Open Thread – Thurs 19 Sept 2024


Orchard in Bloom, Claude Monet, 1879

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Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 6:47 pm
thefrollickingmole
thefrollickingmole
September 19, 2024 6:49 pm

Are you joiNing the DOTs yet Sheeple?
Well are you?

The Tartarian Liberation front will not be denied!
From our secret underground lairs we share with the red shoes/lizard people we will take back whats rightfully ours!

Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 6:50 pm
mem
mem
September 19, 2024 7:08 pm

Has anyone identified the actual neonayzees who staged that show?

I reckon an enterprising journalist or maybe a lawyer representing MD should put out one of those old fashioned wanted ads, ” Reward for Identifying any of the people in this Photograph” with the incentive of $$$s. I’d be happy to contribute to crowd fund it.

Rosie
Rosie
September 19, 2024 7:08 pm

What would Payman be saying if dad had stayed in Afghanistan?
https://x.com/DrewPavlou/status/1836643101609464285?t=Q6DW_ZYXNzk0Ocb5xB54RQ&s=19

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 19, 2024 7:09 pm

Rosie
 September 19, 2024 5:42 am

“This morning, Hezbollah switched their comms from pagers to walkies and then launched dozens of rockets at Israeli civilians.

I see exploding carrier pigeons in their future.
This is a covert operation of epic proportions in it’s planning, technical expertise and execution.
Daylight second.

H B Bear
H B Bear
September 19, 2024 7:11 pm

For the first time I have got a new phone without the charger specification changing in the meantime. Possibly coz the battery died so quickly this time.

Knuckle Dragger
Knuckle Dragger
September 19, 2024 7:15 pm

Pulp Fiction news (the Tele):

A batch of killer cocaine has been linked to the deaths of a well known social media personality and a 43-year-old woman, with health authorities warning Sydneysiders of drugs being cut with heroin and other deadly opioids.

Dunka Raymond Caldwell – known on TikTok and Instagram as ‘Humdinger’ – and Angel Mounce-Stephens, who also goes by the name Angela Yazgan, both died on August 30, after overdosing on heroin they believed to be cocaine.

A Mia Wallace moment.

Dot would get this.

Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 7:31 pm
Cassie of Sydney
September 19, 2024 7:41 pm

Credlin is evidently a right leaning feminist.
That doesn’t necessarily make her a conservative.
Has she ever articulated her political philosophy?

I’m a ‘right leaning feminist’ and a conservative. I think Credlin is the same. Whilst we might disagree on some things, I think most women here on this blog are like me. I don’t think early feminism was such a bad thing. I am the daughter of a very opinionated and strong willed woman who was a founding member of Women’s Electoral Lobby. My mother taught her daughters to be tough but I’m not as tough as my mother because I didn’t drink the water she drank when she was growing up, I really think there was something quite unique in the water of this country from federation to the late 1950s that produced extraordinary women, such as my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts and grand-aunts. They were not shrinking violets.

Credlin is strong on most issues, I rarely disagree with her.

132andBush
132andBush
September 19, 2024 7:45 pm

Ya get the logic, guilt by association, however tenuous, and this is what has been done to Moira Deeming, Ange Jones, Kath Deves and Kellie-Jay Keen. They all attended a rally in Melbourne, some Grampian Nazis turned up uninvited and bingo, they’re now Nazis too!?

It’s well known that rockspiders like to watch kids play sport.

Anyone professing to watch kids play soccer can be deemed a rockspider.

Top Ender
Top Ender
September 19, 2024 7:53 pm

The Mocker at his finest. Worth cutting out and giving to those described!

THE MOCKER
It ain’t easy being Green — but a strong dose of idiocy helps
?
The Mocker

Standing in solidarity with Land Forces Expo protesters in Melbourne last week, Greens senator David Shoebridge masterfully executed an act of Orwellian doublethink while maintaining a straight face. The “core tenets” of his party, he insisted, are “peace and non-violence”.

Could I add a third to that list, David, that being “taking the piss”? The so-called anti-war and pro-Palestinian protesters he defended likewise follow the Greens’ version of peace and non-violence. Rioters spat on police, sprayed acid in their direction, and pelted them with rocks, canned food, and manure. They even attacked police horses.

Twenty-seven officers were injured. So who did Shoebridge condemn? Why, the Victoria Police, of course, accusing them of “extreme violence”. My first thought upon hearing that was to hope he would take the form of a police horse in his next reincarnation. But I immediately dismissed that, given remarks like his prove Shoebridge would not have the requisite intelligence.

Speaking of intelligence, what does it say about those who vote for the Greens? I am not talking about young, impetuous adults. All of us did stupid things in our youth. But what does it say of a middle-aged person who votes for them? Let’s consider a typical case.

You live in the inner-city suburbs of East Melbourne or Sydney’s Inner West. Your partner, Julian, is a high-level public servant, and you are a senior academic responsible for developing new study programs in sociology.

Your vision of an egalitarian society is one in which “the rich pay their fair share”. You purport to speak for “the working class” but the only dealings you have with blue-collar workers is when you need a tradie. You maintain the system is rigged to favour big companies, but you conveniently ignore that Australian businesses have the second-highest corporate tax rate in the developed world.

As with many of your fellow socialists, your financial portfolio is looking a peach. Although you own three investment properties, you write letters to the newspaper demanding the abolition of negative gearing – provided of course that comes with a grandfather clause.

Thanks to your partner’s connections, you have a gun North Sydney accountant. In return for mates rates, he looks after your financial affairs, meaning you have not had to pay net tax for the last few years. And when you retire, you will receive a very tidy pension. That 17 per cent employer superannuation contribution is just one of the many perks of academia.

You went to a private school, but, as you tell your friends, you decided against sending your children to one for their secondary education, because they foster “elitism” and lack “diversity”. You omit telling them you were holding out on that decision until you received confirmation they had been accepted into a state selective school.

You regard with disdain mainstream Australia. September and October feature the worst in plebeian vulgarity, with all those shouty footy fans spoiling your tranquillity. “Bread and circuses,” you tell your circle, thinking your analogy both insightful and original.

You take yourself so seriously you are almost devoid of humour. When you suggested to one of the parents at the local tennis club that it should acknowledge it was on unceded lands, he responded that it had grass courts. You still cannot work out if he was being serious or not.

You try to avoid catch-ups with extended family, for they do not share your tolerant and worldly views, as you repeatedly stress to understanding friends. Your sister Kate is a happy stay-at-home mum, and she rolls her eyes when you explain to her that she lives an “unfulfilled” life. You have not forgiven her husband, Gary, for laughing uproariously last Christmas lunch when Julian proudly spoke of being a “male ally in the roadmap to gender equality”.

That reaction was annoying enough, but what really grates is that Gary is a self-made man. Although you would never admit it, you think it unfair that someone who never went to university has more assets than you do. Also, why would someone wealthy choose to live in the outer suburbs?

As a feminist, you deplore the treatment of women politicians, although you are remarkably selective in your outrage. You claim conservative politics is replete with misogyny. Yet when former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher died, you entertained your colleagues at morning tea the next day by cracking the bubbly and singing ‘The Witch is Dead’.

As an academic, you take pride in your intellectual superiority, but in reality you are incapable of entertaining an opposing view. You become flustered and defensive when you do not control the debate or the setting. At your high school reunion last year, you were shocked to hear women at your table say they would be voting No in the upcoming voice referendum. So distraught were you that you left the event early and had to pop an extra Valium to go to sleep.

Saving the planet, or rather showing others you are saving the planet, is your number one concern. You have just booked your second overseas holiday for this year and are a platinum jetsetter who would never settle for anything less than business class, but that’s okay because you purchase a carbon offset with every trip. You own an electric vehicle and cannot understand why all Australians do not follow suit. Range anxiety is nonsense you say. After all, the furthest you drive is to the airport or to your coastal retreat.

You are vocal about the need to learn from history, otherwise known as disproportionately focusing on the sins of conservative white men. But you would bristle if someone pointed out that the left were the loudest proponents of the White Australia policy, or if one of your students called out Bruce Pascoe’s ‘Dark Emu’ for its farcical conclusions.

Being progressive, you hold that your ideology is one of altruism. You consider the justification for your party’s policies to be self-evident. Accordingly, those who oppose them are either wicked or ignorant. But you have no idea, for example, that progressives were at the forefront of social Darwinism and the eugenics movement during the early twentieth century.

“But the progressives of today have nothing in common with those of that era,” you would reply. Think again. They were convinced of the righteousness of their cause. Their philosophy incorporated the racism of low expectations. And they believed in big government and the intervention of the state to further their ideology.

Your reaction to the October 7 attacks is telling. You acknowledge for the sake of appearances that Hamas murdered Israeli men, women, and children, yet you qualify that by saying “Look, I’m not condoning what happened, but”.

You are not anti-Semitic, you keep telling yourself. In other words, you think the Zionists are fair game. But you have not stopped screeching since learning yesterday Israel had taken out Hezbollah terrorists with exploding pagers.

And finally, you believe you will realise a social utopia in your lifetime. Unlike so many other far-left movements in the last hundred or so years, you are confident yours will not culminate in the mass expropriation of property, a collapse of the economy, and an authoritarian state.

Even if the unthinkable happened and it did, you would be able to prove you have long been on the right side of history, thus meaning they would never come for you. Right?

Oz

Winston Smith
Winston Smith
September 19, 2024 8:11 pm

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/breaking-20-supporters-seated-behind-trump-onstage-rushed/

BREAKING: Reports Indicate There May Have Been A Third Attempt On Trump’s Life

Approximately 20 patriots who attended Trump’s high-energy rally in Tucson are now reporting having to go to the ER immediately after the rally.

The attendees all suffered from symptoms like… pic.twitter.com/QIBfC2wjsR

Rosie
Rosie
September 19, 2024 8:34 pm

“How Israel Built a Modern-Day Trojan Horse: Exploding Pagers
The Israeli government did not tamper with the Hezbollah devices that exploded, defense and intelligence officials say. It manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse.
The pagers began beeping just after 3:30 in the afternoon in Lebanon on Tuesday, alerting Hezbollah operatives to a message from their leadership in a chorus of chimes, melodies, and buzzes.

But it wasn’t the militants’ leaders. The pages had been sent by Hezbollah’s archenemy, and within seconds the alerts were followed by the sounds of explosions and cries of pain and panic in streets, shops and homes across Lebanon.

Powered by just a few ounces of an explosive compound concealed within the devices, the blasts sent grown men flying off motorcycles and slamming into walls, according to witnesses and video footage.
More at link might be paywalled.
The more Nasrallah panicked about mobile phones the more Hezbollah invested in Israeli technology.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/world/middleeast/israel-exploding-pagers-hezbollah.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

Roger
Roger
September 19, 2024 9:00 pm

Credlin is strong on most issues, I rarely disagree with her.

OK, but is she merely reacting to what’s out there by instinct or does she have a clearly thought through, articulated philosophical base from which she does so.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with instincts, but without philosophical ballast they can easily be tossed here and there by the challenges of post-modern & post-liberal realities.

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 19, 2024 9:05 pm

Dipping into Anthony Beevor’s account of the Battle for Arnhem. Health waning.

“The occupation of the Netherlands was probably the most brutal of all those in Western Europe.

In certain secret places the brutality was far worse Generalleutanant Walter Dornberger, the Inspector of Lon-Range Rocket Troops was later recorded secretly in a British prisoner of war camp, speaking of the activities of his colleague SS – Standartenfuhrer Behr.”In the Netherlands he made Dutchmen build the sites for the V2 ” Dornberger told fellow officers “then he had them herded together and killed by machine gun fire. He opened brothels for his soldiers with twenty Dutch girls. When the girls had been there two weeks, they were shot, and new ones brought along, so they couldn’t divulge anything they might discover from the soldiers.” Page 22.

Story goes that a German ex – serviceman’s association applied for permission to lay a wreath, in memory of their fallen comrades, at the memorial to the battle in the town of Arnhem itself. Permission denied, so they laid the wreath, anyway.

With some ceremony, the wreath was thrown into the Rhine…

John H.
John H.
September 19, 2024 9:28 pm

Cassie of Sydney

 September 19, 2024 7:41 pm

Credlin is evidently a right leaning feminist.

That doesn’t necessarily make her a conservative.

Has she ever articulated her political philosophy?

I’m a ‘right leaning feminist’ and a conservative. I think Credlin is the same. Whilst we might disagree on some things, I think most women here on this blog are like me. I don’t think early feminism was such a bad thing. I am the daughter of a very opinionated and strong willed woman who was a founding member of Women’s Electoral Lobby. My mother taught her daughters to be tough but I’m not as tough as my mother because I didn’t drink the water she drank when she was growing up, I really think there was something quite unique in the water of this country from federation to the late 1950s that produced extraordinary women, such as my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts and grand-aunts. They were not shrinking violets.

The change had to happen. My sister left academia to start a company in a completely different field. She experienced discrimination because women aren’t smart or tough enough to start a business. Her business won consecutive national awards in the category. There was so much winning the following year they went for something completely novel and still came third. She retired young but to this day is still sought out for advice.

Feminism eventually demonstrated irrational positions but initially it opened the door for millions of women to exercise greater freedom. Expecting political purity in this age of diverse opinions and beliefs is irrational. The population now is not like in the 50’s. Voting patterns reveal a widespread discontent with historical positions adopted by political parties. It is going to be a rough ride with many weird ideas being produced. I’d like to think people are searching for a new political philosophy but in these days the voting pattern mostly comes down to Dostoevsky: let me have my tea and the world can go to hell. Dangerous times.

JC
JC
September 19, 2024 9:39 pm

MSNBC watchers are perfectly normal functioning human beings.

Reason given why Putin would be scared shitless of Kamaltoe.

No really.

MSNBC guest says Putin will be deterred by Kamala Harris because she’s the product of a mixed marriage

MSNBC Host: “Wow.”

Don’t believe me.. then watch the vid.

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
September 19, 2024 9:50 pm

This is another excellent channel from Azerbaijan. The other being Wilderness Cooking. No narration, just the sounds of nature and farm life combined withe stunning scenery and excellent videography.

It’s worth your time. Babuska always works like and machine.

—–

Country Life Vlog:

In today’s video, we’re making a delicious and tangy treat — Stuffed Pickled Green Tomatoes! This unique recipe combines the fresh crunch of green tomatoes with a flavorful stuffing of herbs and spices, all preserved in a brine that brings out their zesty goodness. It’s a year-round delight that adds a burst of flavor to any meal.

Watch as we carefully prepare the green tomatoes, stuff them with a savory mixture, and then pickle them using a traditional method that ensures they stay crisp and tasty for months. This is a perfect way to enjoy the garden’s bounty throughout the year and a wonderful addition to your winter pantry. Whether served as a side dish, appetizer, or snack, these stuffed pickled tomatoes are sure to impress!

Stuffed Pickled Green Tomatoes: A Year-Round Delight

Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
Zulu Kilo Two Alpha
September 19, 2024 9:51 pm

From the Anthony Beevor title on the Battle for Arnhem

General Lewis Brereton, commander of First Allied Airborne Army, a “small, difficult man” was such a compulsive womanizer that his activities provoked a severe rebuke from General George C. Marshall, the American chief of staff and a man of the strictest moral rectitude.”

That would have been an “Officer’s Annual Evaluation Report” worth reading….

“General Brereton is advised to spend more time leading his men, and less time trying to get his willy wet…”

Barking Toad
Barking Toad
September 19, 2024 9:56 pm

The Mocker at his finest. Worth cutting out and giving to those described!

Yep Top Ender. Cut/Pasted/Saved and shared. Best ever from the Mocker.

Colonel Crispin Berka
Colonel Crispin Berka
September 19, 2024 10:07 pm

Audience Members Leave Rally as Trump Gives Incoherent Answers on Manufacturing, Food: A Closer LookLate Night with Seth Meyers

When asked what the main threat to Michigan manufacturing jobs was, he said it was nuclear weapons.

Just reporting this out of a concern for balance. 🙂

John H.
John H.
September 19, 2024 10:33 pm

Attempts to explain this phenomenon typically focus on national policy issues. I don’t understand why so many countries are experiencing this problem. One possible explanation is that modern life presents so many lifestyle choices having children is no longer the only choice approved by the culture.

Russia is encouraging millions to have sex at work to address rapidly tumbling birthrate | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 10:54 pm
Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 10:59 pm
Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 11:00 pm

@BreannaMorello

I lost my job at Fox Corp because of the ILLEGAL NYC private sector vaccine mandate.

When I told Fox’s HR this mandate was ILLEGAL and poorly written–they told me they were going to comply anyways.

Here’s the guy behind the mandate saying he was having drug-fueled orgies while locking down the rest of the city.

Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 11:03 pm

@TheRabbitHole84

“Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.”

— O’Brien (1984 by George Orwell)

Misinformation experts largely lean in a single direction politically. This skew can, will, and does impact which information is deemed legitimate or not.

Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 11:13 pm
Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 11:15 pm
Indolent
Indolent
September 19, 2024 11:16 pm
Frank
Frank
September 19, 2024 11:24 pm

What happened to dot? I was away for a few weeks and he disappeared.

KevinM
KevinM
September 20, 2024 12:39 am

dover0beach
September 19, 2024 11:53 pm

Israel didn’t tamper with Hezbollah’s exploding pagers, it made them – New York Times

Lots of bullshit stories being put out at the moment about this incident. I wouldn’t believe any of it.

Exactly, I’ve read that link to see what’s behind it, utter rubbish about the Hungarian manufacturer. Besides nobody ever heard of any such factory.

You don’t set up a sophisticated manufacturing facility to make a few thousand units when you have no chance of competing with China, Japan Taiwan etc.

I give my 2 cents worth of opinion, I’d rather tip China, there must be a few corrupt businessmen there, or Israel simply replacing the batteries and a small additional circuit. simple and elegant.

The hardest bit is to make Hetzbolloks to buy them in preference to other brands.

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 20, 2024 1:39 am

Exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, eh?
What will go off next?
Their Sony Walkmans?
The telex machine?

Sancho Panzer
Sancho Panzer
September 20, 2024 1:42 am

dover0beach
 September 19, 2024 11:53 pm

Israel didn’t tamper with Hezbollah’s exploding pagers, it made them – New York Times

Lots of bullshit stories being put out at the moment about this incident. I wouldn’t believe any of it.

Simply an unfortunate case of simultaneous spontaneous combustion I’d say.
Just bad luck.
Move on (if you can walk, that is).
🙂

Steve trickler
Steve trickler
September 20, 2024 3:23 am

Long live the Honey Badger. Boss!

—–

Steve Inman:

Honey Badger vs. Leopard Gang

Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:00 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:01 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:01 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:02 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:03 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:04 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:05 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:05 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:06 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:07 am
Tom
Tom
September 20, 2024 4:08 am
Beertruk
September 20, 2024 6:01 am

Editorial in today’s Tele:

SHAMEFUL OZ WEAK AT THE UN
20 Sep 2024

With every passing year since 1945, the decision by numerous countries to remain neutral during World War II appears more morally shameful.

Occasional protests by some nations that they didn’t know the full extent of Hitler’s evil until war’s end are simply not credible.

Those countries will forever bear a level of shame for standing by rather than standing up to Hitler and his Nazis. But what then do we make of Australia’s abstention from a United Nations vote calling for an end to “Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories”?

All civilised Australians, up to and including the Australian government, are completely aware of Hamas’s brutality against Israel — brutality most shockingly and unforgivably displayed on October 7, 2023.

A proper Australian response to that UN vote would have been to oppose it. To reject it. To dash it against the rocks of history.

Instead, Australia merely abstained. Even worse, as The Daily Telegraph reports, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong actually said Australia would have voted for the Hamas-appeasing motion if various amendments has been included.

Seriously. Little wonder, then, that the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s Peter Wertheim described Australia’s position as “morally cowardly”.

Little wonder, too, that Liberal leader Peter Dutton angrily and justifiably contrasted the current Labor government’s stance on Israel with the far more empathetic and ethically sound position of previous Labor and Coalition administrations.

Declaring that the Albanese government should have joined the US, Israel and other nations in rejecting the UN’s proposal, Dutton told 2GB: “That’s exactly what the Hawke government would have done, it’s what a Howard government would have done, it’s what an Abbott government would have done.”

Dutton is absolutely correct. Moreover, those governments took the correct view even without the overwhelming moral impetus of October 7’s atrocities. History is calling.

Labor needs to be on the right side of it.

Last edited 1 hour ago by Beertruk
Beertruk
September 20, 2024 6:19 am

Today’s Daily Tele:

MISINFORMATION IS JUST 21ST CENTURY BLASPHEMY

MATT – CANAVAN
20 Sep 2024

In 1871 William Lorando Jones gave a speech in Parramatta to about 100 people during which he claimed that the Bible was “the most immoral book ever published”, that Moses was a “cruel old wretch” and that the Israelites were “robbers and murderers”.

Lorando was charged with blasphemy – the indictment claimed that he was “a wicked and evil disposed person” – and a Judge subsequently sentenced him to two years in jail.

There was a public outcry and four weeks later Lorando was released.

It was the last time someone was charged with blasphemy in NSW, to date at least.

Last week the federal government tabled in parliament a modern spin on blasphemy laws. The words have been updated.

Anyone that has the temerity to engage their free speech rights will now be guilty of spreading misinformation.

Notionally, these laws are there to protect us from wicked and evil people that spread lies on social media.

According to the government’s own explanatory materials for the bill, these devious people can even go as far as causing people to have “lower confidence in government, and lower trust in scientific institutions.” The horror!

The government gets more specific when it highlights that its misinformation laws could help silence people that spread “false, misleading or deceptive information about … referendum proposals”.

Keep in mind that these laws come just a year after the Australian people comprehensively said no to Labor’s Voice referendum proposal.

Rather than accept that the Australian people had a different view to him, Anthony Albanese blamed his loss on misinformation.

Misinformation laws are not there to protect you, they are there to protect the powerful from scrutiny.

The laws only suppress views that cause “serious harm”.

But serious harm is defined broadly and can mean anything from causing harm to electoral processes, public health measures (like lockdowns), the Australian economy or even “public confidence in the banking system”.

Why the Labor Party thinks the major banks deserve protection from criticism (after the shocking examples of their misconduct were exposed in the Royal Commission) remains unexplained. Further, we only recently lived through a situation where our banking system was engaged in the reckless financing of mortgage- backed securities.

That conduct destroyed the global economy. Yet under these laws people that question any future excessive financial speculation could be silenced.

It is now clear that many of the pandemic measures were excessive and costly. Some children may never recover the learning deficiencies accumulated from homeschooling and mask-wearing.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, which was previously marketed as “safe and effective”, had its approval cancelled.

No one expects our rulers to get every decision right, but if we exempt them from criticism and accountability, a lot more mistakes will be made.

And even on electoral process, while we are lucky to have one of the best electoral systems in the world, it is not perfect. Just a few years ago, the Australian Electoral Commission lost 1375 West Australian Senate ballots and the election had to be redone at a cost of $20 million.

These misinformation laws would make it harder for anyone to expose future anomalies, which are guaranteed to occur at some point. The laws also exempt the media. This week we found out that the ABC aired doctored footage to accuse an Australian soldier of war crimes.

Why should an average Australian be gagged by these laws but the media not subject to them at all?

And, while I am on our armed forces, the laws do not define misinformation about our armed forces as “serious harm”.

While I do not support the laws at all, it shows Labor’s priorities that it would defend politicians, the banks, public health overlords and the ABC, ahead of our own soldiers.

After Lorando was released in 1871, a writer to the Illawarra Mercury lamented that “an impious and most foul mouthed reprobate” had been converted into a “martyr”, and that if instead he had been treated as “any other nuisance, neither he nor his crime would have been heard of”.

It remains wise advice today. The government’s clumsy and ham-fisted misinformation laws are worse than being ineffective, they will make things worse.

Any attempt to silence so-called misinformation will spread it further. It would make much more sense for our government to treat its people with more respect for our overall good sense.

Lies can simply be rebutted, cranks can be ignored and, most of all, politicians, bankers and journalists can all lift our game and not engage in misinformation ourselves.

Matt Canavan is LNP Senator for Queensland

1735099
1735099
September 20, 2024 6:26 am

1968 is a year I remember very well.
I had begun a teaching career, turned twenty-one (which had greater significance back then) and had reported in Warwick for my national service medical.
Bobby Kennedy was assassinated on my birthday, and I was passed A1 after my medical. Both these events effectively sealed my fate when it came to the following two years, as they combined to send me to Vietnam.
If I had failed my medical, or if Kennedy had the same luck as Trump, my experience would have been very different. When Kennedy announced that he was seeking the Democratic nomination, he made it clear that his campaign agenda prioritised opposition to the war in Vietnam over racial division and the problem of the cities.
From his announcement speech – I run to seek new policies – policies to end the bloodshed in Vietnam and in our cities, policies to close the gaps that now exist between black and white, between rich and poor, between young and old, in this country and around the rest of the world.
Whether or not his election as US President would have been timely enough to begin a withdrawal of US troops, and whether the Coalition would have followed quickly in this country will of course never be known, but it is feasible.
When Nixon was elected he talked about “peace with honour”, but nevertheless began an indiscriminate bombing programme in Cambodia which led, amongst other things, to the killing fields.
Those events in 1968 demonstrate a frightening symmetry with what has so far occured in 2024. Then as now, the incumbent Democratic president did not seek re-election (Lyndon Johnson’s decision); there were two assassinations back then, both successful, (Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy); and two this year, both unsuccessful; and the Democratic convention was be held in Chicago. The most significant difference between 1968 and 2024 is that the assassination attempts were unsuccessful.
The 1968 Convention was a landmark event which vividly demonstrated the deep divisions within the Democrats, but more significantly within the US community.
Those divisions are duplicated in 2024, even if the fault lines are different, but violence is always simmering just below the surface.
I’m reminded of two cliches that go hand in hand when it comes to that country across the Pacific. One is that violence is as American as apple pie, and the other is that history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.
However you look at it, the US is clearly at a crossroads now just as it was in 1968. By the time Saigon fell in 1975, fifty-seven thousand Americans, millions of Vietnamese, and five hundred Australians had died as a result of decisions made in the US. Many decisions had been made before those events in 1968, but many were made after that pivotal year. A reading of the Pentagon Papers is informative.
Let’s hope that the cadence of the rhyme fails, because if it doesn’t, and more deadly conflict ensues, there will be consequences for Australians, just as there were in 1968, and many will be negative.
Based on my personal experience, Australians who want to should be allowed to register and vote in the US. Our sovereignty has been lost, and forty percent of Yanks can’t be bothered to vote, or are discouraged by their crazy electoral system.

KevinM
KevinM
September 20, 2024 6:28 am

A woman of firm resolve.
Not much else, but good on her.

virg
Beertruk
September 20, 2024 6:29 am

Letters to the Editor today’s Daily Tele:

Parenting is the issue

20 Sep 2024

Yesterday while waiting for my bus I heard the familiar sound of an online poker machine game I regularly play.

On looking up I was shocked to see the player was a 8-9-year-old boy.

His apparent mother was standing nearby smoking in a no smoking area.

Sure, impose age limits and regulations on social media platforms but that won’t stop the misuse of these apps by misguided teenagers.

The real regulatory control should be the parents.

Good luck to any government which can alter “ the not responsible” parenting of today.

Last edited 36 minutes ago by Beertruk
KevinM
KevinM
September 20, 2024 6:37 am

For God’s sake numbers, when will you stop?

One would think that the Vietnam war was started for your benefit, so that you’d have something to gripe, write and talk about for the rest of your life.

Man, it’s over, had been for a lifetime, give it a bloody rest will you?

1735099
1735099
September 20, 2024 6:42 am

Every now and again, wee Johhny gets it right.
First time was 1996 with the NFA.
Now he’s made sense around US politics –
Former Prime Minister John Howard says he could never bring himself to vote for Donald Trump.
Mr Howard, 85, said the former US president’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 US election made him effectively unfit lead the country again. 
RTWT – https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13869519/John-Howard-reveals-presidential-candidate-never-vote-issues-stinging-four-word-down.html

132andBush
132andBush
September 20, 2024 6:49 am

I think Numbers just endorsed Trump.

A short autobiography with emphasis on the two assassinated figures and how they were the ones who would’ve solved all the problems.

Skip to present day and we have this:

Let’s hope that the cadence of the rhyme fails,

Indeed, it’s failing so far and lets hope it continues and Trump remains alive and is elected and starts sorting the mess out (again).

Based on my personal experience, Australians who want to should be allowed to register and vote in the US. Our sovereignty has been lost, and forty percent of Yanks can’t be bothered to vote, or are discouraged by their crazy electoral system.

Numbers also endorses interfering in another countries’ elections.

Cassie of Sydney
September 20, 2024 6:58 am

The perseverant appears!

He was in Vietnam in 1968.

He was a teacher.

He is an old embittered communist.

He hates people who work hard, he hates people who are successful, he hates people who get ahead in life, he hates Jews, he hates Israel, he hates private schools, he hates the Liberal party of Australia, but you wanna know what he truly hates….

he hates himself.

Beertruk
September 20, 2024 6:58 am

1735099  September 20, 2024 6:26 am

Zero Alpha…One One…weak and unreadable…One One OUT!!!

calli
calli
September 20, 2024 7:01 am

Oh my! The downticker is an Oliver Cromwell fanboi!

MatrixTransform
September 20, 2024 7:02 am

Problem is, you have a number of these devices all around you, and worms once out there have a habit of getting out of control.

… probably the evil genius Dr Krieger from the Archer Series

Cassie of Sydney
September 20, 2024 7:04 am

Bobby Kennedy was assassinated on my birthday,

Everything is always, always about the perseverant, even someone else’s murder.

Tintarella di Luna
Tintarella di Luna
September 20, 2024 7:04 am

I wonder if there have been any device explosions in fair Australia

MatrixTransform
September 20, 2024 7:05 am

They have created a worm that can infiltrate any mobile device, all run on standard operating systems and thus vulnerable, that can crank up the lithium batteries (chemical bombs) to explosion point.

cough!!

what about EVs … can the worm jump to EVs?

  1. They have created a worm that can infiltrate any mobile device, all run on standard operating systems and thus vulnerable,…

  2. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated on my birthday, Everything is always, always about the perseverant, even someone else’s murder.

  3. Problem is, you have a number of these devices all around you, and worms once out there have a habit…

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