Open Thread – Thurs 21 Nov 2024


Pilgrimage to the Church of San Isidro, Francisco Goya, 1788

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John H.
John H.
November 21, 2024 12:39 am
Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
November 21, 2024 1:26 am

Unusually, watching FTA teev this evening, we noticed content-free adverts extolling the virtues of the ALP Golden Success Made in Australia policy. Unlimited happiness and well-paid jerbs for everyone – authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra.

Nice to see Team Handsome Boy using the public money barrel in the opening barrage of the election campaign.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 2:19 am

Charming place – China.

He Rose to Riches in Hong Kong. Now He’s a Symbol of China’s Crackdown.

Media baron Jimmy Lai, who protested for democracy, faces possible life sentence

HONG KONG—Jimmy Lai came to Hong Kong in 1961 as a boy smuggled on a fishing boat, a refugee who left mainland China because his mother was afraid he would starve to death in the turmoil following the Communist takeover there.

He rose from child laborer to clothing tycoon and media baron, living in a colonial mansion filled with books and flowers. His Apple Daily newspaper celebrated the city’s freewheeling outlook with reviews of brothels alongside full-throated denunciations of China’s Communist Party. 

When protesters, Lai among them, tried to secure democracy for Hong Kong and stop Beijing from tightening its grip, only to face exile or imprisonment, the self-made millionaire became a symbol of the city’s new era. Now, press freedom is curtailed, a draconian national security law reigns and opponents of the Communist Party risk being crushed.

Lai’s rags-to-riches-to-prison story mirrors Hong Kong’s own path from fishing outpost to neon-lit hive of unbridled commerce and, more recently, battleground for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s determination to stamp out dissent.

Lai “always said Hong Kong gave me everything,” said his youngest son, Sebastien Lai. “He’s a self-made man, but at some point he realized he couldn’t have had what he had if it wasn’t for Hong Kong.”

https://images.wsj.net/im-75730922?width=700&height=483

Hong Kong rose from a fishing outpost to a neon-lit hive of unbridled commerce. Photo: mladen antonov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

If Hong Kong helped make Lai, it is now trying to break him.

He has been in custody for nearly four years, having completed four sentences for his protest roles and working through another, for a 2022 fraud conviction, that lasts into 2028. He now faces charges of publishing seditious materials and violating the national security law that Beijing imposed in 2020 in response to democracy protests.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 2:29 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:01 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:02 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:03 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:03 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:04 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:05 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:06 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:07 am
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 4:07 am
JC
JC
November 21, 2024 5:05 am

Charming place – China.

He Rose to Riches in Hong Kong. Now He’s a Symbol of China’s Crackdown.

Media baron Jimmy Lai, who protested for democracy, faces possible life sentence

HONG KONG—Jimmy Lai came to Hong Kong in 1961 as a boy smuggled on a fishing boat, a refugee who left mainland China because his mother was afraid he would starve to death in the turmoil following the Communist takeover there.

He rose from child laborer to clothing tycoon and media baron, living in a colonial mansion filled with books and flowers. His Apple Daily newspaper celebrated the city’s freewheeling outlook with reviews of brothels alongside full-throated denunciations of China’s Communist Party. 

When protesters, Lai among them, tried to secure democracy for Hong Kong and stop Beijing from tightening its grip, only to face exile or imprisonment, the self-made millionaire became a symbol of the city’s new era. Now, press freedom is curtailed, a draconian national security law reigns and opponents of the Communist Party risk being crushed.

Lai’s rags-to-riches-to-prison story mirrors Hong Kong’s own path from fishing outpost to neon-lit hive of unbridled commerce and, more recently, battleground for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s determination to stamp out dissent.

Lai “always said Hong Kong gave me everything,” said his youngest son, Sebastien Lai. “He’s a self-made man, but at some point he realized he couldn’t have had what he had if it wasn’t for Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong rose from a fishing outpost to a neon-lit hive of unbridled commerce. Photo: mladen antonov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

If Hong Kong helped make Lai, it is now trying to break him.

He has been in custody for nearly four years, having completed four sentences for his protest roles and working through another, for a 2022 fraud conviction, that lasts into 2028. He now faces charges of publishing seditious materials and violating the national security law that Beijing imposed in 2020 in response to democracy protests.

Figures
Figures
November 21, 2024 6:02 am

Cassie

That’s how you deal with the left. Have I not been saying this for years? You don’t turn the other cheek, you don’t plead, beg and implore the left to be nice and kind and sweet, and you don’t cower in the corner…..NOPE, NYET, NUP……you mop the swill up that the left throw back into a bucket and you pick up that bucket of swill and you throw the swill right back at the left.

Much much further than this.

Monty and his ilk should not be allowed to own property, have the right to the presumption of innocence or any kind of free speech rights. And if they ever use any kind of “fossil fuel” [Thomas Gold was correct] they are thrown in a non-heated prison with cold food only.

vr
vr
November 21, 2024 6:10 am

Jaguar’s gonesky.

Jaguar (and Range Rover) is owned by Tata Motors. Can’t believe they signed off on the new marketing.

Last edited 12 hours ago by vr
Miltonf
Miltonf
November 21, 2024 6:22 am

IMO Jaguar lost its credibility when Ford bought them. Selling Mondeos badged as jags.

local oaf
November 21, 2024 7:28 am

🙂

467898070_122129651882447019_9056665572399916738_n
P
P
November 21, 2024 7:44 am

Further to JCs comment above:

The continuing scandal of the Vatican’s China policy

The Catholic Weekly – George Weigel – Nov 15, 2024

“Ever since it was first signed in 2018, the Sino-Vatican deal has only led to a further increase in and intensification of religious persecution in China and has not led to any improvements whatsoever.

Ask Xinjiang’s persecuted Uyghur Muslims, Tibet’s Buddhists, Christians from all denominations, and Falun Gong. It is deeply problematic that this [agreement] has been renewed yet again with no debate, scrutiny, or, it seems, conditionality. The release from prison of jailed Catholic bishops and priests ought at least to have been a condition for the Vatican’s agreement in renewing this tawdry deal.

The Vatican should also have called for an end to the continuing unjust imprisonment of Jimmy Lai, a faithful and deeply committed Catholic incarcerated in Hong Kong, as a precondition. Instead, there is a deafening silence when it comes to freedom of religion or belief. The Vatican’s silence on human rights and religious freedom in China is profoundly disappointing and dangerously counterproductive.”

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 7:46 am

They corrupt everything they touch. Just terrible people.

Jim Chalmers rewrites $230bn Future Fund’s mandate to favour green energy, housing investments

Jim Chalmers is overhauling the investment mandate of the $230bn Future Fund to drive ­capital into Labor’s agenda on ­affordable housing, green energy projects and critical infrastructure, in a major shift in the role of the sovereign wealth fund established by the Howard government nearly two decades ago.

In a move that will likely see the role of the “independent” Future Fund become an election issue, the Treasurer will on Thursday change its mandate and require it to consider new “national priorities” for investment decisions.

The national priorities under the mandate will be: increasing the supply of residential housing; ­supporting the energy transition for the net-zero transformation; and delivering infrastructure ­projects that will improve domestic supply chains.

Black Ball
Black Ball
November 21, 2024 7:47 am

Andrew Bolt on a shameless and irredeemable phuckwit:

The ABC should die of shame after its Media Watch on Monday blamed Jewish soccer fans for being hunted in Amsterdam two weeks ago.

What a disgrace.

I’m shown saying on my Sky News show: “The Dutch have been shamed and shocked by a Jew hunt by Muslims”.

But Media Watch host Paul Barry claimed I and other journalists “ignored or glossed over half the story”.

The Jews were to blame, at least in part: “Two angry mobs were involved – with violence on both sides.”

Yet Barry focused solely on “provocations” by Jews.

“The day before the match against local team Ajax, Maccabi fans ripped down and burnt a Palestinian flag, while groups of supporters also beat up a taxi driver and vandalised several taxis,” he said.

The next day fans “let off flares” and chanted “racist, anti-Arab chants”.

In fact, I’d reported almost all those “provocations”, but how did tearing down a flag, lighting flares or chanting abuse justify bashing Jews?

We don’t even know why a taxi driver was allegedly beaten.

Most in Amsterdam from my experience are Muslim, and some reportedly planned attacks on the fans.

One was even filmed boasting he was on a “Jew hunt”.

But then came Barry’s gotcha.

Many TV outlets had used footage filmed by Bender, a 16-year-old vlogger, of Israelis with sticks chasing someone, falsely claiming they were Muslims chasing a Jew.

Barry said it actually showed “rampaging Maccabi fans … doing the hunting”.

But Barry ignored everything which Bender described beforehand as he filmed: “fireworks and bombs being fired”, apparently at fans, who were “taking poles from the ground … to defend themselves” because “there are no police”.

“There is a very tense atmosphere,” Bender reports.

Taxi drivers again gathered near the fans “tooting, and most likely there will be a fight”.

Only then, besieged and unprotected by police, the Israelis lashed out at one person after some confrontation Bender couldn’t see.

Barry even claimed outlets had used the wrong footage – of Maccabi fans actually chasing someone – “because there was really nothing else”.

There was plenty of other vision, and I’d shown some of it: Jews being punched and kicked senseless.

A Jew so terrified that he jumps into a canal.

Five Jews were put in hospital, but not one Muslim, yet the ABC claims “rampaging” Jews were guilty of “provocations”. How sick.

How much money is Paul Barry paid by us?
He delivers his work with such smugness it makes Paul Keating blush. Just a complete prick and there is a show in this. Focus on Barry and his complete arrogance.

Black Ball
Black Ball
November 21, 2024 7:55 am

This dear reader is a toolie at work. Strike me pink.

Pogria
Pogria
November 21, 2024 7:57 am

I wonder if Handsome Boy was privy to this info?
hahahaha

“Nobody believes that these cables were accidentally severed,” said [German Defense Minister Boris] Pistorius. “We have to know that, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a hybrid action, and we also have to assume that, without knowing by whom yet, that this is sabotage.”

  • Yeah, it was China. (MSN)
  • The Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, en route from Ust-Luga in Russia to Port Said, was in the exact location of both cables at the moment they were cut, and was also tracked as slowing down both times.”
Top Ender
Top Ender
November 21, 2024 7:57 am

Sydney is waking up to this todaay:

A car has been torched and up to a dozen others vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti in an early morning attack in a prominent Jewish area of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Police and fire crews arrived at Wellington St in Woollahra shortly before 1am after receiving multiple reports of a car on fire.

Fire crews were able to extinguish the blaze, but the car was destroyed.

A large number of cars in surrounding streets had been spray-painted with the words “f..k Israel.”

It is understood no one was injured in the attack.

Forensic police teams have cordoned off several crime scenes.

Police have requested anyone with information or dash cam footage to come forward.

Rabz
November 21, 2024 8:00 am

BB – if there’s a bigger deadsh*t blighting our beloved braindead lamestream meeja than Baul Parry, I don’t want to know who they are.

His smugnorance is simply off the scale and “brick through the Telescreen” worthy.

However, in recognition of his stellar achievements he will enjoy a prominent role in HOP Time™.

Last edited 10 hours ago by Rabz
Cassie of Sydney
November 21, 2024 8:03 am

I feel sick. From The Oz, Jew hatred overnight in Sydney, in a Jewish suburb……I’ll just preface this, I am very concerned, this Jew hatred in Woollahra is very close to a Jewish hospital.

I will also add this, we Jews don’t go to Muslim suburbs such as Lakemba, Bankstown, Greenacre and so on, we don’t pull down Pallie Nazi flags, we don’t set fire to cars, we don’t scream abuse at Muslims, we don’t torch Muslim owned businesses, we don’t stand outside mosques and hurl abuse, and so on, oh but then again, unlike the leftist and Muslim Nazi scum, we would not be provided with a personal police escort!

Cars vandalised in anti-Israel attack in Sydney

A car has been torched and up to a dozen others vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti in an early morning attack in a prominent Jewish area of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Police and fire crews arrived at Wellington St in Woollahra shortly before 1am after receiving multiple reports of a car on fire.

Fire crews were able to extinguish the blaze, but the car was destroyed.

A large number of cars in surrounding streets had been spray-painted with the words “f..k Israel.”

It is understood no one was injured in the attack.

Forensic police teams have cordoned off several crime scenes.

Police have requested anyone with information or dash cam footage to come forward.

Let my just state this, the above is not ‘anti-Israel’, it is ‘anti-Jews’.

Remember those threats screamed by frothing Muslim and leftist Nazis on Monday night 9 October 2023 is about to happen……..

Gas the Jews
F*ck the Jews

and the most chilling…….

Where’s the Jews

Well, those threats are now coming to fruition And whilst today these Muslim and leftist Nazis are torching cars, tomorrow they will be torching Jewish people. The fact this Nazi scum are emboldened to enter suburbs where Jews live tells you everything about this country in 2024.

I guess Paul Barry and other scum on the left, including the Nazi here, thinks we Jews are to blame for this.

The other day, visiting my mother, my mother’s friend popped in. We spoke about many things, how this country has changed and so on but she said this, that when it comes to the explosion and normalisation of Jew hatred in this country since October 7 2023, the buck stops with…..

The grub from Grayndler

Sorry, but I cannot bear to utter his hideous name, he is utterly repulsive, a conniving, slushing, dribbling monumental liar. A kitchen cockroach has more decency and integrity.

Black Ball
Black Ball
November 21, 2024 8:03 am

Good Lord according to Paul Barry, they were the instigators. Daily Telegraph:

Up to a dozen cars have been vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti, and a vehicle set alight in a prominent Jewish enclave in Sydney’s east.

Emergency services were called to Wellington St in Woollahra shortly before 1am following reports of a car on fire.

Fire & Rescue NSW quickly extinguished the blaze, which had destroyed the car

In the aftermath, police discovered that up to a dozen cars parked along Wellington St, Tara St, Fullerton St and Ocean St had been defaced with graffiti reading “f**k Israel.”

The front door of a unit complex on Ocean Street was also vandalised with similar politically charged messages.

No injuries have been reported.

Officers from the Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command have established multiple crime scenes, which are now under examination by specialist forensic teams.

Karen Webb. Show some spine and go after these arsehats. They must be apprehended and given some treatment, preferably like the IDF are doing.

Eyrie
Eyrie
November 21, 2024 8:05 am

The Chinese communists are arseholes, no doubt.
Now can we talk about Daniel Duggan in solitary for well over a year now?

Cassie of Sydney
November 21, 2024 8:06 am

I am very distressed about a lot of things but this ‘incident’ in Woollahra is really upsetting me.

Rabz
November 21, 2024 8:09 am

A car has been torched and up to a dozen others vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti in an early morning attack in a prominent Jewish area of Sydney’s eastern suburbs

Thanks minns – you useless labore piece of excrement. Hang your empty head in shame you disgusting moron – oh and thanks for the three day train strike as well, you monumental dickhead.

FFS.

Black Ball
Black Ball
November 21, 2024 8:10 am

Snap Top Ender and Cassie.
I think we know the answer. Will the Commish pour the same resources into finding the perpetrators, like she has with old mate who was stabbed in the eye and that aftermath?
Islam appeasing filth. And no I am not a bigot for saying this.
Islam has no place here.

Black Ball
Black Ball
November 21, 2024 8:16 am

Rabz add the protest at the Newcastle harbour to Minns’ most dishonorable roll call of shame.
Just lunacy on a grand scale.

Megan
Megan
November 21, 2024 8:23 am

 he is utterly repulsive, a conniving, slushing, dribbling monumental liar. A kitchen cockroach has more decency and integrity

The MunTard’s twin, then.’

Cassie of Sydney
November 21, 2024 8:25 am

I can confirm that a car that was vandalised overnight in Woollahra with the words ‘F*ck Israel’ happened directly outside Wolper Jewish hospital.

KevinM
KevinM
November 21, 2024 8:30 am

Completely off topic as usual.

There is so much history out there that we never hear of.
I never trust any historian who claims to be just a historian, one cannot be such. You have to be specialized in area-time-culture to be credible.
What inspired this rant;
——————–
Levan (Leon) II Dadiani was the greatest prince of Odishi (Mingrelia) in history. In the 17th century, when eastern Georgia was conquered by Persia, he took on the leadership of all Georgian provinces and did everything to unite the Georgians, not only politically but also culturally.

Levan II renovated and rebuilt numerous churches and castles, including the Georgian Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and paid all the debts of the latter.

He also ordered the rewriting of the world masterpiece by Rustaveli, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin. This particular manuscript is considered the earliest dated known version of the poem.

This version corrects grammar, punctuation, and some phrasing while retaining the meaning of your original text.

He was crowned at the age of 14 and ruled the country for 46 years. During his reign, Odishi reached the peak of its political power, cultural influence and military strength.

lev
KevinM
KevinM
November 21, 2024 8:35 am

A true genius.

I like to play, winning is good but not the aim for me, learning the tactics of the opponent and applying it next time is more fun.

——–

After retiring from chess for approximately 9 years, in 1981, American chess legend Bobby Fischer agreed to play with Canadian Grandmaster Peter Biyiasas at the pinnacle of his glory and powers, and Bobby Fischer defeated him 17 times in a row.

“He was so good, so good that defeating him was impossible and there was no point in playing with him, and there was no excitement or fun in it.” They were beating me and I didn’t know why or what I had done wrong. and the most disappointing thing was that I didn’t even make it to the final stage with him.”

At one point, I would always lose in the intermediate stage at maximum and, what’s more, Bobby never took the time to think he wasn’t a rival. , and that there was no one worthy of the honor of fighting against him, and I, having been his opponent, bear witness to this indisputable fact.

It’s worth noting that computers ranked Bobby Fischer as the greatest chess player of all time, and his arch-rival, the legendary Mikhail Tal, described him as “the greatest genius to ever descend from the firmament of chess.”

Credits: Dewey Simpson

bobby
Roger
Roger
November 21, 2024 8:36 am

NSW soft approach to antisemitic fanatics – no doubt undertaken with advice from ASIO – backfires again, predictably.

These acts fit the government’s definition of terrorism.

If any of the culprits are found and discovered to have dual citizenship they should be deported.

Last edited 9 hours ago by Roger
Black Ball
Black Ball
November 21, 2024 8:37 am

Pic one

96f8499fe4af9f97eccdb017061d9def
KevinM
KevinM
November 21, 2024 8:38 am

Maybe a bit biased, could apply to any luxury car.
What you expect when buying

bmw1
Black Ball
Black Ball
November 21, 2024 8:38 am

Two

24bccb22bd90924ab882f7d232016761
KevinM
KevinM
November 21, 2024 8:39 am

What you get after buying

bmw2
Black Ball
Black Ball
November 21, 2024 8:39 am

Three

32c3396e05c96bf053ea95a7c6b8f133
Tom
Tom
November 21, 2024 8:40 am

oh and thanks for the three day train strike as well, you monumental dickhead.

There used to be a school of thought that Labor governments would keep unions under control and LNP governments would have endless trouble with Trades Hall.

But, with the ALP in power in Canberra and four states, including NSW and Victoria, Australian unions are out of control — especially now they no longer need members and get their cash flow from compulsory superannuation management fees.

Needless to say, transport unions therefore no longer give a stuff about the public and commuters — in Sydney, that’s supposed to be Pretty Boy Minns’s job.

Never forget it’s the trade union party. The unions came first and wear the pants. Their quislings in parliament are subservient to their paymasters at Trades Hall.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
November 21, 2024 8:46 am

Megan – November 21, 2024 8:17 am
 Reply to  JC

As Judith Sloan points out in the Payewallian today, that’s the end of the Future Fund.

Behind everything that Anal does, is his unquenchable desire to punish the Middle Classes.
This is about destroying the aspiring working class and the comfortable Middle.
Hate. It’s hate that drives the Left and we should never forget it.

Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 8:51 am
Crossie
Crossie
November 21, 2024 8:51 am

Black Ball
 November 21, 2024 8:03 am

Good Lord according to Paul Barry, they were the instigators. Daily Telegraph:

Up to a dozen cars have been vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti, and a vehicle set alight in a prominent Jewish enclave in Sydney’s east.

Lakemba or Auburn are never referred to as Muslim enclaves. There are also huge Muslim “enclaves” in every suburb in the Bankstown area, Liverpool area, Fairfield, Granville etc. If they did that the list could be frighteningly long and give a different impression about that population.

Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 8:53 am

This is the sort of lunacy they had in store. Thank God Trump won.

@liz_churchill10

Read that twice, ‘Climate Vaccines’.

One response –

@WallStreetMav

Never take health advice from people who are obsessed with global depopulation.

The fight is not over.

Last edited 9 hours ago by Indolent
Zippster
Zippster
November 21, 2024 8:56 am

Why did the road to Albo’s house get an extra $70 million in funding? – 04.11.24

If this isn’t dodgy I don’t know what is!

Looks like Albo has been sticking his hands in the cookie jar.

In estimates I found out that what was an initial commitment of $30 million to fund a road on the central coast has been upgraded to $100 million with no actual reason as to why?

It turns out this road is the road that leads to Albanese new beach house.

Furthermore the NSW Government or the local council didn’t feel the need to contribute an extra cents.

Was Albanese using taxpayer dollars to impress his new girlfriend?

We know he likes to call his mate Joyce for flight upgrades, so he clearly doesn’t mind milking the system.

Not only does this look dodgy, it’s also hypocritical.

Albanese jumped up and down when the prior government paid $30 million for a vital piece of land in regards to Western Sydney Airport, yet he is more than happy to splurge more than 3 times that for a road that isn’t even the responsibility of the Federal government.

Figures
Figures
November 21, 2024 8:58 am

The difference between us and the Salem witch trials is that the good people of Massachusetts learnt their lesson.

Justice denied – Bettina Arndt

We need three results in all trials involving crimes that may or may not have happened (as opposed to crimes that did happen but the guilty party is not established). Guilty, Not Proven and Innocent. If “Innocent” the accuser gets a mandatory 10 year jail sentence and the prosecution team face a $10 million fine to be paid to the accused.

Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 8:59 am

I’m sure a lot of it is exactly this.

@seanmdav

You are male. You are not female. Stop trying to forcibly enter women’s bathrooms. You are not engaging with anyone “respectfully.” You are attempting to emotionally blackmail actual women into accept men in their restrooms and locker rooms. Not because you need to—your office has its own private bathroom—but because you enjoy forcing women to submit to your demands.

Arky
November 21, 2024 9:04 am

That Jaguar advert is like watching the last sci fi film or advert from the seventies featuring “futuristic” metallic silver clothing or the last film from the early eighties featuring roller skates.
You know, just know, that you are watching a thing whose time has died. It’s got the worst sort of stench to it, not the stench of death, but the stench of a thing that people have just recognised as what it is and moved on from.
It is, as the young people say, “cringe”.
We’ve moved on from the pronouns, the electrification of everything, global village, worry about the future weather, everything is an -ism, total wankery.
It was always wank, but now it’s cringe as well.
It’s as dead as a roller skating chick in a metallic silver miniskirt.

Last edited 9 hours ago by Arky
Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 9:08 am
Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 9:10 am

@jeremycorbyn

The Prime Minister should make a statement to Parliament, immediately, to confirm whether UK missiles have been fired into Russia.

He must tell the British public if this means we are now at war with a nuclear power, what risk this poses to people in Britain, and why this action was taken without any approval from Parliament.

I have consistently condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and called for a diplomatic solution to stop the endless bloodshed.

As we edge closer and closer to catastrophe, we should be doing everything in our power to bring about de-escalation and peace. Instead, our political leaders have added fuel to the fire and gambled with people’s lives for political gain.

Presidents and Prime Ministers must know that in the event of nuclear war, nobody wins.

I’m not interested in bombs. I’m interested in peace – and I will continue to campaign for peace in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, the DRC and beyond.

Arky
November 21, 2024 9:16 am

An awful thing occurred to me just now.
Are we the B Ark?
I just said that the Jaguar advert was the end of an era of a particular type of wankery.
What if it isn’t?
What if all the engineers, pilots, etc, you know, the competent people, are on the other arks, and the Anglo sphere is the place that has been nominated by the world order to contain all the marketeers and other useless idiots?
It all has turned a bit Douglas Adamsy.
India, China and Eastern Europe are doing all the actual things, and we are just going to continue to endure an endless round of meetings and conferences where fourth rate morons repeat the same hollow, meaningless jargon over and over and over and there is no way out because all the good people left.
F*ck.

Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 9:18 am
Figures
Figures
November 21, 2024 9:21 am

Regardless of how he chooses to progress this, it is absolutely critical that Trump does not allow a single leftist anywhere in the country to be in any position of power (or potential power) before he leaves office.

If the Ds take control in 2028, there will never be another election again and every member of Trump’s family (and his supporters) will be jailed. Trump has every right to take a pre-emptive strike and, unlike 8 years ago, most of his supporters understand the gravity of the situation.

The Layaway Presidency: How Alvin Bragg Would Create A New Constitutional Creature | ZeroHedge

P
P
November 21, 2024 9:25 am

Glenn Greenwald Outlines the Clear and Present Danger as Biden Administration Directly Attacks Russia
November 20, 2024 – Sundance

On an ancillary note, having spent three months inside Russia this summer and having the associated contacts therein, the Russian government is currently in the process of shutting down their nation in preparation for what comes next. All of the previous rules and regulations for entry visas are essentially gone. You will not read this anywhere else, but I can assure you Russia is isolating in preparation for war. This is not a good sign at all.

Cassie of Sydney
November 21, 2024 9:36 am

Chiswick restaurant vandalised with Jew hatred.

I now wait for the Sleazy Slusher from Grayndler to condemn the vandalism. If similar had happened in Bankstown, the Sleazy Slusher would have already hit the airwaves.

local oaf
November 21, 2024 9:52 am

Winston Smith
November 21, 2024 8:46 am

This is about destroying the aspiring working class and the comfortable Middle.

_____________________________________

20+ years ago I watched a very middle class ABC viewer lady, bewildered by 3 Liberal election victories in quick succession, exclaim with furrowed brow –

“Apparently it’s all the fault of ‘aspirational’ people! Who on earth are these people?

As I listened to her, I thought – thank God for secret ballots. If these people could identify us by name and address, there’d be lynch mobs at our doors!

Misinformation laws are no more than an attempt to bypass the secret ballot and identify all opposition.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 9:53 am

My Kid’s in-law bro works for Jaguar as an engineer. Pretty normal, engineer type dude. I wonder how he feels.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
November 21, 2024 9:59 am

Looks like Red Lines are fairly ineffectual strategic weapons during the last days of POTUS 46.

Permanent War Inc appears to be nudging the conflict towards some remote Ukrainian railhead being evaporated by a Russian tactical nuke – for demonstration purposes.

Just so Trump doesn’t fcuk the game up.

cohenite
November 21, 2024 10:03 am

As head prefect noted Jaguar is fuked:

‘Bud Light 2.0:’ Jaguar Blasted for Ad Featuring Crossdressers but Not Cars

Local news:

Rub and tug and blackout will deep dive The Future Fund to pay for net zero. Another reason why little johnnie is the worst PM. He sold Telstra to pay for The Future Fund and did not make it immune to ratbags like the current liars.

Rabz
November 21, 2024 10:06 am

That jaguar ad is simply excruciating. Copy nothing, except every visually repulsive woke piece of wankery imaginable.

As Steyn has observed previously (about BP) these idiots are ashamed of the products they’re producing.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 10:10 am

Dim -itry is “Pukin’s” point man to scare the shit out of people with nuke threats.

Dmitry Medvedev

@MedvedevRussiaE

Russia’s new nuclear doctrine means NATO missiles fired against our country could be deemed an attack by the bloc on Russia. Russia could retaliate with WMD against Kiev and key NATO facilities, wherever they’re located. That means World War III.

Barry
Barry
November 21, 2024 10:13 am

Arky November 21, 2024 9:16 am

An awful thing occurred to me just now.

Are we the B Ark?

Of course we are, but it’s not the people who have shifted, it’s information. Information wants to be free, and it goes where it can be free.

In the west, information is choked with regulation, make-work jobs, OHS, Environmental Regs, Climate madness, abo-worship, decay and perversion.

The asians just get in and do it, procreating as they go. So the information goes where it gets used.

We made our own B-Ark, and we have no-one else to blame for our own destruction.

Last edited 8 hours ago by Barry
Winston Smith
Winston Smith
November 21, 2024 10:14 am

Jaguar’s new name – “Faguar.”

Barry
Barry
November 21, 2024 10:20 am

Gay Car Boys website approves of the Faguar Rebrand.

https://gaycarboys.com/jaguars-new-era-begins-a-last-toss-of-the-dice/gay-car-news/jaguar-news/

“Toss” snigger, snigger.

Top Ender
Top Ender
November 21, 2024 10:23 am

On Jaguar’s Bud-Lite 2.0 attempt:

The company has said that a team of 800 people worked on the radical redesign and re-branding.

800! Can you imagine every day in their HQ?

Diogenes
Diogenes
November 21, 2024 10:41 am

He sold Telstra to pay for The Future Fund and did not make it immune to ratbags like the current liars.

How?
Without a change to the consitution, any law that would impose restraints on a future parliament could be overturned by that future parliament.

H B Bear
H B Bear
November 21, 2024 10:42 am

India’s Tata bought Jaguar essentially to get Landrover. You suspect they are completely indifferent to whether it survives or not. The Chinese would snap up the brand for an EV.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
November 21, 2024 10:47 am

Aliens are walking among us.

Backed By Millions In Liberal Dark Money, Group Teaches Climate Activists To ‘Talk Like a Human’ (20 Nov)

A radical environmental group uses millions of dollars from liberal dark money groups to try and teach climate activists how to talk like human beings.

The organization, Potential Energy Coalition, a 501(c)(3), says it “creates and executes marketing campaigns grounded in deep analytics and human-centric stories that are proven to persuade.”

One of Potential Energy’s projects is the “Talk Like a Human” campaign, an attempt to change messaging on climate change.

There you go, these people are literally so off the planet they can’t speak human.

Miltonf
Miltonf
November 21, 2024 10:47 am

Hmm like MG. What a sick joke.

Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 10:49 am
Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
November 21, 2024 10:49 am

The company has said that a team of 800 people worked on the radical redesign and re-branding.

And came up with the stunning and brave decision to be the face of sustainable ‘all electric’ luxury motoring by 2025. No more ICE.

They obviously ignored Mercedes Benz shuffling away from the EV segment.

Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 10:50 am
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 21, 2024 10:52 am

The Prime Minister says anti-Israel vandalism overnight in Sydney’s eastern suburbs is “disturbing” and “deeply troubling”.

From the Oz

Was there ever such a more ineffectual jellyfish of a “leader” in this countries history?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 21, 2024 10:57 am

Next year, it’s 50 years since the defeat of the Whitlam government and voters will have their chance to mark the anniversary by dispatching a first-term government that’s worse than Whitlam’s.

From the Oz. FIFTY YEARS since the “Dismissal?”

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
November 21, 2024 10:59 am

One way of finding out just how our political class would rule us is to demand each party devise a Constitution as part of their bid for government, and make it binding on them if they win.
I can imagine their efforts.

Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 11:01 am
Last edited 7 hours ago by Indolent
Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 11:03 am
johanna
johanna
November 21, 2024 11:04 am

Yesterday I mentioned the debacle in Tasmania where final year of high school exam papers contained errors which made answering the question difficult or impossible. There were errors in five subjects

Today we find that they found a significant error in a sixth subject:

Earlier this week, Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification (TASC) confirmed there were errors in five exam papers last week sat by Year 12 students for the Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE).
That was despite the exams going through three levels of checks, first by the exam setter, then a team of critics who proofread the paper, and then by TASC staff who do a final check.
Following mistakes in last week’s exams, TASC ran a fourth set of eyes over the other exams.

Despite that, “some errors” were found in the biology exam that was sat on Tuesday, TASC board chair Dr Natalie Brown said.

[snip]

Holly*, a Year 12 student in Hobart, had all three of her Level 3 exams affected by mistakes — physics, chemistry and, on Tuesday, biology.

“They’re not minor mistakes … it would be nice if [TASC] just took accountability.”
She said having her third exam affected had made her question herself.
“I’m looking at things and I’m like, ‘did I just not study for this? Have they just put random stuff in it? Or is it just a typo?’” she said.

Yet we have heard nothing from the Minister, whoever he/she is. Nada.

Meanwhile, the incompetents responsible are ‘reviewing their processes,’ when they should be reviewing their CVs.

The last line of the story is hilarious. With a straight face, the board chair denied that AI was used in compiling the papers. ‘We’re human and we make mistakes.’

I think she just composed the text on her own headstone. 🙂

calli
calli
November 21, 2024 11:06 am

Just watched the Jaguar ad. No clue what they’re selling.

On the other hand, there’s no ambiguity about this year’s Christmas Classic.

I love the hat tip to “Ghost”. 😀

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
November 21, 2024 11:08 am

They obviously ignored Mercedes Benz shuffling away from the EV segment.

And more Ford woes:

Ford Slashes 4,000+ Jobs in Europe: Cites Weakened EV Sales, Economic Headwinds (20 Nov)

The Ford Motor Co. will reduce its workforce by upwards of 4,000 across Europe and the U.K. by the end of 2027, the manufacturer announced Wednesday, citing headwinds generated from the economy, pressure from increased competition and weaker than expected sales of electric vehicles (EVs) for the dim forecast.

I don’t like Ford’s chances of staving off bankruptcy. If the human race survives the current plague of woke climate idiots then people in the future will look back on this age as the most insane period ever in the history of the species.

calli
calli
November 21, 2024 11:11 am

It came to mind after Arky mentioned the B-Ark.

Vicki
Vicki
November 21, 2024 11:17 am

For some time many who were free to discuss the origin and nature of Covid19 (eg retired from the pharma or medical profession) argued that virus research was pursued in the US defence departments until gain-of-function research was banned under Obama. It was then transferred under arrangements with the lab in Wuhan, and the rest is history.

I have been sceptical about this theory of US involvement since it seemed extraordinary that cooperation between China and US could take place. However, information that has gathered over the last few years is now pretty plausible. Today Jo Nova has published an article citing the testimony of former CDC director Robert Redfield. This is linked below.

Incidentally, this morning Ben Fordham on 2GB interviewed OS research scientist Prof. Angus Dalgleish who was SCATHING about the panicked and flawed response of virtually all western governments to Covid19. Great interview. Try and listen to a replay.

https://joannenova.com.au/2024/11/former-cdc-head-says-covid-virus-origin-was-biodefense-research-maybe-in-north-carolina/

Last edited 7 hours ago by Vicki
Vicki
Vicki
November 21, 2024 11:19 am

If the human race survives the current plague of woke climate idiots then people in the future will look back on this age as the most insane period ever in the history of the species.

Absolutely, Bruce!

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 11:28 am

I know! Totally implausible to think that funds like BlackRock, that promote all manner of idiocy like DEI, clean energy, etc., would buy up prime agricultural land in the UK either to consolidate them or turn them into a wind or solar farms, or residential areas, etc. Total nonsense. This stuff never happens.

Well, okay then, let’s see some examples where this kind of thing has happened before.
There’s currently a war against farms in the UK, driven by the hysteria surrounding gerbil warming. The average return in the farming sector is 0.5%.
The proposed tax will force the sale of non-contiguous land, making scaling operations incredibly difficult. This paints a very bearish picture for farmland in the UK.
Would you buy UK farmland in this environment? If not, why would you expect funds that must meet certain return-on-capital benchmarks to invest in it?
Don’t ignore the questions posed as I’d really like to hear your counterpoints.

Last edited 6 hours ago by JC
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 21, 2024 11:33 am

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi moving to ENGLAND after Trump win as they become latest stars to flee US
Daily Mail.

Crossie
Crossie
November 21, 2024 11:38 am

I don’t like Ford’s chances of staving off bankruptcy. If the human race survives the current plague of woke climate idiots then people in the future will look back on this age as the most insane period ever in the history of the species.

Bruce, the lunatics pushing this catastrophe are getting more shrill as the whole climate change thing is toppling over. All the way to here I kept thinking there are adults in the government and industries who will pull the plug on the idiocy but sadly they either retired or were pushed out by the infected idiots or by the fraudsters who only saw the money to be made from subsidies-fortified installations.

Nobody in positions of power and influence saw or cared about the coming crash. It’s easy to be nonchalant when you are so well off that you are insulated from the effects of your bad decisions.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
November 21, 2024 11:40 am

Re the Faguar ad (© Winston) the Tele has a nice article up:

‘Woke, outdated’: Jaguar ad brutally roasted (20 Nov, not paywalled)

A bizarre new ad for car brand Jaguar has been widely mocked as “woke” and “outdated” by social media users. … Notably missing from the ad — which features similarly bold taglines like “create exuberant”, “live vivid” and “delete ordinary” — is an actual Jaguar.

“Do you sell cars?” Tesla chief executive Elon Musk wrote.

One X user said “all this ad tells me is to not buy your car,” while another called it “the worst ad I’ve ever seen”.

Another added, “You don’t have to do this humiliation ritual anymore, you can just post a short video of a nice car and call it good.”

Conservative filmmaker Robby Starbuck said, “Fire your marketing team and drop the woke stuff. This just made me want to sell my Jaguar and I don’t even own a Jaguar.”

The snark from Elon is especially fine!

johanna
johanna
November 21, 2024 11:42 am

H B Bear
November 21, 2024 10:59 am

Reply to  Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
You can see why da bruvvas went with Peanut Head.
———————————————————-

Yep.

What has emerged since Snaggletooth assumed the role of PM is – he’s not very bright.

True, there’s not a lot of competition on the front bench. But, his primrose path to the top has never required him to compete with smart cookies on either side of politics.

If Bob Hawke was forced to give him a Ministry, it would have been the least important one he could think of, and one where legislation sharply restricted him from actually doing anything.

He’s a midget compared to anyone in the Hawke Cabinet.

Vicki
Vicki
November 21, 2024 12:08 pm

BTW, there has been a little talk already about the possibility of clean, low-yield tactical nukes having been used in the last 12 months.

More info, please DB?

Bungonia Bee
Bungonia Bee
November 21, 2024 12:11 pm

It would appear that, as usual, Labor is looking for any hollow log full of cash they can commandeer.

Gutho
Gutho
November 21, 2024 12:12 pm

He’s a midget compared to anyone in the Hawke Cabinet.

What is disturbing about today’s Labor Party is that there is no one within the party, with the courage or wit to say
“Enough, the Australian people deserve better than this. We should govern for Australia’s future, not for our own personal now.”
Until someone does, everybody in the Labor party, from the lowliest member card holder to the highest office bearer will be held responsible and be scorned forever.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 12:14 pm

Dover

Out of the following:

  1. Russia
  2. China
  3. North Korea
  4. Iran
  5. Assad’s Syria
  6. USA

Which of the above do you find the most abhorrent?

Rococo Liberal
Rococo Liberal
November 21, 2024 12:29 pm

“He’s a midget compared to anyone in the Hawke Cabinet.”

God, he must be bad if he’s not up to mark of that bunch of idiots.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 12:33 pm

Why will the sales always involve non-contiguous land?

The tax is raised after death, and timing death is random, no?

Moreover, you keep asserting that the land that may be sold will only be used for farming and not potentially converted to other purposes.

Did you?

DEI is a different topic. Let’s see if we can answer those questions.

Last edited 5 hours ago by JC
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 21, 2024 12:42 pm

Time for action after anti-Semitic attack, Israeli embassy says

Noah Yim
The Israeli embassy in Australia says “words are no longer enough” following the anti-Israel vandalism in an eastern Sydney suburb overnight. 
“The Embassy of Israel in Australia is appalled by the anti-Semitic attack in Sydney last night,” its statement read.
“Words are no longer enough – it’s time for action. 
“We stand with the Jewish community and call for immediate measures to protect and uphold the rights and safety of all citizens.”

Any truth in the rumour that MOSSAD operatives will be on the next plane from Tel Aviv?

Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 12:46 pm

Funny those people leaving a country cos politics!!!

Then again…

The fortnightly Essential Research poll has Labor down a point to 30%, the Coalition up one to 35%, the Greens up one to 13% and One Nation down two to 7%, with undecided steady at 5%. The pollster’s 2PP+ measure has Labor moving into a 48-47 lead, after trailing 49-47 last time.

Also featured are the pollster’s monthly leadership ratings, which have Anthony Albanese down a point on approval to 43% and steady on 48% disapproval, while Peter Dutton is down three to 42% and up two to 41%. A regular “national mood” question reports an improved result off a low base, with a five-point increase in the sentiment that the country is heading in the right direction to 35%, and a four-point decrease for wrong track to 48%.

A forced response question on the cause of hotter temperatures records only a 52-48 break in favour of climate change over normal fluctuations, although only 19% rate that Australia is doing too much to address the problem, compared with 33% for not enough and 37% for about right.

Lee
Lee
November 21, 2024 12:53 pm

Amazing how the NSW police always go missing when Mueslis go on the rampage against Jews in their residential areas or provocatively hold anti-Semitic parades.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 1:04 pm

Yes, but why should we imagine that these corporations/ funds don’t have medium-to-long term investment horizons?

The average sized UK farm is around 88 acres. So Blackrock (your example) is going to get giddy buying an 88 acre farm and then hope the owner of next farm and the one after that etc are going to die a few days later.

Did you?

Yes.

I can’t recall you doing so – can you link to your first comment on this subject?

Please leave DEI aside and let’s focus on the answers to those questions otherwise we’re just wondering around.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
November 21, 2024 1:04 pm

FFS the media know nothing. Seems there’s another victim in the Lao methanol poisoning that the 2 Melbourne 18yo girls got caught up in, 28yo Pommy as well.

I tasted lots of concoctions while on breaks in South East Asia. Some of the jungle brews were yeah na just at a sniff and that included the rot gut Lao Kao. My personal opinion is that it was one of these jungle brews poorly distilled and condensed at the wrong temperature with probably crappy distilling equipment has caused this.

It was not an exactly uncommon occurrence in some of the places I worked. Locals would tell us about someone bought a bottle of something from somewhere and a bunch of blokes from village X nearly dies or are blind now. In most rural areas still happens from what I’m told.

Methanol lacing probably happens, why would you if you knew it would kill or maim. Not good for the tourist business and all of these areas like Veng Veng are in hoc to the mafia, the fee is called the key in Thailand to run a bar. Pretty sure if someone was deliberately spiking booze with methanol they would be face down in a rice paddy somewhere.

I reckon it’s a bad batch and there wasn’t any malice behind it. Why I used to drink from closed top bottles opened in front of me. The Singapore brew Tiger was always good for that once Carlsberg stopped brewing in Bangkok.

Anyway story from News kiddies below:

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/third-suspected-death-in-the-laos-mass-methanol-drink-poisoning-tragedy-in-laos/news-story/cf8aa8e80d4473a0e41d097f023dfbe8

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
November 21, 2024 1:05 pm

Great moments in wedding planning.

I cried at my vegan wedding — the $15K menu was completely upstaged after guests did the unthinkable (19 Nov, via Instapundit)

A humiliated bride was “completely upstaged” at her own wedding after hungry guests snubbed the upscale vegan dinner menu — and ordered pizza for delivery instead.

Taking to Reddit, the emotionally distraught bride — whose missive was deployed while crying in the bathroom as the events unfurled — wrote that she and her husband spent “nearly $15,000” to make the menu. It came after months of collaboration with a chef “to create a gourmet 5-course meal that just happened to be vegan.”

“We deliberately didn’t mention the food was vegan on the invitations because we wanted people to enjoy it without prejudice,” she wrote. “Every dish was designed to be delicious and satisfying, regardless of dietary preference.”

However, not everyone was keen to go green, including the bride’s 32-year-old brother, Tom. “Twenty minutes later, I watched in horror as he and my cousins walked in carrying 20 large pizzas. They started distributing them to guests, announcing ‘Real food for anyone who wants it!’”

“I was mortified. The caterers looked so embarrassed, and several guests hadn’t even tried our carefully planned menu yet.”

I like Tom. He sounds like a very practical guy.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
November 21, 2024 1:17 pm

Publishing a poll is next to useless without the questions and error bands.

Last edited 5 hours ago by GreyRanga
cohenite
November 21, 2024 1:22 pm

Interesting juxtaposition:

The policing of wrongspeak – Melanie Phillips

Government guidance says that non-crime hate incidents are supposed to be recorded where an incident is “clearly motivated by intentional hostility” and where there is a real risk of escalation “causing significant harm or a criminal offence”. 

Yet police forces have recorded such incidents against a nine-year-old who called a primary school classmate a “retard,” and against two secondary school girls who said that another pupil smelt “like fish”. Officers similarly recorded them against a man who voiced his view on transgender pronouns; a journalist who described a challenging interview with a “deaf and dumb” person; and a vicar who told a parishioner it was a sin to be gay.

The issue blew up when a Telegraph journalist, Allison Pearson, was visited at her home by Essex police who told her that she had been accused of committing the criminal offence of stirring up racial hatred in a tweet posted a year previously. The police have indignantly denied her claim that they had first told her she was being investigated for a non-crime hate incident; but clearly an actual criminal offence is more serious, and so the treatment of Allison Pearson becomes even more invidious.

And:

(18) Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi Settle in UK After Election / X

Ellen would have to be one of the ugliest lezzos going round. (yeah I know in starmer’s shit hole that would be hate speech.)

Last edited 4 hours ago by cohenite
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
November 21, 2024 1:23 pm

For Cat guitar guys.

Democrat election meltdowns over Trump set to heavy metal (18 Nov, via Sarah Hoyt)

That man needs to be inducted into a rock and roll hall of fame somewhere.

Rafiki
Rafiki
November 21, 2024 1:32 pm

Lambie making sense. On Sky, she opines that Albanese/Chalmers will direct the Future Fund to invest in housing projects that will fund the 10,000 houses the Greens require as a condition of their supporting the government’s so-called new housing plans (sic.)
She’s adamant that the Misinformation Bill is dead

Salvatore - Iron Publican
November 21, 2024 1:40 pm

The average sized UK farm is around 88 acres.

Average farm size in UK is actually circa 220 acres.
It is this low coz of a helluva lot of ‘pony paddock’ small holdings.
Chatgpt, wikipedia, tik tok, etc, are unreliable sources.

Bungonia Bee
Bungonia Bee
November 21, 2024 1:47 pm

Can North Korea now be nuked because they’ve over-reached by going into battle against Ukraine?

Rabz
November 21, 2024 2:00 pm

Needless to say, transport unions therefore no longer give a stuff about the public and commuters

I wasn’t aware they ever did.

Another reason these stinking bludging shitheads are demanding ridiculous (and completely unjustified) pay increases is because the Metro, if ever fully realised (which I doubt) will put the useless bastards out of a jerb.

?Hence the squawking.

Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 2:02 pm

Laken Riley murderer found guilty on all 9 felony accounts. Life in prison without parole.

Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 2:08 pm
Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 2:25 pm

Hotline between Kremlin and White House “not in use:”

Russia: US Emergency Hotline Not in Use Now | Newsmax.com

(Surely there’s a thing called mobile phones?)

Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 2:26 pm
JC
JC
November 21, 2024 2:27 pm

I made an error reporting on the average sized farm in the UK. I didn’t read the google blurb summary properly and assumed they were talking acres instead on hectares. It’s 82 hectares which is roughly just over 200 acres. It’s still small acreage though.

In comparison, the average sized farm in Australia is supposedly:

According to available data, the average size of an Australian farm is around 2,850 hectares. This means that Australian farms are significantly larger than the average farm size in many other countries.

I find this stat astonishingly large.

Vicki
Vicki
November 21, 2024 2:27 pm

I am not always up to speed – what is the thought amongst our blog strategists on the cuts in the internet cables between Lithuania and Sweden and between Finland and Germany?

Accident by the Chinese vessel in the vicinity, or something more?

Last edited 3 hours ago by Vicki
Nelson_Kidd-Players
Nelson_Kidd-Players
November 21, 2024 2:32 pm

Miltonf November 21, 2024 10:47 am

Hmm like MG. What a sick joke.

Compare and contrast!

1000019072
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
November 21, 2024 2:32 pm

Noice work!

Nov 20, 2024: The moment Iceland Volcano Erupted Again

Be patient, the kaboom happens at about 45 seconds into the video.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 21, 2024 2:45 pm

Close your eyes and imagine Prime Minister Bill Shorten, instead of Albo. PETER VAN ONSELEN describes how the Australia of 2024 would be VERY different – as Labor icon rides off into the sunset

  • Bill Shorten is giving his valedictory speech this afternoon

Daily Mail. Good riddance!

Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 2:53 pm
JC
JC
November 21, 2024 2:56 pm

Jeez Louise, Vicki. Some of these lots are bigger than countries. It’s like countries within a country. 🙂

Australia’s largest farms include cattle stations, pastoral companies, and other large farms:

Anna Creek Station

The world’s largest cattle station, covering 5,850,000 acres and owned by the Williams Cattle Company. It’s larger than Israel, El Salvador, and many other countries. 

Clifton Hills

A cattle station covering 4,200,000 acres and owned by the Clifton Hills Pastoral Company. 

Alexandria Station

A cattle station covering 3,980,000 acres and owned by the North Australian Pastoral Company. 

Davenport Downs

A farm covering 3,730,000 acres and owned by the Paraway Pastoral Company. 

Crown Point Pastoral Company

A partnership between Donny and Colleen Costello and Viv Oldfield, this company owns 9.2 million hectares of cattle stations. 

MH Premium Farms

Owned by billionaire Michael Hintze, this company owns 87,000 hectares of farmland in NSW, Queensland, and Victoria. 

Gina Rinehart is Australia’s biggest landowner, controlling 9.2 million hectares. 

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 3:02 pm

Israel’s total area is approximately 2,077,000 hectares.

Gina’s land holding is around 4.5 times the freaking size of Israel. In more perspective she owns the equivalent of 70% of Greece.

Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 3:07 pm
Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 3:14 pm

(As Cats can see, I’m bored today)….

Check out this map that you can plug different nukes into and see the blast radius on the map:

NUKEMAP by Alex Wellerstein

Fun for the whole family (and for those amongst us who are “preppers”) 😛

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
November 21, 2024 3:14 pm

I hope there is a thorough investigation into why Jewish vehicles aggressively and unprovoked, assaulted spray cans and boxes of matches.
Their brooding evil, parked in public to entrap random innocent people with these items on them cannot be allowed to continue!

They all need to be marked, perhaps in safety yellow, with some recognisable sign, perhaps a star, to warn passers by of their vehicular machinations.

/ Sarc, if it’s needed.

Migration from the shit holes of the world really working out well eh you cack handed low rent submongs.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 3:17 pm

I already showed you that it is relevant to your claim that they are singularly concerned with return on capital.

Oh, really? Where exactly did you show this? And you’re saying they demonstrate this by being concerned with a few hundred acres of distressed sales here and there, all thanks to the tax?

You don’t need to go on about DEI, I could just as well refer to their push for ‘Net Zero’; they are simply examples of it using this or that issue/ policy for purposes that have little interest in immediate return of capital. That is all I need to establish.

DEI is a separate subject. BlackRock could promote DEI because their benchmark is relative. They were attempting to position DEI as a governance standard across all public companies. This way, everyone’s performance would face the same penalty. This would ensure BlackRock wouldn’t be the only fund manager whose results were impacted.

A fund manager’s performance is measured against others and also against the relevant indices.

Okay, I’m not going to ask you to answer those questions again as you’re obviously not going to.

It’s not if you take into account that Australia is 32 times the size of the UK.

The point isn’t about the size of the country. The point is that buying scattered lots here and there, sold due to tax distress, isn’t likely to attract any interest from large funds.

Last edited 2 hours ago by JC
Pogria
Pogria
November 21, 2024 3:22 pm

I have never been interested in American Football in any way, shape or form BUT, this five minute clip is one of the funniest, most interesting things I have seen. A moment in History worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-JD4o-Y5Aw&t=1s

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
November 21, 2024 3:22 pm

I liked this story, it demonstrates how much fun you can have with lefties using AI.

Newsweek Gets Mocked Into Next Week for ‘Fact-Checking’ Supposed 18th-Century Painting of Trump (19 Nov)

The AI work of art is seriously good!

comment image

comment image

H B Bear
H B Bear
November 21, 2024 3:23 pm

Mrs Brian Loughnane gives Luigi both barrels in today’s Paywallian. I just cannot see how a government this bad can survive,even as a minority form. Not long till we find out.

JC
JC
November 21, 2024 3:33 pm

Take this on a personal level: you’re invested in a fund. The fund manager sends you his quarterly performance report along with his future investment strategy. He tells you he’s planning to buy scattered distressed farms across the UK as they hit the market. He explains that the government is targeting farmers with harsh regulations aimed at preventing gerbiling. He also notes the expected return is about 0.5%, with further capital depreciation likely in the foreseeable future.
Would you stick with this fund, or run for the nearest exit? It’s a rhetorical question, so you don’t really need to answer it.

Last edited 2 hours ago by JC
Winston Smith
Winston Smith
November 21, 2024 3:39 pm

Melanie Phillips
The issue isn’t so much the whole ‘hurt feelings’ and ‘hate speech’, it’s the obvious glee with which the police hunt down the wrongdoers and publicly delight in the citizens distress at the whole situation.
Two decades of University Police Education has delivered us a Religious Police so far not seen outside of the Islamic shitholes.

thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
November 21, 2024 3:46 pm

Has JC put himself down for a new Jaguar Zoolander yet?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 21, 2024 3:48 pm

Arsonist sets himself on fire during attack on Lux Nightclub on Chapel St in South YarraAn arsonist has set himself on fire while torching a popular South Yarra nightclub, one of three suspicious blazes to erupt across Melbourne. See the incredible footage here.

From the Hun.

Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
November 21, 2024 3:53 pm

The weekly dose. Enjoy.

The Mocker: Congrats, Anthony Albanese, for earning China’s red star stamp of approval

Hey everyone, guess who just picked up the school’s good citizen award? None other than our Anthony. Being announced on the eve of the G20 assembly in Rio de Janeiro it would bestow Albanese with a red star stamp.
 
Unlike the Morrison government, which “fell under Washington’s anti-China spell,” the Prime Minister had demonstrated “strategic autonomy”, gushed the state-owned China Daily last week. In light of the “hawkish look” of US president-elect Donald Trump’s likely cabinet, Australia could “offer some useful reference” for American allies and partners, it pronounced. 

This is up there with the Nigerians giving out awards for good governance, the Saudis hosting a global Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, and the Swedes being the ultimate authority on fine dining. It is not the headmaster handing out Albanese’s award, but the school bully.

Granted, Albanese is not the first Australian politician to be commended for his obeisance to the Middle Kingdom. Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews proved a useful lackey by signing a Belt and Road agreement with China that Beijing used to undermine the Morrison government. The toadying increased tenfold when then-WA premier Mark ‘Mao’ McGowan, during his official trip to China last year, called for Albanese and all state and territory leaders to hold a national cabinet meeting in Beijing.
 
But obsequious premiers are of limited use. China’s aim has long been to divide the Five Eyes alliance, and to do that it must cultivate one of the respective heads of government.

Former New zealand prime minister is a case in point. Having imposed trade sanctions on Australia following the Morrison government’s call for an inquiry into the outbreak of COVID-19, Beijing enticed the Ardern government with favourable trade deals. In return New Zealand distanced itself from its fellow Five Eyes members, particularly regarding joint criticism of China’s punitive actions in Hong Kong and its treatment of Uyghurs. Naturally, Beijing made full use of this discord for propaganda purposes, praising the Ardern government. 

Beijing’s strategy was to appeal to Ardern’s grasping provincialism. In the case of Albanese, it did so by exploiting his pusillanimity. Just ask Shingo Yamagami, who served as Japan’s ambassador to Australia between 2021-23.

“There’s no question that Anthony Albanese has been weak and meek vis a vis China,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald last weekend. “This is common knowledge in the international community”. 

All too true. When a Chinese destroyer intentionally endangered Royal Australian Navy divers last year by blasting them with sonar, Albanese was about to attend the APEC summit in San Francisco along with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The timing was no coincidence. 

Probing for weakness, the Chinese were testing Albanese’s mettle. It was not until the summit’s conclusion the Australian government released details about the incident. Pathetically, the Prime Minister later repeatedly refused to answer whether he had raised the incident with Xi. You might say Albanese left San Francisco with flour in his hair. 

Gone is the tough-talking leader who called out others for not safeguarding Australia’s interests. As opposition leader, Albanese capitalised on the revelation in 2022 that then Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare had signed a security pact with Beijing. It was, said Albanese, a “massive foreign policy failure” by the Morrison government. 

Then shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong also played the hawk. “On Scott Morrison’s watch, our region has become less secure, and the risks Australia faces have become much greater,” she said.

But if anything, Beijing has increased its influence in the region since Labor assumed government. As this masthead reported last week, the Australian High Commission in the Solomon Islands has refused to meet with Daniel Suidani, a former premier of Malaita province who vigorously opposes China’s encroachment. Forget asking our foreign affairs minister to explain. Wong refused to respond to questions, leading security analysts to conclude the Albanese government was placating China. 

Last year East Timor blindsided Wong and Albanese by signing a security pact with China. Wong diverted questions to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which issued a feeble statement saying the agreement was “a matter for East Timor and China”. Is no-one in government aware East Timor is less than 700km from Darwin? 

This occurred during Wong’s watch, but she has more important priorities. Last year, to the bemusement of British officials, Wong’s address at King’s College in London quickly turned into a Penny pity-party. Britain, she said, should share “uncomfortable” stories of colonisation with Pacific nations. You know, terribly harrowing stories like the fact Wong’s grandmother worked as a domestic servant for British colonists. Oh, the humanity! 
Given Australia’s insipid stance, it is no wonder Beijing favours this government. It must also be delighted with the state of our defence force. Of Australia’s six Collins-class submarines, only one is operational.

In August, former chief of army Peter Leahy warned Australia had become a “strategic liability” for the US, saying the ADF is “stretched too thin” and has a “massive infrastructure backlog”. Like Wong, Defence Minister Richard Marles is focused on the important jobs, such as ensuring RAAF special-purpose aircraft flights ferry his golf clubs around the world. 

Had you asked Albanese at the beginning of last year what was the biggest threat to Australia, he would have repeated what he said during the voice referendum campaign. How would Australia be “perceived internationally” if the proposal did not carry, he asked. 

It says a lot about Albanese’s political antenna, suffice to say it is not located on top of his head. If he wants to fret about how we are perceived internationally, he should think about the ramifications of the Trump presidency. 

Currently Australia spends only 1.99 per cent of GDP on defence. Trump has made clear to NATO members he holds in contempt governments that spend less than three per cent of that measure on defence yet expect America to defend them in the event of conflict. Wish Albanese good luck in explaining to Trump his priority, to use a hackneyed expression, is transforming Australia into a “renewable energy superpower”. 

During the election campaign, Albanese promised to “protect” Australia if he became prime minister. If anything, we are looking increasingly like a protectorate. In CCP-speak, Albanese’s “strategic autonomy” is strategic sycophancy.

Rabz
November 21, 2024 3:54 pm

Close your eyes and imagine Prime Minister Teats Peanuthead, instead of Albansleazy

Yeah, no. We avoided that nightmare scenario twice, Perfesser von Wrongsolen.

Salvatore - Iron Publican
November 21, 2024 3:55 pm

There seems to be a discussion in which there is an assumption made (real or for argument’s sake) that a large corporate investment entity, a “fund“, if purchasing rural production land, “farms“, would;

a) purchase only farms that join up into one block of land.
b) would personally run the day-to-day farming enterprise, as one economic unit, albeit with an employed manager.

Both of these beliefs are not true. More than 30 years of fund operations in Australia is to the contrary, never mind in other countries.
This belief is not even consistent with the land management model used in USA/Canada.

Rosie
Rosie
November 21, 2024 3:57 pm

Republicans have won their women only facilities battle at the Capitol, Tim ‘ Sarah’ McBride has graciously agreed to abide by the rules.
They are now going after all federal government facilities.
Good.
Incidentally McBride puts a female filter on his social media photos.
He’s very tall and looks and sounds like a bloke with long hair* IRL.
He had a FtM girlfriend who didn’t from some testosterone taking related cancer at the age of 27 iirc.
A sad heterosexual couple in other words.
*in the 69s 70s he could have just been a hippie and gotten his seat in Congress.

KevinM
KevinM
November 21, 2024 3:58 pm

Pogria
November 21, 2024 3:22 pm

I have never been interested in American Football in any way, shape or form BUT, this five minute clip is one of the funniest, most interesting things I have seen. A moment in History worth watching.

Absolutely no idea what I was supposed to see.

Just got to watch the ad for the Jaguar, same reaction, if not alerted what it was for no sane people would’ve guessed.
The world has gone crazy and we live in it.

Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
November 21, 2024 4:06 pm
P
P
November 21, 2024 4:16 pm

Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption
Prompted at 1:36.58

What role has God played in your life?

And who is God?

Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
November 21, 2024 4:19 pm

Unbelievable. I wonder what the life of this battery will be, and of its disposal thereupon.

Oz

Origin Energy has approved an expansion of its soon-to-completed battery at the Eraring coal power station, which once completed will have the largest dispatchable capacity in the southern hemisphere.

The expansion, the third such enlargement Origin has committed to, will take the project to 700 MW/2800 MWh with a dispatchable duration of around four hours.

Indolent
Indolent
November 21, 2024 4:23 pm
JC
JC
November 21, 2024 4:36 pm

In the comment before your first denial: These are the same guys that heavily promoted DEI to corporates like Boeing over the last decade. Was this in order to meet certain return on capital benchmarks?

You brought this up earlier today, not in the previous day’s commentary, which is what you were implying.

Firstly, it isn’t within the parameters it was raised. Secondly, your attempt here to rationalize their concern for DEI is not convincing. Why would they promote it anyway if their concern is singularly rate of return?

This is why I suggested you should leave DEI for a separate discussion as it has nothing to do with whether large funds are going to be buying, distressed scattered farmland as a result of the tax change.

Funds a singularly concerned with

  1. the potential rate of return.
  2. the relative rate of return compared to competitors
  3. The return compared to the indices.

When a fund makes or is about to make an investment,- at that point in time, the only concern is point 1.

Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 4:42 pm

Hey! Nice Faguar car you got there!

alwaysright
alwaysright
November 21, 2024 4:59 pm

Origin Energy has approved an expansion of its soon-to-completed battery at the Eraring coal power station

I’m waiting for a bbbattery to explode at a power station and for the explosion to take out the power station.

Sometime in 2025, I reckon.

Bungonia Bee
Bungonia Bee
November 21, 2024 5:00 pm

Surprise, surprise! Nasty look for Labor avoided by caving to the rail unions who had them by the sort and curlies. Somehow this won’t be presented by the MSM as a “nasty look for Labor”.
We await the sophisticated spin from the same complicit jismists when the full horror of raiding the Future Piggybank becomes evident – at least to us.

Lysander
Lysander
November 21, 2024 5:06 pm
JC
JC
November 21, 2024 5:08 pm

This is just silly.

Yes another very silly diversion tactic meant to cause confusion that’s really getting antique now.

What do you think the implication of the above is, if not, that purchasing them and operating them in some other manner could generate better rates of return and thereby a better sale price if they are redeveloped and then sold off?


As has been repeatedly explained to you, “large funds” like Blackrock are not going to be buying small lots scattered all over the place. There’s no upside in this and there certainly isn’t in the UK across all sectors with this government.

The sale process isn’t not going to be a one off under this tax regime because distress will be felt after the death of a farm owner. It’s going to be continual.

As I’ve already explained, it usefully demonstrates that funds like BlackRock are not singularly concerned with short-term rates of return on capital but have longer time-horizons.

You know what, have it your way. British farm land is going to be the opportunity of a life time and funds will be falling over each other buying oddlots because of the tremendous upside potential they see with the current .5% return on capital deployed. You’re right.

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
November 21, 2024 5:10 pm

The Melanie Phillips article referenced by Winston at 1539 and cohenite at 1322 begs the question, which has produced the worse result, university “education” for police, or university “education” for j’ismists?

Eyrie
Eyrie
November 21, 2024 5:32 pm

Interesting statistic. Australia only grows about twice as much wheat per annum as the UK. Comparing farm sizes should keep this in mind.
Maybe compare average wheat farm sizes in both countries?
Got a pal with 3 contiguous properties near Moree. He’s orginally from Holland and went back recently. Tells me the government trying to get farmers off the land is about using the land for housing, warehouses and industrial/commercial premises. Possibly same in UK.

cohenite
November 21, 2024 5:40 pm

alwaysright
 November 21, 2024 4:59 pm

Origin Energy has approved an expansion of its soon-to-completed battery at the Eraring coal power station

I’m waiting for a bbbattery to explode at a power station and for the explosion to take out the power station.
Sometime in 2025, I reckon.

The second stage development of the large-scale battery at Eraring Power Station has been approved, with a $450 million investment from Origin Energy. 
The second stage of the Eraring battery will add a 240MW/1030MWh four-hour duration grid-forming battery to the 460MW/1073MWh two-hour duration first stage battery development already under construction at the site and anticipated to come online at the end of the 2025 calendar year. The combined energy storage of the stage one and stage two batteries will be more than 2GWh, enabling Origin to help keep the grid stable and support more variable renewable energy coming into the system.

Eraring battery powering ahead – Energy Magazine 

The total cost of the stupid thing will be close to $2 billion and will supply 720MW for a couple of hours. So Fennells Bay and down town Toronto will be laughing for an hour or so when the blackout occurs and the rest of NSW are in the dark. For that money a 1000 MW coal/gas power plant could have been built which would keep Newcastle in power forever.

Seriously., the people responsible for this shit should be electrocuted.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
November 21, 2024 5:46 pm

Indigenous group wants decision-making powers over how Australia’s history is taught in schools as part of treaty
Daily Mail. I’ll bet good money we hear all about the “Frontier Wars” and not a word about the massacres of settlers, with their wives and children.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
November 21, 2024 5:55 pm

Kudos to Ivan for the visuals. Perfect for the song!

—-

Ivan Vasconcelos:

BAKER STREET – GERRY RAFFERTY – (1978)

Wally Dali
Wally Dali
November 21, 2024 6:15 pm

Cat Cwiz Cwestion-
What was that incident, a fair few years ago, where a Victorian dairy company was legislated out of business, but bought by membets of the parliamentary Labor party at liquidation, and re-launched?

Rosie
Rosie
November 21, 2024 6:16 pm

“she” going to use the disabled toilets?
No there is a private toilet in his office and various unisex ones around the place, probably also disabled, baby friendly ones.
In Japan they had mother baby cubicles where there was a baby receptacle
https://images.app.goo.gl/E7TDWM8W85yTPamJ7

Last edited 2 minutes ago by Rosie
Jock
Jock
November 21, 2024 6:17 pm

Ellen degenerate migrating to England. A far left socialist like her will immediately be clasped to the bosom of the English government. The party…Engsoc…will adore her. Here’s hoping they then tax her to within a whisker and she flees to Germany for another fleecing.

  1. Ellen degenerate migrating to England. A far left socialist like her will immediately be clasped to the bosom of the…

  2. “she” going to use the disabled toilets? No there is a private toilet in his office and various unisex ones…

  3. Cat Cwiz Cwestion- What was that incident, a fair few years ago, where a Victorian dairy company was legislated out…

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