Not at all surprising.
Open Thread – Thurs 16 May 2024
- Madame Cackle and her media mates
- Open Thread – Weekend 27 July 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 25 July 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 22 July 2024
- All the drivel fit to print
Desperation. The sugar high is wearing off.
How much is government incentives to raise the fertility rate actually costing? Vast amounts of money are needed to encourage…
It’s curious and more than a little suspicious, that when eco terrorists want to protest oil, they stop highways providing…
If a guy with an Indian accent calls to offer solar panels with government incentives and you suggest that you…
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.
Are you saying the same fate could befall Duttonif he dismantled the ABC?
Sounds a bit extreme.
But then again some anarchist could see their lifetime bolthole under threat and act.
Will be interesting to see how the media portray Fico, politically.
TheirABC says he was controversial and his goverment was divisive.
Snap.
Johannes Leak.
John Spooner.
Mark Knight.
Brett Lethbridge.
Peter Broelman.
Christian Adams.
dover0beach
May 16, 2024 12:17 am
I’m a bit confused about the term “populist” when applied to politicians.
Aren’t they all?
Seeking the most votes by offering enticing policies?
The difference is, that some are better at it than others.
Never heard of a polly campaigning on increasing the price of bread and butter by 20%.
PS, I hope the gunman, if captured, isn’t one of the minorities.
Michael Ramirez.
A.F. Branco.
The Guardian is equally scathing. And CNN is yapping about his cutting of support to Ukraine.
I think we get the picture.
Matt Margolis.
Gary Varvel.
Lisa Benson.
Sorry for interrupting Tom.
Just had my first cuppa and wasn’t watching the time.
Al Jazeera:
Slovak news media report the shooter – an unnamed 71-year-old man – was a former security guard at a shopping mall, an author of three collections of poetry, and a member of the Slovak Society of Writers.
Some good articles in the Jerusalem Post.
Dropped my feed to Haaretz, even knowing what your opponents think isn’t enough to put up with the bile.
and a member of the Slovak Society of Writers.
A 71 year old circle jerker.
Makes sense.
Thanks again Tom.
Well the words ‘polarising’ and ‘controversial’ are being used in media reports so there’s that and Fico shot, right after telling the WHO to go to blazes and stopping illegal immigrants — gee makes me think there’s an agenda at work —
Chuckle. Leak does “Afterpay” treasurer.
I still think he’d be better lampooned as Wallet Wizard.
Brilliant Leak on the Australian’s front page yesterday –
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2024/05/brilliant-leak-on-the-australians-front-page.html
The Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation Oversight Panel says in its final report to Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles that it 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.
From the Oz today.
I’m old enough to remember when anything that Vivienne Thom said was reported breathlessly from The Project to the ABC to Mike Carltons twitter.
Just release the Brereton report in full.
How unhealthy is Oz ..? .. 70 000 out of approx 500 000 unemployed are are classed as long term sick .. add to that the 100s 0f 1 000s on DSP/NDIS and, apparently, being/staying well in Oz is becoming quite an accomplishment ….
A Department of Employment and Workplace Relations spokesperson told Guardian Australia the change would mean approximately 70,000 people would “no longer be required to provide multiple medical certificates for the same medical condition to receive an exemption for the full duration of their incapacity”.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/centrelink-mutual-obligations-budget-changes-tipped-to-prevent-1m-jobseeker-suspensions-a-year/ar-BB1mrdrX?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=c7bc348fe9a94d4eba321c6f305dac42&ei=16
Something for Faustus…
Preliminary report into the Baltimore Bridge hit by the MV Dali.
Circuit breakers tripping because of an on board fault.
Not a computer hack, no doubt much to the disappointment of certain “theorists”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWGaLFhoRDM
Oh dear. Won’t do the whole thing but you get the idea. Hun:
The optics Albo. The optics are, one way to put it, sub-optimal.
Soo, compulsive gamblers go on cruises to gamble .. then whinge they are allowed to gamble .. Ya gotta be kidding ..!
They could have stayed onshore and put the cruise fare thru a casino ..!
As a recovering alcoholic (44 yrs, last drink Aug 1980) I can assure you you don’t spend drinking money on anything other than drink so why would gambling be any different ..?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13415149/p-o-cruises-gambling-shane-dixon-suicide-pacific-adventure.html
This Green Hydrogen is never going to work.
To obtain the Hydrogen, it takes more energy to release the Hydrogen than the Hydrogen can provide powering machines. That is economic/accounting madness. However, the Profits of Doom/Elites – people like Twiglet, will get loads and loads of Taxpayer/Borrowed money.
And the cost of the ‘Electrickery’ here in OZ has led to Twiglet moving operations to Arizona, USA, where the electricity is cheaper. Still won’t work though. He will come back here to use that Feral Budget 2024 money of course
And as for Green Metals – Don’t make me larf’………..
The only green metal that I’ve seen lately is the copper on the roof and domes of the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. Mother Nature turned it green free of charge. LOL.
Aaaagh! .. The joys of being a, born & raised, Toon fitba fanatic and once again watching & suffering the agony of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory .. This morning they only had one, bloody, job .. a draw against Man United .. and European fitba next season a win would have been akin to Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone but a draw was all that wuz needed .. So what did they do .. what they alwayz do at the penultimate hurdle .. GET BEATEN 3, bloody 2 …….
They can still pull it off with a victory in Saturday’s final game but reality is it should have been all dun & dusted this morning …… instead of turning it into a full-on “broon ale” session …….
God ..! I luvs being a GEORDIE …… LOL!
?
No. NO! That’s disinformation, spread via the internet
It was clearly a deliberate act, a follow up to all those food stores burning down in the US intended to keep teh PeopLe enslaved – if only we had some sort of E-Safety Commissioner to put things right…
The optics Albo. The optics are, one way to put it, sub-optimal.
The optics never matter when it comes to the left They always get a free pass. I note Mrs Chalmer’s expensive dress on budget night, a Carla Zampatti dress
Now, normally I couldn’t give a shit and I thought the dress was gorgeous however imagine the fascist scum at the Guardian, their ABC, Nine Newspapers etc if the wearer of that dress or similar had been a Mrs Morrison, or a Mrs Abbott, or a Mrs Frydenberg. Imagine the screams, screeches and howls. Conservative women, even women married to right of centre politicians, are considered fair game. Which is why it’s time to ‘fair game’ back.
Oh and when did budget night become ‘fashion night’ or, even more ridiculously, when did budget night become a family affair?
My God we live in a wank times.
shatterzzz
May 16, 2024 6:49 am
How unhealthy is Oz ..? .. 70 000 out of approx 500 000 unemployed are are classed as long term sick .. add to that the 100s 0f 1 000s on DSP/NDIS and, apparently, being/staying well in Oz is becoming quite an accomplishment ….
What happened to all those Bronzed ANZACS?
How about a ‘Healthy Bonus’ for all those who are healthy and have minimal need of Guv’ment/Taxpayer assistance? Same with having a good driving record and other good stuff that people do.
Probably won’t get up along with a Media Company reporting only good news.
What happened to all those Bronzed ANZACS?
How about a ‘Healthy Bonus’ for all those who are healthy and have minimal need of Guv’ment/Taxpayer assistance?
When we paid our own healthcare bills, there was an incentive to stay healthy. Now that other people pay them, the incentive is to be permanently sick.
For several years I’ve used his name to mock former PM Scott Morrison for his “luck” in snagging the top “jerb” and all the benefits that go with it BUT time to honour the bloke who, actually, owns the name .. A true Oz leg-end and now a true, Oz hero ..
Well dun STEVEN BRADBURY ..
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-13419543/Steven-Bradbury-Winter-Olympics-Aussie-gold-medal-hero-honoured-saved-four-girls-drowning-Queensland-beach.html
My God we live in a wank times.
I think the proper form of the adjective is “wank-tastic”, Cassie
“This Green Hydrogen is never going to work”
Heretic, we are a Super Power , we are about to push water up a hill as soon as we can tunnel through the bedrock.
We could have easily built a nuclear reactor for the cost of tunnelling blow outs.
But this is what a Super Power is all about , if it was so easy everyone country would be a Super Power.
I know one guy that could turn bread into wine, we could have used him but Governmant said he was too expensive.
Last night’s Canbra shitshow is just more proof that we are government by maliciously incompetent unserious trash.
(Brought in from the Old Fred, because vanity)
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 Bhan Mi, 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.
Galveston and Baltimore bridges are not the only examples of destruction in recent times. Numerous food production facilities as well.
It is likely Mrs D & I will be adding to their number. Mrs D’s lower back is a mess on all the scans, and if I react to the chemo tablets I will start Saturday (need to wait until tests from today & tomorrow are out of the way, did the bone marrow yesterday ) as I expect, then I won’t be able to work either. There is a special category of Jobseeker for those who don’t qualify for DSP, but can’t work due to illness.
Is Orban also on the hit-list? Judging by the treatment of him by the mostly left media, I’d say yes.
Women’s Origin!
“Our lezzos can beat your lezzos any day!”
What a gorgeous painting!
‘An actual revolution’: Communist Party organizer reveals true mission at UCLA anti-Israel rally
EU Plan BULLDOZES Europe’s Democracy
Jo Nova has an amusing story today.
I don’t know what is funnier, that Ausgrid is now going to charge solar panel owners for disposing of electricity from their panels, or the idea that they’ll pay the poor owners money up to 9pm. Which last I saw was in nighttime.
Made worse by states that enforce panel owners to put the electricity into the grid. I haven’t been keeping up but I understand that’s what some states did.
Shows you how silly renewable energy is, that it’s worth less than zero during the time of day when solar actually produces meaningful amounts of energy.
He never expected the tenant to go to the press.
Was vacant possession really necessary with an inner city townhouse likely to be purchased by another investor?
… it’s worth less than zero during the time of day when solar actually produces meaningful amounts of energy.
Yeah! That’s why Blackouts Bowen thinks it’s the cheapest form of energy.
Labor might head for an early election – before the blackouts start!
His security guards should be on high alert for any actors wishing to meet him or just getting close enough.
We have a surplus so we should be right amirite? Hun:
FMD
Dutton on ABC yesterday seemed to be of that view.
Labor seeking to get another term before the inflationary pressures of this budget hits next year.
August would be the earliest.
Yes, it’s perfectly clear.
Crazy Looking Baphomet Head Found in Mirror Image of King Charles Portrait
Have a look at this rubbish.
“The era of Global Boiling has arrived”. And who said that the Oceans were now boiling?
I can assure you that if you fall into the Arctic Sea or the seas around Antarctica or even the Southern Ocean in Summer, you will quickly die of hypothermia.
As I always like to follow the evidence, I ask that all Climate Alarmists take a dip in one of these waters, even in Summer, and see how they go. LOL.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/we-re-boiling-the-ocean-for-the-last-year-the-world-s-seas-have-broken-temperature-records-every-single-day/ss-BB1mn3BK
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1139162
He never expected the tenant to go to the press.
I’m amused the media didn’t run with the “rentee” renting whilst owning a business ..
Guessing it’s the anti-Luigi news period following the budget .. LOL!
Unless he can wangle a DD. The Greens may offer an opportunity for that, but August isn’t too far away, and the punters dislike pollies playing games with elections.
Strange, creepy and weird. ME though, so not surprising.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13422609/kidnapped-man-vanished-27-years-ago-discovered-neighbours-cellar.html
Neil Oliver: Lockdown Letters!
I thought populism was the biggest threat to
ourtheir democracy.August would be the earliest.
Would that be his choice..? .. methinx being a Labor PM is just the “front” for the “backroom” where the serious stuff is decided …..
Soros And US Government Behind Conspiracy Theories And Attacks On “Twitter Files Brazil”
I don’t believe it’s incompetence. I believe it’s absolutely deliberate.
Biden’s Incompetence Is Outstripping Voters’ Fear Of Trump
Major Report Uncovers CCP-Linked Influence Behind Left-Wing Anti-Israel Protests in U.S.
Bruce of Newcastle
May 16, 2024 8:49 am
Jo Nova has an amusing story today.
I wouldn’t call it amusing. I left this (polite, because it is Jo’s place) comment:
Do you have a generator? The only reason I have panels and a battery and a generator is preparation for when Eraring goes and blackouts occur.
I grew up without power and here we are again not because the technology had failed but because of green madness.
It is simply beyond belief. NSW requires about 12000MW at PEAK demand, about 8000MW for baseload. Currently there is installed in NSW about 24000MW of wind and solar. Yet last night at times there was zero power from wind and solar and over the last 24 hours wind and solar has only supplied 13% of demand:
https://www.aemo.com.au/energy-systems/electricity/national-electricity-market-nem/data-nem/data-dashboard-nem#price-demand
The midday glut is just another variation of the unreliability of wind and solar which as we all know, but which blackout bowen either is ignorant of or ignores, have a capacity factor of only about 30%. Which means over a year there will be no power from these sources for about 70% of the time.
But it is not just madness. It is also hypocrisy. At the same time these fools are destroying our fossil energy and preventing any nuclear they will not stop Australia’s exports of coal and uranium to other nations, particularly China.
Any one who votes alp/greens deserves to live in the dark. The trouble is the rest of will have to do so as well.
When memes challenge real life ..LOL!
In Parenting 101 news:
15/05/24 @13:30
16/05/24 @ 9:00
Pro Tip: When dealing with over stimulated children (or arseholes who need a bit of a touch up):
a) never, ever threaten what you are not able/prepared to deliver; and
b) deliver as threatened exactly on the deadline – or give up and go home, because everyone concerned knows who owns who.
An Iron Rule.
I hope Fico survives.
He’s a proper man.
https://twitter.com/MurzynfrogXXX/status/1790867166624968833?t=sYkfaSf2gwPp4cWm-CAEMw&s=19
Looking into my crystal ball, in the next 6-12 months, I see gold going up and the AUD going down. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?
Dog attacks on livestock are bad enough but, when it is your own dogs doing the killing, you deserve to feel a complete moron because you chose to have two “macho”, XL bully’s as pets.
The three and a half minute film clip is worth watching.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13421287/Dramatic-moment-devastated-Welsh-farmer-shoots-dead-two-savage-XL-Bully-dogs-killed-22-pregnant-sheep-fun-crazed-attack-left-14-000-pocket.html
Progressives. There’s a surprise. If conservatives (aka sensible people) can’t be beaten, we’ll just cancel them. To progressive slime, democracy only works for them.
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1790770740842676646
“I’m asking you to leave in peace,” she said.
“In the event that you are not out of here within an hour – so that would be at 2.30 this afternoon…”
So that would be when the big hand is on the six and the little hand is just passed the two…OK?
Good old Peru:
LGBTQIAP2S+ Outrage over Peru Declaring Transgenderism a Mental Illness (breitbart.com)
‘Conservative’ in eastern Europe often includes nostalgia for Communism.
1 hour ago
‘Circumstances change’: PM defends evictionStaff writers
Anthony Albanese said on Thursday changes in his life had led to him putting one of his rental properties on the market, despite pleas from the tenant to let him remain.
“From time to time people’s personal circumstances change,” the Prime Minister said. “I’m changing arrangements.
“The person who’s in the property said as in his own words, I have been a more than fair owner of that property. He has lived there for four years.
“I had him in the property with the rent being about half what the market rent is, for those four years.”
Mr Albanese said he had no intention of revoking the eviction notice.
“I wish him well,” he said.
“He has been well looked after for a long period of time but I am entitled to make decisions in my personal life including selling a property that I own because I wish to move on in my personal life in a different direction.
“The property was bought when my circumstances were different.”
– Jordan McCarthy
The working class can kiss my arze
I’ve got the bosses job at last..
I
Black Ball
May 16, 2024 9:02 am
We have a surplus so we should be right amirite? Hun:
Time for Sictoria to start drilling for Oil and Gas and to get those Royalties to pay for this White Elephant.
The Oil and Gas comes in handy too.
Dershowitz on why the Trump fiasco is not being televised and why it should:
Why Trials Like Trump’s Must Be Televised :: Gatestone Institute
And:
If you were flipping between CNN and Fox News following the cross-examination of Stormy Daniels in the New York criminal case against former President Donald Trump, you would have had the impression that the CNN commentator, who professed to be reporting what happened in the courtroom, described a completely different event from what the Fox News reporter, who was also in the courtroom, described. It was as if they had seen two different witnesses and two different lawyers.
The CNN commentator reported that Daniels had done a great job holding up against the incompetent cross-examination of Trump’s lawyer. The Fox News commentator reported that the extraordinarily effective Trump lawyer had totally destroyed Daniels’ credibility. Who were you to believe? The CNN commentator was an experienced lawyer who was purporting to describe accurately what had happened without bias or subjectivity. The Fox News commentator was a former judge and prosecutor with vast experience, who also claimed to be describing the cross-examination without bias. Neither of the commentators even pretended to paint a gray picture. One was starkly black, the other unambiguously white. No nuance in either account.
The Fox News commentator was Judge Janine. I’ll take her version anyday, but Dershowitz is right. Everything about this trial (sic) is corrupt,
Hugh
May 16, 2024 9:34 am
Looking into my crystal ball, in the next 6-12 months, I see gold going up and the AUD going down. Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?
Why do Gypsy Men have crystal balls?
So they can see what’s coming.
From the OOT:
No, he didn’t change his mind. He made his decision in Dec 2018. He was simply ignored. All of those reasons you provided were in play earlier; nothing changed. He was ignored because the Regime wanted to stay in Syria whatever the President said.
I think the indigenous may have first dibs on those rights under the coming treaty.
Slovakia PM
I wish people would keep to the script
He was allegedly shot by an alleged assassin. AND YOU CAN SEE IT ( allegedly) happening on Youtube. Where is Karen Whats-hername our ESafety Commissioner when we need her? I am in mild state of panic. How many people seeing that will now go out and off their PM?
Great to see the ADF getting up to speed with drones…
900 new public service jobs for AUKUS nuke subs (Tele, paywalled)
Oops, did I just call them drones? Bad me. We’d do better for Australia’s defense by giving them each a rifle.
Let’s look at how the MSM is coding Robert Fico:
Our ABC: Trump; populist; fierce nationalist; parroting Russian anti-western rhetoric; undermining democracy, the rule of law in Slovakia; polarising figure.
Guardian: veteran populist politician; his success fuelled in part by promises to halt military aid to Ukraine, criticisms of sanctions targeting Russia, and campaigns against LGBTQ+ rights.
Forbes: controversy; tough stance on migration; rejection of a European Union migration system intended to shorten the asylum-seeking process; opposition to LGBTQ+ rights, with Fico calling same-sex relationships a “perversion;” opposes additional military aid to Ukraine, and argued that Ukraine must surrender territory to end Russia’s war; opposes Ukraine’s accession into NATO
Definite pattern emerging.
On a happy note, Reuters is reporting that Fico is no longer in life-threatening condition. Looks like he’s going to make it.
monetizing munchausen by proxy
German MEP Christine Anderson
“The European Parliament is a madhouse”
Yes, and yes. BTW, NGOs are an important organ of the Regime.
Your ABC non-story for the day:
Welfare recipients to miss out on full $300 energy bill relief thanks to lower indexation
Right. Firstly, the 50 basis point lower CPI is a projection and this payment probably won’t make a lick of difference to it, and there is no way to verify whatever the CPI number is in 2024-25 is is 50 points lower than it otherwise would have been but for the payment.
But let’s say this magical CPI reduction does eventuate and results in lower increases to welfare payments. Well, doesn’t that mean the recipients will be paying less for goods and services, so that is why the increase is less? How are they worse off?
Using ABC/ACOSS logic, we should be creating a hyperinflationary environment so that pensions and doles can be increased by millions of %. Because evidently what’s important is the quantum of the payment increase, not the purchasing power of the payment.
I think a better line of argument for the ABC would have been how terrible it is that homeless people are going to miss out on the $300 power bill relief. It is at least true that these people aren’t going to get any discount on their power bills.
Haha, via Instapundit: Dover will like this one…
https://x.com/robin_j_brooks/status/1790381588255002998
You have to zoom in to see the graphs, but it’s worth it. 😀
JohnJJJ, what a good idea. Julie Bishop wouldn’t have thought of that and she had brillianr ideas.
Nothing surprising here. They’ve been using third countries from the start. I saw something like this last week showing one of the stans being the doorway for European products.
Also, obvious that Chabahar port is going to be used by both Iran and Russia to undermine US sanctions which is why the US is not amused by India’s involvement.
Elbow has ruled out an early election on morning tv.
I don’t think he’ll go early. He loves power and does not want to give that up nor the trappings of office and taking Toto for a walk on AF1.
Just incredible that high ranking officials of foreign governments think they can actually participate in domestic protests of another nation. They wear Westphalian principles like a skinsuit.
Oh come on
May 16, 2024 10:57 am
Your ABC non-story for the day:
Welfare recipients to miss out on full $300 energy bill relief thanks to lower indexation
There is no way that the RBA will be lowering the Cash Rate in 2024. I would say that it won’t happen until early to mid 2025 at best, all things being equal. And that is not counting on an external shock in the mean time to stuff up the rubbery Budget projections..
Dim Chalmers is still stoking the fires with the 2024 Feral Budget.
LayBore just do not know how to stop spending like a drunken sailor.
There will be no lower indexation before Laybore is booted out. Good riddance to bad Rubbish.
Tanya is unhappy.
Civilian death toll in Gaza ‘completely unacceptable’ and ‘way too high’ (Sky News, 16 May)
It’s a miracle! Your wish has been granted lady, the UN revised the number down by 50% yesterday.
Malachy Steenson Survives Antifa Assassination AttemptLast updated 1 hour ago
Malachy Steenson, an independent candidate for the European Parliament in Dublin, survived an assassination attempt by a man identified as Jamie Moonenn, a far-left Antifa extremist. The incident has sparked widespread condemnation and raised concerns about the safety of political candidates and the broader implications for democracy in Ireland. The event has been reported by various social media users and news outlets, with many expressing shock and calling for condemnation of the violence.
Meanwhile I’m stonkingly amazed he hasn’t done the appropriate thing and booted her out of the ALP.
Anthony Albanese hits back at Fatima Payman’s anti-Israel comments, argues they oppose two-state solution (Sky News, 16 May)
Surely Albo she doesn’t belong in your party? You wouldn’t want to be the Antisemitic Labor Party would you? Are you a weak leader?
I can’t help but notice the MSM isn’t howling for her resignation. The carpet has a Fatima-sized lump under it. It’s a mystery.
Bruce of Newcastle
May 16, 2024 12:01 pm
Tanya is unhappy.
Civilian death toll in Gaza ‘completely unacceptable’ and ‘way too high’ (Sky News, 16 May)
It’s a miracle! Your wish has been granted lady, the UN revised the number down by 50% yesterday.
Tanya. The Mayor of Dresden Germany said that in 1945. Then the numbers got revised upwards.
More civilians die in wars than the Military. Do some research you stupid Tart. The Yanks call it collateral damage when they do it and no one else is supposed to do it?
Wake up to yourself and stick to protecting the Australian Environment. BTW, have you stopped the damage that the Wind Towers and Solar ‘Farms’ are doing yet? Didn’t think so.
“Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot”
I amextremely surprised that a similar attempt has not been made on Mr. Trump.
The only “civilians” in Gaza are unborn.Once they enter a Pali household they are educated to become terrorists and Hamas operatives of some kind.
never comes up in “question time” does it .. LOL!
Remember the howls and screams when Senator Fraser Anning used the words ‘final solution’ in a senate speech (there was no such furore when Lidia Thorpe used the same words at a later time). For his words Anning was pilloried and demonised, and then a spineless, useless Coalition government allied itself with Labor and the Greens to censure Anning in parliament.
Anning had always been a long time friend to the Australian Jewish community and Israel.
Here are some facts…
Fraser Anning was and is no Jew hater.
Fatima Payman was and is a Jew hater.
I now wait for the Liberals and Nationals to prepare a censure motion against this despicable ‘Senator Fatima Payman’.
How long do I have to wait?
Tanya
if the entirety of Gaza isn’t glowing in the dark, then Israel has shown restraint.
Anthony Albanese called out Labor Senator Fatima Payman for labelling the actions of Israel “genocide” and uttering “from the river to the sea” – a phrase the Prime Minister has condemned.
What a wimp. Where was he on October the 9th, 2023, when the Mob were chanting ‘Gas the Jews’ at the Sydney Opera House? Nowhere to be found. Probably getting more airline points flying around the Planet.
Tennis Elbow has never condemned those chants and nor others ever since. POS.
A Rebecca on Richard King’s morning show this morning used the 1946 attack on the British embassy to PROVE Israel is a terrorist state; and followed that up by saying OCT 7 was a false flag done by the Israelis themselves. King made a half hearted attempt to interrupt the kunt but she kept on with Israel being the only terrorist state impeding a 2 state solution.
Cassie, you ought to reply to rebecca, who had an Australian accent but who I suspect is a muslim, on King’s program tomorrow.
Inconvenient science findings news…
New research addresses alleged benefits of a vegan diet for dogs (Phys.org, 15 May)
In short they went off to prove that dogs are vegans, but found instead that vegan dog owners are insane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzckifBlxWk
RAAF 75 Squadron’s Defence of Port Moresby – ABC documentary
Mark Riley has accused Elbow of lying re changes in super Those with 3million in super to be taxed at 30% not 15%’.
when someone like him going him Elbow is gone
PVO in Daily Mail has a good article about the PM’s tenant.
For once I am on the PM’s side as he has been a decent landlord to the guy who has been paying way below what the property is worth.
damon
May 16, 2024 12:11 pm
“Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot”
I amextremely surprised that a similar attempt has not been made on Mr. Trump.
He has better security and if the Deep State did shoot him and kill him then there would likely be a Civil War type situation.
First thing, Europe is supposed to be a gun free zone yet two attempted assassinations in two days. You would think with 300+ million guns in private hands in the US that they would have political assassinations left, right and centre.
Second, fascism and nazism is always threatening the US yet always landing on Europe, can’t remember who first came up with that observation.
Bruce of Newcastle
May 16, 2024 10:43 am
Great to see the ADF getting up to speed with drones…
900 new public service jobs for AUKUS nuke subs (Tele, paywalled)
Oops, did I just call them drones? Bad me. We’d do better for Australia’s defense by giving them each a rifle.
How many sub mariners and Captains skilled in nuclear technology are being trained to operate these AUKUS Nuclear Submarines? Anything on the horizon. How about the people that are needed to maintain/service these submarines.?
A load of pen pushers is not the answer.
With a couple of exceptions (the UK being one) I think most European countries have more liberal gun laws than Australia.
My money’s on his “poetry” being of the Vogons’ oeuvre …
The first cohort graduated in the US last year.
I remember reading about it somewhere.
Donald Trump
“He has better security”
And a bullet proof vest I hope.
Watch out for the desperate Democrats
Crossie
May 16, 2024 12:49 pm
Gun free zone is an illusion, there is no such thing.
Money talks as always.
I am happy* it was a Slovakian national that did the shooting and not one of the ethnic minority.
*not happy about the shooting at all
Who aren’t people according to leftists. Monty and his mates have never seen a fetus they haven’t wanted to kill.
Look, the Albo tenant story is stupid. Thing is his cynical minders placed stupid stories in the lead-up to the election about what a great landlord he is to blunt the inconvenient truth he’s a socialist property millionaire. So suck it up. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes etc.
From Rafes newsletter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDOI-uLvTnY
From Prager U.
Well worth the time it takes.
Dover, if he issued the command to leave, the order would have been obeyed. The president is the commander in chief and no one can countermand his order. He wasn’t ignored.
Cynical minders! The irony is his cynical minders have obviously told him to boot his tenant now so that the story will be lost in all the Budget noise. Good on the tenant going to the Tele, otherwise his cynical minders would’ve nailed the landing.
How come Senator Thorpe can wear keffiyeh in the Senate but Senator Hanson can’t wear Israeli scarf.
I am sure the US version of Sir Humphrey didn’t do all they could to slow down and slow walk the process so the order would be complied with “in the fullness of time”.
He was ignored.
Evidence?
There were two resignations over the decision to remove the troops.
Dover, two resignations means he was far from ignored and there was a substantial troop reduction, which provides further evidence saying he was ignored in simply inaccurate.
Rates- high for longer. Thanks Dim;
https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/rba-will-ignore-budget-s-miracle-inflation-effect-20240516-p5je3x
FMD I missed this little nugget of shit in yesterday’s Hun:
What would this training consist of? Don’t use words like poof?
“Dover, if he issued the command to leave, the order would have been obeyed. The president is the commander in chief and no one can countermand his order. He wasn’t ignored.”
They lied to DJT about how many people they had there.
As in:
“How many we got there?”
“2500”
“Get ’em out”
“2500?”
“Yes”
But they really had 5,000 there.
Not sure how they justified this – maybe he asked “how many men” and they had women there as well, or maybe he asked about a city and they ignored the ones not in that city etc, but DJT believed he had told them to take out everyone from Syria and they didn’t.
They likely obeyed technically as per excuses above, but they didn’t obey the clear intent. This should not surprise anyone, given that the general that told the Chinese he’d give them warning of an attack was not even given a “please explain” from his fellow travelers, who all appear to think it was the right thing to do.
You’re in a cope spiral, JC. They slow-marched the decision until he was removed, and they are still in Syria. This is what ignoring an executive decision looks like.
Actually, you’re in the cope spectrum, Dover. Two resignations and you’re still arguing he was ignored, which is actually quite astonishing really. There was a substantial troop reduction after he was convinced by others that maintaining a skeleton troop level would assist the Kurds as they were being attacked by Turkey. Good decision. This was discussed exhaustively within the administration and far from ignored..
I offered evidence that he wasn’t ignored, so how about you move along and provide the evidence that he was and leave the cope bullshit for interactions with Virgo the Warlord, which appears is where you got the term from anyway
By the way Stigliz agrees with you. Polonyi’s work was masterful. 🙂
John Delmenico @thebigjohnnyd 3h
Today is quite an emotional day for the Prime Minister, see growing up his mother never had the opportunity to evict a tenant…
?
“…there was a substantial troop reduction, which provides further evidence saying he was ignored in simply inaccurate.”
“I want you to take out all their nukes”
“Yes, sir”
…
“They nuked us! I though you said you took them all out?”
“Well, get got 990 out of 1,000, that’s a significant reduction…”
Douglas Murray talks about Israel and life
And with a clarity that our politicians find unable to muster.
What does two resignations indicate so far as ignoring the order to withdraw is concerned? Nothing at all. Where those two resignations critical? Did they end the slow-marching of the orders? Did the resignations allow the withdrawal to be completed? No, no, and no.
The US is still in Syria. Trump was ignored.
Kneel, I take it that you’ve never been in negotiations where the absolute becomes a process of mediation and instead of getting all wanted, you ended up with most of it. According to you, that’s being ignored.
Two senior people resigned in protest over the decision, there were substantial troop reductions and in the meantime, the Turks began to attack the Kurds, requiring a change in strategy. Arguing Trump wasn’t ignored is just “cope’ though, right?
You’re don’t seem to be “coping” well are you. Trump was ignored but two senior people that were part of the Syrian involvement resigned in protest. Trump’s mind was changed because of Turkish attacks around the Kurdish oil fields. Having a flexible approach to decision making isn’t being ignored.
No of course they weren’t. It was just a PA and junior unpaid intern that resigned.
How do you know they slow marched the orders? How do you know Trump didn’t agree to that process, instead of the shambolic destructive way Dementia left Afganistan?
Cope!
All too familiar.
So they were able to convince Trump to stay on because of the fluid state of things, but that doesn’t demonstrate Trump’s flexible temperament. It just shows he was ignored. Lord almighty.
“…I take it that you’ve never been in negotiations…”
In the military, you can argue against the orders, but at the end of all your bluster, if the CinC say “jump, that’s an order”, you jump, period. Or resign.
And most especially in this case, because the entire point of the President being the CinC is that of civilian oversight – the military MUST BE under the command of the politicians and the one man in the US who has that authority under the constitution is the president.
Keeping the CinC in the dark about actual troop levels, disobeying an order or suggesting to nuclear powered enemies that you will advise them in advance of any order to attack are all serious breaches of duty and the oath taken at the least and treasonous at worst. All those things happened under Trump, and no-one paid the price for it. That can’t be allowed to stand, or you risk the military becoming the government – that never ends well.
Just to be clear, I think Trump is loud, brash, braggardly and uncooth.
He is also 100 times better as a President than the current President in name only, J R Biden. Better for the US and better for world.
But even if he was 1,000 times worse than Biden, he’d still be president and the military can’t do the things I listed above and not pay a price for it.
The defense Sec and the special envoy aren’t “in the military”. They are the civilian apparatus that assists the president in running the military. They did in fact resign.
Stop running around sideways and explain how Trump was ignored. That’s the whole point.
The tenant being evicted from the PM’s investment property says he has evidence showing he’s not avoiding talking with the agent. It comes as a Tweet has resurfaced of the PM claiming “no one should lose their home in a crisis”.
As with my comment early this morning about the Carla Zampatti dress worn by Mrs Jimflation on Tuesday night, I don’t normally engage in such trivialities however allow me to indulge in a little schadenfreude over the member for Grayndler and his belligerent tenant. The member for Grayndler, all round liar and slug, has had a very easy ride for the last two years so, yes, I’m enjoying his current difficulties.
The Daily Telegraph reports….
A tenant who has been given an eviction notice to vacate the Prime Minister’s investment property says any suggestions he hasn’t co-operated with the rental agent are “comically wrong”.
Jim Flanagan, 45, has lived in Anthony Albanese’ inner west rental home for the past four years, but was last week served with an eviction notice, which he says “hit him like a steam train”.
When reading through both the Daily Mail article and the Daily Telegraph piece, the name Flanagan and the words sausage and inner-west rang a loud bell and I thought….hmm…..something sounds familiar. Then I remembered, Mr Flanagan and his then partner/wife/squeeze or whatever, Chrissie, used to run a gourmet sausage shop in Sydney’s inner-west. Both were (and remain) your atypical inner-west progressive luvvies, and both were firm supporters of the member for Grayndler and Labor, particularly prior to the last election. In fact, news.com.au did a piece on the Flanagan female, noting that Mr Albanese was her landlord and what a wonderful landlord he was! She even produced some piffle on TikTok about just how fab the member for Grayndler was.
https://www.news.com.au/national/federal-election/silly-sausage-anthony-albaneses-relationship-with-tenant-exposed/news-story/bd6f53e62ac301487814d9dce48b683e
And gosh, prior to that May 2022 election, the Flanagans even placed an electoral poster of Handsome Boy in the window of their sausage shop! And…wait for it….they even named a sausage after Handsome Boy but given the shop’s closure after the election (in late 2022) we can surmise that ‘Handsome Boy sausage’ was not a best seller!
Sadly, this sausage story doesn’t have a happy ending….It appears that the Flanagans have gone their separate ways, the sausage shop is no more, Miss, Mrs, Ms or whatever Flanagan has departed the home and Mr Flanagan is left solo in the house, a house still owned by Handsome Boy who’s now morphed into Mean Dickensian Albo the Trot, and Albo the Trot, being the good mean landlord, is now evicting Mr Flanagan!
I once heard a saying about sausages (I love em) that “love and sausages are alike, you can never have enough of them”…..except when the love ends!
Thank goodness I stopped following that stupid, stupid football code over a decade ago.
A mandatory re-education program, aka a “stroogle session”. The ALPFL should go the whole hog and televise or preferably conduct these events in public, where a baying mob can be worked into a mouth frothing frenzy of accusations, denunciations and physical abuse.
Upon the session’s conclusion, Clarkson can then repeatedly denounce himself and atone for his transgressions by going “Full Laidley”.
JC: “Stop running around sideways and explain how Trump was ignored.”
“Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria led to the resignation of both Defense Secretary James Mattis and Brett McGuirk
…
Jeffrey told Defense One that, for all intents and purposes, there “was never a Syria withdrawal.”“
Read the bolded parts JC – how is that NOT “being ignored”?
He made a decision.
2 people resigned in protest.
Decision ignored while they continued to argue with him.
Frankly, I don’t care if Trump was wrong or right, good or bad – he made a decision and nobody followed through on it.
That’s called being ignored.
Or the part where Trump asked how many troops they had, and they lied to him about it. How is that not actually treasonous? To disobey a direct order, one that doesn’t even put a single person – military or civilian – at risk of harm, even theoretically. That may, in fact, do the exact opposite – put people in harms way.
They attempted to justify it by what happened after that. Sorry, no – Trump made a choice based on the then current info, you have no right to ignore him because of what might happen in the future, and just because you got your prediction right, it doesn’t excuse you from your failure of duty.
So every time Trump is inclined to pull out of Syria, the Regime comes up with new reasons to stay in and JC thinks this indicates ‘flexibility, a fluid situation, flexible temperament’, but not the Regime bending Trump to its will. Dear oh dear.
Selection from Gateway Pundit:
DISGUSTING: German Leftist Politician Films Himself Licking Public Toilets in Railway Station and Other Abhorrent Sexual Acts (GRAPHIC VIDEO)
Racist Democrat Rep. Ayanna Pressley on the House Floor: “I’m So Tired of White Men Failing Up” (VIDEO)
U.S. Dentist Calls for Jews to Die, Now Faces Serious Action
I see the Victorian Government obviously has top men on the job and is spending taxpayers’ money very responsibly. See here
Just what we need in these troubled times – NOT
One of Australia’s most notorious alleged terrorists Neil Christopher Prakash refuses to respond to judge as he’s ordered to stand trial – but cops claim he ‘no longer holds’ extremist views
Daily Mail.
Why does it not surprise me that Labor follows the Democrats
Biden’s Nursing home giveaway
A new staffing rule is little more than doing the bidding of the SEIU and National Nurses United.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently finalized a rule that mandates staffing increases at nursing homes that will cost taxpayers and families billions of dollars a year.
The new CMS rule requires nursing homes to have a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and requires nursing homes to hire tens of thousands of other nurses to increase the amount of time they spend with residents.
The government estimates that about 80 percent of the country’s nearly 15,000 nursing homes would have to add staff to comply.
The administration expects the new rule will cost $43 billion over the next decade. Some independent estimates show the cost at closer to $70 billion over a similar time frame.
Biden nursing home
Link you b.. link.
It’s always better to sell a property when it’s vacant.
I’ve given tenants a lot of notice so it’s no surprise.
And even told one lot not to worry about the end of lease clean as it was going to have a quick, mini reno post their exit.
The idea of giving a tenant notice to quit the premises without more than the 4 weeks mandatory notice is poor form in my opinion.
Huge fissures now coming to light in Israel:
Dover, you look irritated that I don’t agree with you. Instead of adopting the manner in which certain individuals communicate, try to speak directly. You can convince people without using cheesy tactics. That fails to persuade anyone.
Trump was leaning toward leaving Syria, and although Mattis and the envoy tried to use coercive measures, they were unsuccessful. Yes, the position was precarious because, when Trump first announced his intention to withdraw, the situation wasn’t as dire—for example, when Turkish troops attacked the Kurds and endangered their oil patch. This happened later. Trump announced his intention to withdraw when he believed ISIS was done and dusted and these two events didn’t occur at the same time. You’re implying that Trump was disregarded if others were successful in persuading him to keep a tiny army garrison. It’s never as simple as that and he wasn’t ignored.
The US is a loyal ally – right up until they aren’t.
And you know, Trump was ignored? How so? Your bolded doesn’t explain your argument. You just insinuated yourself into the discussion with a stupid analogy and now continue fumbling around with nothing to add.
One of my primary school teachers was an old style Anglophile. He used to say ‘who needs enemies when you have America as a friend’. Not sure whether I agree or disagree. I love the good things about the US- the drive and optimism, I hate the PC-Marxist shite.
If Albo is having any work done on the place pre-sale he would have known more than a month in advance.
You can line up a painter in Sydney pretty quickly.
But if you want any landscaping done, it’s longer.
If you want a new bathroom or kitchen, you’re looking 3-6 months.
Assuming Albo isn’t rolling up the sleeves to put a Bunnings kitchen in himself.
I’m not irritated, JC. And neither am I using cheesy tactics or speaking indirectly. If you want to believe that Trump was not ignored even though he was repeatedly dissuaded every time he expressed a desire to withdraw from Syria by the Regime such that the US never departed and is still there you are perfectly welcome to make that judgment.
I see that Albo’s government is wobbling on the tightrope re Israel:
The prime minister says comments by government senator Fatima Payman are not appropriate after she broke Labor ranks to accuse Israel of genocide.
The Labor senator repeated the chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, a phrase that has been criticised by Anthony Albanese, while calling on her party to sanction and cease trade with Israel. Mr Albanese said he didn’t know the senator was going to make the statement.
“My conscience has been uneasy for far too long, and I must call this out for what it is,” Senator Payman told SBS News.
“This is a genocide, and we need to stop pretending otherwise.”
and
The prime minister said he had not spoken to Senator Payman since she had taken the stance, noting that their last conversation was “very, very pleasant”.
“She’s a young senator from Western Australia. But, we speak for the government’s policy and the government’s policy has been very clear from our opposition, unequivocal to the terrorist activity of Hamas on October 7, our call for the release of hostages, our call for humanitarian ceasefire, our call for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the people of Gaza, our opposition to any ground offensive in Rafah,” Mr Albanese said.
Oh, dear. Trouble at mill. Note the menacing words ‘she’s a young Senator from Western Australia’ – in Richo’s day, that would mean ‘toe the line, or your chances of preselection next time and forever are dead’ and it’s certainly a warning.
BTW, why has TheirABC arbitrarily removed the capitals from Prime Minister? As part of their campaign to rename everything and destroy spelling and grammar, are they next going to inflict him with a bogus Aboriginal title?
FIFA is having a vote on whether to banish Israel from the sport.
The Australian Football Federation “is likely” to abstain on the vote.
You have got to be F-CKING KIDDING ME!!!!
Oh, link:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-16/albanese-fatima-payman/103854650
Thanks for the concessions, Dover, but I wasn’t asking for benevolence. We’re discussing facts surrounding particular events.
You keep harking on Trump’s opening gambit that caused two senior figures to resign and although Trump walked away from the first salvo, he got himself a major troop withdrawal. Being “ignored” would have meant no resignations and no troop withdrawals, so the MIC doesn’t win them all.
It was a mistake to use this as an example of the omnipresent MIC.
You don’t seem to realise that a big part of Trump’s negotiating tactics is to ask for the universe and then settle at a satisfactory conclusion.
I predicted Senator Payman would be trouble.
Serves Labor right if she defects to the crossbench.
This represents a small illustration of the problems Labor will face if it courts the Muslim vote.
Only just occurred to me but Xi is only 9 years older than Elbow.
Calling him “handsome boy” is a put-down, not a compliment. He’s calling our PM “boy” – meaning subservient.
I am a great fan of political commentator Jim Rickards. A friend regularly sends me his newsletters. This latest newsletter is a gem. Can’t disagree with anything in it. Although the news re an assassination on Zelensky is news to me – I can imagine it is possible.
Whether you agree with any of it us up to you – but I think it is great commentary. Cheers.
Jim
Rickards
TAll eyes will be on the CPI report for April being released this week (Wednesday morning). It will give the Fed and markets more economic data to digest in deciding on rate cuts this year.
We don’t expect any cuts for the 11-12 June meeting. And July may be off the table as well, even if inflation is showing a downtrend, because the Fed likes to see several months of good data before making a decision.
Many analysts look to September for the first rate cut of the year. But I believe the Fed would be hesitant on cutting rates then as well because they don’t want to be seen as political. A rate cut would be seen to favour Joe Biden.
As mentioned in the past several weeks, I don’t see any cuts by the Fed until after the election in November. We’ll have more analysis on this after we see the inflation number in a few days. Stay tuned.
Besides evaluating the economic picture, we have several recommended reads this week about the presidential candidates that will certainly impact voters.
I. The Counterrevolution Has Begun. And It Won’t Be Pretty for the Left.
Americans who consider themselves moderate or conservative have been bombarded for the past ten years with a non-stop barrage of institutional changes and demands for “rights” that break with traditions and assault common sense.
The list of radical causes is long and includes the climate change hoax, men competing in women’s sports, DEI mandates at the expense of talent and competence, drag queens grooming children with “storybook hours,” open borders, carjackings, anti-semitic demonstrations, homeless encampments, legalised use of hard drugs, vaccine and mask mandates that don’t stop the spread of COVID, lockdowns that incubate COVID and cause social skills to deteriorate, and so on. I’m sure you could add your own insults to logic to this list.
If this trend runs much further, the republic will collapse into chaos. That’s the bad news. The good news is that a counterrevolution has begun.
New York police recently cleared an anti-semitic encampment on the Columbia University campus, secured an occupied building, and arrested hundreds of demonstrators. Similar clearing operations have been conducted at other campuses.
Google fired a group of about 50 employees who staged an anti-semitic “strike” on company property. Numerous governors have declared that men cannot compete in women’s sports despite Biden’s efforts to ram that policy through using a twisted interpretation of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In the latest move, a group of 13 federal judges have signed a letter to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik saying they will no longer hire Columbia University graduates as law clerks because the school has become an “incubator of bigotry.” The letter invites other judges and law firms to do likewise.
These may be small steps individually, but they add up. Importantly, they show that reasonable people have had enough and the free ride for bizarre left-wing policies is over.
II. Another One Bites the Dust. Trump Classified Documents Case Postponed.
We’re all familiar with the term Lawfare by now. That’s a combination of Law and Warfare. It means using the law, not for its intended purpose of resolving disputes and enforcing statutes, but instead twisting it in unprecedented ways, using novel and attenuated interpretations, to paralyse and disable political opponents.
Lawfare is part of the larger weaponisation of the justice system to target enemies and rig the vote. But it tends to have narrower targets using obscure statutes (and combinations of statutes) to create crimes where none were envisioned by those who wrote the law.
The leading target of Lawfare today is Donald Trump. The Democrats and their corrupt judges have attacked Trump in every way imaginable. There was the Russia hoax that froze the Trump administration from 2016 to 2018.
This was followed by the first impeachment of Trump in 2019 for an innocent phone call to President Zelensky of Ukraine trying to get to the bottom of the Joe Biden and Hunter Biden practice of accepting bribes through the Biden crime family.
Then there was the 2021 impeachment of Trump after he left office in connection with the January 6th riot. Trump had urged peaceful protest and even tried to deploy the National Guard just in case, but Nancy Pelosi refused to allow the Guard to protect the capitol. Yet somehow Trump was the one who got impeached by Pelosi.
Things were quiet until Trump decided to run for president again, at which point the entire arsenal of Lawfare tactics was unloaded on him. He was indicted on federal charges related to Jan. 6th and also the mishandling of classified documents. He was indicted on state charges in New York (hush money case) and Georgia (a 2020 election interference case). There was also a civil case in New York for a minor bookkeeping error that turned into a $550 million judgment against Trump (now on appeal).
How’s this all going? Not well for the Lawfare warriors.
The Georgia case is on indefinite hold while an appeals court considers misconduct by the prosecutor. That case may be dismissed.
The New York hush money case has turned into a circus. Trump may well be acquitted, but even if convicted that conviction will almost certainly be overturned.
The January 6th case is awaiting a Supreme Court decision (due in late June) on presidential immunity that may moot the case or at least put the trial off until 2025.
Finally, we learn that the classified documents case is off the calendar while the judge considers serious misconduct by the prosecution, including tampering with evidence. That misconduct may even result in the case being dismissed.
While the law has been badly abused by Trump’s enemies, it’s good to see that at least some justice may prevail in the end.
III. Assassination Attempt on Zelensky. Hint: It Wasn’t the Russians.
On May 6, a rumour went viral on social media that there had been an assassination attempt on the life of Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud (“MBS”), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and de facto ruler of the Kingdom. It seems that the rumour was fake news and that no assassination ever happened, although it is difficult to be sure of anything that goes on behind the scenes in Riyadh. But that was not the only assassination news that day.
It was also reported that there had been an assassination attempt on the life of Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. That attempt was foiled. Two top Ukrainian military officers were arrested in connection with the plot. Those officers were colonels said to be working as agents of the Russian FSB (successor to the KGB). Reportedly they planned to kill not only Zelensky, but also General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, and Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the civilian intelligence agency (SBU).
Of course, it comes as no surprise that the Ukrainians blamed the Russians for the alleged plot. Here’s the real story, not reported by corporate media…
The so-called assassination plot may or may not have been real, but it definitely had nothing to do with the Russians. Russia is at war with Ukraine. Zelensky is an inexperienced, reckless, and candidly dumb leader. His decisions have been consistently wrong and have led to the deaths of over 500,000 Ukrainian military and disaster on the battlefield.
If you’re in a war, you want the leader of your opponent to be dumb. If Russia assassinated Zelensky, the Ukrainians might replace him with someone halfway competent, which would be a setback for the Russians. So, Russia didn’t do it.
That leaves two other possibilities. There is an internal power struggle going on in Ukraine. Zelensky’s presidential term ends on May 20th. Zelensky has declared martial law and has suspended further elections (so much for “fighting for democracy”).
What happens on May 20th? In Zelensky’s view, he remains as president until further notice. In the view of Zelensky’s rivals, including the former military chief and a former president, Zelensky will be an illegitimate leader.
This split is coming to a head. There may have been an assassination attempt, or it may have been a case of Zelensky attacking his rivals. Don’t be surprised to see a coup d’état in Ukraine in the coming weeks.
The arrests last week may simply have been a case of Zelensky trying to imprison his rivals before they can overthrow him. In short, this “assassination” attempt had everything to do with an internal power struggle and nothing to do with Russia. Both assassination stories were fake news. But the power struggle in Kiev is all too real.
IV. Anti-Israel Agitators Don’t Care About Palestine. They Want to Destroy the US.
In recent weeks, the news has offered wall-to-wall coverage of campus protests against Israel’s war on Hamas, and in favour of the Palestinians. These protests have occurred at Harvard, Columbia, Penn, George Washington University, USC, UCLA and hundreds of other campuses. Many have been accompanied by violence, including attacking Jewish students, blocking entrances to libraries and other facilities, breaking windows, and worse.
At Columbia University, the New York Police Department used a special assault vehicle to enter a second-floor window of an occupied building after the ground floor entrances had been barricaded from the inside by the protestors.
In the days following these demonstrations, we learned that more than half the “protestors” were actually non-student professional agitators on the payroll of organisations receiving dark money from George Soros, Bill Gates, the Rockefeller foundation, and Goldman Sachs.
Defenders of the protests fall back on standard First Amendment free speech arguments. That’s fine when it comes to signs, songs and maybe tents in the quad. Even burning the American flag is protected as free speech.
But once you move to threats of violence, actual violence, blocking access to facilities, spray-painting swastikas, and other insults, you are outside the protection of free speech. You are actually infringing the free speech of others. You are not protected by the law or the Constitution.
But the story gets worse. These demonstrations are not really pro-Palestinian. They are virulently anti-Semitic. Jews are told to “Go back to Poland.” Calls are made of a new Holocaust.
These blatant anti-Jewish acts are accompanied by blatant anti-Americanism. These agitators are not protestors – they hate America, and they hate the Jews. They are scarcely removed from the brownshirts who harassed Jews in Germany during the early days of Nazi rule. We know how that turned out.
College presidents, corporate donors, and compliant media need to stop treating this new anti-Semitism as if it were benign protest. It’s not. It’s the beginning of a new Holocaust that needs to be stopped in its tracks.
V. After Biden Takes Your Gas Stove, He’s Coming for Your Air Conditioner.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration has finalized 37 new regulations and proposed 59 others. These rules include major policy changes such as caps on power plant emissions that will cause blackouts and brownouts and increase energy costs, as well as new EPA rules on heavy trucks designed to eliminate internal combustion engines and the oil and gas industries.
Why the rush? Such rules can be rescinded under the Congressional Review Act within 60 days (when Congress is in session) with a simple majority vote. After that, the rules require acts of Congress with higher majorities to repeal. The Deep State is rushing the rules ahead of the deadline to make it far more difficult to repeal them if Trump wins.
This is a process we have labelled Trump-proofing. The Democrats know Trump is going to beat Biden in the presidential election on November 5. They are trying to push through as many rules as possible before Trump is sworn in next January. That way they can tie his hands while he is president.
Congress will not rescind any progressive regulations for the rest of this year because they hold a small majority in the Senate. It only takes 51 votes to rescind a regulation, but the Republicans don’t have that many. Once the 60-day clock expires (it’s actually more like four months given the crazy way Congress counts days), the threshold goes up to 60 votes in the Senate. The Republicans won’t have that many votes in 2025, even if they take control of the Senate in the coming election. So, if the Deep State can push through these regulations now, Trump won’t be able to change them.
And these rules are not mere technicalities. They affect the way you live. Biden wants to ban natural gas stoves, the oil and gas industry, internal combustion engines in our cars so we all get useless Tesla’s (if you can even afford one), and so on.
We live in a world of washing machines that don’t wash, dryers that don’t dry, and toilets that won’t flush, thanks to Biden and his bureaucrats. The latest assault on common sense comes in the form of new regulations that will drive up the cost of central air conditioning units for your home from $6,000 to $12,000 or more per unit. The regulation also requires a change in the coolant liquids to a kind that is more flammable. This will increase the chances of your house burning down. And so it goes.
The bureaucrats are running wild, guided by fake science and an ideological drive to eliminate the American way of life. The only hope is that Trump wins and finds a creative way to negate these idiotic regulations once and for all.
All the best,
Jim Rickards,
Strategist, Strategic Intelligence Australia
Courts & JusticeWA News
Bradley William Derek Smith: How a note from judge Linda Petrusa prompted child sex conviction to be scrapped
Tim ClarkeThe West Australian
Thu, 16 May 2024 1:50PM22
A man found guilty of persistently having sex with a young teenage girl has had conviction quashed – and the case dropped – after a single word note from a judge to a jury sparked a successful appeal.
The accused man, Bradley William Derek Smith, was first charged in 2020 with 17 different allegations against the same girl, said to have happened between to 2008 and 2011.
The alleged offending began when the girl, who was the daughter of one of Mr Smith’s friends, was just 13.
During a 2022 trial, Perth’s District Court was told that shortly after the girl started in Year 9, Smith – who was 27 at the time – dropped into her house on the way to work.
He claimed he had forgotten his pen and as the girl walked away from him, her grabbed and kissed her.
From then, the girl said his visits were frequent, as was their sexual contact.
Prosecutors claimed that contact escalated from “dry humping” to full sex, after Mr Smith had moved in to live with the girl and her mother at another address.
After that, the girl said they had sex up to three times a week for years.
Mr Smith denied any sexual contact with the girl, and denied he had provided money, gifts and cigarettes.
Following days of evidence, the jury found Mr Smith not guilty of more than a dozen specific counts of sexual penetration or indecent dealing.
But they did find him guilty of persistently engaging in sexual conduct with a child under the age of 16 years.
That led to a six-year prison term, with four years to serve. It also led to an appeal by Mr Smith, which was heard by WA’s highest court last year.
During that appeal, it emerged that the hugely-experienced trial judge Linda Petrusa had received a note from the jury during the deliberations “asking whether sexual conduct included indecent dealing and sexual penetration”.
Just before the jury came back into court to deliver their verdicts, Judge Petrusa told the trial counsel: “I simply wrote on the note, ‘Yes’, and sent it back to avoid the need for reconvening.”
That one word answer was enough to concern the Court of Appeal enough that they ruled it a miscarriage of justice.
“What is clear is that her Honour did receive that question while the jury were deliberating, and that she answered that question in a private communication with the jury, without informing either counsel or the appellant until after she had been informed that the jury had reached verdicts,” their judgment said
“It is also clear that the communication that took place between the trial judge and the jury was material to the jury’s determination of whether the appellant was guilty of the offence.
“In our view, the learned trial judge’s failure to accord procedural fairness in this case did amount to a failure to observe the requirements of a criminal trial in Western Australia in a fundamental respect and that, on this basis, the appellant’s conviction cannot stand.”
And, having quashed the guilty verdict, the Court of Appeal panel – led by Chief Justice Peter Quinlan – also ruled there should not be a retrial, despite also ruling it was not unreasonable for the jury to find Mr Smith guilty.
“This case … gives rise to a number of unique difficulties,” the judgment said.
“The fact that verdicts of acquittal were returned by the jury in relation to all of the specified conduct now present as unassailable barriers that stand in the way of a fair retrial.”
Finally some sanity from our pollies.
Senate votes 56-12 in favour of condemning ‘from the river to the sea’ following Labor Senator Fatima Payman’s use of phrase (Sky News, 16 May)
Very rare for an opposition motion to get up like this, it’s encouraging, at least a bit. I hope all those genocidal lefty antisemites are weeping into their double soy lattes.
Predictably, the Greens & Thorpe voted against.
Senator Birmingham – whom I’ve hitherto not had any time for – introduced the motion. As I’ve mentioned previously here, he’s been excellent on this issue.
Good to see a bit of sense coming out of Canbra for a change.
Vincent Namatjira says “people don’t have to like my paintings.”
He’s right about that, if nothing else. They are cartoonish.
It seems to me that at least 70% of the Pali mob at the Melbourne Unis are female. Is that because
any ideas?
Alan Finkel: Sydney Morning Herald.
“… it is clear to me that calls for ‘intifada’ are calls for violence and deadly attacks against Israeli civilians. The cry of ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ is a call to destroy Israel and eliminate its Jewish inhabitants.”
Listen to the science.
Digital ID Bill has just passed Parliament…
The quickie internal polls after the Budget must be very bad.
Coalition ‘said no to everything for two years’: Albanese (Sky News, 16 May)
PM blames the Opposition’s ‘broken system’ amid migration forecast questions (Sky News, 16 May)
Saying no to a whole heap of green-left bullshit sounds eminently sensible to me, and stopping the boats for a decade doesn’t sound like they broke the immigration system. Quite the opposite in fact.
Albo sounds rattled. I wonder if Chalmers will call a spill?
UN, furgliing, BELIEVABLE ..! FIFA is meeting on Friday to decide whether to ban Israel from world fitba cos Gaza ..
From the way things are going next up the UN will be voting to make terrorism legal .. FFS
!https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-16/fifa-vote-israel-expulsion-womens-team-solidarity-friendly/103855382
This one makes me furious.
Fears of copycat shooting as fourth magpie spotted impaled with blow gun dart (Ncl local news, 16 May)
The turds who did this need to be impaled themselves, on a sharpened stake. Slowly.
PM blames the Opposition’s ‘broken system’ amid migration forecast questions (Sky News, 16 May)
Bullsh*t.
This government has been in power for two years and hasn’t been backwards in pursuing its legislative agenda.
Another hefty order for Max Brenner Chockies.
Good one, Mum.
Have an escape plan for when the greenslime start with the “selection”, for the ‘deniers’
I can’t believe how cold it is here in Salamanca. Nine degrees and Summer is only two weeks away.
If the globe is “boiling” can a bit be sent in this direction? It’s ridiculous.
Liberal billionaire George Soros has spent $80 million to ‘silence’ Americans, Media Research Center says
Cassie @ 3:47
Allegedly they were trying to pass off a cocktail frank as a fully stuffed, juicy 100% meat sausage. No wonder things went bad.
I consider it allegorical.
Gavin Newsom Humiliated as Elon Musk Calmly Lists Simple Facts
After the last few days a minority Liars-Green government should render the country unrecognisable, except to Victoriastanis who will barely notice the difference.
From Black Ball at 2:38 p.m:
As part of the sanction, Clarkson – who was found to have used homophobic language towards Webster – received a suspended $20k fine and was ordered to undergo the training that would be overseen by the AFL.
[My bolding].
Circular Saw logic: Words are violence, but violence (by selected perpetrators) is only words. Either way, you are going to be gouged. Or perhaps that could be: ‘… you’re going to be Folaued.’
Anyone recall Senator Fatima Panhandle utter any words of condemnation over Pakistan’s decision to force over 800,000 documented Afghan refugees back to their home country if they refuse to leave voluntarily.
Nah, didn’t think so.
The Albofrank. Sawdust, chicken arses and horse noses from the knackery.
All show. No pony.
Canada is screwed even if they do elect a conservative party. It’s senate is appointed and there’s a supermajority of Trudeau’s picks:
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2024/05/15/stacked/
The article expands on SDA’s screen grab.
How China is winning the Solomon Islands.
This is an interesting short article, and raises questions about Australia’s competence in dealing with Pacific neighbours.
(I must admit to a barely-rudimentary understanding of these issues myself. I’ve long had concerns about PNG, however, and what we will do when its inevitable collapse into anarchy takes place on a broad scale. Should PNG build a similar relationship with the PRC as the Solomon Islands, we could see Chinese security forces (in the guise of humanitarian assistance, of course) a lot closer to our shores than is comfortable).
Labor Rushes Family Car Tax through Parliament without Scrutiny
Oh Renoir.
Peak art.
In other news…never, never, never try to drive in Portugal.
The drivers are insanely bad plus macho, a deadly combination.
Secondly, every major road is a toll road, all run by different companies. It is virtually impossible to pay the tolls via the websites, and I am reasonably adept at navigating these things. All they seem to be is a data harvesting scam, even giving confirmation codes that are either invalid or run out in less than a minute.
I have tried unsuccessfully to pay two lots of tolls, wasting valuable tourist time in the process.
My recommendation – if you want to visit Portugal, ditch your car at a parking station in Spain and catch a train in with small bags. Do not attempt to drive. It is so not worth the angst and the danger.