Catch 22

Now here's a good one. The Melbourne Symphony cancelled a concert by a pianist who voiced objection to Isreal's killing of journalists in Gaza.

He sued, and, so far, lost. The report doesn't say whether the judgment can be appealed or whether the pianist will do so. But in the course of the reporting we get hypocrisy.

The pianist, Jayson Gillham, claimed in a lawsuit that the orchestra had violated the country's Fair Work Act and his right not to be treated unfavorably in the workplace because of his political beliefs.

That's, sorta kinda, a Fifth Amendment argument. OK.

But the judge, Graeme Hill of the Federal Court of Australia, ruled on Friday that because Mr. Gillham was an independent contractor he was not protected under the workplace rights law. The orchestra, Justice Hill determined, had acted to protect its business and reputation when it canceled the performance by Mr. Gillham and issued statements to its patrons about the matter.

OK. An independent contractor isn't an employee, right?

A spokeswoman for the orchestra said in a statement that it welcomed the judgment and that Mr. Gillham "should have sought the authorization of the M.S.O. before making the statements he made" from the stage.

So, why would a contractor be required to get authorization to make independent statements? He's not an employee of the M.S.O., right?

I guess being for killing journalists (anywhere, for the sake of argument) is in the M.S.O.'s best interest for its "business and reputation". At least, that's how I would parse the sentence. At least one head rolled

After the cancellation, the orchestra's musicians passed a vote of no confidence in the administration, and the organization announced that its managing director was departing.

Voters - part the first

Another series on its way.

If you really, really believe that all those Hill Folk dropped down the chute in all those Red Backwoods with no paperwork to prove it happened will be prohibited from voting, your an Idiot. Our Malignant Narcissist^{©John Gardner} is being supported by the The Gang of Six^© to take over our beloved country just like Erdogan and Orban (RIP politically, for now).

Make America White Again^©. Preferably the dunderhead species.

By The Numbers - part the one hundred and second

One might wonder what, if any, classes these millionaire "student athletes" attend? As the saying goes, "two wrongs don't make a right". State schools, esp. Red state universities, suck up millions of sports bongo bucks in order to beat The Other State teams.

Now a a story from the left wing Commie NYT with some numbers revealing the corruption in college sports, these days.

July 1, 2026, marked the five-year anniversary of name, image and likeness in college sports.
Oh, how quaint July 1, 2021, seems now.
Five years later, there are college quarterbacks making more than $5 million.

Some numbers

- total spending across the industry will reach $4.5 billion this year
- The average Power 4 school's athletes are making a combined $34.8 million.
- Iamaleava's $2 million annual figure remained a unicorn for at least a couple of years.
- (Today, at least a half-dozen QBs make nearly three times that.)

A Tune For Our Time

In honor of our President, Bone Spur Samurai^© at this time of 250 years of White As The New Fallen Snow America

Jingo Balls, Jingo Balls
Jingo all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a
One slave yoked to sleigh

Jingo Balls, Jingo Balls
Jingo all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a 
One slave yoked to sleigh

Dashing through the Lefts in a
One slave yoked to sleigh
With the scams we go
Laughing all the way

Bells on Libtards ring
Making Trumpists Right
What fun it is to ride and sing
A slaying song tonight

Jingo Balls, Jingo Balls
Jingo all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a
One slave yoked to sleigh

Jingo Balls, Jingo Balls
Jingo all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a 
One slave yoked to sleigh

Dashing through the Lefts in a
One slave yoked to sleigh
With the scams we go
Laughing all the way

Bells on Libtards ring
Making Trumpists Right
What fun it is to ride and sing
A slaying song tonight

Jingo Balls, Jingo Balls 
Jingo all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a
One slave yoked to sleigh

Jingo Balls, Jingo Balls
Jingo all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a 
One slave yoked to sleigh

Jingo Balls, Jingo Balls
Jingo all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a
One slave yoked to sleigh

Jingo Balls, Jingo Balls
Jingo all the way
Oh what fun it is to ride in a 
One slave yoked to sleigh

Thought For The Day - 3 July 2026

Well, now we know. Pulte really, really was installed to open the Gates of Hell for Vlad and Xi. As an earlier sub-title stated: "Vlad I'll take the Western Hemisphere, and you get Europe. Deal?" Democracy is dead.

Thought For The Day - 29 June 2026

Well... the 19^th century is well underway. Now Batshit J. Fucking Moron^©Tillerson can turn the entire Damn Gummint into his personal hobby horse. Assuming, of course, that neither he nor any successor doesn't end up a Garfield (not the cat). The one, most important, thing Big Bidnezz wants is stability. That is to say: long term stability. Big Bidnezz, with or without Baksheesh, can work its magic so long as it knows the rules don't change every two or four years. Of course, if Batshit J. Fucking Moron^©Tillerson manages to pull off his planned soft coup, and fills his bank account even further, they'll just add in the Baksheesh to prices. Just like all those tariffs the Furriner Gummints and Bidnezz pay. According to Batshit J. Fucking Moron^©Tillerson.

Welfare for the rich. Come on Down!!

The Gang of Six^© has put the nail in Article I. It no longer exists, to all intensive porpoises.

By The Numbers - part the one hundred and first

Stupid is as Stupid does. So, an idiot Mainer thinks an AI data center will make as many jobs as the old paper mill that shut down years ago. Ain't gonna be. Data centers, esp. AI version, are almost all hardware. That runs itself.

"The parking lot we're standing in was full. There were probably about 800 employees. Good money and good salaries."

Right. Data centers, on average, barely break 100. And those folks are mechanical drones in flesh colored skin with actual technical training. Not uneducated paper mill drones. Some voice of reason speaks

Utility bills spike, water systems are strained, taxpayers subsidize these projects, communities deal with constant noise, light pollution and environmental degradation.
-- Democratic State Representative Melanie Sachs

Same grift as sports arenas: the billionaires get richer, and the poor get stiffed. And, surprise, surprise: I guess the grift just wasn't big enough for the billionaires

The company that would have provided the computer servers pulled out of the project. Tony's deal fell apart. Now, he says he's working on finding a new partner. But for the time being, the parking lot at the paper mill is still empty, and the town of Jay is still waiting for a lifeline.

Just in case you don't know (and, of course, I suspected but didn't know until I looked it up) the mill town is Jay, in Franklin county, and said county is near the bottom of Maine's counties by college education. So, who would run this data center, if it were built? Aliens from Big Blue cities in Blue states, likely not the unemployed mill workers.. Always works out that way. It ain't easy turning a sow's ear into a silk purse.

Ya gotta run the numbers before you sign on the dotted line. Morons always think the city slickers can be taken for a ride. The problem with moving from yesterday's tech and yesterday's workforce is: it doesn't compute. Never has. Never will. The reason the Great Migration worked was simply that the workforce in Northern factories wasn't brain-taxed to work the assembly lines. How many Damn Gummint programs helped buggy whip factories become car factories? Let me know when you find even one.