’t fly.
I had to say sorry. My ability of healing anything is nil, I can feed them but I can’t heal them. I had to say to him contact WIRES or Hunter Wildlife Rescue. I felt like a schmuck, but I’ve not been given that gift.
Betfair has Trump at $2.1 and Hiden at $2.86 ( money odds).
Unless my calcs are wrong this means Trump is at ~32% chance of winning and Demented at ~26%
Haven’t looked elsewhere, but I guess other sites would be at similar odds
You gave the correct advice. That’s equally important.
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1767986111802916961
And look at who the Principal of the school is…
Black Privilege.
John Anderson
Pompous arsehole who should STFU. Folded to the Air Traffic Controller Union when push came to shove.
Winston, this stream is with Tom Dodd. He’s pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixZpBOxMopc
For others, search Youtube Starship IFT 3
Actually I screwed up the calcs.
at 2.1 Trump is at ~47% win and Dementia is at 35% win
What time? I can’t see anything playing live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdSn6doB2_A
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/update-missouri-teen-brutally-beaten-has-severe-brain/
What the Hell is going on in the US with the blacks?
It seems it’s routine for them to kill/assault whites for little apparent reason.
The video is sickening.
Excellent story BoN at 07:21pm.
Enjoy the company of your new neighbours.
How disingenuous.
Delta A Avatar
Delta A
Mar 14, 2024 8:27 PM
Hear, hear.
Dover please bring back the ticks.
phht … ticks hurt people’s feelings
Don’t you know yet that it only ever works one way? The conservative would probably be locked up for hate speech for disagreeing with his righteous brother.
Bludgeon #20 with an old iodine bottle, Betty.
TAB odds:
Trump $1.92
Demento $2.50
Newscum $15
Kamal Toe, Mick Obama and Robert Kennedy jr all $21.
Others at big odds, including Tucker Carlson $251
Up thread from the Mocker:-
Citing the opinions of two academics, SBS, unsurprisingly, concluded the phrase “stupid white bastard” did not amount to racism. That would require an “unequal power or institutional power dynamic,” postulated associate professor and racism studies expert Mario Peucker of Victoria University.
Mario Peucker?
Is that really his surname?
Reminds me of the scene in the Blues Brothers movie at Bob’s Country Bunker.
What are those damn freak pecker-heads playing?
Those are very strange odds if you consider both nominations are in the bag and it is a two horse race.
4
This set from a Congressional hearing sounds like Trump had a silent stroke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgqxGFaDs9w&t=47s
But wait, there’s more, if you care to look. It is obvious that both are demonstrating cognitive decline.
Sanchez
They are the two main players. The implied probability, that I firstly screwed up and then corrected, totals just over 80% for both combined. However, there are others on the list too, which would arrive at close to 100%. You think it’s too low? Possibly, but don’t forget there are around 90 trumped up charges against Trump (get it?), and Dementia is decomposing right in front of our eyes.