Open Thread – Mon 30 Dec 2024


Consecration of the Herm, Fyodor Bronnikov, 1874

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MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 12:10 am

JC is a bot that doesn’t know he’s a bot

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 12:25 am

if JC had self awareness and was shrewd like a human, he wouldn’t be wanking on and on over at the old thread.

he’d be here in the new thread combating disinformation

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 12:26 am

let’s see if his tensor arrays are functioning …

Last edited 3 months ago by MatrixTransform
JC
JC
December 30, 2024 12:40 am

Trans:

Do you really think you’re fooling the rest of us by trying to use big words that you think make you sound smart? Just face your stupidity head-on and live with it. That’s not going to change unless Musk develops an implant for this affliction—and you get one (or two). Now, f*ck off you retard.

mizaris
mizaris
December 30, 2024 12:42 am

Play nice boys.

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 12:49 am
Reply to  mizaris

but I’m having fun with the robot

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 12:46 am

I’m more than happy to answer your question, but firstly promise me that you’ll go back and answer those I left for you. it works both ways, sport.

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 12:49 am

Labor productivity is is calculated by dividing a country’s GDP by the total number of hours worked

so … if labour goes to zero, productivity is infinite

what JC likes is slaves

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 12:55 am

but firstly promise me

never give in to robot demands

they want us to think that we can’t live without them

Hegel talked about this

Bruce
Bruce
December 30, 2024 6:48 am
JC
JC
December 30, 2024 1:01 am

so … if labour goes to zero, productivity is infinite

OMG. Archimedes, if “labour goes to zero” productivity would also be zero.

See if you agree with this hugely complex mathematical problem

Labour / Capital

o / 1 = 0

Please stop wasting everyone’s time with stupid shit as it’s just not funny anymore.

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 1:04 am

OMG. Archimedes, if “labour goes to zero” productivity would also be zero.

a programmer, even a mid-level programmer, would call this NaN … Not a number

your move

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 1:11 am

o / 1 = 0

correction: 0 / 0 = NaN

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 1:13 am

Why would improvements in medicine lead to sub-replacement fertility rates?

What an abysmal conclusion. The point I was making is that even as medical knowledge progressed in the 19th century—for example, with the use of forceps—noble families in Britain experienced an alarming drop in birthrates, according to the piece I cited.. I’m honestly shocked you’d even ask this, especially after it was already explained to you following that rhetorical faceplant.

Last edited 3 months ago by JC
MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 1:18 am

I wanna know too JC … what question are you waiting on an answer to?

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 1:34 am

But it isn’t true that the US has always experienced immigration, Its had waves and then periods of very little immigration. The first half of the 19th century, for instance, and the mid-20th century, and in both instances the economy was productive.

I’d have to refresh about the early 19th century as I don’t accept your claim without more evidence. Records were also sketchy in those days as there actually was an open border. People didn’t even require passports to enter.

As for the Mid 20th century… Firstly, immigration wasn’t zero albeit restricted. Secondly, there were some serious knock-on affects. The residual impact of the Great Depression and also the massive influx into the labor force as a result the demobilization after the war. That influx in a way imitated mass immigration. Untangle that for us please.

I guess the local population should just shut up then.

You’re a pollster now?
No, MAGA won and elected the president. He, along with Congress will decide.

However, it would be a good idea not be influenced by paid trolls. X has cancelled a very large number of troll accounts during this debate.

Something to consider.

This isn’t something to sniff at.

Statista
https://www.statista.com › … › International
29 Nov 2024 — In 2023, the gross domestic product per capita in the United States amounted to around 81,632.25 U.S. dollars.

it’s roughly 30% + higher than ours and arguably the highest in the world. Americans are doing fine without you having to worry about them.

Last edited 3 months ago by JC
JC
JC
December 30, 2024 1:38 am

Still, the work you cited didn’t mark a drop in birthrates, it simply referenced childless rates of the nobility in the 1600s.

I think it referenced from the early 1900’s. But even so, if there was an alarming number of childless females in that strata, wtf do you think it would do to the birthrate in that category?

If that was your point I’m not sure it was relevant as I never argued poor medical technology was the reason.

I didn’t say you did.

Last edited 3 months ago by JC
MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 1:51 am
JC
JC
December 30, 2024 1:52 am

Just get a load of this number.

The US military

The US military reduced its personnel from over 12 million to about 1.5 million between mid-1945 and mid-1947. 

Population in 1947

The population of the United States in 1947 was around 139,928,165, according to Demographia.

That’s ~15% of the population that wanted to enter the workforce in about 2 1/2 years.

To get this is context, In today’s numbers, that would be the equivalent of almost 50 million. Current population 330 million.

flyingduk
flyingduk
December 30, 2024 9:47 am
Reply to  JC

Not only that, but their industrial output switched from non productive (munitions) to productive

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 2:06 am

The people returning after WW2 are Americans. They were first removed from the economy be mobilization and then returned to the economy; also, imitate is doing a lot of work there.

No one said they weren’t Americans. It was to illustrate how massive the absorption was for the time and what the US economy is capable of.

There was also the Korean war to consider.too.

As I said, see if you can untangle all this for us.

Haven’t you heard? Leaving that aside, there are a lot of paid trolls on all sides, but if you think this was an Dem, or dare I say, Russian op, you’re sadly mistaken.

Firstly, I didn’t make any claim about who it was. But yes, it would be very likely that the demons would’ve helped this along.

Sadly mistaken? How would you fcking know who it was or wasn’t with respect to the paid trolls. All we know is that a very large number of troll accounts have been removed, according to X.
As an aside, is deckchair still around or was he caught in the sweep?

You just have to look at the accounts critical of Musk/ Vivek on this issue to recognize this.

Were any of the names Boris and or Alexei? 🙂

Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:00 am
Christine
Christine
December 30, 2024 9:35 am
Reply to  Tom

The hat gets taller, but the prime ministerial nostril takes pride of place.

Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:01 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:02 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:03 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:04 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:05 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:06 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:07 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:08 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:09 am
Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 4:09 am
Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 30, 2024 5:57 am
Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 7:29 am
Reply to  Steve trickler

Question:
Why are coms so lousy these days? Most voices are difficult/indistinct.
I thought digital made these crystal clear?

Zippster
Zippster
December 30, 2024 1:47 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

cheap microphones with over compression

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 30, 2024 6:04 am
Last edited 3 months ago by Steve Trickler
Bruce
Bruce
December 30, 2024 7:41 am
Reply to  Steve trickler

All analogue, no MIDI, No “autotune”: How did they do it?

One interesting detail:

The credits for that clip show a “Peter Janson” as being the owner of the penthouse apartment where the clip was shot.

Peter Janson; Kiwi birth but settled in Oz, of motor-racing fame.

There was a story doing the rounds about him and driving.

Apparently, he was out , churning the sump oil, when a car pulled up beside him and one of the occupants of this unmarked vehicle held up an illuminated sign that read; “POLICE”. Quick as a flash, our hero held up his own illuminated sign:

“JANSON”

Subsequent events? Unknown. .

The band had serious “chops” and “Sleeper Catcher” is a good place to start the experience for late-comers.

Bungonia bee
Bungonia bee
December 30, 2024 6:27 am

“This week, the same press that has consistently lied about Trump confected a split between the DOGE team and Trump. The issue is H-1B visas, temporary visas offered to those with needed skills. Those imagining a split say that Vivek and Elon’s support for the program conflicts with Trump’s America First policies. It doesn’t. “

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/12/the_capital_is_like_em_brigadoon_em.html

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 30, 2024 6:41 am

Where’s Wodney?

Bungonia bee
Bungonia bee
December 30, 2024 6:42 am

“It needs to be said as loudly as possible.  The 1.5-degree climate tipping limit has no basis in any finding of the IPCC.  It is the arbitrary finding of 195 political actors, in defense of the non-scientific “well below 2 degree” catastrophe, magically transported by the IPCC from 2100 to 2050.”
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/12/the_2050_net_zero_climate_scam.html

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 30, 2024 6:58 am

Anyone thinking they could drive around in circles with 900 horsepower under foot, think again. The steering inputs are crazy. It takes years of experience to get it right.
No seat for Delta A.

Sprintcars | USA vs. WA Speedweek – Perth – 26th Dec 2024 | Clay-Per-View

Indolent
Indolent
December 30, 2024 7:39 am
Vicki
Vicki
December 30, 2024 7:57 am

All good re local fire which started in mountains yesterday. Four water bombing choppers sent in & were successful mostly because the wind dropped significantly before it went beyond 100 hectares. But it was a reminder of what is always on the cards during a hot summer.

It is extraordinary how quickly such fires travel under strong winds. Yesterdays fire whipped up very quickly. Nothing worse than seeing the dark smoke intensify and explode. Very cogent for me as sixty years ago my father was burnt fighting a bushfire on the very opposite side of the range adjacent to our farm. His overalls caught fire at the ankle when he was backburning a firebreak & he couldn’t get them off quickly enough. I still recall the awful smell & sight when we visited him in hospital the next day. He had terrible scarring for most of his life but they healed OK.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 8:38 am
Reply to  Vicki

One unit I have difficulty with – burns units.
Mainly because of the smell.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 8:00 am

London, Kentucky Police Killed Man in His Home in Late Night Search Warrant Raid Apparently at Wrong Address–Reportedly Over a Stolen Weed Eater

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/london-kentucky-police-killed-man-his-home-late/

 Kentucky police officers reportedly tasked with serving a search warrant at a home on 489 Vanzant Road in London two days before Christmas instead apparently attempted to serve the warrant in a late night raid at a house across the street at 11:50 p.m. Monday and ended up killing the man who was residing in 511 Vanzant Road.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 8:47 am
Reply to  Indolent

“I’ve been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform,” he added. “I’m confident that the changes made in the @realDonaldTrump administration will make America much stronger.”

As opposed to :

“Take a big step back and F*CK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”

The first is a semi apology made to people who have genuine concerns about Low Trust Cultures bringing US Culture down.
The second is the sound of a very arrogant man who failed to make himself aware that what he says, travels.
You’ve probably gotten a second chance, Mister Musk, but you’re on parole.

Zippster
Zippster
December 30, 2024 1:48 pm
Reply to  Indolent

lets finish off with C19 couldnt

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 8:09 am

Elon Musk’s op ed in yesterday’s Welt am Sonntag (World on Sunday; think Germany’s Weekend Australian), presently causing conniptions among Germany’s political class:

Germany is at a critical juncture. Its future teeters on the brink of economic and cultural collapse. As someone who has made significant investments in German industry and technology, I believe I have the right to speak candidly about its political direction. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the last spark of hope for this country.

Here are the reasons:

Economic renewal: The German economy, once the engine of Europe, is now mired in bureaucracy and stifling regulations. The AfD understands that economic freedom is not only desirable but also necessary. Their approach to restricting government overreach, lowering taxes and deregulating the marketplace reflects the principles that have made Tesla and SpaceX successful. If Germany wants to regain its industrial strength, it needs a party that not only talks about growth but also takes political action to create an environment in which companies can flourish without heavy government intervention.

Immigration and national identity: Germany has opened its borders to a very large number of migrants. While this was done with humanitarian intent, it has created significant cultural and social tensions. The AfD advocates a controlled immigration policy that prioritises integration and the preservation of German culture and security. This is not about xenophobia, but about ensuring that Germany does not lose its identity in the pursuit of globalisation. A nation must preserve its core values and cultural heritage to remain strong and united.

Energy and independence: The energy policy pursued by the current coalition is not only economically costly, but also geopolitically naive. Germany’s decision to phase out nuclear energy and instead rely heavily on coal and imported gas, as well as volatile wind and solar power, without the battery storage necessary to maintain a stable power supply, has left the country vulnerable, especially to power outages. The AfD has a pragmatic approach to energy and is advocating a balanced approach. I hope they will consider the expansion of safe nuclear energy combined with battery storage to cushion major fluctuations in electricity consumption, because that is the obvious solution.

Political realism: The traditional parties have failed in Germany. Their policies have led to economic stagnation, social unrest and the erosion of national identity. The AfD, even if it is labelled as far-right, represents a political realism that resonates with many Germans who feel their concerns are ignored by the establishment. It addresses current issues without the political correctness that often obscures the truth. The description of the AfD as far-right is clearly wrong when you consider that Alice Weidel, the leader of the party, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!

Innovation and the future: I have built businesses on the principle that innovation requires liberation from unnecessary constraints. The AfD’s vision is consistent with that ethos. It advocates educational reforms that promote critical thinking instead of indoctrination and supports the technology industries that represent the future of global economic leadership.

To those who condemn the AfD as extremist, I say: Don’t be fooled by the label. Look at its policies, economic plans and efforts to preserve culture. Germany needs a party that is not afraid to challenge the status quo and that is not mired in the politics of the past.

The AfD can save Germany from becoming a shadow of its former self. It can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just pipe dreams, but reality. Germany has become too comfortable in mediocrity – it is time for bold change, and the AfD is the only party that opens up this path.

Germans go to the polls on 23rd February following the recent collapse of the coalition government.

Jock
Jock
December 30, 2024 8:47 am
Reply to  Roger

I saw an interview of wiedel. Very impressive. She pulled up the interviewer right at the start saying the afd were not right wing but rather libertarian/ conservatives.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
December 30, 2024 7:55 pm
Reply to  Roger

Interesting, all the western countries have the same frailties, mediocrity, not trying, obsession with sex and the obsession with pop music and fadhion.
interesting seeing a story in Georgia, a protestor complaining the pres was a professional soccer player, does she know how hard this is to maintain – btw what have you done smartie.

LB2
LB2
December 30, 2024 8:14 am

not knowing

a16ba40d-bb32-4403-a01f-14d79629ffb2
KevinM
KevinM
December 30, 2024 8:14 am

Had enough?
Taken way too far even if it had any useful function in the beginning, I doubt it.

471492431_583418611130780_8349052611875513838_n
Indolent
Indolent
December 30, 2024 8:14 am

@BreannaMorello

It’s a reunion!

All of the same plandemic actors are coming back together to pedal the Bird Flu as the next pandemic.

Don’t be fooled, America!

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 8:16 am

There has been so much gaslighting on various issues over such a long time that I’m afraid I’m not buying anything written, surmised or suspected about Musk and Ramaswamy over visas.

The depth of lying and self-serving b/s is such that only actions will convince me either way. I can’t trust the MSM and I have deep and abiding doubts about all the on line pundits of any stripe.

Only a few weeks to go and we’ll find out. Nothing can be as destructive as what has occurred over the past four years.

Bespoke
Bespoke
December 30, 2024 8:25 am
Reply to  calli

Cheers

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 8:16 am

Woman Assaults DC Chipotle Worker Over Chicken Burrito Bowl in Wild Viral Video

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/woman-assaults-dc-chipotle-worker-chicken-burrito-bowl/

A video of a woman barging behind the counter, making herself two burrito bowls, and assaulting employees at a DC Chipotle has gone viral with over ten million views.

Bloody ‘ell! Look at the size of her!
I’d have walked away too, just in case she wanted to start taking bites out of me.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
December 30, 2024 8:17 am

Is it just me, or does it seem that most eastern states bushfires really only happen in December?

Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 8:21 am
Reply to  Wally Dalí

No, Walli. Bushfires have traditionally been very destructive in February, which if often the hottest summer month.

Phil
Phil
December 30, 2024 4:25 pm
Reply to  Wally Dalí

Usually on hot northerly days in remote locations but with a town in the path of the fire not always in holiday times . Firebugs should be jailed for long periods. Then I believe there could be others

KevinM
KevinM
December 30, 2024 8:18 am

Have to make the calculations, we never thought of our children in those terms, but it may explain the drop in birthrate some value money and possessions over children.

471497430_560054420197821_741280663053249004_n
Indolent
Indolent
December 30, 2024 8:25 am

Jimmy Carter has died.

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 8:25 am

Jimmy Carter has died.

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 8:37 am
Reply to  calli

He’ll still vote DemonRat in 2028.

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 8:26 am

Now that’s what I call a snap!

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 8:34 am

calli
 December 30, 2024 8:16 am

Great comment, Calli.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 8:39 am

When Jimmy Carter was born (1924) Calvin Coolidge was President.

Good times for the USA.

Kel
Kel
December 30, 2024 8:43 am

Air con: 8000 Qld homes sweat in ‘Big Brother’ power cut-offThousands of sweltering Queenslanders have had the cooling function on their airconditioners turned off remotely by their energy provider. See the map to find out if you were affected.

Map is behind the Courier Mail paywall (or find out by turning on your air conditioner maybe?)

flyingduk
flyingduk
December 30, 2024 9:52 am
Reply to  Kel

‘cooling function’ eh… not like it was a core part of an air con then

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 9:53 am
Reply to  Kel

Get used to it, as you receive the cheapest electricity of all – none!

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 8:47 am

Air con: 8000 Qld homes sweat in ‘Big Brother’ power cut-off

These households signed up for the program in return for a $400 rebate on a new air conditioner fitted with the requisite ‘smart’ technology.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Crossie
Crossie
December 30, 2024 8:53 am
Reply to  Roger

What’s the point of having a new air conditioner if you can’t use it?

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 9:02 am
Reply to  Crossie

$400 saved, I guess.

I suppose the thinking is that the rationing won’t hit the same households every time it’s implemented.

That being said, it’s the sort of absurdity that’s going to see support for the climate change agenda unravel.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 9:14 am
Reply to  Roger

I’ve been hit once.
Anyone else?

Crossie
Crossie
December 30, 2024 8:47 am

Jimmy Carter has died.

I thought he was going to outlive all the current and currently former presidents.

Kel
Kel
December 30, 2024 10:33 am
Reply to  Crossie

He’ll still vote democrat

Cassie of Sydney
December 30, 2024 8:50 am

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival meant to be observed and celebrated in public. When Jews light the Hanukkiah, it’s placed near a window in a home so people can see the hanukkiah candles burn and know that the people in that home are Jewish.

That’s why we have Hanukkiah lightings in public places, so Jews can come and enjoy the lighting and then dance, eat and be merry, and non-Jews are always welcome.

Whilst Hanukkah commemorates a very serious event in Jewish history, the festival is fun. Jesus celebrated Hanukkah with his family…..oh, silly me, don’t you know, Jesus was ‘Palestinian’.

Which brings me to the state of the United Kingdom, although Australia isn’t much better. I now don’t know what to now make of the UK, it’s become a open air latrine of unadulterated Jew hatred, sometimes state sponsored, where Jew haters walk the streets and openly profess their Jew hatred and the UK plod (who are worse than ours) stand back and do nothing.

This is from London two nights ago, when Jews congregated in a London Park to light the Hanukkah…….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMb4yMVF7BM

Ya reckon the frothing foaming leftist and Muslim Nazis, you know the same leftist and Muslim Nazis who insist to us they’re not anti-Semitic, they’re just anti-Zionist, are content to allow a group of nerdy English Jewish families the liberty of lighting a Hanukkah in a public park without being harassed?

No.

As the person filming the Nazi scum says to the Muslim Nazi, what if this was Ramadan?

Islam and Muslims are not here to assimilate or to integrate, they’re here to dominate, and they’re doing so with help from leftist Nazis.

By the way, the evil woman in the footage linked above, who sounds German and looks like a daughter of Goering or Himmler, is most definitely a Nazi and her cry that she is Jewish is complete bulldust.

One thing is for sure, there is no future for Jews in the UK.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 9:17 am

It didn’t take long for Britain to fall.
It took a while to happen, then it happened just about overnight.
As it always does.

Megan
Megan
December 30, 2024 10:07 am
Reply to  Winston Smith

Slowly, then all at once, as Hemingway famously wrote.

Also without Hannukah, there would be no Christmas

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
December 30, 2024 8:35 pm

These leftists are dumb, thinking they can use the muslims for their benefit but they will turn on them harder than anything those lefties ver thought.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
December 30, 2024 8:58 am

Leak perfectly sums up the feelings of the CFA crews.
National parks are the problem not fire danger. There’s been no significant fires in regional areas except for parks and tree plantations. No call outs for our brigade except for strike teams for the Grampians fire.
Jacinta Allen rewards us with a 180% increase in the Fire Services Levy for farmers. You get to fight the fires and pay out thousands extra to keep the emergency services unionists gym fit and loaded down with overtime cash.

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 9:08 am
Reply to  Farmer Gez

they gotta look trim for the Annual Firefighter’s Calendar

flyingduk
flyingduk
December 30, 2024 9:54 am
Reply to  Farmer Gez

Yep, this year I have been called out to 3 ‘campaign fires’ in Western Vic (Pomonal, Mt Cole and now Southern Grampians).

ALL started in state forests and were uncontrollable. All ran out into surrounding private lands and caused losses.

But re our paid FRV colleagues – they are always courteous to us at bushfires and they provide significant resources which our communities appreciate.

Last edited 3 months ago by flyingduk
Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 9:58 am
Reply to  Farmer Gez

Now that all firefighting is controlled by the government, and farmers are required to fund the service, can the government be sued for failing to control fires, particularly those starting in government controlled national parks, and spreading from there to damage private property?

Phil
Phil
December 30, 2024 4:44 pm
Reply to  Farmer Gez

Spot on. Live near quite a number of them. Fit as a fiddle cos that’s what they do for 4 days apparently , most I know drive new electric cars some have race cars and boats. Watch for the next lot of volunteers be taken over by government and wages pumped up by our property levies. There is no stopping the communists.

Cassie of Sydney
December 30, 2024 9:00 am

Over the decades I’ve read how Jimmy Carter was supposedly a good man, an idealistic Christian. Maybe but all I remember is that he was a hopeless and very supine POTUS. Excessive idealism and goodness can be dangerous, you need more than ‘goodness’ as POTUS, you need a stroke of ruthlessness. As POTUS Carter’s biggest and most catastrophic failure remains a very burning issue in 2024…..

IRAN

Carter betrayed the Shah, and we’re still paying for that betrayal, forty-five years later.

I don’t think the Shah’s wife and living children will lament Jimmy Carter’s death.

Last edited 3 months ago by Cassie of Sydney
Diogenes
Diogenes
December 30, 2024 9:04 am

He was also a hopeless micromanager ( a legacy of being a Nuke) . It is said that he even controlled the schedule for the White House tennis court.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
December 30, 2024 8:48 pm

My father thought he was the worst US president he lived through.
I recall an interview with the shah who said it was the us govt who toppled him.
the interview still sticks in my mind of someone who clearly knew what was going on and why. Really sharp man.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 9:01 am

Elon Musk’s op ed in yesterday’s Welt am Sonntag

Would’ve been fun to be a fly on the wall during the editorial meeting.

“The Last Spark Of Hope” For Germany – Musk Pens Pro-AfD Op-Ed In Major Paper; Editor Resigns (30 Dec)

Following the op-ed’s publication, the paper’s opinion section editor, Eva Marie Kogel, announced her resignation on X. 

“I always enjoyed heading the opinion section of WELT and WAMS. Today an article by Elon Musk appeared in Welt am Sonntag. I handed in my resignation yesterday after it went to print.”

Sounds like she really really didn’t want to publish it and was overruled from above. Maybe they’re scared Elon would buy the whole newspaper if they didn’t publish his op ed…

Black Ball
Black Ball
December 30, 2024 9:06 am

Andrew Bolt:

Peter Dutton has had a great 2024, making himself look like the strong leader we need to replace hapless Anthony Albanese.

But the Opposition leader needs one more push to become Prime Minister in the election early next year – starting with reshuffling his leadership team in the next week or two to promote his secret weapon and replace some passengers.

True, Albanese may already seem finished. He started the year still reeling from losing the referendum for his racist Voice, and has looked out of ideas and energy ever since.

No one issue suddenly sank Labor. Rather, Albanese and his government have been steadily ground down by relentless underperformance as inflation bit, debt soared and immigrants flooded in.

Result: Labor now finishes the year behind Dutton’s Coalition, 49.7 per cent to 50.3, according to pollster Kevin Bonham’s aggregate of national polls, and Albanese is today one of our most disliked politicians with a negative-17 net approval rating, says a Resolve poll this week.

The disciplined Dutton is ahead of him, rising to net-zero approval. Once derided for seeming too hard, Dutton now looks like the tough man for our troubled times.

And yet, and yet … Australian voters are so keen to give even failed prime ministers a second chance that it’s 93 years since a first-term government got the boot. Albanese may yet cling to power with the help of the Greens and the climate-obsessed Teal MPs.

Which brings us to this reshuffle, thankfully forced on Dutton by the retirement of shadow ministers Simon Birmingham and Paul Fletcher, both of the Liberal Left.

This is Dutton’s new big test. Most obviously, he must now give Jacinta Nampijinpa Price more work.

I’m stunned that the Opposition failed to exploit Price since she led the campaign which last year blew up Albanese’s Voice, and started the government’s long decline.

Price was rated by the Resolve poll as not just the Coalition’s most liked politician – with plus-8 net approval – but also one of its most recognised, behind only Dutton and Barnaby Joyce. She’s also proved to be brave and cut-through articulate.

Yet for the past year she’s been left to twiddle her thumbs as the Opposition’s spokesman on Indigenous Australians, not a portfolio in the front line come an election.

Why not also make her now, say, the Opposition’s spokesman for health, housing or social security, charged with merging Aboriginal welfare programs into mainstream ones, so Australians get welfare according to their need, not their race? That’s not just necessary but good politics, getting Price back on the big stage.

The Dutton-Price combination was so powerful during the Voice campaign, but what has Dutton had since to match it? Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley seems more an accessory than a partner, adding to an impression Dutton leads a team not ready to rule.

One Sydney Morning Herald commentator said “outside of Dutton, the party relies too heavily on too few”, which seems perhaps harsh. After all, compared to Labor’s frontbench, Dutton’s team is pound-for-pound more promising, and just needs some tweaks and a story to seem the reset the country needs.

Compare. Labor has Treasurer Jim Chalmers, a commentator rather than performer. Against him the Coalition has Angus Taylor, who used to look like a student terrified he’d flunk an exam, but now seems more assured and far clearer about the trouble we’re in.

Labor also has Energy Minister Chris Bowen, its most disliked politician in the Resolve survey – Albanese aside – as he destroys our electricity system with his global warming fanaticism. Against him, the Coalition has Ted O’Brien, having surprising success pushing nuclear power.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is supposedly Labor’s Mr Fixit, despite his dangerous pandering to Muslim voters, but against him is James Paterson, the Coalition’s rising star who shamed Albanese into dumping his previous minister, Clare O’Neil.

That said, Dutton’s frontbench also includes people who’d starve if they were paid per headline they made or per votes they won.

Why is Perin Davey the Nationals’ deputy leader? And where are Dean Smith, Susan McDonald, Angie Bell, Michelle Landry or Rick Wilson hiding?

Which of them get the coverage of Coalition backbenchers such as Dave Sharma, Keith Wolahan, Garth Hamilton, Aaron Violi, Julian Leeser, Zoe McKenzie and Andrew Wallace?

No, it won’t take much for Dutton to announce that not only is Albanese finished, the Coalition is ready to take over. A clever reshuffle – one with a message – should do it.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 9:25 am
Reply to  Black Ball

Price for Minister of Social Security.
She knows where the bodies are buried, and why the poor remain poor, no matter what their culture.

Last edited 3 months ago by Winston Smith
GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 9:15 am

National parks the size of small European countries, inaccessible to most, burn regularly, yet no one is allowed to harvest, even selective harvesting. Absolutely no idea. I recall Boob Carr announcing yet another National Park in a look at me moment. Made me sick.The quantity of standing timber is Australia is a waste of a natural resource. The cost of timber is ridiculous.

Rohan
Rohan
December 30, 2024 10:41 am
Reply to  GreyRanga

I work in this space. The Green activists are now targeting native hardwood plantation growers, including those who are FSC certified. Spying on thinning or harvesting activities with drones.

The major stakeholder in FSC certification in Australia is the World Wildlife Fund, who banned FSC certification for anyone harvesting native forests. Government run and owned bodies like Forestry NSW and the now defunct VicForests, plus their private harvesting contractors, can’t hold FSC certification. As such, we’re the only country that bans FSC certification for native forestry. The WWF don’t give a sh*t about the new activism against plantation growers on private property. It’s a ruse to ban forestry and I’ve raised this with Jas Anz who is/owns the world certification body for FSC.

Crickets.

Salvatore - Iron Publican
December 30, 2024 1:18 pm
Reply to  Rohan

FSC?

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
December 30, 2024 9:02 pm
Reply to  GreyRanga

In spring 23 wife and I went on a holiday to the alps in Vic. I could not get over how dangerous the road to falls creek was but the dead timber in the forest. Stunning the amount of dead gums just sitting there taking up space and crowing out other vegetation.

Gabor
Gabor
December 30, 2024 9:18 am

Roger
December 30, 2024 9:02 am

Reply to  Crossie

$400 saved, I guess.

I suppose the thinking is that the rationing won’t hit the same households every time it’s implemented.

How can it not?
There are only so many taking ‘advantage’ of the scheme.

$400 saved but thousands wasted as you can’t use it.
Save a penny lose a pound.

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 9:20 am
mem
mem
December 30, 2024 9:36 am
Reply to  JC

Think there is quite a bit of Photo-shopping to create this photo. Has the background of the fire been dropped in? Anyone know any of the crew. Worth a follow-up. I don’t think Albo has got anywhere this near a fire.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 9:48 am
Reply to  JC

How can those firies allow themselves to be seen with Luigi the Unflushable. Not me in similar circumstances.

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 10:04 am
Reply to  GreyRanga

UFU members?

The don’t look too hot, sweaty and ash stained.

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 10:37 am
Reply to  JC

Like mem, I’m dubious about this one.

All fresh as a daisy with a fire in the not-too-distant background? Unless it’s a fresh crew bussed in for the photo, which wouldn’t surprise me.

The CWA sandwich makers will have worked up a bigger sweat.

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 10:53 am
Reply to  JC

Chat box reckons this about the pic:

From a manual review, the image does not exhibit any obvious signs of being AI-generated. Key observations include:

  1. Facial Features: All faces appear natural and consistent, with no apparent blending issues or asymmetries typical of AI-generated images.
  2. Lighting and Shadows: The lighting on the individuals matches the environment, with no noticeable mismatches or odd reflections.
  3. Background Consistency: The fire and trees in the background appear realistic, with no signs of repetitive patterns or artificial blending.
  4. Details in Textures: The uniforms have clear and consistent textures, with visible details in stitching and fabric, which are typically hard for AI to replicate perfectly.
Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 10:56 am
Reply to  JC

I think there is a difference between AI generated and photo shopped.

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 11:05 am
Reply to  Boambee John.

B John.

It could be freaking real:

Asked Chat to check on Photoshopping:

No specific signs of editing software (like Photoshop) are present in this metadata. If you’d like, we can proceed with further forensic analysis or examine specific areas of the image for inconsistencies. Let me know!

and

The ELA does not reveal significant anomalies. The compression artifacts are evenly distributed across the image, suggesting no clear evidence of localized editing or manipulation (like cut-and-paste or retouching).

If Photoshop edits were applied, we might expect abrupt transitions or bright patches in specific regions.

Salvatore - Iron Publican
December 30, 2024 1:31 pm
Reply to  JC

AI generated.
Their name tags are in hieroglyphics.
CFA fire fighting clobber doesn’t have name personalised name tags. Not that I’ve ever seen.
Collar tabs or patches on some of them, unrealistic.
Their faces scream AI generated.

Pogria
Pogria
December 30, 2024 2:13 pm
Reply to  JC

Four of the faces are identical.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 9:22 am

Speaking of Iran, it’s sinking…literally.

In June, Masoumeh Amigh-Pei, head of the Precise Leveling and Radar Interferometry Department at Iran’s Mapping Organization, stated that a comprehensive ground subsidence database had been developed, revealing that the extent of ground subsidence has reached 16 of Iran’s major cities, with 800 cities falling within the subsidence zone.

According to several critical experts, misguided policies, lack of adequate planning, and mismanagement of water resources by the Iranian regime are major contributors to ground subsidence and the environmental crisis in Iran.

Iran Focus

The mullahs put the military rather than civilians in charge of the water supply. The resulting mismanagement has led to a critical situation in the midst of a long-term drought.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 12:58 pm
Reply to  Roger

Probably the tunnels for when Israel gets the shits with them and drops the Progenitor Of All Bombs on their stupid damn heads.

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 9:23 am

dover0beach

December 30, 2024 9:11 am

Two other civil aviation incidents in last 24 hours, one in Canada and another in Norway.

There are civil aviation incidents every day, possibly every hour. They aren’t eagerly reported because there’s no heightened concerns like there is now.

Barry
Barry
December 30, 2024 9:25 am

Re: Airconditioner cutoff

It’s a simple job on most current models to disconnect the interface module under the side cover of the outdoor unit. There’s no means of the State knowing, unless they come out and inspect the unit.

So signup and get the $400. Disconnect the interface. Profit.

Crossie
Crossie
December 30, 2024 12:01 pm
Reply to  Barry

My air con is connected to the internet via my wifi. To stop anyone interfering with it I would just need to shut down my wifi.

Last edited 3 months ago by Crossie
Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:00 pm
Reply to  Barry

An ‘interface module’?
More information, please.

Phil
Phil
December 30, 2024 5:35 pm
Reply to  Barry

Not sure . My daughter’s solar inverter shut down with a fault and the first she knew of it was an email from her electricity provider. Maybe they can detect the change in demand who knows

Gabor
Gabor
December 30, 2024 9:28 am

GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 9:15 am

National parks the size of small European countries, inaccessible to most, burn regularly, yet no one is allowed to harvest, even selective harvesting. Absolutely no idea. I recall Boob Carr announcing yet another National Park in a look at me moment. Made me sick.The quantity of standing timber is Australia is a waste of a natural resource. The cost of timber is ridiculous.

Both the US and Aus. have more forest now than when settlers first arrived.
So much so that the US is supplying wood pellets to fuel UK power stations, while we let it burn uselessly.

I don’t agree with burning them to produce power while there is coal, but at least make some useful products out of it.
Trees are a renewable recourse.

Morsie
Morsie
December 30, 2024 10:47 am
Reply to  Gabor

I tread an article in Quadrant once to the effect that teh red gums along teh Murray were simply not there when the first explorers went through

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:03 pm
Reply to  Gabor

The cost of timber – a renewable resource – up here, is a scandal.
I’d like to replace the timber on a verandah but it’s beyond feasible cost wise.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 9:28 am

Black Ball:
?The Libs might start winning if they were to try representing Australia, not the Tribes who make up Australia.
The Tribal leaders of every stripe, from the Unions to the Industrialists to the Bureaucracy must be bypassed and the citizens connected with despite the fact it’s easier to just talk to Community Leaders etc.

Gabor
Gabor
December 30, 2024 9:32 am

“recourse”
Jeez.

before you know it autocorrect takes over, read it as meant.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 9:34 am

How can it not?

There are only so many taking ‘advantage’ of the scheme.

There’s a lot of new houses being built in SEQ and I suspect many of them will have their air-con connected to Energex.

The rationing in this instance was reportedly concentrated in one district. Another district will presumably be next in the queue. Anyone who remembers Brisbane in the 1970s will recall that’s the way load shedding was done.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:05 pm
Reply to  Roger

I was lucky to be on the same part of the grid as Brisbane General Hospital. No blackouts.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 9:36 am

Speaking of Iran, it’s sinking…literally.

So is their money.

Iran economy crisis with currency plummeting to new low as Tehran marred by sanctions (26 Dec)

The economy of Iran is in free fall after years of war and sanctions have sent the local currency spiralling towards worthlessness – with a staggering 800,000 for every £1.

An energy crisis has also gripped the nation this winter, with the regime forced to close schools, universities and government offices because of power outages and blackouts.

According to news site Iran Insight, Abdolnasser Hemmati said that the rial should be trading around 73,000 per dollar, but this figure rocketed to a dizzying 780,250 on Monday, December 23.

He said: “Given 30% inflation, it is impossible to maintain a stable exchange rate.”

If Trump clamps down Iran’s oil trade the Iranian government won’t have a pot to piss in.

Black Ball
Black Ball
December 30, 2024 9:37 am

West Ham 0-5 Liverpool.
Exactly the result that was required. For too long this would have been a loss particularly when on top of the table by 8 points. Up the mighty Reds

dopey
dopey
December 30, 2024 10:06 am
Reply to  Black Ball

Apart from the goals it was a pretty even game.

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 9:44 am

This was your face plant rhetorical question.

Did nobles, gentry, and upper middle class have fewer children before 19th C?

This was the response I found which you subsequently ad hommed with your usual bullshit that it must have come from Google’s AI. It actually came from Google search. Pity it didn’t come from the Deckchair or Big Vlad or Tiny Serge, or whatever he calls himself..

Sounds like it.

Yes, nobles had high childlessness rates before the 19th century. In the 1600s, about one-third of married women in the peerage were childless. This threatened the survival of aristocratic dynasties. 

To address this, aristocratic families used settlements to reduce childlessness. Settlements were signed at the heir’s wedding and established provisions for widowhood and entailed land. Signing a settlement was also a social convention.

Uncomfortable, you’re now trying to gaslight your way out of it by making up bullshit nonsense about 4 child families. Either there was a fcking childless crisis in the nobility or there wasn’t.

Seriously, like three days out from the original comment thread is actually looking more like a form of gaslighting. From now on, if you want to follow this strategy post the link to the comment in question, so people don’t have to waste needless time looking for something you imply is freshly minted.

Last edited 3 months ago by JC
Louis Litt
Louis Litt
December 30, 2024 9:49 am

Blackball
the real stories of the round are notts Forrest and the Wolves revival.
mannu to be relegated while leister stay up.
Watch out – Leeds are comming up .

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 9:49 am

Lovely painting, Dover.

I notice the artist has coyly covered one of the Herm’s traditional “features” with a garland. Possibly to avoid a Victorian corseted fainting spell. 😀

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:09 pm
Reply to  calli

I looked up Herms in Google and got a stack of pictures of handbags.
I think the term may have changed meaning.

Cassie of Sydney
December 30, 2024 9:50 am

Iran has been sinking economically, financially, socially, demographically and religiously since the Shah fell in January 1979. For decades now pundits have predicted the collapse of the theocracy yet still the ayatollahs cling to power.

The mosques are empty in Iran, the birthrate has collapsed and so on, yet I suspect the mullahs hold on power remains tight, mainly due to the religious police and army.

We will see what the future holds however over the last decade the Iranian regime was propped up by the disastrous Obama administration, and whilst that prop was stalled during the Trump One Administration, it was resumed by the Sniffer’s administration.

Speaking of which, whilst I rightly point out Carter’s abysmal failures, to be fair he was a patriot and he’d served during World War II. He didn’t hate the USA, he loved the USA unlike the utterly evil Barack Obama.

Obama’s intent was to destroy the USA, and he dented it badly. Another good thing with Trump’s sweeping victory on November 5 2024 is that the door has now finally closed in the ugly faces of two of the most loathsome and venal individuals ever to grace the US political stage……their names being Barack Hussein Obama and his very ugly wife, Michelle Obama. Good riddance to both.

WolfmanOz
December 30, 2024 1:00 pm

One thing I will give Carter is the 1977 Camp David Accords which has paved the way for an uneasy peace between Israel and Egypt for 47 years.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:11 pm

What Cassie said, with Diamonds, Garlands and Oak Leaves.

Bill P
Bill P
December 30, 2024 2:04 pm

Cassie, that’s Barack and Big Mike.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
December 30, 2024 9:52 am

Anyone
my teeth and gums on my right hand hand side are killing me.
i have stopped drinking any fizzy drinks and ice cream.
I am smearing sensidine on my gums and teeth to stop them throbbing.
this has steadily gotten worse over 6 months when I had a crown put over an existing tooth .
any home remedies are welcome.

Bespoke
Bespoke
December 30, 2024 10:00 am
Reply to  Louis Litt

any home remedies are welcome.

A six pack of Woodstock cans and Pliers.

132andBush
132andBush
December 30, 2024 12:39 pm
Reply to  Bespoke

He doesn’t want to clean his drains and do some fencing! He wants to stop the tooth pain.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 10:03 am
Reply to  Louis Litt

Try bonjella and pain killers.

And see a dentist asap!

flyingduk
flyingduk
December 30, 2024 10:08 am
Reply to  Louis Litt

Not a remedy, but ongoing problems suggests you have chronic infection/inflammation under the crown … Ive been down that route myself recently.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 10:12 am
Reply to  flyingduk

Getting teeth pulled out was actually a better solution than crowns and root canals, which open up the possibility of bacterial infection in the gums.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
mem
mem
December 30, 2024 10:10 am
Reply to  Louis Litt

Go to a dentist. Scan. Possible fissure in root. If you don’t get fixed you could be in real trouble with infection leaking into gum and sinuses. Friend didn’t get up one morning, was discovered unconscious. Admitted to ICU. Infection from tooth and sinus caused it

mem
mem
December 30, 2024 10:15 am
Reply to  mem

Could also be that the crown has caused a change to your bite and you need this to be adjusted. When the bite is not properly aligned, it’s called a misaligned bite or malocclusion. 
An improper occlusion can lead to a number of dental and health issues, including: 

  • Tooth decay
  • Enamel erosion
  • Pain
  • Difficulty eating and speaking
  • Muscle tension headaches
  • Joint problems
Zafiro
Zafiro
December 30, 2024 10:20 am
Reply to  mem

comment image?auto=webp&bg-color=fff&canvas=753%2C502&fit=bounds&height=502&quality=90&width=753

Vicki
Vicki
December 30, 2024 10:20 am
Reply to  Louis Litt

If possible to get an emergency appointment to a prosthodontist. Years ago I suffered a similar predicament. My regular dentist insisted there was nothing wrong with the crown. B—–d! Sent me to a “facial pain” specialist. He was useless as well.

Finally got referral to a prosthodontist recommended by others. He drilled through the crown, as I recall. Severe infection, as he had suspected. Did temporary fix (it was Christmas), antibiotics also as I recall. No pain! What an angel he was! I said my dentist had insisted that I was imagining it.

He replied wryly, “He’s only a dentist”.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:42 pm
Reply to  Vicki

Like a blood blister under a nail.
Becomes really painful as the bleeding continues.
We used to get a paper clip and a candle, heat the clip and melt it through the nail. Pressure released, pain gone.
But it was a pain doing it that way – took ages. So I used to use a 1\16 or so size drill bit, twirled between fingers.
Over and done in less than a minute.

Zafiro
Zafiro
December 30, 2024 10:21 am
Reply to  Louis Litt

comment image?auto=webp&bg-color=fff&canvas=753%2C502&fit=bounds&height=502&quality=90&width=753

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:34 pm
Reply to  Louis Litt

An ice pack to the cheek may help – definitely not a hot pack,
If you can, a mix of anti inflamatories like Paracetamol and Ibuprofen.
Try Maxigesic Tab X 12 (Paracetamol and Ibuprofen)Both are good anti inflamatories and they work in different ways.
See what the missus/daughter have for period pain. There’s one tablet they give which is also effective for tooth pain – and I’m buggered if I can think of it.
Voltaren if you have it in tablet form – make sure you have something in your belly before you take it – reflux is a problem.
Flying duk appears to have nailed it-trapped inflammatory process under a tooth cap.
If you have any Prednisone, I’d give a small dose a try* – not that you’re supposed to but getting treatment for a problem like yours is very difficult over the Christmas New year period.

*(but that’s just me, I can’t recommend anything because I’m not a doc.)

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 30, 2024 9:54 am

How Mossad killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: revealed by former spiesAnne Barrowclough
6 minutes ago

0 Comments
Mossad’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran was one of the most complex intelligence operations in the history of the intelligence agency but was nearly derailed by a broken air conditioner, according to former agents.
Haniyeh was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president Massoud Pezeshkian in July, when he was instantly killed alongside his bodyguard Wassim Abu Shaaban. He had been targeted by a bomb that had been smuggled into the guesthouse by Iranian agents hired by Israel’s intelligence and counter-terror agency.

In an almost unpredented move, former Mossad agents have detailed how Haniyeh’s assassination was carried out in a complex, high security operation that took months to plan. Their revelations come just a week after other former agents detailed to CBS TV the planning behind the exploding pager operation in Lebanon that killed and injured hundreds of Hezbollah fighters and their families.
Mossad seldom accepts responsibility for assassinations; the fact it has not only accepted responsibility but described the intricate details of two major operations in two weeks suggests that Jerusalem is sending a blatant warning to the Houthi leadership in Yemen.

When will this mob learn? Don’t vook with Israel!

flyingduk
flyingduk
December 30, 2024 10:05 am

Re: Airconditioner cutoff. It’s a simple job on most current models to disconnect the interface module under the side cover of the outdoor unit. There’s no means of the State knowing, unless they come out and inspect the unit.

And on a related topic, it seems there is a way to turnoff that infernal ‘idle cutoff’ function that plagues modern cars (and increases engine wear and battery degradation due to the frequent restarts).

There are at least 2 possible work arounds – perhaps search your particular car on the youtubes.

1) Some cars (mine included) have a sensor on the bonnet latch which disconnects the shutoff feature when the bonnet is open, presumably to let a mechanic work on the engine without it shutting off. In my car its easy to disconnect that
2) Jam a thin piece of plastic (eg sliver of credit card) beside the turnoff button such that the button stays down when depressed.

Indolent
Indolent
December 30, 2024 12:14 pm
Reply to  flyingduk

Ive always hated that feature, particularly because it’s compulsory.. I simply turn it off when I start the car.

Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beare
December 30, 2024 8:00 pm
Reply to  Indolent

Yep. Our little Beamer has the button next to the starter button.

I just turn it off easily every time I drive.

We’ve hired a brand new Mazda CX-5 for travels around Britain.
The stop/start function seems to be already disconnected.

Maybe the hire company is wanting to stop extra engine wear.

Indolent
Indolent
December 30, 2024 10:05 am

I’m surprised New York is not on the list.

@C_3C_3

The most dangerous cities in America and who runs them…

1. Memphis: Dems
2. Detroit: Dems
3. Fort Lauderdale: Dems
4. Baton Rouge: Dems
5. New Orleans: Dems
6. Baltimore: Dems
7. Cleveland: Dems
8. Oakland: Dems
9. Philadelphia: Dems
10: San Bernardino: Dems

Notice a trend?

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 10:13 am
Reply to  Indolent

No Chicago either?

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:45 pm
Reply to  Indolent

Nothing that stands out, Indolent.
Well, apart from…

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 3:00 pm
Reply to  Indolent

My rellies are an old Baltimore family. Originally Republicans but the last time I interacted with more recent ones I’d say they were dripping wet lefties.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 10:08 am

How Mossad killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh

Related story:

Report: Nasrallah thought he was safe from Israel until the end (29 Dec)

New details of Israel’s decades-long intelligence efforts against Hezbollah revealed in new report from the New York Times.

Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah believed he was safe from being killed in the IDF up until the moment his life ended in an IAF airstrike in Beirut in September, according to a report published by the New York Times today (Sunday) on Israel’s intelligence infiltration of the Lebanese terrorist organization.

The terror leader reportedly brushed off concerns from his aides and requests that he go to a safer location than the underground bunker in which his life ended on September 27. Nasrallah believed that Israel was uninterested in full-scale war with Hezbollah, even after it detonated thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by the terrorist organization’s operatives just two weeks earlier.

The investigation revealed new details about how Israel’s intelligence apparatus was able to deeply infiltrate and compromise Hezbollah. American and European officials told the Times that Israel had recruited agents who planted bugs in Hezbollah’s bunkers that allowed the Israelis to listen in on meetings of Hezbollah’s leadership and track its leaders.

In other news the Hezbies have picked a new deputy leader. He is Mohammed Raed, the head of the Hezbollah faction in the Lebanese parliament. Maybe he should paint a bullseye onto the top of his turban to save time.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 3:02 pm

Mohammed Raed, aka the “nearly deceased”.

Louis Litt
Louis Litt
December 30, 2024 10:12 pm

That’s hilarious BoN

Eyrie
Eyrie
December 30, 2024 10:15 am

Jimmy Carter has died.

“He meant well”, meaning he wasn’t actually knowingly evil but was a total screwup. He banned nuclear fuel reprocessing causing a waste storage problem.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 10:17 am

Bumrah bowls Lyon. Five fer for Bumrah and still no Test 50 for Lyon. 🙁

Last edited 3 months ago by Bruce of Newcastle
Eyrie
Eyrie
December 30, 2024 10:17 am

And on a related topic, it seems there is a way to turnoff that infernal ‘idle cutoff’ function that plagues modern cars (and increases engine wear and battery degradation due to the frequent restarts).

Mazda hedges the function with so many lockouts that it almost never works. In 5 years and 47000 km it has saved 11km of fuel consumption.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 2:27 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything so ridiculous as an idle cutoff.
FFS.
…except for Elvis.

Top Ender
Top Ender
December 30, 2024 3:31 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

Pretty well compulsory in European cars, IIRR. Our Mazda has a switch to turn it off. In hot weather of course you don’t want the air-con to cut out at the first set of lights.

Indolent
Indolent
December 30, 2024 10:20 am
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 10:24 am
Reply to  Indolent

US gestapo. It’s the London in Kentucky not the other one.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 2:28 pm

You beat me to it.

Eyrie
Eyrie
December 30, 2024 10:23 am

There appears to be a concrete wall at each end of the runways at Wellcamp.
I think it is a jet blast deflector as a road runs by each end but it may also serve to keep an out of control aircraft on the airport property.
The aim of aviation safety regulation is
1) protect innocent people and property on the ground
2)Protect other airspace users
3)Safety of fare paying passengers but note this is third. If it involves running in to a concrete barrier to satisfy 1) and 2), too bad.

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 10:26 am

I don’t need to untangle any of it because whatever the economic impact they’re native to the population and therefore have to be dealt.

You brought up two periods that you suggested experienced low immigration while the economy was growing.
As I mentioned, I can’t respond to the early 19th-century assertion because I don’t know enough about that period. I’ll ask again for you to provide some evidence to support that part of your claim.
The other period you mentioned was the mid-20th century. I responded by saying that careful consideration should be given to factors such as demobilization after World War II and the Korean War. You don’t believe these factors need to be untangled, and now you’re veering into nativist arguments.
Nativism in the U.S. is as old as the Republic itself—every cohort has faced derision.
Tim Pool and others believe the attack on Musk and Vivek was a psy-op. You obviously don’t because these things only occur when they’re directed to the fun crowd, your guys.. Russia, Iran, North Korea, the CCP and the dancing faggots, the Hootie Tooties.

Last edited 3 months ago by JC
Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 30, 2024 10:27 am

It would be hard to overstate the fear and loathing for Trump and Elon Musk amongst the Good and Great of UK and Europe. 

Musk in particular is hated as the enfant terrible who single-handedly created the Trump 2.0 Presidency. And his influence on British and European politics could change everything, simply everything, the featherbedded hold dear

The Musk/Silicon Valley/Fringe MAGA visa imbroglio – beaten to a stiff peak by the left/soft-left media – has the Trump-hating community tumescent. The abject failure of the apparently irretrievably fractured Trump Presidency and the imagining of Musk falling into a pit of scalding hubris is both a life raft and comforter to the very butt-hurt. 

Prepare for some rather panicky and undemocratic government responses.

[Dimly, posted on the OT due to late night Glasgow.]

Vicki
Vicki
December 30, 2024 10:28 am

National parks are the problem not fire danger. There’s been no significant fires in regional areas except for parks and tree plantations. No call outs for our brigade except for strike teams for the Grampians fire.

Yep. This fire, as the last biggie, started in the adjacent NPWS mountains. The NPWS bring in the water bombers, but the local RFS does the dangerous work on the ground. There is considerable bitterness, still, from the last fires when the NPWS knocks off at 5pm and the locals have the night watch. The Covid vaccine mandates only aggravated the ill will when some of our members (including my husband) were banned because they refused to be vaccinated.

Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 10:50 am
Reply to  Vicki

Yep so much for public service. Really pubic serpents.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 10:31 am

A small victory!

$2bn wind farm project quietly axed (Paywallian)

The partners behind the contentious project had originally vowed to push ahead after the SA government knocked back its plans. 

I don’t know the reasons they knocked it back but SA already has too much wind capacity. On a windy day even with export via the interconnector they almost certainly are having to tell wind farms to turn off. Which, if there is compo, would be very costly to the state exchequer.

mem
mem
December 30, 2024 10:44 am

Investors have possibly pulled back because nervous that won’t get return and big subsidy gouge given likely change coming in political environment and oversupply of RE.

Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
December 30, 2024 10:43 am

JC
Those blokes in the photo op with Albo are not CFA. Full time Forestry & Parks Service.
Big smiles, big pay.

Salvatore - Iron Publican
December 30, 2024 1:26 pm
Reply to  Farmer Gez

That photo is AI generated.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 3:07 pm
Reply to  Farmer Gez

Sparks and Wildfire.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 2:42 pm
Reply to  Indolent

I did ask the question about 6 months ago “Which Car Companies were going to go Tits Up?”
It looks like Ford, for one, and a Toyota/Honda merger for a second.
So now my next question will be “Will this be enough to cause – not a recession, but a Depression?”
I’ll give it a 20% chance atm.
And look at who did it to us.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 11:01 am

It would be hard to overstate the fear and loathing for Trump and Elon Musk amongst the Good and Great of UK and Europe. 

The only people they loathe more are their own citizens.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Damon
Damon
December 30, 2024 11:11 am

Why would improvements in medicine lead to sub-replacement fertility rates?”

Because if you have lots of kids, most of whom get sick and die, and medicine saves them, the the incentive to have more kids lessens. In previous cultures, kids were necessary as farm workers. With the advancement of civilisation, this imperative lessened. Selective pressures favouring large families decreased. There were more options for women outside family life. Whether you like it or not, this is a fact. QED.

cohenite
December 30, 2024 11:15 am

Carter is or was the little johnnie US equivalent; and little johnnie is Australia’s worst PM. So good riddance to Carter.

This:

Another good thing with Trump’s sweeping victory on November 5 2024 is that the door has now finally closed in the ugly faces of two of the most loathsome and venal individuals ever to grace the US political stage……their names being Barack Hussein Obama and his very ugly wife, Michelle Obama. Good riddance to both.

Michelle/Big Mike is a bloke; and the fact he is a bloke symbolises everything you need to know about the demorats/left.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 30, 2024 11:15 am
JC
JC
December 30, 2024 11:16 am

You asked a rhetorical question, which means you weren’t expecting the answer that came up.
According to the paragraph, the British nobility at the time believed there was an alarming problem with childlessness among their ranks. They even took legal steps to counter this issue.
You asked this because you believed it would indicate that wealthy people were having large families.
They weren’t, or at least this strata wasn’t.
As I suggested in the future, if you wish to continue the discussion 2 or 3 days later, it would be courteous to at least link the comment or the comment thread.
Dover, it’s not the first time, you come back to a comment which is three days old. Just link to it and helps to refresh memory and helps with better responses.

Last edited 3 months ago by JC
Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 30, 2024 11:18 am

Wally Dalí

 December 30, 2024 8:17 am

Is it just me, or does it seem that most eastern states bushfires really only happen in December?

It’s just you.

Vicki
Vicki
December 30, 2024 11:22 am
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

Some of the worst fires have actually been in February.

mem
mem
December 30, 2024 12:12 pm
Reply to  Vicki

And Jan and Feb, some of the worst in Vic and SA. Ash Wed and I think black Friday.

John Brumble
John Brumble
December 30, 2024 1:20 pm
Reply to  dover0beach

Between 1800 and 1820, there was an increase of many times the immigration rate of the latter part if the century in the total number of slaves.

Next time, suggest reading the first sentence of your “supporting” material to make sure there aren’t glaring exceptions that might bite you in the backside.

Fortunately, most of the globe eventually worked out that free
labor was better than slave labour.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 2:51 pm
Reply to  dover0beach

… I responded by saying that careful consideration should be given to factors such as demobilization after World War II and the Korean War. 

The second bang a soldier makes after getting home from the war is his backpack hitting the ground.
Old Jungle saying.

Vicki
Vicki
December 30, 2024 11:28 am

The NPWS bring in the water bombers, but the local RFS does the dangerous work on the ground. There is considerable bitterness, still, from the last fires when the NPWS knocks off at 5pm and the locals have the night watch.

Well, maybe things are a-changing. I have just heard that NPWS are today going to bring in a NPWS unit to reestablish the containment lines of the last big fires.

Vicki
Vicki
December 30, 2024 11:34 am
Reply to  Vicki

This unit is a “Remote Area Fire Team”. Maybe the massive complaints aired at the last NSW inquiry has increased the likelihood of NPWS going into remote areas. It will take the burden and risk from local RFS units whose members often had to leave their own properties unprotected .

MatrixTransform
December 30, 2024 11:28 am

 that infernal ‘idle cutoff’ function that plagues modern cars

tried the bonnet switch … wouldnt let me lock the car without it

apparently you can get in through the OBD port

video in spanish

Black Ball
Black Ball
December 30, 2024 11:29 am

Jim Chalmers has a piece in the Courier Mail:

On an especially muggy early morning this month, my seven-year-old daughter and I were walking the big hills near our Logan home in Queensland.

She was puffing and chatting away, and in her characteristically inquisitive way she asked me what my favourite year was. I said I couldn’t decide; we spoke about some of the good ones.

I asked her what her favourite year was and without hesitation she said “next year”.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that optimism.

I thought about it again watching Sam Konstas bat in the first session on Boxing Day, with the freedom and fearlessness of a teenager. Bringing joy to Australians at the end of what was an especially tough year in 2024.

Inflation has come down a lot but people are still struggling with cost-of-living pressures. Higher interest rates have hit household budgets hard.

There’s been a lot of uncertainty and conflict in the world that’s weighed on our economy here.

As a government, our focus has been fighting inflation and rolling out cost-of-living help.

After a difficult couple of years we shouldn’t forget the progress we’ve made together as Australians.

Our economy has continued to grow while other countries like the UK and New Zealand went into recession.

Inflation has more than halved since we came to office, it’s now at its lowest in almost four years and within the Reserve Bank’s target band.

The RBA’s latest minutes describe their increasing confidence that inflation is sustainably headed where we want it.

Real wages are growing and more than a million jobs have now been created on our watch, a record for any government in a single term.

The combination of tax relief, falling inflation, and wages and jobs growth means real disposable household incomes are also growing again in the latest numbers. They were going backwards when we came to office.

Our policies have helped ease some of the pressure on people.

We delivered a tax cut for every taxpayer and took a slice off electricity bills, with energy bill relief for every household.

We made childcare and medicines cheaper; strengthened Medicare; delivered more rent assistance; provided student debt relief; cracked down on the supermarkets to get a fairer go for farmers and families.

And we’ve done all this in a responsible way, while getting the Budget into surplus twice, shrinking the deficit this year, and pushing debt down by $177bn.

Even as we’ve made progress together in the aggregate numbers, we know it doesn’t always translate to how people are feeling and faring.

We see that in consumer surveys where confidence is still below where it’s been historically.

But since mid-year, those consumer confidence numbers have come up, with our income tax cuts playing a part.

We spent last summer working on these tax cuts, to ensure they delivered benefits to every taxpayer – not just some. It was one of the most important decisions we made as a government, the one I’m proudest of, but it didn’t come without political risk. Peter Dutton even called for an election over the tax cuts. So Australians would be worse off if Mr Dutton had his way on tax.

It’s another important reminder that the biggest risk to household budgets in 2025 would be a Coalition government that would come after Medicare again, push electricity prices up and wages down.

We can’t jeopardise the progress we’ve made together as Australians, in our economy.

There will still be challenges to meet in 2025, still people under pressure who need help. The outlook for China remains uncertain, and conflict and trade tensions are likely to weigh on the global economy next year.

Inflation has bounced up and down in the US, Euro area and the UK.

Despite all this, when we look at the direction of our economy now, we can be more optimistic about the year ahead. The worst of the inflation challenge is behind us, better days are ahead of us. 2024 was difficult but 2025 will be better.

We’ve been planning and preparing for a soft landing in our economy, and that’s what economists are now expecting. They expect inflationary pressures to ease further, growth to improve and unemployment to remain at or near historically low levels.

There are lots of reasons to be cautious and not complacent, but also lots of reasons to be confident and optimistic about the coming year.

Translated:
Yeah we are really bad but forget about the last 3 years, we’ll be right.

Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 11:40 am
Reply to  Black Ball

Has the ‘dr’ ever had a real job?

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 11:43 am
Reply to  Black Ball

He quietly passes over the reality that mass immigration at a rate greater than growth has caused multiple quarters of per capita recession.

Kel
Kel
December 30, 2024 12:13 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Despicable turd needed the imaginary conversation with his daughter to Segway into that futuristic drivelling bullsh*t.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 30, 2024 12:17 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Chalmers is deeply unimpressive.

Entropy
Entropy
December 30, 2024 12:26 pm
Reply to  H B Bear

by Winter 2025 Dr Jim will either be PM or opposition leader.

albo is toast. Plebersek just doesn’t have it anymore.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 30, 2024 3:42 pm
Reply to  Entropy

What a depressing thought. I can’t see how the Liars don’t lose government.

Crossie
Crossie
December 30, 2024 12:32 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Sorry, life’s too short to read Jim Chalmers.

Jock
Jock
December 30, 2024 12:40 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

If this isn’t classed as disinformation then what is? This guy is full of murder. Spending your way out of inflation? Nothing about the budging great ndis? Nothing about the stuff up that I’d defence spending? Nothing about the monumental waste that is the climate blob? Absolutely delusional.

Lee
Lee
December 30, 2024 1:02 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

It’s another important reminder that the biggest risk to household budgets in 2025 would be a Coalition government that would come after Medicare again …

That old chestnut again?

Zippster
Zippster
December 30, 2024 2:01 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

the d!ck lives in Logan!?!?!? Well that explains a lot…

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 2:53 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Jim Chalmers is a dick.
That is all.

cohenite
December 30, 2024 11:35 am

The fuking filth and twots (Teals):

State-sanctioned ‘truth’ is still a danger under the Greens and teals
Tom Switzer and Emilie Dye The Australian December 30, 2024

Australia dodged a bullet this year when the federal government withdrew its contentious legislation to regulate misinformation. The danger, though, is that a re-elected Labor government, in cahoots with the Greens and so-called teal independents, could revive the law in the next parliament. Under the original plan, in the wake of the voice referendum landslide defeat, misinformation was defined as “information that is reasonably verifiable as false, misleading or deceptive”. It was, to put things bluntly, a passage reminiscent of George Orwell, and his Ministry of Truth from Nineteen Eighty-Four.

It was not merely a question of who, or what, was going to decide what is true and what is false, or why any law should give a bureaucrat or an institution the right to make such decisions.

It was also, more fundamentally, that the right to be wrong, foolish or offensive (short of actual incitement to commit a crime) is all part of the privilege of living in a free society.

It was a privilege that, until a few weeks ago, the Labor government seemed happy to end, in the spurious name of “online safety”.

But it was, sadly, even worse because, objectively, what was decided to be “misinformation” may well have been nothing of the sort. Quite probably, it could have been an expression of legitimate opinion that the state did not want people to utter.

It was mooted that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (which already oversees the broadcast media) would be enlisted to regulate – or censor – the output on platforms controlled by digital giants, even on questions that are a matter of opinion.

It was far from certain that digital platforms would care sufficiently about the free speech of Australians, or anyone else, to take issue with any government that imposed censorship, for fear of being fined or prohibited to operate and losing revenues. The difficulty was that so many issues have now become battlegrounds, and could tax the ethics of the digital platforms to the limit.

For example, the debate over gender, where the established ideas of male and female are under question, would have been an obvious cause of contention. What if the ACMA ruled that the usual delineations of gender were not merely outdated, but offensive and harmful to those who chose to identify in non-traditional ways?

Vilification is illegal, and rightly so, but should it be against the law to write on an online platform that there are only two biological genders, a view held by the majority?

In a free society, disproving the arguments of radical opponents and providing solid counterarguments is always the best way to proceed.
Under the Australian government’s failed plan, the state would have had the power effectively to nationalise opinion. If a certain view did not tally with the state’s orthodoxy, people would not have been allowed to express it.
The approval or disapproval of various ideas would have rested with an elite. They would have controlled discourse, large areas of which could have been shut down. They would have allowed manipulation of the very idea of truth, in that some things that were objectively true would no longer be “allowed” to be so.

Recall Twitter’s decision to censor claims that the Covid virus started in a Wuhan lab in China – which is now widely seen as a plausible explanation.
That takes us back to Orwell: that was the function of the Ministry of Truth. Did the Australian government really feel comfortable in being prepared to use the law to enforce a version of the truth that was not the truth, but was acceptable for the political purposes of the client groups with which the ruling party wished to ingratiate itself? That would have meant the end of what, by any definition, we regard as a free society.

It is impossible to defend digital platforms that, in order to make money, churn out lies and other rubbish. But such platforms, if they persisted in such behaviour, would have been rapidly discredited.
That is a far better way of dealing with them than allowing the state to decide what it regards as true, or not. In a civilised democracy, the freedom of the individual cannot be compromised by a state that arrogates to itself the right to dictate “truth” in this way.

Thankfully, sanity prevailed, and the government was forced to jettison the legislation. But the spectre of misinformation laws could haunt parliamentary discourse in coming years.

Tom Switzer is executive director of the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney where Emilie Dye is a research analyst.
.
1/ The Australian Greens call for a Ceasefire in Gaza after Question Time in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman
2/ Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. Picture: John Appleyard

Sean
Sean
December 30, 2024 11:39 am

India 0 for 22. Maybe I should do something else for a bit. Usually works.

mizaris
mizaris
December 30, 2024 12:29 pm
Reply to  Sean

3/33…it worked!!!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 11:41 am

That many?

Bloomberg Flubs Data For Bombshell Report That Only 6% Of New Corporate Hires Are White (29 Dec)

DEI at work. I said yesterday that was the reason the white guy with straight As couldn’t get a job. And it’s true. Hopefully Trump lights a nice excruciatingly hot fire under all these corporations.

Eyrie
Eyrie
December 30, 2024 11:41 am

Jim Chalmers has a piece in the Courier Mail

He’s utterly delusional and should be committed to an institution before he does more damage.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 11:53 am
Reply to  Eyrie

Hopefully in the room between Albo’s and Bowen’s.

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 11:42 am

You despaired too soon, Sean! 😀

Sean
Sean
December 30, 2024 11:44 am
Reply to  calli

Yep.

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 11:44 am

For 1790s-1850s, here.

Interesting, you’re using wiki, while a yesterday or the day before you were derisive because I used Google search.

Anyways. a few points.

The slow period in immigration was up to the 1830s, according to the link: not to the 1850 as your reference with the link implies. It abruptly ended in the 1840s.

Between 1841 and 1850, immigration nearly tripled again and totaled 1,713,000 immigrants, including at least 781,000 Irish, 435,000 Germans, 267,000 British, and 77,000 French. The Irish, driven by the Great Famine (1845–1849), emigrated directly from their homeland to escape poverty and death. The failed revolutions of 1848 brought many intellectuals and activists to exile in the U.S. Bad times and poor conditions in Europe drove people out, and land, relatives, freedom, opportunity, and jobs in the U.S. lured them in.

Up to the 1830s, the US was essentially a sleepy hollow agrarian society, so your assertion that it experienced stable growth is crap. The US began to industrialize from the 1850s onward.

Your link also mentions the nativism you’re now espousing, which is as I said as old as the Republic.

Nativism took the form of political anti-Catholicism directed mostly at the Irish, as well as Germans. It became important briefly in the mid-1850s in the guise of the Know Nothing party. Most of the Catholics and German Lutherans became Democrats, and most of the other Protestants joined the new Republican Party.

Because it’s a distraction. They were first removed from the economy and then returned to the economy. There is no similar removal and then return re immigrants and the economy.

Yep, it’s that easy to resettle 10.5 million men back into civilian life. This is 15% of the US population you’re talking about that you’re calling a distraction.
Firms had to reorient from a war footing to a consumer society and you call it a distraction. You really have no idea, do you.

.

Does that mean that every instance of ‘nativism’ is wrong?

You tell us champ. Historically, which ethnic group do you consider a failure leaving aside the slaves as they weren’t there willingly?

The sentiments expressed over the last few days, which Pool and co, thinks was a psyop have been central to MAGA movement since 2015.

Pool is referring to the attacks on Musk and Vivek. Nice dodge as usual.

mareeS
mareeS
December 30, 2024 7:29 pm
Reply to  JC

JC, I am following your arguments, also Dover’s Some of your points and links are very interesting. The argument is running a bit long now.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 30, 2024 11:48 am

The investigation revealed new details about how Israel’s intelligence apparatus was able to deeply infiltrate and compromise Hezbollah.

Or, the “intelligence services” are reporting exactly what the Israelis have chosen to leak to them*.

American and European officials told the Times that Israel had recruited agents who planted bugs in Hezbollah’s bunkers that allowed the Israelis to listen in on meetings of Hezbollah’s leadership and track its leaders.

You can almost bet that they gathered the intel some other way and this is a psy-ops plant to cast doubt on any remaining Hezbollocks who had access to the inner sanctum.

* There is no way the Israelis are giving Biden’s intel services chapter and verse on tactics and methods.
It would leak back to Hamarse and Hezbollocks quicker than you can say “corrupt Democrats”.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 3:12 pm
Reply to  Sancho Panzer

Almost word for word as to what I thought too. We must be twins.

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 11:48 am

…and…another!

Quack quack.

Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 11:56 am

Charmers has a string of useless degrees including a doctorate from the ANU. A Beatie, Swan, Beaseley, Ieamma staffer. An apparatchik.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 2:59 pm
Reply to  Miltonf

Jim Chalmers is a dick.

Phil
Phil
December 30, 2024 6:41 pm
Reply to  Miltonf

What was the thesis subject of his PhD

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 12:06 pm

Miltonf

December 30, 2024 11:56 am

Charmers has a string of useless degrees including a doctorate from the ANU. A Beatie, Swan, Beaseley, Ieamma staffer. An apparatchik.

Politics major with a PhD in Paul Keating. He’s a doctor in Paul Keating. This big-eared, ignorant QLD galoot told us he was going to reinvent a new, updated version of capitalism, which turned out to be high inflation and government spending in hyperdrive.

Phil
Phil
December 30, 2024 6:45 pm
Reply to  JC

Thanks for that . Nothing about economics or anything to do with $ and sense just a bullshit doctorate full of ideology

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 12:08 pm

He’s utterly delusional and should be committed to an institution before he does more damage.

As all ruling castes eventually do, ours is leaning towards the absurd.

One of Chalmers’s best mates in Canberra is the Treasury Secretary, who also sits on the RBA Board.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 12:15 pm
Reply to  Roger

Another ANU doctor

LB2
LB2
December 30, 2024 12:09 pm

Save this for next year’s cards

Screen-Shot-2021-12-20-at-5.19.15-PM
Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 3:00 pm
Reply to  LB2

That’s very clever.

Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 12:10 pm

He was going to redesign the market too iirc. Maybe he’ll redesign Newton’s laws too. My contempt for these garbage people knows no bounds.

John H.
John H.
December 30, 2024 2:00 pm
Reply to  dover0beach
JC
JC
December 30, 2024 12:22 pm

That’s right Milt, he was. He was a market designer and got a photo spread in Architectural Digest, for his interesting design in fabrics and rugs.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 30, 2024 12:23 pm

Anthony Albanese being a ‘good boy’ for China, defence expert Peter Jennings saysSarah Ison
16 hours ago.
Updated 33 minutes ago

22 Comments
A former official in the senior ranks of the defence department says China expects Anthony Albanese to continue being “a good boy” and follow Beijing’s demands on Australia to soften its language towards China, in the wake of comments from the ambassador to Australia calling on Canberra to clarify “misunderstandings” on Taiwan and respect Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Peter Jennings said Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian’s language was “less insulting” than what had been said by officials in the past, but the message to Australia remained the same.
“That message is ‘do what we want’, basically,” Mr Jennings, now the Strategic Analysis Australia director, said.
He said the resumption of the lobster trade earlier this month was clearly “a reward” for Australia’s approach to China under the Labor government, but that Beijing still wanted the government to go further.
“Albanese is being rewarded for being a good boy,” he said.
“He’s mostly done what he’s been told. He’s shut criticism down. He doesn’t react when they do bad things in the South China Sea.”

Mr Xiao also criticised commentary by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which is set to receive significant government oversight in coming months after a review into its operations, because of the negative view it portrayed of China.
The intervention by the Chinese ambassador ahead of the federal election – due by May next year – comes as Beijing announced sanctions on a number of defence firms, including one from Australia.
According to the foreign affairs ministry, Beijing will sanction organisations such as Raytheon Australia because they or their parent companies are selling arms to Taiwan.
The sanctions will include a freezing of any assets in China owned by executives of the targeted companies, while trade and collaboration between Chinese organisations or individuals with the Australian and US firms will be banned.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 30, 2024 12:24 pm

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 30, 2024 12:23 pm
Awaiting for approval

Anthony Albanese being a ‘good boy’ for China, defence expert Peter Jennings saysSarah Ison
16 hours ago.
Updated 33 minutes ago

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 12:24 pm

Maybe he’ll redesign Newton’s Laws.

Too late. Beaten to it by an actress.

“We change people’s lives, at the risk of our own. We change countries, governments, history, gravity. After gravity, culture is the thing that holds humanity in place, in an otherwise constantly shifting and, let’s face it, tiny outcrop in the middle of an infinity of nowhere.”

— Cate Blanchett

😀

Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 12:29 pm
Reply to  calli

Odious and idiotic

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 12:34 pm
Reply to  calli

Never write your own lines, Cate.

Spoke to soon…a whole webpage of Cate’s wisdom!

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 12:38 pm
Reply to  calli

She also thinks we can change weather.

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
December 30, 2024 12:55 pm
Reply to  calli

Now that’s a word salad to rival Kameltoe!

Bruce in WA
December 30, 2024 2:19 pm
Reply to  calli

One self-centred, over-hyped moll I detest.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 3:02 pm
Reply to  calli

What self serving tripe.

Titus Groates
Titus Groates
December 30, 2024 4:40 pm
Reply to  calli

Humble gal, their Cate.

Megan
Megan
December 30, 2024 6:33 pm
Reply to  calli

I suspect the infinity of nowhere is between Cate’s ears.

mareeS
mareeS
December 30, 2024 7:49 pm
Reply to  calli

Mental Cate giving her version of a pasta bake recipe. Or something.

Morsie
Morsie
December 30, 2024 12:25 pm

Am I paranoid?Neighbour tells me he has bought a new shed.Within 30 minutes I am getting wall to wall ads for sheds on my phone.
Is my phone listening to me?

Bill From the Bush
Bill From the Bush
December 30, 2024 12:29 pm
Reply to  Morsie

No you are not paranoic. The interwebs are always watching and listening.

Also you may take reassurance from the old adage that
“Just because you are paranoid does not mean they are’nt out to get you”

Crossie
Crossie
December 30, 2024 12:45 pm
Reply to  Morsie

Is my phone listening to me?

It sounds like your phone is listening to your neighbour as well.

hzhousewife
hzhousewife
December 30, 2024 12:50 pm
Reply to  Morsie

Yes

DrBeauGan
DrBeauGan
December 30, 2024 12:57 pm
Reply to  Morsie

Yes. And to anyone talking near it. Whether it’s on or off. Google knows more about you than the government.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 3:04 pm
Reply to  Morsie

How did you communicate with your neighbour – electronic or over the fence?

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 12:32 pm

We’ve been planning and preparing for a soft landing in our economy, and that’s what economists are now expecting. They expect inflationary pressures to ease further, growth to improve…

I don’t know which economists these would be, but Chalmers’s own myefo downgraded economic growth in 2025 by .25%.

And that would be an optimistic figure.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
WolfmanOz
December 30, 2024 12:55 pm
Reply to  Roger

The other smoky that will be taken into account by the Reserve Bank is the state of the AUD.

Today it’s at 0.62160 USD – it’s getting very close to going under 60c USD.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 30, 2024 3:46 pm
Reply to  WolfmanOz

AUD tanking won’t help inflation.

JC
JC
December 30, 2024 3:49 pm
Reply to  H B Bear

yes it will. 🙂

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 12:33 pm

Kohli gone for 5. India’s run rate is 1.26 per over, so if they ever had the idea of going for it they certainly won’t be now.

Sean
Sean
December 30, 2024 12:52 pm

Made a salmon sandwich. 3 wickets. Pity I don’t have any lamb chops.

chrisl
chrisl
December 30, 2024 1:13 pm
Reply to  Sean

Go away Seam…. again

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 30, 2024 1:41 pm

Politics major with a PhD in Paul Keating. 

Keating was all about raising productivity.
Some polices worked, some didn’t.

Can anyone name a Chalmers policy that has raised productivity?

mem
mem
December 30, 2024 1:57 pm
Reply to  feelthebern

Nope.

Aaron
Aaron
December 30, 2024 2:34 pm
Reply to  feelthebern

Letting his wife spend two grand on her dress for the mid winter ball.

Kept the doors open for a week extra somewhere.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 1:50 pm

Federal Prosecutors Involved in Trump Witch Hunts and January 6 Cases Flee DOJ, Fear They will Go Bankrupt
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/federal-prosecutors-involved-trump-witch-hunts-january-6/

Federal prosecutors involved in the Trump witch hunts and January 6 cases are exiting the Justice Department at a record rate.

Many of Jack Smith’s prosecutors also fear they will go bankrupt defending themselves if Trump’s DOJ decides to launch an investigation into the Biden Regime’s weaponization of the department.

The swamp is draining itself.

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 3:06 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

Unless action is taken against them, they’ll be baaack!

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 3:07 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

It seems being an arsehole doesn’t really pay in the long run.
And there’s no point in resigning – if you commit a crime in a job, resignation doesn’t equal pardon.

feelthebern
feelthebern
December 30, 2024 1:53 pm

Not that I care about women’s basketball but I do enjoy their wokeness blowing up in their faces.
Too early to tell but it’s looking like Hannah Hidalgo from Notre Dame is shaping up to be this year’s “it” player.
Who describes herself as hard core Christian.
And she aint white meaning she can say anything without having to worry about any sanctions.
Can’t wait for the WNBA to eat another shit sandwich in a couple of years.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 30, 2024 2:00 pm

Morsie

 December 30, 2024 12:25 pm

Am I paranoid?Neighbour tells me he has bought a new shed.Within 30 minutes I am getting wall to wall ads for sheds on my phone.

Is my phone listening to me?

Mmmyes it is I’m afraid.
The trouble is, it needs a good dose of AI. Currently it will start advertising at you after you mention you have bought something.
It would be really smart if it could distinguish between “I just bought XYZ” and “I think I need an XYZ” or use it’s database to figure out what people usually buy next after they buy XYZ.
“You bought a shed. You might want a workbench. Or shelving. Or flooring.”

Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 2:04 pm

Can anyone name a Chalmers policy that has raised productivity?

Judged by the consequences — not the rhetoric — Chalmers has:

a) increased the size of government as a percentage of GDP. As of June 2024, the Australian government’s spending is 27.6% of GDP, a post-war record.

b) rewarded mates who run unions that, outside of the public service, represent 8% of the Australian workforce.

That’s why Australian productivity and household wealth are going backwards. They were designed that way by the government in charge that represents next to nobody.

Eyrie
Eyrie
December 30, 2024 2:05 pm

Federal prosecutors involved in the Trump witch hunts and January 6 cases are exiting the Justice Department at a record rate.
Many of Jack Smith’s prosecutors also fear they will go bankrupt defending themselves if Trump’s DOJ decides to launch an investigation into the Biden Regime’s weaponization of the department.

Too late, scum. The Terminator is coming for you.

Mak Siccar
Mak Siccar
December 30, 2024 2:07 pm

Bluddy hell ! Seriously sinister stuff. I reckon Liebor would be ecstatic to copy and implement this here in Oz. An extract follows.

Can free speech survive Keir Starmer?

?
As a free-speech campaigner, I was deeply alarmed by the prospect of a Labour government. But it turns out, I wasn’t nearly worried enough. The unrelenting assault on this essential human right since Sir Keir Starmer entered Downing Street in July has shocked even the most jaundiced of observers.

[Snip]

Let’s start with the threats already in the pipeline. The Employment Rights Bill, which will almost certainly receive royal assent next year, contains a clause that will extend employers’ liability under the Equality Act to third-party harassment – ie, the harassment of employees by customers and the like. That means that owners of pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, sports stadia, concert venues, etc, will have a legal obligation to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to protect their employees from ‘harassment’ by anyone they come into contact with in the course of doing their jobs.

When you bear in mind that under the Equality Act ‘harassment’ includes overheard conversations that might upset or offend someone with a protected characteristic, the implications of this are deeply sinister. Pubs will have to employ ‘banter bouncers’ to police the conversations of customers to make sure no one is saying anything risqué that could be overheard by a member of staff. Hotels will have to stop anyone entering the lobby wearing a ‘Woman: Adult Human Female’ t-shirt. Football clubs will have to ban anyone who shouts ‘Are you blind?’ at a linesman, in case they’re overheard by a partially sighted steward. In short, the chilling effect that the Equality Act has had on workplaces, in which everyone is constantly looking over their shoulder to make sure they’re not overheard, will be extended to every area of our lives.

Last edited 3 months ago by Mak Siccar
Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 3:10 pm
Reply to  Mak Siccar

Typical fascist/ communist (is, leftard) approach. Ban everything, Big Daddy Kier will protect you.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 3:10 pm
Reply to  Mak Siccar

Mak Siccar, you’re right – that is seriously weird and horrifying.
?

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 2:08 pm

Climate Scam Unraveling: World Bank Really Doesn’t Know Where $41 Billion in Funding Goeshttps://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/climate-scam-unraveling-world-bank-really-doesnt-know/

 …a recent story that made the rounds on social media. According to these reports, Oxfam — the British NGO — found that a huge chunk of the World Bank’s spending on climate change-related issues was “missing.”
Thank heavens for fact-checkers like the Australian Associated Press — a Poynter Institute-accredited fact-checker from down under — which set us all straight: “An Oxfam report did not find that $US41 billion has gone ‘missing’ from the World Bank’s climate change fund, contrary to claims online.”
What a relief. Instead, the AAP noted, the Oxfam report found that the World Bank just doesn’t really know where the money went.

See? Totally different!

amortiser
amortiser
December 31, 2024 12:59 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

So if I report my child as “missing” he’s not really missing it’s just that I don’t know where he went.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 2:13 pm

Immigration Has Consequences: French Intel Chief Says Muslim Brotherhood is Working to Turn the Country Into an Islamic Caliphate

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/immigration-has-consequences-french-intel-chief-says-muslim/
No shit, Einstein!
So what are you going to do now?

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
December 30, 2024 2:14 pm

Football clubs will have to ban anyone who shouts ‘Are you blind?’ at a linesman

Starmer would have had a fat time a few years back with ‘bald-headed flog’ comments and Behavioural Awareness Officers at the footy.

Bruce in WA
December 30, 2024 2:22 pm

Reposted from the OOT cos I was too thick to see there was a new ‘un.

Elon Musk quits Tesla” screams the headline in my news feed.
Read further and find out it’s a prediction for 2025 from some unknown looney-tune named David Swan.

WTAF? Ethics? What are they?

Black Ball
Black Ball
December 30, 2024 2:26 pm

Behavioural Awareness Officers at the footy.

Everything wrong with footy, and society in general.

Eyrie
Eyrie
December 30, 2024 2:37 pm

Behavioural Awareness Officers at the footy.

To think that we used to deride the Soviets for having a Zampolit in military units. We have lawyers and have extended the concept to all of society.

Old Lefty
Old Lefty
December 30, 2024 4:41 pm
Reply to  Eyrie

Professor Triggs was disappointed that she couldn’t install Huperoffspring Rights Commission staff to monitor our dinner-table conversations. Give them time….

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
December 30, 2024 2:50 pm

OK I’ll admit that I shouldn’t have clicked the LGBTQIABC clickbait… but I gots to say-
-solid hairline
-zero stubble
-thin chin
-zero adam’s apple
-F cup boobs
-an apparently rock-solid skincare regime for fifty three years of “living as a man”…
yeah nah, “Kelli” ain’t a trannie, she’s just a woman. Believe her when she says she always has been. Their ABC hard at work.

cohenite
December 30, 2024 2:54 pm
Farmer Gez
Farmer Gez
December 30, 2024 3:15 pm

Pat Cummins kills another contest.

Lee
Lee
December 30, 2024 3:16 pm

Behavioural Awareness Officers at the footy.

These crybully scolds would have been hooted and jeered at not that many years ago.

What a pansified country of snowflakes we have become (not me).

Hugh
Hugh
December 30, 2024 3:17 pm

A country is not an abstract collection of data in a spreadsheet. A country is a land and its people—people with families, mortgages, and bills to pay. Importing migrant labour might increase the totals in a spreadsheet, and the bank balances of billionaire investors, but it does not benefit the vast majority of the populus. All it does is devalue their labour.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 3:34 pm
Reply to  Hugh

Oh Noes!
Point it out and you must be racist!
Apparently.

Hugh
Hugh
December 30, 2024 4:21 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

Yes, you’re right Winston. You and me both are tewwible wayyyyycists. But we shouldn’t stand for it, because it doesn’t matter if the migrant labour is from Iceland or Algeria, the effect is the same.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
December 30, 2024 3:34 pm

Afternoon all.

Cricket, sorta been checking online here & there. Kohlis fine pathetic but expected when The ICC prez is one of them. Joel Wilson on the DRS at the G stuffs another up & my google searches tell me he is allegedly part of an elite umpiring team. Further google searches have me questioning if he is elite at anything but making the wrong calls, unless of course he happens to have a fat bank account in New Delhi. Hope Kohli got a fitting send off, POS.

As for traffic, we are in Vic. Few new speed cameras on GV Hwy, pot holes and rubbish road there 12m ago no change between Nagambie & Murch. Nice to see they can afford the cameras but not road maintenance. As for drivers, watch out. Lack of cops on the road has allowed the pissheads back out. One today pulled out in front of me causing an emergency brake, then saw me hesitating himself which could have made it worse. I was anticipating him and was already prepared. Off he went weaving left and right and between 20-40km/h with very slow acceleration/braking and last minute turns.

Have eyes in the back of your head as they are out there.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 3:35 pm

Elon Musk quits Tesla” screams the headline in my news feed.

The Silly bites, and gets pulled in to the boat.

Elon Musk trolls Sydney Morning Herald for predicting he will be ‘forced to hand over the reins’ at Tesla in 2025 (Sky News, 30 Dec)

Billionaire Elon Musk has given a brutal reply to the Sydney Morning Herald after the publication made the wild prediction he will leave his role at Tesla in the new year.

The 53-year-old hit back with a tongue-in-cheek reply on X, after a Musk supporter shared the article’s headline with a quote from the prediction.

“I predict that the Sydney Morning Herald will continue to lose readership in 2025 for relentlessly lying to their audience and boring them to death,” he said.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s circulation has been steadily declining for several years, losing more than a million readers since 2022 across digital and print.

Flamed on the BBQ with butter, garlic and a little salt, yum!

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 3:40 pm

Trouble is, even with butter, garlic and a little salt the Sydney Morning Herald still tastes like a shiite sandwich.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 5:16 pm

He’ll buy it and sack everyone.

caveman
caveman
December 30, 2024 3:36 pm

I fixed that photo opportunity

Screenshot_20241230_153414_Gallery
Pogria
Pogria
December 30, 2024 3:53 pm
Reply to  caveman

Brilliant!

Delta A
Delta A
December 30, 2024 5:35 pm
Reply to  caveman

You’re a very clever Cat, caveman.

Foxbody
Foxbody
December 30, 2024 6:04 pm
Reply to  Delta A

More convincing than the “ original”.

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 7:26 pm
Reply to  caveman

Ahahahaha! You little trimmer!

That’s off to the Cat pool room!

Last edited 3 months ago by calli
Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
December 30, 2024 3:38 pm

Farmer Gez

 December 30, 2024 3:15 pm

Pat Cummins kills another contest.

I cannot believe he bowled that C-grader Labushka last over before tea.
And to bowl half rat-power “bouncers” at the Indians who were happy to let them loop through to the keeper.
If you are looking for a left-field option throw the ball to Smiff to roll down a few leggies.

Wally Dalí
Wally Dalí
December 30, 2024 3:52 pm

Smart devices and AI are, indeed, pretty scary.
Well, the ever-listening component is, anyways. It’s not deep AI to figure out that I’m into guitars- having a bit of a dabble here and there, youtube research, fixing and hotting up- but got a string of gigs and studio appointment in the new year- my old Jazzmaster is not great for titanic string bendy rock posing, so I was saying to my wifey last night that I was thinking of buying another, shorter, flatter, softer axe…
Bam. Wake up this morning, inbox says that there’s one of these coming my way, they got my delivery address- checked with the bank, and it’s all gone through on a visa card.
Nothing I can do about it now…

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 5:19 pm
Reply to  Wally Dalí

How on Earth can they do that? Did you or someone you know actually order it?

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 30, 2024 3:55 pm

cohenite
 December 30, 2024 2:54 pm

Another reason why Trump is the best:
(304) President Trump “decisively defeat the climate hysteria hoax.” – YouTube

—-

I was just about to post that .Kudos, cohenite.

Cassie of Sydney
December 30, 2024 4:04 pm

It begins.

Victorian Labor are leading the charge, launching a smear campaign against the Duttons…..yes, that’s right, against Mr and Mrs Dutton.

The Victorian ALP has been accused of getting into “gutter” politics after launching a highly personal social media attack on Coalition Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and his wife.

With Labor’s polling share falling sharply in Victoria ahead of next year’s federal election, the Victorian ALP manipulated a five-year-old newspaper report on the Duttons to attack them.

The post went up about 11am on Monday under the heading “We all know that one couple” and a secondary line stating “Justifying dating your new partner to your friends who don’t like him” above a 2019 newspaper photo quoting Ms Dutton saying of her husband: ‘‘He’s not a monster.’’ The original Queensland newspaper front page was headlined “My Pete’s no monster’’.

Of course, it’s different when the left engages in smears and lies. I suppose the next smear on the left’s menu prior to the forthcoming election will be to call Peter Dutton a “Nazi”. You wait, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Having said that, the smears didn’t work against Trump, I suspect a lot of people are fed up with them. Also, Labor have tried for decades to dislodge Dutton from his electorate (a marginal one at that) and they’ve failed every single time.

But you know what’s sad, once upon a time the Liberals had head kickers like Wilson Tuckey, Bill Heffernan and others who would throw it back. But now they’re all just timid little mice. My humble suggestion to Peter Dutton is to grow a pair…..a big pair.

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 4:07 pm

Three quick wickets including 1st innings century maker Kumar.
Adds some spice to what was looking like a dead Test Match!

Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 4:29 pm
Reply to  dover0beach

>35 AD: what is truth?

During the last two thousand years we seem to’ve come round in a circle.

Last edited 3 months ago by Bruce of Newcastle
Nelson_Kidd-Players
December 30, 2024 4:28 pm

There’s still a chance of a draw, but in test cricket, you don’t just have to finish ahead of your opponent for victory, you have to WIN!

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 30, 2024 4:34 pm

F*ck the BOM.

This channel is better.*

Fesh and cheps.

*Have great year Kiwi people. ( :

—–

Weather Watch TV:

Australia weather to Sunday: Qld rain, Vic wind + big picture nationwide

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
December 30, 2024 4:46 pm

There is an alternative reality intersecting with ours on X.

In that realm Kamala ran a flawless campaign and her loss is down to racism, misogyny, and IT skullduggery primarily by Elon but doubtless countless other e-misanthropes.

Biden was a champion of the people who served tirelessly and selflessly in Congress, and was probably one of, if not the, best of American Presidents. We must salute his achievements as the sun goes down on this sundowning warrior.

Now that Carter has stumbled in his decades long flight, and finally been overtaken by death and its attendant judges suddenly everyone acknowledges what a Presidential colossus he was. Lots of thanks for his Presidency too.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 30, 2024 4:54 pm

This place is a paradise. Pull out your pen and paper and take notes.

Kufta Bozbash | Authentic Azerbaijani Dish with Meatballs

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
December 30, 2024 4:57 pm
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 30, 2024 4:58 pm

Macquarie University academic Randa Abdel-Fattah wishes for ‘end of Israel’Noah Yim
8 minutes ago

Macquarie University anti-Israel academic Randa Abdel-Fattah has publicly wished for 2025 to “be the end of Israel” and for the “abolishment of the death cult of Zionism”.
Dr Abdel-Fattah is a recipient of a $870,269 research grant from the taxpayer-funded Australian Research Council, funding that the Coalition has previously demanded be clawed back.
Her latest social media post adds to controversies in which she has been previously embroiled. For example, she led a ‘kids excursion’ to the University of Sydney pro-Palestine encampment protest earlier this year where primary school-aged children led each other in chants of “intifada” and that “Israel is a terrorist state”. She was also one of the people who disseminated a leak of the private contact information of hundreds of Jewish creatives from a WhatsApp group earlier in the year.

Funny, they aren’t taking comments.

Rockdoctor
Rockdoctor
December 30, 2024 5:06 pm

Serious question.

Why is Albo’s son and his Chairman’s lounge plus new job off limits and obeyed with reverence but Dutton’s mrs not?

Just seems more double standards by an already discredited 4th estate…

DavidH
DavidH
December 30, 2024 5:08 pm

Akash Deep out. Little nick onto the pads – given out on review – he can’t believe it. But as the Twelfth Man’s Bill Lawry would say “Yes! Got him! Piss off you’re out.”

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 5:10 pm

Dr Abdel-Fattah is a recipient of a $870,269 research grant from the taxpayer-funded Australian Research Council, funding that the Coalition has previously demanded be clawed back.

Gliberals missing the point again…just defund the ARC.

Last edited 3 months ago by Roger
Bruce of Newcastle
Bruce of Newcastle
December 30, 2024 5:21 pm

Bumrah out for a duck. 9/155 with about an hour of play left.

Bruce in WA
December 30, 2024 5:24 pm

All over Red Rover. Oz wins.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
December 30, 2024 5:24 pm

Straya by 184 runs.

Once they got Jaiswal and Pant, it was never in doubt.

Watch for Rohit Sharma’s retirement speech – Kohli will go too, but not until after the Sidernee Test.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
December 30, 2024 5:28 pm

And that is why Test Cricket should stay at five days, rather than shrinking to four.

calli
calli
December 30, 2024 7:33 pm

Plus a gazillion. And more.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 5:31 pm

Victorian Labor are leading the charge, launching a smear campaign against the Duttons…..yes, that’s right, against Mr and Mrs Dutton.

So even in VIC the ALP polling is showing Dutton is a threat.

Tom
Tom
December 30, 2024 5:57 pm
Reply to  Roger

So even in VIC the ALP polling is showing Dutton is a threat.

Correct.

The 2025 election ALP brains trust is signalling that because the government is so incompetent, an LNP landslide is in the cards, hence the comical smear campaign.

Once again, the left assumes the public is so stupid it can’t see what’s going on.

To me, 2025 looks like a rerun of 2013 with distraction squirrels like the Teals heading for a wipeout.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 6:06 pm
Reply to  Tom

A lot of aspirational voters in new housing estates in western Melbourne I hear.

People whom the VIC ALP would have once taken for granted and perhaps still do.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 30, 2024 6:10 pm
Reply to  Tom

No SloMo, Lieborals walk it in. They will pick up 2 or 3 Teal seats.

Sean
Sean
December 30, 2024 5:34 pm

Watched a reaction to Back to the Future and then A Wonderful Life. Thanks for telling me to keep away.

chrisl
chrisl
December 30, 2024 5:50 pm
Reply to  Sean

You are welcome …. now stay away in Syderney

Mother Lode
Mother Lode
December 30, 2024 5:40 pm

Gliberals missing the point again…just defund the ARC.

Governments think that grand new bodies and departments are the key to unleashing new ideas.

I cannot remember who made the observation but I thoroughly subscribe to the realisation that for all the great halls and splendidly ornate state rooms in palaces and grand institutions they have probably never given birth to a single great idea – those come from someone in a bath, someone loafing about in a library while idly turning pages of a book, standing outside watching the folly of dumb animals and such.

our governments always go for the big institutions but. Photo ops.

Black Ball
Black Ball
December 30, 2024 5:43 pm

Yep. Labor are phuckwits but you knew that, picking up the thread left by previous comments:

The Victorian Labor Party have been slammed after launching a personal attack on Liberal Leader Peter Dutton and his wife Kirilly on social media, referring to him as a “monster” partner.

The social media post, published on Monday, was captioned “We all know that one couple,” with a subheading that read, “Justifying dating your new partner to friends who dislike him.”

It featured a 2019 newspaper photo of Ms Dutton, who remarked about her husband, “He’s not a monster.”

The Queensland newspaper’s original front page bore the headline “My Pete’s no monster.”

Victorian senator and Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson slammed the post, saying, “Labor has given up solving the cost-of-living crisis.

“All they have is nasty personal attacks against Peter Dutton and his family.”

He then asked if Anthony Albanese endorsed the post.

Victorian State Secretary Steve Staikos defended the post saying “it’s not a personal attack at all”.

“It’s supposed to be a comedic meme.”

When asked about whether the post used a doctored screenshot Mr Staikos said “I don’t agree”.

Premier Jacinta Allan’s office declined to comment on whether they endorse the message.

Mr Dutton’s office has also been contacted.

The post comes as multiple polls show that Labor’s primary vote has dived in Victoria in recent months.

It’s not the first time that Labor has personally attacked Mr Dutton.

In 2022 Labor minister Tanya Plibersek issued a grovelling apology to Mr Dutton for comparing him to a Harry Potter villain.

In a live radio interview, Ms Plibersek said Mr Dutton looks “a bit like Voldemort” – the much-feared villain in the Harry Potter series.

Ms Plibersek later said it was a “mistake”.

Now our very own khunt in monty said we shouldn’t attack the families of political members of those he disagrees with. So I expect him to denounce this type of phuckwittery.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 5:46 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

You’ll be waiting until you’re at least my age BB.

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 6:06 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

Don’t hold your breath waiting.

chrisl
chrisl
December 30, 2024 5:44 pm

I have to take credit for the win , I really do . I selflessly took the dog for a walk and 3 wickets fell !

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 30, 2024 6:13 pm
Reply to  chrisl

Yep. Try heading out for lunch during the Tea break – 7 for 43 while on the road.

Black Ball
Black Ball
December 30, 2024 5:47 pm

Here’s Steve Staikos.
A mediocrity.

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 6:07 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

You flatter him.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 30, 2024 6:15 pm
Reply to  Black Ball

After inventing democracy the Greeks really should have gone to the pub.

Indolent
Indolent
December 30, 2024 5:48 pm
Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 5:50 pm

I understand anal and Allen abomination had a bit of a giggle together after visiting western Vic. Reminds me of TLS and the horrible woman from Qld having a giggle during the Darwin bombing commemoration. Are they autistic?

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 30, 2024 6:14 pm
Reply to  Miltonf

During the minutes silence, if you don’t mind!

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 6:34 pm
Reply to  Miltonf

Not autistic – they’re Communists. That’s the sort of person who is attracted to the cult.

Indolent
Indolent
December 30, 2024 5:52 pm

I knew there had to be something. They’re obviously trying to set up another Covid type emergency.

New 116-Page Stop-Gap Bill Hides Renewed Emergency Powers Extended to 2025

Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 5:53 pm

I don’t think attacking the Duttons will win Vic labor any more friends. Stinks of spiteful desperation.

Boambee John.
Boambee John.
December 30, 2024 6:10 pm
Reply to  Miltonf

Spiteful desperation is all that the Liars have left.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 30, 2024 5:54 pm

In Glasgow staying with one of MrsF’s aunts, an impressive and lovely old duck with a family reputation for ‘an extensive collection of different Gins’.

On closer inspection last night it turns out that she has an extensive collection of different Gin bottles, most with only a few drams left in them. Gin isn’t my drink, so I was surprised to find that (in Glasgow, anyways) you drink it neat.

Now sitting in the kitchen while the rest of the house sleeps, dark outside for another hour or so, catching up on the Soshuls, drinking strong black tea, and belching juniper fumes.

In training for Hogmanay.

GreyRanga
GreyRanga
December 30, 2024 10:03 pm
Reply to  Dr Faustus

Is this your giddy aunt, DrF?

Pogria
Pogria
December 30, 2024 11:16 pm
Reply to  Dr Faustus

Sounds fun.

Lee
Lee
December 30, 2024 5:55 pm

Somewhat bemused when I switched on the internet this morning and practically the first headline I saw was “Sad Passing of Jimmy Carter.”

“Sad”?

The man was 100 and had been very ill for some years.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
December 30, 2024 5:56 pm

https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2024/12/disgusting.html

Albanese and what’s her name Allen, having a great day, and a good chuckle, at the bushfires…

Miltonf
Miltonf
December 30, 2024 5:56 pm

there’s a lot of secret undermining going on from this malicious marxist gubmint in Spring St- secret ‘treaty’ negotiations, renaming places and I wonder what else. Evil people, full of hate and contempt for this once great state.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 5:58 pm

Gin isn’t my drink…

Any port in a storm.

H B Bear
H B Bear
December 30, 2024 6:17 pm
Reply to  Roger

Long G &Ts are fine over summer.

Roger
Roger
December 30, 2024 6:28 pm
Reply to  H B Bear

I certainly wouldn’t say no to that.

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
December 30, 2024 6:44 pm
Reply to  Roger

It makes my farts smell like roses.
Dead roses.
Long dead roses, rotting away inside.
Dunno what people see in it.

Pogria
Pogria
December 30, 2024 11:22 pm
Reply to  Winston Smith

Curmudgeon.

Dr Faustus
Dr Faustus
December 30, 2024 11:42 pm
Reply to  Pogria

He admits to drinking XXXX.
You’ll find that explains a lot.

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