Open Thread – Weekend 21 Sept 2024


Picnic Under The Trees, Julius LeBlanc Stewart, 1895

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Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 21, 2024 6:41 pm

Flying Renewable Death news (the Hun):

Victorian farmers are being told to wear hard hats on their properties as shards of sharp plastic fly off brand new wind turbines.

Of course they are.

Locals in Victoria’s rural west have reported finding pieces of wind turbines, including serrated trailing edges, in the vicinity of the $3 billion green-energy project.

Owners of the federal and state government-backed Golden Plains Wind Farm — 65km northwest of Geelong — contacted neighbouring landowners earlier this month to warn them about “blade serration detachment” following wild winds.

And:

Western Victoria Liberal MP Bev McArthur, who raised the issue in parliament last week, said her constituents were finding pieces as far as 750 metres from the turbines.

“One of my constituents, Russell Coad, found these serrated trailing edges 750 metres from the turbine on his farm, and other pieces fell within metres of the Barunah CFA fire shed,” she said.

“The extreme weather event which caused this problem for the turbines was — you have guessed it — wind.”

Surely not. Wind turbines damaged by wind?

Our betters wouldn’t have – you know – lied, would they?

Indolent
Indolent
September 21, 2024 6:45 pm
Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 21, 2024 7:55 pm
Reply to  Indolent

I’ll show you.
Not sure where I got the graphic…

GXx3pD6XAAATuDm
Muddy
Muddy
September 22, 2024 6:58 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

Whoa! That’s a – no pun intended – killer graphic!

Indolent
Indolent
September 21, 2024 6:47 pm
132andBush
132andBush
September 21, 2024 6:48 pm

The critique of Churchill might attract more credulity if it was backed up with some primary source facts instead of fever dreams.

JC
JC
September 21, 2024 6:55 pm

Ellie

September 21, 2024 6:45 pm

Reply to  Steve trickler

Yeah. I am very thin skinned. First to admit it.

Okay try this. Was there a common trait that you saw in murderers during your time?

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 6:57 pm

Had a fall two weeks ago trying to navigate my way to bed after a bottle of wine.

Hit my head on my bedside table. I lay there and couldn’t get up. Called 000. I am on blood thinners.

My father died two weeks ago. Not sure how to process any of this.

Sorry, Dover. Going off line.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
September 21, 2024 7:15 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Lucky you didnt bleed to death then.
Decent scalp wound and blood thinners plus a doze off on the floor and it can be lights out.

bons
bons
September 21, 2024 7:16 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Come back good person.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 22, 2024 5:34 am
Reply to  Ellie

Ellie, I think you need to be with other people, in real life, not online.
Drinking alone and pondering your woes is never a good idea. I’ve done it, never heavily because I had kids, years ago, in the months or so when my first husband walked out. Getting over that absolute despair and loneliness involved getting out and mixing with other people in whatever ways I could. It works. Join in things, volunteer, meet others, share and enjoy. Luckily I had a job, which I kept. Retirement though produced new challenges. Same cure though. Get out and take all opportunities to be involved in life.

Perfidious Albino
Perfidious Albino
September 22, 2024 11:09 am
Reply to  Ellie

Bedside table exsanguination… that’s exactly how Hollywood’s William Holden bought it… take care Ellie

damon
damon
September 22, 2024 6:33 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Guess what? You’re old.

Muddy
Muddy
September 22, 2024 7:04 pm
Reply to  Ellie

No-one will ever know what it’s like to be you, so it can be an incredibly lonely task trying to find that one reason to keep yourself going at times. We can inspire others (or attempt to), but not motivate them; the latter is internal.

Sometimes there is no answer to your question, nor a solution to your problem. Some things just have to be lived through; survived.
[I forget who wrote that; not me].

P.S. I’m fine at the moment; just trying to sound wise and humble.

JC
JC
September 21, 2024 7:04 pm

Ellie

September 21, 2024 6:48 pm

Reply to  Steve trickler

No, not really. It’s one-sided. Numbers and Monty can’t post without being piled on. The echo is … ouch

I can’t say much about Numbersnuts because, honestly, I’ve never bothered reading anything he writes. He’s excruciatingly boring and I don’t believe that’s changed. Fatboy, though, likes to troll. It’s like he wakes up in the morning thinking, “How can I get a reaction today?” But hey, credit where it’s due—he’s doing us a service. Instead of us having to wade through the latest left-wing nonsense, he does the dirty work, then brings it right to us so we can have a little fun tearing it apart.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 21, 2024 7:06 pm

Was there a common trait that you saw in murderers

The common trait in murderers is that they are shit people. Sometimes they kill other shit people, sometimes they kill people that are not shit people.

When they are pinched and binned, they are removed from their natural habitat. By the time professional handpatters get to them years later, they are so well versed in the ‘oh I’m rehabilitated’ and ‘it was all someone else’s fault’ lines that said handpatters are blinded to their inherent shitness, and they persuade themselves that their ineffectual, State-paid-for mewlings are actually effective.

The reality is that the handpatters are actually attracted to murderers’ ‘dangerous, bad boy’ personas. This is why chicks working in corrections can’t seem to stop themselves throwing handjobs at crooks who should never see the light of day again.

Pogria
Pogria
September 21, 2024 7:23 pm

Succinctly put.
I have never thought I could “improve” someone.
I would rather work on making a bad dog good, than a bad human.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 21, 2024 8:03 pm

Wasn’t there a TV series a couple of years ago, part time crim/bad boy with a 10? year old Asian daughter keeps on getting into trouble with the law.
Ends up in some kind of rehab because he beat the crap out of a couple of louts who knocked the daughter around/ spilt her ice cream.
Part I like was when he told the smug git welfare worker that there were so many arseholes around because gits like him kept protecting them.
Trying to remember the series but can’t.

Mooka
Mooka
September 22, 2024 6:23 am
Reply to  Winston Smith

Mr Inbetween

Roger
Roger
September 21, 2024 7:13 pm

Victorian farmers are being told to wear hard hats on their properties as shards of sharp plastic fly off brand new wind turbines.

Hard hats, eh?

And what if one of these shards landed in your chest, or cuts an artery on a limb?

They can’t possibly rule such an event out, but I suppose because it’s “green” technology it gets a free pass in our otherwise workplace health and safety obsessed culture.

Just wear a hard hat. Yeah, right.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Pete of Perth
Pete of Perth
September 22, 2024 12:46 am
Reply to  Roger

They forgot to add wear masks.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
September 22, 2024 10:57 pm
Reply to  Roger

The cladding on the apartment block in London which caught fire, everyone in construction knew it was highly flammable and dangerous.

JC
JC
September 21, 2024 7:15 pm

I want to approach this with the utmost care. On the old blog.,you used to share that you had experienced difficult and painful events in our early life, and at times it seemed to deeply affect you emotionally. Given the personal impact this must have had on you, I was wondering how you managed to stay emotionally detached when working on cases related to this area of criminal behavior. I ask only out of curiosity about how such experiences shape one’s ability to navigate similar situations professionally. I also ask because I’m somewhat sceptical anyone could not let these experiences color their view.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 7:18 pm
Reply to  JC

Are you asking me, JC?

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 7:26 pm
Reply to  JC

I loved my job for so long. To work with the worst of the worst is a challenge.

My statement is – they have been judged in a court of law. I am not there to judge them.

How to affect change to the criminal element.

The sociopaths-no go there .

If you’re interested? Maybe your message was for someone else

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 7:31 pm
Reply to  JC

You have an inmate coming up for parole. It can be highly political. My job was to work with them. Are they ready to be released. In many cases NO. But it was taken out of our hands. I never signed the refusal for parole. Got put into the witness box many times.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 7:42 pm
Reply to  JC

My degree is Social Work (shock-horror).

I have personal experience at perverted suffering.

I wondered how I could help other people experiencing the same.

So I decided to “educate” myself. Theory.

A leftist dive did I delve into.

That aside, I worked in child protection as an investigative interviewer of children.

I then realised that working with adults, who are ultimately responsible for their own change, is easier.

Too much information?

JC
JC
September 21, 2024 7:28 pm

Yep, I’m asking you.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 7:32 pm
Reply to  JC

OK.

Indolent
Indolent
September 21, 2024 7:29 pm

@robinmonotti

THERE IS NO MAN MADE CLIMATE CRISIS AND THIS IS THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

“The timeline, published Thursday in the journal Science, is the most rigorous reconstruction of Earth’s past temperatures ever produced, the authors say.”

The timeline shows we are at a historically cold low, no wonder then that there may be warming, and that therefore if the planet heated up considerably before homo sapiens even existed, it is not likely at all that the reason for any warming is really man.

Pogria
Pogria
September 21, 2024 7:29 pm

A young man with Cerebral Palsy, has always wanted to ride in a Super Car.
His dream came true. Watch the “good man”, who made his dream possible.

https://x.com/OntWtf/status/1837240693892210855?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1837240693892210855%7Ctwgr%5Ec9ef67591088997637895c922fc01cf80801fe88%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Face.mu.nu%2F

Pogria
Pogria
September 21, 2024 7:41 pm
Roger
Roger
September 21, 2024 7:50 pm

Retired border chief ordered to not report border crossers with ties to terrorism

‘We have no idea who and what entered our country’

‘Retired San Diego Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said he was instructed by the Biden administration to not publicize arrests of illegal border crossers identified as “Significant Interest Aliens” with ties to terrorism.

Heitke testified before a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Wednesday about how Biden-Harris “open border policies have undermined our safety and security.”

“We had an exponential increase in Significant Interest Aliens … with significant ties to terrorism,” illegally entering in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Diego Sector, he said.

Prior to the Biden-Harris administration, the sector averaged 10 to 15 SIAs per year. “Once word was out that the border was far easier to cross, San Diego went to over 100 SIAs in 2022, way over 100 SIAs in 2023 and more than that this year,” he said.’

The Centre Square

I wonder if border security was on the agenda of Albanese’s 90 minute meeting with Biden today?

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 21, 2024 8:58 pm
Reply to  Roger

Why do I get the feeling we are reading the first chapter in Kurt Schlicter’s book “The Attack”.

Pogria
Pogria
September 21, 2024 7:55 pm

I wonder if border security was on the agenda of Albanese’s 90 minute meeting with Biden today?”

The two of them would have been having a nap.

Roger
Roger
September 21, 2024 8:00 pm
Reply to  Pogria

That would be the best possible scenario!

Rabz
September 21, 2024 7:58 pm

Kitties gorn!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 21, 2024 8:10 pm
Reply to  Rabz

Kitties beat kitties?
95-85.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 21, 2024 8:36 pm
Reply to  Pogria

Shit personage, clearly defined.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
September 21, 2024 8:39 pm
Reply to  Pogria

I upticked this.
But.
Just as you say, this woman is a truly shit person.

The beak, assuming it was a beak and not a TV person in some appalling reality thing, was quite right. The mother is a turdperson.

chook
chook
September 22, 2024 6:43 am
Reply to  Pogria

Should show this clip to everyone in year 12.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 21, 2024 8:11 pm

Kitties gorn!

Yep.

The Dangerfields, aka Geelong, have rightly been consigned to the stinking bin of also-rans for the season. I hear hair product sales are tanking already.

The GF will now be scratched over by the Sydney Mancravers and the Brisvegas Lions.

Sigh.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
September 23, 2024 7:38 am

This is Ken Hinckley fault

Rabz
September 21, 2024 8:28 pm

That would be the Sydney Türkiyes, thanks very much.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 21, 2024 8:32 pm

Kitties gorn!

I do this.

Squeeze – Cool For Cats (1979)

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 21, 2024 8:44 pm

But all I get is bitter and a nasty little rash…

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 21, 2024 8:51 pm

I’m remembering certain low dives of my youth – if you went home with any of the ladies you met there, wear two condoms – what they could give you could eat clean through one condom, without pausing to draw breath..

Rabz
September 21, 2024 8:39 pm

Advance‘s political campaign for the next feral election – putting the greenfilth and their vile toxic idiocy and hypocrisy under the microscope:

the greenfilth have explicit policies to make your life harder.

To make your life more expensive.

To make your family less safe.

That’s the truth.

And it’s time Ozzies knew it.

It’s time for the TRUTH about this toxic political party to be exposed.

Indeedy.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 21, 2024 8:45 pm

Knuckle Dragger
 September 21, 2024 8:11 pm

Kitties gorn!

Yep.

The Dangerfields, aka Geelong, have rightly been consigned to the stinking bin of also-rans for the season. I hear hair product sales are tanking already.

Somewhere tonight, a grown man is making his way home in a full cat outfit with tear-streaked cat face-paint running down his whiskery cheeks.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 21, 2024 8:48 pm

frigging ridiculous trying to find a reply to a question asked earlier on.
This format is shit, Dover.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 21, 2024 9:08 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

I like the reply function. It’s a way to return serve to the commenter without bringing in everyone else. Which can distract from the OT vibe.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
September 21, 2024 8:48 pm

The Meanjin Lions have won some sort of sporting competition and now face the Gadigal Swans.

The only upside I can see is that this will enrage the Naarm sodomites.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 21, 2024 8:48 pm

Sorry, Dover. Going off line.

OK.
Bye bye for now.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 8:55 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

Everyone knows you are a c.u.n.t, leigh lowe

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 8:59 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Love that I have drawn you both out

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 8:56 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

Suck knuckle dragger. You failed

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 8:58 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

I see you and knuckle dragger are laying on each other

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 9:03 pm

Now it is the sancho – knuckle dragger intelligence

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 21, 2024 9:04 pm

I’m reading Thomas Fleming’s book “The New Dealer’s War.” Interesting reading, to say the least!

Johnjjj
Johnjjj
September 21, 2024 9:05 pm

How do you identify a Jihadi? He’s using pen and paper.

Rabz
September 21, 2024 9:05 pm

It truly is incredible that there are imbeciles existing on this planet who think that Fatty Trump and the Pute are besties and that “wussians” of various indeterminate identities helped the Orange Man (bad) win the election in 2016.

Collectivist crackpot: “Fatty Trump fraudulently beat shrillary in 2016 due to wussian interference”
Normal person: “and geriatric joe won eleventy gazillion votes in 2020 entirely legitimately campaigning in his basement while gifted with advanced dementia”

The cackling kamel will stagger over the line in November, Cats, unfortunately there is no way to prevent it.

Last edited 3 months ago by Rabz
Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 8:47 am
Reply to  Rabz

Yes there is but the 2nd amendment wankers will sit on their arses, masturbating over their guns.
The best army in the world is useless if it won’t fight.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 21, 2024 9:08 pm

The Furniture Shop is missing one of its mascots.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 9:26 pm

You drop by often. Love your support.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 9:28 pm

Drag your knuckles, as you hate on your wife

Rabz
September 21, 2024 9:15 pm

Whack a moll!

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
September 21, 2024 9:19 pm

One of the most interesting guys on the internet is cyber expert Mike Benz. Just listened to him being interviewed by former SEAL Shawn Ryan.
If you are interested in big picture stuff they cover :
The disinformation censorship industry and why they need to control Musk / X.
What has been happening in Brazil in relation to US supporting Lula. Plus X and Starlink in Brazil and China involvement in Brazil.
Talks about Atlantic Council which has 7 former CIA heads on its board and is funded by 11 US agencies.
A lot about Hunter Biden / CIA / Burisma / Ukraine / Gas and why Ukraine so important to US policy.

132andBush
132andBush
September 21, 2024 9:24 pm

Victorian farmers are being told to wear hard hats on their properties as shards of sharp plastic fly off brand new wind turbines.

Where once one could wear an Akubra, made from a genuine renewable resource, one now has to wear a hat made from the products of evil fossils.

To protect oneself against products made from evil fossils.

To save the planet.

And Trump is Hitler.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 21, 2024 9:28 pm

Knuckle Dragger
 September 21, 2024 9:08 pm

The Furniture Shop is missing one of its mascots.

You don’t speak for me!

Or do you?

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 9:36 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

Here we go. Why send me a come-on email. You and your buddy are being exposed. Knuck Feck

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 21, 2024 9:30 pm

You don’t speak for me!

Or do you?

Check your email.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 9:32 pm

Feck off! I will not respond to your flirtatious emails!

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 21, 2024 9:36 pm

Aaaaaahahahahaaaa.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 9:39 pm

Yeah nah. Pay to play with your gal. Not me

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 9:40 pm

And this is where it was born. Knuck feck and Leigh Lowe. Triggered

Indolent
Indolent
September 21, 2024 9:45 pm

Wouldn’t be a bit surprised.

Trump Assassins: Off-the-Books Assets?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 21, 2024 10:01 pm

Knuckle Dragger
 September 21, 2024 9:30 pm

You don’t speak for me!

Or do you?

Check your email.

Bwah ha ha ha.
Good times.
Went off like a Lebanese pager.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 10:04 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

In your arse.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 10:21 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

The thing you thought you bullied, is now in control, sancho and knuckle dragger.

Let’s dance.

Money? Heh!

Rosie
Rosie
September 21, 2024 10:08 pm

Driving west to east in Melbourne this afternoon there was an electronic sign recruiting women to be part of the first all female built tunnel.
Nuts.
https://x.com/ACCIONA_EN/status/1833331057032368326?t=d7aIBWn535yox9TeykxHZw&s=19

132andBush
132andBush
September 21, 2024 10:16 pm
Reply to  Rosie

Nice nails.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 8:55 am
Reply to  Rosie

Paging Dr Freud.

Foxbody
Foxbody
September 22, 2024 2:31 pm
Reply to  H B Bear

Very good indeed, Esteemed Bear

Megan
Megan
September 22, 2024 11:52 am
Reply to  Rosie

Might end up like that all female designed and built bridge that collapsed.

Last edited 3 months ago by Megan
Indolent
Indolent
September 21, 2024 10:30 pm
Indolent
Indolent
September 21, 2024 10:34 pm
Muddy
Muddy
September 22, 2024 7:16 pm
Reply to  Indolent

Eeeeeexcellent. (Cue Monty Burns’ voice).

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 10:59 pm

Scratch the bullies. Why are they silent.

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 11:01 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Knuckle dragger and Leigh Lowe?

MatrixTransform
September 21, 2024 11:02 pm
Reply to  Ellie

pretty soon there’ll be no voices left that aren’t mental

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 11:04 pm

True

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 11:05 pm

Were you bullied by them?

Ellie
Ellie
September 21, 2024 11:03 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Leigh Lowe aka sancho. A prolific bully.

Titus Groates
Titus Groates
September 21, 2024 11:26 pm

Who is this Leigh Lowe?

dopey
dopey
September 22, 2024 12:52 am
Reply to  Titus Groates

A leg-spinner from Geelong.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 7:46 am
Reply to  Titus Groates

Sancho

Salvatore - Iron Publican
September 21, 2024 11:26 pm

Rosie  September 21, 2024 2:37 pm

“There are any number of one-teacher schools in remote and rural Queensland”

Crap analogy.

Remote primary schools are there to service productive farming communities.

Spot on. The parents at those remote & rural schools;
a) make sure their kids attend.
b) make sure their kids learn. [very different to point (a)]
b) turn up to working bees, or even when there’s not a working bee.
c) raise a helluva lot of money, some raise enough to pay for running the school [yes, this includes salary for the teacher & every other cost]
d) put in no end of their own time & a considerable amount of effort, to ensure the school operates.
e) make the school the hub of their community & the hub of social life.

In every way, they’re the opposite of the other remote schools.

Nothing is holding back the parents at the other remote schools, the ones not in productive farming communities.
except the parents themselves. They clearly have no culture of ‘having a go’ & no overriding urge to ensure their kids have every opportunity.

It’s Remarkable
It’s Remarkable
September 22, 2024 12:15 am

Silly me thought a realtively innoccuous comment at the Paywallian might get though…..
There was an article by Chris Kenny abou how awful people were to disparage those unhappy about Welcome To Country and such like. My comment was:

As I understand it the Welcome to Country was invented by Ernie Dingo and Richard Whalley in the 1970’s to assist with a ceremony for some foreign dignitary.
Then the smoking ceremony: also invented, there seems to be no record of this being a legitimate activity by aboriginal people. Mind you they did generate plenty of smoke with the burning of the bush that was practiced to flush out some food.

Ditto the ‘dot paintings’. No paintings anything like dot paintings found among the rock art and cave ‘paintings’ of aboriginal people.
All are fabrications and totally made up.
When you have to lie and make things up about your past, then either you did not have one worth much or are embarrassed about it.
Without honesty there is not much.

Muddy
Muddy
September 22, 2024 7:14 pm

Indigenous kulture only exists and is celebrated because NON-INDIGENOUS Australians value it (and ascribe monetary value to it).

John
John
September 22, 2024 2:36 am

Does anybody know who The Currency Lad is? His blog has abruptly stopped.

Warwick
Warwick
September 22, 2024 9:29 am
Reply to  John

He said he was going away for a break on one of his threads.

Tom
Tom
September 22, 2024 4:00 am
KevinM
KevinM
September 22, 2024 5:16 am

Well deserved honor.

Martha Raye was a comic actress and singer who entertained U.S. troops in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. She was the only woman buried in Fort Bragg’s Special Forces cemetery, where she received full military honors in 1994.

green
KevinM
KevinM
September 22, 2024 5:33 am

I would’ve started from a more modest height first, just in case.

Screenshot-2024-06-04-014757
shatterzzz
September 22, 2024 7:41 am
Reply to  KevinM

I’m guessin’ .. he had “faith” .. LOL!

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
September 23, 2024 7:56 am
Reply to  KevinM

Hilarious Kevin

KevinM
KevinM
September 22, 2024 5:47 am

On your bike!

——————

In the world of human-powered feats, speed is often the ultimate benchmark. And in 1962, an astonishing gear ratio and physical endurance pushed the limits of what seemed possible. A single-speed road bike reached an incredible 127 mph, which is an almost unimaginable accomplishment for any cyclist.

This daring feat required both extraordinary engineering and superhuman endurance.

The most curious aspect of this achievement, beyond the sheer speed, is the setup of the bike. Not only was the bike a single-speed—a type of bicycle typically used for much slower, controlled rides—but the front fork was also turned backward.
This might seem counterintuitive, as a backward fork would normally result in unstable handling. However, there may have been aerodynamic or mechanical reasons behind this unusual modification, possibly to shift the rider’s weight in a way that would reduce drag or improve stability at such high speeds.

The feat becomes even more mind-blowing when we compare it to other land speed records of its time. Just over 50 years earlier, in 1906, a steam-powered vehicle broke the land speed record. Steam technology, though seemingly antiquated by today’s standards, was at one time the pinnacle of innovation.

In fact, that 1906 record, set by Fred Marriott in the *Stanley Rocket* at 127.66 mph, stood for several years and demonstrated that steam engines had tremendous potential for speed.
In 1909, however, the record was broken again, this time by a Mercedes with an internal combustion engine, marking the dawn of a new era in speed and mechanical performance.

The Mercedes record was lower than the 1906 steam-powered speed, but the internal combustion engine would soon dominate automotive engineering.

These land speed records, whether powered by steam, combustion engines, or sheer human force, tell a story of mankind’s relentless pursuit of speed and innovation. The 1962 bike achievement, with its backward fork and single gear, represents a triumph of both mechanical ingenuity and human endurance.

bike
Bourne1879
Bourne1879
September 22, 2024 6:52 am

Below from article up at Daily Telegraph.

Two years after its launch, online radio platform TNT News has been wound up due to a lack of funding.

The Gold Coast-based conservative news platform, which purported to “separate fact from fiction, truth from propaganda” and committed way too much uncensored and ­unchecked airtime to conspiracy theorists espousing their views on anything from “government ­tyranny” to “Covid malfeasance”, closed its operations yesterday after its financial backers withdrew.

The platform had, in recent years, given sanctuary to some of the industry’s more polarising voices, among whom, notably, was serial sex pest Chris Smith, longtime understudy to 2GB’s breakfast king Alan Jones”.

I listened to a few shows early on in 2022. They did provide an outlet for Covid commentary that was not allowed in mainstream media. It was a interesting organisation as it operated 24 hours and had hosts from Australia, UK and USA. One was Jim Hoft from Gateway Pundit. One Nation Senator Roberts was frequently on it.

No idea who was behind it but must have been some big money. They did not get much advertising money and perhaps this fits in with something Mike Benz was discussing with Shawn Ryan. He was talking about an organisation called Newsguard which rated different media outlets but also sought to deprive them of advertising funding. I would however say TNT radio did cover out there type issues and would be hard for an advertiser to be associated with them.

Mike Smith has now gone to ADH TV which is where Alan Jones was until health issues.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
September 22, 2024 7:00 am

Top story at Daily Mail Australia at time of writing concerns Ingi Doyle.
“I was a super-fit mum-of-two who ran triathlons – until I got the second Covid vaccine. I mourn my old self every day”.

She was one of the first vaccine injuries stories I heard about. Naturally it was not from mainstream media because to mention her case might cause vaccine “hesitancy”.

1735099
1735099
September 22, 2024 7:02 am

Apart from Covid-19, there is another virus circulating at the moment.

It is just as dangerous as the Covid Pandemic, but it originated in the USA, not China. It has seeped across the Pacific like leaking fluids from an overstocked fridge, carried on the bonkers blogs and nutjob social media accounts of some in the land of the shooting spree. Recent events close to home at Wieambilla provide an instructive example. The consequences are real, as can be observed by the chaotic state of US politics.

I’m referring, of course, to the epidemic of distrust of institutions and government across the Pacific since the Tea Party movement emerged towards the first ten years of the new millennium. That movement grew out of a sense of grievance and entitlement precipitated by globalism, automation, and the GFC.

Political movements generated by national grievance rarely end well. Examples include Brexit, which is wreaking havoc on daily life in the UK right now, and the Tea Party itself, which has changed some Republicans from a credible conservative movement to a baying mob, despite the fact that it largely disappeared from the scene in its original form. National grievance was one of the major factors driving the rise of the NAZI movement in Germany in the thirties, and remains a large component of Chinese nationalism, used extremely effectively by the CCP under Xi Jinping.

Another component assisting the rise of grievance politics is the role of US corporate media, exemplified by Fox news, and these days, Newsmax. Gone are the days when the corporate media reported the public mood. These days they make a profit by exploiting that mood, monetising it, and then selling it back to the consumers of that same media. 

These same consumers are always prepared to pay for what they want to hear. They become opinion junkies, and this phenomenon leeches into social media. Recently, social media platforms have belatedly started to arrest the tide of misinformation and disinformation that feeds this sense of grievance. Facebook and Twitter (now X) have begun to do this, although with reluctance, as it messes with their business model. It took an insurrection for Twitter to give Trump the shove. And the twit from South Africa reinstated him.

None of this would bother me very much, except that it is beginning to have an effect locally. One example of this is the imported outrage from the US about vaccine mandates and lockdowns. Despite the fact that the Australian death rate from the virus per head of population is about 1/25 of what is it across the Pacific (67 per million here vs 2297 per million in the US) there are Australian nitwits jumping on the culture wars bandwagon, and bleating, post-event about mandates and restrictions.

 The most recent example of this trans Pacific virus is the push for legislation designed to require voters to present ID at the ballot box. It is designed to solve a problem which does not exist in this country, and has already been resolved in Queensland, where people on the electoral roll are posted an ID card to their address, to present when they vote. I’m accumulating a collection.

A far greater problem than electoral fraud in this country is the rate of participation in state and federal elections – (91.9% at the last federal election). Despite the Electoral Commission seeing this as an achievement, we’d be doing better as a democracy if everybody got to vote. Full participation is essential to democracy. How about the legislature take measures to ensure this disenfranchised 8.1% of the Australian electorate votes, rather than chasing the less than the 0.001% of the electorate who allegedly voted more than once at the last federal poll?

I won’t hold my breath for an answer.

MatrixTransform
September 22, 2024 7:34 am
Reply to  1735099

numb-nutz is going full percentage frenzy this morning

Synopsis:
– cannot actually be summarized
total incomprehensible ramble
91.9% of it is disconnected gibberish
– the author(s) seem to believe that more words can make you less mental

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 7:41 am
Reply to  1735099

The perseveration is strong in this one!

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 22, 2024 10:19 am
Reply to  1735099

Oh do shut up, Numbers. I’ve just spent three days staying with a friend in Tasmania and putting up with a lot of ABC/SBS and I am not in the mood for coming to Catallaxy to hear more of the same propaganising garbage. Go and bother some other site.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
September 23, 2024 8:11 am
Reply to  1735099

1735099 – are you Phillip Adam’s?

shatterzzz
September 22, 2024 7:03 am
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 7:07 am

Apart from Covid-19, there is another virus circulating at the moment.

Marxism. It’s endemic.

1735099
1735099
September 22, 2024 7:30 am

Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo and Gummo were completely harmless.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 22, 2024 10:23 am
Reply to  1735099

Humour is always funny. Political Marxism never is.
Political Marxism destroys and kills. Learn some history.

MatrixTransform
September 22, 2024 7:41 am

a plague no less

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 9:00 am

TDS will be an issue for a few months.

Eyrie
Eyrie
September 22, 2024 7:22 am

Numbers, when you wake up you will realise that governments are merely criminal organisations that have seized control of a country and maintain it by threats of or actual violence.
After all, a government seized you and threw you in to the Army, a form of slavery.
Yet lefties like you want more government.

1735099
1735099
September 22, 2024 7:27 am
Reply to  Eyrie

I don’t hold with notions of “left” and “right”, unless you’re talking about handedness.
But if you want to use that outdated and irrelevant taxonomy, it was the “right” that threw me into slavery….

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 3:51 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

Yet lefties like you want more government.

That’s because they assume they will be holding the whips and guns. It has very little to do with improving the human condition – just their human condition.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
September 22, 2024 7:25 am

A virus of experience Numbers.
Mistrust of government and their institutions is well placed and only becomes more apparent when dealing with them directly.
A good comment came from a mate who’s dealing with the renewable roll out with government mandated bodies and private companies trying to access his land for their purposes, he said “I used to trust people working for the government and think that in the end their trying to do what’s best for us, I don’t any more.”

mc
mc
September 22, 2024 8:32 am
Reply to  Farmer Gez

Working in government I have almost the same conversations daily, “No, making your job easier is not in the public interest.”

mc
mc
September 22, 2024 8:35 am
Reply to  mc

I should also add that industry bodies might, in the end, sell you out quicker than government. More efficient at it.

Megan
Megan
September 22, 2024 9:53 pm
Reply to  Farmer Gez

“No matter how paranoid or conspiracy minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you can imagine.”

William Blum

MatrixTransform
September 22, 2024 7:43 am

his augments are not rational or logical

numbers will now continue fill the pages here with more even gibberish

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 9:01 am

The good ol’ days. Paging Mater. Boom.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 3:54 pm

He will also be carefully noting the replies and their authors.
Just in case, you know.
<wink>

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 22, 2024 7:43 am

John
 September 22, 2024 2:36 am

Does anybody know who The Currency Lad is? His blog has abruptly stopped.

The chances of him buying a cheap Lebanese pager are low.
But not zero.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 7:47 am

CL is receiving a foot massage.

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
September 22, 2024 7:48 am

Totally agree with this.
“I used to trust people working for the government and think that in the end their trying to do what’s best for us, I don’t any more.

Governments employee numbers are rapidly expanding in Australia and as more Government jobs are created they have to justify themselves by creating more rules and regulations for this rest of us.

As more jobs are created the managers have more subordinates and their posts have to be upgraded to reflect their bigger responsibilities. It is called “empire building”.

Jock
Jock
September 22, 2024 10:36 am
Reply to  Bourne1879

You could easily do a head count cull of all admin positions at all levels of government. Would save us billions.i suggest at least 20% of all non customer facing jobs.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 7:48 am

Someone snuck in and drank my Chardonnay while I was asleep

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 7:49 am

CL is having a WEB.

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 7:51 am
Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 8:00 am

War pagers are legitimate targets.

ABC news featuring Australian “Lebanese community” members claiming Israel is “targeting civilians.”

Angry at Albanese government for not criticising Israel more strongly.

No mention of Hezbollah’s indiscriminate rocket & missile attacks.

I think we’re only days away from calls for “tourist visas” for Lebanese with Australian family connections.

I’m sick of the lies.

Muddy
Muddy
September 22, 2024 7:23 pm
Reply to  Roger

.

Last edited 3 months ago by Muddy
shatterzzz
September 22, 2024 8:01 am

Thanx TOM ..
Week-in-pictures has outdun itself today .. an excellent selection ..
Week In Pictures.

alwaysright
alwaysright
September 22, 2024 8:12 am
Reply to  shatterzzz

The bestest evah WIP. I’m still laughing.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 8:02 am

Good Morning Rosie, reading your interesting travelogue about Ireland gave me the impression you wouldn’t be going back. You don’t recommend visiting it anymore? I’ve been reading about Nth Ireland- looks very beautiful and it’s got me interested.

Top Ender
Top Ender
September 22, 2024 9:10 am
Reply to  Miltonf

Here’s some of our Ireland postcards from last year if that helps…they were posted to the Cat at the time…

Ireland
 
Well, landed in Ireland on an Air Qatar flight – excellent – to find the air bridge at Dublin International would not connect with the Dreamliner. After a bit everyone got told to sit down again and wait. About 20 minutes later airport management managed to connect two flights of ramp stairs to the plane and we seemed to enter the back door. No technology on arrival – old style booths and passport stamped – airport seemed to be over-whelmed with Ryanair flights returning. 
 
Welcome to Ireland!
 
Dublin….mmmm. Has a fair bit not to like. Uber is unobtainable – there is a strong taxi union that had kept it out. Graffiti plentiful everywhere.  Some rubbish on the streets in the suburbs, although the city itself is clean. There is a high level of tacky and/or disreputable shopfronts in the city area, often allowed to exist two or three at a time next to an old Georgian public building or a still-majestic church. The police force, by the way, aren’t called “police” – but The Garda, and known as “the guards”.
 
On the good side there are a lot of old buildings, statues with a story, or interesting landmarks. We took in a lot on a 2.5hr walking tour of the city, which took in most of the major ones south of the city, including the Dublin Castle and Christchurch Cathedral. Strangely enough the tour didn’t go north of the river to the Post Office which was a major part of the 1916 Easter Rising, so we checked that out ourselves. The bus/tram service is excellent, which is just as well, as there is no other public transport.
 
Toured Old Kilmainham Gaol – many Irish revolutionaries, including the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, were imprisoned and executed in the prison by the orders of the UK Government. Thousands of Irish immigrants/convicts left from here to Australia. Our tour guide said that Ireland overall is one of the few places in the world where the population decreased from the 1800s to the 1900s – about 70% of the people left for better opportunities overseas. Our guide also told us that living here now is expensive and people are still leaving!
 
Cool and showers. Don’t think any Dubliners go out without their jacket with hood and umbrella.
 
Belfast and the Titanic Experience
 
We picked up our car and travelled north where we visited Newgrange for some photos – it was fully booked, so no viewing. So onto nearby Dowth another burial tomb smaller, but not developed. It was great to walk around it and see the two passage entrances that have been explored by archaeologists. Passage tombs date back to well before the Romans – maybe back to 4000BC – and look to be the burial efforts of the local tribes for their most important leaders. One of the signs we photographed tells some of the story: essentially they seem to be stoneworks which were then covered over by earthworks.
 
Onto Belfast and visiting the Titanic Museum. It’s a very well curated “immersive” theatrical style walk-through, which adds in a host of facts and stories, blending the engineering in with the human tragedies.
The centrepiece is an amusement park style ride into the gantry construction depths of the Titanic hull, with the noises of the riveting and hammering blended in with the workmen telling you what they are doing. The Experience covers not only the building but the fit-out, the fatal first voyage, but also the discovery of the shipwreck in 1985. By the time you go through it’s around about two hours of the complete story of the most famous ship in the world.
 
Outside is the Nomadic, the only ship of the White Star line left – she was a tender to take people out to the liners if they were anchored offshore. We finished off at the docks by having a look at the outside of the WWI warship HMS Caroline – a light cruiser – nearby.
 
Finally, after arriving at our Airbnb, we plundered the local Tesco in memory of the Vikings, who seem to have been a major influence in Ireland. It’s been a big day!
 
Pieces of Eight etc
We went to the Ulster Museum today to look at the Spanish Armada collection. Following their 1588 defeat by Francis Drake and Co, some of the surviving ships fled north around Scotland and then west of Ireland. One of them, the Girona, got wrecked and sank with the loss of 1500 lives.
There’s a good collection of artefacts in the Museum including three guns and a lot of personal items, including jewellery. In one case was a heap of gold coins – known as “pieces of eight” if you remember your Treasure Island, along with silver coins too.
That was followed by Carrickfergus Castle, north of Belfast. Dating from the 11th century, it has been in constant use including into the 20th century – its last starring role was as an air raid shelter.
Over the hundreds of years it has been hacked about, with gun firing fissures piercing the walls, and then anti-ship guns on swivelling rails put in place. Underground storage for shells was added too. Although a small castle, it was still a fascinating example of the type.
On to Londonderry, or if you’re really Irish, just Derry.

Flashback to Belfast murals+
 
Very warm in Belfast that you can shower with the window open! (I don’t think) Typical street scene of houses curving around and hills in background. Belfast is still quite divided from The Troubles, the 30 year struggle between two sides – once labelled Catholic (Republican) and Protestant, but now with “Anglican” taking the place of the latter. We visited the murals in the Republican sector, but also took a photo of a bridge with the many British Union Jack and St George flags flying.

Derry
Pictures:
·      On a walking tour on top of Derry Walls built 1613-18, only remaining completely walled city in Ireland – defence for early seventeenth century settlers from England and Scotland
·      Getting ready for bonfire celebration looking towards “Free Derry”
·      “Derry Girls” is a TV series – we only watched one episode, but it brought a female and children perspective of the Troubles, which was one of the causes of its end
·      One of the fences remaining between protestant and catholic areas
·      Pub and music scene in the city

Cliffs of Moher near Doolin

Some sunny weather, temperatures up to 18, but every now and again a few drops fall! Our breakfast area at the Airbnb. The view from the windows was worth the price – so peaceful, cows, stone fences, fields, views of the other cottages and she had some lovely plants including flowering begonia. Our host Marcella was a real chatterbox (I could only understand every 3rd word!). They serve edam cheese and salami as well as cereal and toast – sometimes Irish soda bread.

On the west coast, in a coastal area now known as Wild Atlantic Way. The Cliffs of Moher are the No.2 attraction of Ireland – the number 1 is the Guinness factory in Dublin. Very impressive. We did a cruise as well as a walk along the top. The cave shown in our pictures is the “Harry Potter” one which featured in the second last film made (for you Lilia).

This is the first area I have seen clothes on the line! The farm areas feature stone fences and narrow laneways – the Irish scene you always imagine. We visited a few more pubs and listed to more Irish music. So far not overly impressed with pub food – think we do it better (and cheaper) – fish, chips, mushy peas & tartare was E20.

One of the villages we visited – Liscannor – was the birthplace of John Holland, who’s pretty much credited as the inventor of the submarine. Strangely, he was originally a Christian Brother and a teacher. He emigrated to the USA and pursued his submarines design ideas there, with the first launched by the US Navy in 1900. One of our pictures shows him in the hatch of one of his boats.

We walked up to the Moher cliffs and a Martello Tower. Scores of these were built along Britain and Ireland’s coasts in the Napoleonic Wars. They each contained a small garrison – maybe 10-25 soldiers and one officer depending on size.

The idea was to light a fire atop the tower if an enemy invasion force was sighted. The next tower along – each was in eyesight of two others – would then light its fire, in a chain reaction. This was to give warning in time to land forces to get ready for attack.

Flowers of Ireland, and a Music Night

For friends and relatives interested in plant life. Most wild – heather, daisies and this amazing large-leafed plant in flower etc. Wild fuchsias are prolific along the roads. Gorgeous. And there are hydrangeas everywhere, including these beautiful colours. Hope mine might look like this one day…

We went to an Irish Music Evening at Doolin Music House. This was held three times a week by some local musicians who had tired of the model of being in a hotel, and instead used one of their largest rooms in one of their houses for a recital.

We arrived to join about 12 other people: some Americans, Germans, Brits, and Italians. The lady of the house greeted us an showed us into the room where a peat fire was burning. The two musicians came in and introduced themselves. One did all the talking, and he did a lot of it. We got stories of his childhood; local legends; explanations of the music and more. Over an hour and half the two played their flute and violin, but they were also joined a visitor known to them both. He was a local hurling (sport) champion. This is a game that is like supercharged hockey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling and sounds extremely dangerous to play. He was said to have had all his fingers broken in his day, but he still produced an accordion and also sang two songs.

Wine and smoked salmon and cheese were also served. Towards the end the flautist produced some spoons which he played with vigour and talent. An excellent night with a difference.

The Ring of Kerry, southern Ireland

One BnB host recommended that we NOT do the Ring of Kerry – “you’ll see nothing but buses”, so we were incredibly surprised when we didn’t! Not sure where they were, but we had mighty fine views, short walks and easy driving. We also drove around the Skellig Ring – beautiful sandy beaches, brooding mountains and colourful villages. Charlie Chaplin and family holidayed at Waterville for 10 years; the local liked him so much they put up a statue and still have a Chaplin film festival. We particularly enjoyed Killarney National Park and Muckross House (traditional farm display and gardens). 

Visited the local supermarket and in the car park were a bank of washing machines/dryers – up to 18kg load. Thought was good idea for those Irish still washing their “smalls” in the basin. Meanwhile upstairs you can stock up with groceries. Someone will catch on soon and import the concept to Oz.

At Portmagee we drove around Valencia Island and in one spot walked down to a beach to see the “tail drag marks” and some footprints from a 380 million year ago tetrapod. The sign said there are two such places in Australia so get going! Took a photo of a salmon statue as it’s a famous fishing area. Saw the memorial to the Lusitania, sunk in 1915 by a German U-Boat, and one of the spurs for the USA entering the Great War.

Around Tipperary TE took in Cahir Castle, and thought it “well preserved”. It was used as a location site in many film and tv shows, including The Tudors – a series we loved – and Excalibur. It is unusual in that is said to have the only working portcullis in any castle in Ireland. We also went to The Rock of Cashel, which is a collection of fortified buildings atop a limestone crag.

Stayed overnight at a farmlet which had its own donkeys and a variety of sheep types – the host used to breed sheep. Now back to Dublin to fly out to Madrid.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 9:57 am
Reply to  Top Ender

Thanks TE! Very informative.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 22, 2024 10:27 am
Reply to  Miltonf

Lovely memories of all these places for us. Ireland’s people are warm (real Irish people, that is) and the scenery is spectacular; the history fascinating.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 8:03 am

Building off the grid. Away from the MSM. Start storing supplies. Tunnels. Get ahead before it happens. One Nation.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 8:06 am

Following the Trump campaign. Do you play golf, sancho?

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 8:21 am
Reply to  Ellie

You take the time to downtick me, but won’t engage in verbal intercourse.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 8:06 am

 “tourist visas” = backdoor PR. Public admin in Australia= malicious incompetence. The canbra way.

Last edited 3 months ago by Miltonf
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 8:08 am

I think we’re only days away from calls for “tourist visas” for Lebanese with Australian family connections.

Aaannd here we go…

Number of asylum seekers in Australia reaches six-year high (Sky News, 22 Sep)

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
September 22, 2024 8:16 am

Oooh hurrah Newcastle gets its first… (checks notes) …man with silicone t*ts in council.
Because visibility. Or something.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
September 22, 2024 5:48 pm
Reply to  Wally Dalí

Celebrated, of course, by the GayBC. I wonder what Charlie Jones would make of it.

For those who don’t remember Charlie, he was one of the last of the blue-collar Labor politicians. An old scrapper from the boilermakers’ union, he could be stubborn and wrong-headed on industrial relations and economics, but on ‘progressive’ social issues (the sexual revolution, Whitlam’s encouragement of welfare dependency etc) he had the values of an old-fashioned Methodist. Though nominally a member of the Left, he confided to a friend late in his career that he felt he had more in common with Frank Stewart (a Sydney Labor MP who was indistinguishable from the DLP) than with the middle-class trendy ratbags (his words) of the New Left.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 8:18 am

Better when Newcastle was famous for steel.

Black Ball
Black Ball
September 22, 2024 8:20 am

Piers Akerman sinking the boots in. Deservedly so:

Anthony Albanese’s legacy is simple – beyond a scintilla of a doubt he has foisted the worst government on Australia in living memory.

Forget “Silly” Billy McMahon or discredited Gough Whitlam, both of whom deserve all the contempt of those who knew them and experienced their trashing of the country.

But their egotistical antics pale to dim shades of grey, almost off-white, compared with the catastrophic failures of the incumbent.

The most recent polls reflect the loss of confidence in this leftist government as do the constant comparisons with the last real Labor leaders, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating (before he started sliding into irrelevance).

Though his first term isn’t due to end for 12 months, it would seem that Albanese is a one-trick pony and he has failed to bring that trick off.

His stunt, the core of his triumphal election night address, was his promise to deliver the Voice to parliament with all its principal clauses intact.

He placed all his political capital on this – and we know how it went 11 months ago.

His inability to read the room and his innate vanity blinded him to the flawed campaign he thought would be the crowning legacy of his first term in office

Now it is looking increasingly as if the public will say No to the man who not only pledged to bring home Yes but who then had the hide to deny any involvement at all in the disastrously divisive campaign.

Mad, bad and dangerous doesn’t do justice to this farce of an administration.

The Indigenous portfolio has been so wretchedly mismanaged that the number of Aboriginal children in care has reached record numbers.

Domestic violence is at hellish levels, far worse than it has been since pre-settlement times.

Some states have set up Truth and Justice commissions to criticise Western culture and the European occupation. But if there was any truth to be aired, we would be hearing about the brutish existence of pre-settlement Aboriginals.

But it’s not just at home that this government has served its citizens so appallingly.

Its performance away has earned Australia the contempt of its oldest and greatest allies, those who came to our rescue in our hour of need, as well as those who have helped us thwart terrorist attacks here recently.

The Albanese government couldn’t help our allies when the Houthis blocked shipping in the Red Sea.

It has cowed before implicit Chinese threats to our ships and aircraft in international waters and air space.

It has reduced support to Israel, though that nation supplied our intelligence service with critical information.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has stated she wished Australia could have done more to assist the UN with a resolution that threatened Israel’s existence and rewarded the barbaric terrorist activities of Hamas and its Gazan supporters almost 12 months ago.

By trying to isolate Israel, we are losing access to the technologies which enabled the recent targeted strikes against terrorist organisation Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria.

Rather than putting national security foremost, the Albanese government rushed visas to people from Gaza so they could enter Australia without security checks.

Now the government is running a scandalous baseless fear campaign against nuclear energy.

Under Labor, defence force morale has reached rock bottom.

Bill Shorten may have jumped ship too soon. Australia is rapidly becoming a failed nation under the Albanese government.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 22, 2024 8:47 am
Reply to  Black Ball

But if there was any truth to be aired, we would be hearing about the brutish existence of pre-settlement Aboriginals.

For shame, don’t you know that pre-settlement Australia was just the Garden of Eden?

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 9:09 am
Reply to  Black Ball

thanks for posting bb

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 10:06 am
Reply to  Black Ball

Do my eyes deceive me or has Akerman failed to mention out of control immigration numbers on top of a housing crisis?

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
September 22, 2024 5:52 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Even that old ratbag Rex Connor wanted a national has pipeline and a nuclear industry.

Indolent
Indolent
September 22, 2024 8:22 am

The shooter was there 20 odd hours in advance. It couldn’t be clearer that he was told.

@wendyp4545

Breaking News: Secret Service was aware that Trump would be playing Golf on that Course at least 24 hours in advance.

Earlier reports led the public to believe that his Golf game was a last minute decision and it wasn’t.

We were purposely misled.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 22, 2024 8:23 am

From ther Hun.
Clementine Ford threatened with legal action by Kingston Council candidate Jane Agirtan over social media spatA social media spat that kicked off over a designer handbag could end up costing Clementine Ford more than $150,000, after an aspiring councillor claimed she’d been defamed.

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 8:58 am

Fingers crossed.

132andBush
132andBush
September 22, 2024 8:28 am

Totally agree with this.

“I used to trust people working for the government and think that in the end their trying to do what’s best for us, I don’t any more.

The member of the Senate who told me (re AGW) “It’s bullsht and everyone knows it, it’s just a giant wealth redistribution scheme”, had nothing more in their sights than the obscene remuneration and fat super package available upon obtaining office.
?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 8:33 am

Just in case you don’t detest the UN enough yet.

UNRWA demands immunity for employees implicated in October 7th massacre (22 Sep)

calli
calli
September 22, 2024 8:38 am

The US needs to kick them out. They’re a blot on NYC.

Perplexed of Brisbane
Perplexed of Brisbane
September 22, 2024 11:34 am
Reply to  calli

Why couldn’t the planes have hit THAT tower?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 22, 2024 10:30 am

Go The Mossad.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 8:38 am

Number of asylum seekers in Australia reaches six-year high 

I note the Gazans here on “tourist visas” are now demanding work and study rights and Medicare cards.

I think they intend to settle down.

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 8:59 am
Reply to  Roger

Until it’s safe enough to go back on extended family holidays.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 9:05 am
Reply to  Roger

Joining Hawke’s Chinese and Fraser’s Lebs.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 22, 2024 9:20 am
Reply to  H B Bear

I watched Hawke’s Chinese “demanding(!) their entitlements to welfare and Medicare.” The words “Fvck off back to where you came from” did suggest themselves.

Indolent
Indolent
September 22, 2024 8:41 am
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 22, 2024 10:37 am
Reply to  Indolent

When you start feeling sorry for these guys, just remember what their Hamas buddies did to families, babies, and women on October 7, and then you’ll snap right out of it. And Israel literally made them pay for their own deaths. 

Well said PJ Media. Do not feel sorry for terrorists.

Think too of what Hamas did recently to some hostages kept in dark tunnels, murdering them, including two young women.

calli
calli
September 22, 2024 8:43 am

The Beloved’s birthday today. Busy child wrangling – the little ones thought there would be a party and were up at sparrow’s.

Himself ran away from the mayhem to wash the car! Amazing how urgent such things become, even on your birthday.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 8:46 am
Reply to  calli

Should have co-opted the ankle biters as assistants!

Beertruk
September 22, 2024 1:06 pm
Reply to  Roger

Should have co-opted the ankle biters as assistants!

Incharge of the hose. 😉

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 9:05 am
Reply to  calli

I reckon you should bestow the Beloved with a pair of Westies for his birthday. 😀 😀 😀

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 10:56 am
Reply to  Indolent

They won’t stop – they say so in the article.
Our governments are becoming the citizenry’s biggest threat.

Indolent
Indolent
September 22, 2024 8:47 am

This is where she really outperforms.
The art of vacuity

Speedbox
September 22, 2024 5:04 pm
Reply to  Indolent

One of the news services in Australia mentioned this in their evening news. They commented that the audience was “made up of uncommitted voters”. WTF!! Really? Oprah Winfrey’s researchers allowed actual, you know, real people or maybe even ‘disbelievers’ into the audience for this love-in with the Kamel. hahahahahaha As if. Every attendee would have been carefully screened.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 8:49 am

Sucked in greenies!

Running an electric car is twice as expensive as a petrol one (21 Sep)

Electric cars are up to twice as expensive as petrol or diesel vehicles to run, new figures have suggested.

Running an electric vehicle (EV) can cost more than 24p per mile, while a diesel vehicle is 12.5p.

It costs as much as 80p per kilowatt hour to charge an EV using a rapid or ultra-rapid device on the roadside, according to data from the app ZapMap.

It’ll be even worse here, once chargers start upping their c/kWh rates. The price of petrol and diesel is much higher in the UK.

Indolent
Indolent
September 22, 2024 8:51 am

This is interesting because the rush to net zero will kill AI just the same as everything else. Perhaps when the lights go out such nuclear reactors can be repurposed for more immediate needs.
Microsoft inks deal to restart Three Mile Island nuclear reactor to fuel its voracious AI ambitions

Jock
Jock
September 22, 2024 10:18 am
Reply to  Indolent

And yet the rag “reneweconomy” claims nuclear is Caput.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 8:52 am

Stockpile weapons, canned food. We need to go underground. If Trump doesn’t get up we are ruined. Complain on a blog for attention. Look at me – I write words, but don’t live up to the words. I travel and write travelogues. I am a Jew who writes on a blog about my time on a bus in the city. But do I do anything, but indulge the sensors. My grandmother’s nightmares have revisited me since October 7. No young leftist knows my pain. Frank Foley was our Schindler. Never would I imagine this. EVER in my lifetime.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 9:07 am
Reply to  Ellie

Wow. No Chardonnay before breakfast.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 9:14 am
Reply to  H B Bear

Yeah, I know right. There was a dribble at the bottom of the bottle. Thing is there are three bottles with my sorry ass Jew butt on them.

I am no Cassie. She is strong. I am a weak victim. But how to stop the night terrors. Wine helps.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 9:22 am
Reply to  Ellie

Too much emotion for this blog. It skirts between rational and irrational emotions here. I vomit it all at once. But that’s what I heard late at night. All Omi said was Hitler was a bad man. I am like who the feck is this Hitler dude. Oh, ok. he exterminated my family … because, why??

calli
calli
September 22, 2024 8:53 am

From Indolent’s link:

Now we’re learning more details of the attacks, and they’re as impressive as they are diabolical. 

Wrong word. The Oct 7 massacre and abductions were diabolical. Endless rocket fire into civilian areas and the displacement of 60,000 civilians is diabolical. The murder of 12 children on a soccer field is diabolical.

The electronic pocket Kabooming of terrorists is justice.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 10:58 am
Reply to  calli

https://youtu.be/t9wmWZbr_wQ
This one, Calli?

Bourne1879
Bourne1879
September 22, 2024 11:17 am
Reply to  calli

Kabooming.
A great word.

Perplexed of Brisbane
Perplexed of Brisbane
September 22, 2024 11:31 am
Reply to  calli

And funny!

Muddy
Muddy
September 22, 2024 7:34 pm
Reply to  calli

[For the second time tonight, I wrote before engaging my brain. I’m a slow learner].

Last edited 3 months ago by Muddy
Lawgi Dawes-Hall
Lawgi Dawes-Hall
September 22, 2024 8:53 am

… and no one ever named a band The Albaneses.

Last edited 3 months ago by Lawgi Dawes-Hall
Muddy
Muddy
September 22, 2024 7:40 pm

They played at my high school formal back in 1934. Awful.

Makka
Makka
September 22, 2024 9:00 am

The electronic pocket Kabooming of terrorists is justice.

Poetic, is what it is. Brilliant, elegant also comes to mind.

Perplexed of Brisbane
Perplexed of Brisbane
September 22, 2024 11:31 am
Reply to  Makka

I wonder if any of them have the koran on kindle?

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 9:02 am

Electric cars are up to twice as expensive as petrol or diesel vehicles to run, new figures have suggested.

Looks like they didn’t factor in insurance and depreciation.

Or average repair costs over a vehicle’s lifetime.

Which would make the EV figures much, much worse.

And governments are just biding their time until they can make those chargers a revenue source.

I foresee a day not far hence when EV owners will cry for subsidies.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
alwaysright
alwaysright
September 22, 2024 9:17 am
Reply to  Roger

I foresee a day where only EVs will be allowed.
Then the revolution …

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 9:56 am
Reply to  alwaysright

If the VIC government caved on gas cook tops, EVs are already a lost cause for governments.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 9:05 am

… and no one ever named a band The Albaneses.

Nothing illustrates the intellectual and moral dead end that is Australian prog-leftism like the fetishisation of Whitlam.

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 9:17 am
Reply to  Roger

Keating! the Musical. groan…

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 9:35 am
Reply to  Roger

The Left love their myths. The Great Man.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 9:47 am
Reply to  H B Bear

Gave us colour TV and FM radio too!

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 9:57 am
Reply to  Miltonf

And ended the war in Vietnam!

1735099
1735099
September 22, 2024 10:03 am
Reply to  Roger

No.
That was Nixon.
Remember – Peace with honour.
The war was lost by 1968, but domestic politics in the US meant that they stayed until 1973.
That killed at least 20000 US servicemen, but hey, they were collateral, just like the 200 plus Nashos who died to keep the Coalition in power for a while.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
September 22, 2024 5:57 pm
Reply to  Roger

Among other faults, Gough was a terrible snob. ‘The real trouble in November 1975? Kerr and Barwick: lower middle class.’

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 22, 2024 9:14 am

Death toll from Israeli strike on Hezbollah military leaders risesStephen Kalin
11 hours ago

Dow Jones
154 comments

Israel’s airstrike on a building in southern Beirut didn’t just kill a top Hezbollah commander – it took out an entire class of senior leaders of the militant group’s most elite fighting force, as the two foes lurch closer to all-out war.
Hezbollah on Saturday raised the death toll among its fighters from Friday’s airstrike to 16, including top military commander Ibrahim Aqil and many of the senior commanders of the elite Radwan force. The strike on top leadership followed a pair of broad attacks on the group’s rank and file, when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies that had been rigged with explosives blew up roughly simultaneously across the country.
According to the group’s own death announcements, the week’s attacks accounted for about 10% of the 500 Hezbollah fighters to have been killed since the group started firing rockets across the border shortly after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 9:24 am

Martyr payments will resemble the Victoriastan interest bill.

PeterM
PeterM
September 22, 2024 9:29 am

I thought Oprah’s body language showed embarrassment as Kamala avoided answering questions

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 9:34 am
Reply to  PeterM

Took one for the team.

cohenite
September 22, 2024 9:33 am

I won’t hold my breath for an answer.

Please do you rancid POS.

Still, well done. That lengthy post reeked of elitism and the sole conspiracy that infects leftoids like yourself. Which is, any threat to the leftoid control of the narrative/institutions is a manifestation of hillbilly extreme rightwingers. The irony is it is not the patronising lies which leftoids embellish their narrative/institutions which is the zeitgeist but their control and power of the narrative/institutions. Being in power is the only quality leftoids have: all the descriptions of the right wingers are merely a rephrasing of that being in power and their suppression of any threat to that power.

Given that, you are merely a useful idiot, like all leftoid minions.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 22, 2024 9:48 am

Start storing supplies. Tunnels. Get ahead before it happens

Here we go.

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 11:04 am

I have chickens and a big bag of rice. 😀

Perplexed of Brisbane
Perplexed of Brisbane
September 22, 2024 11:28 am

Didn’t end up working out too well for H@m@s in the end.

Indolent
Indolent
September 22, 2024 9:52 am
Mother Lode
Mother Lode
September 22, 2024 9:52 am

Start storing supplies. Tunnels. Get ahead before it happens

Here we go.

Would I be right in thinking the original author of the supplies and tunnels thing was a missionary from the Furniture Store here on a Temporary Activity visa?

Last edited 3 months ago by Mother Lode
Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 10:38 am
Reply to  Mother Lode

I woke up, wondered down the Dr Phil path. I speak with a Texan accent.

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 9:57 am

“the impression you wouldn’t be going back”
Not during their school holidays for sure.
I’m not in a hurry, only because there are several, many, other places I would like to visit however if a family member wants me to return in the near future I will. So I might go back in late 2025. I might even catch the ferry to Bilbao.
There was lots to like, especially in the wild west, and the people are nice.
I’m pondering a short visit to Japan in November, then, as there is a happy event expected in February I’ll be home in the new year.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 10:02 am
Reply to  Rosie

Gotcha- thanks Rosie. Fly into Madrid then catch the ferry from Bilbao would be an interesting way to visit. Would like to avoid London.

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 12:12 pm
Reply to  Miltonf

Yes lots of fun ways to arrive, there is also a Brittany ferry to Cobh if via France takes your fancy.
You can even fly Girona to Knock.

m0nty
m0nty
September 22, 2024 9:57 am

I see Kellie-Jay Keen copped another bowl of tomato soup to the face in Sheffield, this time by a bespectacled ranga beardo who works at the university as a diversity officer. The gentleman was arrested and charged with assault.

I am sure Cats will react to this news with suitably moderate thoughts.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 10:02 am
Reply to  m0nty

Why are lefties violent like this? And against women!

Righties are polite, harmless, and even clean up all the rubbish after a rally.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 10:14 am
Reply to  m0nty

Typical UK swampy. Brilliantly portrayed by Ric from The Young Ones.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 10:45 am
Reply to  m0nty

What do you have against women and men standing up to fight against your restraints?

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 10:46 am
Reply to  m0nty

You condone violence against women??

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 1:21 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Of course Monty does. He gets tumescent just thinking about it.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 10:07 am

Waiting FAA bureaucrat peoples, waiting…

SpaceX@SpaceX · 2h

Starship stacked for Flight 5 and ready for launch, pending regulatory approval

Light this candle!

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 12:09 pm

At what point will Musk take the FAA to court on the basis of the Chevron decision?

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 10:21 am

Smashing the Western Illusion of Democracy

Finn Andreen, Mises Wire, 13 September 2024

In these politically turbulent times, the “illusion of democracy is fading worldwide” as one pundit wrote recently. There is a growing sense in the West that “democracy” is not working well, but there is not yet a full and clear recognition of that fact. Michel Maffesoli, honorary professor at the Sorbonne in Paris, has been saying already for several years, that “the end of the democratic ideal is manifesting itself.” Signs of this can be seen in the problematic elections that have taken place in his native France and other Western countries. 

The “ideal” or “illusion” of democracy comes from widespread misconceptions about this political system, despite clear misgivings from the most illustrious political thinkers of the past. The most important misconceptions about democracy are that elected representatives are generally loyal and disinterested, and that the electorate is generally informed and rational with regard to politics.

David Hume wrote in his famous Essays (1777) that democracy cannot be “representative” because all societies are “governed by the few.” Sociologist Robert Michels then defined, in his ground-breaking work on political parties (1911), what he called the “iron law of oligarchy,” methodically showing that all mature organizations, without exception, become oligarchic (i.e., ruled by minorities). 

For the early democratic movements of the 19th century, representative democracy was generally not perceived as truly democratic; the Athenian model was the ideal. As Robert Michels noted, it was only when the practical impossibilities of direct democracy on a large scale became evident, that the concept of political representation gained legitimacy. Over time, this concept became synonymous with “democracy.”

Montesquieu considered in The Spirit of the Laws (1739) that the main justification for the representative system is not only that the average person does not have the time or the interest to engage in political life, but that he is incompetent to do so. Tocqueville warned in Democracy in America (1835) that one of the potential threats to democracy is that people can become so absorbed by the pursuit of economic opportunities that they lose interest in politics. 

Indeed, the majority has neither the interest nor the motivation to get deeply involved in politics. Voters implicitly understand that their vote is just a small drop in an ocean of ballots and will, by itself, make no difference in the election outcome. It has also been argued by some that not only do voters lack the interest and motivation, they also lack the time and the capability of thinking rationally about politics, as political theorist James Burnham summarized in his essential work, The Machiavellians (1943):

“The inability of the masses to function scientifically in politics rests primarily on the following factors: the huge size of the mass group, which makes it too unwieldy for the use of scientific techniques; the ignorance, on the part of the masses, of the methods of administration and rule; the necessity, for the masses, of spending most of their energies on the bare making of a living, which leaves little energy or time for gaining more knowledge about politics or carrying out practical political tasks; the lack, in most people, of a sufficient degree of those psychological qualities—ambition, ruthlessness, and so on—that are prerequisites for active political life.”

Though these insights about political representation have long been known, they have been suppressed in order to maintain the illusion of majority rule. “Democracy” has such a positive connotation in the Western value system that it is understandably difficult for most people to accept that they do not “rule” in any meaningful sense. This reality is all the more difficult to grasp since some policies from the ruling minority do, and even must, consider majority public opinion to some extent. If pressed, most people would nevertheless admit that though they have elected “representatives,” they actually have no real say over several areas (e.g., foreign, monetary, and trade policy), even though these areas impact their lives greatly. 

The Inherent Instability of All Political Systems

Though the illusion of democracy is slowly fading in the West, it is not so much because of a realization of the truths presented above. Rather, it is because representative democracy, like all political systems, is inherently unstable. It has long been known that conditions constantly change, to paraphrase Heraclitus, but it is not widely understood that political systems are ill-suited for this basic reality. Though democracy might sometimes seem to work well, the never-ending economic, social, demographic, and technical changes to society make such impressions short-lived. 

Regardless of the political system, the power balance at any given time between state and society, and between the ruling minority and the ruled majority, is constantly disrupted by such changing conditions. The seemingly inexorable increase in state interventionism has a negative impact on wealth-creation and private property, forcing socialization, and leading to a rise in political tensions. When the state becomes more bureaucratic, it fails to keep up with a changing society, and thereby destabilizes the power balance. Further, political tensions also arise if the ruling minority pushes a political agenda that disregards or even antagonizes the majority. 

Democracy, in particular, is subject to constant swings of political tensions due to its inherent lack of fairness: the losing side of an election (more than half in plurality systems) is not represented. As Gustave de Molinari wrote, democracy “insist[s] that the decisions of the majority must become law, and that the minority is obliged to submit to it, even if it is contrary to its most deeply rooted convictions and injures its most precious interests.” Voting phenomena like Duverger’s Law and Arrow’s paradox tend to soften Molinari’s stark description but, by distorting election results, they hardly make them more representative or more fair.

When the state’s size and power is limited (i.e., statist interventionism in society is weak), the state’s record as defender of property rights would naturally be considered more important than whether or not the majority is democratically represented. Conversely, when the state’s power is extensive (i.e., the state is strongly interventionist), whether at a national or supranational level, the majority surely has high expectations from democracy since the direction of society hangs, grotesquely, on the decisions of its executive and legislative branches. 

A Necessary Reduction of State Power

It is possible then to conclude that a limitation of state power is necessary in order to reduce political tensions in society and to introduce much-needed stability, regardless of whether or not the political system is considered “democratic.” This requires a decentralization of decision-making and a reduction of the role of the state, by strengthening the free market and individual rights. The result would be a freer society, able to adapt more naturally and harmoniously to the changing conditions. Thus, what is needed is “more freedom” rather than “more democracy.”

Unfortunately, the illusion of democracy has led the majorities in the West to conflate democracy with freedom. This is a significant mistake because democracy is no guarantee for freedom, even if majority rule were possible. On the contrary, when concessions to the majority have been made, such as welfare spending through fiscal redistribution, these have had deleterious effects on society and reduced economic freedom. As Tocqueville said, “I dearly love liberty and respect for rights, but not democracy.”

Considering the misconceptions about political representation that have been presented here, it is high time to fully smash the illusion of democracy in the West and substitute freedom for democracy as the highest political goal to attain and to protect.

Finn Andreen is a Swedish libertarian living in France.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 11:13 am
Reply to  Roger

Signs of this can be seen in the problematic elections that have taken place in his native France and other Western countries. 

Ah yes, problematic. Need for bipartisanship emerging.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 11:15 am
Reply to  H B Bear

“The regime”, as dover calls it, isn’t for power sharing.

Unless coerced into concessions, that is.

Atm, the European iteration is looking decidedly shaky.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 12:16 pm
Reply to  Roger

Subsidiarity, with decisions devolved to the lowest practicable level, might offer some relief from the rule by minorities that the current iteration of “democracy” produces.

cohenite
September 22, 2024 10:25 am

I didn’t get past the first cartoon in WIP before I was laughing:

Hezbollah-blowing-up-cartoon
Mother Lode
Mother Lode
September 22, 2024 10:48 am

Jimmy Dore is unimpressed with the Israeli pager/walkie-talkie attacks ion Hezbollah.

He doesn’t seem to like Israel at all. I suppose he must occasionally burnish those progressive bona fides.

Frank
Frank
September 22, 2024 10:59 am

Quite the screed from numbers this morning. It will be fun when he realises that teachers work for the government. Self awareness to follow in short order.

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 12:18 pm
Reply to  Frank

Even in non-government schools, teachers are largely bound by the government approved curriculum.

Wally Dali
Wally Dali
September 22, 2024 11:07 am

Roger, that Mises Wire guest paste is a great read, thanks heaps

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 11:19 am
Reply to  Wally Dali

I thought it clarified a number of things concisely, Wally.

The Mises site is here.

I’ve taken to posting one of their more interesting articles here every Sunday.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 22, 2024 11:07 am

Asylum claims at six-year high as record numbers await decisionBy Natassia ChrysanthosSeptember 22, 2024 — 3.00am

Listen to this article
7 min
The number of people seeking asylum in Australia has hit a six-year high and a record 117,500 people are on shore awaiting a decision or deportation as huge backlogs and five-year wait times expose the country’s immigration system to exploitation.
The list of people in limbo is growing by about 1000 a month, creating a backdoor for people on temporary visas who run out of options, including students, to keep working in Australia by applying for asylum and entering the drawn-out appeal process.
It means those found to be genuine refugees are also forced to wait years for security.

The Labor government has spent $275 million to step up resourcing and accelerate processes after a review found delays were “motivating bad actors to take advantage by lodging increasing numbers of non-genuine applications for protection”.
But it faces a tough task in wresting control of the system as latest Home Affairs data reveals 25,210 people applied for protection visas in the 2023-24 financial year, the highest number of applicants since 27,931 people in 2017-18. More than four in five asylum claims were rejected, with applicants from Vietnam lodging the highest portion, followed by those from China and India.
Helen Duncan, chief executive of the Migration Institute of Australia, said it was “without doubt” that people who probably did not have legitimate claims were using protection visas to extend their stays in Australia.
“It’s not a situation we like to see because it means genuine refugees have their cases delayed because of huge backlogs and cases that have no merit,” she said. “If the processing was quicker, people wouldn’t be using it to delay their stay in Australia. But it’s there, so people use it in the wrong way.”

Black Ball
Black Ball
September 22, 2024 11:08 am

Excellent day yesterday. Had lunch with the great Bushie, Farmer Gez, Matrix, John and Mater. Along with wives of Mater and Matrix.
Fantastic to just sit and listen to these people and their experiences.

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 11:18 am
Reply to  Black Ball

Skite! 😀

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 22, 2024 11:23 am
Reply to  Black Ball

Mater is missed on the Cat..

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 11:30 am

Numbers will get him back.

MatrixTransform
September 22, 2024 11:45 am
Reply to  Black Ball

and it was awesome to finally meet yourself and Gez, BB

… lunch with half a dozen INTJ personality types
… excellent stuff!

Last edited 3 months ago by MatrixTransform
132andBush
132andBush
September 22, 2024 1:39 pm

Close, Im an FJ

calli
calli
September 22, 2024 2:52 pm
Reply to  132andBush

Me too. We’re actually terrifying up close.

Best not to scare the horses.

MatrixTransform
September 22, 2024 6:17 pm
Reply to  132andBush

lol … same as the missus

132andBush
132andBush
September 22, 2024 1:41 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Likewise, BB (of the broken wing)

mc
mc
September 22, 2024 3:01 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Was sorry to miss out BB. Hopefully when I’m through this i can make the next one.

Megan
Megan
September 22, 2024 3:10 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Ahem! Where was my invite? I could have used some sane conversation with the likes of you lot.

MatrixTransform
September 22, 2024 6:20 pm
Reply to  Megan

the missus kept asking about you

I just assumed you were a decliner

Megan
Megan
September 22, 2024 9:56 pm

I’d have been there like a shot had I known. Next time.

132andBush
132andBush
September 22, 2024 6:25 pm
Reply to  Megan

Shall try harder. Promise.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 23, 2024 3:56 pm
Reply to  Megan

I’ll vouch for Megan, who came to an arvo tea at our place once with Cassie, and have also met up with Bushie and Mater and wife and kids. When Cats network IRL, it’s a lot of fun. Good to put a face to an online persona.

JC
JC
September 22, 2024 11:11 am
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 11:24 am

Global warming is coming for our toilets.

Many people in the Pacific lack access to adequate toilets—and climate change makes things worse (Phys.org, 21 Sep)

Here’s who they are:

Benny Zuse Rousso

Research Fellow, International Water Centre, Griffith University

Regina Souter

Associate Professor & Director, International WaterCentre, Griffith University

Sigh. Maybe that august educational centre should go back to being the Mount Gravatt Teacher’s College.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 11:31 am

For funding just apply greenwash.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 11:33 am

Hard to out carpetbag the Pacific Islanders.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 11:41 am

Thanks for the post Roger- got me thinking about the last 10 years. It’s almost as if the internet has allowed scrutiny of the elites to a degree never previously possible. Furthermore, it’s allowed genuinely populist candidates to talk directly to voters. This has caused the elites (the political-meja class) to reveal their true selves and their willingness to use Stalinist tactics to stifle dissent.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:15 pm
Reply to  Miltonf

Trump v1.0 bypassed the MSM completely.

will
will
September 22, 2024 11:41 am

BMW driver at centre of Daylesford crash that killed five people walked free from court.

The diabetic driver charged after two children and three adults were killed in a horror beer garden crash has had his case thrown out of court after a magistrate ruled the evidence was ‘so weak’.

William Herbert Swale, 66, had all charges dismissed this week after his lawyers successfully argued his actions were not voluntary because he was in a state of severe hypoglycemia.

The tragedy unfolded at 6.07pm on November 5 last year, when Mr Swale’s car careened down a hill and through an outdoor dining area outside The Royal Daylesford Hotel.

The lives of two families, visiting the country town in Victoria’s spa country, were forever altered as five people were killed and six others injured on the Melbourne Cup long weekend.

Initially rushed to hospital after the crash, Mr Swale was charged with 14 offences following a month-long police investigation.

Prosecutors had alleged the type-1 diabetic, diagnosed three decades ago, knew or ought to have known the risks of getting behind the wheel with low blood sugar.

They accepted he was in a state of severe hypoglycemia at the time of the fatal crash, but pointed to him getting behind the wheel 40 minutes earlier, alleging gross negligence.

so not murder as no intent, but it surely is manslaughter and dangerous driving, or does everyone get away with that, not only senior labour figures?

Bluey
Bluey
September 22, 2024 1:44 pm
Reply to  will

Probably a connection to labour in there somewhere then.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 3:56 pm
Reply to  Bluey

I did suggest a look at his political donation history may just be fruitful.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 11:43 am

The Starliner debacle claims a scalp…

The head of Boeing’s defense and space business is out as company tries to fix troubled contracts (21 Sep)

The company said Theodore “Ted” Colbert III was removed immediately as president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security and replaced temporarily by the division’s chief operating officer, Steve Parker. A search is underway for a permanent replacement.

Colbert spent 15 years at Boeing, serving as chief information officer and leading its global-services business before running the defense unit.

So I did as you do and looked him up. Yep, my woke bingo card got another box ticked.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:19 pm

Lot of brand damage being done by these bozos. QANTAS too.

MatrixTransform
September 22, 2024 11:46 am

will P Diddy survive the weekend?

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 12:00 pm

Just received a message telling me to behave.

As you were.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 12:06 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Yes.

All the high profile conservative, and libertarians, et al, that I service.

Do you know … yeah nah.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:20 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Too polite. Just fvck off.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
September 22, 2024 12:00 pm

Not a bad feed either BB.
Keep that wing out of trouble.

Lawgi Dawes-Hall
Lawgi Dawes-Hall
September 22, 2024 12:09 pm

Maybe that august educational centre should go back to being the Mount Gravatt Teacher’s College.

If only Dawkins had become a winemaker…

Wiki: “He is the son of Muriel (née Lee Steere) and Alec Letts Dawkins. His father, originally from Adelaide, was an orthopaedic surgeon and military physician during World War II with the rank of brigadier.[3] His maternal grandfather Sir Ernest Augustus Lee Steere was a prominent pastoralist and businessman in Western Australia, while his uncle Sir Ernest Henry Lee-Steere served as Lord Mayor of Perth in the 1970s.[4]… Dawkins attended primary school in Cottesloe and went on to attend Scotch College, Perth. After leaving school he moved to South Australia to attend Roseworthy Agricultural College, graduating with a diploma in agriculture in 1968” 

Eyrie
Eyrie
September 22, 2024 12:12 pm

Numbers, the right/left thing politically is very simple. The Left wants more government – rules, regulations, hoops to jump through etc. The Right wants fewer of these.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 1:33 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

I prefer to describe along these lines:
The Left is a parasite.
The Right is Ivermectin.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 12:12 pm

I think Griffith is a Menzies uni like Macquarie, LaTrobe, Flinders. Never much chop I suspect and none of them are much good now anyway.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 12:14 pm

Hezbies are getting curry.

Israel Unleashes Hell On South Lebanon With Giant Mystery Bomb As War Escalates (22 Sep)

Massive escalation along the southern Lebanese border is very clear at this point, as Israeli jets have pounded Hezbollah positions through much of Saturday. 

Al Jazeera correspondents have confirmed that “Israel’s military launched 400 attacks on Lebanon on Saturday and Hezbollah fired rockets at the Ramat David base near the city of Haifa, in their largest exchange of fire since the war on Gaza began.”

Another indicator of the escalation is that Israel is apparently beginning use much bigger bombs compared to much of the past nearly year of internecine fighting. The below widely circulating footage shows a large flash and skyscraper-size fireball, resulting in some viewers speculating it was likely a heavy bunker-buster bomb

I wonder if they found Nasrallah’s underground bunker? That would be worth a MOAB.

Eyrie
Eyrie
September 22, 2024 12:17 pm

so not murder as no intent, but it surely is manslaughter and dangerous driving

If he’d been impaired due alcohol he’d be in jail. Diabetics surely have a duty of care to be fit to drive as do we all, all the time.

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 12:27 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

IIRC, an epilepsy sufferer got jail time in Sydney about 20 years ago, some issue about his capability to drive at the time.

Beertruk
September 22, 2024 12:51 pm
Reply to  Boambee John

On the subject of epilepsy, I am of the understanding that if you have a fit, and you have a driver’s license, you are forbidden to drive for six months. If you have another fit within that six months, the six month ban starts again.

Perfidious Albino
Perfidious Albino
September 22, 2024 9:51 pm
Reply to  Beertruk

Correct, similarly with certain heart conditions.

hzhousewife
hzhousewife
September 22, 2024 2:03 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

One hopes he has no current licence to drive.

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 2:37 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

I hope the families sue him into penury.
Most likely already started hiding his assets.

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 12:19 pm

“The ability to supply the device to Hezbollah was helped by the fact that the terror group cannot make purchases on the open market, because of suppliers’ fears of US sanctions, and therefore must routinely work with intermediary suppliers”
Makes sense.

https://x.com/OliaOnX/status/1837651935001706822?t=lA5kb1c8UoXcaYA_focCNg&s=19

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 12:21 pm

I suspect the Dawkins reforms were cribbed from the Poms where all the Polytechnics suddenly became unis eg Uni of Westminster.

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 12:21 pm

“I’m not sure people grasp how brave the women at these events are. They know that trans activists are violent scum, but they come anyway.”
https://x.com/Glinner/status/1837495112827387924?t=XV_BnKliuCM9SP-p6grZnA&s=19

Eyrie
Eyrie
September 22, 2024 12:21 pm

I’m really not looking forward NOT to the soon to be implemented extra security measures as a result of the Pager bombs. Start with airlines and go from there. I’m sure we’ll kill people as a result. Hundreds have already died after we locked the cockpit doors after 9/11
A can of worms has been opened.

Perfidious Albino
Perfidious Albino
September 22, 2024 9:54 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

Good point Eryie, I wonder if Mossad satisfied themselves there was no chance of any pager carriers being in range but airborne at the time?

Last edited 3 months ago by Perfidious Albino
Eyrie
Eyrie
September 22, 2024 12:25 pm

Regarding Starship Flight 5 and the FAA:
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/essays-and-commentaries/spacex-and-elon-musk-blast-the-faas-red-tape-again/

RTWT. The FAA are a pack of utter bastards who must be taking lessons from CASA which is yet another criminal organisation.
I’m told by a former insider that the only two things discussed at lunch at CASA are “how’s my super going” and ” Who in the industry I managed to screw over this morning”.

Helen
Helen
September 22, 2024 7:54 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

Common joke
CASA is not happy unless you are not happy.

mem
mem
September 22, 2024 12:27 pm

The real climate deniers are those that refuse to acknowledge that the climate changed before we started burning fossil fuels.

?A great Message to quote back at the climate fanatics.
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/09/20/the-real-climate-change-deniers-are-those-who-deny-the-climate-changed-before-we-started-burning-fossil-fuels-says-geologist/

Top Ender
Top Ender
September 22, 2024 12:27 pm

Do these blokes get paid to go to work every day???

Secret Service admits its ‘failure’ during Donald Trump assassination attempt, reveals different radio frequency meant Secret Service unaware of shooter on roof
Sky

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 12:28 pm

ASD
“They exhibit an intense and focused preoccupation with limited interests that are often unusual or abnormal in their intensity.”
Greta has switched from climate to jihad, it’s as though the climate is longer the pressing issue it was just a couple of years ago.
Weird.

Arky
September 22, 2024 12:34 pm

Celebrity rapper turns out to be accused of pimping, and drug dealing.
I mean, who would expect that?
All that music with such positive, Christian messages!
I think I’m losing faith in humanity.
Sigh.
If you can’t trust the gangster rappers, who can you trust?

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
September 22, 2024 12:35 pm

We know Van Fatham is on drugs.
But this unhinged screed is 2 pencils up the nose wibble wibble fingerpainting with poo all over the place.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/22/yes-more-australians-should-have-access-to-ivf-but-talk-of-a-fertility-problem-has-the-the-scent-of-old-patriarchy

The review recommends establishing uniform national fertility law, guaranteeing equal rights for same-sex and single-by-choice birthing parents and ditching the ridiculous must-be-unpregnantly-banged-for-a-year current definition of “infertility” (yes, true). It also proposes an expansion of reproductive health services and removing economic barriers to accessing reproductive care.

Awesome, lets subsidise the group with the worst outcomes for kids … single mums.

Arky
September 22, 2024 12:41 pm

IVF is a conundrum for leftist hags.
On the one hand it involves disposing of dozens of unused fetuses, on the other there is the risk it brings new life into the world.
On balance, they’d like you to do it, but feel really bad about it.
Optimally, I think they’d like more research into how babies could be incubated in rectums.

Last edited 3 months ago by Arky
Old Lefty
Old Lefty
September 22, 2024 6:05 pm

Clementine Ford’s nearest rival in the stupidity stakes.

PeterM
PeterM
September 22, 2024 12:49 pm

Does Israel turning its attention to the north indicate that it considers the situation in the south to be coming under control?

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
September 22, 2024 12:57 pm

Take 2. Stinking buggy website, sorry DB need to vent.

As a lowly geo I jagged an invite to the 2 RAR INTERFET reunion recovery at the See View Hotel thru s mate.

Could be a long long long arvo…

33deg here beautiful spring day.

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 12:59 pm

The more I read the offerings of of mtf trans on the internet the more obvious it becomes that most of them are porn addicted autogynephils.

“Autogynephilia is defined as a male’s propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female” 
Why are you always carrying water for them Monty?

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 1:15 pm
Reply to  Rosie

No dick, he feels like one?

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 1:30 pm

I think Griffith is a Menzies uni like Macquarie, LaTrobe, Flinders.

Griffith was mooted by the QLD government as an extension of UQ for boomer kids right on the cusp of the cultural revolution of the late ’60s.

By the time it was opened it was ’75 and the long march was underway.

A mate did an Arts degree there in the late ’70s. I remember him showing me the texts – full on counter-cultural crap. Despite this miseducation he went on to build a successful business as a media entrepreneur.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 1:38 pm
Reply to  Roger

No Shakespeare or Chaucer for him eh.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 1:40 pm
Reply to  Miltonf

No. But in QLD at least we did those in high school in those days.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 4:02 pm
Reply to  Roger

Same in NSW

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 1:36 pm

“Trans Activists Set Off Explosion in Attempt to Sabotage Conference Critical of Gender Ideology”
Hahaha its just another tin of Heinz

https://reduxx.info/france-trans-activists-set-fire-to-venue-in-attempt-to-sabotage-conference-critical-of-gender-ideology/

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 22, 2024 1:40 pm

so not murder as no intent, but it surely is manslaughter and dangerous driving

If he’d been impaired due alcohol he’d be in jail. Diabetics surely have a duty of care to be fit to drive as do we all, all the time.

As does anyone with a medical condition which is likely to impair driving.
The mantra for diabetics is “over five before you drive”.
That is, blood glucose should be above 5.0 mmol/L before you drive.
But it is not required by law.
Below 4.0 is considered hypoglycaemic territory, but 5.0 gives a bit of a margin.
No excuse with the BGM technology available today (which this guy had, but chose to ignore).
There is something very suss about this case.

Diogenes
Diogenes
September 22, 2024 1:57 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

Kidneys have recovered enough to come off Insulin and go back on Metformin (type 2 diabetic) – woohoo.

Until I was on insulin I never had a hypo, I have had about 10 in the last 3 months. After the first one, I knew what it felt like if my bg was 5.2 or lower and tested myself ( no continuous monitor here ), only once did it drop under 4, only because food I had ordered took a little longer than expected to come out.

That arsehat should be charged. A drunk/drugged driver can’t get away with ” I was so drunk/high I didn’t know what I was doing”. Funnily enough, being drunk/high is a mitigating factor for other crimes … It shouldn’t be either.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:27 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

There is something very suss about this case

Possibly. It does have the smell of Victoriastan justice about it. I don’t think he’s quite out the woods yet. The timing of VicPlod’s arrest on the Easy St murders was fortuitous. I’m sure it was just a coincidence.

Miltonf
Miltonf
September 22, 2024 1:45 pm

Sure is. Connections perhaps.

Jock
Jock
September 22, 2024 1:48 pm

The pager attack in Hezbuttallah, reminded me that we are open to obvious threats . Jamesw Patterson has been banging on abnout security cameras from china, and for that matter, solar panels, EVs, Phones, etc etc. We are more wide open than hookers at a WEF Davos convention.

if the israelis did indeed put a fix on the pagers and other infrastructure of hezbolaknuts, then we would be far easier to fool, given we are so utterly open and trusting.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 23, 2024 7:38 am
Reply to  Jock

Hairy, who has expertese in computer security matters, thinks they’ve worked out a way to use code to overheat the lithium batteries. Of course they are happy to have people think it was due to hand-loading explosives.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 22, 2024 1:51 pm

Rosie
 September 22, 2024 12:59 pm

The more I read the offerings of of mtf trans on the internet the more obvious it becomes that most of them are porn addicted autogynephils.

Actually, come to think of it, I haven’t seen m0nster for a couple of days.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 3:59 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

You’re keeping track?

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 4:01 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

I have met four blokes on the Cat. All addicted to porn. Married men and all.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

You think you know your beloved?

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 4:03 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

Talk to me sancho. You want at it! Do it! Long time coming.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 4:04 pm
Reply to  Ellie

You bullied me for years. I now have a voice. Come on!

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 4:05 pm
Reply to  Ellie

You were Leigh Lowe back then.

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
September 22, 2024 1:53 pm

Don’t know if anyone else has seen this but…

Mission: Incompetent

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 2:47 pm
Reply to  Mother Lode

Oh God! That was pee worthy. 😀

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 2:50 pm
Reply to  Pogria

You are a hoot! Lol

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 2:01 pm

My father died recently.

The best memory was deep sea fishing. We went off the coast of the Bay of Plenty in Tauranga, New Zealand.

I asked to jump off the boat. My father allowed me to. We were way off the coast. He said he would put the shark detector on. I swam. It was exhilarating.

On the way back the motor died. Dad put me on a crate to see over the top of the steering wheel

He said, see that light on the horizon … focus on that. Don’t take your focus off it. I steered the boat, focusing on the point he told me to.

I cried. I was 12. I made him proud. To cut a long story short, I made my dad happy.

RIP

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 2:09 pm
Reply to  Ellie

My dad loves fishing. He’s very close to putting down his line for the last time though. But 88 is a fine innings.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 2:15 pm

My dad lost limbs. I hadn’t seen him for years. He was in his 90s. Longevity on his side.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 2:16 pm

Love the memory of catching a fish, scaling it, gutting it and cooking it.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 2:26 pm
Reply to  Ellie

My dad has a sink set up behind his garage. He mostly catches fish like whiting and blackfish these days. He cleans them at the sink and the local magpies have worked this out.

He now gets 18 of them when he cleans and guts his fish – they get the various bits, like fish innards, heads and the backbone.

I have infected my old dad with the bird disease… 😀

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 2:46 pm

The bird disease? Lol
Get vaxed!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 3:20 pm
Reply to  Ellie

It’s a nice disease. Today so far I’ve had the beautiful lady from yesterday on my hand twice. The other two in the clan also arrived this morning. I hope I’ll get a chance to make friends with the kids!

(My dad for a long time had a satin bowerbird male who had a bower about 10m from his kitchen window. Much fine viewing! Especially when the rival males would come and demolish the bower.)

Vicki
Vicki
September 22, 2024 4:41 pm

I loathe bowerbirds. Years ago I was gardening & took off a wonderful Lapis Lazuli (which is a blue semi-precious stone) ring which I bought in Egypt. I put it on the fence & it was snitched by a damn bower bird!

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 3:50 pm

Get my email from Dover. Don’t be frightened, the fact I had an affair with a God loving, Turnbull libertarian. Oy vey!

mareeS
mareeS
September 22, 2024 7:39 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Rubbish. You live in an alternative mental universe.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 4:10 pm
Reply to  Indolent

The vote came after a day of debate on Tuesday.

Argentina, Czechia, Fiji, Hungary, Malawi, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Tuvalu and the United States joined Israel in opposing the resolution.

Notably, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Ukraine and Australia were among those who abstained.

What a farking disgraceful act by Australia.

1735099
1735099
September 22, 2024 2:05 pm

Gareth Evans in the Oz – 17 September 2024

Paul Keating, Bob Carr and I seem to have jangled a few security establishment nerves with our critique of the AUKUS submarine deal as having profound negative implications for Australia’s security and sovereignty.

Our former colleagues and advisers Kim Beazley, Paul Dibb, Mike Pezzullo, and the US Study Centre’s Peter Dean, were in full war-cry mode in The Weekend Australian. And they have now been joined by ANU’s John Blaxland, currently seconded to the Australian Embassy in Washington.
Our critique, much of which has either been misrepresented or ignored in these responses, has five basic elements.

One, there is zero certainty of the timely delivery of the eight AUKUS boats. Both the US and UK have explicit opt-out rights. Even in the wholly unlikely event that everything falls smoothly into place, we will be waiting 40 years for the last boat to arrive, posing real capability gap issues.

Two, even acknowledging the superior capability of nuclear-propelled submarines, making large assumptions about their continued detectability advantages, and accepting for the sake of argument the utility of “deterrence at a distance”, how useful will this eight-boat fleet actually be for Australia’s defence? When, given usual operating constraints, only two of them will be deployable across our vast maritime environment at any one time.

Third, even assuming the eye-watering cost of these boats is fiscally manageable, it will make much harder the acquisition of other capabilities — in particular, state-of-the-art missiles, aircraft and drones — arguably even more important than submarines for any kind of self-reliant capacity in meeting an invasion threat, were one ever to arise.

Four, the price now being demanded by the US for giving us access to its nuclear propulsion technology — achieving what is now described as fleet “interchangeability”, not just “interoperability” — has become indefensibly high.
The conversion of Stirling into a major base for a US Indian Ocean fleet will mean Perth now joining Pine Gap and the North West Cape, and probably the B-52 base at Tindal, as a potential nuclear target. It is hard to conceive of Australia ever being a target of any kind of Chinese military attack short of our being sucked into fighting alongside the US in a war not of our making, and manifestly not in our national interest. But that prospect is now very real. given the abdication of Australian sovereign agency inherent in the AUKUS decision as it has evolved.

Five, the purchase price we are now paying, for all its exorbitance, will never be enough to guarantee the absolute protective insurance that supporters of AUKUS think they are buying.

ANZUS, it cannot be said too often, does not bind the US to defend Australia, even in the event of existential attack. We can rely on military support if the US sees it in its own national interest to offer it, but not otherwise.

The issue that most troubles me, Keating and Carr in all of this — and which most seems to enrage AUKUS defenders — is what we see as the loss of Australian sovereign independence that’s necessarily involved. Those who deny that this is even an issue like Dean, or ignore it entirely like Blaxland, are simply defying reality.

And those who accept the reality of our loss of sovereign agency, but actually applaud it as a price worth paying for our protection — such as Beazley, Dibb and Pezzullo — seem to have lost not only any sense of national pride, but of Australia’s national interest.

Dean makes the risible claim that I and my colleagues are “claiming an elaborate conspiracy theory” in “asking people to ignore the statements of their own government about us having control of these (submarine) capabilities”.

Of course, our government will insist that it retains control as to how these assets are used, as will always be the case on paper. But the reality, should serious tensions erupt, will be very different.

It defies credibility to think that Washington will ever go ahead with its sale of Virginias to us in the absence of an understanding that they will join the US in any fight in which it chooses to engage anywhere in our region, particularly over Taiwan. Are we all just meant to ignore Kurt Campbell’s indiscreet observation at the time of the AUKUS announcement that “we have them locked in now for the next 40 years”? I have had personal ministerial experience of being a junior allied partner of the US in a hot conflict situation — the first Gulf War in 1991 — and my recollections are not pretty.

Even more troubling is the uncritical acceptance by Beazley, Dibb and Pezzullo of the loss of sovereign agency which they acknowledge, with varying degrees of frankness, is necessarily involved in our embrace of the AUKUS submarine project. Pezzullo goes so far as to cheer what he describes as a “‘pooling of sovereignty’ in the face of a belligerent China”.
All this is not just depressing, but sickening, for all those Australians who have long nurtured the belief that we are a fiercely independent nation, ever more conscious of the need to engage constructively, creatively and sensitively with our own Indo-Pacific neighbourhood. And a country which had put behind us the “fear of abandonment” which had been so central to our defence and diplomacy for so much of the last century: recognising, as Paul Keating continues to put it so articulately, that we need to find our security in Asia, not from Asia.

For all practical purposes, our AUKUS commitment may well now be irreversible. But so too is likely to be the judgment that this will prove one of the worst defence and foreign policy decisions Australia has ever made.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 2:21 pm
Reply to  1735099

Saw that when the Oz ran it. Laughed.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:32 pm
Reply to  1735099

When you find yourself grouped with Keating and Used Carr you should probably stop and ask yourself where you’ve gone wrong. Biggles is not missed.

Titus Groates
Titus Groates
September 22, 2024 4:16 pm
Reply to  1735099

Evans got a leg over Cheryl Kernot. That says everything about his character.

Vicki
Vicki
September 22, 2024 4:35 pm
Reply to  1735099

In spite of a few of Evans’ arguments having some validity, the very prospect of agreement with the likes of Gareth Evans and Bob Carr – let alone the Machiavellian spectre of Paul Keating (!) – is just too sickening to contemplate.

Indolent
Indolent
September 22, 2024 2:11 pm

This, from the Lotus Eaters, is essential viewing.

The Headless Tyrant

Last edited 3 months ago by Indolent
hzhousewife
hzhousewife
September 22, 2024 2:19 pm
Reply to  Indolent

Gosh, almost 30,000 views in 9 hours, impressive. Wish the day had 48 hours…..

Arky
September 22, 2024 2:21 pm

Trying to do a deep dive on the Diddy allegations, but I can’t understand a word they’re saying.
Does anyone here speak jive?

Perplexed of Brisbane
Perplexed of Brisbane
September 22, 2024 4:05 pm
Reply to  Arky

I think there is new term that replaced ‘jive’ in the ‘hood.

It’s called ‘ebonics’.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 2:21 pm

Much as I detest Evans et. al. they have a point about sovereignty.

As for Perth becoming a nuclear target…meh.

Perfidious Albino
Perfidious Albino
September 22, 2024 10:09 pm
Reply to  Roger

I accept the principle, but absent the plausible means to defend our sovereignty ourselves, it’s taking one hell of a risk to eschew such partnerships and just hope for the best… it’s not like these clowns are suggesting we slash welfare to fund a sovereign defence.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 2:22 pm

Just kidding, Perthians.

😀

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:39 pm
Reply to  Roger

Phew. Losing Kwinana might not be a bad idea. Sneakers territory.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:41 pm
Reply to  H B Bear

Nullarbor will look after the mushroom cloud like it does with starlings.

Rosie
Rosie
September 22, 2024 2:23 pm

Bizarre and repulsive behaviour from a defence lawyer in the Pélicot case.
https://x.com/helenstaniland/status/1837599224466211185?t=CcOlfkmdA0DLUvH3TBTZYw&s=19

Indolent
Indolent
September 22, 2024 2:24 pm
Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 22, 2024 2:28 pm

As a lowly geo I jagged an invite to the 2 RAR INTERFET reunion recovery at the See View Hotel

Oh my lordy.

The Seaview Hotel is (or was) unrivalled – absolutely unrivalled – as a Sunday session venue.

Godspeed, RD.

Lawgi Dawes-Hall
Lawgi Dawes-Hall
September 22, 2024 2:37 pm

80’s joke: Why does Gareth Evans always book 2 seats on a plane?

One for himself and one for his ego.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:50 pm

Cheryl was impressed.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 2:51 pm
Reply to  H B Bear

Adam Bandt knows the danger of getting into bed with the government.

Salvatore - Iron Publican
September 22, 2024 2:42 pm

Paul Keating, Bob Carr and I [Gareth Evans] seem to have jangled a few security establishment nerves with our critique of the AUKUS submarine deal as having profound negative implications for Australia’s security and sovereignty.

Gareth Evans at last leaves a positive mark on international affairs, as thanks to his refined involvement, this sounds as polished & urbane as it would have on the original directive written in Mandarin.

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 4:42 pm

His “positive” mark was the “Responsibility to Protect” theory or doctrine that probably encouraged western intervention in some shitholes, leading to much death and destruction, but not much positive.

If that “Doctrine” is not by now thoroughly discredited, it should be.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
September 22, 2024 2:56 pm

So whats the odds on one 9or more) of the 3 mentioned in numberwangs article being the Chinese agent of influence ASIO decided we didnt need the name of?

Salvatore - Iron Publican
September 22, 2024 3:02 pm

Bullseye! The odds would be so near to 100% that the margin would be ungraphable.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 3:08 pm

ASIO is our own alphabet agency. See also IBAC, ICAC et al.

Arky
September 22, 2024 3:29 pm

Given that the Ukraine war is being fought on both sides with obsolete equipment that would otherwise have cost a fortune to dispose of safely, I’m highly suspicious of the entire enterprise at this point.
That men are being blown apart in vehicles decades older than they are, by munitions past expiration, over land that doesn’t seem worth a shit…

Last edited 3 months ago by Arky
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 3:39 pm
Reply to  Arky

Um, no, they aren’t fighting with “obsolete equipment”. Exactly the opposite.

The advance of drone technology in the last two years has been breathtaking. Ukraine is now the world leader in that war tech. Russia is second.

We here in Australia are in the previous century in this aspect. We’re screwed.

Vicki
Vicki
September 22, 2024 4:31 pm
Reply to  Arky

I was in the Ukraine decades ago. I recall that it was then thought of as the “breadbasket” for the Ruskies.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
September 22, 2024 3:32 pm

You can tell Prenti Downs Station ( look it up on Google Earth ) has had some good rain this year. Lots of green to be seen. I’d love to spend a couple of months up there. People from around the globe have said the same.

Kudod to the blokes going up there to harvest the flesh*

*Don’t watch this clip if you are squeamish. Camels are a pest that need to be controlled.

——-

Jack Out The Back:

Last Camels in the Chiller

Salvatore - Iron Publican
September 22, 2024 3:35 pm

That men are being blown apart in vehicles decades older than they are, by munitions past expiration, over land that doesn’t seem worth a shit

Arky, I know what you mean & totally agree, while acknowledging that’s actually some of the (if not the) best soil on this planet.

calli
calli
September 22, 2024 3:44 pm

Just discovered you can’t completely delete a comment.

Screenshot-2024-09-22-at-3.00.32?PM
Last edited 3 months ago by calli
Helen
Helen
September 22, 2024 4:14 pm
Reply to  calli

404 for me, calli

Megan
Megan
September 22, 2024 4:17 pm
Reply to  calli

Snap! I found this out only yesterday.

calli
calli
September 22, 2024 3:47 pm

Had an excellent meme too. Never mind.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 4:21 pm
Reply to  calli

I am a fecked unit.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 4:31 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Did rehab for $1,000 a day. Saw high profile peeps. No one is exempt.

I see kunck feck criticising a celebrity for his choices in addiction.

Any criticism; you don’t understand the addiction on the brain. And you were a pig, knuck feck.

No insight.

Last edited 3 months ago by Ellie
Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 4:53 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Demons.

Knuckle fecker, you and sancho are an inch away from my trauma.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 5:46 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Yeah. Downtick me sancho and knuckle feck. Speak to me. Why do I offend you? No balls to speak to me? Come on. Put it out there. I hurt your feelings. Why?

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 4:30 pm

The Daily Mail reports that CNN continues its attacks on Kamala Harris after her live-streamed interview with Oprah Winfrey. The interview, meant to raise campaign funds, drew criticism from CNN commentators. They questioned whether Harris’s approach could cost her the election.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/kamala-harris-faces-fierce-criticism-cnn-could-this/
Easing her out so the Hildebeast can move in?

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 4:41 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

You get the impression Barry wasn’t on board the Kamala train from Day 1.

Eyrie
Eyrie
September 22, 2024 4:33 pm

Saw a map the other day of the mineral resources in Ukraine. Huge in the east and south, significant elsewhere and great agricultural land.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 22, 2024 4:39 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

Eastern Europe was the source of many of the slaves for Egypt and Rome. For a long time it was a white business.

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 5:19 pm
Reply to  dover0beach

At which times Churchill was not PM.

Arky
September 22, 2024 4:54 pm

Eastern Ukraine is worthless.
Bunch of peasant huts and Soviet era brutalist concrete flats full of toothless old women.
You could buy the entire joint for what slipped down between the cushions of Trump’s limo.
No, this game is about something else. Or somethings else.

Last edited 3 months ago by Arky
johanna
johanna
September 22, 2024 4:57 pm

Oh, dear.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-22/marxist-politician-leads-sri-lanka-s-presidential-vote/104381728

No doubt, promises of free stuff and prosperity for all characterised the campaign.

Looks like Sri Lankans are about to get it, good and hard.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 5:11 pm
Reply to  johanna

“You can Vote your way into Socialism but you have to shoot your way out.”

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 5:13 pm
Reply to  johanna

Good ol’ ALPBC stating that Sri Lanka had a “problem”, in ’22.
Absolutely no mention that GREEN policies destroyed that years harvest. That was why the country couldn’t buy fuel and food.
Turds.

johanna
johanna
September 22, 2024 5:51 pm
Reply to  Pogria

Well spotted.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
September 22, 2024 6:13 pm
Reply to  johanna

And the ABC collective will be orgasming at the thought.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
September 22, 2024 5:01 pm

Agenda Free TV:

Israel Hezbollah Fighting – LIVE Updates & Breaking News Coverage (Fears of War in Lebanon)

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
September 22, 2024 5:02 pm

Oops.

Link here.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 5:13 pm

I hate to break it to you, Zulu, but we’re funding the whole shebang, including the living allowance that the Red Cross ostensibly provides.
And you can be sure none of these people are living in a tent or a car.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 5:07 pm

I bought VPN this morning – Proton – 7day free trial.
This afternoon, got an email that my trial period was over, and the funds were being deducted from my bank account.
I’m sick of these people who give you a free period and then are uncontactable to cancel.
Looks like a drive into Longreach tomorrow and have a rant at the girls at The Commonwealth bank.

billie
billie
September 22, 2024 5:36 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

After the Proton VPN trial period, it will be activated, and they take your funds.

I use Proton, they are very reliable

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 22, 2024 7:28 pm
Reply to  billie

And I removed the software after 8 hours of nagging by Proton to upgrade my account.
I do not put up with nagging software – it was one of the reasons I tried Proton.
I won’t tolerate it in a wife, and I certainly won’t tolerate it on my computer.

calli
calli
September 22, 2024 5:10 pm

Speaking of Israel and the garbage protesting and threatening Jews here…a question from my granddaughter…

Why do we have men with guns at school?

This is where our country is right now, you bwave servants of terror.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
September 22, 2024 7:21 pm
Reply to  calli

Why do we have men with guns at school?

Having seen these gentlemen on the job, looking 100% business, I suspect the bwave servants of terror will be drawn to easier targets. If not, straight to the statutory 72 virgins, Do Not Pass Go.

What a state of affairs…

Arky
September 22, 2024 5:15 pm

Allow me to upset a few regular posters.
Wheat?
Pffft.

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 5:16 pm

With reference to Gareth Gareth Evans pontificating on AUKUS, to the extent that he made any useful contribution, his “positive” mark was the “Responsibility to Protect” theory or doctrine that probably encouraged western intervention in some shitholes, leading to much death and destruction, but not much positive.
If that “Doctrine” is not by now thoroughly discredited, it should be.

Arky
September 22, 2024 5:16 pm

…waits…

Last edited 3 months ago by Arky
Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 5:23 pm

No doubt, promises of free stuff and prosperity for all characterised the campaign. Looks like Sri Lankans are about to get it, good and hard.

That’s been happening for quite a while.

It’s officially been the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka since 1972 and socialism is enshrined in the constitution.

They’re stuck in the post-colonial Marxist mire.

Seeing the writing on the wall, anyone with any get up and go got up and left, starting with the burghers in the ’70s, quite a few of whom came to Australia.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
calli
calli
September 22, 2024 5:31 pm

Death gluten?

Arky
September 22, 2024 5:40 pm
Reply to  calli

Apparently wheat farmers are too phlegmatic to respond to trolling.

Last edited 3 months ago by Arky
MatrixTransform
September 22, 2024 6:13 pm
Reply to  Arky

bucolic indifference

cohenite
September 22, 2024 5:41 pm

Viva Frei looks at a video of demorat jamie raskin outlining what the demorats are going to do after Trump wins in November. Viva points out the irony of the demorats accusing Trump of being a threat to democracy (9 mins):

(981) PLEASE SHARE! Jamie Raskin is the TRUE THREAT TO DEMOCRACY! Disqualify Trump? Viva Frei Vlawg – YouTube

Indolent
Indolent
September 22, 2024 5:46 pm
Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 6:18 pm
Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 6:45 pm
Reply to  Ellie

October 7 … and 9 changed my life.

Ellie
Ellie
September 22, 2024 6:48 pm
Reply to  Ellie

Yes. Get emotional. But noone gets the trauma. Cassie comes close. Sorry, Cassie. I am coming across as a fecked up unit. No one understands.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 22, 2024 6:20 pm

Spent part of today on a stall at the local picnic races, and I am pleased to announce the return of the micro mini skirt, worn by some seriously shapely young ladies, indeed…

Rossini
Rossini
September 22, 2024 6:33 pm

pictures?

Pogria
Pogria
September 22, 2024 6:46 pm

Minis are wonderful on the young and shapely.
Unfortunately, they are often worn by Michelle.

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

Diogenes
Diogenes
September 22, 2024 6:58 pm

At the Maroochydore Markets lots of minis, mostly on the shapely, but there were several shockers including a lady who very obviously qualifies for a Seniors card.

Tom
Tom
September 22, 2024 6:29 pm

Like the rest of the trash who run this country, I expect this incompetent clown is immune to pressure (Paywallian):

A group of about 60 current and former University of Sydney academics and staff say there’s “too much mistrust and too much damage” for vice-chancellor Mark Scott to mend the relationship with Jewish staff and students, and he must resign.

We’ll see.

?

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 6:32 pm
Reply to  Tom

A cynic might aver that he’s been failing upwards his entire career.

What’s next…an overseas posting courtesy Albanese?

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
September 22, 2024 6:54 pm
Reply to  Roger

Ambassador to Yemen?

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
September 22, 2024 8:13 pm
Reply to  Tom

He should resign. He is not up to the job. He has brought the name of a respected unviersity into disrepute. And he has gravely wronged Jewish students. Goodbye.

Bear Necessities
Bear Necessities
September 22, 2024 6:32 pm

My biggest issue with AUKUS is that it is a vehicle for Grift across the government, corporates and unions for multiple generations. I will be very surprised if any subs are delivered before 2040. Imagine the cost blow outs as well.

Roger
Roger
September 22, 2024 6:56 pm

Let’s say we could eliminate the grift.

Would you be satisfied that the issues around sovereignty and strategic value to our defence were adequately resolved?

Must we tie Australia’s defence for the next several generations to the strategic agenda of a declining hegemon whose domestic political situation is unstable, to say the least?

Is that the best we can do and is it in our long term national interest?

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Bear Necessities
Bear Necessities
September 22, 2024 7:27 pm
Reply to  Roger

I would prefer invest in small scale, large scale and swarm drone warfare. Something that is flexible and can be used on any scale of warfare.

Boambee John
Boambee John
September 22, 2024 7:42 pm

And lots of guided missiles, aerodynamic and ballistic, linked with long range reconnaissance systems.

Muddy
Muddy
September 22, 2024 6:44 pm

Random fact.
Twenty (20) boxes of ‘Cocaine for external application’ were damaged by water and written off by the Japanese 67th L of C Hospital at Giruwa, Papua, in September, 1942.

[ATIS Enemy Publication No. 24, via the U.S. National Archives].

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