Their famous used car ad. “You know you’re not the first, but do you really care?” Walked past the Aston…
Open Thread – Mon 13 May 2024
- Open Thread – Weekend 23 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 21 Nov 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 18 Nov 2024
- From darkness to the promise of light
- Open Thread – Weekend 16 Nov 2024
$27 got me a new battery kit complete with tools. Wasn’t difficult, there are Youtube vids. Those “how to” videos…
And still the LNP preference the ALP over PHON (So I believe). I think being in opposition pays too well.…
If you want to get depressed ponder how much that HD Holden could be sold for today. I sold my…
deleted/reposted
‘NO Climate Crisis’ Says Coalition of 1,600 Actual Scientists
WAYNE ROOT: If You’re Paying Attention, Biden Just Told Us How Democrats Plan to Rig & Steal 2024 Election.
How daaare they say that?! Lock ’em up!!
‘They’re dangerous!’ Expert calls for man-made climate deniers to be treated as criminals (14 May)
Shut up he explained, while polishing the buttons on his Stasi uniform.
Long form discussion with famous footballer Aaron Rodgers who refused to take the vax.
@TuckerCarlson
Aaron Rodgers
The New York Times sees the left on fire with Jew-hate and blames Republicans
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1790474963826221097
The wallahs on Sky last night made an interesting observation – if we cop an El Nino summer in 2024-25, labore are toast, literally. The electrickery grid will finally collapse, we’ll be gifted with frequent blackouts, smugmobiles won’t be able to be charged and electrickery bills will continue to skyrocket regardless.
As for the fudget, I had to run a rule over certain segments of it last night, hence being off the air. Needless to say:
More taxes
Mores spending
More waste
More boondoggles and pork
More “accounting” trickery*
More debt
More inflation
More staggering stupidity
They should all be gifted a starring role in the long overdue administration of HOP Time™, toot sweet.
*Hence the second miraculous (and entirely imaginary) “surplus”.
New King Charles portrait decoded by art expert who reveals hidden meanings (14 May)
I’m no expert but here’s my take:
Red paint was on special at the time.
Paul “is wrong, again” Kelly dons the kneepads*:
Dim Chambers is a drooling jug eared buck toothed cretin whose knowledge of economics could be transcribed on a postage stamp in red textor, i.e. “0”.
*Borrowed from the Oz’s Mavis Bramston.
Unfortunately for them Allah is not omnipresent.
And God’s pronouns do not include “she”.
What new taxes are the Canbra filth seeking to impose Rabz?
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2024/05/australias-economy-tumbles-deeper-into-recession/
The political class is seeking to impoverish the demos.
mRNA shot pseudouridines and cancer – Dr. Raszek publication review (#143)
Dr. Raszek goes over a review he participated in, dedicated to the topic of how potentially the use of synthetic uridines in the mRNA vaccines could be promoting cancer growth. We focus on suppression of the innate immune system, frameshifting, and IgG4 antibody production.
What we cover:
*Reasons why was mRNA gene therapy selected as the primary choice of vaccination
*Reasons why synthetic compounds (pseudouridines) were used in mRNA instead of natural ones
*Explanation of how our immune system recognizes foreign patterns to induce interferon protective response
*How interferon leads to anti-cancer responses
Molecular background in turbo cancers
Role of different macrophages immune cells in either fighting or promoting cancers
How frameshifting can help cancers evade immunity
How IgG4 development due to synthetic uridines can also help cancers evade immunity
Dutton on ABC RN AM this morning was fairly good, particularly in linking cost of living pressures to immigration and Labor’s economic incompetence generally.
Much better than the hitherto invisible shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, who made no impression in a pre-budget interview on Monday.
Whatever you think of him – and in my case I’m still rating him negatively because of his flip-flopping on the government’s misinformation bill- Dutton appears to be carrying the opposition almost entirely by himself, with the exceptions being Jacinta Price on indigenous affairs and Birmingham on Gaza.
Yes, I know it’s the LNP, and I don’t give them my first preference either, but given this is the worst government since Whitlam’s, they should be doing better.
Judicial Watch received a recording of a phone message left by an FBI special agent for someone at the Secret Service in the context of the raid on President Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Daily Mail
Vivek evens to be Trump’s VP:
Vivek Speaks Outside Sham Trump Trial (youtube.com)
Until now, the AFL has kept its wokeness mostly in the board room.
But this week, for the first time, it has started a direct assault on footy fans, via woke and confusing gobbledigook in the weekly fixture.
For example, the Fremantle Dockers become a word I’ve never heard before, Walyalup, the Adelaide Crows are now Kuwarna, Port Adelaide Power are now Yartapuulti and West Coast Eagles are Waalitj Marawar.
Like a bunch of passive aggressive activists, the league chips away at fans’ support for the game, then wonders why there are sudden eruptions of anger against the woke nonsense being rammed down their throats.
More here.
An agenda they don’t even bother to hide anymore and haven’t for years – although labore and the greenfilth are obviously a lot more unrepentant about it. Meanwhile the gliberals still pretend they’re not on board, despite purveying year zero, mass immigration of insoluble third world numbskulls and insanity like WHO pandemic treaties, internet censorship, CBDCs and banning cash.
People need to stop voting for them, en masse.
Nigel Farage finally wakes up to the danger of Islamification:
The Spectator
Better late than never, Nigel.
Meanwhile, ‘The Muslim Vote’ in the UK has issued Labour leader Keir Starter 18 demands relating to foreign policy (BDS), anti-terror legislation and social welfare for Muslims. Farage said, ‘If Keir Starmer gave in to those 18 demands, they’d come back with 18 more.’
Which do not exist. Not a single illegal immigrant who has arrived in the UK has been deported to Rwanda. Reminiscent of the lying slapper’s “Malaysian Solution”, which was neither Malaysian nor a solution, given it also never existed.
Postcard from Mauritius in the Indian Ocean
Well, we made it to Mauritius but our bags didn’t. They got delayed in Bombay so our night in a hotel before meeting with the ship, which sailed in the next morning, was a little – well, basic… The bags turned up the next day
Mauritius is big and green – about 2,000 square kilometres. The main island is about 110 kilometres long, north to south, and some 50 wide. We hired a taxi for four hours – 80 euros – and the driver took us to the rainy and foggy high ground – tea country, a Hindu temple and sacred lake, and a series of beaches and scenic points. There was a Hindu wedding happening at one of the shrines. The vegetation and birdlife is very similar to Darwin.
Our second day there was hot and humid. Most of the place runs on tourism, but the sugarcane industry is very important in the production of rum, jams etc There are 1.2 million Mauritians with the official language being English, but seeing as the place was conquered by the Portuguese, French, and English before independence in 1968, there is a “Creole” spoken as well. It was once home of the dodo, now extinct due to being flightless and about the same size and taste as a chicken…
Mauritians are drawn mostly from African and Indian descent. Our taxi driver said the country was “very peaceful” and indeed it is with stable government and personal safety. It is the only African country with a high-income economy.
Reunion Island, to the south west, is more interesting geographically, featuring a 3,000m mountain, an active volcano, and several caldera – collapsed volcanoes. About 800,000 people and if I remember my maritime history, was once called Bonaparte Island before the British captured it, and then handed back to the French – it’s still a French colony.
Mauritius’s capital is Port Louis, ringed by sharp and jagged mountains, which makes the setting quite picturesque. The “Street of Umbrellas” looked to be an attempt to bring in tourists for a snapshot at the expense of suspending a lot of coloured umbrellas above the pavements. The harbour itself was big and busy, with lots of modern cranes and silos. Some old historic buildings in the waterfront area – lots had viewing lookouts on top.
We are now bound for Capetown on board Coral Princess, with myself presenting talks every day, starting with the Battle of the Falklands War, and including topics related to the area, such as one on Breaker Morant, and another on the famous film Zulu – is it myth or reality? Eleven talks in 20 days will keep me busy enough…
They started this a couple of years ago now – since the 2022 Indigenous round Melbourne has been calling itself Narrm and Fremantle and Port Adelaide renamed themselves last year.
The venue info for the Gather Round here in SA had prominently the name of the Aboriginal tribe each of the venues was located on. Gotta keep reminding the plebs they’re on stolen land.
Dr Jim:
In recognition of the upcoming gayFL round, translated:
I myself may be sceptical of new medications on the market, such as Ozempic but TheirABC have been doing a lot of hit pieces on Ozempic of late (despite the fact that it has actually passed FDA processes and has full approval for use).
Why?
Particularly when they showed 0 scepticism for the jibby jabs…
Tom
May 15, 2024 10:28 am
Until now, the AFL has kept its wokeness mostly in the board room.
I dont give a f*ck about the AFL anymore. I only watch local footy now.
“Our motivation here is understanding that people are doing it tough and that we need to provide substantial cost-of-living relief in a responsible way.”
OK…
Unwind your industrial relations “reforms”, which have added to the input costs of businesses which have to be passed on to the consumer.
&
Reduce immigration to skilled tradespeople who can immediately step into housing construction.
Just these two responsible measures would have an impact on cost of living before the end of the calendar year.
As a drug to help diabetes. The off label use is causing a shortage for people who actually need it. I have had to come off it because I can’t get consistent supply and each time I restart the side effects (nausea and gastro) get worse and last longer .
Lysander
May 15, 2024 11:06 am
I myself may be sceptical of new medications on the market, such as Ozempic but TheirABC have been doing a lot of hit pieces on Ozempic of late (despite the fact that it has actually passed FDA processes and has full approval for use).
Why?
Particularly when they showed 0 scepticism for the jibby jabs…
It took me about two weeks to nail the C-19 scam. I give most credit to Amazing Polly. She exposed all the players, quick smart.
Farmers walk out on Watt speech over sheep ban
Joseph Carbone
Members and leaders of agricultural peak bodies, including the National Farmers’ Federation, Wednesday morning walked out on a speech from Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, in protest of the federal government announcing a four-year plan to ban live sheep exports.
During the minister’s address at the Agricultural Industry Budget Breakfast a group including representatives from the NFF, Sheep Producers Australia, Cattle Australia and peak body members from Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales left the event.
NFF president David Jochinke said: “We turned our back to the minister just like he turned his back on farmers.
“The walkout represents what this government did to agriculture when it pursued this ideological agenda, disregarding the real-world implications this ban will have on farmers, communities, our trading relationships and animal welfare outcomes.
“It appears this government listens to activists over agricultural experts and farmers. Perhaps if we start behaving like activists it might listen to us.”
Murray Watt should count himself lucky. I remember the reception a group of angry farmers gave Goof Whitlam in Forrest Place..
“It appears this government listens to activists over agricultural experts and farmers. Perhaps if we start behaving like activists it might listen to us.”
BINGO!
And if the “Ruinables” (Wind and Solar) are now providing the cheapest form of electricity, why then the need for these Electricity Rebates?
A local Eatery/Coffee shop Owner near me tells me that his electricity bill has gone up over $1,000 a month in the past year. Last night’s Feral Budget will give him/them a $325 rebate for 12 months from 1/7/2024.
That in simple Economics is going backwards.
Blackout Bonehead Bowen, Please Explain……………..If you can with logic prease (a Chinese please).
Sounds like “Electrickery” to me.
“treaty” signing in Danistan …
I suppose they needed to wear the “Fred Flintstone” gear so we could tell the 251s from the whites .. FFS!
?
Another Lethbridge .. LOL!
Heh, King Charles’s portrait is going viral.
‘He’s bathing in blood’: Unveiling of King Charles’s first official portrait since coronation met with unpleasant response from royal fans and experts (Sky News, 15 May)
LOL, ya reckon?
LNP must have known something was afoot before this was announced because they asked a very specific question about the live sheep trade in QT yesterday and Albanese danced around it like his hair was on fire.
Now the weather expert has said their time is “soon to be up”, calling on the Government to ban man-made climate denial across the mainstream media.
With the UK being on the Security Council at the UN, then they surely know and abide by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948 –
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Over to you UK PM and also Commissar Tennis Elbow here.
Your phone hates you.
Managing screen time by making phones slightly more annoying to use (TechXplore, 14 May)
How dare you want a phone that is nice and works well! On the other hand forcing more mindfulness on phone zombies seems a futile task, they’d have to have an actual mind for that.
Not voting LNP alone will not change anything. You have to also organize a faction within the LNP to pitch and support candidates the base and others would vote for. More broadly, a bigger problem is the lack of elite support for a common sense politics. Thus, you need to actually get some buy-in from some of the institutions.
Eaters eaten.
Mislabeled shark meat rampant in Australian markets, study finds (Phys.org, 15 May)
It’s just terrible that unidentifiable battered fish pieces purchased with limp chips in a dodgy fish and chip shop in Western Sydney might not comply with the Australian Fish Names Standard! How dare they!
(The fact that an Australian Fish Names Standard exists, and is enforced incompetently, says everything you need to know about the capture of the bureaucracy by complete maniacs.)
I view Advance as a means to liasse with the smarter elements in the LNP and push it in the right direction
Well well well (the Hun):
Dare I say it – green shoots…
Now waiting with bated breath to see what the Wongster has to say.
Cops sue Shane Drumgold for $1.5 million over ‘disgraceful’ claims
By stephen rice
Five Australian Federal Police officers are suing the ACT government for almost $1.5 million over allegations by former chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold that they “acted disgracefully” in seeking to pressure him not to prosecute the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins.
Lawyers for the five officers have sued both the government and Mr Drumgold personally over his allegations against them, which included that they had sought to mislead him as to the strength of the case against Bruce Lehrmann and bullied Ms Higgins.
They also say Mr Drumgold wrongly accused them of “consistently and inappropriately” interfering with his conduct of the prosecution, extending over one and half years.
The allegations were made in a letter Mr Drumgold sent to ACT police chief Neil Gaughan on November 1, 2022, expressing concern over “some quite clear investigator interference in the criminal justice process”.
The letter sparked the Sofronoff inquiry into police and prosecution conduct in the Lehrmann case, which largely exonerated police and found that Mr Drumgold’s assertions were baseless.
Each of the five applicants – Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman, Commander Michael Chew, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, Detective Senior Constable Trent Madders and Senior Constable Emma Frizzell – was identified by name in the letter.
NFF walked out on Murray Watt over live sheep ban.
I’d like to walk out on the NFF, a useless bunch of aspiring to safe seats with the Nats.
I’ve come across, recently, an interesting idea that ‘Woke’ is essentially a containment policy used by the Regime to redirect the energies of Leftists away from economic concerns (corporate power) which was especially important in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street/ anti-globalization of the 2000s. ‘Woke’ has a containment effect on the Right too because it marks and channels tolerable and intolerable criticisms for the Regime from the Right, i.e. anti-trans tolerable/ anti-LGB intolerable).
“Woke stuff” is just a branch of the Destroy Capitalism tree.
Gutfeld: that brain worm was lucky it picked RFK jr. instead of Biden or it would have starved.
In other news: Q. Joe, who is your best friend? A. Depends …
State Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis blasts Murray Watt over live sheep export ban in scathing letterJake DietschThe West Australian
Wed, 15 May 2024 9:11AM
WA Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis has conceded she is at a ‘frustrating’ loggerheads with the Albanese Government over its decision to phase out live sheep export. Credit: Danella Bevis/The West Australian
The relationship between State Labor Agriculture Minister Jackie Jarvis and her Federal counterpart Murray Watt appears in tatters, with Ms Jarvis telling the Queensland senator his decisions over live exports have not been “in the interest of WA” and “it is difficult to see how we can work collaboratively”.
Senator Watt — who serves as Agriculture Minister under Anthony Albanese — announced on Saturday that live sheep exports by sea would be phased out by May 2028.
WA is the only state that exports live sheep by sea, with the decision expected to cost 400 jobs locally.
Ms Jarvis — who has long opposed ending the trade — revealed in parliament Tuesday night her blistering letter sent that day in response to the Federal Government’s decision.
The Cook Government minister highlighted an ongoing drought in WA and the State’s recent efforts to support farmers.
“I believe your announcement has added to the negative sentiment of the WA sheep industry at the worst possible time,” Ms Jarvis wrote.
“Given your decision and subsequent package is not in the interest of WA, it is difficult to see how we can work collaboratively.”
The letter lashed him over a $107m package which Ms Jarvis deemed would not “meet the current and future needs” of the sheep industry.
Ms Jarvis said the package only included $64.6m for sheep producers, the supply chain and regional communities.
“It would appear around 40 per cent of this support package will go towards funding ‘business as usual’ activities such as Austrade and resource staffing to implement the phaseout,” she wrote.
She said modelling shows the end of sheep exports by sea would cost $615m over five years to the WA industry and supply chain
Ms Jarvis called on the government to subsidise freight of sheep to the east coast, to help open up that market for WA farmers who are losing the live export trade.
“Many farms are overstocked as markets tighten and your immediate support for a freight subsidy to enable the movement of sheep to east coast markets would be welcomed,” she wrote.
All is not well in the Labor Party bouncy castle.
DB,
I think the Wokery is a distraction for all sides of politics; progressive and conservatives.
I have many friends who still believe in Labor Labor Labor and they can’t stand the trannie lobby and tbh, the represent about 0.001% of the population. Same as the LGBTXYZ mob and various others…
To me, it’s all a distraction from much bigger things going on; yes, economic matters in particular and that we’re on the road to serfdom based on every single Western countries’ net debt (to name one serious matter).
Dover, not possible as things stand. LNP has been captured by Labor/Greens lite and it will take decades to dislodge them as they have rigged the system to discourage any new members. They will coast on the old LNP’s conservative reputation until they collapse into two minor parties.
Has anyone considered that the Kings portrait being drenched in red might be a subtle nod to his wish to have been a tampon?
I don’t have a problem with eating shark meat. Wasn’t it called hake long ago as a euphemism?
Roger
On this I am in agreement, I only tried to be all inclusive.
Even on this forum, what would be a reaction of the female members if I declared, that I cannot imagine God to be a female?
I think you mean ‘flake’ Crossie
Not voting LNP alone will not change anything. You have to also organize a faction within the LNP to pitch and support candidates the base and others would vote for. More broadly, a bigger problem is the lack of elite support for a common sense politics. Thus, you need to actually get some buy-in from some of the institutions.
I agree, but can I also say that if right of centre parties had adopted the Greens approach over the last decade they might have had more success. I think that the smaller parties, Lib Dems, PHON, UAP and the ill-fated Australian Conservatives may have been more successful if they had followed the Greens strategy and targeted local government first, then state, then federal.
Political impact is slow, it happens incrementally.
As for organising factions within the LNP….well yes…but the problem here is that in NSW the state branches are always overruled by HQ, and NSW Liberal HQ is controlled by scum such as Kean, Photius, and so on.
Back in 2019 those same wankers at Liberal HQ dumped the late Senator Jim Molan to a lower and unwinnable position. Molan was able to rally ordinary Liberal members to canvass for him. Molan, whilst not perfect, was from the right and what infuriates me is that after his death, the scum at Liberal HQ here in NSW filled his senate position, a position he fought hard for, with a useless tepid leftist Liberal by the name of Maria Kovacic.
My Canberra suburb.
Couldn’t help but notice a corner property that despite being near new has an accumulation of junk, a broken couch etc, apparently there are also junked vehicles, stolen vehicles removed from time to time etc.
Noticed only because of screaming child, not the first time I’d walked past and heard/seen one on the balcony.
Turns out it’s an indigenous household, better for the children than way out in western NSW I guess.
There is also a problem with unlocked cars having contents pilfered in this sleepy hollow, apparently not unrelated.
Most of the residents of the many townhouses are Indians for whom two car garages are insufficient, many students sharing so lots of cars on the street which is not what the planners intended.
They may not have the same reluctance to confront as earlier colonialists.
We will no doubt eventually see.
Canberra only behind Sydney for expensive housing, new high density suburbs springing up but it’s never enough, is it?
Well, if you can’t insinuate yourselves into the LNP in an organized manner, you need to establish a parallel ‘common sense’ party that can attract those “No” voters, as well as those from other parties and do this more effectively than the LNP.
Re Budget
Labor and its leaders appear to have less knowledge of the economy than anyone driving them to and from their meetings in their soon-to-be electric chariots of conspicuous climate consumption.
Respect to shooter and pilot. Skills!
—
FVR375:
Highlights video of lone boar engagements during conservation based aerial culling operations in Northern Australia. Viewer discretion advised as a number of feral pigs are humanely destroyed ( killed) via aerial shooting during this video
Lone boar highlights. Aerial shooting with FVR375
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lopu8nV6gm4
Dover, not possible as things stand. LNP has been captured by Labor/Greens lite and it will take decades to dislodge them as they have rigged the system to discourage any new members.
Any of us can join the Liberals (or Nationals). In fact they want us to join, they like the dosh. The problem is, as I’ve just written above, what’s the point? The NSW Liberal HQ simply ignore the wishes/choices of local branches. They want members, but they don’t care about us.
Dover, the latest Ukraine video has dropped.
I just can’t get my head around how pathetic people can be to blames Jews for their own failures.
My mother is an anti-semite.
She doesn’t mention anything in front of me these days.
It’s quite disgusting.
I don’t know why, but in Anglo countries, the two-party system seems to have become ossified, with the exception of a few tiny parties. In Europe, you may see completely new parties emerging to the top, and sometimes in one election cycle. Also, old parties like the Christian Democrats in various places have no longer exist.
Well, if you can’t insinuate yourselves into the LNP in an organized manner, you need to establish a parallel ‘common sense’ party that can attract those “No” voters, as well as those from other parties and do this more effectively than the LNP.
And we know where this ends up – UAP/One Nation – great with good and well meaning people. But they will not cut it on the larger scene. I suppose once we said that about the Greens and the Teals. But I just cant see Mr/Mrs Average Aussie voting in enough numbers for conservative small parties to form a governing coalition.
Has anyone considered that the Kings portrait being drenched in red might be a subtle nod to his wish to have been a tampon?
The best take on the portrait is greying it up & making it look like Han Solo in the carbonite.
@Ned_Donovan
Deliveroo rider on a penny farthing might be one of the most west London things I’ve ever seen
https://x.com/Ned_Donovan/status/1790460912102412359
Many many lols.
?
Wokeness really began in the 90s, experienced a name change, and gradually became more extreme. I don’t know if it was here, but I saw the beginnings in the US, where it was referred to as political correctness. Wokeness is an outgrowth of that.
Last night husband and I heard Jewish barrister Natasha Hausdorff speak at the Sydney Institute on the use of “lawfare” against Israel. She was superb.
Stanford’s Hoover Institution have released a bunch of economics videos.
https://www.youtube.com/@HooverInstitution/videos
Of the bunch, this one is the most informative.
Milton Friedman and the Second Wave of the Great Inflation, 1976-1980 | Hoover Institution
?
Re: the live sheep/cattle market.
I still do not believe that abattoirs catering for halal requirements could not be set up to cater for the ME market. Yes – it would have to be packaged meat. But I refuse to believe that ME would maintain opposition indefinitely.
Blackout Bowen on his hind trotters ranting insanely in question time.
He really is insane.
The left have been willing to play the long game, hence the long slow march through the institutions. Perhaps we should adopt their approach? If small parties want to penetrate the halls and walls of power, they need to begin with local government.
My point is that miracles in politics just don’t happen, you have to be laborious, dogged, tenacious, persistent and unfaltering. The left have always understood this. Like Islam, they are dogged, they are laborious, they wait in the shadows, slowly but surely accumulating power. They have bided their time, and now we suffer the consequences.
PM grilled over $5000 per head dinnerSarah Ison
Kooyong Independent Monique Ryan has slammed Anthony Albanese for attending a $5000 per head dinner after the budget was handed down last night, grilling the Prime Minister on whether “any fossil fuel industry lobbyists were in attendance”.
Mr Albanese said that in the 10 elections he had run as the candidate for the NSW seat of Grayndler he had “spent less money on those 10 campaigns than the member for Kooyong did in her one”.
More trouble in the bouncy castle.
The Brittany Blob rolls on. ACT taxpayers in the firing line so it’s not all bad. Could this be Australia’s most expensive Friday night legover in history?
Could this be Australia’s most expensive Friday night legover in history?
If the rumours are true, Cairns & Grassby cost a few pennies but their pay offs were via treasury, not the courts.
Just watched Jerry Seinfeld’s speech at Duke University, over on Gateway Pundit. Superb.
Operators cannot find enough workers for the abattoirs we already have. An indication of how difficult it is to find slaughtermen: Meatworker jobs are advertised in backpacker job forums.
Cost of slaughter in Australia is (roughly) three time, or more, the cost of slaughter in destination countries.
A majority of livestock exported live from Australia are not going direct to slaughter, they are raised & fattened in feedlots or farms in destination countries.
Many/most destination countries have a stated policy preference for domestic employment in jobs feedlotting, livestock handling, and slaughtering, rather than sending foreign exchange to Australia to create Australian jobs.
Many/most destination countries do not have coldchain supply infrastructure. They instead slaughter on the spot, adjacent to a ‘wet’ (or ‘hot’) meat market. Instead of our system of storing mean, their meat is killed & sold daily.
End consumers often lack a reliable method of storing/freezing, instead purchasing ‘wet’ (or ‘hot’) meat a couple of hours before they intend to cook it.
Destination countries are not subservient to Australia, they are the customer. They have a specific requirement, which if Australia refuses to supply, they will obtain elsewhere.
Australia will miss out.
Live sheep export from WestOz is a textbook example of entrepreneurial drive finding a market for something that had no value: Old ewes. Australians will not eat them, they have no value. The middle east wanted them, was prepared to pay for them, created a market that did not exist for Australia.
OK, episode 7 is finally out and it’s very good. He conclusively undermines the argument that the Kiev operation was an attempt to seize Kiev. I’ve updated the Military Theorist thread so you can find it there. In the next episode he considers whether the operational objective was isolating Kiev.
Never seen it in the flesh so to speak, but I have my doubts about a religion that needs an elaborate, fancy, ostentation building to worship its God.
I have. Only the outside, but I’ve seen depressing pix of the inside.
I can understand people wanting a cathedral to express their awe and wonder in their faith. Cathedrals at Lincoln, Durham and Ely do this, among many others. They are beautiful and give expression to a noble conception of the religion. I’m entirely happy with this even though I don’t share all the beliefs. Worshipping something fine and admirable that doesn’t exist is far better than worshipping the state which does.
There are enough people here to do something about it. What’s stopping everyone?
Halal processing at abattoirs was being done in NZ decades ago. Not a replacement for live animal exports but demonstrates what is possible if activists are not able to interfere with markets between willing participants. Sadly, these days someones right not be be offended trumps everybody else’s wishes.
Slade Brockman: Labor shamefully sold out the WA sheep industrySlade Brockman The West Australian
Wed, 15 May 2024 2:00AM
Comments
For years, I have said that the Labor Government’s decision to ban live exports is not rooted in genuine concern for animal welfare. It is driven by crass politics in the inner-city electorates of Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra. This decision, which undermines and destroys a crucial part of the Western Australian farming industry, has been driven by the tactics of animal activist groups.
It is a business model of these activist groups, who exert political influence by claiming a large number of adherents, often achieved through simplistic, if not dubious, sign-ups online. These inflated membership lists (click and you’re a member) are built on the back of this disgusting business model — which gain followers and raise funds by distributing distressing pictures of animals suffering. Alarmingly, there is ample evidence on the record now to suggest these groups are willing to pay for those pictures to be manufactured.
In fact, the very incident that the Labor’s Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has cited as a key reason for the ban — the Awassi Express incident — has been revealed through media investigations as being driven by the cash payment of well over $100,000 to a deckhand from a developing nation.
These disgraceful methods and morally bankrupt business model are then used for the Labor Government’s political ends.
The depth of the policy bankruptcy of Labor’s ban is now revealed in full.
On Saturday, with merely a few hours’ notice to farmers, Mr Watt abruptly announced the ban, to universal criticism from the farming industry across Australia.
Predictably, the animal activists applauded it. The Animal Justice Party, the political wing of the activists, revealed the political leverage it held over Labor.
“We are proud that the AJP could deliver the knock-out blow by demanding the end of live sheep export as a requirement for our preferences at the Dunkley by-election in March. Ongoing conversations behind-the-scenes between AJP and Labor leadership has helped to finetune Government policy.”
Labor shamefully sold out the WA sheep industry for a by-election preference deal in the Melbourne city seat of Dunkley. This is a very concerning trend of bare-faced policy manipulation for electoral gains.
What other preference deals predated this one?
We can assume there were such deals because all the actual evidence clearly supports the continuation of the live export trade in sheep.
When asked for the science and the evidence supporting the ban, the minister has nothing to offer except a vague Labor party policy document.
So who suffers the consequences of this crass politics?
The hard-working sheep producers of WA. The families that rely on this industry, from truckies to feedlot workers, to shearers, and vets. The communities in sheep farming areas will suffer the most. Farming communities already under pressure will undoubtedly feel this decision as a body blow.
All for the sake of a few thousand votes in Dunkley, and other urban seats in Sydney and Melbourne and Canberra. Utterly disgraceful.
This betrayal is actually completely unjustified and unnecessary.
Australia’s live export industry operates at the highest animal welfare standards in the world and has constantly improved over time. In fact, Australia not only implements stringent welfare standards and systems, but also exports these best practices globally, requiring our markets and trading partners to meet our high standards.
The industry is growing — as Mr Watt’s own departmental figures reveal — making a total lie of his claim it is a dying industry.
WA’s geography and climatic conditions mean that the live export trade is a fundamental and integral part of the sheep industry as a whole. As we have seen this year, as spring becomes summer, livestock numbers on farm must be reduced because of the risk of feed shortages. The live export trade was both a price floor, but also a safety value, for stock in such seasons.
There is only one way to stop this betrayal of WA sheep producers. One way that allows farmers and the entire supply chain to continue operating at world’s best standards: dump Labor at the next election.
Labor’s strategic focus on inner-city east is a glaring disregard for WA and our regional communities. It is time for WA to send a resounding message that our farmers and regional interests cannot and will not be side lined for Labor’s political expediency.
Slade Brockman is a Liberal Senator for WA.
This administration is off the planet. Ukraine getting the shit kicked out of it and Blinken is in Kiev playing guitar at a night spot.
Therefore labore and the greenfilth had to inhumanely end it, while sanctimoniously screeching, “this beautiful creature must die”.
Ryan and Lambie are sisters separated at birth.
John Anderson
I will never make peace with this sentiment. It’s behind the general casualisation/ uglification of our culture.
I’d be asking where the millions went if it wasn’t into a defensive line in the north. Apparently, the contractors made coin without building anything.
Last day of evidence in the Al Muderis defamation case (unless something arises from submissions).
Sue C (acting for Al Muderis) is formidable.
Amongst other aspects raised, she’s crafted a narrative that one journo (Ms Grieve) with held information from the rest of the 60 mins & fairfax team regarding the story & stories.
Or Ms Grieve said she had documentation but in fact did not.
But no one bothered to check.
eugenics
I know you can have solicitors on retainer in Australia.
Can you have a barrister on retainer?
If so, if I was a billionaire, I would keep Sue C on a permanent retainer so she could never act against me or my interests.
Diggers’ fury as commanders duck responsibility for war crimes, report warns
By ben packham
The refusal of the nation’s military leaders to accept responsibility for war crimes in Afghanistan has generated “anger and bitter resentment” among serving personnel and veterans that will take years to overcome, an independent report has warned.
The Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation Oversight Panel’s final report is due to be tabled in the Senate after Defence Minister Richard Marles quietly authorised its release six months after he received the document.
The report, obtained by The Australian, says the panel does not accept the Brereton inquiry’s finding that senior commanders should not be held accountable for the murders of 39 Afghans by up to 25 special forces soldiers.
It says there has been “an unmet need for Defence senior leadership to communicate to the serving and ex-serving ranks of the ADF that they collectively accept organisational responsibility and accountability for part of what went wrong in Afghanistan”.
“There is ongoing anger and bitter resentment amongst present and former members of the special forces, many of whom served with distinction in Afghanistan, that their senior officers have not publicly accepted some responsibility for policies or decisions that contributed to the misconduct, such as the overuse of special forces,” the panel warns.
The report says the resentment among special forces soldiers was “expressed forcefully and repeatedly to the panel by Defence members of all ranks” during visits to SAS and 2nd Commando Regiment headquarters.
The anger in the Defence and veterans’ community over the issue will “likely to last for a long time”, the panel warns.
The panel led by former Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Dr Vivienne Thom says commanders need to accept accountability to “prevent or mitigate any recurrence” of such crimes.
The report compares the failure of Defence’s senior leaders to accept accountability for war crimes with the actions of company CEOs who face dismissal and even criminal charges after major corporate collapses.
“In the private sector, major corporate failures result in both an organisational and individual responsibility,” the report says.
“Personal knowledge or direct involvement of the senior officers in the causes or behaviour that led to the corporate failure are not required.”
The report comes as Mr Marles sits on recommendations by outgoing Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell on the stripping of honours and awards for commanders for war crimes that occurred on their watch.
It says “substantial progress” has been made in addressing special forces cultural issues highlighted by Justice Paul Brereton in his report for the Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force.
“While there are still occasions when individuals exhibit behaviours indicative of unhealthy exceptionalism, today the responses from the leadership appear to be rapid, clear and appropriate,” the report says.
But it warns there are still some signs of the “toxic competitiveness” between the SAS and 2nd Commando Regiments that Justice Brereton identified as a contributing factor, with “significant and forceful comments” by some soldiers on their rival regiments in interviews by the panel.
The Albanese government is yet to implement a Brereton inquiry recommendation to compensate the families of Afghans unlawfully killed by Australian Defence Force troops.
But the panel says it accepts the government faces difficulties in identifying, locating and paying those affected since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
feelthebern
May 15, 2024 2:59 pm
Reply to hzhousewife
I am not disputing the numbers.
You are probably too young to come across the original numbers quoted.
It started with 60 thou in the fifties, then increased to 600 K later and then to the 6 mill now.
People forget or never knew.
Had it happen via more accurate research or other means?
It is to an individual’s personal opinion and that opinion is going to be hard to shift.
The saddest thing is, that whatever those numbers were, we are at the stage where the whole fact of the holocaust is being put in the forgettory at best or to deny it ever existed.
Ditto Katanning. Scroll down a bit for the story.
On reversing the unfavourable policies of the Uni Party, Greens have set the precedent for local government to set many policies (twin cities, land zoning, building codes) that can be used to reverse at least some of the damage.
To quote from that esteemed populist, Mao tse-tung (Wade-Giles transliteration), “A journey of ten thousand li starts with the first step”. Take that step.
H B Bear
May 15, 2024 2:44 pm
I think the correct expression to commence all such posts is:-
“The Brittany Blob rolls on, consuming all in it’s path”.
I think you mean ‘flake’ Crossie
Cadbury’s Flake was very nice. Chocolate. Yummmmmmmmm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIdtVthtAVo
Media declares both Nina and Nino bad! One is blamed for “terrible heat” while the other causes flooding rain.
As one of the few (likely very few) Catallaxians who have operated a Halal meat retail enterprise, I am able to state that Halal slaughter is, or has been, carried out at many more Abattoirs in Australia, for a lot more decades, than laymen may readily believe.
Halal kill is not complex, mysterious or difficult as many seem to believe.
Last night instead of the budget, we watched, on SBS on demand, the story of Marcel Marceau, it was called Resistance. Very good. I had no idea about his life story.
dover0beach
May 15, 2024 3:50 pm
but I have my doubts about a religion that needs an elaborate, fancy, ostentatious building to worship its God.
Being dull, I don’t quite follow.
Do you mean that to worship God you need a grand building?
My query was about the need of such a building to do that and whom it was supposed to benefit?
Human pride and hubris or was it a requirement of God?
We have been building magnificent structures dedicated to deities since time immemorial, I have no problem with it, just asking why?
Did we then such wast surplus resources to do it without an apparent, urgent reason?
This popped up on Facebook feed. Came from polital cartoons of Australia page.
Cartoonist is David Pope
hzhousewife
May 15, 2024 4:18 pm
He doesn’t talk about it much.
Allegra da big Spender has now become a fixture on daytime sky news. Kieran Gilbert had some financial whiz on today, and Lo and Behold he said “I was just talking to Allegra Spender, and she said. …”
I really liked the Sagrada Familia, inside and out. Being designed by Gaudi, a famous Catalan architect with many designs around Barcelona. I don’t like Gothic architecture at all so not enthralled by many cathedrals. I went at midday when the light is best for the glasswork. I thought the acoustics brilliant with so many people there yet the sound though not loud of Ave Maria pervaded every corner. Well worth the visit even if we had to queue to get in.
Pauline wore some sort of soccer scarf into the Senate today. She removed it when told it did not comply with Senate standing orders.
I thought it rather good too hzhousewife. I much prefer Sophie Marceau to Marcel of course.
I’ve been out to the two export depots in Perth (down Rockingham way) and I was actually quite amazed at how efficient they are and how well the sheep are looked after with vets on site or nearby at all times, plenty of feed and plenty of space.
I’ve also seen some videos of these going out and onboard ships and the Four Corners “story” that set this all off was wrong on so many levels that it couldn’t have been an accident…
And if we all eat bugs, wear sustainable hemp loin cloths and only take cold showers they can be stopped! We’re saved!
Washington Post: Have Cold Showers to Prevent Climate Change (14 May)
You first, lefties.
Well they probably couldn’t build anything until the moolah was approved by congress. Stop blaming the contractors and blame the government. It’s the government, or the state, that finally places the order. There’s not such thing as a military industrial complex but there is a state military complex. All corruption starts at the state.
Last night instead of the budget, we watched, on SBS on demand, the story of Marcel Marceau, it was called Resistance.
Well at least if he got caught by the Gestapo you know he wouldn’t talk…
If the earth is boiling, it definitely isn’t in Porto. Nor has it been in northern Spain. Just two weeks away from summer and it’s still cold as.
What I can’t get over is the countryside. I may as well be driving through NSW, the landscape so completely dominated by eucs. One vast chain of hillside looked burned out, perhaps remnants of the wildfires of a couple of years ago.
Plant bombs, get explosions.
IIRC his father was, no idea if he talked, however did not survive the subsequent sanitorium holiday camp in eastern Prussia.
No, you build a grand building, where you can, out of love, honour, and respect. It benefits the people who go to Mass in them. In many cases, it will be the one building in their location that is beautiful and awe-inspiring of which they are free to enter. Why have people since time immemorial built temples that are monumental? The question answers itself. When I attend my father’s funeral, I’ll be wearing my best clothes. Do I need to? No.
Anyone want to ask the turbomongs of Caberaaaah how we hit ” net zero” while we import a few million more people.
Australia’s population in mid-2023 was 26.4 million people. This is an extraordinary 38% increase from the population in 2000 of 19.2 million.
And yet somehow, despite importing so many drs, nurses and engineers we are still short of them…
Here’s the ETF (ITA) for the military industrial complex. ETF = Exchange traded fund and in made up of defense stocks.
In Feb 2022, when the invasion began ITA was trading at US$108 a share. It’s gone up and now trading at US$134.66 a share. Sure, it’s gone up at an annualized rate of 11.66%.
The S&P for the same period went up from 4202 to 5272 today,. The rise for the S&P is around 12.73 annualized over the 2 years.
They’re basically tracking the index and there’s no boom.
Thanks Dim;
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/enormously-expansionary-budget-backs-rates-higher-for-longer-20240515-p5jdq4
Oh come on, JC. They’ve been supposed to have been building defenses for the last 8-9 months. BTW, I love the need to shift even part of the blame away from industry/ contractors. Heavens.
JC, the contractors are in Ukraine. We are talking about the pillboxes, dragons teeth, trench lines, and the like.
“I have my doubts about a religion that needs an elaborate, fancy, ostentatious building to worship its God.”
Then no problems with Catholic churches then.
Not elaborate or fancy or ostentatious.
Just intended to give a glimpse of heaven.
A few modern ones fall sadly short of that mark though.
Idahobit day at a local high school.
The senior boys were told to express themselves.
That resulted in dressing up like a hooker or full evening wear with pearls.
A couple of the boys wore T shirts that were expressive. One had the lettering “I’m not gay but twenty dollars is twenty dollars”
Another had big arrows pointing up to the chin and down to the crotch with the caption “I’m a two seater”
Well done teenage boys, appropriate deference shown.
Here you go:
Mayor Eric Adams Proposes Hiring Illegal Immigrants as Lifeguards to Address NYC Shortage, Because ‘They’re Excellent Swimmers’ (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim H?ft
I move that as today’s peak stupidity.
Can someone please explain how a $300 energy subsidy to every household can be anti inflationary? The bill is still the same but the taxpayer pays $300 towards it.
Can’t wait for the explanation. Thanks in advance.
Absentmindedly going through my online bookmarks, I’ve started reading an old Center for Security Policy article on the alleged 6 Jan ‘insurrection.’ They link to a variety of both still photos and film footage. In one link (on Flickr) there is an individual in tactical gear (among the crowd – there were a number of such individuals or small groups, with or without coloured tape on their helmets; green and orange from what I can see) at the left edge of the frame.
What intrigues me is that on his helmet, he has what appears to be a U.S. flag decal or patch on both the left and right sides. On the right side, the flag is back-to-front, with the stars being at the top right instead of the top left. The decal or patch on the left side of his helmet is correct. Unless the whole footage has been horizontally reversed, why would you place a flag patch or decal on your helmet in this manner, and just on one side?
This appears an awfully trivial observation, but these ‘tacticals’ as the author labels them, were considered to have played a significant role in the agitation and provocation of an otherwise largely peaceful crowd. (Earlier in this footage, the helmeted man is standing beside and communicating with another similarly helmeted and darkly clothed person (whose helmet did NOT feature the flag patches/decals).
Ozempic:
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=251296
Okay, contractors means a few things, Dover. It also refers to folks like General Dynamics etc. Be more specific as we’re not all war nerds.
Who pays the vig is the boss and it’s the state. Stop going all leftie and blaming firms because that doesn’t make any sense. It’s the state military industrial complex and no one else.
If you’re pointing fingers you know who to blame now.
But seriously, if there actually was a boom in defense spending it ought to show in the stock prices of these firms. Tracking the index is fine, but it’s no show stopper.
Pauline wore some sort of soccer scarf into the Senate today. She removed it when told it did not comply with Senate standing orders.
Onya Pauline – stick it up the hamas supporters with their princey terrorist scarves.
It’s not in the least anti-inflationary. It’s a gimmick to try and keep the CPI down artificially and to also impress the punters that they really care. It’s actually really depressing, because it means they aren’t projecting energy prices to fall at all even though they maintain renewballistics will lower energy costs. It’s the Liars party you’re dealing with.
22m ago
Labor senator accuses Israel of ‘genocide’
Rhiannon Down
Labor senator Fatima Payman has broken ranks with Anthony Albanese on Israel, accusing the Jewish state of carrying out a “genocide” on the Gaza Strip in a defiant address during which she repeated the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
Senator Payman criticised the nation’s leaders for engaging in “performative gestures” while defending Israel’s right to “oppress” Palestinians, while it was “gaslighting the global community about the rights of self defence”.
The remarks contradicted statements made by the Prime Minister last week that the pro-Palestine protest chant “calls for opposition to a two-state solution”.
Senator Payman made the remarks during a small press conference which appears to only have been attended by a handful of outlets including SBS.
“My conscience has been uneasy for far too long and I must call this out for what it is,” she told SBS.
“This is a genocide and we need to stop pretending otherwise. The lack of clarity, the moral confusion, the indecisiveness is eating at the heart of this nation.”
Mr Albanese attempted to draw the line over the controversial phrase after it became a popular fixture at pro-Palestine protests at university campuses.
“It is a slogan that calls for opposition to a two-state solution,” Mr Albanese said last week.
“My position is very clear and the government’s position is clear and it has been a bipartisan position for a long period of time.”
Didn’t that sort of conduct get you booted from the Labor Party?
Actually, the more you think about it, the $300 rebate doesn’t really help at all in terms of keeping the CPI down. It’s just an attempt to buy the punters.
It’s not a subsidy to the producers, but rather a subsidy the consumers. That has no impact on the CPI. So the producers could raise prices, or keep energy prices elevated, but the hope is that it will keep them them in the good books with the punters.
I’ve seen that argument that it is to help the CPI, but it doesn’t when you think about it. It’s actually a signal they may be expecting further hikes but the punters won’t care as much.
I love how Albanese and his treasurer Chalmers have gifted themselves a $300 rebate on their electricity bills.
Doing it for their cost of living.
Politicians are so clever.
A one-off payment v/s extended pain as household budgets contract?
Oh, yes…they will care!
Actually, the more you think about it, the $300 rebate doesn’t really help at all in terms of keeping the CPI down. It’s just an attempt to buy the punters.
I still cannot understand the self destructive policies that Oz is undertaking.
Our power bill in the new house is slightly higher (about 110 to 120 $Aust per quarter) yet my mother in Bundy was hit with $650 for the quarter and she is happy it’s lower than last time.
This is a scandal, thankfully dad (God rest his soul), set things up so they are self funded because if mum was on a pension she’d be in deep shyte.
It’s the state military industrial complex and no one else.
I guess that’s why the defense companies spend so much on lobbyists and Boeing moved HQ to Virginia to be closer to the targets of their grift.
Every major firm spends money on lobbyists and the more interaction there is with the US government, the more money spent. There’s nothing unique about this.
I reckon military spending among, among other things, should be done as a reverse auction. The government comes up with a price and see if there are any takers. If there are two many it should reserve the right to lower the price until there is just one bidder. That should set the cat among the parrots.
Don’t know about Great Britain, never set foot there. However he makes some good points about mass immigration and the impact anywhere in a western society, via Richard IV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeEqep8r2ho
Here’s the thing…
If informed of the outcomes & asked by plebiscite, the electorate wouldn’t vote for renewables that drive electricity prices (and thus everything else) up or absurdly high immigration rates that make housing unaffordable and put pressure on wages & already stretched health & education services.
If the coalition politicians will not use the $300 gift to power companies as proof that renewables are unaffordable they don’t reserve to win the next election. The only problem with that is that we do not deserve to suffer under the current bunch of jokers.
Albanese shacked up in the Lodge or Kirribilli gets a $300 rebate off his electricity bill even though he doesn’t pay it – we do.
And all the politicians from all sides get the rebate for their principal place of residence and also the Unit they own and shack up in Canberra or Queanbeyan while they claim the Living Away From Home Allowance.
They do it so tough..
Sure it does but I used it in a sentence referring to a failure to build an defensive line in the north so it obviously referred to construction contractors in situ, not in the US.
Firstly, if contractors are failing to perform tasks they’re paid for they’re complicit in the fraud. Secondly, and more importantly for the broader question, I’m not so sure finance/ industry are as separable of the state as you like to think. When Eisenhower referred to the MIC he meant military industrial congressional complex. If the Congress is just doing the bidding of lobbyists, and we apply your formula, the group paying for this set of policies are those paying the lobbyists, which is finance/ industry. Checkmate.
I’ve been amused by all the headlines from NASA and Boeing over their stupid Moon program. Endless triumphant press releases! The capsule Boeing designed is a vastly expensive disaster. The new Vulcan launcher is ancient tech*, but despite that is almost untried. The woke astronauts** NASA picked are going to be very apprehensive of both the capsule and the rocket methinks.
And if ever NASA and Boeing do finally make it to the Moon some guy called Elon will be there in a snazzy spacesuit to greet them with garlands of flowers and French champagne.
(* VC0 has the same GTO capacity of the first Falcon 9, 20 years ago, but with no return ability.
** Actually for the first Starliner mission they do have a stale white male. But the other astronaut fully makes up for that. She’s good, but so so many boxes ticked.)
The hysteria over Ozempic keeps being hyped up on the news as if it’s the worst thing ever. If people are losing weight then obviously it is doing its job. If there is not enough of it even for the prescriptions then obviously the manufacturer is not doing their job. Wouldn’t they ramp up production particularly when it would make them much more money? Do I misunderstand the concept of business which is to make a profit?
You have to laugh.
BoN the woke astronauts? Are they all diversity picks or are the white guys like the female bridge building engineers who got it wrong.
Labor senator Fatima Payman has broken ranks with Anthony Albanese on Israel, accusing the Jewish state of carrying out a “genocide” on the Gaza Strip in a defiant address during which she repeated the slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
This slag heap was gifted to us by the stupid effing WA Liberals. In May 2022 the WA Liberals decided to preference this slag heap over One Nation, and kaboom, the slag heap was elected.
Thanks for nothing Liberals.
Anyone know if Juliar recommended Bill “the big Greek bullshit artist” to the Ukies as able to knock up a few anti- Russian fences?
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/09/julia-gillard-set-to-retell-an-old-and-twisty-tale-at-trade-union-inquiry
Fatima has put her hand up to represent people like her Dad and other hard working Australians, striving to make ends meet and giving life their best shot. Fatima is passionate about breaking down barriers for women and young people, and encouraging them to voice their opinions. Fatima wants to give back to the community that has given her so much.
From her official biography.
Yes, Cassie, West Australian Liberals have fallen a long way since the days of David Brand and Charles Court.
Dr. John Campbell
Midazolam concerns
The W.H.O. “Pandemic Treaty” WILL be Negotiated in Secret! Our Sovereignty is Under Attack, as a Loophole is Uncovered
“Unbelievable” doesn’t quite cover it.
California parents blast school for giving fifth graders transgender book ‘My Shadow is Pink’ then forcing them to explain it to kindergartners
That’s a new one.
EV owners say their cars are making them SICK – as driver claims her Tesla caused her nose bleeds, ‘debilitating’ body pains and hair loss
On the subject of government contractors. Years ago we never lobbied government, we did work that they were too lazy to do and charged a motza for it. There were a few that were cutting edge stuff that was development work with a product at the end that worked. But and a bloody big butt, the size of the Lying Slapper, we did a job, wellwe were paid for a job with no contract and paid up front for six months work. They had money and had to spend it before the end of the financial year. I brought a yacht. We did do the work. Another department spent $150 mill on not doing what the money was allocated for. A lot of meetings which my wife and her colleague were the only people that knew what to do but with no say in the outcome as not the final decision makers. There is another government instrument that has spent over $600 mill for absolutely no benefit, the audit office buried or was told to bury the outcome of an audit.
The woke astronauts** NASA picked are going to be very apprehensive of both the capsule and the rocket methinks.
There were another couple of guys originally picked to fly the thing on its first crewed flight. One of them discovered family business that would need his presence at the planned flight time so dropped out. Experimental test pilots LIVE to do a first flight and never knock one back. Might tell you something.
Re: Sagrada Famiglia, we have visited twice during its construction since 1990s, 1st time in 1998, last in 2016, Bowled over both times by the scope of Gaudi’s vision being steadily realised. It is the most stupendous architecture of the modern age.
How many here know that its form is all modelled on the natural rock formations of Montserrat, the monastery outside Barcelona? We spent a night there on our last visit, in the parador. Highly recommended.
We hope to be still here on earth when the cathedral is completed, though it will be impossible to visit because of booking requirements, I imagine.
Btw, the last gothic church in the world to be completed (in the 1990s) is the Sacred Heart at Bendigo. It is beautiful and well worth a visit.
Cassie, that is how we got the Useless Effin Adam Bandt, SFL from Sicktoria preference the greenies and look what we have now. Thankyou Stupid Mick Kroger and Mr Credlin. Top men along with others. Has Kroger ever got anything right? I see him on Credlin, FFS.
Rub and tug is an avowed alarmist: he genuinely believes in it and also that ruinables are cheaper than any other power source which is why power companies are closing their fossils. Nothing to do with the $16 billion in government subsidies ruinables get every year; or that ruinables get first crack at selling to the grid when they are working 30% of the time; which means fossils can’t sell to the grid for 30% of the time but have to incur the expense of keeping running; and finally that fossils have to buy large scale energy certificates which the ruinables sell to them based on the time the ruinables are running. So ruinables have 3 sources of income: subsidies, fossil sponsorship and a bit of money from the grid.
But hey the closing down of the coal plants is a purely commercial decision.
Rub and tug and blackout should be nuked.
Didn’t Howard start all this shite with the RET? (no defending the current grubs at all)
funny that
And how has canbra been able implement this? Power was a state thing – due to Hilmer I suspect.
She doesn’t believe that 6million Jews could have been murdered during the Holocaust.
The official, documented, German statistics of deaths in the 27 concentration camps under SS command is in excess of 1.7million (1.1million in Auschwitz, Mauthausen 100 000 & Majdanek 78 000 being the worst) adding to that the undocumented deaths thru-out the German occupied territories is estimated to be up to three times that amount .. Several Eastern European occupied countries had close to 100% of their Jewish populations still unaccounted for in 1948 …….
KL .. A History of Nazi Concentration Camps .. Nikolaus Wachsmann ..2015
I’ve read Biden has backflipped on his no weapons for Israel pronouncements.
Link is on the Egyptian razing of the Rafah on their side of the fence
apparently 450, 000 Gazans have evacuated Rafah.
Were there really 1.4 million there?
https://twitter.com/Saul_Sadka/status/1790070048125526475?t=7avWBTOGGbCYfn3r9IMRpA&s=19
I’ve never been to Barcelona without visiting Montserrat too.
Just day trips; train, rack train and funicular up the hermitages.
They have a wonderful gallery too, with Picasso’s first known work (age 13) and a wonderful collection of Eastern Christian icons.
Nearly all the art from two very generous bequests to the monastery.
It isn’t free speech …its just speech
and free-speech is the new covid
The last time I visited Barcelona I went to a special international mass at Sagrada Familia.
Entry free 🙂
If you miss tickets for tours there is always mass in the crypt.
I’ve heard that some federal police officers in WA have been sacked (a long time later) for refusing COVID jabs. This is a complete disgrace and further evidence that we now live in a quasi-totalitarian country.
Not really. You should’ve been clearer, as a defensive line can also refer to military hardware, as in tanks, etc. You could’ve said fortifications, and then us non-war-nerds would have understood.
This accusation needs a little elaboration rather than just assuming the worst. Is there anything available? Contracts also have upfront payment clauses, and delays may not be caused by the contractors. Let’s take a closer looksee.
Not of itself, it doesn’t. As I said, let’s see more information.
I don’t know what you mean by this.
When Eisenhower referred to the MIC he meant military industrial congressional complex. If the Congress is just doing the bidding of lobbyists, and we apply your formula, the group paying for this set of policies are those paying the lobbyists, which is finance/ industry. Checkmate.
Ike saw a problem, but he didn’t appear to understand the solution. This is a procurement issue in how the government procures. Humans are ciphers and will always respond to incentives. If incentives are badly formatted, then problems arise, as in this case, the monopoly buyer is the government/state. Place the blame on the state and not firms that are looking to make a buck. A bad procurement system will invariably create problems.
Dover,
Are you saying they’re Ukrainian contractors or American? If they’re Ukrainian, I’m quite happy to walk it back.
Anyway, “Sliante” to you mob. I’m having a proper, 16 year old Lagavulin…
Rafah evacuating
https://twitter.com/JewishWarrior13/status/1790056535327920139?t=fdgogPWfeZqTIRLYLJH4AA&s=19
Why is the US moaning about the Chabahar point deal now?
It’s almost a decade old.
Bern
Ta for that Friendly Jordies vid a few days ago. Just got round to perusing it.
IMO some very straight shots.
Reply to Carpe Jugulum
Thank you both for your comments to my missive, i do appreciate your comments.
To be honest it absolutely enrages me, that i can be half a world away watching the country of my birth self destruct so badly.
I know Japan has it’s own problems, especially with spending against GDP, but Jesus H Krist, you guys are in a fvkin mess.
At the risk of sounding cruel, you had best invest in generators and wood heaters, because living in the cold and dark circa 1860 is coming
Leave the China threat issue alone for a second. The Dementia Administration has, countless times lectured that gerbil warming is the greatest threat to humanity – bigger even than Vlad Putin in a bear suit. Gerbil warming is that big and therefore needs to be dealt with immediately.
The US is just about to impose 100% tariff on Chinese made EVs.
dover0beach
May 15, 2024 4:55 pm
OK, I accept that but don’t understand the need.
Anyhow, I don’t know what came over me in the last few months I got all spiritual, (I wish I got ‘spirit’_ual, ala Zulu and appreciate a fine drop more instead)
Is it a sign and if it is, a sign to what?
To spare you all from my further ignorant questions, I joined a couple of Bible/religious teaching forums, to balance things out one of them is the Israel Bible Center.
Both cost money so I am serious.
Trump does tariffs, bad.
Biden does tariffs, good.
State PoliticsWA News
breaking
Martin Pritchard: Another WA Labor MP calls time on career, bringing retirement total to 10
Vivek is beyond good. Truly incredible speech.
https://twitter.com/simonateba/status/1790419793662595261/video/1
That’s his name? Ahahahahahhahaa
Here Bern
The vid of him speaking is at the bottom of the link
https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1790621943311315029
I’m watching songs from the mid 70’s on You Tube. I’m looking at the shots of the young ladies, dancing in the audience, and wondering if there any middle aged matrons, looking at the same footage, and thinking “Well I was a bit of a cracker in those days…”
From yet another ABC article about running etiquette or some stupid shit but that isn’t the point:
The Dharug and Gundungurra peoples awkwardly make an appearance.
Naarm? They want us to call Melbourne Naarm? Brisbane is Meanjin, now Melbourne is Naarm? And everywhere you can be is going to be identified as the traditional country of such and such people?
I really, really hate this.
JC, you immediately interpretated it as an attack on the MIC rather than as a straightforward criticism of corrupt officials and contractors in Ukraine. That isn’t anyone’s fault but the reader.
Where are the fortifications, dragon’s teeth, etc. Over six months have passed since these were mentioned.
It’s not a procurement issue. Ike is noticing that the GAE as it emerged in the post-WW2 era placed significant power in the military and industry, which through lobbying, administrative decisions and actions, and the like could compromise the political process. There is no easy way of disentangling this network/ complex of interests that involves state and non-state actors, and therefore no easy way of shunting the blame to one or the other
This might be your answer, FTB:
There’s a magazine published by the Diggers’ Club seed company. Usual hippy drippy self sufficy stuff, recently started sub-headling all of their feature stories as “Kaya and Nigel manage fourteen quince trees near Nowra on the traditional lands of the Bunnarong People” etc etc.
So I typed up a tetchy email pointing out that they needed to put the Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners in every article, big or small, and in every classified ad for good measure, otherwise it is just racist patronizing tokenism.
Stuff ’em. They want to virtue signal, they should virtue signal good and hard.
GreyRanga
May 15, 2024 7:52 pm
I do wonder why he gets a gig on Sky.
Being a former Vic president of liberals (have they been in power in the last 20 years?) would disqualify him surely.
And what is his job now that gives him great political insight?
Immediately interpreted? Is there anything other than an immediate interpretation? Well, actually, a lot of what you post about the war is rooting for Vlad and booing for the US, which you appear to pick up from Russian troll sites. So, yeah, the “interpretation” does have a basis, unfortunately.
This power resides with the state and can be shut down at any moment by changing the way the state deals with their suppliers. This doesn’t appear to register with you because you refuse to acknowledge that the monopoly buyer has all the power in this situation. As I said, Ike recognized there was a problem and only spoke about it towards the end of his term. Good one, Ike.
Those are separate and distinct factors that you think are one and the same. You appear to be focused on lobbying, but lobbying is a natural function that occurs when there’s a lot of money involved or legislative threats. There’s nothing inherently evil about lobbying in our current system and even if it were banned it would spring up in some other form.
There is no easy way of disentangling this network/ complex of interests that involves state and non-state actors, and therefore no easy way of shunting the blame to one or the other
Bullshit. There are most certainly ways to ensure the game is played well. But tell me, do you think the same sort of play isn’t occurring in Russia, like there’s no underhanded gaming in the system? The deputy defense minister has been fired and accused of corruption, and the defense minister was “promoted.” Incidentally,Virgo the Warlord skipped over the corruption matter and duly noted how the old defense minister has now been challenged with a more high level job, but no mention of the underling.
There are most certainly ways of “disentangling” corrupt practices, and the power to do so resides entirely with the state, so don’t go blaming the firms that are simply reacting to incentives.
Lobbying
Politicians converse with lobbyists to learn what the players will or will not be thinking. It’s a necessary and natural process that takes place in our current system. It’s a method of obtaining data and intelligence.
There are a few regular letter writers here who say they write to their local members on a regular basis about issues they think are significant. That is also lobbying.
Someone said tonight that ABC was taken care of in the budget because it was “the ALP’s mouthpiece,” and an election was coming.
I wonder if Dutton could ever come to the conclusion that ABC is an existential threat to the Liberal Party and him in particular.
Just gotta convince the Nationals that rural radio can survive and thrive on its own two feet.
There’s careful interpretation. Charitable interpretation. And so on.
So what’s the state here? If the power resides with the state why couldn’t Trump pull out of Syria when he said he wanted to? What prevented him?
I mentioned lobbying as an example of influence-peddling by non-state actors. Nevertheless, the above misses the point which is that these non-state actors influence state decision-making by these means.
This is just sad. I’m trying to have a discussion about systemic corruption of the political process by non-state actors and you turn it into but what about Russia and what about Armchair Warlord?
The firms are agents just like the government. But setting that aside, I’m not talking about being unable to ‘disentangle’ corrupt practices, I said “There is no easy way of disentangling this network/ complex of interests that involves state and non-state actors”. You want to say that firms are just responding to incentives/ interests so that can’t be blamed for acting in ways detrimental to the national or public interest, well, so is the DoD, so is the State Department, so is the CIA, NSA, and on many occasions that incentives/ interests are aligned. My point is that in these situations, apportioning blame is difficult because the Regime in this circumstance isn’t just the state actors, it’s also the non-state actors that together form this complex.
New OT up.
It certainly wasn’t General Dynamics or some other defense contractor if that’s what you’re implying.
He changed his mind, as he said, giving more consideration to these factors:
Geopolitical Considerations , such as Russia being involved.
Counter Terrorism. ISIS getting a foot in the door.
Protecting the Kurds.
Wanting to ensure the country was stable.
It had zero to do with the Military Industrial Complex talking him into staying in order to sell more arms.
There’s no point to be missed. Of course non-state actors influence policy. That’s a feature of the system and not a bug. You, though, appear to think it’s some evil thing that shouldn’t occur. That’s not how democratic systems work. The ones that don’t are the extreme authoritarian where everyone is too frightened to stand up. It’s a process called consultation. There would be less of it, if less money was spent by the government and numerous laws and regulations enacted.
Well, you bring up examples and it’s only fair that others do too. As it turns out you were specifically talking about Ukrainian contractors and I understood you were suggesting they were American, not that it made much difference, seeing you believe the Americans are equally as bad.
The firms are agents just like the government.
Call them agents principals or whatever you like, but they aren’t the same players and the state has the monopoly so it can dictate the process.
Yep, they can’t be blamed as they aren’t the ones setting the rules of the game. The state does that.
Which is pretty meaningless.
Just because they supply the state with arms, doesn’t mean anything in what we’re discussing. It simply means that they are financially transacting with the state, which obviously means they’re conversing.
After genocidal paratroopers in Israel, cosplay satanists at Eurovision, and every thing from Dark Mofo to Laneways being cancelled for lack of disposable income in recession-wracked Australia, have you thought that the current state of Music Festivals couldn’t get much worse?
Well I betcha didn’t expect Neo Nazis!!!
White Noise: Neo-Nazi music festivals are on the rise in Europe©Provided by The Daily Digest
From national anthems to protest songs, music, and politics have a long, storied history going as far back as humanity can remember. However, music can also be a tool to promote dangerous ideas.
Sounds like a dangerous lack of Thought Police… let’s read on
Vice News reports that, in early 2024, two neo-Nazi music festivals have taken place in France and Italy as far-right extremism is growing in Europe.
Far-right extremism is growing… Vice News says so
Everything’s about networking these days
Ha! Love the wisecrackin’ irony, it’s fresh like a FHM picture caption from 1995
These music shows not only function to promote far-right racist bands and artists, it’s also a way for neo-Nazi groups to network and recruit new members.
…recruit? Recruit who? Recruit how? Surely there’s not that many naifs who just happen to go along hoping to find some phresh beats?
“They have a social function, to make fascism fun, and they are used to make money for the movement through ticket sales, merchandise and catering”, Alexander Ritzmann, senior adviser of the Counter Extremism Project, told VICE News.
Truly shocking. I mean we all know that music festivals are a celebration culture and beats and three days of love and camping n all that shit, but this is the first I’ve ever heard of one being run as a profit-making enterprise.
They are Nazis, but not anti-vaxxers
Ha! Again with the Steven Colbert low key zingers!
Call of Terror and the Hot Shower Festival, two of Europe’s biggest neo-Nazi black metal festivals, are making a return after being on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and local authorities are doing very little about it.
“two of Europe’s biggest”? Are you seriously telling us that there’s more than two? After reading “Hot Shower”, I’m actually doubting that there’s more than one.
Somewhere in the French Alps
The Call of Terror music festival took place on February 24, 2024, in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, bordering Italy and Switzerland.
Narrowed it down.
Nazi anniversary
French newspaper Libération explains that the date of the far-right black metal concert commemorates the foundation of the National Socialist Worker’s Party of Germany in 1920.
First of August is apparently pretty popular too, 1/8, “A.H.”, you know, the bad german moustache man. But That falls in the northern summer… whereas halfway up the Alps in February makes much more sense for marching and chanting n that stuff. Plus, this year it’s a Saturday, which is a nice co-incidence.Paying the Piper
According to the Brussels Times, the concert venue was a communal hall in the town of Vézeronce-Curtin, rented to a private individual without knowing the nature of the gathering.
A communal hall eh? Sounds like more of an Art Society venue than an ahem concert venue, but I’m sure that the- checks notes- Brussels Times know their onions. Must hold thousands, if not hundreds, if not a few dozen.
No word from the French government
Despite Libération journalists approaching the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the Call of Terror music festival, they got no comment from the French government.
Er why didn’t the “journalists” take their evidence to the police?
The Hammerskins and Blood and Honour
The French neo-Nazi music show was linked to the Hammerskins and Blood and Honour, neo-Nazi organizations known for their connections with the underground National Socialist music scene.
The “show”. Was “linked”. This is starting to look less and less like a nuremburg rally, and more and more like a beat-up.
Banned in Germany
According to the BBC, the Hammerskins were outlawed in Germany in 2023. They were known for setting up neo-Nazi music labels, selling antisemitic records, and organizing clandestine music events.
Ooooh, the BBC weigh in, and they’ve suddenly rediscovered antisemitism.
Nazi Hunters
The Hammerskins were described by the BBC as the last major neo-Nazi organization in Germany after Blood and Honour was outlawed by the Berlin government in 2000
The “last”? I thought things were Growing and Underground and On The Rise?
‘Threat to democracy’
“Right-wing extremism remains the biggest extremist threat to our democracy. That’s why we continue to act very decisively,” said German interior minister Nancy Faeser, cited by the BBC.
“People noticing that our country has been sold down the river remains the biggest threat to my sinecure”.
The ghost of Mussolini
France is hardly the only European country having problems with neo-Nazi music festivals. In March 2024, Italy’s far-right Hot Shower Festival held its ninth edition in an undisclosed location in Northern Italy.
Methinks the location is “undisclosed” because it’s actually a Bunga Bunga Party.
According to Vice News, the Hot Shower Festival was headlined by Vothana, a Vietnamese American black metal band that rarely performs live, and it stands out in the neo-Nazi music scene for writing lyrics entirely in Vietnamese.
“Ein Reich! Ein Volk! Ein Pho, takeaway for Jake thankyou!”
‘A little gig’
The organizers of the Hot Shower Festival responded to a request for comment by Vice news in a manner described by the news outlet as “facetious” and ignoring any questions about promoting a hateful ideology: “we’re really surprised that Vice is so happy to write about a few people in a little gig”
How very dare they. Vice News is a totes serious and respectables news organization.
Bands Named After Other Bands’ Songs, click here to start next slideshow
And msm.com.au is a serious and respectable news organization, too.
…yeah I’ve just wasted an hour haven’t I.