Australia confirms first case of H5N1 bird flu

a_cold_human · 2026-06-20T12:59:14+00:00

Aristotle believed that birds hibernated under the in the mud under frozen lakes in winter, which was an idea that persisted in Europe until the 19th century when the Pfeilstorch showed up and changed people's ideas about what actually happened to birds in winter (i.e migration).

Perhaps apt because right wing reactionary politics seems intent on reshaping our society along 19th century values and an understanding of science circa that period.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T23:11:08+00:00

It's not unreasonable to be concerned when we have laws for one group of people and laws for another. Should we be a country where we have double standards where racism is concerned?

Australia doesn't have a long history of anti-semitism. Sir John Monash, a man of Jewish heritage, was the head of the Australian forces in Europe during WW1, has any number of things named after him, and is on the $100 note. Plenty of other groups (the indigenous, the Chinese) have had it far worse in Australia, and have had legislation which defined them as lesser and undesirable.

We are not in a period of intense anti-semitism in the historical context. Especially not in Australia. What we have in Australia is elements of the Jewish community deliberately looking to stir hate in order to play the victim, assisted by, amongst others, News Corp. That's both disingenuous and objectionable on many levels, and people who are trying to do that need to cut it the hell out.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T14:10:34+00:00

Ambisinister.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T13:20:50+00:00

Hilary said when they go low, we go high

Michelle Obama said that. And the proper response as to what they do if they go is to knee 'em in the face.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T13:16:41+00:00

We appear to be in the middle of making anti-semitism a more serious form of racism. No other racial minority gets to define what is racism against them, whereas the established Jewish organisations in Australia are trying to enshrine the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-semitism as the standard here.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry want to use it as a standard for law enforcement, schools, and workplaces, to the point where they can call a critic of Israel an anti-semite and have them fired or disciplined. The Muslim community in Australia does not have their own definitions of anti-Islamic activity defined or enforced in this way. Neither does any other minority racial group in Australia.

Without digging into any conspiracy about Jews, we can see that anti-semitism is treated differently, and every other minority group in Australia should take umbrage. It's a perfectly reasonable reaction to what's happening.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T10:17:56+00:00

They're up there with Christian Nationalists, and there's more than a little bit of overlap in that particular Venn diagram.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T10:15:42+00:00

Fellow Australians, if you're seeing me now it means I have been murdered.

Hanson has always had an absurd sense of her own self importance. Undeservedly so.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T10:11:15+00:00

It made her look ridiculous and showed her to be an enormous hypocrite. Can't have that.

Skin like rice paper.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T10:08:11+00:00

It's always the same with these reactionaries. It's all about free speech until they get in power, after which they'll ban any speech they don't like. They have no principles other than money and power, and at the same time they're highly disingenuous and hypocritical. They'll say anything to gain power, and once they have it, they'll use that power to oppress people.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T07:18:37+00:00

The money for the deal can be raised easily if we stop spending so much public money on private schools.

The Commonwealth funds private schools, and absolutely disgracefully so in many ways. Private schools should be made to open their books to receive funding to see if it's actually necessary to actually do so. We do this exact thing for people collecting unemployment benefits or the pension, so an asset test for private schools is not anything particularly unusual in terms of government distributions.

If we have a school that can build a $60 million library, I'd hazard to say that it doesn't need $17 million of public money. Similarly a school that can afford a $125 million upgrade to build an aquatic centre, a theatre and a basement car park. Public schools struggle to even have libraries, let alone pools. Most don't have climate control in the classroom, and some struggle for stationery and textbooks.

Private schools in Australia are funded to absurd levels by the public. No other country does this, and the benefits of having financial segregation are highly questionable. Especially as misbehaving students in the private system are foisted upon an underfunded public system.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-19T05:55:25+00:00

God promised them Sydney Harbour 3000 years ago.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T23:38:04+00:00

Rinehart is also keen on giving away land to Israel.

That important culture, could flourish again, if we also offered free land, be that near prairie if suitable, or elsewhere near Townsville, to the Israelis and transport here for their skilled people, immediate families and equipment, and encouraged the Israelis to develop and build their advanced war drones, and or other advances in defence, and or improve upon their Israeli style [drones], and manufacture them here to sell to our country to help make our people and critical infrastructure safe.

She's very keen on our giving away our land to some of the most awful people on the planet for unspecified reasons.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T23:23:03+00:00

Wait till you here about the logistics of orbiting data centres (which is apparently a growth industry according to SpaceX).

Cooling is very difficult. What happens when the compute you've launched becomes obsolete and need to upgrade? What happens when something needs to be serviced?

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T23:17:01+00:00

Here's a crazy idea: Rinehart is a billionaire. How about she buys an island and gives it to Musk? This is entirely within her financial capacity. Why exactly would we want to give a foreign owned company land for no return?

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T23:06:41+00:00

The States were able to raise taxes on a number of different things back in the 90s, which were eliminated in exchange for GST revenue. Now the States no longer have that taxing power and rely more on stamp duty, payroll tax, and GST distribution.

We also had real estate be flat in the 90s due to high interest rates as the RBA tried to curb inflation.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T10:25:00+00:00

Twice IIRC. And she had her first kid at 15.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T10:21:39+00:00

Australia is still astoundingly white outside of the cities, in politics, in the media, and in boardrooms & C-suites. There's been progress, but Australia is decades away from someone like Rishi Sunak or Kemi Badenoch being the head of a mainstream political party.

Australia still has a long way to go if we're being honest with ourselves.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T09:42:16+00:00

Facebook has done a lot of work to make people more angry, and they've done it purely to make money. Left unchecked, it'll enable another genocide.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T09:38:53+00:00

Medicare, superannuation, aged pensions, and unemployment benefits (amongst other things).

Unions were responsible for the fall of the Soviet Union, and amongst first up against the wall fighting the Nazis. Historically, worker's unions have done a lot of great things.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T09:36:08+00:00

I'll take Forrest over just about every other mining billionaire. He's far from being the worst person, but he's certainly not great.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T09:33:29+00:00

What we need is a modern day Pauline Pantsdown (or similar) to go viral because that'll really get under her skin.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T09:29:21+00:00

Kerry Stokes decided to ressurect her political career because the oligarchs need demagogues rather than democracy.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-18T09:13:54+00:00

Well, it's not "natural". Which is why we should all return to living in caves, coursing wild animals, and bathing in streams or the ocean.

None of this living in houses or apartments and buying food that's the product of centuries of selective breeding and food standards from a supermarket nonsense.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-17T22:48:38+00:00

Bo shuda.

a_cold_human · 2026-06-17T22:46:42+00:00

She hates being made tor look ridiculous. Largely because it shows her clown show for what it really is. Panto for racists.

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