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Message 2123574 - Posted: 4 Aug 2023, 2:18:55 UTC

Who needs a gun to protect your store from shoplifters when a 2X4 will do!
7-Eleven workers wallop California man who tried to steal trash can full of cigarettes: ‘Whoop his a–!’
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Message 2123592 - Posted: 5 Aug 2023, 1:17:09 UTC

What's going on here?

A mystery company has bought up $1.2bn worth of land around a US air force base, with officials unable to tell who’s behind it.

A mystery group known as the Flannery Associates has bought up $1.2 billion worth of land surrounding the Travis Air Force base in California, with the US government unable to tell who’s behind it.

The secretive company has bought up an astonishing 50,000 acres of land -- paying US$800 million (A$1.22bn) for it -- since 2018, almost entirely encircling the air force base.

The base is a key American gateway to the Pacific Ocean. It houses large transport aircraft used for refuelling smaller planes and sending aid and munitions around the world.

The US Air Force has launched an investigation into the company but government officials are still unable to determine who’s behind it and whether their presence around the base is a threat to national security. In fact, after eight months of searching, they have yet to identify even one person who is part of the group.....
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Message 2123678 - Posted: 6 Aug 2023, 21:37:05 UTC

After the PwC corruption was uncovered it's now time for KPMG International Limited to face the music.

Consulting firm KPMG overcharged Defence while raking in billions of dollars, whistleblowers say.

Consulting giant KPMG has been accused by two whistleblowers of repeatedly ripping off taxpayers while contracted by the Department of Defence — submitting inflated invoices and billing the federal government for hours never worked.

The whistleblowers – one from KPMG, the other from Defence – told Four Corners the ongoing cosy relationship meant new work was awarded with little scrutiny, allowing KPMG to charge the department a staggering $1.8 billion over the past decade.

One whistleblower said KPMG had "significant influence" over senior Defence staff.

"What I don't hear is anybody calling it for what it is … an abuse of privilege and power," said Labor senator Deborah O'Neill, who has played a key role in the parliamentary inquiry that is examining the "big four" consulting firms: PwC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte.

While PwC has attracted headlines over its use of confidential government information to help its clients avoid tax, there has been less scrutiny of one of Canberra's biggest players: KPMG.

Defence is its number one government client......
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Message 2123743 - Posted: 8 Aug 2023, 9:20:26 UTC

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Message 2123924 - Posted: 12 Aug 2023, 10:06:10 UTC

Well done Aussie Ladies.
Cruel on the French though.
10 penalties each but it is the Aussies who go through to the semis playing either England or Colombia.
7-6. What a shoot out.
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Message 2123981 - Posted: 13 Aug 2023, 21:59:48 UTC

After recent (and ongoing) events with the big 4 here it maybe time that everyone looks into their business connections with them.

A decline in the big four's auditing quality stokes fears of an Enron-style corporate collapse.

......Alarmingly, while the big four have been dominating auditing, corporate watchdog ASIC has found the quality of auditing is declining. It is something Professor Allan Fels told 7.30 is a sleeper issue that could trigger a corporate collapse.

"We know that the global financial crisis of 2008 was partly triggered by bad auditing," Professor Fels said. "I have deep fears that something similar could occur to topple the global and the Australian economy in the coming period."

Last year, ASIC's inspection reports found deficiencies in a third of the biggest firms. Separate reviews found negative findings in 50 per cent of Deloitte's auditing cases and 48 per cent of KPMG's......
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Message 2123987 - Posted: 14 Aug 2023, 1:22:37 UTC - in response to Message 2123981.  

After recent (and ongoing) events with the big 4 here it maybe time that everyone looks into their business connections with them.

A decline in the big four's auditing quality stokes fears of an Enron-style corporate collapse.

......Alarmingly, while the big four have been dominating auditing, corporate watchdog ASIC has found the quality of auditing is declining. It is something Professor Allan Fels told 7.30 is a sleeper issue that could trigger a corporate collapse.

"We know that the global financial crisis of 2008 was partly triggered by bad auditing," Professor Fels said. "I have deep fears that something similar could occur to topple the global and the Australian economy in the coming period."

Last year, ASIC's inspection reports found deficiencies in a third of the biggest firms. Separate reviews found negative findings in 50 per cent of Deloitte's auditing cases and 48 per cent of KPMG's......

Audit letter boilerplate wrote:
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of Subject, Inc., as of Date, and the related statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended Date. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.
If Subject are filthy thieves they may well find a way to bury that.
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Message 2124028 - Posted: 14 Aug 2023, 21:36:34 UTC

KPMG is in the news again. :-(

Australian Signals Directorate caught up in KPMG consulting scandal.

It might be time to pull in our last 3 ex prime munsters and get them to explain why they let this get so out of hand.
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Message 2124093 - Posted: 16 Aug 2023, 13:23:55 UTC

When a mother's greed gets so bad that she has to rip her kids inheritance off.

Gina Rinehart trial shown explosive memo that allegedly tried to cut children's inheritance.

....Mr Withers said the "special project" memo was written by Mrs Rinehart to an executive at services firm Price Waterhouse, so she could then buy back the Hancock Prospecting shares held within the trust.

This would increase her total Hancock Prospecting shareholding from 51 to 76 per cent.

"What's happening here is that Gina is attempting to get [the trust's] Hancock Prospecting shares out of [the trust] by any way possible as planned in the special project," he said.

"Gina is embarking upon this special project despite her fiduciary duties to her children to preserve the assets of [the trust].

"It's hard to imagine a more egregious breach of duty," he said.

Mr Withers said the memo was one of the documents Mrs Rinehart had wanted to remain confidential and be suppressed from the trial, which he said was "not surprising" as it showed she was breaching her fiduciary duties to the family trust.

Mr Withers has previously accused Mrs Rinehart of engaging in "deliberate fraud" by taking mining assets out of the trust to enrich herself at the expense of her children.....
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Message 2124106 - Posted: 16 Aug 2023, 17:06:22 UTC - in response to Message 2124093.  

Sadly greed has always been a problem & will continue to be.
2 sad cases. :-(
Case 1
Case 2
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Message 2124299 - Posted: 20 Aug 2023, 9:25:39 UTC
Last modified: 20 Aug 2023, 9:29:20 UTC

The BBC is reporting (quoting Tass) that Russia's Luna-25 mission to land at the Moon's south pole has ended in failure and a crash landing. I don't think even PooTin can blame Ukraine for that, although the mission was also an attempt to defy Western sanctions on components.

It was also an attempt to overtake India's attempt to reach the same destination. A warning to speeding drivers everywhere.

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into Moon
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Message 2124427 - Posted: 22 Aug 2023, 19:54:08 UTC

First there was the "Trump" effect, then the "COVID" effect and now there seems to be another reason behind why American accents are still on the rise here.

An American expat has revealed why you couldn’t pay her a million dollars to move back to the US.

The best 10 nations for work-life balance, according to Remote study
1. New Zealand – 79.35
2. Spain – 75.55
3. France – 75.34
4. Australia – 73.71
5. Denmark – 73.67
6. Norway – 73.05
7. Netherlands – 69.14
8. United Kingdom – 69.07
9. Canada – 67.91
10. Brazil – 67.73
Apparently the U.S. comes in 53rd.
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Message 2124683 - Posted: 28 Aug 2023, 9:54:40 UTC

Mystery solved, but what will the military make of a city on its doorstep?

Mystery land buyers around California Air Force base revealed.

New reports shed light on nearly $1 billion in land purchases by a mysterious company near a California Air Force base that raised national security concerns.

Since 2018, a group called “Flannery Associates” invested more than $800 million on almost 54,000 acres of agriculture-zoned land surrounding the Travis Air Force base in Solano County, California, public records show.

Despite early speculation China was behind the purchases — amid concerns that companies with ties to China have been ramping up efforts to buy American farmland — legal representation for Flannery has maintained the group is controlled by U.S. citizens, with 97% of its capital coming from U.S.-based investors.

However, after eight months of investigation, federal officials were not able to confirm or deny this to be true, and were not able to determine exactly who was backing the company.

Now, reports from The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle reveal Flannery is comprised of a group of ultra-wealthy Silicon Valley investors acquiring vast parcels of land northeast of San Francisco with the mission to build a new California city “from scratch.”......
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Message 2124689 - Posted: 28 Aug 2023, 12:51:19 UTC - in response to Message 2124683.  

a group of ultra-wealthy Silicon Valley investors acquiring vast parcels of land northeast of San Francisco with the mission to build a new California city “from scratch.”......
Ah, commies.
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Message 2124851 - Posted: 31 Aug 2023, 20:39:51 UTC

Another fine example of people in power not listening to the people:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66676269
Although a recent survey by the Maskina institute in Iceland suggested 51% of people opposed whaling, it is thought many MPs are in favour.

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Message 2124874 - Posted: 1 Sep 2023, 10:58:34 UTC - in response to Message 2124851.  
Last modified: 1 Sep 2023, 11:28:00 UTC

Another fine example of people in power not listening to the people:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66676269
Although a recent survey by the Maskina institute in Iceland suggested 51% of people opposed whaling, it is thought many MPs are in favour.
What if a majority of modern, progressive urban citizens are against whaling, but the vast majority of rural populations in coastal villages are pro-whaling? Whaling has fed the coast dwellers of Iceland since the Vikings settled there. In the whaling era, it wasn't Icelanders, Norwegians, and Inuit who almost wiped out the whales, but: Americans, British, Dutch, [long list]. Scandinavians pay attention to the stocks of fish and whales. In Iceland there's only one real city, the capital Reykjavik, and a larger town (Akureyri) in the north where half of the Icelandic population lives. The rest of the country is very sparsely populated. The terms "the people" or "majority" doesn't work well there if you just refer to the number of citizens. In Norway and Sweden you have the same situation with very few cities in the south and a gigantic rural area in the north. In Norway, the land area of the regions is also included in the voting weight of the citizens in order to achieve a fair balance of interests between the large urban population in the south and the countryside in the north. They use a formula: 1.8 * area [square kilometers] + number_of _residents to calculate the voting weight of electoral districts (proportional representation instead of majority voting). These are complicated, difficult questions. A majority of 51% tells me that the vast majority of rural Icelanders want and will carry on their traditions, no matter what concerned Europeans or Americans object. Nor do they shy away from conflict with the Royal Navy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars
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Message 2124880 - Posted: 1 Sep 2023, 12:21:28 UTC - in response to Message 2124874.  

... Whaling has fed the coast dwellers of Iceland since the Vikings settled there...

That is long long ago no longer the case.

All the whale, porpoise, and dolphin slaughters end with the dead bodies being dumped out at sea. There is some rather gruesome footage documented by Sea Shepherd and others showing the noisome aftermath...


The grisly spectacle is a stain and a pox upon all the islanders. There is no logic, let alone any compassion in continuing.

Tourism is reduced because of the killing. Is that enough to drag the islands up from old noisome barbarity?...


All in our only one world,
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Message 2124891 - Posted: 1 Sep 2023, 14:36:32 UTC - in response to Message 2124880.  
Last modified: 1 Sep 2023, 14:41:35 UTC

... Whaling has fed the coast dwellers of Iceland since the Vikings settled there...
That is long long ago no longer the case.
Okay, I should have been more precise. In Sweden, there's still the tradition of preserving herring with far too little salt, so that it still ferments. Salt was an extremely expensive commodity in past centuries, far too little was available there. Today it's only a (strong-smelling) regional specialty: Surströmming. Likewise, whaling went from being a necessity in ancient times to becoming a tradition. Whale meat today ends up as a frozen package in the supermarket and as a regional dish on the plate. Likewise, they occasionally eat air-dried shark there, just as questionable. Icelanders as well as Norwegians, for example on the Lofot Islands in the north, explain that they only catch few porpoises per year, which aren't an endangered species. Their whalers are small cutters, not ocean-going factory ships like Japanese whalers, which the Japanese dress up as "scientific whaling." I've seen them myself in Hennigsvaer on the Lofot Islands, Norway, some years ago. There was one small whaling cutter and many fishing cutters. The Inuit in Greenland and Canada also have this right to whaling, seal hunting, etc. I don't like this tradition and don't want to defend that. Times are changing, all over the world, including in Iceland and northern Norway. It may take a little longer at the polar circle. But what doesn't work is that a progressive, educated urban elite tells the rural people how to change their lives. This won't work anywhere. That's what I wanted to express.

Tourism is reduced because of the killing. Is that enough to drag the islands up from old noisome barbarity?...
Regarding tourism: Icelanders are currently suffering from over-tourism, at least in the best-known and well-developed tourist spots along the ring road, less so in the remote western fjords, of course. If you're going there by ferry from Denmark, bringing your own car, it's a bad idea to have a Greenpeace sticker on your boot lid.
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Message 2124894 - Posted: 1 Sep 2023, 15:55:03 UTC - in response to Message 2124891.  

Having visited Iceland a few times in recent years (work & pleasure) tourism is concentrated on a few tourist hot-spots, with many leaving the Reykjanes Peninsular (the south western peninsular that include Reykjavik) and the western half of the ring road. This area includes the three recent "tourist eruptions".
Some of the really small villages along the northern and eastern parts of the ring road only see a handful of foreign tourists, but do see a lot from Reykjavik many of whom are "escaping " the big city, if one can call 140k "big", for their summer holiday.
I found it quite interesting that a number of the old whalers now run whale watching trips for the tourists, but often the best views of whales are to be found from the shore. I was talking to one who said he made more money from these trips than was possible from catching whales, because you got your money before you untied the boat, even if you didn't see one whale. Some of the trip boats actually charge a "sighting bonus", but those ones never appeared to be very popular.
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Message 2124899 - Posted: 1 Sep 2023, 16:48:01 UTC

Harbor porpoises are caught in Norway and the larger Fin whales in Iceland. The historic population of Fin whales is estimated at 70,000 in the northern and 400,000 in the Southern Hemisphere. More than 725,000 have been catched in the South (1905-1976). Today's population is estimated at 40,000 in the North, 17,000 in the South (few and flawed research data for antarctic waters). Especially in the south it will take more than a century to regain the original population due to slow recovery rates. Finn whales are considered "endangered". In 2022, 148 Fin whales were caught in Iceland.

I know, some will condemn improper relativism. The exploitation of the world's oceans, its fish stocks, the lack of rules, the illegal circumvention of existing rules by private companies is many orders of magnitude more serious for nature than the Icelandic government allowing limited whaling in its territorial waters. We still don't understand the impact of million tons of plastic waste and microplastics in the world's oceans, in the digestive tract of most sea creatures. These problems are shrugged off because they are complex, with perpetrators everywhere. Instead, the outrage is directed at individual countries and individual acts, which are then condemned. Doesn't help at all. It's the same with meat-based diets. Educating and convincing people to try a more vegetarian diet to gradually reduce factory farming works. It needs time, a decade, a generation...
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