There has been an electorate redistribution that helpfully dropped greens heavy booths from Grayndler and picked up a few ALP…
Open Thread – Weekend 15 Feb 2025
- The Holistic Rewards of Christianity
- Open Thread – Weekend 15 Feb 2025
- Open Thread – Thurs 13 Feb 2025
- Open Thread – Mon 10 Feb 2025
- Trouble at the supermart
One of the best music videos ever made. She must’ve repeated the moves at least a dozen times since they’re…
It’s so sweet.
I liked Harry Langdon. Those old guys had timing down pat.
Cats, Tomorrow never knows, I tells ya!
First
Segundo
Mark Dice commentary about Valentine’s Day.
OF COURSE THEY ARE!
Is Hegseth a potential contender in 28? Just thinking out loud.
He’ll have to join the queue JC, there’s a lot of talent. Lets see in two and half years who’s still standing.
I expressed the same thought to Hairy last nite, JC.
There is a lot of talent, was his reply.
So far, JD is still taking all of the running and coming out on top. Check the comments on his speech in Munich just now.
John Spooner.
Policy statements from Opposition aren’t really cool for a modern democracy. Really closer to a lucky dip.
Mark Knight.
Mark Knight #2.
What a stupid cartoon. Knight is a FW.
Mark Knight #3.
Brett Lethbridge.
Michael Ramirez.
Tom Stiglich.
A.F. Branco.
Thanks, Tom.
The UK’s “Blackout Bowen” –
‘Over The Cliff’ – an exciting new book by Hugo First.
…tho Knight looks like he’s going to phone it in, re the God Emperor
Mark Knight is a brilliant cartoonist, but his TDS is showing.
Loony Joy Reid says every Republican would approve of Trump selling the USA to Russia.
(this is the company Mark Knight seems to like; sad)
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/looney-joy-reid-claims-every-single-republican-would/
When even a Trump appointed judge is getting uppity, you know that the USA has a problem.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/new-federal-judge-extends-pause-trumps-move-put/
Food for thought.
Was the plane properly deiced or was it DEI-Iced as in sabotage? Given who and what we and Team Trump are up against on every level, to simply shrug this off as a freak incident without even considering the possibility of intentional sabotage or even unintentional incompetence, which these days is primarily driven by ideology and DEI.”
UN feverishly thinking of how to blame Israel.
https://x.com/amjadt25/status/1890487422099812769?t=S_hEjfUgg4ekpaB_XEiioQ&s=19
Look what you made us do.
Three Israeli hostages being released today.
Sasha is reportedly in very poor health, Sagui has never seen his one year old daughter and Yair Horn’s brother remains in captivity.
Praying for them all.
J D Vance gives European elites a slap.
https://x.com/TheMandyGall/status/1890416170185932822?t=FQns11xp9JEdIXb2KCKtWQ&s=19
I watched the whole speech and very good it is too IMHO.
The Europeans there, apparently, did not enjoy the speech with minimal applause along the way.
The speech, which was ‘Free Speech’, would not have gone down here very well with the Marxist Australian Feral Guv’ment.
Too many Home Truths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCOsgfINdKg
The video goes for around 19 mins
Just started my scrolling down, I put the speech up too, with a similar comment, so it will be further down now. Might catch those who never scroll.
Thank you Johnny.
Perhaps Trump/Vance/Musk are making real headway around the world. Today at the beach 3 young Muslim women walked past and I joked “Hope they’re not nurses”. Mate 1 reflexly says “you can’t say that” then he and 2 others slowly said – “why not?”
Rupert Lowe would be the UK’s Trump.
No-one here comes close.
https://x.com/TheNorfolkLion/status/1890476407110709476?t=PVlN2vFnqtKrZaSiS1s_8w&s=19
Make Rupert Great Again!
Nice.
Need the same here Rosie.
The official White House account.
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1890441976417264027?t=87gPFKJylagONsg5IvVBVQ&s=19
So nice to get a card from someone who really means it. *sigh*
Curl up and dye.
Tesla Testing Exploding Dye Cables To Deter Scrap-Metal Thieves (14 Feb)
I doubt either will work as human ingenuity will find away around both pretty quickly.
It does illustrate another problem with EVs though: chargers have to be spread out over wide areas. Even with superchargers charging is too slow to centralize them in service stations – which have the watchful eye of a nice Indian guy to keep the metal thieves away.
Nice painting Dover.
Not a tattoo, nose ring, no stupid hair cut and stupid hair dye colours in sight.
You’ve just insulted everyone on the cat.
Except me.
It sounds better in Italian: dolce far neinte.
In the Oz….
Sri Lanka have completed a 2-0 sweep in the ODI series in dominant, record-breaking fashion as Australia’s batters fail in alarming scenes just a week out from the Champions Trophy.
Maybe Konstas dodged a bullet by getting dropped and returning to Oz to belt a century in Shield cricket.
Batters is for fish. It’s men’s cricket so batsmen it is.
The women’s cricket can use batters if they wish as they are not men.
I think.
Uuuuge assumption Bill.
Batswomen?
I hate that clumsy term batters.
In skin tight neoprene please
Given Trump is trying to even things up in his mind with regards to trade, tariffs, GST etc, perhaps we can now start making US companies pay tax on their earnings in Australia, and not claim some dodgy deduction they supposedly have to make to the parent company in a tax haven. Hungary did this years ago. From memory McDonald’s Australia sends something like $100m overseas before tax.
The Weather Channel running global warming psychosis and then world weather steps in and reality is restored.
The drought in LA replaced by heavy rain.
Hot oceans bringing freezing weather the eastern US.
Heat waves in Australia replaced by snow on the highlands this weekend.
Socialism in action.
Cuba Cancels School and Work over Nationwide Blackouts (14 Feb)
Even with 6 operating power stations they’re only generating 1,735 MW, wow those are tiny plants. Must be very old too.
Cheerful squalor.
Havana has the same number of annual hours of sunshine as Brisbane. And solar panels are so cheap, especially if you buy from the Chlnks. Should be too cheap to meter, in daylight hours at least.
Wow, you must really hate Cuba.
And Russian.
Unfair Bear.
Russian donks will last a long time with minimal care. Critical spares may be an issue.
I think they have been in continual operation since the 1960’s
All oil fired I understand, old communist Russia vintage
The ABC has managed to write an extensive article on its website about the high cost of electricity without mentioning the role of the “renewable” energy in driving price increases. The words wind and solar don’t appear at all. There is fleeting reference to more batteries coming but no mention of why they are needed. The verbal gymnastics in avoiding the truth are of Olympic gold medal standard. And all paid for with our taxpayer funds. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-15/brt-energy-agl-origin-profit-allanfels-electricty-gas-/104938270
You are talking about the ALPBC. None of them will actually know. It’s all about what we want it to be without an ounce, in their case, gram, of comprehension.
Today’s Sunday Tele:
ELON MUSK SENDS LABOR INTO ORBIT OVER NBN
Vikki Campion
15 Feb 2025
While Elon Musk wages a war on US financial waste, on our side of the Pacific the Albanese government is engaged in a costly and bizarre cold war with the billionaire over internet coverage.
If Musk had built a highway along Australia’s east coast, the Albanese ministry would have reviewed it, called it a risk to sovereignty and then thrown billions of dollars into building its own alongside it – complete with unsealed roads and missing bridges.
Former Labor minister Alannah MacTiernan, who recently chaired a regional telecommunications review, deemed Musk a risk to our national sovereignty. That’s because people are so fed up with the government’s National Broadband Network that they have been turning to Musk’s Starlink.
Our own government’s foray into satellite broadband was such garbage that it was practically advertising for Musk, with people on waiting lists for Starlink, which is now oversubscribed in northern NSW and southeast Queensland.
The current campaign against Musk came into focus this week with the Senate inquiry examining the botched 3G shutdown, which exposed a ministry more interested in ideological battles than in providing Australians with a reliable telecommunications network.
You would think it was the Chinese Communist Party that was offering a solution to our home-baked NBN flop. Telstra, Optus and Vodafone are shutting down 3G, freeing up radio spectrum for their lucrative 5G expansions in the density of the cities, and the government can now sell the retired spectrum for possibly billions of dollars. While big telcos cash in and the government counts its windfall, bumpkins in the bush are left with a hammer signal on the top of the phone warning us we can’t make a call.
The 3G imbroglio could soon be over as Musk rolls out the alternative of direct-to-phone low-Earth orbit (LEO) technology, which could give Australians the lifeline they need without begging Telstra or the government for scraps.
But rather than let the private sector go for gold, Labor is instead running its own fixed-voice service LEO trials at a cost of $6m, which Musk already has. His satellites are up there now. Like the NBN, we are going to build the obsolete, own it, subsidise it, and pour taxpayers’ money into it, while private enterprise does it better and cheaper and does it so it actually works.
Suppose you had to take tech advice for Australia. Would you listen to the self-made businessman who, through cutting-edge innovation in technology, rather than inheritance, made himself the richest person in the world, or ex-political staffers, consultants and bureaucrats whose view of the economic landscape was one of manicured lawns via a double-glazed office window in the most exclusive suburb in Australia?
Under Albanese, taxpayers fund the latter. This government doesn’t want solutions from the “wrong” kind of billionaire.
Labor has all but declared war on Musk because he believes in free speech and isn’t afraid to stop $50m of his nation’s taxes being spent on condoms in Mozambique.
When the wrong kind of billionaire comes with a viable solution, they’d rather call him a risk to the nation than admit they were incompetent.
Instead of using a Musk type to investigate our own expenditure wonders in Canberra, Labor is copying his private sector work with $6m from taxpayers, on top of its $3.8bn internet plan to build more fibre connections, only 311,000 of which will be in regional areas.
As Senator Matt Canavan pointed out on X, it would be $1bn cheaper to buy every Aussie household a Starlink at $299 each.
All the while, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland insists that only “Starlink has in the vicinity of around 200,000 (connections), and we know that between fibre and satellite technology there is no comparison”.
And no signal.
The Albanese government is no different to the Tesla owners who have plastered their cars with “I bought this before I realised he was crazy” stickers, as the PM dubs him an “arrogant billionaire” and threatens him with foreign interference laws if he strays into the upcoming Australian election.
But while Musk fights taxpayer waste, we will waste taxpayers’ money to fight Musk.
LIFTER:
Senators Gerard Rennick, Matt Canavan and Glenn Sterle for their action on the bank closures in regional Australia inquiry, which resulted in a recommendation to force banks to pay a levy to force investment into a regional community banking footprint, adopted as Labor policy, with a moratorium on regional branch closures until mid-2027.
LEANER::
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who ignored the Illawarra, south of Sydney, for two years on offshore wind, and seemed surprised when heckled by locals on the hustings yesterday morning.
I live in the northern suburbs of Townsville. Since 3G was axed my mobile service with Telstra has gone from adequate to downright woeful.
I have to go outside to make a phone call. Incoming calls sometime don’t even connect, MMS’s sometimes don’t come through etc.
If I didn’t have Starlink I’d be at the mercy of the NBN.
Rocdoc,
I also had to go outside, or stand at the kitchen window to make calls. After I installed Starlink, I could make or receive calls throughout the house. Starlink boosted all mobile signals.
If someone visited that did not have Telstra, their phones wouldn’t work at all.
Since Starlink, all phones work here.
Allanah MacTiernan!
Jisus, they never go away do they.
Next stop Geneva with all the other fat used up Labor non tax paying scammers.
Having Allanah MacTiernan review anything other than the bottom of a wine bottle might not be the best person for the job. What she would know about telecommunications wouldn’t even fill the Post-it note used for the original NBN feasibility study. Maaaaaate!
Albanese, the waiters bastard son calls Elon an arrogant billionaire. Listen up Luigi, Elon used his brains plus hard work to become the richest man in the world. What have you done. Destroyed Australia with your Trot ideas which is no idea at all. FOAD you scum sucking little turd. The last bright idea you had was when you filled your nappy as a baby and people will be cleaning up after you for years to come.
Half the phone calls I receive in SE Queensland don’t get through. Was 3G used often as the back-up carrier service when 5G and 4G didn’t work? The problem seems way worse than prior to the 3G cancellation.
Today’s Sunday Tele Vikki cont’d:
WILL WELCOME TO COUNTRIES BE NEW NORM ON GOVERNMENT AIRLINE?
We either have an aviation market that allows competition or a protection racket for a monster, where the Albanese government would prefer to buy Rex Airlines than fix the beast cannibalising anything smaller than itself.
Bonza, Tiger, Rex and the bones of a long list of airlines before them weren’t gobbled up because their planes were empty, they were crushed because the government gave all the treats – the good slots, the airport space and regulation favours – to the hungry Qantas-Virgin duopoly.
Labor bows to Qantas because it plays the political game better than anyone, painting Voice logos on its plane, spending millions backing the Yes campaign and making sure every flight ends with a welcome to country, while departure boards confuse passengers who can’t remember ever booking a ticket to Naarm or Warrane from Gurambilbarra.
This is how you buy influence from the Albanese government.
Rex was once the great airline of reality, where regional passengers could fly without suffering a lecture.
But now Albanese will need a board to run Rex, where the Transport Workers Union will expect reward appointments for advising the government while meeting the Department of Infrastructure’s six senior executive “Diversity Champions and staff-led networks”.
Regional Australia deserves real competition, guaranteeing cheaper flights like regional America enjoys.
Instead, we will have a publicly-run regional airline. And what government enterprise runs more cheaply than the private sector?
Eminent competition expert Allan Fels called it out. Senate inquiries and the Federal Court raised alarm bells, yet nothing has changed to allow a free market to prosper.
Feed the beast another little airline, no matter what the cost.
Barnaby, retire and install Vikki in your place.
Dutton, take note. btw, beery, what planet are you on, it’s still Saturday where I am.?
Ahhh crap…so it is.
Make ONE mistake…
Hz, when you are retired…sometimes you lose track of what day of the week it is…and if there is a public holiday or not… 😉
lol, isn’t retirement wonderful !
Rex made some really poor decisions. Taking on Bain Capital and the Red Roo on the SYD-MEL route was one of them, yes there was skulldugery with slots.
They were a half decent regional carrier from what I heard, apart from maintenance which a mate who worked aviation precinct at Townsville said was a known suspect. Rex flew routes uneconomical to other main carriers, especially in the north.
We have Sunstate (Q’link), Air North, Alliance, SkyTrans and did have Rex. All do niches, Alliance a lot of overflow charters/mine runs/minor commercial routes, SkyTrans mainly the Cape, Air North does the top end and Q’link Sunstate coastal milk run/Townsville-Mt Isa. Rex did a lot of the western milk runs, yes subsidised but the Commonwealth has been doing that for a century as they carry cargo like mail.
The milk run on the coast runs a loss or razor thin margins, Rex a few years back tried to muscle in there. Didn’t work out well for them, Virgin Regional tried again a few years later with the same result. Point being despite subsidised routes there a lot of argy bargy going on.
As for Bonza, the App did it for me. I can’t compare fares then they lose my potential business.
Virgin IMO should be dead like Ansett. Alliance or maybe even Rex could have grown into that space but the Liberals threw money at that and here we are. For the record I also think the handouts to the Red Roo were wrong as well.
Rockdoctor,
I went from Cairns to Gove (sister and hubby live there) and back on Air North in 2023.
NO welcome to country shite.
Service was pretty good.
QANTARSE Brisbane to Cains on the other hand…welcome to bloody country shite. Service was sorta ok from what I can remember.
Trained it from Cairns to Brisbane on the return trip.
That was a bloody good trip.
Going to try and aim for another trip sometime this year
Cheers
Regards
Beertuk
After the covid bailout to QANTAS, the leprechaun should not have got bonuses and a golden handshake.
PS. I’ve recently flown Emirates to and QANTAS from the UK. Q’s cabin crew were great but I would pay extra to fly Emirates both ways. I’d avoid Q if I could.
From The Oz………
JD Vance has left European leaders reeling after accusing them of hiding behind ugly Soviet era words like ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ in a continental retreat from democratic values.
Methinks Vance speaketh the truth.
Closer to home, I note Nadir’s home was raided overnight by NSWaffen. Meanwhile Abu Lebdeh remains holed up in Condell Park, still refusing to speak to the Plod.
Just perusing the headlines.
Some screaming about a Russian drone hitting Chernobyl. As for Rus vs Uke I don’t care, not our fight in south Pacific. The only care I had was that Australia was giving away hardware albeit obsolete that we may need one day soon and tax dollars that could be better spent here. In all the problem is a Euro one.
However I digress, on the drone incident I am at a loss why Russia would do it, Zelensky too. Tide has changed, a peace deal is looking more likely.
Rogue elements in one of both armies maybe? Grey role actors? US deep state actors as one FU to Trump?
LOL once I would have laughed off the latter two as tin foil hattery. After DOGE’s deep dive into USAid not any more.
Because Wussia baaaaaad, Rockdoctor. There are still plenty of morons out there that believe the MSM unquestioningly.
Now I get it, free speech destroys democratic societies.
@disclosetv
NOW – German President says “we can not and will not allow platforms” such as X or TikTok to “destroy our democratic societies.”
Well, now we know his priority.
@akafaceUS
BREAKING: John Fetterman is demanding that Trump reverses the transgender military ban.
Wide scan of the oval office.
@GuntherEagleman
This is as epic as it gets!
@libsoftiktok
BREAKING: NJ teacher under investigation by Secret Service for alleged threats against Trump following our expose -NJ.com
@magills_
Yeah. Europe should protect itself instead of relying on America. That’ll show Trump. He’d hate that.
Ursula is all over it.
Not only NATO, but an EU Defence Force as well, all paid for by the enthusiastic serfs.
Any potential aggressor toward Europe would obviously have second thoughts, should this occur.
Of course, militarily, the EU force would be even more impotent than NATO, but the main thing is, another slush fund, that the kleptocrats in Brussels can raid.
All aboard!
Weekend Oz – Paul Kelly’s article on page 17 re beware trump the peace maker – I cannot understand him and what he stands for.
Para 13 – reduce American foreign commitments and adventurism – so what happened to his calls in Vietnam and ever since of yankee go home, death to Uncle Sam, America the colonialist, American militarism , American inter fear acne etc Ha
Para 11 re Australian conservatives – deluded forgiveness of trump seems almost limitless – yes – atm he is fixing a lot of issues started by leftist – I do not hear anything about Neuland Maydam revolution – the democrats caused this, I don’t hear anything about Merkel, the eu , the last 3 French eunichs sending weapons to assault the Russian population in the Donbas ( I wonder where Blair is in all of this)
p 14 quits Ukraine will embolden China to take Taiwan – but journos and lefties see Taiwan as part of China and China has every rite to it – I also disagree with this assumption.
US is a English society with Christian European support – US should be able to trust the continent with is direction due to shared values and if in trouble both agree to help eachother
P17 Australia as part of the us military industrial complex – far out – what do you want refer above you war monger
P18 trump not championing an I do pacific alliance – far out check out what he offered the South African farmers- he will be fair.
Kelly is a piece of shit: typical media halfwit: arrogant, conceited and infected with TDS.
x1000. Remember his defence the thug McGowan? Long lost any relevance.
Fisking Snoozer Kelly isn’t the best use of the weekend. Or reading him.
This is undoubtedly true but I’m not sure which comes first, the chicken or the egg. And at the extreme end I really do believe it’s a mental illness.
@Alphafox78
This is truly shocking!
They are all nuts.
also ugly.
@RaheemKassam
Just an hour after @JDVance went on stage to slam European leaders on their tendency towards censorship and abandonment of free speech, the German defence minister, sans irony, says @VP’s speech was “unacceptable.”
Fuk the krauts.
The imports are doing that right now.
The Bee
Democrats, Republicans Panic As Trump Brings World To Brink Of Peace
This is J.D. Vance’s speech at Munich, which the German defence minister has already slammed. I haven’t had time to watch it yet, but went looking after seeing a short clip which really rang the bell. If that’s an example, it lives up to the hype.
JD Vance TEARS APART European Leaders ‘Running In Fear’ Of Voters | ‘You ABANDONED Democracy!’
He followed it up by doing a round of PT with some Green Berets stationed in Germany.
For some reason, it won’t let me link it, but it’s at Breitbart London/Europe.
He did the HERO round of exercises, dedicated to those who lost their lives.
Then he said that talking to these guys was much more important and useful than listening to lobbyists in Washington.
The Dems are on a hiding to nothing here. No wonder they fought so hard to block his nomination.
Confusing Vance with Hegseth here
Roger Cook orders review after teacher promoted Hamas in WA public schoolBethany HiattThe West Australian
Sat, 15 February 2025 2:00AM
WA’s Education Department is refusing to reveal if it has sanctioned a public school teacher after it emerged on Friday that she had displayed a tribute to an assassinated Hamas leader in her classroom.
Roger Cook ordered the department to reconsider its response when the shocking incident came to light.
The teacher reportedly wrote in Palestinian colours the words “rest in peace I.H. you were a great leader” on a classroom board at Fremantle school John Curtin College of the Arts.
The message was displayed soon after the death of Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of Hamas, who was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran by an Israeli attack in July.
Hamas, which carried out the October 7 attacks in 2023 in which 1200 Jewish people were slaughtered and 250 hostages seized, is designated a terrorist group by the Australian government.
The West understands the incident left a Jewish student feeling intimidated. The student was moved to another class.
The Premier declared the teacher’s behaviour was “absolutely unacceptable”.
“These sorts of views have no place in our classrooms,” Mr Cook said. “Any teacher who thinks those sentiments are appropriate for a classroom needs to rethink their career.
“I expect the Education Department would revisit their response to this matter.
Typical chalkie these days.
Should already have been sacked. Was this on the School Curriculum?
You’d have to quote the Bible to be sacked!
Your speech vill only contain ze approved words. Deviations from the prescribed phrases vill not be tolerated.
Ahhh the geniuses at Their GreensTealsALPBC.
Today’s Saturday Tele:
ABC MAKES A $1BN DOG’S BREAKFAST OF HIT SHOW
EXCLUSIVE – STEPHEN DRILL
15 Feb 2025
Bungling ABC executives missed out on a $1bn Bluey payday after letting the BBC take on the merchandising rights for the Australian global TV juggernaut.
The taxpayer-funded broadcaster, which complains about a lack of funding, did not even ask Bluey’s creator, Joe Brumm, for a slice of the merchandising pie of a brand that “will be around for 100 years”.
Outgoing ABC managing director David Anderson authorised a Freedom of Information request response that revealed the blunder.
A two-month search could find no documents that detailed any attempts from the ABC to sign a merchandise deal for Bluey, despite the ABC commissioning the show.
“The ABC was unable to identify any emails between the ABC and/or Joe Brumm, and/or Ludo Studios relating to merchandising deals for Bluey, created or sent between October 1, 2016, and October 1, 2018,” an ABC response to the FOI request said.
The ABC’s lack of commercial acumen is in contrast to the BBC, in the UK, which generated $4.2bn in commercial revenue in the latest financial year. The BBC Studios financial report said: “Consumer products – particularly Bluey – were a highlight.”
Liberal senator Dave Sharma has hit out at the Bluey mistake.
“The ABC receives over $1bn in taxpayer funding per year. This is as much as the entire Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade receives to operate our global diplomatic network, so it’s not a small sum,” he said.
“It is crucial to ensure public faith in the public broadcaster is maintained and that this money is spent both wisely and efficiently.
“The ABC should also be alive to opportunities to commercialise its content, and so help defray its costs to taxpayers.”
Bluey has become the most streamed show in the US, and is watched in 140 countries, while themed toys and games are available in 50 countries.
Disney announced in December that Bluey would become the first non-Disney-owned brand to appear at its theme parks in California and Florida.
The creators are also cashing in on the seas, with Blueythemed cruises to run this year.
That’s ahead of the Bluey movie, written by Mr Brumm, which will “land in cinemas in 2027 under the Disney brand”.
At least some of the Bluey bonanza will land in the pockets of an Australian company, with Melbourne manufacturer Moose Toys signing a long-term deal to produce the show’s 338-item merchandise range.
When the deal was inked in May last year, BBC Studios director of global licensing Andrew Carley said: “With global fandom for Bluey showing no sign of abating, I am delighted that our dynamic toy partnership with Moose Toys is set to continue for years to come.”
Bluey merchandise includes toys, figurines, scooters, money boxes, shampoo and conditioner, toddler beds, life jackets, clothes and books. Singers Kylie and Dannii Minogue have become the voices of Bluey audio books.
Mr Anderson admitted he was in the meeting when Bluey was first pitched to the ABC. “Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I remember sitting there with the head of children’s,” he said in an ABC radio interview.
“And it almost starts like a joke … a little-known producer walks through the door and says ‘Have I got something for you!’ and it’s a 2D animation about a puppy. “I was advised that we thought it would work. We thought it would bring joy to people. Who knew it was a unicorn from that moment?”
Shrewd BBC executives saw a hit and stumped up cash to invest. BBC Studios has a strong commercial bent, making millions out of its Dr Who franchise and nature documentaries.
Marketing expert Mark Ritson said Bluey was set to become an iconic Australian brand, amid estimates it could be worth $1bn.
“Bluey is perennial, she’s always six years old. There’s going to be a new generation of kids, a new audience who want the toys and the T-shirts,” he said. “It’s ironic that Bluey is created by the ABC in partnership with the BBC but the ABC gets nothing out of it.
“Licensing is as close as you get to pure money.”
Editorial page 66
Doesn’t matter if it’s going to soar or bomb you take a piece of the royalties from day one.Their lawyers need to be sacked.
Too busy with vanity projects and woke minutiae to make a commercial decision.
Being pipped by the BEEB, of all people, is a snapshot of how incompetent their ABC really is.
Bluey is not a she.
Bluey is a Girl and her sister is Bingo — Mum is Chilli and Dad is Bandit — Bluey is the most amazing cartoon series on so many levels and hilarious to boot — Bandit is a scream — the episode called Flat Pack is just genius –
Take the equivalent amount of any profit the BBC make out of ABC funding. And index it so more is taken out each year.
Let them suffer for their own failings, not he taxpayer.
Or maybe supporters of ‘their’ ABC could be charged a levy to pay for the loss? I’m sure they would be willing to pay.
I was telling my husband about this over lunch today. He was a partner and creative director in a major national ad agency before retiring, and he almost fell on the floor.
I had to call up the piece and show him before he would believe that ABC was so bereft of marketing skills that, a) it did not even spot the opportunity, or b) its contracts department let this pass without sending it for other departments to look at.
Sigh, I was a journalist at ABC in the 1970s/80s, and they actually had a function marketing division.
When Victorian premier Daniel Andrews appointed Sane Patton chief police commissioner in June 2020 in the midst of the Kung Flu epidemic, he gave Patton one task – to implement the Labor government’s crackdown on the citizenry without flinching.
So, like all bully cowards, Patton focused the crackdown on women – especially one young pregnant one who was arrested in her pyjamas for posting dissent against Vicpol on social media.
But it turns out Patton’s main problem is that he’s incompetent and is loathed by the police rank-and-file – 87% of whom this week voted against him in a motion of no confidence.
Not even Andrews’s socialist left successor Jacinta Allen could wear such an insurrection in police ranks and told Patton yesterday his contract won’t be renewed when it comes up in June this year.
It’s unclear whether Patton will serve out the remaining months of his contract as a lame duck or bow out early. However, reading rooms isn’t one of Patton’s abilities, so Victoria’s wallopers will likely have to put up with the incompetent buffoon foisted on them by Daniel Andrews until the middle of the year.
Sane Patton
Woops. Didn’t catch it early enough. The WordPress software allows editing of comments — but only for a few minutes.
I thought it was a typo for “Insane”.
How about a Police Poll for the NSW Police Commissioner – ‘Po Faced Webb’? Should be very interesting.
You mean the Gin Sling Slag — what a fright bat — the ‘lady’ Commissioners have not been very competent have they?
Looking at the runs on the board they haven’t been successful at all; ie Victoria, qld, and now NSW. Maybe the hormones?
But it turns out Patton’s main problem is that he’s incompetent and is loathed by the police rank-and-file – 87% of whom this week voted against him in a motion of no confidence.
Turns out VICPOL rank and file could have avoided destroying their relationship with the public several years back if they had said ‘no’ at the outset.
Exactly. Vikpol did not have to go gleefully about beating the shyte out of Victorians. But they did, so they will wear the stain.
It was also a reward for driving the corrupt Pell prosecution on behalf of the Hunchback, Queen Skank Patten and Fatty Ashton.
Saturday (Ta Hz) 😀 Tele editorial:
CAN’T TRUST THE ABC WITH $1BN
When the 1980s tycoon Alan Bond drove the once-great Channel 9 into the ground and Kerry Packer bought it back from him for a song, the media mogul famously quipped: “You only get one Alan Bond in your lifetime.”
In the sepia toned boardrooms of Broadcasting House in London, BBC executives must be muttering the same thing in their plummy Oxbridge brogues after being handed a $1 billion windfall.
In an unthinkable misstep that really puts the “blue” in Bluey, the ABC somehow forgot to secure a merchandising deal for the most successful Australian TV show ever produced.
Despite commissioning the show, it appears it never occurred to anyone at the public broadcaster to make sure it had a share of the merchandising rights.
By contrast, the BBC seized the opportunity and has raked in around $1bn in Bluey-related ventures, which now include, toys, games, theme parks and an upcoming movie.
That figure could have fully funded the ABC’s operations for almost two years.
Instead it is taxpayers who are forced to fork out more than $1bn a year to prop up a media organisation that many feel does not represent or reflect their views.
Emblematic of this is its parade of supposedly impartial and balanced presenters who have openly expressed obviously political and arguably biased views on social media and in other forums. This has of course been showcased with embarrassing clarity at the unfair dismissal case of Antoinette Lattouf.
And yet, while the activism or apprehended bias can be debated both inside the court and outside it, what is self-evident beyond doubt – indeed by virtue of the fact that the court case happened – is the utterly haphazard, confused, messy and bumbling way in which Lattouf was managed both in and out of the job.
And that is before we even get to the process of giving it to her in the first place. And so, if the ABC is unable to manage a casual employee for a single week without the matter ending up in court, perhaps we should not be surprised that it accidentally also let $1bn slip through its fingers.
DEI hire ideology at it’s finest.
You only get one Alan Bond in your life?
Bell Group shareholders are so grateful for that!
That is bad but nothing comes close to little Johnnie’s gas contract with the chunks in 2002 which did not have an inflation clause in it which now means the chunks can continue buying the gas off us and then reselling it back to us for a 400% profit.
Are you sure?
Energy companies like Shell etc who produced the fields wouldn’t have signed onto the fixed price for decades. Long-term supply agreements have price adjustment mechanisms tied to market indices (like Brent crude, WTI, or gas hub prices), inflation, or other benchmarks.
Royalties, in turn, are typically calculated as a percentage of revenue, meaning if the sale price goes up, so do the royalties paid to the government.
I believe it was flogged off for 1c a litre at the time.
Costello’s sale of RBA gold holdings wouldn’t be looking good now either.
Hey I didn’t buy a house in 1999 for $180k which is now “worth” $3m.
But that was the market then, and this is the market now.
Another version of what Tom just posted:
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has been told his contract won’t be renewed in a shock move set to spark a hunt for Victoria’s next top cop.
The Herald Sun can reveal that the Chief Commissioner was advised of the decision following a devastating vote of no confidence in his leadership by more than 12,000 police members.
It is unclear whether Mr Patton will see out his contract to the end of June or resign ahead of that time.
In a statement late on Friday night Police Minister Anthony Carbines said he acknowledged the vote and valued the hard work of police.
“A process is under way for the role of the Chief Commissioner of Police and it would be inappropriate to comment further,” he said.
The shock move comes just a week after Mr Carbines said the government had full confidence in the Chief Commissioner.
Herald-Sun
Nothing happens in VicPlod without the Liars being hand in glove with it. Very interesting.
The shock move comes just a week after Mr Carbines said the government had full confidence in the Chief Commissioner.
*always* a bad sign!
Demorats agog: Elon’s DOGE website hacked: hackers make disparaging comments about government websites:
Elon Musk’s DOGE Website Hacked
I’d say Elon is just laying traps for commie hackers.
My thought also when I read the article.
Former nurse Ahmed ‘Rashad’ Nadir was given a new life in Australia – but he just ‘spat in our face’
Daily Mail. Police are in “talks ‘ to interview the two hate mongers..Don’t New South Wales coppers have pepper spray and truncheons?
I suspect Mz. Spits at the Jew has family with many…many shooty thingies.
We may yet have The Battle of Condell Park alongside Vinegar Hill in the history books.
Mz. Spits at the Jew has family with many…many shooty thingies.
Fine – we’ll invite Two Commando to the party, and see how good the revolting family really is.
Your move , MO. Move slowly and keep your hands in sight.
I imagine the “safe house” is a cousin’s place.
First or second?
And the Battle of Broken Hill has set a useful precedent.
And how many of the “shooty thingies” will be outright illegal to possess, or be unregistered with unlicensed owners?
I have no idea of how accurate this article about the convoluted negotiations regarding the new electoral funding laws is.
Even if it is partially true, it highlights how concepts like transperancy and disclosure were completely irrelevant to the negotiations. It was purely and simply about political advantage, for all concerned. A bunch of seagulls squabbling over the discarded fish and chips.
Earlier, I read that Queensland MPs are now allowed a bit over $6 grand apiece for home security expenditure because of alleged increasing threats to elected representatives. Examples cited were from the UK.
What a rort. Become an MP, upgrade your house with cameras, sensors and so on, sell it and pocket the added value. Buy another one and have another bite of the cherry.
And, rest assured, the allowance will go up and up over the years.
No such generosity to punters who are actual victims of crime.
Surely SBS didn’t intend those quotation marks to be viewed as air quotes.
Morsie
February 15, 2025 9:54 am
Reply to Beertruk
Doesn’t matter if it’s going to soar or bomb you take a piece of the royalties from day one.Their lawyers need to be sacked.
Yes Morsie.
All explained here here if any of Their GreensTealsALPBC DEI hire incompetents had bothered to some research:
Spaceballs | Merchandising! Merchandising!
Looks like yet more of that deliberate incompetence mentioned last night. The ALPBC will always have the long suffering taxpayers to bludge off, so sensible commercial decisions be damned.
A sheltered workshop run by communist lunatics who belong in an insane asylum.
Extraordinary. As noted, should be done as a matter of course.
Having seen ABC in execs in action in court this week, is anyone really surprised?
It really is a mystery as to why this might be.
I’ve just watched JD Vance’s historic speech to the European defense conference in Munich, which took place after yet another incident with a Muzzie car ramming a crowd.
Vance really laid down the gauntlet about free speech and the defense of European civilisation against hordes of migrants uninvited by any popular vote. So could see the audience visibly reeling from the starting point of it : “There are many things you are defending yourself from, but what is important too is what you defending yourself for”.
He asks them to check their values, and finds them wanting.
It’s a bell ringing, with power speaking truth to those who must hear it.
JD and Pete have already repayed the trust of the US people.
After sixty years of arrogant Eurofascist sneering and sniping the US is finally returning serve, and the Euros are shocked.
It is a post Melkel world. The EU having led Europe back into nineteenth century imperialism lacks the international affairs expertise to deal with a truely modern democracy. Bullying has been their only strategy, but Merkel and Guterres are now powerless. They have nothing left.
“Unacceptable” growls the Kraut Defence Minister. Well, what are you going to do Herman – call out the ………. Oops I forgot, you have nothing to call out.
If only we could retake the famous photograph from the G20 meeting (much displayed by the ABC) where Merkel glares sneeringly at Trump. Commissar Angela would be looking terrified now.
Related…
AfD support surges after Munich terror attack as voters urge hardline Trump-style approach (14 Feb)
Either give the voters what they want or go the way of the dinosaurs.
We have ways to make you vote correctly.
Paul Joseph Watson says it was a left-wing protest that the Afghani drove into:
SHOCKING Scenes In Germany
It’s an interesting photo, Bons.
A caption could read…Seven years is a long time in politics.
One was assassinated, one now retired to the political wilderness, and one with his security clearance revoked.
And one’s Back, Baby!
That is like the scene from Blues Brother.
“You stupid penguin”!
You suspect history will not be kind to Mutti Merkel. The Germans have got worst leader sewn up at this stage.
Here’s a brilliant idea being floated in the UK:
Tie parliamentary salaries to economic performance as reflected in the real wages of citizens, indexed annually.
If applied in Australia, that would have seen an 8% decrease in Albo & Co.’s take home pay during this parliamentary term.
Now that’s one way to focus their minds on what matters.
Need to discount by inflation also.
The notables may not have wanted to hear what Vance was preaching, but I suspect the serfs took great interest in it.
Oops…
With GDP measured in the private sector which is what pays for government. Government is only a drain on GDP and should not be included. Otherwise its slight of hand, like it is now.
Parliamentarians have consistently shown that they are 97.3% driven by personal gain.
Arguably harness greed and self interest. Offer a substantial tax-free end of parliamentary term bonus – say $5 million – subject to strict deductions for failing to meet statutory KPI’s set by the elected government and voted on by the punters for key economic and social parameters.
Immediate 100% group write-off for fiddling the books. Immediate 100% individual write off for shite behaviour.
The notables may not have wanted to hear what Vance was preaching, but I suspect the serfs took great interest in it.
School kids are behaving better since mobile phones were banned in schools nationwideAisling BrennanNewsWire
Fri, 14 February 2025 7:03PM
Students across the country are less distracted since mobile phones were banned in the classrooms, new research shows.
A survey from NSW Department of Education, revealed 87 per cent of students were less distracted in the classroom since mobile phones were banned a year ago.
The study, which surveyed 1000 public school principals, showed 81 per cent of students have seen improved learning.
In South Australia, there has been a 63 per cent decline in critical incidents involving social media and 54 per cent fewer behavioural issues, a similar survey from the Department for Education of South Australia shows.
No sh!t?
Does the ban include teachers?
How much did that no-brainer cost taxpayers?
Strangely, the are not so keen on spending money to evaluate the policies which have resulted in declining literacy and numeracy among their students.
Having seen ABC executives in action in court this week, is anyone really surprised?
By the time the memo to attend to the matter got passed down the six levels of management to the team responsible (it’s never an individual anymore, always a “team”), it had probably gone from “the ABC needs to secure marketing rights for Bluey merchandise” to “the BBC has secured marketing rights for Bluey merch…”
The ALPBC has always been a poor colonial copy of the BBC anyway so it’s vaguely appropriate.
Not widely known:
The biggest real cuts to the ABC’s budget were during the Hawke-Keating years. If Howard had maintained them we wouldn’t have an ABC now.
Turnbull’s freeze from 2018 actually saw a modest increase in funding while the ABC hired double the number of the staff who were made redundant!
The Liberals are hopeless.
Bring him here. What I want to read:-
JD Vance just went off on ‘Australian’ leaders for flooding ‘Australia’ with migrants
Did he name names?
I want him to name names.
Starting with John Howard.
“Starting with “ might be a little unfair. Even for John Howard.
Not at all…he started the pop ponzi to artificially stimulate growth and make up for a declining birth rate without any serious thought given to the social consequences, including housing.
Lazy, bad policy.
Well, he and Costello also got an uptick in the birth rate too. It fell back since.
What was his alternative? “Ladies, lie back and think of John Howard”?
“Starting with “ might be a little unfair. Even for John Howard.
There was plenty of worry about letting in Greeks and Italians in the seventies, but it actually worked out very well. It was a bit naive to think it would work with absolutely every nationality.
This is closer to what I was thinking. Arguably the only group that has really posed any real threat to social cohesion is the Lebs. Africans, as last off the boat, are probably over represented in street crime but with the possibility of the South Sudanese you would expect this to ameliorate. Never forget the Immigration Department advice to the Fraser government released under the twenty year rule.
Don’t exclude the Somalis. These sub Saharan Africans were born into cultural violence. Not all Aussie grown descendants are violent. But why anyone would be surprised that street gangs of these descendants are forming is naive and uninformed.
Yep. I can remember when the Lebanese Christians were later brought in (by Malcolm Fraser) and many forewarned disaster. These have assimilated well I think, probably because of their faith.
But it was cultural and historic ignorance that contributed to the disaster we are witnessing as a result of welcoming a cultural and religious group who owe strict allegiance to their creed, and little else.
The “Lebanese Concession” extended the invitation to Lebanese Christians to also include Muslims. That was the star of the increasing Muslim immigrants.
Lebanese Christians first started emigrating to Australia in the 19th Century, to escape persecution by the Ottoman empire. Department of Immigration also warned the Fraser government against accepting Lebanese muslims in the 1970s.
But upper class twats know better.
Greeks & Italians were more the early ’50s; they were, of course, European & Christian and the numbers were managed, all of which made them easier to assimilate. Around 2001 Howard expanded the list of nations gazetted for mass intake to include places like Pakistan. Iirc, he wasn’t in the Liberal cabinet that granted the Lebanese concession in 1975, but I don’t imagine little Johnny, with his career on the rise, would have had any objections based on the national interest.
Herein lies the key?
That and the understanding that when one emigrated to Australia one left the troubles of the home country behind.
It was a new start.
Post-war Europeans, generally, seemed quite happy to do that.
The “key” is not just religious commitment (which is hard to evaluate) but also culture.
An interesting comparison is Lebanese Christian and Lebanese Muslim immigrants.
Which group has assimilated better going by certain key markers?
Why?
I know what you say about the Maronites etc is true. Great immigrants.
anyway, my boss is a Lebanese Arab. Very nice guy.
but it would be safe to say his family are highly educated, and were part of the Lebanese ruling class prior to the civil war and the Syrian invasion. He has very little nice to say about Assad (who executed some of his relatives for being well, senior people in the old Lebanese government), and was very happy for the collapse of the Assad government.
we don’t talk about Israel though, ever since I said Israel should just formally annexe all of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Golan heights and be done with it.
You could not say that about many of the Slavs and Balkans.
A major exception to the Euro immigrants who left the troubles of the home country behind were the Croats whose local activists used to repeated attack Yugoslav diplomatic missions in Australia. As a youth, I used to live in the same (Hawthorn) street as the Yugoslav consulate, which was firebombed a number of times in the 1970s.
Discriminating, choosing wisely, we should have stuck with that.
Fifties.
Starting with Malcolm Fraser and the “Lebanese Concession” would be more appropriate.
The initial numbers weren’t that significant.
It was allowed to run for too long and instead of the Christians displaced by fighting we got the Muslim hillbillies.
Something similar happened with Morrison’s intake of 8000 Iraqi & Syrian Christians, btw.
We got more Yazidis & Muslim sectarians, the numbers of which are now swelling thanks to family reunion.
How does the new US govt respond to threats?
drop Bacon Sandwiches on them along with a few missiles.
Sherlock Musk is on the Case –
https://youtu.be/uFPXf6mLUAM
Just watched a podcast with Daniela Cambone and Samuel Cooper.
If you have half hour to spare well worth watching.
Explains Trump’s views on Canada and the Panama Canal.
What’s the bet that the new vikpol kommissar ends up being even more obnoxious, infuriating and staggeringly incompetent than Insane Patton?
Planet Cornelius, anyone?
In any normal world anyone living outside of Disasterstan wouldn’t even know who these idiots are.
Not at all…he started the pop ponzi to artificially stimulate growth
Oh, spot on, Roger. It is amazing how many of the Liberal stooges have subscribed unthinkingly to that false hypothesis. Morrison and Joshie were the latest advocates from the Libs. They were certain that allowing hoards of students and other proxy immigrants, together with unlimited borrowing, would “grow the economy” as it was so eloquently put to me.
Certainly Treasury came on board at some point and it became bipartisan UniParty policy. Post War migration could probably be distinguished. As always the link with the welfare state should not be ignored.
I don’t know, I think Roger might be too kind. I suspect the primary reason the Liberals opened the floodgates was to differentiate themselves from those horrid racist bogan Hanson-supporting Aussies. It was under Vanstone that the immigration rate took off and it was her who advocated for Sudanese refugees to come here.
That may have been a factor but the cabinet papers show a focus on population growth.
John ‘Tampa’ Howard was quite cynical in that regard.
Frydenberg would have been an excellent local member.
As Treasurer he was out of his depth and lost his voice (for which, read his maiden speech).
I just hope team Trump knows what Howard has written about them.
Yes…return serve please!
The little stinker seems to have crawled out of the woodwork again.
eugyppius disagrees.
Mmm…that hasn’t landed in my inbox yet.
By ‘serfs’ I meant those deplorable AfD voters, for example.
Eugyppius doesn’t mention the issue in his latest posts to me. Please link.
Amanda Vanstone – Wikipedia
Vanstone is a former Liberal Party politician who, as host of the Counterpoint radio program since 2013, has become a political journalist at the ABC. She supported the leadership ambitions of Malcolm Turnbull over those of Tony Abbott in the 2015 Liberal leadership spill that saw Turnbull take the Prime Ministership. She describes herself as a “liberal” rather than a “conservative”.
She was a leading member of the Liberal Party of Australia’s moderate faction and a mentor to younger Liberal moderates, including fellow South Australian Christopher Pyne.
Amanda Vanstone’s only object in life was the endless smorgasbord.
The Federal version of Christine Nixon.
Someone I know once saw her feeding in a Canberra restaurant. Apparently it was a sight to behold.
Amanda Vanshape.
Hard to find a good word for Mandy. ALPBC fave unsurprisingly.
Sick and tired of this moderate faction rubbish.
Amanda Sixteen Stone……………………
Roger: February 14, 2025 8:36 pm
Nah, they are reading Public Sentiment quite well.
Unfortunately, their idea of Public Sentiment is what they and their friends think.
The Left never seems to quite grasp that this definition may be wrong.
I need to try this with my dogs.
Obnoxious, infuriating and incompetent?
Wouldn’t they be key attributes in the job description?
Will they have the temerity to roll out Curran I wonder? A lot will depend on how Patton takes this – if he cracks the shits and pulls the pin, they’ll need to drop at least an acting CC in toot sweet. If he plays nice, they may go through the motions of an ‘international’ search.
Pogria:
You woke up and had pain in your Left shoulder that didn’t settle with anti-inflammatories?
And you didn’t think of getting an ECG?
Downticks for you, lass.
Winston,
From Ace,
“I used to be very skeptical of Trump’s instincts to push NATO to spend more, and to threaten to abandon them if they didn’t. I’m no longer skeptical. The EU is a hostile bloc and is my enemy. It’s not Russia that is attempting to steal my right to speech and my right to profit from my speech by draining me of any advertising revenue — it’s the EU.
Meanwhile, Adam Kinzinger, who is stupid, has a great plan to really stick it to Trump.
He thinks Trump would be very, very upset if Europe finally put on its big boy pants and took over all funding for the War in Ukraine.”
Shhh! Nobody interrupt Adam.
ZK2A last night:
I, coincidentally had two skin cancers removed 8 days ago. One on the face 6 cm long, and another on the left arm 4 cm long.
Did I get any reconstructive surgery?
Nah. Doc said take the sutures out in 7 days time.
I couldn’t see the ones on my face accurately, so had them out in the local hospital.
The others in the arm looked a bit dodgy by day 5 so I took them out myself and applied an appropriate tension dressing.
Reconstructive surgery?
No bloody wonder our Health costs are so high.
“Oh look Desmond. You have a 1 cm cut on your arm. Let’s get you to hospital so they can put a Daffy Duck bandaid on it.”
Mrs TE has a quote for a tiny skin cancer removal. Skin specialist; day surgery, includes biopsy = $430.
That’s nowt. 12 March has been booked for root canal front second incisor. 1 hour. Fee ? Two thousand dollars.
Seems ridiculous but no choice. Specialist visits one day per month to local dentist.
I had similar about five years ago. about $900 for three nasty little buggers, and the doc said “You’ll get about $400 back off private insurance”.
No thanks thought the Winston – my local doc does ’em for free with $130? for pathology.
Be careful. A boating friend of ours took that course, vie a GP clinic, he now has a damaged nerve in his cheek and palsy.
As requested
He has a few threads on this. He’ll probably write a Substack on this this week.
Looking forward to it!
But that doesn’t mean what Vance said wasn’t noted by the ‘populist’ party supporters. It’s all grist for the mill in political systems in which the “consensus” is under pressure.
AfD will like it as he says but all the other parties will line up against it. Plebs don’t know who Vance is and the news will be filtered by regime friendly media. And as he says in that thread, actual change will only occur by US withdrawing slowly from Europe which will make the political elites there sober up.
As prepositioned stock is taken away for refurbishing, don’t replace it.
Germans know who AfD are, and they will make sure that the plebs and every other German learns how the US Vice President eviscerated the corrupt leftist EU political elite on German soil. Nett very positive for Afd. Panic stations for the regime.
More likely a shot over the bows in case the eurocrats want to take on Silicon Valley. Which they’ve been threatening.
You either want an independent Europe or a subservient Europe. I see no problem with Europe taking on Silicon Valley since the leading lithography manufacturer for chips is Dutch.
That’s not what I meant.
The EU has been monstering X, Meta, Goolag and Apple for a while now. Massive fines and threats of massive fines. And what they want is to have them censor righties.
Which is why Vance went hard on freedom of speech.
I think the independent Europe thing is also part of Trump and Vance’s agenda too: they want them to stop freeloading off the US on defense. I suspect Trump would much prefer a Europe that was independent and paid its own bills than one that was on Washington’s teat all the time, like now. It’s not as if the EU can ever be a threat to the US, they can barely find their French buns with both hands.
I knew what you meant.
I don’t see a problem with EU demands re US social media. Same considerations involved re Tiktok apply here. Polities are entitled to make these decisions, whether there smart or dumb.
EU could definitely be a competitor to US but not with this elite.
Um, Dover, if the Eurocrats had their way they’d shut down your blog. We’re festering bunch of misinformation-addicted righties.
I always thought that too, Dover. Tik Tok and Twitter are basically the same peas in a pod where the party running the state controls the algo. Very observant and deeply thoughtful.
Thanks.
Vance bypassed Stolz and went straight into a huddle with AfD. Elon then tweets -AfD is Germany’s only hope. No wonder German elites are all in a tizzy. The walls of the hard earned parasitic castles they have carefully built are being blown apart.
I reckon eugyppius is wrong on this one. I think the nudging is over. What Vance delivered in plain English, for a global audience, was the rationale for what’s about to come next.
Comment, from the Oz.
Graham
10 hours ago
Nurse Ahmad Rashad Nadir’s family went through 3 countries after leaving Afghanistan – Iran, Malaysia & Indonesia before taking a (Smugglers?) Boat to Australia
Given those 3 Countries after leaving Afghanistan were Islamic, assuming Ahmad Rashad Nadir’s views maybe representative of his Family – Why did they not stop in an Islamic country, that would have been sympathetic to their views on life?
They went through countries where they could have stayed in a friendly environment, how can they be described as asylum seekers?
No social security, much less long term social security.
Maybe those previous countries didn’t have sugar on the table.
Indeed. I saw that repeatedly.
I don’t know about Malaysia but Indonesia has enough firebrands of its own to contend with. As for Iran the material comforts for refugees would be sparse.
I thought they were only looking for safety. //Sarc//
And that’s what it’s all about.
Most Australians know asylum seeker is not correct but politicians and Judges thumb their nose at sentiment and know we know the inaccuracy. The media have been gaslighting for years. We do keep re-electing parties that have bad or worse policies on immigration though.
That’s why I’m at the point where we need to stop accepting refugees period. Not as if they are value adding, if anything the opposite and worse social cohesion is suffering.
If we need to withdraw from a treaty or even accept 1 per year as an end run round the system then so be it.
We have a huge problem here with our judges. Letting scum off repeatedly with little or no bail to go and violate homes, women and property. Running defence for these illegal immigrants. Making normie life miserable in the process. The system is fkd.
That’s very close to the truth, Makka – the legal system has become political and ideological.
It needs a good clearing out.
I know of some South African asylum seekers who would be a great addition to this country.
Take 100,000 per year and send back 200,000 Muslims to their own countries where they’ll be among people who think and socialise like them.
And turn their Mosques into stables for horses and cows and pigs.
Maybe that’s why he wants to buy Greenland.
Enormous undeveloped REE deposit, which China controls…
The core of Islam is expansion. From Mecca to Medina they then expanded into the surrounding countries. Just as Mo the perfect man did, migrating is the basis of conversion. Mehaja means a person who moves with the aim of converting the population to Islam.This was both conquest and settlement. When they got to Persia they met the Turkomen and then the Mongols. Eventually they converted to Islam. So they spread across north Africa and Spain, then into India. Many of the tribal names come from their front-line troops , the Yemenis, who settled in Iraq and Syria.
The only solution for the Christian empire was containing them with the same violence that was, and is, used by the Muz. Hence the Chinese with the Uigher. The Chinese know their history and the role the Uigher played in their slaughter.
All this violent history seems irrelevant to our leaders in Australia.
The reason that Merrit and the rest of the gormless gang have zero idea is that they have no experience of religious and ideological zeal of the extended Muz family.
This is unlike the Greeks, Italian and the rest of the weird mob who came here.
BTW if you want to understand how much they hate the Juuz, look up Khaybar, a Jewish settlement in Saudi Arabia. In particular Ali led the slaughter. Ali is the Shia hero. Note how many Shia we are hearing about ( like the hospital bloke)
“Remember Khaybar” was Amrozi bin Nurhasin cry as he was led off to be executed.
The WSJ has been the best of a bad bunch.
But over the past couple of weeks they have really pumped out some turd.
They passed this off as “an exclusive”.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/donald-trump-cabinet-confirmed-27c91227?st=DcGdup&reflink=article_email_share
Breaking news, they held mock hearings.
Just like every administration in the past thirty odd years.
I remember Tim Geithner speaking about how he thought the people running his mock hearing were a pack of economic retards.
Yuk, stinkin steamy afternoon. Ceiling cyclones on full blast & considering A/C.
This time yesterday arvo I was shocked to hear what sounded like thunder, went outside big line of angry grey/green clouds approaching from south. For once didn’t collapse coming off the ranges, we got a nice dusting of rain that lasted till 7pm cooling everything down.
Looked at the Brisbane storm chasers forecast page, atmospherics there again today. No sign yet.
PM Anthony Albanese shares new detail on relationship with fiancee Jodie HaydonPrime Minister Anthony Albanese has shared new details on his relationship with fiancee Jodie Haydon, one year after asking her to marry him.
Daily Tele. Albo is getting desperate about the election..
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
h/t Dodgeball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGPYBb2DRsg
Get me a bucket
Tell us Luigi the Unflushable, what did she think about the Rub’n’Tug visitors centre.
Visit Michael Smith and watch the movie!
Even the dog was desperate to get away from them.
He gets one naughty a year?
Eeew.
I sent that to everyone I know, with a triple bucket warning. How spew.
Mass immigration – post 1980’s- has got us to this point. A total national disaster. These violent moslem traitors are now living among us by the hundreds of thousands. To the point Govts are sh*t scared to deal with them properly and effectively. Fearful of losing their vote. Allowing them free reign to spread their hate for Australia , Australians and Jews.
Thankfully, those moslem nurses posted their vile hatred online for us all to see. Fully exposed. THAT should shut up anyone from advocating even more censorship in this country. Free speech is the foundation of ALL our freedom. In 1933 Germany, free speech was abolished. The beginning of horrific crimes for over a decade from that moment on.
Another excellent reason for free speech is that it tends to flush out and reveal who our enemies are.
There should be more of it (free speech) not less.
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” – George Orwell
Perfect!
To the point Govts are sh*t scared to deal with them properly and effectively. Fearful of losing their vote.
Also afraid of mass rioting (although that’s almost happening on weekly basis already)- not a good look in an election year. Do the wrong thing and threaten violence, the police leave you alone- pathetic. There was one such incident in Lidcombe in 00s iirc.
This is all canbra’s doing. Remember too that canbra doesn’t even acknowledge an Australian culture.
Absolute stunners in this clip.
Thomas Bergersen – Empire Of Angels ( EXTENDED Version by Kiko10061980
5tr43e
So do the Democrats and the ALP/Greens/Teals here.
From Powerline, re the marvellous speech of JD:
VANCE IN THE VANGUARD
Appearing at the annual Munich Security Conference today, Vice President J.D. Vance torched Europe in a manner they’ve never heard before. I kept seeing squibs from the speech on social media this morning, and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Some excerpts:
Vance was just getting started:
Has Vance been reading Power Line’s Lexicon of Political Terms, in which we define “populism” as “When the wrong person or party wins an election”? This is a clear reference to the AfD (Alternative for Germany) party that may well come in first in Germany’s election next weekend, which will cause a political crisis. And the established but discredited ruling parties will richly deserve it.
Naturally this aspect is summoning the predictable response:
?
Vance also took on the migration question:
And he pushed back on the Musk-ophobia building in Europe:
The audience was stone cold silent at this; not even a murmur, and you can see Vance pause to see whether there’d be a modest chuckle.
If you have 22 minutes it is worth watching the whole thing below. Needless to say, Europe is not amused. Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, was livid: “Democracy does not mean that a vociferous minority can decide what truth is…democracy must be able to defend itself against extremists.” But pay no attention to him; he’ll be out of office in ten days.
My favorite headline from all of this is Ian Bremmer of G-Zero: “Panic in Europe.” Feel good headline of the day, for sure.
Indeed it was Vicki.
I really despise the eurotrash ancien regime. Reminds me of the deadshits who revved up WWI.
Reminiscent of Farage on the floor of the European Parliament. Just beautiful.
Wasn’t Kristol mentioned in dispatches from DOGE’s investigations? Or am I thinking of another deadbeat?
We say we hate or fear someone.
Does the target of Latin ‘odi’ and/or ‘metuo’ take the accusative or dative to communicate the same sentiment?
Asking for a friend.
Probably the accusative, e.g. Horace: ‘Odi profanum vulgus et arceo’
Thanks.
You can need to ‘trust but verify’ the translations of words – there can be nuances in meaning not visible in dictionaries.
I love the creatures scuttling about frantically now the light is being shone on them.
Eruption In “BleachBit,” “Wipe Hard Drive,” “Offshore Bank” Searches In DC Suggest Deep State Panic Mode (15 Feb)
DC Internet Searches For “Criminal Defense Lawyer” & “RICO Law” Erupt As DOGE Drains Swamp (13 Feb)
It’d be more amusing but for the enormous amount of money they stole.
The true cherry was JD taking a crack at Thunberg.
Pure genius. By implication telling your hosts that they are morons.
Every time I hear JD Vance speak I am always greatly impressed.
Vance was a brilliant writer before he became a politician. Not only is his story of hardship and redemption the essence of the American dream, he knows how to explain difficult stuff with an economy of words.
Wow. Two tier Keir or even David Lammy has done nothing, ever heard of persona non grata and you have 24hrs to be gone mate?
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2025/02/diplomatic-immunity.html
Shades of the Libyan Embassy staffer who shot and killed a woman copper outside the embassy in 1984.
Say her name: Woman PC Yvonne Fletcher.
The Embassy refused to hand over the guilty party, so everyone there was declared PNG after the Embassy was held under siege for eleven days.
Papuans?
I declare you a Papuan, now get the f*ck out of here.
Persona Non Grata, a fine Latin phrase.
Roughly translated: “You fvcked around, now you find out.”
I remember that day.
Pretty Blonde PC laying on the ground with both hands trying to stop her insides from spilling out.
The filthy turd has shot her in the stomach.
I was working in London at the time. Suddenly sirens everywhere.
They can’t do that. It would send the wrong signal to other muslims, viz. the leaders do not respect the quran.
Yeah but letting them carry on like petulant school children has got us to where we are, even in Oz.
Problem is a young school child doesn’t stab people to death for infractions. These so called adults do.
Rock and hard place situation indeed but ignoring it invites more of the same.
The only thing the quran is good for is emergency dunny paper. If you or I wrote it today it’d be banned.
I would rather scoot along the ground like a dog than use that vile book.
Think of your shoulder, probably spin round in circles.
Back then Britain actually had someone in charge with balls and who cared about the place.
What to make for dinner?
Funny how Japan can have all those authentic cuisines and not the people…..
Faark, he is doing really good.
Strap in Delta A.
Cleetus McFarland Daytona Practice Onboard Footage 2/14/25
I agree with Prof Jim 100%. AND GO THE ORANGE SUPERMAN!
Losing to win
Trump lets slip the conservative dogs of war
James Allan
Long-term readers of the Speccie will recall that back in 2015 and 2016 I thought, and argued, that all conservative voters would do better to preference Labor rather than Malcolm Turnbull and the Libs in the 2016 election. In other words, I thought we had to lose short-term to win long-term. The win would come because a Turnbull loss (rather than the incredibly narrow win he squeaked out) would embarrass the party room ‘moderates’/lefties who knifed Abbott; it would take power away from them in future; it would force Labor rather than the Libs to implement lefty policies (because try to name a single right-leaning thing that Team Turnbull did); and as it turned out we would not have had the ‘free speech never created a single job’ Morrison prime ministership that lied about not intending to sign up to net zero and that oversaw the biggest inroads into Australians’ civil liberties ever during the shameful, thuggish Covid lockdowns brought to us in part by Team Coalition. I said it beforehand and I think it still. Long-term a 2016 Turnbull loss was preferable.
As an important aside, yes, our preferential voting system is a protection racket for the two main parties, one which means that we voters cannot do what dissidents do in Britain or Canada and vote for some small third party; we ultimately simply have to preference higher either Labor or the Libs and in 2016 I preferenced Labor just above the Libs at the bottom of the ballot – not that it got me all those university grants and awards and accolades other lefty voting academics scoop up.
On that point, why can’t the Libs end all social science and arts grants skewed incredibly to left-wing thinking and totalling tens of millions of dollars as their counterparts have in New Zealand?
But why do I bring up the decades-old past? Because it is now pretty clear that a variant of that ‘lose now to win later’ argument is playing out in the US. Let me be blunt. The first fortnight-plus of this second-term Donald Trump presidency is the best first two weeks or so of any US president in my life.
And it’s not even close. The list of what he has done in just 300-odd hours is staggering. Trump has pulled out of the WHO. He’s pulled out of the net zero idiocies of the Paris Accord. He has pulled out of the awful United Nations Human Rights Council and ended all Unrwa funding. He has banished all men (who have taken drugs and/or had surgery and want to be seen as women) from playing women’s sports, while ending juvenile sex changes. He has offered re-instatement to all US military personnel who were dismissed for not taking the mRNA vaccines, and done so with the promise of full back pay. He has ordered the removal of all virtue-signalling ‘these are my pronouns’ guff in government emails. He has used the threat of massive tariffs and the appointment of serious top people who actually want to close the border to do just that – in a fortnight the border crossings have never been lower while the deportations have started and are at record levels.
He has ended the EV taxpayer scam and the wasting of myriad money on charging stations. DEI is gone from the US bureaucracy and he has threatened any universities who keep it. He has unleashed Elon Musk on the bloated administrative bureaucracy and we have already learned of corrupt USAID spending on things so left-wing and crazy and basically corrupt – I’m looking at you legacy media around the world – that even partisan Democrats are embarrassed to see this come to light. And Musk is finding so much waste Trump may manage to balance the budget on eliminating this revealed spending alone. He has reset the Middle East world. He has nominated real conservatives to all appointments – people he knows won’t go to water because they’ve been hated by the left for years and have stood up to it (the sole basis for all conservative appointments, Mr Dutton). He has threatened the International Criminal Court over its disgraceful persecution of the Israeli PM, with strong hints as regards what would happen to any country that acted on the ICC warrants. Already US military recruitment has bounced back to record levels (who knew recruits want to fight, not be part of a woke social justice outfit?).
Trust me. Space stops me from listing everything I like about these first few Trump weeks. Be honest. What in the above list do you not like? Be honest. Do you think any other conservative leader in the democratic world would have done half of this? Be honest. Do a few mean and boorish tweets outweigh these sort of accomplishments in just the first 300 hours of his second term? Right now I am liking, no loving, nine out of ten things this Trump 2 administration is doing. This is a whole new political feeling for me.
However, here is my core claim in this column. If Mr Trump had not lost the presidency in 2020 (no doubt due in large part to the loosest of voting rules in many states, often imposed by unelected state judges under cover of Covid, including world-unique third-party ballot harvesting) then he would now have finished his second term. And he would most certainly not have taken on the administrative state in the way he is now doing. He would not have plunged himself into a full-blooded fight to win the culture wars. He would not have unleashed Mr Musk. Etcetera. Etcetera. It would have been a good second term. But nothing like what we’re seeing. Why? Because just three months ago the US political establishment was still trying to bankrupt and imprison Donald Trump. The Biden administration was still trying to saddle US voters with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. It was still weaponising the administrative state. It opened the borders deliberately. Donald Trump saw all this. He withstood it all, including two assassination attempts.
Look, unlike in 2016 with Turnbull, I wanted Trump to win in 2020. But with the benefit of hindsight it is now plain to me that his loss then allowed him to pull off the greatest comeback in US political history (we can argue about Andrew Jackson) and then to decide to implement policies many of us conservatives have been dreaming about for eons. He had to lose to create these sort of wins – wins that dwarf anything that the Stephen Harpers or John Howards accomplished (with all due respect). This magazine’s editor and I were two of the earliest pro-Trump supporters in print in this country. Not to blow our own horns too much but we were right. The establishment conservative commentators were wrong time and time again.
But it boils down to Trump having to lose to now win.
Brilliant article !
Luv James Allan. Nice aside on compulsory preferential voting. One of my pet peeves (you may have noticed).
Agree totally. Preferential voting should be optional but the Unipardee will never let that happen.
Anyone who is even superficially acquainted with the literature on criminal behavior knows that the vast majority of it is committed by a relatively small number of hyper-aggressive young males. Unless this cohort is subjected to swift penal justice, it will run wild and cause chaos and unremitting sorrow.
How have those involved in the criminal system lost understanding of this reasonable proposition? No doubt it is due to corrosive ideology. Again.
Terence Charles Brown: Albany man jailed after threatening a woman in court, spitting at security officerJacki ElezovichAlbany Advertiser
Sat, 15 February 2025 9:38AM
An Albany man who threatened a woman in a court waiting room and spat in the face of a hospital security officer has been jailed for 10 months and fined $1100.
Terence Charles Brown appeared in Albany Magistrates Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to making a threat to unlawfully do an act, disorderly behaviour in public, a breach of bail undertaking, and assaulting a public officer.
On November 1, 2024, the 26-year-old was at Albany Magistrates Court when he threatened a woman in the waiting room, calling her a paedophile and telling her she was “dead” and that he was going to “cut her head off”.
Court security escorted Brown from the building and police arrested him.
In an impact statement, the victim said being called a paedophile was the most humiliating insult she had never endured.
Defence lawyer Lillie Carney said her client attended court the next day to apologise.
Ten days later, on November 10, police brought Brown to Albany Health Campus where he was told he was being admitted to the mental health ward.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Gary Simpson said Brown reacted violently, lashing out at nurses and hospital staff and trying to bite a security officer who tried to restrain him.
After he spat in the officer’s face, Brown was sedated for the safety of himself and hospital staff.
A letter from Brown’s psychiatrist was presented to the court, confirming the offences occurred during a mental breakdown.
“I think the court can accept that Mr Brown was not mentally in a good place, and likely wasn’t himself at any of these times,” Magistrate Erin O’Donnell said.
Every time I hear JD Vance speak I am always greatly impressed.
Me too. From the first time I heard him speak. I like his background (I have just acquired “Hillbilly Elergy”) and I like his military background. After he passes through the crucible of this presidential term, he make make a first rate successor to the Donald.
This, to me, is the most exciting thing about the current situation in the US, ie. all the young upcoming talent. They have De Santis, Rand Paul, Abbott in Texas, Jim Jordan, Marjorie whatsit, Hegseth, Bessant, Pam Bondi, and looking back a bit, Sarah Sanders and Keyleigh MacEnany as spokeswomen.
On the Dem side, who? AOC, the spitfire? The geriatrics, Pelosi, the horrid black lady, and the remaining ogres Schiff and Schumer.
And the spectacular Karoline Leavitt. Who sets the standard for the future. JD has some competition, which is a sensational thing.
Oh, I forgot to mention the young Jewish lawyer who hands Trump all those Executive Orders, one after another, with an explanation. I have no doubt that the “behind the scenes” talent is extraordinary as well. Can the Dems EVER get such people to want to work for them in the future?
No, because they choose by skin colour and connections.
Trump cares not a shit about anything other than talent.
a first rate successor to the Donald
The rule of The Donald Empire could go on for at least a decade!
2028 and 2032:JD Vance.
2036 and 2040: de Santis.
2044 and 2048: there should be a range of good choices available.
2052: perhaps the DemonRats might have come to their senses by then.
If there is an early death during this time, Pete Hegseth.
This is an interesting read and provides insight into the risks of investing or relying on large scale new innovations to provide essential public services such as reliable and affordable electricity. Many lessons, but who is listening.
This alien-like field of mirrors in the California desert was once the future of solar energy. It’s closing after just 11 years.https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/02/13/this-alien-like-field-of-mirrors-in-the-desert-was-once-the-future-of-solar-energy-its-closing-after-just-11-years/
How many billions of dollars wasted?
That thing killed more birds than the Exxon Valdez.
Sydney to Newcastle high speed rail costs blown out by consultant fees for First Nations cultural advisors – all without a single track being laid
Daily Mail.
This is Albo’s fantasy project since around 2010 when he was federal transport minister that has never had a viable business plan. But he keeps funding and promoting it because it appeals to Greens voters — and the Greens now have a viable chance of taking his inner Sydney seat of Grayndler. Bring on the election!
Albio losing his seat to the Greens – I would bepizz myself laughing..
Once Albo and Plibbers leave the trough the Liars may not hold those seats again in our lifetimes.
I haven’t been on it for a while but the train Ncl-Sydney was rarely full even at peak. It’s a fine and scenic 2 hr journey from my station to Strathfield, but no one is going to pay a motza to halve that time.
I’m amused that the Libs in Qld are keeping Miles’ 50c train fares. Bonkers socialist stuff.
Queensland government to make 50c public transport fares permanent (Sky News, 11 Feb)
The rest of us are subsidising Brisbane city public servants.
I was on trains to Sydney Airport from Singleton a few years back a number of times. Anywhere north of Gosford yes not too bad. Anywhere south ranged from standing room only to nearly full up with random seats.
One trip we were chatting to a NSW Tpt employee who got on at Hornsby and stuck like sardines with us in the carriage end about why they don’t increase the size of the train. Was a polite but frustrated conversation that even he agreed with. Capacity between Sydney and Gosford was above what the train could handle.
As for the 50c fares, just showing Chrisifulli timidness again.
The time will be halved only if there are no stops. This might upset voters in places like Wyong and Gosford.
There has been an electorate redistribution that helpfully dropped greens heavy booths from Grayndler and picked up a few ALP booths from Burke.
Plebersek of course got the green booths which explains here recent approval and non approval behaviour.
They opened an information centre for HSR in Newcastle last year at cost of $1.1m in Scott St, opposite the defunct previous Newcastle rail terminus, which has been relocated to a new interchange 2km to the west at Wickham.
All of the rail corridor in between has been re-purposed as parkland and residential/commercial redevelopment.
We laugh at the HSR. It is a Norwegian Blue, and everyone in Newcastle knows it.
Is Hegseth a potential contender in 28? Just thinking out loud.
From earlier today.
I think Tulsi.
During my travels this week, I was reading a piece from a former Democrat who now aligns himself with MAHA who said post meeting Tulsi a few times over the years has not witnessed charisma like that since Bill Clinton.
This is the real danger to Mitch McConnell’s GOP establishment: the coalition that Trump crafted to win in 2024 is a combination of the sensible left — the corpse of the Democratic Party of the 1990s — and the unfossilised remains of the Republican Party.
RFK and Tulsi are now the American centre, The remains of the Democratic Party’s leadership just haven’t realised that yet.
Tulsi also called out the lesbian bitch as ‘the queen of warmongers’
when she was still a ‘rat I think
During a DNC debate, no less.
The Unipardee is evil and should be expunged. An extract of the short article follows. RTWT.
The Hate Speech Law’s Dark Implications
and worst of all, cowardice over courage.
THIS.
Read this morning.
Glad you highlighted it here.
The theatrics Hamas are currently putting out live on YouTube before the release of 3* hostages is vile.
Right next to Sinwar’s (former) house.
*(I thought DJT said to release them all, not just 3???)
The large banner they have put up in the background is a celebration of October 7…
Got til 4am tomorrow, Sydney time.
I thought it was midday Israel time???
Did the Donald mean midday his time or midday Israel time.
Bern, Tel Aviv is currently 9 hours behind AEDT so, by my calculation, the noon Saturday deadline expires at 9pm AEDT tonight.
He did. But his style is go hard then accept a deal. In this case a continuation of the 42 day ceasefire terms that Hamas wanted to welsh on.
It’s not a problem since the chance of a second stage ceasefire is nil. Talks haven’t even started.
Did I read that Israel and Hamas reverted to the original timetable?
After this, don’t negotiate with terrorists!
@nicksortor
#BREAKING: A federal judge has just sided with Elon Musk and DOGE, REJECTING an effort to block them from accessing government information systems
This is a HUGE win!
DOGE now has the green-light to fully dig into Elizabeth Warren’s CFPB, HHS, and the Department of Labor
Expect MANY more of these wins in court!
Any Judges who are as smart as they think they are, will board the Trump Train.
Which is highly unlikely Pogs.
They see themselves as La Resistance.
Time will tell.
I know, sigh…
heh, whenever I read the words, La Resistance, this clip comes to mind. 😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LonKGuS9uuQ
Look I don’t want to start an argument ……
But
I remember reading that there were eleven car manufacturers/assemblers in Australia
I can only think of
Ford ( Found On Rubbish Dump)
Holden
Chrysler
Mitsubishi
Nissan/Datsun
Leyland ( faaark)
Volkswagen
Toyota
What else ?
Just Holden together.
Torana, Tons of rust and no acceleration.
Ford, fixed or repaired daily.
All I can think of at the moment.
Ford – Found On Rubbish Dump.
I can think of Bufori. They moved to Malaysia.
Austin & Morris both had factories here.
There was a Rolls Canardly. It rolled down hills and could hardly get up them.
Renault and Mercedes were assembled here I think
@charliekirk11
Rachel Maddow spews FAKE NEWS and whines about “corruption” saying President Trump gave Elon Musk a $400 million contract to buy armored Teslas.
But oops!!
It was actually Joe Biden.
Is Elon going to sue the bitch?
Renault at Heidelberg- more just assembly
Hilman Hunter was built in oz too iirc
Volkswagen at Clayton- Nissan took over that plant
It has been fascinating to see how some (not all) of the Trump nominations have been people who felt the full brunt of that agency during the previous administration.
Jay Bhattacharya (NIH nominee) was targeted by the administration directly re deplatforming and via an administration cut out (that Stanford group which was only 100meters away from Jay at Stanford).
Tulsi (now DNI) was targeted by the TSA (Homeland Security) but she’s the grand Poobah of the lot now. Matt Taibbi was saying today that at one airport when Tulsi was being victimised by the administration she counted 14 agents plus dogs during her “enhanced screening”.
DOGE is going to have fun with that.
Brian Quintenz (CFTC nominee) is a Andreessen Horowitz big wig who saw first hand how the CFTC (& SEC, CFBP) all targeted the crypto community with de-banking because the administration didnt like crypto.
I’m sure there are/will be more.
I think it’s very cool to have these government departments now having to explain themselves to the new boss.
Hopefully they have long memories. Barry and the IRS was really the start of all this.
“Just kidding” or “Only following orders.” isn’t going to cut it.
It’s so sweet.
Ford is a four letter word.
FIAT- fix it again Tony
Twist in the investigation of NSW nurse who went on anti-Israeli rant as morphine vial allegedly found in Bankstown Hospital locker
The West Australian. Indeed.
What’s a guess when the poo hit the fan or he had second thoughts on his rant leaving it in his locker as an insurance policy.
The slovenly way police have dealt with this speaks volumes to me. These guys have had all the time in the world to destroy evidence or plant items to push a mental illness case.
Sounds altogether too convenient…
If it’s an ampoule, usually 5, 10, or 15mg.
If it’s a vial – from memory they’re 50, 100mg.
Vial used for multi dosing.
I suggest the blood results for all the babies or children who died are checked for narcotic poisoning.
You’d expect narcotic levels would be checked during post mortem, but does the Jewish religion permit them?
Time has tarnished my knowledge base.
Mr Google to the rescue.
I know it’s dumb, but it’s Saturday night.
How different actors trip.
My personal favourite – Curly. Ruff!
Chuck Norris of course.
Seriously good stuff: wow 128 million views in a year.
Mr. Bean is good.
Visual comedy never gets old. Proof of that is that old visual gags get repeated for new generations.
Here’s a little doco on the master: Buster Keaton.
Brillo !!!!
He was very talented. And brave!
I liked Harry Langdon. Those old guys had timing down pat.
That was great, thanks Calli.
One hostage given an hourglass to give to a mother of another hostage. It is engraved:
”Time is running out”
I say: MOAB, now!
Now in the hands of the Red Uber.
All look bad but not as bad as the three hostages released last week.
Obviously Hamas are refeeding. Sasha looks a bit swollen in the face.
Hopefully they will recover their health.
What’s a bet on 2nd March it’s on like Donkey Kong again.
hamas will have 42 days to reorganise and reconstitute their militias. By the looks they certainly haven’t wasted the break in hostilities.
I’m sure Israel hasn’t been twiddling their thumbs.
This is different to existing in soviet wussia*, how exactly?
*Or any other monstrous fascist regime, where they make you a moron.
This alien-like field of mirrors in the California desert was once the future of solar energy. It’s closing after just 11 years.https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/02/13/this-alien-like-field-of-mirrors-in-the-desert-was-once-the-future-of-solar-energy-its-closing-after-just-11-years/
That was the first solar “farm” I had ever seen when we drove through southern California many years ago. We were shocked and have been opposed those large scale exercises ever since.
Anger being an energy.
Johnny Rotten
John Lydon is good value!
I will not take the knee …
Tucker interview. He’s speaking in English.
Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orban on USAID, Trump, Immigration, NATO, and the Russia/Ukraine War
Tucker is this planet’s most important inquisitor.
Fox jobsacking him was inexplicable, yet here he is – examining topics far and wide.
Am I getting old or am I just too crotchety? Granddaughter and her boyfriend are staying for a few days at the farm. Got to discussing the tragedy of the deaths of the girls in Laos from methanol in their drinks. Granddaughter who has the world experience of one solo trip to Bali assures me that she and her friends like her are totally safe because they will get the bartender to sip their drinks! My God, said I, you are going to put your general health at risk by getting some bartender to drink from your glass? Tears followed. From her. Not me.
Vicki I think that the only way to get past the naievetey of young women is to let 1 1/2 pauses pass and then just say “…right”, and move the subject on to adorable little kittens.
*also works on menopausal schoolteacher types
Vicki, the young are meant to be curious about the world, but not so dumb that they’re wishing for their own extinction.
Sadly, we can’t explain that to them. All we can do is to warn them they need to apply the caution that we older people take for granted — and hope for the best. Good luck.
PS: their best protection is to be related to someone like you.
More angry.
Rose Tattoo – Rock ‘n’ Roll Outlaw (1978)
Another fine righty!
Oh, the irony.
Dear Democrats, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for stealing the 2020 election.
Posted on 02/14/2025 5:19:56 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
If you had not stolen the 2020 election, President Donald John Trump would hot have had four years between terms to engineer your complete and utter annihilation. His second term would have been pretty much like his first; some progress, but mainly fighting off your incessant attacks. When he left office you could have erased everything he had accomplished, tried him in one of your kangaroo courts, and sent him to prison for the rest of his life. Never in a million years did you think he would overcome your systemic criminality and win a third Presidential election.
Surprise!
Thanks to your theft of the 2020 election, Elon Musk and his band of Generation Z programmers are now peeling the skins off your crimes as if they were a bunch of bananas. To add insult to injury there is nothing you can do about it, because Trump repurposed an existing federal bureaucracy that was set up by none other than Barrack Hussein Obama himself. Obama created the United States Digital Service (USDS) in 2014. It was meant to be a bureaucratic patch job to fix the Obamacare website meltdown.
Fast-forward to 2025. Trump rebrands it to DOGE (United States DOGE Service), keeps the acronym and the funding, but gives it a whole new mission: Track down waste, fraud and theft over the entire federal government. The icing on the cake is that DOGE is legally untouchable because it was already fully funded and operational. Next, Trump invokes 5 USC 3161, which allows him to create temporary hiring authorities, and DOGE teams get embedded in every single federal agency. Each team consists of a lawyer, a Human Resources rep, a Generation Z computer nerd, and an investigator. They report to DOGE, not to the agency in which they are embedded.
Finally, Trump invokes 44 USC Chapter 35, which governs federal IT and cybersecurity oversight. Since USDS was originally an IT oversight body, DOGE now has full access to all federal data systems. That’s right. ALL. FEDERAL. DATA. SYSTEMS. His executive order is written to block legal challenges and includes language that overrides conflicting executive orders. Every agency is ordered to comply. Refusal means they are in violation of Presidential authority. Congress can’t defund it because it’s not a new program. DOJ can’t sue for overreach because Trump used existing laws exactly as written. Democrats trying to file legal challenges run into standing issues because DOGE operates within existing frameworks.
By creating the United States Digital Service, Obama built the perfect Administrative State (AKA Deep State) backdoor. Trump and Musk merely commandeered it. Musk now has legal oversight of every major federal agency’s internal systems. The Administrative State can’t stop it without rewriting multiple federal laws.
The bottom line is that Trump legally hijacked your own system to use against you, and there is nothing you can do about it.
Fondest Regards,
America
Chemical Brothers:
Out Of Control (1999)
Yet the Prez Fatty Trump peoples are implacably opposed to the forever wars of the dumbocrats and the military-industrial complex.
Funny ol’ planet indeed.
Extraordinary that there were still any mandates, especially for children.
Trump signs executive order stripping funds from schools requiring COVID-19 vaccines
Chemical Brothers:
Let Forever Be (1999)
One of the best music videos ever made. She must’ve repeated the moves at least a dozen times since they’re all a bit different.
VP JD Vance and Def Sec Pete Hegseth, Execute the Trump Doctrine Term-2
NEW: Biden Awarded $50 Million to Obscure Nonprofit on Tribal Land in Last-Minute Heist – But Trump Admin Launched Probe and Stopped Disbursement!
Cats, Tomorrow never knows, I tells ya!