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Messages - DJC

5
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Iran, I ran so far away - flock of seagulls
Pete Hegseth: "[USA and Israel] will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace!  I hope all the folk watching understand what uncontested airspace and complete control means."

Taco: "We're over their skies with the most beautiful planes you've (sic).  Roaming free.  There's not a damn thing they can do about it!"

It turns out that's not entirely true as Iranian forces have just shot down an F-15E Strike Eagle and an A-10C Thunderbolt, as well as damaging two Blackhawk helicopters searching for one of the crew from the F-15.  Three other F-15s were shot down by Kuwait in a "friendly-fire" incident and an F-35 Lightning made an emergency landing after being struck by an Iranian missile.

Hubris has a way of coming back to bite you on the butt.
8
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: General Discussions
Quote from: kruddler – on
Quote from: DJC – on


Most people in gaol are innocent ... if you believe them  ::)

Of course.

Problem is, there are way too many who are telling the truth.

Plenty of information out there....and its not even something i follow strongly. Its too depressing TBH.

Watch....Making a Murderer.
The Staircase.
.....listen to the innocence podcast (IIRC)

Get the conviction....bleed them dry and hope they run out of money to clear their own name.

My late brother was a barrister who specialised in criminal law and he represented several clients who were on the margins of the gangland killings.  He reckoned that all of his clients were guilty but it was his job to get them off or, if that wasn't possible, to get the shortest sentence possible.
10
Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 3 2026 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Melbourne
My day at the footy:

I left home at 1300 and caught the VLine train from South Geelong.  It was a leisurely trip, so leisurely that I missed our first two goals.

One of the things I noticed walking from the station to the G was how few cars were parked in Yarra Park; fuel prices are biting.

I haven’t listened to any commentary on the match, read any reviews or posts here, watched replays and I haven’t seen any stats or votes.  What follows are my own impressions, as flawed as they may be.

We played damn good footy in the first quarter and it seemed that we were going to give the Dees an old-fashioned shellacking.  The only concern I had was that Max Gawn was all over Pitto and Skull.

The second quarter was much the same, although we weren’t getting the results on the scoreboard and big Max stepped his game up a notch.

I braved the crush in the Legends’ Lounge at half time and enjoyed a glass of Balter XPA.

At the start of the third quarter two thirds of the G was bathed in sunlight and it looked magnificent.  I thought that you couldn’t get a better day in Melbourne, if only our team could continue on. Half way through the third quarter, the sun began shining directly into my eyes and my shady seat was roasting.  Mistakes were creeping into our game and Gawn had stepped up another notch.  Kosi Pickett was making his presence felt too.

We started the last quarter well and my confidence was restored ... momentarily!  Melbourne lifted again and it was like we’d lost all confidence and cohesion and were resigned to losing.

It’s probably unfair to single players out but I thought that Kemp had an absolute shocker.  He seemed to be far more concerned about his opponent than he was about leading and making his defender work.  Our youngsters – Dean, Smith, Carroll, Byrne and Skull - all made rookie errors.  That’s to be expected but it’s still momentum sapping.  And, speaking of momentum sapping, the holding the ball free against Hewett was critical … and the Dees seemed to get more than their fair share of critical frees.

Lij Hollands was mercurial at times and the usual suspects plugged away, but we had no answer to big Max and Kosi.

Forget about Daicos and the Bont, Max Gawn is the best footballer going around now.  Apart from his ruckwork, the outcome of virtually every kick down the line was a foregone conclusion.   

The train trip home was morose and strangely quiet.  I spoke to a Melbourne supporter who was getting off at South Geelong too and he said, “I can’t work out how we won, or how you lost.”  I think the answer is between the ears.

I got home just after 2030; a long and pretty dismal day.
11
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: General Discussions
Quote from: kruddler – on
Quote from: DJC – on


It's not semantics, it's fact.  Australians have never owned other people,

Does the government count as 'Australians'?
They are in charge of prisons.
Are people in prison free?
Are people in prison forced into labour with repercussions if they do not?

Prisoners are incarcerated under our judicial system and they're not owned by the government.  Prisoners are paid between $30 and $70 for a 30 hour week.  Advocates maintain that's "slave labour" but with their board, lodging, education and training costing around $3,000 a week, it's not a bad deal.
12
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: General Discussions
Quote from: Thryleon – on
Ah I see, we argued an out on a different definition of slavery to argue we never had slavery even though the evidence runs contrary to that.

So we can argue semantics, you are right, and I am wrong, we never participated in slavery despite the evidence showing otherwise.  Is that it?

It's not semantics, it's fact.  Australians have never owned other people,

Some of the old ladies I worked with early in my career were trained as domestic servants on the missions and were employed on pastoral stations - employed being the operative word.  They were paid - not very much - and some of them were treated very badly - but they were paid and could leave if they wanted to. 

I'm not arguing that Indigenous Australians and Melanesian indentured labourers weren't treated badly, far from it, but they weren't owned, bought and sold or considered to be property.

Modern slavery may take in slavery-like offences, such as forced labour, debt bondage and human trafficking, as I mentioned previously.   However, Australia is still bound by the 1926 International Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery and its definition of slavery.
13
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: General Discussions
The Australian Government follows the definition set out in the International Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery of 1926, that is 'the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised'.  Almost all nations follow the 1926 convention.

There are slavery-like offences, such as forced labour, debt bondage and human trafficking but none involve ownership and, therefore, aren’t slavery.

It’s fine to take an academic perspective and argue that indentured labour is slavery but, legally, it’s not.
14
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Trumpled (Alternative Leading)
Quote from: Lods – on
It's one of those situations where both options can be correct ;)

Very true!

It's also one of those frequent occasions when Taco departs from the topic under discussion and rambles about something irrelevant, like the disastrous ballroom.  His coping mechanism when he can't remember what he's supposed to say.

And he's flanked by Rubio and Hegseth grinning like village idiots but ever alert to give him a nudge when he dozes off.