Open Thread – Thurs 14 Nov 2024


The Morning, Caspar David Friedrich, 1822

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Morsie
Morsie
November 15, 2024 3:21 pm

I see the Victorian Minister for Education accepts responsibility for the stuffed up exams ruining kids lives.By accepting responsibility he means there will be no consequences.
I long for the days when Ministers actually accepted responsibility.

Pogria
Pogria
November 15, 2024 3:23 pm

How did we miss this?
It’s been out for eight hours!

Please Explain. Imam Grant is VERY accurately portrayed.

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

P
P
November 15, 2024 3:24 pm

Must admit I’m a bit dubious about RFK Jr. I’m sure the great one knows what he’s doing though.

It will be interesting to see who will be Secretary of USDA.

Morsie
Morsie
November 15, 2024 3:31 pm

Regarding surgeons, my wife had a fall and A & E managed to not x ray her hip despite her being disabled and in a wheelchair.Her hip was cracked and deteriorated.
Her surgeon who did do a good job in the end was asked why he was doing a posterior cut rather than the anterior cut which is far less intrusive.His response was that it was way too complicated for us to understand and that he in any event didnt have time to discuss it.He then left the room.This was the day before the procedure.I suspect due to my wife’s various conditions, he was freaking out that she might not survive the surgery.We were not filled with confidence.

Lysander
Lysander
November 15, 2024 3:39 pm

Thanks to all the Cats encouraging me to take up Aly’s offer to meet. Roger, your “proceed with caution” is duly noted.

I hope she agrees and, if so, I’m going to wear a full niqab.

Lysander
Lysander
November 15, 2024 3:47 pm

I do like my war movies and hadn’t seen Hacksaw Ridge until last night.

An absolutely amazing flick!

And a true story of a bloke, who refused out of Christian duty, to carry a gun at Okinawa and he saves 75 men one-by-one down a cliff..

Bloody awesome.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
November 15, 2024 3:47 pm

Pogria
 November 15, 2024 2:37 pm

SNORK!!

Victorian Jobs Minister give a lengthy speech at a pricey Tech conference about the awesomeness of A-one. bwahahahahaha

I’m filing that one in the hyper-bowl file.

JC
JC
November 15, 2024 3:50 pm

Yeah nah. Firstly, Arnaud didn’t run the numbers. He just reported them. Secondly, you’re quibbling over a 25% increase in industrial production over 45% when the difference this generates from now to 2030 is 40% of global industrial production vs 45%.

Naaa yes. Plastic ran with the numbers and you did also, with no qualification.
There’s no quibble. If world growth in industrial production rises at 2.5% pa, even with a 10% annual increase China’s share can only rise to 35% and not 40% let alone 45%. In other words this bullshit is not going to happen.

35% how-grown increase or share of world industrial production?

Share of global. As I said that (35%) would be the top after 5 years of Chinese industrial production even running at 10%. It would rise from 31% now to 35%.

In that circumstance, the best thing to do is nothing and just let things unfold. Either you are right and China stalls and flounders or you’re wrong and US/ markets are caught with their pants around their ankles.

The US isn’t an export/import oriented economy. It mostly focuses on making stuff etc for it own demand.

Exports of goods and services generally represent around 10–12% of GDP.

Imports are slightly higher, making up about 13–15% of GDP.

This trade intensity is relatively low compared to many other countries, due to the U.S.’s large domestic economy and abundant resources.

Last edited 2 hours ago by JC
Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
November 15, 2024 3:52 pm

calli

 November 15, 2024 3:05 pm

Been reflecting on the appointment of RFK Jnr as US Health Poohbah.

Can’t see a downside. It’s going to annoy everyone. And especially his wizened-up, disapproving, rustedon family.

I am not as concerned as I was initially.
His more off-the-wall stuff (getting rid of proven vaccines or fluoride) won’t fly in Congress or the Senate.
The best he could do is push freedom of choice, so if a particular local government wanted to ditch fluoride they could put it to the vote.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
November 15, 2024 3:55 pm

Has anyone seen Plastic Bertrand and Martin Armstrong in the same room?

billie
billie
November 15, 2024 4:08 pm

Trump’s appointments to lead his government will be like Uber arriving to the horror of the taxi industry

It will disrupt .. which is all the go isn’t it?

I look forward to this, even if it doesn’t work that well, it will pave the way for breaking out of the old ways, which is a very good thing.

Isn’t it interesting that the left want solid old boys and girls in these roles and no changes to the pattern of years gone by.

With any luck, it will sweep worldwide .. includes Australia, Canada and UK

JC
JC
November 15, 2024 4:31 pm

I would have thought saying, How far off can they be 6 years out? China and the US would already be largely where they are going to be in 2030, was indicative of there being some qualification.

I have no idea what you’re trying to say.

Hang on, is global industrial production even growing without China? The forecast for this year sans China is -0.9%. So what is the basis of the +2.5% pa without China? You are trying to make the cake grow when China is effectively the principal source of industrial growth, so forgive me if I think these numbers you’re generating appear off.

You don’t exclude China from the total if you’re trying to determine China’s proportion of that total. If global industrial production is 100 and China’s is 30, then China’s proportion is 30%. Similarly, you don’t exclude China’s share from the growth rate.
Look, if you think the stats I provided are incorrect, then show your calculations. Otherwise, spare me the cheap tricks. Show your workings, or stop casting doubt with empty nonsense.

m0nty
m0nty
November 15, 2024 4:33 pm

Fox News contributor Ben Domenech on Matt Gaetz. Par for the course.

IMG_6080
Eyrie
Eyrie
November 15, 2024 4:37 pm

Victorian Jobs Minister give a lengthy speech at a pricey Tech conference about the awesomeness of A-one

Needs to change her name to Bronwyn Halfwit.

Cassie of Sydney
November 15, 2024 4:56 pm

Nazi boy appears.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
November 15, 2024 4:59 pm

Coming our way if we don’t crack down on the false student visa factory soon. Sub-continentals with no claim for asylum will be the biggest applicants IMO along with Chinese next who will be much harder to prove as false:

https://archive.md/uirIH

Via Blazing Catfur.

calli
calli
November 15, 2024 5:00 pm

They’re confusing Gaetz with this guy.

Must happen all the time.

Miltonf
Miltonf
November 15, 2024 5:02 pm

Universities have a lot to answer for. Hot beds of marxist wrecking, PR factories. Not much scholarship.

Miltonf
Miltonf
November 15, 2024 5:03 pm

Grad cert, Diploma, Masters quals essentially for sale.

Miltonf
Miltonf
November 15, 2024 5:13 pm

Halfpenny very much a member of the nomenklatura.

Chris
Chris
November 15, 2024 5:25 pm

From: “Cash, Michaelia (Senator)” <[email protected]

Date: 15/11/24

To: Chris

Subject: RE: New website contact from Chris

Thank you for your email.

I want to reaffirm that the Coalition is strongly opposing Labor’s planned censorship laws.

In my opinion, how dare Mr Albanese attack Australians’ right to free speech. Mr Albanese MUST be stopped before it is too late. 

Let me assure you that it was the Labor members in the House, including Mr Albanese, who voted for this bill. The Coalition members did NOT. The Coalition firmly believes that this Bill represents an attack on the free speech of Australians.

Labor’s law is a bad law, and I assure you that under Peter Dutton, the Coalition will not support Labor’s Misinformation Bill. We will not support Labor’s attack on free speech. Free speech is fundamental to our democratic society and the Coalition will always defend it.

We’re now witnessing the Government trying to rush this Bill through the Senate and avoid public scrutiny of their planned new censorship laws. 

Many Australians will recall all the times the Prime Minister and his MPs referred to any comments they didn’t like in the Voice referendum debate as ‘misinformation”. If these laws had been in place last year, there is no doubt Labor would have used them in an attempt to stifle debate.

We’ve seen religious leaders, senior lawyers, human rights and civil liberties groups all come out against Labor’s Bill. Thousands of submissions have been made to the Senate inquiry, but not published. So much for Mr Albanese’s promise of transparency.

If you would like to please sign the petition now to tell the Albanese Labor Government to stop their attacks on free speech in Australia.

I can assure you that as a member of the Liberal Party I will NOT be voting for this Bill.

Thank you for raising this important issue with me.

https://www.binthebill.au/

Kind regards

 
Michaelia Cash

Senator the Hon. Michaelia Cash

SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Shadow Attorney-General

Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
 

 

From: Chris <[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, 14 November 2024 11:52 AM
To: Cash, Michaelia (Senator) <[email protected]>
Subject: New website contact
 

Disinformation and Social Media legislation.
I am very concerned about these actions being taken to harm the ability to learn information not approved by the Government. 
Because of State Labor actions such as the live sheep trade ban and the Aboriginal Heritage Act, as well as the Firearms Act, I had decided to join the Liberal Party again and volunteer as I did for many years for my State member.
However I see that the party that should be defending freedom of speech appears to be acting in concert with the values of their opponents I question the value of the entire organisation.
Please demonstrate the values that we have taken for granted all our lives to support in the Liberal party. The harm done by Tony Abbott not removing the hurt feelings section of the Human Rights legislation, is ongoing and although it looked bad then it seems we are coming closer to an actual fight against totalitarianism.
Please oppose Labor’s attempt to rob us of freedom to even know. 
Chris

Lysander
Lysander
November 15, 2024 5:36 pm
Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
November 15, 2024 5:38 pm

Apologies if already posted.

Why the (ACT) election left me angry, disgusted
The Mocker

It has been a while now since the recent election, but only now can I bring myself to put in words my anger and disgust. The voters had an opportunity to elect the first woman of colour as their chief executive. Instead they chose to return an old white male to the position. 

Full of expectation and hope, I travelled to the capital for the election. Normally I like the city, but I could not wait to get out of there when the outcome became clear. I was expecting to see a blue wave on the night, but to my dismay all I saw was a tsunami of red. 

Make no mistake: the outcome was a victory for misogyny and racism. I know for most of you this was a contest in which you were an observer only. You did not vote. Nonetheless, if you are happy with the result then I want nothing to do with you. If you follow me on social media, then please unfollow me now. 

It is hard for me even to say the winner’s name. When I pass strangers in the streets here, I look at them suspiciously. ‘You voted for him, didn’t you’, my expression says. They do not meet my eyes. Cowards and ignoramuses, all of them. 

I am told I must respect the process and accept the result. But I cannot. An election won by hate and lies is not legitimate. Therefore I refuse to recognise that Labor leader and ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr defeated former Liberal leader Elizabeth Lee  last month.

That’s how it works. My preferred candidate was unsuccessful, hence I will accuse the victor of demagoguery, as well as resort to the infantile reductionisms of identity politics. Ask me to substantiate my accusations, and I will label you an enabler of fascism.

 

But as we know, those tactics get traction only if the minority candidate in question is of the left. We saw that last week when US Vice-President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was trounced in the presidential election.

“Trump led this march of hostility and America joined in misogynistic and racist lock-step,” wrote USA Today columnist Suzette Hackney, saying the champions of President-elect Donald Trump lacked “moral decency”. 

“Black women tried to save this country again last night,” declared The View co-host Sunny Hostin. “What we did not have is white women – who voted about 52 per cent, right, for Donald Trump – uneducated white women is my understanding.”

That is the frustrating thing about uneducated people, you see. Such is their ignorance they reject the informed endorsements of the wise and the measured, whether it be actors Robert De Niro and Mark Hamill or entertainers Beyonce and Lady Gaga. How will the republic survive if singer Cher and Basic Instinct star Sharon Stone make good on their promise to leave the country following a Trump victory?

Incensed by the election outcome, radical feminists are urging women to punish heterosexual men. They advocate withholding sex and refusing to date men or have children. The members of a fringe group have even pledged to undergo a collective hysterectomy, meaning of course they will not get to pass on their genes. I think this a splendid idea. 

Given what colleges teach these days, hardly any of these activists would be aware few vice-presidents succeed in running for the top job. The inaugural veep, John Adams, described the vice-presidency as “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived, or his imagination conceived”. If true, it explains why Harris was appointed to the position. 

Okay, that is a tad unfair. To her credit, I thought she was President Joe Biden’s equal in many respects, particularly her tortuous syntax and her ability to make an entire nation cringe. Biden, at least, has the excuse of declining faculties.

Voters recognised that Harris lacks the qualities required for the presidency, especially gravitas. This is something many commentators refuse to acknowledge. Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson angrily claimed Trump was “exploiting bigotry” when he described her laughter as “cackling”. 

But Trump was right. Harris’s forced laughter is not just embarrassing. It is also a poor disguise for her nervousness and lack of confidence. The commander-in-chief must project resolve, not indecisiveness.

Could you imagine, for example, if Harris, instead of John F. Kennedy, was in the Oval Office during the Cuban missile crisis? Think of her live address to the nation: 

“My fellow Americans, this government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. And Cuba is not just an island, right? Cuba is an island that is surrounded by water. You too plainly discovered that – I mean our U-2 planes have discovered there are a lot of trees on Cuba. And the Soviets are using their missiles to hide these trees, right?”

Why voters opted for Trump instead of Harris is understandable – at least to some. 

“I just can’t understand how such a choice is possible,” wailed ABC presenter Jonathan Green in Crikey last weekend. “At their heart, the politics of Trump are divisive to the point of being fundamentally misanthropic. They put fear and hate as guiding values. They are the precise opposite of that deeper human possibility: connected empathy.”

It would make for an interesting exit poll question. “Excuse me, sir, but did you vote for Donald Trump, or did you vote for connected empathy?”

Perhaps it is just me, but I have difficulty associating that phrase with the Democrats. I do not think of connected empathy when I read of rampant anti-Semitism on American campuses. I do not think of connected empathy when I think of DEI idealogues and anti-white revisionism. And I did not think of connected empathy when I heard the reports that Trump was nearly assassinated during the campaign. 

Eight months ago, I wrote about the possibility of Trump returning to the presidency and what that would mean for the Albanese government. To summarise, half the cabinet have made derogatory, gratuitous, and often puerile remarks about the President-elect, foolishly thinking he was a spent force. A chortling Anthony Albanese chose the date of Biden’s inauguration to try to embarrass then prime minister Scott Morrison by his association with Trump. 

That was the Albanese of 2021. The Albanese of 2024 has had a rethink. He has now decided he wants to be mates with Trump. “We had a terrific discussion last week,” he said. “Good beginning to our relationship.”

I do not envy Albanese. Trump no doubt will enjoy watching him squirm. He will have to grovel, and we are talking subterranean-level grovelling. But on the positive side, Albanese has finally found a prime ministerial task that he can perform well.

Indolent
Indolent
November 15, 2024 5:42 pm

@greg_price11

John Brennan, who lied under oath about the CIA spying on Senate staffers, manufactured the Russia hoax despite knowing it was created by Hillary Clinton, claimed Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinfo, and murdered a lot of innocent people with drones, provides the best endorsement of Tulsi for DNI yet.

Lysander
Lysander
November 15, 2024 5:49 pm

LOL, Hendo on Waleed (may as well be Muntard):

Tuesday November 5
Waleed: Kamala Harris is going to win. My theory is Trump has fewer ways to win. Kamala has a bit more room for error in the people she’s targeting. Whereas Trump is really going for a particular kind of voter, especially a male voter and especially a young voter. The problem is these are people that typically do not go out and vote. But he is doing a highwire act and Kamala’s wire is slightly wider.

Today
Last week, a historically unpopular government, presiding over a period of high inflation that saw food prices especially explode, got thrown out of office. There is quite simply nothing extraordinary about that. There were some quirks along the way – Biden’s withdrawal, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally – but the essential grammar of the contest remained. Three-quarters of Americans said they were financially worse off than four years ago.

Frankly, the Republicans should be winning that election. It’s an anti-incumbent’s dream. Voters’ two biggest concerns – the economy and immigration – happened to be the Republicans’ two biggest strengths. We saw almost every demographic (black women the exception) in almost every county swing Republican.

Indolent
Indolent
November 15, 2024 5:52 pm
cohenite
November 15, 2024 5:55 pm

m0nty
 November 15, 2024 4:33 pm

Fox News contributor Ben Domenech on Matt Gaetz. Par for the course.

Dickless, benny is very even with his tirades; for instance he described Seth Meyers thus:

an “untalented piece of shit” and “monumental asshole” who “only has his job because he regularly gargled Lorne Michaels‘ balls”. 

Indolent
Indolent
November 15, 2024 5:58 pm
Lysander
Lysander
November 15, 2024 6:02 pm

Krudd on social media posting pics of himself with all sides is hardly gratifying or helpful. Of most unhelpfulness is his photo with Trump’s “insider” caddy.

This can’t help Australia.

Krudd thinks everything is about him and thinks he’s “so smart” by posting a photo with an insider… and he’s our head of diplomacy with the US…

Miltonf
Miltonf
November 15, 2024 6:06 pm

Says much about the dept. of foreign affairies that they would employ someone like Rudd in the first place.

Delta A
Delta A
November 15, 2024 6:10 pm

Crikey, was yesterday a shocker! 🙂

Admitted to day surgery for cardioversion* at 1:00pm. Finally into theatre at 5:00pm. Procedure takes about 10 minutes, then recovery for two hours.

Ended up with junctional bradycardia**. Overnight stay in Cardiac Emergency ward. Now, finally released to beautiful freedom.

Next time something’s up healthwise, I’m gonna keep mum about it.

*Cardioversion: a medical treatment that uses electric shock to the heart to convert fast, irregular heart beat. 

**Junctional bradycardia: heart rate below 40 beats per minute.

Last edited 13 minutes ago by Delta A
Arky
November 15, 2024 6:17 pm

If Trump wants to balance the budget, entire departments have to go AND social security has to be reformed.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
November 15, 2024 6:18 pm

Beijing has nominated Anthony Albanese as the leader other American allies should emulate, ahead of a meeting between the PM and Xi Jinping in Peru.

What a winner! Emperor Xi is running Elbow’s re-election campaign.

Squeal like pig, Abronese…

Eyrie
Eyrie
November 15, 2024 6:21 pm

AND social security has to be reformed.

Social Security needs some minor adjustments. It is the medical spending that needs to be drastically cut back.

Arky
November 15, 2024 6:22 pm

Beijing has nominated Anthony Albanese as the leader other American allies should emulate

That’s like being nominated as Jeffrey Dahmer’s favourite chef.

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  4. Beijing has nominated Anthony Albanese as the leader other American allies should emulate, ahead of a meeting between the PM…

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