JoNova
A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
Jo appreciates your support to help her keep doing what she does. This blog is funded by donations. Thanks!
Follow Jo's Tweets To report "lost" comments or defamatory and offensive remarks, email the moderators at: support AT joannenova.com.au
Statistics
Did the WHO Ram Through the (Failed) ‘Pandemic™ Treaty’ via the IHR?
131
Still following the ol’ Science here – no one told me to stop. https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au/p/exclusive-report-forced-retraction
130
Although May was only second, Spring 2024 as a whole was actually the warmest in the entire 366 year mean Central England Temperature series.
(Yes this is real, the best there is, data.)
7 of the 10 warmest Springs have occurred since 2000.
Make of that what you will.
410
Coming out of a Little Ice Age … that”s not unreasonable.
Following the news – not least at Paul Homewood’s ‘Not a Lot of People Know That’ – as here – https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2024/05/30/met-office-should-put-2-5c-uncertainties-warning-on-all-future-temperature-claims-daily-sceptic/
… then perhaps it’s the weather changing [as it does], and – maybe – not just the weather.
A slightly warmer Spring doesn’t go down badly here in Sarf Lunnon, to be honest!
You know – a degree Centigrade warmer than when my father was born.
And the trace gas – CO2 – helps the crops
Auto
230
That article isn’t relevant to the CET series.
11
Indeed – Sarf Lunnon is not, exactly, Central England, but we’re told, repeatedly, that it’s Global Boiling, and the hills are molten, or some-such.
And Sarf Lunnon is in the Globe [and indeed my bit of it is in the North Downs – distinctly non-molten hills here, you’ll be glad to know].
And the article indicates how standards are – hmmm – iffy in some, once-implicitly-trusted, organisations that once dealt with the weather – as against propaganda emanating from innumerates in Government [and their very numerate puppet-masters!]…
If a man will rook you out of the price of a beer … how far would you trust him with your grandchildren?
Be well,
Auto
30
This is the summary for the UK as a whole, less reliable data, probably, and only since 1880s for temperatures.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-media/media-centre/weather-and-climate-news/2024/warm-may-and-spring-for-the-uk
30
‘Make of that what you will.’
They didn’t mention the Hunga Tonga Hunga eruption, which is clearly the anomalous spike.
101
Maybe this has made it warmer.
https://notrickszone.com/2024/05/20/hadcrut-has-now-fully-removed-0-15c-from-the-1940s-warmth-blip-as-proposed-in-2009-e-mails/
40
So, warmer weather is a problem? LOL.
SE Australia and other parts of Australia have had 4 years of above average rainfall. Now that’s the sort of Climate Change (weather) that Farmers quite like (along with plants, crops, trees, animals and Humans in general.
Droughts are only to be endured and a time to build more Dams for a growing population (no new Dams having been built in over 20 years when the population has increased significantly).
160
A return of the Roman Warm Period.
110
Hopefully not a return of the Romans.
60
What have the Romans ever done for us??🤔
100
“What have the Romans ever done for us??”
Built roads that are still in use. Built towns such as Gloucester, Cirencester, Colchester. Introduced Christianity to Britain. Lots of other stuff
90
Muzza was just running a Monty Python line. You didn’t really need to promote some of their ‘achievements’.
The Monty Python crew has done it for you anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ
The acqueduct, sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, road …..
50
He was asking in jest. Watch your Monty Python again (Life of Brian).
31
The CET only goes back a few hundred years, so we can’t use the Roman card.
Here we have a current situation which needs to be resolved, along with English warmth, why is Sydney anomalously wet?
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/sydney-hits-one-metre-of-rain-four-months-ahead-of-schedule/1889494
If we can prove its H2O in the stratosphere and not CO2 in the troposphere causing the hiccup, it would give us an advantage.
41
Sydney is regularly anomalously wet. I lived there for 30 years, the occasional torrential downpour was part of life.
20
It’s not often I query official temperatures from the Met office but this record seems unlikely.
We frequently had our central heating on well into April.
It was too cold for many seeds to germinate , pants have grown poorly. According to my diary many trees and the bluebells were several weeks later than in rent years.
Warmest in the long CET record? Hmmm….
200
Either you are in a unique location or your perception is off.
It has definitely been crazy mild, not extreme heat but consistently in the warmer quartile and a lack of cold.
My garden has been a month or more ahead since mid Feb.
50
Grim,
Do you reside in urban or rural areas ? Where you live has a big impact on your local climate . Slight warming is not a reason for concern .Tonys pants might need a greenhouse….
70
“Your perception is off.” In other words Tonyb likes to spend as much as he can on heating when it’s balmy outside and you are wandering about your palm trees etc in shorts looking out for signs of crocodiles and other exotic beasts. Is that what you mean?
30
Grim did also say it was possible Tony’s location was unique.
Both Tony’s and Grim’s accounts can both be correct. It’s not necessarily one or the other.
Tony might be experiencing cooler conditions as evidenced by his garden records. Grim could be experiencing warmer conditions as evidenced by his garden records.
40
Crazy mild, really?
What temperature should it be?
The month’s mean temperature has been influenced particularly by above average temperatures” You do know how you get averages?
You warmies don’t like pleasant days do you. Come back when you have something to complain about.
40
Because that is what gets the green thumbs here. Don’t write anything unless it is about the cloud you’re waving your fist at.
Mr Grim pointed out something about his local area that he thought was of interest to a general climate literate audience. You felt the need to bag him for it. Maybe you should come back when you find some perspective.
211
I’m suprised you can even identify a green thumb.
He posted a link to the weather, if that is his backyard, I’m impressed with the size. Mild… not to hot, not to cold, can’t complain about that.
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-media/media-centre/weather-and-climate-news/2024/warm-may-and-spring-for-the-uk
10
Mate. Life is not all about complaints. Seek help.
14
Seems to me Grim does know how averages work. Which is why Grim made that statement. To indicate there has been a number of above average days raising the average and not just one or two very hot days. It’s actually a valid distinction to make given averages can be skewed by large singular events.
Plus there was no hint of Grim complaining. Just an observation. And if Grim was trying to make a point about warming then so what? The world is allowed to warm, if that’s what it is a sign of. You don’t suddenly have to concede it’s anthropogenic.
We’ve had a mild autumn here 100km west of Melbourne. I could almost say crazy mild. But I wouldn’t want to appear like I was complaining about the saving on firewood so far. The start to Winter has not been mild though.
10
The municipal Flower beds were not planted before half term as would be expected. According to the gardeners, plants are well behind and not big enough to go out. Different locations will have different experiences. We are greatly influenced by the sea and westerlies. The sea has been quite cool due to lack of sun
30
Have ecosystem functions, increased or decreased ? Is the environment around you collapsing? Plants won’t grow?
Despite constantly being told we are in a climate crisis, I look at the forest constantly trying to eat my house, the annoying appearance of snakes looking for plentiful frogs and rodents, the birds eating fruits and insects, the leeches feeling your every move, in the valley below the crops growing impressively, the rivers teaming with fish.
What crisis is this?
150
How is that mean actually calculated – what is the linear basis (are they comparing the same measurements by years by second? minute? day?)
For a small island, UK has a lot of different weather – how are the various locations averaged?
I reckon I could calculate a lot of different ‘mean May temperatures’ if you gave me the spreadsheet …. and that is even before considering measurement issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yehN_yWUnk – that’s numberwang
00
There really isn’t that much to calculate for the mean. Its the assumptions and adjustments that change things.
00
This wasn’t from a thermometer underneath a jet engine, was it?
00
Grim, I’d love to believe your claim that this is ‘the best data there is’.
Yet the pattern of adjustments showing an ever-colder past leads me to doubt it. I judge it to be the official record, not the best record, and like the inflation figures, adjusted to present an official narrative, not reality.
Nor does this require dishonesty on behalf of the adjusters. It just needs human nature.
When data correlates with expectations, there’s no need to look any further. When it doesn’t, there’s a search for explanations as to what caused the invalid results. And given that they’re smarter than the average person, they can often find an explanation, true or mistaken, that enables them to adjust away the unwanted finding.
I’m satisfied that this is what is actually happening. Otherwise correcting errors in the data would be expected to reveal as many adjustments to a warmer past as to a colder past.
The uniform finding of an ever colder past is as implausible as tossing fifty heads in a row.
20
UN, WHO, and WEF Have Just Been Declared Terrorist Organizations By a Republican County Assembly in Florida
Also:
Louisiana Senate Passes Bill to End State Cooperation with UN and WHO
280
In case anyone was wondering about what plans US Democrats have for Donald Trump.
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2024/06/03/rep-bennie-thompson-wants-to-strip-trump-of-secret-service-protection-if-he-goes-to-jail-n3789509#di
Anyone who disagrees with Democrats is a threat to Democracy.
MAGA supporters are perfectly safe as long as they keep quiet and don’t engage in any fiery but peaceful protest against fascism.
Here’s a clip of a young Democrat inspiring other Democrats with song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7IOXZx9PNA
140
Video unavailable – ‘account closed’.
Auto
00
Weird.
It was a clip from the movie ‘Cabaret’.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_(1972_film)
00
Latest on Rent-Seeker Handouts
Replacing a 2000 MW coal fired power Station with a 500 MW “Big Battery”
The Liddell Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired thermal power station that had four 500 megawatts (670,000 hp) EE steam-driven turbine alternators.
Australia’s largest battery with grid-forming inverter capabilities is set to go ahead, with AGL today reaching a Final
Investment Decision (FID) on a 500 MW / 1,000 MWh grid-forming battery in Liddell, New South Wales.
Announced last year on behalf of the Australian Government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)
conditionally approved up to $35 million in funding to the project, as part of the $176 million Large Scale Battery
Storage Funding Round.
The grid-scale battery will be built on the site of the retired Liddell power station and will form part of AGL’s Hunter
Energy Hub planned for the site. Originally planned at half the size (250 MW / 500 MWh), AGL decided to expand
the size of the battery, which will help to provide important systems services to the Hunter region.
Without allowing for maintenance downtime Liddell could produce 2000 x 24 x 365 = 17,520,000 MWh per annum compared to 1000 MWh provided by its replacement before requiring recharging?
The Liddell battery is expected to be operating by 2026 and will cost $750 million to build.
Mike Cannon-Brookes is AGL largest shareholder (rent-seeker)
https://arena.gov.au/assets/2023/12/ARENA-Media-Release_AGL-Liddell-Battery_19122023.pdf
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/power-giant-agl-to-build-mega-battery-at-former-coal-station-20231219-p5esi9.html
Bought your back-up power generator yet?
300
Only US$3.7 Trillion per day!
https://stopthesethings.com/2024/06/03/wind-industry-moaning-about-lack-of-wind-dark-malevolent-forces-blamed/
US$338 per kilowatt hour = AUD$506 per kilowatt hour
The installed cost for the Liddell Big Battery is AUD$750 per kilowatt hour
180
The 48% extra is the special extra tax Australia pays for being extra stupid.
90
Has the Liddell battery been installed yet? Somebody posted here that that actual installed cost of a large-scale battery in WA was $1000//kWh.
20
AGL?
Australian Gas Lighting?
Gaslighting?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/gaslighting
120
That’s like replacing a Kenworth with a Mighty Boy.
40
The dumbing-down continues…
Yesterday on Their ABC (Australia) they were talking about land and sea level and they used the term “ice age bounce”, which I had never heard before.
I assume they were referring to what used to be called, back in the day, “post-glacial rebound” or “isostatic rebound”…
100
“ice age bounce”
Perhaps a reference to sea level rise after the Last Glacial Maximum. Thus, a water ref rather than a land ref.
Truth: I have no idea.
80
Sometimes the change of “ground level can be less than “glacial”
Consider several spots in Italy, starting with the Bay of Naples and surrounding real estate. Underneath that area is a very lively volcanic system. the land moves up and down in response to the state of the magma chamber not that far below. At the eastern end of the Mediterranean, there are substantial “sunken” ruins off the Lebanese and Israeli coasts. Some of these were once, Phoenician (Sidonian) trading ports, i.e., on the edge of a coastline.
Did the “tide come in”, permanently or did the land subside? Or, BOTH? Those port facilities were ACTIVE commercially only a couple of thousand years ago.: The blink of an eye, in geological terms.
Has anyone mentioned the fable of “Chicken Little”, lately?
110
Yes, warmists have a “staticist” view of the world and don’t realise there have been substantial and multiple changes in climate and sea/land level even within the short period of recorded history.
130
A TERRIFYING ENCOUNTER…
The dinosaur trackways at Dinosaur Stampede National Monument were formed 95 million years ago when Outback Queensland was a vastly different place. In stark contrast to the arid climate of today, the landscape was characterised by a great river plain, with towering conifers and lush vegetation interspersed with sandy channels, swamps and lakes.
It was in this setting that a herd of at least 150 small two-legged dinosaurs, including carnivorous coelurosaurs and plant-eating ornithopods came to drink at the edge…
No Dinasours there now – The Climate Changed and No Humans were involved – Biggest Scam in the World – Come on Down Parisite Malcolm Turnbull – Pump Hydro with Government Subsidies Awaits
40
Isostatic rebound is too technical for ABC viewers and personnel. No glacial overburden observed.
60
The ABC are likely to mis-name things deliberately – ie Newspeak – as part of their campaign. eg. Carbon, climate change, Anthropocene. So the idea here is to support the notion that we’re not in an ice age (we’ve bounced out).
NB. re ‘climate change’ – yes that’s Newspeak too. It used to be ‘man-made climate change’, now the desired message is that all climate change is man-made so ‘man-made’ is redundant. The aim of Newspeak is to change the language so that there are no words that can be used to express dissent.
100
First, they steal your language, then your freedom.
Then, it is time for the “Arbeit Macht Frei” games.
And it will be “Kraft durch Freude” for the usual suspects.
Just for giggles:
Ferdinand Porsche’s funny little “budget” car was originally badged as the “KDF”.
10
Good commentary about extreme bias at taxpayer funded Government propaganda organisation, the one billion dollar per year operation, Their ABC (Australia).
Under 13 minutes.
https://youtu.be/9TkpdiwJ1Rk
60
Video with David Dilley talking about “climate change”.
https://youtu.be/NeFePI1nW1Y
10
Looking at the performance of all Australian Governments, Federal, State and Local, it’s difficult to see anything they are doing which is actually in the best interests of the country.
It appears everything is tuned for deliberate destruction.
150
Appearances can be deceptive.
From my point of view the purpose of all governments is to increase their control over people and enterprises. The destruction is just a natural byproduct of government expansion.
90
Calls for Victorian government to ‘come clean’ on suburban rail loop funding plans as Minister refuses to rule out ‘secret tax’
The Victorian government is refusing to rule out imposing a new tax to cover the cost of the controversial Suburban Rail Loop, with the opposition demanding Labor “come clean”.
The state and federal governments have committed a combined $14 billion towards the first stage of the SRL – which will run from Cheltenham to Box Hill – leaving an estimated $20 billion in funding unaccounted for.
Transport Minister Danny Pearson confirmed the government would use “value capture” to cover the shortfall, however he refused to say whether this meant Victorians would be slugged with a new tax.
“I’m not going to get into ruling this in, ruling that out,” Mr Pearson said.
“A third of the funding source will come through value capture and that work remains ongoing and when that work is finalised we will advise the community accordingly.”
“Labor must come clean on their secret SRL Tax,” Mr Rowswell said.
“Will it be a land tax premium? Will it be a stamp duty surcharge? Will it be a fee on every business and ratepayer in Kingston, Monash and Whitehorse?
“Victorians deserve to know exactly who will be hit and how much they will pay”.
While the Transport Minister would not confirm what was meant by “value capture”, the state government’s Suburban Rail Loop Authority has proposed a range of options, including a land tax surcharge, a carpark surcharge, and requesting billions of dollars from property developers and businesses in along the SRL route.
70
Old Ozzie,
They have run out of other peoples money and are coming for ours . Debt is 156 billion and rising – who would risk lending to them ?
80
Don’t worry – they are putting in legislation so they can crowd-fund the Australian economy…
https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fems%2Fr7176_ems_dd1e1136-f342-4dbf-8eae-9db60d977f84%22
(search crowdfunding to go straight to the mention – but worth a decent scan, this is a doozie of a piece of legislation that was put in while everyone was upset about the Digital ID bill…)
00
$34 BILLION..! For an urban rail loop ?
How much $$s per km does that work out at ?
Using solid gold rail tracks ?… or just front loading a few more retirement funds ?
Maybe they should have let the Chinese do it after all ?
20
Norway builds ship tunnel
Norway is set to build the world’s first ship tunnel, a groundbreaking project aimed at providing a safer and more efficient route for vessels to navigate the treacherous Stadhavet Sea.
The tunnel, which will be approximately 1.7 kilometers long, 50 meters high, and 36 meters wide, will enable ships to bypass the stormy waters of the Stadhavet Sea, reducing the risk of accidents and improving navigation.
Background
The Stadhavet Sea is known for its strong currents, rough seas, and unpredictable weather conditions, making it a challenging route for ships. The Norwegian Coastal Administration has been exploring ways to improve maritime safety in the area, and the ship tunnel project is a major step towards achieving this goal.
Project Details
The tunnel will be constructed through the mountainous Stad Peninsula in Vestland county, Norway. The project has received government approval, and construction was expected to begin in 2022, with an estimated completion date of 2025 or 2026.
The estimated cost of the project is around 2.7 billion Norwegian kroner (£250m – AUD $387m ).
Remember that is tunneling through Granite
Calling for around 3 million cu m of excavation, the tunnel will be 50 m tall and 36 m wide. Drill and blast techniques will excavate the 1,661-sq-m tunnel face.
30
The Norwegians have proved very adept at tunnelling through their mountains. Travelled through quite a few under their fjords, including the 27 km one, the longest road tunnel in the world. A weird experience – it even has rest areas.
40
The companies that will build it are Chinese owned that’s why the costs blow out Dans way of paying his masters.
20
There is some SERIOUS potential for “spillage”, right there.
10
Iconic Melbourne pub closes due to soaring costs
The 135-year-old pub announced the “taps were running dry” as it succumbed to “horrendous” expenses.
A popular Melbourne pub has revealed it would need to charge a whopping $20 for a beer to survive and instead has opted to shut forever.
The Carringbush Hotel closed its doors permanently on Sunday after it underwent a makeover and reopened in 2019.
The Melbourne institution announced on May 27 its was closing its doors for good on Facebook after five and a half “amazing years”.
“Like most, we are feeling the current financial pinch and instead of running the gauntlet we have decided to go out on a high,” its post read.
Mr Matthews predicted that a quarter of hospitality venues in Melbourne could fail in the next year, coming at a time that a recent report warned that one in every 13 Australian hospitality businesses face going bust within the next 12 months as discretionary spending dries up.
In Melbourne, a celebrity chef revealed he is shutting down his restaurant La Luna after 25 years of operation, admitting Melbourne was a “tough city” in which to do business/
In April after 18 years in business, Asian fusion restaurant Gingerboy shut down blaming “market pressures since Covid lockdowns”.
50
If you wanted to deliberately ruin a perfectly good, prosperous, happy country, what exactly would you do different from what has been done over the past 30-40 years, and with increasing speed these past four or so?
110
Vote yes to the voice
Ask Andrews to stay on
Make Albanese PM a bit earlier
Blow up a couple more coal power plants
50
Remind me about the bloke who first (probably),made the remarks about “Omelettes and eggs”.
Hint: “On ne saurait faire d’omelette sans casser des œufs”, or something like that
A different take from Oirland:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/lenin-s-culinary-legacy-lives-on-1.94329
00
Very nteresting video by David Attenborough from 1962 in Outback Australia and him meeting some interesting reclusive characters.
“Diogenes Stopped at Borroloola”
https://youtu.be/WolRhaWk0gA
Under 30 mins.
20
Thank you – a little story of reclusive communities in Queensland in the 80’s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMe5a1QxxlY
(if you don’t like punk music, you might want to stop before the song – I found the Boing Boings during the COVID fraud and these guys gave me hope for the future….)
10
A library of over 3000 books – that’s better than my bush school had in the 80s!
“once I read the medical book, I reckon I suffered from every disease known to man”
10
Current events today in the US Congress.
The representative of Science on Earth is testifying in the Holy Capitol of the Autonomous City State of DC, about the Global Pandemic that was totally an act of nature …
and not at all anthropogenic like bad weather.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-O-QtDEwyU
Spoiler alert: The Representative of Science on Earth only earned about $122.00 a year with drug royalties during the Pandemic …
which was totally unanthropogenic.
130
I have been watching some of his grilling.
Even some DemoncRATs recognise his wrong-doing. It took them long enough.
But as in Australia, there is severe mass amnesia among those who are guilty and those who might prosecute them and nothing might happen.
Don’t forgive. Don’t forget. Prosecute.
130
Anthony Fauci Embodies Real Threat to Democracy Tom Basile, Washington Times
Dr. Anthony Fauci and the 2024 election – Ex-chief medical adviser personifies threat to democracy Biden is so fond of discussing
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the millionaire government pensioner who left a trail of human wreckage behind him from scores of vacillating media interviews pushing junk science, will undoubtedly face some tough questions from Congress.
Those whose lives were forever harmed by his maniacal manipulation of the COVID-19 pandemic will likely be left wanting.
He was the face of America’s pandemic response and the personification of our constitutional crisis. Dr. Fauci may not end up being prosecuted, as many believe he should, but the methods he and countless others in the public health complex sanctioned deserve to be at the forefront of our national conversation in this election cycle.
Dr. Fauci’s appearance before Congress is an opportunity, particularly for Republicans, not to make this a one-day spectacle but to launch a full-throated campaign to remind Americans that President Biden and his far-left allies threatened democracy and lives by empowering actors such as Dr. Fauci.
{SNIP]
20
As I do volunteer charity work, I am aware of many people in Australia who are unnecessarily cold due to the deliberately high cost of electricity and gas caused by Government policy.
What an appalling state of being for a theoretically energy rich nation like Australia where the energy supply is being deliberately and systematically destroyed by both stupid people plus also some extremely malicious people.
260
https://www.energy.gov.au/energy-data/australian-energy-statistics/energy-trade#:
Australians are governed by people who hate us.
120
Australians bemoan nation’s ‘decline’, say reputation as ‘the lucky country’ is under threat
Australians have unleashed about why they think the nation just isn’t what it used to be, and it’s depressing reading.
40
That Australia was a “lucky country” was a misquote from Donald Horne:
In 1964 in The Lucky Country he wrote:
In 1976 in Death of the Lucky Country he wrote:
70
Footpaths at $1000 a metre: Spending, costs ‘out of control’ as fight over rate rises heats up
A council whose “out of control” spending includes $1 million a kilometre on footpaths was among those that appeared at a parliamentary inquiry on Monday asking for more power to increase rates.
Northern Beaches Council says current funding arrangements, which limit rate increases to a level set by an independent tribunal, have left it $18 million worse off over the past three years than if rates had kept pace with inflation.
Executive manager of financial planning Caroline Foley said the council supported the “rate peg”, which caps rate rises, but the inflexible system by which councils could apply for increases above the peg was “missing the mark”.
The process was resource intensive, costly and could be “politically contentious”, she said. Rather, councils should be given the power to lift rates by small amounts above the peg to cover costs.
The council appeared with two others, Parramatta and Blacktown, at a Labor-chaired inquiry into local government infrastructure funding amid widespread concern about the financial viability of NSW councils and their revenue streams.
Northern Beaches councillors nearly rejected the council’s draft 2024-25 budget in April, when several raised concerns about spending and plans to borrow $4.6 million from restricted cash reserves intended for Mona Vale cemetery.
Under questioning by independent councillor Vincent de Luca, staff confirmed footpaths in the municipality were estimated to cost just over $1 million per kilometre.
“It is absolutely ridiculous that $1 million per kilometre is envisaged for a footpath. That is not acceptable,” de Luca said. “We cannot keep hitting the ratepayers with increases.”
Costs to fix local roads ballooned to $7.1 million for 4.8 kilometres.
Liberal councillor David Walton said the council’s operational expenditure was “out of control” and that savings made so far had amounted to no more than a rounding error.
60
https://www.northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au/council/news/media-releases/have-your-say-northern-beaches-budget-2425
and
https://hdp-au-prod-app-nthbch-yoursay-files.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/2417/1445/0293/2024_282281__Draft_Delivery_Program_2024-2028_-_for_Council_Meeting_April_2024_-_Low_res_digital_version.PDF
10
Singapore founding PM Lee Kuan Yew once warned Australia could be ‘white trash’ of Asia
A leader well known for his bluntness, Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew issued a warning in 1980 that Australia was in danger of becoming the “white trash” of Asia.
He made the comments when Australia was experiencing inflationary pressures and high unemployment, and the country took notice.
“That was way back in the early ’80s, when it looked as though … we were unable to grasp the nettle of financial reform,” Emeritus Professor James Cotton from the University of New South Wales told PM.
“We had a fixed exchange rate in those days and there were all kinds of rigidities in the market.”
Australia’s then-prime minister Bob Hawke said in 1987 that Mr Lee’s comments were “not an overstatement”.
He went on to sign the historic accord between Labor and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to ensure moderate wage rises in exchange for restrained price increases.
Professor Cotton said Mr Lee was pointing at a possible future state for Australia.
“Well, of course, the Hawke-Keating reforms created in Australia a platform for quite a different kind of economic performance, but he could see that problem,” he said.
31
Yoga teachers make draft core skills visa list, but not tradies
Yoga instructors, martial artists and dog handlers have beaten some construction trades to a spot on the nation’s draft priority skills list for migrants, despite the dire need for workers to tackle the nation’s housing crisis.
As the government faces a shortfall of 90,000 construction workers to meet its target of 1.2 million new homes by the end of the decade, the latest list of occupations that can be fast-tracked into the country includes wellness professionals, while trades including plumbers, bricklayers and cabinetmakers remain under consideration.
70
Building industry concerned ‘undue influence’ from unions handicapping skilled migration as Labor unveils draft overhaul
Landmark proposed changes to visas has left Australians and the building industry rattled in the middle of a growing housing crisis.
Max Melzer Digital Reporter
Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn is concerned unions are exerting “undue influence” over the Albanese government’s proposed overhaul of skilled migration.
Industry groups have already expressed scepticism over the government’s plans, warning it could further reduce the number of tradies available to work on major housing and infrastructure projects, putting them at risk of failure.
On Tuesday, the government unveiled a draft version of what it refers to as its Core Skills List, including hundreds of occupations which would either be prioritised or deprioritised when visa applicants were assessed.
However, the draft “on list” has faced heavy scrutiny from industry groups, with a number of key professions apparently absent or only part listed despite heavy demand.
While professions such as engineers – across a wide range of industries – nurses and scientists are included on the list, the new draft also includes dog handlers, divers and yoga instructors.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Tuesday, Ms Wawn described the list as a “Canberra doozy”, while outlining her reaction to the announcement.
“Flummoxed, perplexed, bemused I think were the best words to use,” she explained.
“It did not make any sense to me whatsoever, it was a Canberra doozy special I think.
“For example, carpenter and joiner is on the definite list, but carpenter and joiner, separately, is on the maybe list, so we don’t understand.”
10
Dont know about the white trash part, that was probably reflecting Lees own racism. He was fundamentally right though, we have been a non value adding quarry for a while now.
50
“theoretically energy rich nation like Australia”
I agree David, but Australia is actually – not theoretically energy rich.
30
FWIW
A modern library sign –
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisKqxngAs4YdbpOqMB48BJ2QLXdO0Hb6h2ElQaVQfK6FomKm-GZKVJOb95VrbQaQP1c6HTvsTFchzV-Q4kY8rMN_xD_hNPL8PEei-za9KEfJCflfaEouAARV5QXPuB9x_3ifNqehXIsXV41Ckl5UmDZ-9g-_TgBYoErmqsJefaNMVUgCq04E53eikPEdQ/w321-h400/Meme%20-%20current%20affairs%20section.png
110
Which reminds me, I must pay a visit to our local library to see what purpose libraries serve now that everything has been digitized.
Mind you I live just outside a small country town which has no fewer than three book shops.
60
You must be just outside the same small country town as me.
Or similar.
There can’t be many small country towns these days with three bookshops.
Most have none.
30
I think their purpose now is to distribute government propaganda plus also indoctrinate and groom children such as with “drag queen story hours”.
80
David we have a very nice local library run by Welcoming Older Ladies with Large Print Books as well as Kids, Fiction etc
Seaforth library
The Balgowlah Seaforth Community Library is a public library located in the heart of Seaforth, New South Wales, Australia. The library has been providing library services for over 75 years and is affiliated with the Northern Beaches Council.
Collection and Services
The library offers a varied collection of non-fiction, popular adult fiction, and series for young adults. There is also an abundance of titles for children, including fiction, early literacy board books, picture books, and chapter books. Membership to the library is free, and Wi-Fi access is available.
History
The library is located in a beautifully historic sandstone building, which has been a part of the community for many years. The library has a long history of providing library services to the community, with over 75 years of experience.
20
What purpose does the military serve now?
U.S. Air Force has become a den of debauchery
Judicial Watch blows the whistle on state of U.S. military with focus specifically on Air Force promoting CULTURE CRUSHING filth among its ranks, including programs targeting children.
On June 10, 2021, a social media post by the Ramstein & Vogelweh Air Force Libraries advertises:
“We’re celebrating PRIDE month with our very first DRAG STORY TIME! Our local Drag King, Sauvage, will be reading some of our favorite stories about what makes each of us special. Story time begins at 1030!”
Graphics included with the post include a rainbow flag and two books from which Drag King Sauvage intends to read. The first book is titled “I Am Perfectly Designed” by Karamo Brown. The second book is titled “The HIPS on the DRAG QUEEN Go Swish, Swish, Swish” with a depiction of three males in dresses.
The records also include a graphic for a June 2 “Drag Queen Story Time” event at the Ramstein Library.
https://leohohmann.com/2024/06/03/u-s-air-force-has-become-a-den-of-debauchery/
Max Klinger (MASH) would be a better fighter than the vaxxed degenerates “protecting the country” now.
66% losses to population in the USA are considered acceptable in the looming bright lights event.
Maybe Deagel nailed it after all.
Russia and China must be ROTFL big time.
70
I finished my first dystopian novel in 2019 …. timing eh?
10
The only problem with writing a “dystopian novel” is that there seems to be an endless “conga line” of degenerate scumbags who will take it as “holy Writ” or a “How-to” manual and try to “realize” it.
00
So Zelensky and friends are starting to worry that the war might stop if Trump succeeds.
President Zelensky of Ukraine has announced that Trump would be a ‘loser’ if he forced a ceasefire. And that they have killed half a million Russians in total. It seems they killed 1,200 Russians just yesterday.
It’s not like he is ‘winning’. Apparently only a ‘loser’ would want a ceasefire. Who would be the loser? Zelensky who might face an election and an accounting? The arms suppliers? The pipeline of hundreds of billions? And this is after Trump is made a ‘convicted felon’. So Zelensky is starting to worry about the war ending.
There are a lot of people who do not want an end to war. There always are such people. To kill one person is murder. To kill a million is just a statistic.
192
President Macron in particular and now Biden and Rishak are encouraging Ukraine to dramatically expand the war by firing new long range missiles directly at targets in Russia! Meanwhile President Orban of Hungary has just held a rally demanding peace.
The whole world and the EU, UN and NATO should be demanding a ceasefire, but seem hell bent on starting nuclear war as if it is winnable. Why?
And what do we hear from Australia’s Penny Wong? That Israel should ceasefire as they are breaking International law and their President is a criminal.
War is always about money and politics (not religion). The people who suffer on both sides are truly just cannon fodder. And Australia which has a voice at the UN stays silent. Our concerns are Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Climate Change.
191
And the war on Climate Change is also only about money and politics(religion). There is not a shred of science as politicians demolish the perfectly adequate power system we inherited and replace it with utterly inadequate plastic Chinese windmills while shutting down a society based on affordable, reliable power. I have to ask why. And I do not like the answer.
161
Quite a lot of religion is really about money and politics too … especially when you get to the Middle East.
120
As even Stalin found, you need a religion and patriotism to motivate ordinary people. Or fear. And Hitler’s war was one of extermination, not conquest, which gave the Russians no choice but to fight in the Great Patriotic War. The churches were opened and everyone prayed.
The idea of the lone warrior, the sleeper with the ‘golden dagger’, the terrorist was an Arab invention in their own many sectarian wars. But for the people at the top, it is always about money. As in Gaza.
Eisenhower who had led the Allies into Europe and then became US President warned all Americans in the 1950s about the ‘military industrial’ complex. And the business district of France in Paris is called Defense. France is one of the largest arms suppliers in the world.
Sadly. They would all love to test out their new long range missiles on Russia’s defences. That is poking an uncaged Russian bear to see what he does. And the world will find out within 20 minutes when Russia has had enough.
It is terrifying when President Biden presents Climate Change as a bigger problem than nuclear war. And throws another $100Bn to the arms manufacturers.
141
As even Stalin found, you need a religion and patriotism to motivate ordinary people. Or fear.
US Government Seizes Passport of Former US Marine and UN Inspector Scott Ritter — Blocks Him from Attending Event in Russia
Former US Marine Corps Intelligence Officer and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who is critical of Biden’s foreign policy, has reportedly been barred from attending the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia.
According to Russian news outlet TASS, Ritter was prevented from boarding a flight from New York to Istanbul, a layover on his way to Russia.
No further explanation was given. The only information provided was that this action was carried out on orders from the Department of State.
“I was boarding the flight. Three [police] officers pulled me aside. They took my passport. When asked why, they said ‘orders of the State Department.’ They had no further information for me,” Ritter told RT. “They pulled my bags off the plane, then escorted me out of the airport. They kept my passport.”
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is slated for June 5-8. This year’s theme is “The Foundations of a Multipolar World – The Formation of New Areas of Growth.” The forum is organized by the Roscongress Foundation, with TASS as its information partner.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova questioned whether this action was in accordance with the First Amendment or the Fourth. The first amendment protects freedom of speech, press, and assembly, while the fourth bars the government from “unreasonable searches and seizures,” according to RT.
50
Tom Cotton on the Trump Verdict: If New York Was A Foreign Country, America Would Sanction Them For Targeting Political Opponents (VIDEO)
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas appeared on Meet the Press this weekend and addressed the subject of the Trump guilty verdict in New York by systematically pointing out everything that was wrong with the trial and the outcome.
Meet the Press host Peter Alexander debated him every step of the way, as if he was arguing with a political opponent, because that’s the way the media works for Republicans, but Cotton held his own.
Cotton pointed out that if this had happened in a foreign country, the United States would sanction them.
Transcript via Real Clear Politics:
30
No, fear does not work. You don’t willing go to your death fighting the enemy if you are just afraid of being killed. Stalin found that and removed or degraded his political officers whose job was to instill fear. And he stopped killing all the officers and generals. The Russians saved Stalin.
There’s just no motivation to do anything at all. What the Russians showed and the Germans noted was the they were incredibly brave and did thing no simply fearful person would do. And they had skills, support from the locals and knew how to survive in a very tough climate. They did it for family, for their country and their church. And died in great numbers. The blocking squadrons didn’t drive them as Stalin thought, although he continued with it. The Germans could not understand why people would fight when their own officers were more brutal than the opposition. If the Germans had the Fatherland, the Russians had the Motherland.
20
Syd Morning Herald- Shorten is off for a drinkies and laughter with his WEF masters-
“Former Labor leader Bill Shorten says he will use an appearance at a high-profile global summit to warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to win the war in Ukraine as it would embolden autocrats around the world. As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other senior ministers are unable to attend the event, Shorten will represent Australia at a Ukraine peace summit being held on July 15-16 in Switzerland.”
Meanwhile the Clown-in-power and his right-hand man are staying here for important meetings with their master-
“Albanese and Wong will be in Australia for a planned visit by Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the time of the summit”
and the Defence man is ducking for cover to avoid any of the sh1t flying-
“while Marles has plans to travel in the Indo-Pacific at that time.”
..and looking at the ratios of bodies exchanged between Russia and Ukraine recently, if Ukraine killed 1200 Russians yesterday, they lost 4800 soldiers themselves.
60
Think about it. Russia returned X4 the bodies that Ukraine did. There are Russian advances, so Ukrainian bodies are overrun, but Russians are overwhelmingly killed, advancing short of the Ukrainian lines, in no mans land. Maybe Russia controls it later? Maybe they are still lying there? This is a fairly unbiased account of the fighting, by a former PLA soldier, fighting for Russia. Not a lot of glory there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_jdfaI5dyQ&t=497s
30
His opening story about how he thought he would be kicking in doors and throwing grenades is word for word what the Yanks and Brits who went in 2022 and then left while they were still alive. I suppose the French Foreign Legion will be the next ones, Macron is sending in volunteers from them.
War may be hard on the people, but there’s too much money involved for politicians and military corporations to ever stop.
20
As I wrote.. Moscow: U.S. Faces ‘Fatal Consequences’ for Letting Ukraine Use U.S. Weapons to Target Russia
I cannot believe Biden, Macron, Sunak, NATO, EU, everyone wants a bigger war! The next level up is Armageddon. Even worse than Climate Change.
30
The Russians are fighting for Russian speaking regions that Lenin gave to the Central Powers in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, between the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia’s participation in World War I.
70
The Russians are fighting for the Welsh and English speaking regions that Lenin gave to the Central Powers in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk…….Yes, the major industrial city of Donetsk was founded, and run by Welsh migrants, for 50 years, up until the Russian revolution. The workforce was multi racial. Up until then the area was basically empty steep. The Welsh built the city. Long live Hughesovka!
https://www.peoplescollection.wales/sites/default/files/documents/Hughesovka_St_Andrews_English_2.pdf
20
We can’t have people standing up to the communists now, can we.
21
WWII by body count by far was the war between the German National Socialists (NAZIs) and the Russian Communists. Nothing has changed. Ukraine has been run by Fascists for a long time. It is why it is the poorest country in Europe (apart from tiny neighbour Moldova). The question is why the Bidens were there, but that should be obvious.
70
NATO flirting with war and extinction in Ukraine
NATO leaders fear Ukraine’s collapse but inserting NATO troops in small numbers is no solution while deep strike authorization invites disaster
By STEPHEN BRYEN Asia Times
NATO is flirting with war and extinction. France is now “officially” sending troops to Ukraine (they have been there for some time) and NATO countries are demanding strikes deep inside Russia.
Meanwhile, the US has secretly made a “policy shift” that somewhat falls short of what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted but opens the door to deep strikes by the US on Russian territory.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that the US deep strike authorization is “misinformation” but he did not deny the change in US policy. He claims it is Russian disinformation but the reports came from Washington and not from Russia.
What is going on?
Ukraine is on the brink of collapse. The Ukrainian army is short on troops, and that gets worse by the day as their army continues to suffer high casualties. According to the Russians, Ukraine lost 35,000 soldiers in May (killed and wounded). Ukraine cannot replace the lost soldiers and the forced recruiting program underway can’t replace trained personnel.
There also are rumors that Russia may significantly increase its own troop strength on the battle line. Some think that could be reinforcing the ongoing Kharkov-focused operation. Others are projecting a new battlefront in the Sumy region. Still others think the Russians will soon reinforce their operations along the line of contract, rolling up more territory and finally taking Chasiv Yar.
NATO leaders fear Ukraine’s collapse. While they are guessing what the Russians will do next, they are largely out of options to save Ukraine. Inserting NATO soldiers in relatively small numbers is not a solution. It only means that Europe will soon be filled with body bags.
NATO does not want to negotiate with Russia.
That goes especially for President Joe Biden, who fears going into the coming elections having lost Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Any deal with the Russians today would mean major concessions, not only on territory but about Ukraine’s future.
60
Why You Should Be Alarmed by the Wounds I Treated in Ukraine
Americans aren’t prepared for the calamitous injuries produced by modern conventional weapons.
By Jeff Colyer
I just returned from eastern Ukraine as one of the few volunteer surgeons to spend several weeks on call in the war zone, observing and training doctors.
The Ukrainian medics I met there are extraordinary, but I return with a cautionary tale. I’ve never seen the sheer number of complex and horrifying injuries Ukrainians are suffering. What’s happening in Europe should alert us to the toll of a potential conflict with Russia, China or North Korea. It would be magnitudes greater than anything America has seen in 70 years. Pray that the U.S. doesn’t have such a war.
It isn’t that I doubt the U.S. military would prevail. America would win. The problem is that the U.S. healthcare system—including the Health and Human Services Department, the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department—isn’t ready to handle large numbers of catastrophically wounded civilians and soldiers injured by artillery, drones, hypersonics and glide bombs.
I have volunteered in several conflicts and disasters. Over the years I’ve worked in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Libya, Central America, Syria, Jordan, Armenia, Pakistan and elsewhere. At one point I was the only surgeon in southern Rwanda during the genocide that killed nearly a million people. But war in 2024 is worse than it used to be—especially for civilians.
Mechnikov Hospital in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro is similar to a major American university hospital that handles big cases such as breast cancer and stroke. Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, every new war casualty gets a number written on his left arm in magic marker. While I was there, that number hit 28,000. In 20 years of the war in Afghanistan, 20,149 Americans were wounded and 2,354 killed in action.
40
Just like in Vietnam!
60
CO2 Lover,
From Pages 67/68
David Sabben’s book “Through Enemy Eyes” is a fictionalized account of the events leading up to the Battle of Long Tan, a significant battle fought during the Vietnam War. The book is written from the perspective of an Australian platoon leader, drawing on Sabben’s own experiences as a survivor of the battle.
“How will theyoperate?” Tien, the opeartiosn leader asked.
“let me tell you what I can of Australia Tactics – Unlike the Americans, the Australians operate on a small scale and prefer longer timeframes.
The Americans arrive in force, move quickly and leave.
Wherever Australians have been responsible for their own sector, they split up into many small patrols and go slowly and quietly in the area. If they can, they return to areas they have already been. They do not keep regular routes or routines. They do not move on tracks or camp beside water.
When they patrol, they keep loose formation and do not gather up. They often use some camouflage but rarely are they heavily camouflaged.
They are silent on patrols and do not talk, smoke, play music or fire their weapons at will.
Their Fire Control is as good as ours
We can get the Imperialists or especially the Puppet Forces, to expend their ammunition in the first hour of a firefight, when we will have only used one or two magazines each.
The Australian Mercenaries appear to be like us and will conserve ammunition where they can
20
Buyers of this book have also asked about my first book “THROUGH ENEMY EYES” (published in 2005 and now out of print). A ‘faction’ account of how Long Tan came about as seen through the eyes of the enemy commanders.
https://www.sabben.com/through%20enemy%20eyes.html
I have a few copies left – please drop me an email at [email protected] for a copy. ($30, no postage cost if ordered with MID book).
10
It’s become a war of attrition. A war of attrition is one the west cannot win. On the Eastern Front during WW2, the Germans had superior weapons and training. They enjoyed a 6:1 kill ratio and still lost.
I recall two years ago, starry eyed westerner’s were talking about how because of Russia’s heavy casualties that their troops and their people would rise up and depose Putin. That’s not what has happened.
30
TdeF,
By which measure the USA wasn’t significantly involved in Vietnam. Hmm.
An alternative reading of body counts is how callous the leaders are about the deaths of their own citizens. Seems fair enough that Stalin and Hitler should be #1 and #2 on that score.
20
Russia has lost more men winning a “few” sq kms. of Ukraine than the US did clearing the Japanese from the Pacific. Allied armies today go to great lengths to recover dead and injured, and spend time and money training and equipping them well.
Tables don’t copy well but here goes:
Total casualties in Asia and the Pacific by nation and type
Nation
Killed or missing
Wounded
Prisoners of war
Civilian deaths
Australia
9,470 13,997 21,726
China
4,000,000
3,000,000
18,000,000
India1
6,860 24,200
68,890 2,000,000
Japan
1,740,000 94,000 41,4402
393,400
Netherlands East Indies
37,000
4,000,000
Philippines
1,000,000
United Kingdom1 5,670 12,840 50,016
United States
111,606 253,142 21,580
01
Even then the US had absolute control of the air. Napalm. Carpet bombing. B52s. Phantoms. Rockets. Agent Orange. But you cannot fight a civil war when you cannot tell foe from friend and you are the outsider to both. Wars can be fought from the air but they are won on the ground, unless you resort to Atomic weapons.
30
I didn’t go to uni so never have to apologise for being anti-communist.
50
In 1962-1965 no problems in Sydney Uni Engineering
10
If you were at uni 1962 you were either bright enough to get a scholarship or had a rich Dad. Maybe both, but good on ‘ya.
Uni certainly wasn’t a repository for professional students then.
00
Dad died when 14 Months old – grew up in single parent household – B’Poor
Commonwealth Bursary year 3, year 6 for high school, Intermediate to take to Leaving Certificate 1961
Commonwealth Scholarship 1961
30
Almost everyone was on a merit based scholarship. Which made sense as it was a meritocracy then. It cost Whitlam nothing to make it free. But produced an explosion in university attendance which ripped the heart out of the trades. Only 10% of degrees were science. And that dropped even further. Which is why so many believed Flannery’s science fiction. He was a graduate in English from Latrobe when it was just cows in paddocks. How he talked his way into science is a miracle of sorts. Which is not a compliment, but part of the new who cares attitude of University as a business with a profit motive, not academic excellence.
40
Ozzie,
I was at St Paul’s Sydney 3rd year Engineering before a car crash changed it all. Got there via my Dad getting me interviews for RAAF Pt Cook in 1959. In those days Uni was just study, study, exam, study .… It was difficult, but by later life proved worth the effort.
I have kept copies of Science exam papers of the 1960s. Physics in particular dwelt on big topics like quantum theory and spectrometry and atomic and molecular structure. Math was behind most of it. You failed the degree if you could not keep up with the math.
In hindsight, a big lesson from 1960s Science and Engineering is that you benefit greatly from rigorous use of math and past major principles like Laws of Thermodynamics. If you make up your own ideas you whiteant the strict and proper science on which real progress is based. This is why, from the start, I despised this cockoo in the nest of purity named climate change. Geoff S
00
Hippies Then, and Hippies Now
There has never seemed, to me, terribly much to celebrate about the anti-war protests in the late 1960s, though I’ve found it fascinating over the course of my life to hear people suggest that protesting the Vietnam War was some momentous act of courage by the participants, or some such.
I’ll admit to harboring a natural bias on the subject.
My father fought in that war, and he thankfully returned home and was able to raise our family. He was also entirely convinced by the experience and by his life as a citizen that America’s stance against communist aggression in Vietnam was entirely justified, even though the war wasn’t prosecuted appropriately by the political class.
He instilled that understanding in me at an early age, and my years in college studying history, along with the ensuing decades of earnest study, have only further convinced me that my father is correct. And it wasn’t for a lack of my trying to look for reasons that my father could have been wrong, I assure you.
The 1960s hippies have been reimagined as heroes in the past half century, and for reasons that are likely to always elude me.
But somehow, pro-Hamas protestors across America today have managed to make those crying hippies at Woodstock actually seem committed, if not heroic.
These adult children are often affluent, and are nearly always ungrateful specimens who lack any knowledge whatsoever of the conflict in which they’ve chosen as the focus of their current passion.
They have claimed to be victims of human rights abuses as a result of college officials refusing to provide vegan and gluten-free dishes for protestors who are illegally occupying public buildings, or perhaps most hilariously, committing to hunger strikes that are shorter than a typical daily fasting regimen that has become wildly popular these days among fitness enthusiasts.
The current theatrics of pro-Hamas protestors and their Marxist pied-pipers in academia is nothing more than performative therapy to assuage their manufactured, self-imposed Western guilt.
50
Interesting thing about medals [see attached clipping in link]. All four of us brothers served, the oldest got his wings in 1945 but never flew a combat mission so lied that he had experience in boats and saw the war out on the crash boats in north PNG.
Next oldest did 15 years and was in ‘Nam before the Army, seconded to a US airfield construction squadron. The only shot he saw fired in anger was the crazy Yanks shooting at spiders in the tent.
The one after that did 20 yrs and I did 8. NONE of us have a medal of any sort. If someone called me a “veteran” or said “Thank you for your service” I would be embarrassed.
00
Zelensky failing to win over Asian countries – WaPo
Kiev is seeking to secure support for its ‘peace formula’
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has largely failed in his attempts to drum up support among Asian countries for his peace formula, ahead of a conference in Switzerland later this month, the Washington Post reported on Monday. Moscow has dismissed Kiev’s roadmap for ending the conflict as unrealistic because it does not correspond to “realities on the ground.”
On Sunday, Zelensky made an appearance at the Shangri-La Dialogue annual security conference in Singapore. He met with several senior officials from the region, including Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto as well as the president and prime minister of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Lawrence Wong.
“We want Asia to know what is going on in Ukraine, Asia to support the end of the war,” Zelensky said at a news conference.
According to the Washington Post, however, Kiev has “failed to generate in Asia the same sort of emotional, existential angst that it has in much of the West.”
Part of the reason may be that Asian nations have long been skeptical about the West “preaching about the international order and universal values,” the newspaper writes.
The media outlet quoted Raja Mohan from the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore as explaining that “realists in the chancelleries [of parts of Asia] never believed the [Western] rhetoric because they always knew there was a difference between what the West said and what it did.”
30
‘Does not make any sense’: Sky News host calls out ‘welcome to country’
Sky News host Liz Storer has ridiculed the Department of Justice and Attorney-General after reports revealed staff were asked to remove their shoes and “wiggle their toes” as part of a welcome to country during an award ceremony.
“Were they even outside or were they asked to do this – because it’s an award ceremony – unless you’re outside that doesn’t even make any sense,” Ms Storer said.
“I want to know how many brown-beaten bureaucrats were like ‘well I guess we got to’.”
90
Bill Shorten’s ‘speech writer’ paid ‘more than most sitting MPs’
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten called out for ‘inexcusable’ $620k taxpayer spend on speechwriter
Senate Estimates has been rocked by revelations Government Services Minister Bill Shorten is using $620,000 in taxpayer funds to hire a speechwriter for Services Australia, despite the agency already boasting a more than 180-person strong communications team.
Government Services Minister Bill Shorten is using as much as $620,000 in taxpayer funds to employ a speechwriter for Services Australia, despite the agency already boasting a communications team of more than 180 people.
The revelation rocked a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday, with several Liberal Senators expressing shock at the amount and Special Minister of State Don Farrell conceding he was unaware of any other Ministers employing a similar specialist in their portfolios.
Senators at the hearing were told Mr Shorten had employed Julianne Stewart, who has formerly worked for Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull, on a two-year contract with Services Australia.
According to the government’s AusTender website, the Sydney-based speechwriter has been paid $447,516 so far for her work after her contract was extended into a second year last September.
“Bill Shorten has decided, although he says it was not his decision, to have a speech writer being paid $300,000 a year,” Ms Storer said.
“This is more than most sitting MPs, their base salary does not come near that.”
From the Comments
– And he is responsible for the management of the NDIS , which will go down in history as the biggest honey pot in history. I saw a NDIS worker drive up to our local park with a client, in a sports Mercedes. Now I hope our taxes aren’t paying for that car.
90
That speech writer is gonna need to work much harder than the sitting MP’s … if the plan is to make Bill Shorten sound impressive.
110
Tel,
Not everyone can polish bovine excrement . It will soon be a degree subject as ignoring reality is getting increasingly difficult .
80
More evidence that the Albanese government is morally bankrupt.
Shorten also overseas massive fraud in the NDIS
50
If the $$$ was for a speech therapist, I would probably go along with it.
40
” the agency already boasting a communications team of more than 180 people.”
Govt soaking up the unemployables…
“formerly worked for Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull,”
She’s a good-looking lady with great curves!
50
‘It’s a simple question’: Bill Shorten in fiery interview with ACA host Ally Langdon
Government minister Bill Shorten got tetchy in a confrontational interview with A Current Affair host Ally Langdon on Monday.
The government minister responsible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Bill Shorten, has defended his record in a heated interview with A Current Affair.
Mr Shorten, a former leader of the Labor Party, appeared on the Channel 9 program on Monday night. His interview was preceded by a story outlining complaints against an NDIS provider named Denise Clissold.
“He’s been dodging us for months,” ACA host Ally Langdon said of Mr Shorten.
“NDIS Minister Bill Shorten finally fronts. And I’ve got plenty of your questions.”
Langdon confronted Mr Shorten regarding providers that “owe the system millions of dollars” while their clients are “left on the street”.
“What you’re saying then is that she can take on vulnerable clients until you finish this investigation, which could take months. I mean, who knows how long?” said Langdon.
“Aren’t we protecting the wrong person here?”
“I’m not protecting them,” Mr Shorten said.
“But she’s not banned. She’s not even suspended, Minister,” the host responded.
“Yes, you said that before, and I got that,” said Mr Shorten.
“We’re talking to each other now. And let’s think about the people at home who want answers about the NDIS. What we’re hearing from people writing in: it’s not fast enough. We get emails about the NDIS every single day.”
“That’s a fair point,” Mr Shorten said.
“People are coming to us as a last resort, because they don’t feel the system listens to them,” Langdon concluded.
“But you know what? You actually make a fair point. And I did say earlier, I’m grateful for you exposing this stuff,” Mr Shorten said.
Langdon then pivoted to the revelation, reported on Monday, that Mr Shorten’s speech writer was being paid $310,000 a year. She framed it around the issue of “clamping down on waste and fraud”.
“Is it appropriate that you’re spending more than $620,000 on a speech writer over two years?” she asked him, adding that it was “a bad look”.
50
Reader Doubtful John writes to Bill Shorten about Shorten’s $600,000 speechwriter
Minister Shorten,
Did you really contract a speech writer for 2 years at $300K per annum when you had access to Senior Speech Writers at Services Australia?
$600K for two years?
Would want to be William fkn Shakespeare for that coin.
You’re hunting down people scamming the NDIS.
Look in a mirror you b@stard
90
$310,000 per year to write speeches for a man who is rarely seen giving speeches. What does he/she do all day?
And still some people wonder why the Australian public service supports Labor so fiercely.
50
Preparation for the Night of the Long Knives to remove Labor Left’s man Albo the Commie and have Bill from Labor Right step up.
40
Drugs, alcohol, rent, holidays and cars: Integrity chief reveals dodgy NDIS spending
Dodgy providers have used the National Disability Insurance Scheme to take participants to ATMs to withdraw cash for illicit drugs including heroin, cocaine and ice.
Others are encouraging people to use their NDIS funding for holidays worth tens of thousands of dollars, or spend it on alcohol, rent, gift vouchers and lifestyle purchases. In one case, a participant used their plan to buy a $73,000 car while another spent $240,000 a year on personal expenses including rent.
The revelations from the scheme’s integrity chief at Monday night’s budget estimates hearing add to a complex debate about how to weed out bad practice and limit growth of the $45 billion scheme – the federal government’s second-largest budget expense – without taking choice and control away from people with disabilities.
In a fiery late-night hearing, the NDIS head of fraud and integrity John Dardo said at least 5 per cent of the scheme – more than $2 billion – was being spent in error. “There would be thousands of cases where participants are claiming things that are not consistent with their plan,” he said.
Dardo gave another example where a participant on a $480,000-a-year plan would put in a $40,000 claim for each month. “When we do the integrity work we find out he only has costs of $20,000 … but because his plan is $480,000, he claims the whole amount,” he said.
“The other $20,000 goes to his mortgage or his bank account or his cost of living. I can’t break that down into how much he spends on alcohol or a pet or something else because there is no way to unpack that.”
30
“The scheme was designed with the best intent, you talk to anyone who was there at the beginning … What nobody planned on, when there’s such a big pot of money there, [was that] it would attract behaviours, risks, things that weren’t there before,” Dardo said.
Dardo said looming changes to the scheme – which will tighten the way providers are regulated and revolutionise how plan budgets are allocated – were causing angst for participants whose providers had said they could access rent subsidies, alcohol, other lifestyle expenses and gift vouchers through the scheme.
“The participants … have grown accustomed to that as a standard of living, or they have signed leases on the understanding that was the lifestyle they would enjoy.
And saying, ‘Sorry, you cannot keep claiming that money to subsidise that type of spend’, you can imagine some of our participants are having their standard of living disrupted.”
30
Queensland public servants asked to take off shoes and wiggle their toes during Welcome to Country
A Welcome to Country during an event for public servants has raised eyebrows after staff were asked to take part in an unusual way.
Frank Chung
Public servants in Queensland have reportedly been left scratching their heads after being asked to take part in a Welcome to Country ceremony in an unusual way.
Staff with the Department of Justice and Attorney-General attending a recent awards ceremony “were asked to take their shoes off, wiggle their toes and close their eyes so they would feel more connected to the Earth”, The Courier-Mail reported on Sunday.
According to the newspaper, the request “raised eyebrows among some staff, who questioned whether it would become a regular occurrence”.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice and Attorney-General confirmed on Tuesday that “an Acknowledgment of Country was conducted at the event
It comes after a social media user last week claimed they had been left shocked at a Welcome to Country during a job interview.
Posting on Reddit about the “weird” experience, the person said they had been applying for a customer service role at a Brisbane-based insurance company when the hiring manager “took it upon himself” to perform the Welcome to Country at the start of a “very small” group interview with fewer than five candidates.
30
Same at a very major iron ore company office in Perth. Every Powerpoint meeting my daughter does for management needs a ‘welcome to country’ and ‘acknowledgement to the original people’ slide at the beginning of her talk. Not her choice, but ordered through a memo by their HR department. Unfortunately, there is no acknowledgement to the white Americans who designed the first version of a slide presentation program called ‘Presenter.’
50
Making people perform ever more weird tasks to see how gullible and pliable they are
what as the Benny Hill line? stick your finger in your ear and go Ting Aling Aloo!!
you white mob are so funny
20
I follow a certain conservative YouTuber and I just noticed YT have unsubscribed me from her without my permission for the eight time.
They are really doing their best to silence people who don’t follow the Official Narrative.
140
David,
remember YouTube is owned by Alphabet/Google & their ChatGPT/Gemini has shown their total Bias
I use Microsoft CoPilot, check Rumble as YouTube alternate, Brave and Firefox as main browsers only use Chrome because antipaywall works on it, but use Microsoft Bing as the search engine on Chrome
Alphabet/Google are evil personnified!
40
Thanks, that’ll be useful.
40
‘Ask his fans’: Albanese slammed over MP pay rise and Aussie power bill relief
On tonight’s episode of Paul Murray Live, Sky News host Paul Murray discusses Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, President Biden, Donald Trump, and more.
Sky News host Paul Murray slams Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over his “biggest pay rise in ten years” followed by $25 a month to households to help with power bills.
“Just ask him, just ask the press gallery, just ask his fans, this is a man who has changed Australia for the better,” Mr Murray said.
“With Albonomics we have seen … MPs get the biggest pay rise in ten years … but you should be thankful to the government because they are sending $25 a month … around Australia to help with their power bills.”
70
And that $25 having been taxed from us in the first place, at least from those few people left who are net taxpayers and not net tax consumers.
90
Andrew Giles slammed after blaming department for false information about drones tracking released detainees
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has come under fire from Sky News Australia Political Editor Andrew Clennell who lambasted the under-fire frontbencher’s false claim the government was using drones to track released detainees.
James Harrison Digital Reporter
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has “got to go” after blaming his department for false information about drones being used to track released detainees, Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell said.
Calls for Mr Giles’ axing have mounted over the past few weeks when information arose about foreign offenders, including a convicted child rapist, being allowed to stay in Australia under Labor’s Direction 99, which will be revised by the minister.
The detainee saga worsened for the Labor MP after he told Sky News on Thursday his department was using drones to monitor detainees released into the community from the High Court NZYQ ruling, only to backflip on claim just before Question Time on Monday.
“I relied on information provided by my Department at the time, which has since been clarified,” he said.
Mr Giles’ blunder drew the ire of Clennell who questioned why the Immigration Minister remained in his job after repeated stuff ups.
“He’s got to go. I mean, you can’t be saying things that just aren’t true and then blaming your department,” Clennell said on Politics Now.
“How can this guy stay in this job? In all my 20 plus years covering politics (and) 30 years as a journalist, there’s only one outcome from this, and that’s that Andrew Giles loses his job.
“You cannot carry someone like this. If you do as a leader then you end up going down with them. It’s as simple as that.”
70
Andrew Giles slammed after blaming department for false information about drones tracking released detainees
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has come under fire from Sky News Australia Political Editor Andrew Clennell who lambasted the under-fire frontbencher’s false claim the government was using drones to track released detainees.
James Harrison Digital Reporter
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles has “got to go” after blaming his department for false information about drones being used to track released detainees, Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell said.
Calls for Mr Giles’ axing have mounted over the past few weeks when information arose about foreign offenders, including a convicted child r@pist, being allowed to stay in Australia under Labor’s Direction 99, which will be revised by the minister.
The detainee saga worsened for the Labor MP after he told Sky News on Thursday his department was using drones to monitor detainees released into the community from the High Court NZYQ ruling, only to backflip on claim just before Question Time on Monday.
“I relied on information provided by my Department at the time, which has since been clarified,” he said.
Mr Giles’ blunder drew the ire of Clennell who questioned why the Immigration Minister remained in his job after repeated stuff ups.
“He’s got to go. I mean, you can’t be saying things that just aren’t true and then blaming your department,” Clennell said on Politics Now.
“How can this guy stay in this job? In all my 20 plus years covering politics (and) 30 years as a journalist, there’s only one outcome from this, and that’s that Andrew Giles loses his job.
“You cannot carry someone like this. If you do as a leader then you end up going down with them. It’s as simple as that.”
40
From The Australian – Number of days since Giles’ last blunder: 0
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles concedes he was wrong to claim detainees were being monitored by drones, as it emerges New Zealand diplomats were constantly approaching Home Affairs officials to influence his ill-fated Direction 99.
50
The Australian Yet Again – When Giles’s lips are moving, he is liable to be making a mistake
And after making a mistake you can be assured that the next time the Immigration Minister’s lips are moving he will be blaming someone for his error.
60
The Hits keep Coming – The Australian – When Giles’s lips are moving, he is liable to be making a mistake
And after making a mistake you can be assured that the next time the Immigration Minister’s lips are moving he will be blaming someone for his error.
30
It’s Hit a Giles Pinata today at The Australian – Giles boasted of ‘obligations’ to foreign criminals
Andrew Giles boasted to refugee activists that his ill-fated Direction 99 would ‘reflect our obligations’ to foreign-born criminals.
20
Noticing
“Massive Australian Truck Convoy Protests Live Sheep Export Ban”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/massive-australian-truck-convoy-protests-live-sheep-export-ban
90
One Party suddenly bans it, the other Party says they will reinstate it.. What happens to hundreds of millions of dollars tied up in very specialised ships in the meantime??
The moment Govt interferes in business it just costs everyone else money!
60
If you can make the time, listen to this 33-minute audio interview in which Dr Peter McCullough discusses covid vaccines, gain of function, the WHO, bird flu, spike proteins, long covid, and more.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/06/dr-peter-mccullough-joins-rose-unplugged-who-plans/
30
How About Divesting In Universities?
Today’ game for masochists – find the word “professor” and do a quick net search for them. Results may include
(If you scroll down a bit to “view more” you can see the grants she has received) $20,000,000+ !!!!
And if you scroll down a bit more to “Research Activities” you’ll find another $30,000,000, which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is money well spent. Even though 6.3 + 24.7 is $31,000,000.
20
Can anyone recommend classic Australian literature from the past? I’d like to read some proper historical tales of Australia before these books inevitably get banned.
30
Some classic novels are considered to be:
For the Term of His Natural Life
My Brilliant Career
Robbery Under Arms
Such Is Life
The Fortunes of Richard Mahony
The Harp in the South
Try and get earlier editions as later versions of any classic is subject to rewording or censorship.
Also
Histories by Geoffrey Blainey and Manning Clark.
Diaries of early explorers, originals, not modern transcriptions as they might be censored.
81
You scored a red thumb first! What on earth was offensive?
I love Blainey’s insightful and thoughtful work but not Manning Clark, the mandated school historian of the 1960s.
And the original two books by escaped convict William Buckley about his life as an aboriginal as published when he was alive, not the latest ‘interpretations’ edited by none other than truth teller Tim Flannery. You get a much more interesting and fairer and unique view of aboriginal life in Victoria, unsullied by revisionism. And fascinating.
111
And on the subject of Aboriginal life, such as it was, is The Lizard Eaters by Douglas Lockwood, non-fiction, 1964.
I’m not sure if modern editions have been censored or altered, best to get an original.
50
Another classic to consider
The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie With drawings by Nicholas Garland
Humphries, Barry
60
Capricornia – Xavier Herbert
Poor Fellow My Country – Xavier Herbert
Power Without Glory – Frank Hardy
Anything by Arthur W Upfield.
All of these ‘paint a picture’ of Australia. Good luck finding them, as they’re not at all trendy any more.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of all were in fact the crime Fiction novels of Upfield’s Detective Inspector Bonaparte novels, 29 in all, and each one incorporating so much more than just the actual investigation.
I have reviews of all 29 of these Upfield novels at this link
At that link, the novels start from the last one at the top, and backwards from that to the first of them at the bottom of page 2 of that link. The first was published was in 1929, and the last in 1966, two years after he passed away.
Tony.
70
A Town Like Alice.
40
I enjoyed Bill Bryson’s “Down Under”.
.
Ion Idriess wrote some good stories about actual people and events. Although these couple of examples might not be the sort of Australian History you’re after, they’re good books.
Horrie the Wog Dog – story about Australian Soldiers in Egypt and their friendship with a dog that travels with them. A good yarn and probably will get banned because of the title.
The Cattle King – About Sir Sidney Kidman born in SA in the 1850’s. Left home as a kid and established himself as grazier.
50
A couple of days ago I mentioned Ion Idriess was getting some reissues. His only novels were Drums of Mer and The Red Chief. They give a picture of life before the West arrived, written by someone who had extensive contact with Indigenous peoples, barely touched by whites. His writings were so popular, he was despised by the literati. Over the Range, In Crocodile Land, Coral Sea Calling. Books on how white settlement came about – Back O’ Cairns, Men of the Jungle. Some chapters would make great short stories. Grittier than an outback dunny.
20
“The Gunbarrel Highway” by Len Beadle, he made the first roads through the deserts to WA in the 1950s.
“The Nullarbor Kid” by Ray Gilleland, he was a heavy trucking pioneer when the railways ruled the country and he started Syd-Melb then Syd-Perth.
30
That must have been quite a truck journey for Ray. Even in the mid-60s, most of the Eyre Highway was still dirt. As far I know, it was dirt from Norseman in WA, until around Port Augusta in SA.
The book is still available – have tracked down a copy.
10
Most of the original old dirt Eyre Hwy is still accessable running parallel to the “modern” surfaced Highway. It is a popular “nostalgia” trip for off road fans.
There is also a (well maintained) dirt road direct from Norseman to Perth via Hyden, avoiding the long detour north via Coolgardie….
10
As I lived on the Nullarbor for a couple of years, I used to often travel the dirt sections. I would leave my “home” at around 4:30 in the afternoon, travel first on a long track then the dirt sections of the highway, finally reaching the bitumen at 2am in the morning. Ok when dry but horrendous when raining at night. And as the large holes in the road, at least a foot deep, were marked with black star pickets in the middle, it was interesting dodging around these at night. When I first drove out there, there was only 130 miles of bitumen out of Norseman, the rest all dirt. And as they were preparing to bitumise, they weren’t bothering to maintain the dirt sections.
00
I have the complete set
Collection set of all six books by Len Beadell: Too Long in the Bush, Blast the Bush, Bush Bashers, Still in the Bush, Beating About the Bush, End of an Era.
00
Thanks for the list. Have noted their titles and will chase them down.
00
Picture proves EV market is in trouble
A parking lot full of unsold Tesla cars has confirmed what many people have been thinking for a while…
A picture of a parking lot full of unsold Teslas has shone a light on the electric vehicles market, which isn’t as robust as manufacturers would like to believe.
Around 2000 Teslas arrive at Port Melbourne every month but there’s no buyers to take them home.
Peter Anderson, of the Victorian Transport Association, told 7News: “All of a sudden we’ve got a huge backlog of Teslas that aren’t moving.
“Teslas usually come into this country pre-sold. These ones aren’t, they’re sitting here waiting for buyers.”
Tesla sales tanked 44 per cent in April despite recent price cuts in a bid to compete with a growing Chinese EV market.
A brand new Tesla Model Y is now $11,400 cheaper and they aren’t the only ones cutting prices.
The Peugeot e2008 has been given a massive cut from $63,000 to $39,990. On the lower end of the market, a GWM Ora is down 20 per cent to $35,990.
Overall EV car sales dipped five per cent in April after booming year on year growth for the past three years.
Car experts say the industry is struggling to expand beyond the early adopter phase
120
A few comments.
1 First Elon Musk gambled on Moore’s law applying to everything. CPU speed, CPU density, Internet speed, internet content, internet access. In all cases he was right. So the Tesla is a miracle of computing, cameras and complexity.
However the essential battery technology has hardly changed in energy density in twenty years. This shows that computers can get smaller, faster, smarter, cheaper as they have done for decades, but your primary energy source is still useless for trucks, long distances and far too expensive and the cars are far too heavy.
2 Ford USA say that every electric car they sell means a loss of $US100,000. That cannot continue.
3 Savagely dropping new car prices is VERY bad news for reasons no one considers. A lot of buyers are middle class or business. And cars are often leased as part of a wage package. But who can take a vehicle as surety for a loan if they drop 50% in value in the first year? That’s not the resale value but the replacement value! Resale value will of course be a write off. And no banker wants to start taking house mortgages to finance cars which can become unsaleable overnight.
The days when you can sell a new Porsche for more than you paid for it are gone. The Porsche Taycan can drop 50% in a year. That’s a lot of cash and your lease costs go up and you are buying thin air, not an asset. So what has Porsche done? Announced a battery 911!
4. Insurance will go through the roof as it becomes clear that electric cars can be written off with just minor damage involving the battery which is a structural element.
5. Hertz has found with 30,000 of them that maintenance costs are double, despite many fewer working parts. Partly as the massive weight increase is damaging the suspension, steering, tyres, brakes. They have also found no one wants to rent the things. Who wants a high speed business trip to be ruined by a flat battery? Worse, whether salesman or consultant, blaming failure on your choice of an electric car would destroy your credibility.
6. The honeymoon period with governments is ending. They will come for higher road taxes/registration, special rates for car electricity if only to pay for the grid changes, cost of charging stations, and of course a lot more windmills plus Snowy II.
7. A lot of the electric cars are sold as toy second cars only to upper middle class virtue signallers. This market segment is near saturated. And there are too few ultra rich. The rest of the population need cars for every day travel and will never buy electric. Such cars have all the appeal of transvestite Bud Light beer but rhymes with banker.
8. As battery cars continue to spontaneously combust destroying car parks and ferries and streets of cars, we will start to see signs banning them from vulnerable locations like tunnels, ferries, underground car parks which can be destroyed by a single car with a fire which cannot be extinguished. Who wants a car you cannot park?
180
The Biggest Problem with EVs is that corrupt and clueless politicians are trying to force people to buy them.
No one was forced to buy a Model T Ford or a VW Beetle. These were best sellers because they provide reliable and affordable transportation.
More than 15,000,000 Model T’s were built and sold. In May 1927 a ceremony was held to honor the end of production of the Model T. It was the end of an era. While the vehicle is more than 100 years old, its legacy is timeless and they still command high prices in good condition.
https://www.classic.com/m/ford/model-t/year-1920/
The Beetle was conceived in the early 1930s. The leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, decided there was a need for a people’s car to serve Germany’s new road network, the Reichsautobahn. The German engineer Ferdinand Porsche and his design team began developing and designing the car in the early 1930s. But the fundamental design concept can be attributed to Béla Barényi in 1925, predating Porsche’s claims by over five years.
On 17 February 1972, the world car production record was broken by the Beetle, with a total of 15,007,034 units produced worldwide, thereby surpassing the production figure that had been held by the American Ford Model T for nearly fifty years.
All told, more than 23 million Beetle vehicles were sold worldwide.
Currently for sale in Australia a low mileage 1963 Volkswagen Beetle 1200 Manual (more than the cost of a Model 3 Tesla!)
$65,000
Excl. Govt. Charges
24,500 km
Sedan
Manual
4cyl 1200L Petro
90
“The leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, decided there was a need for a people’s car to serve Germany’s new road network, the Reichsautobahn.”
He lied. As usual. The real design was for the war, fast, light and air cooled for the deserts of North Africa on his insistence. Kubelwaggens and amphibious Shwimwagen and staff cars and machine gun buggies. 55,000 in total. There were virtually no people’s cars manufactured.
The two lies were that as the Reich ran out of money, workers would get a free car. A People’s Car, Volks Wagen and a free annual holiday on the Baltic. The huge holiday apartments PRORA were built some two miles long but it was all deceit. It was a way to get German workers working hard for the military. And war was inevitable as the Reich needed the cash, the oil stores in the invaded countries and all the slave workers.
It is also interesting that in reparations after the war Australia was offered the rights to manufacture the Volkswagen, but we turned it down. Volkswagen became the world’s most popular car until passed by the Toyota Corolla in the 1970s. In the 1956 Mobilgas trial around Australia, 11, nearly half the cars which actually finished were Volkswagens. My father drove in this. He said the Volkswagens which finished had so many parts replaced they were not the cars which started.
91
Volkswagen Australia Ltd was formed in 1957 by Volkswagen AG of Germany and various Australian state Volkswagen distributors. The company acquired the vehicle assembly facilities of Martin & King at Clayton in Victoria, that site having been used for local assembly of the Volkswagen Beetle since 1954.
By 1960, locally manufactured body panels were integrated for the first time. Despite the introduction of larger windows for the European Type One body in 1965, Volkswagen Australia opted to maintain production of the smaller-windowed bodies with features tailored for Australian models. This decision was influenced by the constraints of the market size and the expenses associated with retooling. By this juncture, Australian content had surged to nearly 95 per cent. The final Australian-assembled Beetle rolled off the production line in July 1976.
https://richmonds.com.au/portfolio/1957-volkswagen-beetle-oval-window/
40
Thanks. But we would have owned the rights world wide!
The same in WW1 when on declaration of war Britain grabbed all the patents. Two chemists bid on the Bayer patent for Aspirin and Aspro was created. The Nicholas family.
The value of ownership of the IP is incredible. The biggest patent filing groups in the US are Google, Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Ibm. It’s all about owning the IP. In Australia few do. Without patents all new ideas are immediately stolen. In fact the Korean Government/Samsung paid more than $US6Billion in fines to rip off Apple. It worked. Apple went from 90% market share to 10%.
But getting Australians to make cars? Many came in an failed, beaten by our unions. Toyota even paid out three years wages in advance for nothing just to have the right to leave the country.
70
“failed, beaten by our unions.”
Always! Story of the West, start clever, work hard, get wealthier, unions arrive, production crippled, people unemployed and bosses set up factories overseas. I think its just a natural evolution of countries really, after exporting their production they live on the capital built up by their forefathers as the culture declines. Look at the UK today.
20
I wouldn’t give you a “thank you” for a 1200 beetle – I hate them. Death traps.
It was the 1500 Mazda and 1600 Datsun which toppled it. I knew a VW salesman who couldn’t understand why the Mazda had such good resale value. Simple: Better cars by a country mile.
Those two cars changed the car market in Oz forever. The Corolla picked up the batten and ran with it.
Sorry about the sound quality:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGKX6wxoMOA
20
It’s also a good thing that EVs are in decline because as the power stations continue to be systematically shut down, there won’t be enough electricity to charge them anyway.
It will come to a choice of either having EVs or keeping the lights on.
Come to think of it, that IS indeed the plan as Leftists don’t want non-Elites to drive anyway.
I’d say just about everyone who wants an EV for virtue signaling or poseur purposes already has one.
80
How often have I said that?
40
Hyundai says battery life and resale uncertainty is harming EV uptake
A top car company executive says consumer and dealer uncertainty around resale values and battery life are threatening the growth of electric vehicles.
Hyundai believes uncertainty over residual values and battery longevity are eroding consumer confidence around electric vehicles.
The brand, which was one of the early pioneers for EVs in the local market, is less than bullish about the used EV market in the wake of recent heavy discounting by rivals.
Hyundai chief operating officer, John Kett, said recent discounting of electric vehicles was “disturbing” the EV market, while at the same time car dealers and customers were unclear about what the long-term future of an EV might look like.
“If everyone pushes a certain way (on pricing) we might have to respond but residuals are key, the second life of the EV is something I think we’re all trying to try to work our way through to give consumers confidence that an EV does have a life beyond its eight-year battery warranty,” he said.
50
For all that time I have been arguing that batteries are commodities, not technology, thus will only get dearer over time.
Another reality hitting hard is the “Think of a price and double it” attitude of manufacturers towards parts. Who knows why, but the EV zealots thought that EV manufacturers would on-sell batteries at a 10% mark up.
50
FWIW – “A compassionate kill”
“Bumtree #24”
https://newcatallaxy.blog/2024/06/03/bumtree-24/
20
FWIW
“22.8 The Snowy2.0 Pumped Hydro Scheme”
https://www.flickerpower.com/index.php/search/categories/general/the-snowy2-0-pumped-hydro-scheme
A few years ago the “Christmas Turkey” got into trouble with “the Antarctic ice that wasn’t there”.
Looks like Snowy 2 might have problems with “the water that isn’t there”
But I suppose another round of “the dipsticks being in Canberra and the working fluid being somewhere else”?
60
The sorry story
The scheme was announced by PM Turnbull in 2017 with an estimated cost of about $2bn. The feasibility study in 2017 predicted a cost in the range of $3.8bn to $4.5bn and the scheme was expected to deliver power by late 2024.
Nowadays it is uncertain whether the scheme will ever be completed and cost estimates (including major transmission lines and a substantial wind fleet) run over $20 billion.
The scheme depends on pumping power from a fleet of wind turbines that is almost as large as the currently installed capacity of wind power in the NEM.
These additional facilities will cost in the order of $14bn, not counting the transmission lines.
Snowy Hydro’s own modelling anticipates annual generation in the order of 2.8 Terawatt hours.
The review of the project by Bowden and Brooking[1] has determined that for a cost of $8bn, the average sale price for the energy generated in the 50-year life of the scheme needs to be in the order of $450/MWh.
This is greatly in excess of the $135/MWh predicted in the business case.
The scheme depends on pumping power from a fleet of wind turbines that is almost as large as the currently installed capacity of wind power in the NEM. These additional environmentally destructive wind facilities will cost in the order of $14bn, not counting the transmission lines.
The scheme does not deliver a continuous flow of power because there is a pumping phase when water is moved from the lower reservoir to the upper level and a generation phase when the water runs down through the turbines. During the generation phase, a flow of 2000MW is specified.
Whilst unrealistic, this is the scale of a large coal-fired power station; however, because the flow is not continuous, the total output is significantly less than the output from a conventional power station.
This means that the wind turbines and the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro facility combined do not replace a single 2000MW (2GW) of coal power.
80
A silver lining of this is if/when the the pumped hydro scheme comes on line the coal fired power stations will have a market for their generation during daylight, when the duck curve is most pronounced. If set to 100% nameplate and let rip, such power stations really become efficient.
BTW Who told Turnbull that this would cost $2 bill? Did he pull this figure from where the sun never shines?
30
Nick Cater: Malcolm Turnbull’s dream for pumped hydro has hit a snag – and he wants your money to still make it happen
Pumped hydro is an expensive and damaging way to store energy, but tell that to Malcolm Turnbull – a seasoned businessman who should understand the financial limitations of the technology more than most, writes Nick Cater.
Almost nothing is going right in Australia’s quest to become the first country in the world to be powered entirely by renewable energy.
The Australian Energy Market Operator warned last week that the promised acceleration of investment in wind and solar energy isn’t happening.
Investment commitments last year were the lowest since the Clean Energy Council started tracking that metric in 2017.
Transmission projects are way behind schedule and are increasingly facing community resistance, just as they are in the US, where expensive wind and solar projects sit idle because they can’t be connected to the grid.
Even if investment starts to flow, there is still a fundamental technical challenge to overcome, one so obvious it shouldn’t need stating.
One person who should understand the drawbacks of pumped hydro better than most is Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s 29th Prime Minister and the father of Snowy Hydro 2.0.
Seven years ago, Turnbull called a press conference at Talbingo, NSW, to announce the feasibility study for what he said would be the biggest battery in the southern hemisphere.
The estimated cost of $3.5 billion could be financed out of Snowy Hydro’s existing profits.
“This is commercial,” he said.
“This will make money for Snowy Hydro. This is very bankable.”
Snowy Hydro 2.0 was initially scheduled to be completed this year.
The target date is now December 2028.
The delay hardly matters in one sense since the construction of Hume Link connecting the project has yet to begin.
The cost of HumeLink has also blown out to an estimated $5 billion, and since Snowy Hydro 2.0 cannot operate without it, the project’s actual cost is $17 billion.
CSIRO tells us that nuclear takes too long to build, but the time issue is somewhat relative – since Snowy Hydro 2.0 won’t be completed in under 11 years.
You might imagine that Turnbull might be quietly kicking himself for having made the wrong call.
He might be glaring at Finland’s Olkilouto 3 generator completed last year and suffering an attack of Pressurised Water Reactor envy.
Apparently not.
Last year, Turnbull called Peter Dutton “bonkers” for even considering nuclear.
“I’m not saying he’s a stupid person,” Turnbull told the Australian Clean Energy Summit, “But he says stupid things.”
“The reality is, it will not stack up in this country… It is the most expensive form of primary generation without any question.”
20
The expensive thing about nuclear is the capital cost.
Running it is relatively cheap.
Since the CSIRO puts the capital cost on par with Snowy Hydro 2.0, pumped hydro must be equally expensive.
The cost per unit of electricity supplied by pumped hydro will be several times higher than that from nuclear power since it only produces electricity part of the time.
It is little wonder that pumped hydro turned out to be less bankable than Turnbull optimistically assumed in 2017.
It is not bankable at all, which is why it requires so much government money.
The Queensland Government, for example, is paying an estimated $6 billion for the Borumba project in the state’s south-east.
Turnbull, a former merchant banker, understands the unbankability of pumped hydro better than most.
He is the founder of Turnbull Renewables, a new venture proposing to build a pumped hydro project in the Hunter Valley.
Last Wednesday, he spoke at the Energy Storage conference in Sydney, where he argued the Government’s Capacity Investment Scheme should be changed to allow it to provide government-backed loans for pumped hydro.
He said pumped hydro should be eligible for an up-front capacity payment to address the high upfront costs while acknowledging pumped hydro’s role in compensating for wind and solar droughts, or dunkelflauten as the Germans call them.
Rent-seeking is par for the course in the renewable energy sector.
The market has been driven by implicit subsidies from the beginning.
30
Yes, that was ONE possible conclusion amoungst several, dependant on variables .
EG. If SN2 has a life of 75+ years, that energy sale price could be well under $300/MWh .
And since the plant is designed to be a “peaker” supply, charging from surplus day time Solar or Wind, and discharging during pm/am peak demand periods….. an arbitrage of $300-$400++ is known to be possible.
In the 1950s there was no Solar or Wind generation on the grid, and no Roof top Solar to distort the generation and demand profiles.
It is those profile fluctuations that now make SN2 a much more practical proposition technically, and considering the SocioPolitical Green constraints, it is infact the MOST FINANCIALLY VIABLE option for grid scale storage !
Nuclear will not adress the peak /variable demand issues, and coal is politically non viable.
10
Remarkable. This why the idea was dumped in the 1950s. And now we are headed for 10x the cost, why are we continuing? It would be cheaper and potentially faster to build a nuclear power plant or high efficiency coal plants with the money. And they would generate real and steady electricity when we needed in a world where steady adequate reliable supply is the objective.
But not for Chris Bowen as he explained in his piece in the Australian Newspaper yesterday. His new argument against nuclear is that it cannot shut down enough to fully accommodate high variability solar and wind. So in his mind solar and wind are requirements of Australia, not solutions to a specific problem. The idea that with nuclear as in France we would do not need windmills at all has not entered his thinking.
My mind is boggled with Bowen’s idea that we are installing plastic windmills and solar as government policy and not for any specific reason. It seems he is running the Don Quixote department, defending windmills as essential.
100
Last night Sky News, The Late Debate program reported now published details in the Daily Mail of a private interview with former Chief Medical Advisor to the U.S. Anthony Fauci. “Dr. Anthony Fauci confesses he “made up” covid rules including 6 feet distancing and masking kids.” Joh Michael Raasch 3rd June, 2024.
He wasn’t aware of any studies that supported social distancing or child mask wearing.
So as it all begins to unravel.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13490279/anthony-fauci-science-social-distancing-covid-origins.html
70
All of these inquiries and committees are simply repeating themselves no, exposing little that’s new. Nothing has or will happen as a consequence. It’s just bread and circuses.
30
FWIW – more covid scene
“Fauci, NIH Scientists Hid $710 Million in Pharma Royalties”
https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/06/03/fauci-nih-scientists-hid-710-million-in-pharma-royalties-n3789584
40
You can’t get a job there if you’re NOT a storyteller
20
Brilliant.
I wholeheartedly support the actions of Victoria Police during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
I firmly believe that the protestors (including women and children) were entirely deserving of the physical consequences they faced. pic.twitter.com/ijtEkBVg8c
— Anthony Albanese ➐ Australian Labor Parody (@AlboIsPM) May 11, 2024
80
“Defund the police!”
20
No, fire and prosecute the bosses. They lied for Daniel Andrews. Especially with the complete nonsense of lockdown security with students hired over the internet. And the refusal to accept help from the army, who were ready to serve. We are not at war.
70
Ain’t gonna happen. Australia was in the top 5 weapons importers in 2022 – there is no easy breakdown of what went to Defence versus what went to States / Police….
They reviewed their stocks and requirements during the COVID fraud and are now stocked up ready to oppress for as long as it takes for whatever they are cooking up next
30
Marles announces – from July, New Zealanders in Australia can join the ADF – US, UK and Canada from next January
I would prefer that we formed a Gurka Brigade and offer them & their Families Australia Citizenship after a number of years of Service
We have a number of Nepalese in the Northern Beaches and they are excellent people
History of the gurkhas in the british army
The Gurkhas have a rich and storied history in the British Army, dating back to 1815. Here is a brief overview:
Early Years The British East India Company first encountered the Gurkhas in 1814 during the Anglo-Nepalese War. The Gurkhas, known for their bravery and martial skills, impressed the British and were recruited into the Company’s army. The first Gurkha regiment, the Nasiri Regiment, was formed in 1815.
Indian Rebellion of 1857 During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Gurkhas remained loyal to the British and played a crucial role in putting down the mutiny. The 8th (Sirmoor) Local Battalion, in particular, made a notable contribution during the Siege of Delhi.
World War I Over 200,000 Gurkhas served in the British Army during World War I, suffering approximately 20,000 casualties and receiving almost 2,000 gallantry awards.
World War II Gurkhas continued to serve with distinction during World War II, fighting in various theaters including North Africa, Italy, and Burma.
Post-War Period After India gained independence in 1947, the Gurkhas continued to serve in the British Army, with many regiments transferring to the newly formed Indian Army. The British Gurkhas moved their base to Malaya and later to the UK.
Modern Era Today, the Brigade of Gurkhas is the collective name for all Gurkha units in the British Army. The brigade has a long and distinguished history, with Gurkhas serving in numerous conflicts worldwide, including the Falklands, the Balkans, the Gulf Wars, and Afghanistan.
70
Michelle said in reply to OldOzzie…
Good argument. I’m ok with this. I also believe we can & should offer a deal to South African farmers who want out of SA. Indenture them into the ADF with fast tracked citizenship. They’re already trained in firearm use which is a plus.
60
These guys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcXNPI-IPPM
10
Who Killed the British Army?
In the omnipresent murky world of public-private ‘consultancy’ there exists a British firm called ‘Capita’ what is known as ‘consultancy.’
Large swathes of British and Irish institutions ‘outsource’ the jobs that they should be providing themselves, to companies like ‘Capita.’
The problems that this produces are on a vast scale and resembles a guava worm in a bottle of Mescal, getting plastered for free.
In 2000 the British army numbered 110,000. The last count, in 2023, we were down to 77,000.
The Ministry of Defence now, through Capita, faces a wave of BAME recruitment targets.
This means that recruitment is targeted towards women, gay, and ethnic minority groups.
Call me old fashioned — but this is no way to run an army in the 21st century, with multiple arena threats from China, Russia.
However, the biggest threat to the West, especially the UK and US, is domestic terror — the terror of liberalism.
Shakespeare wrote of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, where the English, outnumbered by the French, hungry and decimated, defeated a French army. The English King Henry V fought in battle himself, in hand-to-hand fighting:
‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our English dead! In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility; But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger: Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood’.
10
Now we have liberalism in all its grubby silliness.
The precis here is not to favour any nation or cause, or to rewrite history, but to highlight the special liberal ‘metaphysic’ of war: the abandonment of moral ideology by liberals; the relativity of liberal notions of justice. We cannot face abhorrent threats, from wherever, with the liberal mannequins of war, with ‘sexualised’ youth or transgender quotas.
It is what defeated the U.S. in Vietnam.
It is the poison which is nullifying UK preparedness for war, as they talk of conscription. Will we have to rename the British regiments — no more the ‘Irish Guards’, ‘The Gurkhas’, ‘1st Royal Regiment of Foot’, ‘The Queen’s Own Light Dragoons’.
Now we shall have the ‘2nd Transgender Infantry’, ‘The Black Lives Matter Infantry’ and the ‘Queer Fusiliers.’
The corruption of the liberal worm, that cancerous germ which James Burnham noted in the 1950s in his seminal The Suicide of the West, has come home to roost.
For there is a queer confusion in liberal thinking. Tolstoy opines in War and Peace that:
“To us, it is incomprehensible that millions of Christian men killed and tortured each other because Napoleon was ambitious or Alexander was firm, or because England’s policy was astute or the Duke of Oldenburg was wronged. We cannot grasp what connection such circumstances have the with the actual fact of slaughter and violence: why because the Duke was wronged, thousands of men from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of Smolensk and Moscow and were killed by them.”
10
“We cannot grasp what connection such circumstances have the with the actual fact of slaughter and violence: why because the Duke was wronged, thousands of men from the other side of Europe killed and ruined the people of Smolensk and Moscow and were killed by them.””
Nothing has changed.. It pays to never follow a leader who be in the front line in a war he created.
00
Estimates are that there are over 5 million mercenary “soldiers of fortune” worldwide – from my time in post conflict zones I met quite a few Aussie veterans that now operate overseas as mercenaries because we have failed when they left the military (and the Child Support Agency can’t find them in a war zone). These guys are fully trained, love war and are ready to fight for the highest bidder – just hire them. https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/Article/2031922/mercenaries-and-war-understanding-private-armies-today/
10
IS THERE SCIENCE BEHIND “CLIMATE SCIENCE”?
Not much, actually.
A number of arguments relevant to the global warming debate are raging, and generally, the realists–as opposed to the hysterics–are winning.
There simply isn’t a sound scientific basis for the claim that CO2 threatens our civilization (not that liberals like our civilization, but that is another matter).
A good example of how the global warming debate is going comes from Watts Up With That?
where Andy May dissects an anonymous internet attack on a paper that he wrote with Marcel Crok.
The paper is titled Carbon Dioxide and a Warming Climate are not problems, so you can see why the Left needed to attack it. Andy May writes:
50
While Alvin Bragg Was Having a Trump Trial . . .
Opinion by The WSJ Editorial Board
After six weeks of court time, and heaven knows how much prep work, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has finally won his guilty verdict against Donald Trump for bookkeeping misrepresentations seven years ago.
Aside from the bad political precedent this case has set, what does it say about Mr. Bragg’s priorities, as the DA of a big city wrestling with elevated crime
In the 28 days ending May 26, a period that covers about two-thirds of Mr. Trump’s trial, the New York Police Department’s patrol boroughs of Manhattan North and Manhattan South reported 4,900 total arrests, according to the NYPD’s CompStat crime tracking program. That figure is up about 700 compared with a year earlier.
It includes six arrests for murder, 12 for rape, 15 grand theft auto, 210 burglary, 214 robbery, 362 grand larceny (over $1,000), and 390 felony assault.
If those numbers sound astronomical, keep in mind that roughly 1.6 million people live in Manhattan.
What’s important is the trend, and it isn’t encouraging. Last year the NYPD’s Manhattan precincts filed more than 33,000 complaints on seven major felonies, including 73 murders and non-negligent manslaughters, 3,800 robberies, 5,100 felony assaults, and 18,000 grand larcenies. That overall total is down 4.4% from 2022, but it’s still up 22.5% from 2019, the year before Covid hit.
Yet the question is ultimately for voters, and Mr. Bragg’s term expires next year. The DA now has his Trump conviction and will pray it survives appeal.
Meantime, since the year before he took office, NYPD complaints in Manhattan are up 7.3% for felony assault, 8.4% for robbery, and 33.3% for grand larceny. Is this what the people want from their government?
40
Why Republicans Hate the Trump Verdict
Opinion by The WSJ Editorial Board
How dare Mitt Romney. And Sens. Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell. The anti-Trump press corps is dismayed that Republicans of all stripes, even those who aren’t fond of Donald Trump, have criticized the Manhattan prosecution and guilty verdict.
The media coverage after the verdict has followed the usual Trump-era pattern. Democrats pursue some anti-Trump operation—impeachment, a Russia collusion probe, a prosecution.
The press then descends as one to chide Republicans, with the unsubtle implication that they must be unethical sellouts if they oppose what Democrats are doing.
There’s rarely a fair-minded media accounting on the legal or substantive merits. But note that the critics of Alvin Bragg’s case aren’t merely J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio and other campaigners for Vice President. This time the critics include Sens. Romney and McConnell and Collins, as well as those of us in the media who are often critical of Mr. Trump.
Maybe they see the case as the egregious misuse of the law that it is.
And maybe they worry about the consequences for public confidence in the rule of law when a misdemeanor whose statute of limitations has expired is twisted into a convoluted felony.
“Bragg should have settled the case against Trump, as would have been the normal procedure. But he made a political decision,” Mr. Romney told a writer for the Atlantic. “Bragg may have won the battle, for now, but he may have lost the political war. Democrats think they can put out the Trump fire with oxygen. It’s political malpractice.”
50
Despite Court ‘Guilty’ Verdict, Trump Gains On Biden In Court Of Voter Opinion: I&I/TIPP Poll
The stunning felony conviction of former President Donald Trump garnered headlines around the world and created sharp political arguments across the U.S. But did it affect the presidential race? The answer is yes. It seems to have actually helped Trump, the June I&I/TIPP Poll shows.
The poll was taken from Wednesday, May 29, through Friday, May 31.
The verdict against Trump in New York state court was rendered on Thursday, May 30. So a significant share of the 1,675 registered voters who took the national online I&I/TIPP Poll actually knew that Trump had been found guilty of 34 felony counts.
So did Trump’s guilty verdict change minds, weakening his support? On the contrary, it seems.
In the head-to-head poll between President Joe Biden and Trump, it’s now a statistical toss-up, 41% to 41%.
But that’s an improvement for Trump from May, when he trailed Biden by 2 percentage points in that month’s I&I/TIPP poll (42% Biden to 40% Trump). The June poll has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 percentage points.
– Independents Favor Trump Over Biden, 38% To 26%, In A Head-To-Head Matchup
– Biden And Trump Tied At 38% With Third-Party Candidates Mentioned
– Trump Commands Highest Support Intensity Vs. Biden And RFK Jr.
– Americans Tie In Predicting The Winner
– More People Believe Their Neighbors Would Vote For Trump Than Biden, 43% To 31%
30
They’re Voting for Trump to ‘Save Democracy’
‘The 2016 version of myself would have hated this version of myself.’
Last Thursday, Donald Trump became the first president in U.S. history to be convicted of a felony
As the news broke, cheers reportedly erupted in President Joe Biden’s campaign headquarters. Within minutes, Biden had swooped in for donations on social media: “There’s only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: At the ballot box,” he wrote on X. “Donate to our campaign today.”
But many Americans had a different impression of the Trump verdict: that his conviction was proof of corruption, not justice. And while a snap poll showed that 54 percent of registered voters “strongly” or “somewhat” approved of the guilty verdict, more than a third of voters said they “strongly” or “somewhat” disapproved.
Meanwhile, as media analysts were busy celebrating the verdict, with ABC’s chief White House correspondent calling it a “political gift to Democrats,” searches for “donate to Trump” spiked on Google.
So many people were rushing to Trump’s fundraising page that the site temporarily crashed. By the next morning, his campaign announced that nearly $35 million had poured in overnight—almost 30 percent of which appeared to come from first-time Trump donors. By late Friday, the campaign stated that the total had climbed to nearly $53 million.
Who are these sudden supporters? We wanted to find out.
Here, seven people tell us how they made the journey from Never Trump to Trump Now.
50
Joe Biden’s Fingerprints Are All Over The Criminal Prosecutions Of Donald Trump
BY: MARGOT CLEVELAND
In response to Americans’ outcry over the political prosecutions of Donald Trump and a Manhattan jury convicting the former president on 34 felony counts, President Joe Biden declared, “It’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged, just because they don’t like the verdict.”
Coming from the Commander-in-Rigging, this proclamation means nothing.
Biden and those seeking to ensure his re-election have their hands all over Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the former president. A lead prosecutor for Bragg during the trial was Matthew Colangelo. In December 2022, Colangelo left the Biden Department of Justice to “jump start” the criminal case against Trump. Biden had previously named Colangelo his acting associate attorney general—the third-highest-ranking official in the DOJ.
There’s Plenty More Where That Came From
Colangelo’s role in prosecuting his former boss’s political opponent provides the most obvious evidence of the Biden administration’s involvement in the Manhattan D.A.’s criminal targeting of Trump, but the rigging started much earlier. As I previously reported, the incestuous relationship between the Manhattan D.A.’s office and Team Biden began as early as mid-February 2021. Then, “Bragg’s predecessor, District Attorney Cyrus Vance, arranged for private criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor Mark Pomerantz to be a special assistant district attorney for the Manhattan D.A.’s office.”
As The New York Times reported at the time, Pomerantz was to work “solely on the Trump investigation” during a temporary leave of absence from his law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison. “But even before being sworn in as a special assistant to the Manhattan D.A., Pomerantz had reportedly ‘been helping with the case informally for months.’” Even Democrats’ most reliable Old Grey Lady (of the evening) acknowledged, “the hiring of an outsider is a highly unusual move for a prosecutor’s office.”
Soon after the Manhattan D.A. hired Pomerantz, two of his colleagues, Elyssa Abuhoff and Caroline Williamson, also took leaves of absence from Paul, Weiss to serve as special assistant district attorneys on the Trump investigation.
“For a law firm to lend not one but three lawyers to the Manhattan D.A.’s office seems rather magnanimous, until you consider Paul, Weiss’s previous generosity to Joe Biden.”
30
Trump behind bars or the Resolute Desk?
Democrats on a lawfare rampage
By Peter Navarro – – Monday, June 3, 2024
Will former President Donald Trump wind up in a New York prison rather than behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office? From behind my own prison walls in Miami, I can’t rule that out. Indeed, the parallels between my own case and Mr. Trump’s are striking.
I am the first senior White House official ever charged with contempt of Congress. This is all the more outrageous given that for more than 50 years, Department of Justice policy decreed it was my duty to do what I did — refuse to testify before Congress once Mr. Trump invoked executive privilege, which was not my privilege to waive.
Mr. Trump is the first former president ever to be charged with a felony. What’s most outrageous here is how a Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, was allowed to string together minor misdemeanors into felonies with lengthy prison sentences
Next, consider that the prosecutions of Mr. Trump and me have involved nothing but Democrats on a lawfare rampage. The House of Representatives voted on a straight Democratic Party line to hold me in contempt, a Democratic attorney general in Merrick Garland prosecuted me, a Democratic judge stripped me of any possible defense, and the kangaroo court jury itself was drawn from a District of Columbia pool in which over 90% voted for President Biden.
Again, my case is instructive: Given the facts in the case, my judge, Amit Mehta, should have given me, at most, a 30-day suspended sentence and put me on probation for a few months. Judge Mehta himself admitted that I had done what I had done out of an unshakable belief that I was doing what my oath of office and the Constitution required. My conviction was contrary to Justice Department policy.
Yet instead of showing respect or mercy for a public servant who had created thousands of jobs and saved countless lives during the pandemic, Judge Mehta not only threw the book at me. In his sentencing, the Machiavellian Mehta cleverly and strategically made sure I would not get any sentence reduction from the 2018 First Step Act — which, ironically, I myself had helped lobby for.
But that’s not all: Unlike Steve Bannon’s judge, Judge Mehta threw me in prison immediately rather than release me pending my appeal when he knew damn well that my case would almost certainly be dismissed or sent to a retrial.
Judge Merchan is likely to take these very same pages out of Mehta’s lawfare playbook. My bet is that Judge Merchan will not only order prison time, like Judge Mehta, he will also send Mr. Trump to prison immediately rather than release him pending appeal.
30
For American readers: the places NOT to be.
Montana
North Dakota
Wyoming
Utah
New Mexico
Washington State
New York City region
Illinois Chicago Region
Texas in the Houston region
California.
Especially not Montana.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s awfully bright though…
😎
10
A Climate Case for the Supreme Court
Opinion by The Editorial Board
Can a single state or locality dictate energy policy for the rest of the U.S.? Some are trying, and the Supreme Court has an opportunity to stop these unconstitutional coups.
The city and county of Honolulu are suing oil and gas companies (Sunoco v. City & County of Honolulu) for creating a public nuisance.
They say greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels contribute to climate change and thus harm Hawaiians. They also say the companies misled the public about such dangers.
In 2011 the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed similar claims by states in federal court (AEP v. Connecticut), ruling that the Clean Air Act pre-empted such federal torts. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg explained in the ruling, “it is primarily the office of Congress, not the federal courts, to prescribe national policy in areas of special federal interest.”
But now states and localities are trying to end-run the High Court’s ruling by bringing lawsuits in state court. They want oil and gas companies to pay billions of dollars for alleged and speculative future damage from climate change. They also want judges to decree that companies stop their emissions.
The division between the Second Circuit and Hawaiian court on such a consequential issue calls out for U.S. Supreme Court review. Localities are increasingly suing businesses such as opioid manufacturers, gun makers and social-media sites in state court to make them pay for social ills allegedly caused by their products. But the climate-change lawsuits raise larger constitutional implications because of their extraterritorial impact.
The U.S. Justices on Thursday will consider a petition by oil and gas companies to review the Hawaii decision. If the Justices don’t intervene now, they will have a bigger constitutional mess to fix down the road.
30
Thanks to mineral wealth, like Gold in California and Victoria for example, states retained control of their mineral wealth. And it was never an issue in Federation. As in Australia the Federal government has no specific right to dominate energy especially when that energy comes from state specific oil, gas, coal or even hydro. So the energy companies have a real argument that energy should not be a Federal issue unless the states, as in Australia, specifically surrender their control over their energy generation. It’s a mineral based product as much as any other manufacturing. And it has distribution.
So the silver lining on this is that National Energy policy may be illegal if the right of the Hawaii government to sue dictate policy for their own state is upheld. The Federals will argue though that Climate Change is international and thus the exclusive realm of the Federation.
And you also have to prove Climate Change is real. Wow.
60
https://www.skynews.com.au/insights-and-analysis/these-are-the-lefts-four-selfcentred-grifts-that-pose-the-greatest-risk-to-the-future-of-western-society/news-story/db97bd623b9146914620cba1b0fa00ae
These are the left’s four ‘self-centred grifts’ that pose the greatest risk to the future of Western society
The far-left has launched countless grifts in search of power, control, and money for themselves – but four of them pose the greatest danger to our freedom, sovereignty and the future wellbeing of our children, writes Douglas MacKinnon.
As any citizen with common sense and the ability to think for themselves in Australia and the United States knows, zealots from the far-left – enabled by self-centered socialist-leaning politicians – have rolled out an endless number of strategies, policies, and outright grifts to try to destabilise our respective nations from within.
While that list is long and continually growing, I would like to focus on four grifts which I believe pose the greatest danger to our freedom, health, sovereignty, and the future wellbeing of our children.
Those four being: “open” immigration; “Green” energy; digital currency; and the attack on our food supply.
SEE LINK FOR REST
50
FWIW
“New Vitamin D Guidelines: Are You Getting Enough, or Too Much?”
https://scitechdaily.com/new-vitamin-d-guidelines-are-you-getting-enough-or-too-much/
“The guideline, titled “Vitamin D for the Prevention of Disease: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline,” was published online and will appear in the August 2024 print issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), a publication of the Endocrine Society.”
30
Uh-huh… These guys again! “the panel of experts”..
A lot of words for no information, I only read it to see what levels they were pushing now. It looks like they are pushing against Vit D testing so people will not know what their levels are.
50
Brain Dead People May Not Be Dead–Here’s Why
The definition of brain death, also known as death by neurological criteria, is when a person falls into a permanent coma, loses their brainstem reflexes and consciousness, and cannot breathe without stimulus or support.
Yet a person’s heart can be beating, his or her organs functional, and he or she can fight off infection, grow, and even carry babies to term.
Though they may exhibit no signs of consciousness, some areas of the brain may still work. Around 50 percent of brain-death patients retain activity in their hypothalamus, which coordinates the body’s endocrine system and regulates body temperature.
However, all of this stops if they get taken off life support.
Among European anesthesiologists, there is an ongoing debate about whether brain-dead organ donors should be given consciousness blockers during organ procurement.
Misdiagnosis could also occur during brain-death assessment.
One example is Zack Dunlap. In November 2007, he got into a traffic accident and was pronounced brain dead at the hospital.
Mr. Dunlap told The Epoch Times that he regained consciousness in the hospital after he was pronounced brain dead and his friends and family were saying their goodbyes.
He tried to scream and move, but nothing happened. Since he was an organ donor, he was soon scheduled for organ procurement.
https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/brain-dead-people-may-not-be-deadheres
What would be worse than being conscious but unable to indicate it?
Some execution methods in the USA and current euthanasia techniques in Canada just continue the medical ignorance and horror shows.
The human brain is quite remarkable and absolutely not understood especially on the consciousness and sentience levels, and I have little doubt, as expressed before, that future generations will look back in disbelief at the medical misconceptions of this age.
I am reminded of the article below, where a man with 90% of his brain missing appeared and functioned normally.
A French man who lives a relatively normal, healthy life – despite damaging 90 percent of his brain – is causing scientists to rethink what it is from a biological perspective that makes us conscious.
Despite decades of research, our understanding of consciousness – being aware of one’s existence – is still pretty thin. Many scientists think that the physical source of consciousness is based in the brain, but then how can someone lose the majority of their neurons and still be aware of themselves and their surroundings?
First described in The Lancet in 2007, the case of the man who appears to be missing most of his brain has been puzzling scientists for almost 10 years.
The French man was 44 years old at the time the journal article came out, and although his identity was kept confidential, the researchers explained how he’d lived most of his life without realising anything was wrong with him.
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-man-who-lives-without-90-of-his-brain-is-challenging-our-understanding-of-consciousness
Maybe consciousness is way more than we know, existing at a quantum level or not even in the body, as speculated and some research indicates, but that’s a topic for another day.
70
That does explain a few politicians.
70
I think it may be the exact opposite with Politicians..
Full 100% brain activity, but only 0-5% useful output !
10
A couple of books that every sentient human should read:
“The Brain that Changes Itself” By Norman Doidge.(The key word is “Neuroplasticity”)
Musicophilia, by neurologist Oliver Sacks (A sweeping coverage of the intriguing human relationship with music and song.
Anyone who has ever been involved with “music therapy” in an “old-folks” home will “get it” instantly.
Along with serious historical texts and cook-books; my kind of “holiday reading!
00
Woman dressed as cat makes woke school board look like fools.
https://youtu.be/LcPoVhJEOm0
50
In the Australian, Malcolm Turnbull has called Trump Narcissistic. Unbelievable. Words fail.
While in the top spot Trump did not steal $444million from the public purse for his wife without request or explanation. We are still paying $14 Million a year interest on the stolen vanished cash. It was supposedly to ‘save’ the Great Barrier Reef without any explanation of what they were going to do with the money. All they could say was that administering the cash with 6 people would cost $132,000,000. And that’s the last we heard of what as 7.5 tons of gold bars.
Narcissistic? If Trump can go to jail for $130,000 to ‘influence’ an election, what happens to someone who hands his wife $444,000,000? Nothing? Not even a question in parliament from either side.
But it all pales compared to his monumental utterly unjustified Snowy II which is already the greatest white elephant outside Victoria’s Big Build. And promises to be completely useless. As with all these projects, Cui Bono. Certainly not the struggling taxpayer.
120
FWIW – days
“Where Smoking Is Still Popular”
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/where-smoking-still-popular
“Tomorrow, May 31 is World No Tobacco Day.
And
”
Cycling Has Shifted To A Higher Gear Since COVID”
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/cycling-has-shifted-higher-gear-covid
“Commemorated on June 3 each year, World Bicycle Day “
20
And… there is a link – Climate Change is actually a positive for the anti-smoking lobby: https://allianceforscience.org/blog/2022/01/climate-change-is-smoking-zimbabwes-valuable-tobacco-crop/
00
But there are still some out there fighting for Tobacco: https://tbz.co.zm/index.php/about-us
https://www.lusakatimes.com/2022/07/30/zambia-alliance-for-tobacco-control-disappointed-with-government-on-tobacco-bills/
00
I suppose giving up smoking explains all the fat people around these days!
00
Reality Strikes – Report shows renewable infrastructure delays plaguing Australian power reliability, failing nation’s climate targets
A new report from Nexa Advisory has revealed the slow rollout of transmission lines means Australia will not only fail to meet its climate targets but pose a threat to the reliability if its power systems.
The slow pace of transmission line roll out has hindered Australia’s ability to reach its climate targets and could pose a threat to the reliability and security of the nation’s power system, a new report from Nexa Advisory has revealed.
As the Labor government looks to double its renewable energy output by 2030, delays in the enormous roll out of transmission lines could spell trouble for Australia’s transition to clean energy.
In its report, titled We Plan and Don’t Build (12 Page PDF), Nexa revealed all but one transmission line development has suffered delays with set backs spanning from one to five years.
The average delay across the country is about three years, while Victoria has suffered the worst setbacks, running four years behind schedule.
60
No one should ever leave a country in the hands of politicians. They don’t have a clue. The utterly fake Climate Change story is just killing a century of progress, while the politicians award themselves more wages for mismanagement and their retirement plans. And Comrade Daniel Andrews is selling his connections with the Chinese Communist government to help Andrew Forrest? Ethics is just some sort of model airplane glue. And they are all sniffing it.
100
With modern tech we could all have a vote on any parliamentary bill, the will of the people rather than the politicians. We could make every Govt Dept completely transparent, so any voter could go online and look at who the payments were made to.
There’s a lot we could do, but won’t, they all take power from the parasites and give it to the hoi polloi.
20
Australians are waking up to the fact that we do not need all these transmissions lines despoiling our countryside which only increase the hazard of bushfires during summer.
The longer this environmental vandalism can be delayed the better – a least to the next election or the one after if Labor rigs the next one.
40
Don’t worry. The liberal politicians will never believe anything published in skynews.
20
Something I did not realise!
Speaking at Yeshiva University’s commencement, Fetterman dramatically stripped off his Harvard hood and announced he was “profoundly disappointed” at his alma mater’s refusal to address the antisemitism rampant on its campus, a discontent he extended to the entire antisemitism-enabling Ivy League.
Quoth Fetterman: “As an alum of Harvard — look, I graduated 25 years ago, and of course, it was always a little pinko. But now, I don’t recognize it.”
Mea culpa, Fetterman: I was wrong about Senator and his illness
By Glenn H. Reynolds
It’s time for me to do something that pundits seldom do: Flat out admit I was wrong.
This is a rarity in the commentating world. But boy, was I.
Here goes: I was wrong about Sen. John Fetterman.
Writing in The Post on Valentine’s Day in 2023, I opined that Pennsylvania’s new US Senator lacked the mental and physical abilities needed to serve.
From all this, I concluded that Fetterman was just going to be a party tool — shepherded around by his staff, told how to vote by handlers, an institutionally pliable vote for the Democratic Party and the leftist activists who control it.
John Fetterman college commencement bravery shows why we need more Dems like him
Basically, a Senate voting machine programmed by the apparatchiks.
Again: Boy, was I wrong.
Fetterman’s health has improved more and faster than expected, and in what may not be a coincidence, the more his brain damage recedes the less he agrees with lefty activists and the Democratic Party’s functionaries.
80
I have seen major personality changes after a stroke. Not a change in intelligence, just a loss of aggression. As a very big man he must be used to getting his own way. Now he is being forthright, not intimidating. And so far he has been spot on. HAMAS must be eliminated. Terrorism, the killing of innocents to terrify a population has no place in the world. To do it to make money is worse, if that were possible.
60
FWIW
“Who Else, Besides Donald Trump, Is a Convicted Felon?”
“So Donald Trump is now a convicted felon?
News item:
Sakharov was a convicted felon.
Solzhenitsyn was a convicted felon.
Vaclav Havel was a convicted felon.
Martin Luther King was a convicted felon.
And Nelson Mandela was a convicted felon.”
More at
https://no-pasaran.blogspot.com/2024/05/is-it-true-that-donald-trump-is.html
90
Note this bit –
“News item # 2: living under a communist régime or an apartheid dictatorship gives you the right — nay, gives you the duty — to “stir [shit emoji] up left and right, as loudly and unabashedly as possible.” “
20
Perhaps why you should not take your kids to work!
This May Be One of the Funniest Things You’ll Ever See on the Floor of Congress – 1 Min 15 Secs
10
Probably OK here
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimuGRakrkXhAye6ZzkaBaRbFxPu3DMrMe2MJ1A9tKzUShY2_GwQZHBKA9sQ8XxD-sPZQHQJYdWz7itF9vXzAyi4wOAFXSLGYC-Q3BDb1wqr-U615ReA6hobyutlTvgZDcmcvuk2SXgkEgVqlioSP64rUzk_OEnMjYg6Vn834XTxcc54ZAvPb3U4c4TtZ4/w359-h400/Meme%20-%20bring%20your%20child%20to%20work%20day.png
10
I want that kid for my back yard to create a pickle ball court!
00
Patriotic British voters now have a real alternative to this failed elite
It is time for a change. Voters understand that Starmer’s Labour is just the different side of the same grubby coin to Sunak’s Tories
NIGEL FARAGE
60
If you are looking for a job where you are selected according to gender, skin colour or sexual preference rather than merit, you could try the revamped SEC in Victoriastan.
40
Covid vaccines may have helped fuel rise in excess deaths
Experts call for more research into side effects and possible links to mortality rates
Covid vaccines could be partly to blame for the rise in excess deaths since the pandemic, scientists have suggested.
Researchers from The Netherlands analysed data from 47 Western countries and discovered there had been more than three million excess deaths since 2020, with the trend continuing despite the rollout of vaccines and containment measures.
They said the “unprecedented” figures “raised serious concerns” and called on governments to fully investigate the underlying causes, including possible vaccine harms.
Writing in the BMJ Public Health, the authors from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, said: “Although Covid-19 vaccines were provided to guard civilians from suffering morbidity and mortality by the Covid-19 virus, suspected adverse events have been documented as well.
“Both medical professionals and citizens have reported serious injuries and deaths following vaccination to various official databases in the Western World.”
They added: “During the pandemic, it was emphasised by politicians and the media on a daily basis that every Covid-19 death mattered and every life deserved protection through containment measures and Covid-19 vaccines.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, the same moral should apply.”
40
Trump Joined TikTok. Here’s What Happened Next.
On Saturday, former President Donald Trump joined the social media platform TikTok. Less than 24 hours later, he had surpassed the amount of followers for President Joe Biden’s campaign.
Trump joins TikTok, surpassing Biden campaign’s followers
Former President Trump joined the social media platform TikTok on Saturday, surpassing the Biden campaign’s followers in less than 24 hours since launching the account.
Trump and his team posted their first video to TikTok on Saturday night, featuring the former president alongside Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White at a UFC title fight in New Jersey.
The video started with White telling the camera, “The President is now on TikTok,” and Trump following it up with, “It’s my honor.” The 13-second video then cuts to Trump walking into Saturday night’s bout at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and greeting fans and other audience members.
The video amassed more than 2.3 million likes and 38 million views in less than 15 hours as of Sunday at 2 p.m. Trump’s account gained more than 2.2 million followers — more than six times the followers of the Biden-Harris HQ account, which was started in February.
50
I don’t fully understand why he is using Chicomm-owned TikTok rather than pro free speech, pro-American X where Elon Musk has re-established his account and invited him back.
TikTok is used as a cyber-weapon by the Chinese to promote degeneracy and stupidity in the West and is banned in China. It is also a security threat for those that use it which is why most governments don’t allow it on their platforms.
30
Try these
“Do Not Underestimate – Icon Status – President Trump is now on TikTok
June 2, 2024 | Sundance | 548 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/06/02/icon-status-president-trump-is-now-on-tiktok/
“President Trump Gains 3 million TikTok Followers in 24 Hours – Raises Quarter Billion Dollars in Three Days
June 3, 2024 | Sundance | 63 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/06/03/president-trump-gains-3-million-tiktok-followers-in-24-hours-raises-quarter-billion-dollars-in-three-days/
10
FWIW – another covid jab “dig here”
“EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Forced retraction of Covid vaccine cancer-risk study, scientist alleges”
https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au/p/exclusive-report-forced-retraction
20
On the local covid scene –
“Class Action Update and summary of scientific aspects”
https://youtu.be/wMs4jGub7Ik?si=Fi5w1aPOA1meYcHs
10
The Catholic Women’s League have been digging: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/ExcessMortality47/Submissions
20
I don’t support live sheep exports – I support food. Live sheep exports provide an economy where our farmers are able to raise herd in excess of our domestic needs economically – if we need that sheep excess, the market will make it available for us. I also support Free Trade as a basis for peace between nation – looking at the destinations of our live sheep exports, the timing of this policy announcement looks to me more like clearing the seas so they can get on with their war their than an ‘moral outrage’ in Australia: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/massive-australian-truck-convoy-protests-live-sheep-export-ban
20
” I also support Free Trade as a basis for peace between nations ” Of course, things only go wrong when Govts get involved, which is all the time! That’s why we pay so much for gas and there is a shortage, while China gets it from us on some cheap 30-year deal!
Businesses can quite easily trade between countries without “Trade missions” or Embassy interference, or export rules and regulations and taxes, but the average voters isn’t that bright. Its a problem when a country gets too rich and people don’t have to struggle, so they waste their time looking for a cause to make themselves feel like they’re doing something with their worthless lives.
If women still had eight or ten children we wouldn’t be worrying about a lot of this stuff.
10
As a 50-ish childless woman, I could take umbrage – but if you retract to ‘If families’, then I would maybe agree. And I am too thick skinned to take offence these days. The recipient countries have seen this coming from Australia anyway, and have been seeking alternate sources on the African continent (more efficient trade in any case). I don’t see concern in African nations about how their live export goats, cattle and sheep are reaching the Middle East, and you are probably right – better things to worry about.
10
Alas local custom in the middle east requires the local and timely slaughter of an animal – and sheep are an appropriate size for that.
Hard to slaughter a frozen hunk of meat
10
Sorry – when I say ‘I don’t support live sheep exports’ I mean that I don’t really care whether they go dead or alive, just that we trade!
20
Energy and climate budget blown sky high
Cuts to the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change come as the state is facing immense pressure to keep the lights on amid the planned closure of coal-fired power stations.
20
“The other day, Africa Intelligence reported that the project to build a Chinese naval base in Gabon had been frozen . A shadow hung over him back in August last year, when, as a result of a coup in the country, the aging pro-French regime of Ali Bongo was replaced by the American protege Oliga Nguema.
The new Gabonese government has been attempting to implement this (cancellation) since October 2023. The persistence is explained by the principled position of the Americans: while Paris could accept the appearance of Chinese military infrastructure on the Atlantic coast, for the United States this is unacceptable in light of large-scale plans to strengthen its presence in the region.
Under these conditions, it is extremely important for the United States to prevent the Chinese military presence in Gabon, so in the near future they will seek the final cancellation of the Chinese base construction project.
By the way, a similar scenario recently occurred in Angola, where, after a pro-Western president came to power, all previous Chinese investments became the property of the collective West. So what happened in Gabon is another striking example of the worsening US-Chinese confrontation in Africa. ”
https://t-me.translate.goog/s/rybar?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB
10