DaveS,

Yeah, the BBC is right up with as a spreader of misinformation, which is surprising given their self declared role of being misinformation identifiers!!

Like their little screed on Harrison Butker, I mean the ONLY way they could have gotten their take on his speech so incredibly wrong was to have never listened to it and only read the comments made by leftists online. In this day and age of instant information there was absolutely no justification for the BBC NOT understanding what Butker was saying (that its actually ok for women to stay home and be a mom).

As I tell anyone who listens, the last play I ever go to for news in the main stream media and when I do its ONLY for sports results and not commentary.

Jun 7, 2024 at 8:41 AM | tomo

There's a certain irony seeing that bunch writing about the dangers of misinformation.

If they'd just sent them the $700, they could have bought a whole new telly with a couple of hundred left over

Government is not your friend...

rinse + repeat

Mailman,
National government doing affordable housing can only be virtue signalling. Like with COVID, it would be far better addressed locally than nationally. Couple of reasons the government doesn't like that approach:

1. lots of little budgets aren't nearly the ego-boost of one stonking big one,
2. if the problem is solved, there goes the meal ticket.

As you say, individuals are far more efficient than the bloated bureaucrats. When Australia changed from VHF to digital TV, the feds decided to provide set-top boxes to all pensioners so they could still use their old screens. After their shrewd dealing with the suppliers it added up to $700 per pensioner to receive a $100 gadget. If they'd just sent them the $700, they could have bought a whole new telly with a couple of hundred left over.

tomo,
Yes, the Post Office is a good fit for The Plan.

A bit of a statement of priorities to have "pride month" and "D Day". Liked the drone light-show. Wondered if the sparkles around the Spitfire were an aberration. Will consider them to be flak.

I agree on the fourth estate letting us down. Thing is that the need for a formal press *should* be less, now that every man and his dog is carrying a camera and mic, with an Internet close at hand to publish to.

I believe the Internet *could* help sort out a lot of public sector waste. For example, there was the MP expenses scandal about fifteen years ago. I don't think it would have happened if the UK had a policy of:

1. Bureaucrats do not review claims, they just pay them (up to some quite high limit)
2. All expense claims are published at an open website.

Even with no fourth estate, any outrageous claims would soon go viral on social media. It's the old saw of sunlight being the best disinfectant. Of course there is no chance of MPs voting in such measures, or the proposal even being tabled.

Those highlights from the former CDC director were very interesting. Having so many formerly "right thinkers" turning into conspiracy theorists can't be helping the people promoting the Narrative.

His bit about the different people responding in different ways to the create spike protein instruction plays straight to my N=1 mantra. We aren't all at the middle of the bell curve.

It also woke up a question I may have put here before: when the vaccines first came out, it was said to be most important that the elderly and the immunocompromised should get priority. Ok for the elderly; I get that. But a vaccine's objective is to train the immune system. Even if it can be trained, won't a compromised immune system only provide a weak response? So not much protection. And how many died during the "training"? Seems to me they were some of the few people who might have benefitted from hiding at home.

This whole affordable housing thing really gives me the sh1ts!!

Things like paid deposit Government schemes COULD work if the entire process was transparent to developers! Instead its only applied to new housing with the unintended consequence being developers dont drop their prices on houses that dont sell and instead use the paid deposit as an incentive to get those houses off their hands which just means house prices stay ridiculously high!!

Just let people use that money where ever the hell they want instead of only ever giving that money to developers and their over priced/under built shit expensive houses!

tomo,
The vivabarneslaw videos give me a 30 second teaser, then invite login/payment to continue.

Roberts looked to have two badges on his lapel. I couldn't identify either of them. What did you make out?

We discussed Ricks a while back. He seemed a bit deranged at the time (and I was already unimpressed with his Churchill / Orwell dual bio). I'm not sure what to make of the tweet you linked to — all seems a bit overwrought. (Hadn't heard of christofascists before, which might reveal my sheltered life)

The Roberts tweet on the "affordable housing" money pit is the tip of the iceberg, but it's all good from the government's perspective. I'm having bother thinking of a time when a government politician, spruiking his record, would talk about what was achieved; it's *always* about how much money was spent. I don't like it at all, but it seems to get the nod from the electorate. Hoping that'll change.

I was thinking about a joke I first saw on Usenet back in the early '90s. I think it applies to many things, but not all (e.g. Fauci's machinations). It strikes me as a particularly good fit for the current AI mania. Probably a fair component of the embracing of EVs by some car makers too. The nearer you are to hands-on, the more you can see that it doesn't work.

It might be a modern take on an old saying: Distance lends enchantment to the view.