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Nowadays I am forced to use the only tool that reduces that pain. It's called a debit card.

Purtting the intent aside, are those particular words racist? Just on the wording alone, I'd call them nationalistic as only the country was mentioned, not the person's race or religion. As an example, if an anglo saxon descent Australian person told a Pom of anglo saxon descent to piss off back to England, is that rascist even tough both parties are of the same race. Intent can differ, but the wording is the same in both cases. I always thought rascism was bias against someone because of their race, not nationality. If you are white and told two South Africans to piss off back to South Africa and one is black and one is white, is it racism in both cases, only in one case or in none?

Maybe not only an EV issue.....

People who worry that Covid Vaccine might change their genetic make-up, should welcome that possibility.

That's absolute rubbish. The ABC is far less biased than any other news service in Australia. It's widely recognised that Sky News or whatever they call themselves now are among the most biased. So surely Hanson refused entry to them too? The reason Hanson doesn't want the ABC around is because they ask difficult questions. Guess what? That's their job. They do it to all sides of politics. And as a politician, if you haven't got answers to difficult questions, then what are you doing there? As a reporter said this morning, it's dangerous for democracy when politicians exclude segments of the media from their announcements. Look how many criminal investigations leading to charges have been initiated by investigative journalism, especially by the ABC. Without proper media scrutiny, corruption flourishes.

I am humbled to be graced by the presence of so many Grande Masters! I bow to your superior grandiosity

OME, give Jerry his keyboard back.

Speak for yourself. The other senator is just as much an Australian as Hanson and has a right to her opinion. While her comment was a bit bolshie, that's because she's a Greens senator and probably nothing to do with her country of origin. And if you think about her words they are 100% correct, and also stand up for the original Australians. Pauline responded in your classical racist manner and deserves to lose. Maybe she should give up HER well paid position, her overseas holidays, clothes, plane and food all paid for by a billionaire buying influence, and piss off back to Ipswich.

We used to have empires, run by emporers. Then we had kingdoms, run by kings. Now we just have countries, .........

I know the feeling. Arthritis in the knees means normal knee propulsion to get up off the ground is long gone. I end up like a beetle on my back, then have to roll over on all fours and get up that way.

Yeah but then has to pay them $130k to keep it quiet. Guess they don't call it the "money shot" for nothing.

I don't think HE gets too Near HIS missus..Nev

He seems to come across a lot of them..

The walk from my house to the pub is 5 minutes. The walk back, however, is 30 minutes. The difference is staggering!

My favorite colour is purple. I like it better than red and blue combined.

Nothing wrong with that. Understood it perfectly. I am sure it was written by my brother

USA has the Best Politicians Money can BUY. They then turn into Dictators you can't get rid of. .Nev

If you are invited into someones home and start to mouth of about the traditional parts of their lifestyle and mouth of about a person who didn't actually have anything to do with the stuff that upsets them, I am sure that you are within your rights to tell them to leave. Pretty sure if we were in Pakistan and started to act like that it wouldn't go down to well. My definition of racism would be that the person was told to go back there just because of their heritage.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of a high court challenge. The judge in this case said it functioned as a test case for the claims of both parties. Marty, you judge Hanson's intent on her past history and you have every reason to, but a court can't take any previous statements on other past matters into account; they must only judge on the matter at hand. If an appeal to the high court happens, they'll have to judge on whether her words I quoted in a previous post constitute racism. The words alone don't in my opinion. Pakistan is a geographic area and a soverign state, so on words alone she's telling someone to go back there. It's her intent in using those words that the courts decide on. On words alone it's no different than if you came up here and I told you to piss off back to Tasmania. You know yourself how many times Tasmanians have said they wish mainlanders would piss off back to the mainland. That's not racist, and it could be argued not necessarily Stateist, just a desire to be left alone. But on words alone, it's no different to what Hanson said.

No I'm not saying that Marty. Read my post more carefully. What I'm saying is that the words alone don't refer to race, only former nationality. Get over the Hanson thing for a minute and think about the words alone, no matter who utters them. She told the person to piss off back to the country she migrated from, no mention of the person's race or religion. Forget about Hanson and look at the example of a white Australian telling a white Kiwi to piss off back to NZ. Would those words alone constitute racism of one white person toward another? I'd consider a case like that to be nationalistic based and not race based. If Hanson had told a white South African to piss off back to South Africa, is that racist? Would she be having a go at the person's race or nationality? The point I'm making is, that the words she used are not racist but nationalistic. That's looking solely at the wording and not taking perceived intent into account. The court obviously made the decision that they thought she had racist intent in what she said. The words alone (regardless of who spoke them) don't convey that. That's what a high court challenge will have to sort out.

Money should be taken out of politics entirely. Yes there still should be free and fair elections, but I think the application of a few public service rules would do wonders for the political class. No ability to accept any gift, donation or service of any value, for a start. And integrity checks. The ability of interest groups to lobby politicians erodes democracy. Everyone knows gambling advertising should be banned completely. It's a no-brainer. So why isn't it happening?

There already exists a National childrens day and an international childrens day. Whats the issue? Aboriginal children have the lowest health, educational and social outcomes in the country as a group. They obviously need extra attention and the day just expresses that need.

The TOPIC is ME conflict and the debates in the Parliament are recorded. Public Service is Not elected. The most Important things for a Functioning Democracy (a) A free and fair Election Process. Checks and rules applying to any Money donated or spent, A GOOD honest Press which is Not a fully incorporated arm of the Liberal Part and NOW PHON Otherwise why not Cut out the Middlemen/women) and let Gina and Merdey run the Country directly, Nats have been all about Fracking and mining Not Farms etc as they once were. Follow the Money trail That will find out who calls the shots. Nev

Become an *Islamic* republic perhaps? Gotta watch these muslims, they'll do anything to further their cause for Allah. Mehreen Faruqi didn't think things through before she opened her gob. If she got all the things she wanted, expressed in her "school kid" statement, she'd still be living on "stolen" land ... so, would she go live somewhere else and leave the Aboriginals in peace? ... not likely, she'd probably pretend to be their saviour and advise them of the virtues of Islam. God willing.

"Go back to where you came from?" Yeah, very much racism

You're missing the point. If Hanson was offended by those comments, she could have responded strongly in many ways without the racism. That she chose tell another Australian to "piss off back to Pakistan" just shows (if anyone needed more proof) that she's just a dog-whistling racist.

And no other indigenous population wherever on the planet has no cultural reference to the Moon? Australia is creating a culture of lunar tics.

Changing the conditions for negative gearing in a small economy like Australia's would not endanger the global economic system in the way unprovoked attacks on the economy of another country have done.

I was speaking to my local Member the other day. (I vote for another Party.) We spoke of Pauline and ON. He said that ON had no practical policies, which is something that many people are coming to consider to be correct. He said that he doubted if ON's results in the next election would mirror the current polling figures. The unfortunte thing is that I don't beleive his Party nor mine have a decent set of policies that would benefit all Australians. It seems to me that we have become terribly divided in our wants. Perhaps it's because we have been infected with the 'me first, last and every otehr time' virus.

So that everyone understands the context of Pauline Hanson’s loss on appeal: On 9 September 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi posted the following statement online: “Condolences to those who knew the Queen. I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples. We are reminded of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice & reparations for British colonies & becoming a republic.” Senator Pauline Hanson responded: “Your attitude appals and disgusts me. When you immigrated to Australia you took every advantage of this country. You took citizenship, bought multiple homes, and a job in a parliament. It’s clear you’re not happy, so pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan.” I am 100% with Pauline on this, it is one of the reasons Australians want ON.

I helped a friend pull the engine out of his car yesterday. The problem for both of us was getting up again after we got down underneath to undo bolts.

Annoying, isn't it!

Not sure how much you listen to Radio National, but there's been a LOT of commentary about Albo's ill-judged dinner and his subsequent avoidance of questioning about it. There's only so much you can put in a news bulletin. So no, they didn't just let him get away with it.

Don't stomp on the Cornflakes or you may be arrested as a Serial Killer. Nev

Don't worry too much. There's always the option to amalgamate the fading Republic of United States of Trumpistan into the fading United Soviet Socialist Republic. That would give two ageing sociopaths a claim to fame. They can both be winners with the bigliest deal in the world! What shall we call it?

If there is no change at the mid terms then that is an indictment on how misinformed and stupid the American public has become.

Doesn't the MANNER He's made himself and his Mates RICH Lie at the core of the Problem. The World is not blind to his antics and How the USA's reputation as a trusted ally and trading partner HAS massively suffered.. Nobody can afford to TRUST him. ( even those who work for him). Nev

It has always been rare that a brand new venture has come fresh to the stock markets (which is really a share market, as stocks include all cash instruments - debts, futures, etc.. Another American misappropriation of the English language). When they do, they normally go the the "second" boards. The ASX no longer has one as these are less regulated boards and they are literally for investors who can throw whatever investment they have down the drain. Often dubbed penny stocks, you can make a lot of money or lose everything. The London Stock Exchanges operates AIM, but it is subject to tighter rules than most secondary boards, and hence it is more for companies seeking earlier cash than would float on a main board. I am not an equities analyst, but I would suggest that Tesla's stock price is reducing thanks to lower earnings forecasts thanks to robust competition in the EV market and probably the electricity storage market. Their first mover advantage is probably waning. The SpaceX loss may be temporary or permanent - who knows. As I understand (and I just skimmed one news article, so take it on that basis), shortly after the listing SpeceX issued a sizeable chunk of bonds, which is debt. Firstly, it changes the capital structure of the firm and puts the debt holders in front of the shareholders if the company goes belly up.. and of course introduces fixed costs into the business in interest payments. Secondly, as I recall, the planned bond issue was not in the prospectus, so it caught share investors off guard and as large bond holdings effectively dilute shareholder claims to the assets, it further reduced the price. The second point is interesting. I would not be surprised if some of the larger initial investors or early on after listing purchasers of the shares have consulted their legal advisers. Planning a bond issue takes some time as it has to go through all sorts of hoops legally, sounding investors, roadshows, and the like. It wold hardly be something that wasn't in the planning before the IPO. If they could prove on the balance of probability it was in the planning or discussed at board or risk committees pre IPO, then that would amount to a fraudulent omission of the IPO prospectus and could land a lot of people in hot water.. including the bookrunning banks should they have known but not disclosed. This may be a case of watch this space. In terms of the share price, it could rebound based on investor sentiment of longer term earnings.

What happened to those original hemp attempts? I don't remember any mention of it when we were at school And I don't know what invoked 'Underscore'.

A little update on this topic from some further research. I said that one reason for the colony was to provide a base from which to establish on Norfolk Island for access to those tall pines for masts and the flax for sail canvas. Wood and fabric were not the constraints on both the naval and mercantile fleets of Britain. It was the amount of rope needed to operate the sails. A Man-o-War could require 80 tons (yes old measure) of rope in its rigging. Britain was getting most of this from Russia, but in the early 1780s, Catherine the Great of Russia began limiting trade in hemp with Britain. At this time Russia was starting to expand its territory and Britain was an obvious competitor. When plans were being made to establish a presence in Australia, the growing of hemp for rope-making was high on the agenda. Sir Joseph Banks supported this plan and supplied hemp seed as part of the agricultural supplies sent with the Fleet. Hemp was most likely planted by settlers William and Archibald Bell in 1823. The hemp cultivation was part of Australia's early colonial economy, as Cannabis sativa seeds first arrived in Australia in 1788 on the First Fleet at the request of Sir Joseph Banks, with the British envisioning Australia as a commercial hemp-producing colony.

Why don't you actually examine how WE AUSTRALIA are going wille, compared to most other Countries The others are self destructing. The NATS finished off the Libs by blackmailing them and then Taylor made it worse by undermining Ley. There's hardly any Women Left in their show. They were going to Move on Bridget Archer for crossing the floor and now she's gone to the state in Tassie.. WE got Fuel when it looked impossible. Storage alone is not a real great Idea It imposes cost and risks. I think we should have considered going a bit back to Autogas which we have Plenty of and therefore eases Our balance of Payments situation and supply security. Converted diesel Generators can run on it for remote areas and standby. We are in rapidly changing unpredictable times. Nev

It sounds like translated and voice recognition derived. Nev

I heard of a trick that a university lecturer played to test if his students were regurgitating AI stuff. The basis of the trick was beautiful in its simplicity. When we produce a document with a word processor, we normally accept that the colour of the text will be black on a white background, as you see here. However, if the text colour is selected as white, then the text is not visible, despite the text being present on the page. There is a word within these brackets ( word ). You could see it if the font colour was not white. Wht the lecturer did was to include a word it his document bu hid it by changing the font colour. An AI helper does not take into account font colour, so the word was included in his students' responses if they simply copied and pasted what AI had produced.

If anyone thinks it is OK for Senator Mehreen Faruqi to say that about the death of our Queen, then they don't believe in the Australia that I do. But it isn't just Australia. Most nations have expectations about loyalty to the flag, respect for what our forebears fought for, and so on. I can respect the Turks, for example, as equals to the Australians in WW1 because they believed just as strongly in their own country. I have no right to go over there and tell them they are racists built on stolen lives etc etc. Which argument could be equally made about Pakistan times one hundred, given their support for terrorists in recent decades. We have enough enemies trying to subvert our society without members of parliament doing the same. We urgently need our politicians to affirm that we have only one flag, and fly only that one in official places, and that we have a history to be proud of.

The future of A.I.

Can you name these, with reference to their documented policies? My gripe is that the major parties seldom quote their official policy in their election advertising. Therefore the electorate are seldom aware of their official goals, beyond some vague slogans. All parties are guilty of this.

Labor has policies that are destroying us and our country. The others, not so much.

I figure if I keep cutting they'll I think Jerry put a curse, not a cursor, on my keyboard.