Open Thread – Mon 2 Sept 2024


On the road. Retreat and escape …, Vasily Vereshchagin, 1887-1895

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MatrixTransform
September 4, 2024 9:47 pm

It’s hard to tell from a simple ‘blurb, but that sounds like it requires cancelling, pronto!

well … it’s impossible to find on Google unless you type the the whole line … A Play For Our Sons, My Brother, My Brother, My Brother

Gabor
Gabor
September 4, 2024 9:48 pm

Boambee John
September 4, 2024 8:16 pm

Has mUnturd stopped digging yet?

I heard about a rule, the The 50-50-90 Law.

It states that; Whenever there’s a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% probability that you’ll get it wrong.

Describes m0nty to a T.

Rosie
Rosie
September 4, 2024 10:01 pm

Apparently the take away is that history is written by winners and that is bad because winners only write lies.
And they are correct, not a single German ever wrote a book about the second world war.
Also Candace Owens’ high school teachers let her down by not spending the entire four years of high school covering the entire build up to world war two.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
September 4, 2024 10:01 pm

True the Vote @TrueTheVote 19h

BREAKING!

After exposing a multi-state BALLOT TRAFFICKING scheme in 2020 involving DROP BOXES, and realizing States didn’t monitor them as required, @TrueTheVote is preparing to work with Sheriffs across the Country and roll out LIVE-STREAMED SURVEILLANCE of drop boxes!

Put a camera on the boxes? Lol. There shouldn’t be drop boxes at all.
I do hope the other states have done more work on election integrity than this. Otherwise it’s going to be another 4am Biden Bump Harris Hump.

(Yes, PHRASING.)

Last edited 12 days ago by Colonel Crispin Berka
Indolent
Indolent
September 4, 2024 10:02 pm
JC
JC
September 4, 2024 10:04 pm

Keep a reminder for Sept 18, when Trump is found guilty and handed a prison sentence in the NY court.

To repeat what I’ve said before, there is no law-enforcement reason why Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, should be sentenced on September 18 — two days after early voting begins in the pivotal state of Pennsylvania. Even if Merchan imposes a prison sentence, there is no realistic chance that Trump would be imprisoned while his appeal — which may take years — is pending, given the nonviolent nature of the offenses (business-records charges) ….

The only reason to press ahead with sentencing on September 18 is the partisan political goal of enabling Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign to refer to her opponent in the imminent election as “a convicted felon facing a stiff prison sentence.” On that score, Merchan recently again rejected Trump’s well-founded motion that Merchan recuse himself on the grounds of his contribution to Biden’s 2020 campaign against Trump (in violation of state ethics law) and the lucrative campaign work that Merchan’s daughter has done for Harris, Biden, and other Democrats who define themselves by opposition to Trump.

John H.
John H.
September 4, 2024 10:06 pm

Muddy

 September 4, 2024 7:09 pm

While I do lean toward the more academic military histories, I also believe there is room for making the subject ‘more accessible’ (apologies for the blandness of the phrase), and on this, I would recommend the ‘After the Battle: Then and Now‘ series.

For something more accessible the YT channel WorldWar2 by a couple of historians is worth a look. A week by week account.

001 -The Polish-German War – WW2 – September 1, 1939 [IMPROVED] (youtube.com)

It is part of their Timeghost series, another channel.
(6) TimeGhost History – YouTube

Indolent
Indolent
September 4, 2024 10:12 pm
JC
JC
September 4, 2024 10:21 pm

I listened to a brief portion of the Carlson interview with that Cooper fellow. Cooper briefly mentioned something about a combined Soviet/Romanian series of experiments on Romanian dissenters between 1948 to 1951. I’d never heard about this, and from what I read, it sounded horrific. The horror went on for several years, crossing over from psychological torture to physical torture. The victims were under 24-hour surveillance to make sure they didn’t commit suicide and therefore scupper the experiment.
Witnessing Horrorism: The Pite?ti Experiment

Last edited 12 days ago by JC
JC
JC
September 4, 2024 10:29 pm

Indolent, question

You post what appear to be sometimes up to a dozen links a day, and most seem to be vids that can go for an hour or so. Do you actually listen to all of them? I’m not judging, and it’s not leading to anything else. I’m just curious, that’s all.

Bruce in WA
September 4, 2024 10:30 pm

Re: Flying. Leader of the Opposition and I are flying to Europe in a couple of weeks. Degenerative arthritis at the base of my spine makes aircraft travel over a few hours quite excruciating for me, especially “locked in” in Economy.

So, we’re flying PER to SIN in Quaintarse Economy, then switching to Etihad Business SIN to AUH to FCO. Expensive perhaps (though MUCH cheaper than Quaintarse) but if it saves me losing the plot and my sanity, well worth it.

Indolent
Indolent
September 4, 2024 10:39 pm
Indolent
Indolent
September 4, 2024 10:42 pm
JC
JC
September 4, 2024 10:42 pm

The Labor day weekend is over, and the campaigns go into top gear from now until November.

I don’t think it’s true any longer, but pundits suggest this is when the punters begin to focus their minds on the vote.

Rassie says:

“Summer is over” and has Trump at 50 vs KamalToe 44. In my mind, that means Trump is ahead in the national, really, by 1 point as the cheat margin is approximately 5 points.

I still think she takes it out as the cheat margin can move higher if it’s necessary.

Indolent
Indolent
September 4, 2024 10:46 pm

You can bet they will try.

Will Election-Riggers Wag the Dog Again?

Indolent
Indolent
September 4, 2024 10:48 pm
thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
September 4, 2024 10:49 pm

Monty declares history over.
Much the same a all reputable WW2 historians did about mid 1970s, only to learn about enigma and the fact the boxheads had their codes broken through most of the war.

We still don’t know if Hess was a defection, a brilliant bit of spycraft or just a loon.

Who knows what’s left.

Lysander
Lysander
September 4, 2024 10:50 pm

Message for Muntard:

Some Cats here know who I am and the heights of what I’ve achieved despite being born from a single parent household in Balga (want actually meant to be born but mum rejoined the RCC when she got preggas). Its called education, hard work and individualism (not unionism as never joined one in my life thanks to my Catholic mother’s advice).

You, who “made it” as editor of some obscure records keeping magazine have nothing to show for it except a bitterness. I can under that.

There are plenty of major infrastructural projects all around WA, films, arts, educational initiatives, schools, and just about every single portfolio you can ever think of (other than Justice, AG portfolios).

To this very day I get people asking me if they can name said initiative/infrastructure the “Lysander (insert real name) Memorial (insert project name).”

My answer has always been:

I’m not dead yet.” ?

Lecture me about politics? Sure. What did you achieve other than a pile of empty Doritos in your basement packs seen from space. Nothing. Period.

Lecture me on WWII books? Well I lectured at university over 20 years on that very subject. Do you seriously think I just make shit up like you google boy? Your “arguments,” (dare I call them that so as to it insult a 4yo having a tanty) are insulting. But you are a Nazi and burning books is “ya thang.” (Cumallah accent intoned).

When we take our four kids out in Perth or regional WA, we don’t have to go far for me to point out: “I did that” (in the positive sense).

I can help educate people but
your ass isn’t even worth being buried upward to park my bike on.

Im done with responding to an intellectual fraud. Even calling you an “intellectual fraud” is a fraud within a fraud.

Ask Dover to send me your details and I’ll pay for your repatriation to your “Palestinian” Nazi mates. Many-a-Cat would prolly chip in.

(Sorry for long comment Catters it’s been 60 hours a week for five weeks now and I don’t always have time to refute the tard.)

JC
JC
September 4, 2024 11:04 pm

Mole

From some of what I heard, the Cooper interview was okay. But, by saying it was okay, doesn’t mean I think he’s right about Churchill and some of the things he said about him.

Cooper suggests that because the Germans took so many prisoners, there was not enough food to feed everyone in camps, and therefore, according to correspondence, it was more humane to annihilate them. Well yeah, really? He totally overlooked the oversized elephant in the room. The holocaust. Cooper didn’t mention it once and surprisingly Carlson didn’t raise it either. Big omission by Carlson.

Rosie
Rosie
September 4, 2024 11:15 pm

I thought it was funny.
Bought to you by Big Aloe Vera.
https://x.com/IMAO_/status/1831133160609890359?t=UEMT_iu51lSlrRDUpuYVPw&s=19

Last edited 12 days ago by Rosie
Lysander
Lysander
September 4, 2024 11:17 pm

As I’m about to now go back to work for a few more hours after starting at 530AM (AWST) this AM, I just ask for the AEST Cats take care of the Nazi in the AM tomorrow.

Im sorry Dover. I’m all for free speech but having the Nazi Muntard on site might constitute a violation as per ASIO’s rules. You might need to stop his posting.

I’m happy to continue my “fight” here with the wets and Libertards, but you need to be careful that you’re letting a literal Nazi and history denier post here.

Sorry folks, I have a full business case to finalise. I won’t be back till tomorrow, maybe Friyay (will try check in)….

JC
JC
September 4, 2024 11:23 pm

One more point on the Cooper interview.

Cooper reckons that Hitler was shocked France and the UK declared war after the Polish invasion and that he took several measures to ensure peace through diplomatic channels and even to the extent of dropping leaflets over British cities, suggesting strongly he wanted a peaceful coexistence.

There is a counterargument to this though, and events proved Hitler was totally (100%) untrustworthy. Hitler forms a partnership with Stalin and invades and consequently splits Poland. This was towards the end of 1939. Approximately 20 months later, Germany attacks the Soviet Union, Germany’s partner in dissecting Poland.
No mention of this though, and the assumption throughout the interview was that it was Churchill’s fault the war occurred on the western front. Churchill was freaking right not to trust Hitler.

Rosie
Rosie
September 4, 2024 11:30 pm

It’s nuts because out of six million Russian prisoners only 100,000 were sent to concentration camps, and of those I don’t know how many were selected for immediate death.
Three million Russian POWS died, two thirds of starvation and disease, many executed, 1.4 million collaborated with the Nazis.
The deaths camps were for the Jews and a couple of other categories.
Of course if you believe that in fact that the Jewish problem was real and their obliteration was necessary then you can pretend that death camps were created out of a sense of humanity.

Top Ender
Top Ender
September 4, 2024 11:52 pm

Disgraced Indigenous leader Geoff Clark has been found guilty of stealing close to $1m from Aboriginal organisations he once led, the verdict coming after months of secret trials.

The 71-year-old, who was once Australia’s most senior Aboriginal leader, has been convicted of stealing cash from the Aboriginal organisations he led, illegally accepting royalties from eel fishermen and lying to the courts.

His convictions can finally be revealed after a gag order was lifted on Wednesday when his final case over allegations of stealing cash for “Geoff’s deck” — a sprawling merbau timber setup featuring a bar, kitchen and pizza oven — was dropped.

The former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) chair has faced three back-to-back County Court trials since October last year where he was convicted by juries of stealing from Indigenous organisations Kirrae Whurrong Community Inc, Maar Land Council and Framlingham Aboriginal Trust over 15 years.

His thefts of more than $920k, beginning from the early 2000s, came at a time the controversial leader faced mounting legal fees in civil court over rape allegations, and criminal court over a pub brawl at Warrnambool’s Criterion Hotel, for which he was convicted of obstructing police.

A civil jury’s finding that he led two pack rapes against a teenage girl in the 1970s was upheld on appeal in 2007.

In addition to cash thefts, Clark was also found guilty of using Framlingham Aboriginal Trust funds to pay for expenses on his properties, lying on affidavits filed with courts and unlawfully taking money from eel fishermen.

Outside the County Court on Wednesday, Clark was asked by the Herald Sun whether he was sorry for what he’d done.

He refused to answer and walked from court, where he has been ordered to return next week for a pre-sentence hearing.

Clark originally faced more than 300 charges over allegations of misappropriating $2m.

But three juries returned verdicts between December 2023 and May this year, finding him guilty of two dozen theft, financial advantage by deception and perjury charges.

Clark’s son Jeremy was also convicted at trial of stealing more than $250k for his father’s legal fees in the early 2000s.

Charges against Clark’s wife Trudy were discontinued.

Clark was due to face a fourth trial, believed to be over allegations of stealing cash from the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs for ‘Geoff’s deck’ at his Framlingham home, outside Warrnambool.

But the Office of Public Prosecutions withdrew those charges on Wednesday, bringing an end to his court cases and leading Judge Michael O’Connell to lift a gag order banning any reporting on the matter.

His Honour said the gag order “should now be revoked and these proceedings will no longer be suppressed because it is no longer necessary to prevent the risk of prejudice of any future jury trials, so I formally revoke that order.”

That final conclusion came after a decade-long Victoria Police probe into Clark and his family, and more than 10 months of secret trials that began in October 2023.

In a statement, Jeremy Clark said he “made an error of judgment and unreservedly apologise”.

Jeremy said he accepted responsibility for a single charge from more than 15 years ago for which “I did not personally benefit”.

“I have never conspired to commit any crimes for my father’s or anyone’s benefit,” he said.

Jeremy Clark was found guilty at trial of seven charges, including for thefts from the Maar Land Council and Kirrae Whurrong Community Inc, and false accounting between 2003 to 2005.

“My first priority has always been improving the lives and futures of my community, as well as of Indigenous Australians more broadly, and I condemn any actions taken by others that have compromised this,” Jeremy said.

“With respect to any allegation of wrongdoing at the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust, I maintain my innocence and unequivocally deny those allegations. It is noteworthy that it has never been alleged that I personally benefited from any of these historical matters.”

Both Geoff and Jeremy Clark have been ordered to return to the County Court for a two-day pre-sentencing hearing on September 11.

Herald-Sun with comments open.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
September 4, 2024 11:56 pm

Cash and Rowdy … Stevo and Eric are the owners.

Many smiles on show.

——

Cash 2.0 Great Dane at the LAPD Devonshire Division Pancake Breakfast Event 2024 (6 of 6)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht5By_kEtW8

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 5, 2024 8:00 am

Pogria:
I’ve only just woken up and fed Elsie, made a coffee and sat down at the computer – so I’m not real sharp yet, but  “KC and the Sunshine Band”.
Who are they?

Black Ball
Black Ball
September 5, 2024 8:17 am

Andrew Bolt:

These shocking growth figures shouldn’t be a shock at all. Did you think we could be this dumb – under the dumbest government in our history – and not pay a price?

Here now comes the bill, or just the first instalment.

We posted on Wednesday the lowest annual growth in 33 years, outside the pandemic – just 1 per cent over the year, when our population last year grew by more than double that, thanks mostly to an insane immigration intake.

Or take just the past three months: only 0.2 per cent more growth, but 0.6 per cent more mouths to feed.

Do the maths: we’re getting poorer, and have done or at least the last year and a half of this government.

In fact, the fall in our disposable income – once the government has finished looting your wallet – is now the worst of all the 20 advanced economies in the OECD.

But I don’t need to pepper you with stats to convince you we’re going south. Just ask yourself: are you better off now than you were two years ago?

Or judge the truth by the panic of Treasurer Jim Chalmers, now that he sees his economic plans in tatters, even after trying to buy some growth with mass immigration and massive spending that his Budget papers admit will leave us with deficits for a decade.

This bloke has for years now blamed everyone but himself for this metastasising mess – it’s the war in Ukraine! Global uncertainty! But this week he even monstered the Reserve Bank governor he personally appointed, Michele Bullock, blaming her bank for “smashing the economy”.

Former prime minister John Howard is right about the real problem.

“The Albanese government has lost control of expenditure,” he said. And that it was “unworthy” of Chalmers to blame Bullock for keeping interest rates high to curb the cancerous inflation Chalmers himself was making worse.

Other experts aren’t as polite. Steven Hamilton, assistant professor of economics at George Washington University, is scathing: “Chalmers is the worst treasurer since Jim Cairns. And this Labor government is the most economically incompetent in half a century.”

But this crisis isn’t just caused by mere incompetence. It’s a symptom of our intellectual rot, as posing now beats thinking, romance trumps facts.

The Albanese government is a perfect example, letting its irrational sentimentality cripple our future.

It loves to believe it’s in a great moral struggle against “climate crisis” and little Australia can fix it. Both things are untrue, yet the government is spending billions on dud green schemes in its quixotic quest to lower the world’s temperature.

Many of its schemes are already failing – “green hydrogen” plans have collapsed, electric car sales faltered, the Snowy 2.0 pumped-hydro scheme blown out to 10 times its original price – but the worst of this delusion, exacerbated by state governments, is that we’re left not just with massive debts but ruinously expensive electricity, and too little of it.

Then there’s the government’s other posturing cause – its worship of Aboriginal mysticism, at the cost of Aboriginal wealth.

Never mind that most Aborigines are now Christian and just 2 per cent claim to still follow old Aboriginal religions. The government is a sucker for tall tales of songlines and rainbow serpents, especially ones that will block the mines and gas wells that help pay for our schools, hospitals and welfare.

And so the government banned a massive uranium mine in the Northern Territory, and has now effectively banned a $1bn gold mine in NSW after some people identifying as Aboriginal claimed there was secret Aboriginal business at the site, despite traditional owners saying there wasn’t.

On it goes. This government is so stupid and unscientific that not only does it fritter away billions on unproven green technologies, it meanwhile bans nuclear power, which actually works already in most advanced economies.

Why the ban? Again, stupidity. The government insists on believing nuclear is so mystically terrible, even though the only deadly radioactive accident at a nuclear reactor was in the Soviet Union 38 years ago, and that killed fewer than 100 known people.

What can you do with a government so irrational? What can you do with one that’s quicker to kill an industry than build one – ending the live sheep export from Western Australia, helping to wipe out the electricity-hungry nickel industry, and smashing businesses by giving unions lots more power without productivity trade-offs.

Ah, the union bruvvers. Another costly romance.

Solidarity forever, they gurgle, as we sink in the sea, tethered to this foolishness.

Everything Labor have touched has turned to shit. Yet most likely get another term, in concert with the Greens, to really turn this country into Venezuela.
Oh and monty, phuck off

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 5, 2024 9:31 am

Top Ender:

Disgraced Indigenous leader Geoff Clark has been found guilty of stealing close to $1m from Aboriginal organisations he once led, the verdict coming after months of secret trials.

We will now find out if we have a three tier system of Justice in this country.
We already know that muslims are Tier 1, we suspect that Aboriginals are Tier 2, and we know that us “Effing White C–ts’ are Tier 3.
It will be good to have confirmation.

Diogenes
Diogenes
September 5, 2024 11:39 am

For something more accessible the YT channel WorldWar2 by a couple of historians is worth a look. A week by week account.

I like the Unauthorised History of the Pacific War. Because of the family involvement I had always been more interested in the European War, especially the Eastern Front. This is giving me a really good grounding on the Pacific War.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 5, 2024 12:36 pm

Peanut Head to become VC at the ACT teachers college, a less prestigious role than adjunct professor at the Nambour TAFE which Goose Swansteen did not even have the grace to take up. I guess Gillard’s Fabian monster, the NDIS, joins the ALPBC as beyond the control of government. The parallels with Whitlam are spooky.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 5, 2024 12:51 pm

Speaking of bedtime reading in a reply up thread, I was also reminded of this. It’s one Hairy ordered for me, he’d read it in the 70’s and wanted to share it: “Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps” by Emmett Grogan.

I’m halfway through this tale of a New York bad boy from the badlands hooked on heroin at 13 and redeemed by a scholarship to an upper class private school that recognised his brilliance. It was a huge hit with the NYT book circuit at the time who adored vicariously enjoying the underbelly of life back then in louche appreciation, and they and their Democrat Party haven’t stopped much since, imho. This dip into the upper middle class certainly taught Grogan how to write, but also how to grift in the big time. He turned bad again in a bigger and more excitng pond. Ringolevio is the tale of his demise in the swinging San Franscisco’s 60’s after a spell of mayhem in Italy and Ireland.

The 50’s and 60’s are your generations and I thought you’d enjoy it, says Hairy. Yes, my generations, but not like this fear-and-loathing egotist and fantasist. I don’t know if I’ll finish it, but gee, the guy can write up a storm and that at least is appealing. He died in 1978 on the end of a needle. Dylan dedicated the 1978 Street Legal album to him.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 5, 2024 1:10 pm

Don’t know if it has been mentioned here already, but Quadrant Online has gone behind a paywall also sporting a glossy new format. So much for that then, for many Cats. I understand the need to keep subscribers, but it’s still a great loss to Australia’s free internet media landscape. You’ve always had to have a subscription to comment, and recently they’ve been making the magazine content available earlier but paywalled. Now its sub for all content.

Hairy, who subscribes for me by yearly sub not by a continuing authorisation, and who sometimes also drops by for a read, was going demented online, because they require a very complicated 12 word, letter, capital, number and symbol password. Totally unnecessary for this level of risk, deems my computer fraud expert. They also seem to have mucked up the accounting (according to them we are only paid up till 2021) but thankfully the mags keep on arriving and once we’ve figured a suitable password the sub works. We’re up to date with payments, Hairy tells me. That’s just a glitch.

  1. @LangmanVince Ryan Wesley Routh was in a BlackRock commercial, just like Thomas Matthew Crooks. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence

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