Midweek Unthreaded

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248 comments to Midweek Unthreaded

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    Hanrahan

    What’s with the “Add new” button? ATM I don’t sign in nor do I have a password.

    [As a moderator I can see what you can’t and it looks like Jo’s reminder to herself to add in something that she couldn’t do before leaving. When she’s back we’ll all know and in the meantime I think I will ignore it.] AZ

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    yarpos

    slip of an admin finger methinks

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  • #
    Hanrahan

    President Donald Trump pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey at the White House on Tuesday and shared some election-themed jokes during the ceremony.
    The public voted online to select one of the two turkeys provided for the ceremony, which the White House named “Peas” and “Carrots.”

    “That turkey is so lucky,” Trump said, insisting that the elections were “fair.”

    He announced the turkey “Peas” as the winner but joked that the turkey “Carrots” contested the election.

    “Unfortunately, “Carrots” refused to concede and demanded a recount,” Trump joked but noted that the results of the election did not change.

    “Too bad for “Carrots,” he added.

    The president also joked that though the two turkeys were pardoned, the House Democrats were sure to continue pursuing them.

    “I have warned them that House Democrats are likely to issue them both subpoenas,” he joked as the audience chuckled. “Unfortunately, I can’t guarantee that they won’t be enjoined by the Ninth Circuit. Always happens.”

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      robert rosicka

      Watched it and loved it ,could hear watermelons heads exploding in the background .
      Not much of a fanfare but the Republicans won Florida , go team Trump .

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      Sambar

      Just saw on Sky news that the Democrats are looking at an investigation into Ivanka Trumps use of an insecure server to conduct government business. The hypocrisy just burns !

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        Roy Hogue

        From here on out until the 2020 election and beyond you can look for Democrats to try anything to discredit Trump or get him removed from office.

        I wish there was a way to embed an MP4 file in a comment. If I could do that I could show you in Nancy Pelosi’s own words straight out of her mouth how cooperative the Democrats intend to be — meaning not at all. It’s shameful for a member of the United States House of Representatives to even be thinking of what she’s telling everyone to do.

        My opinion of her was already too low to get any lower but frankly, Nancy, you and your party can go to hell. You aren’t worth the hot air it takes to speak your name. You make a good disciple of Saul Alinsky.

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        • #
          Bobl

          Trump can still do heaps by removing the over regulation, and cutting all the green/red tape. My god he could even get mining uranium, grant leases over federal lands, lock greenpiss and WWF and other carpetbaggers out of government perhaps even revoke their status as charities (given they aren’t). Dump another bunch of treaties the dems care about. Start investigations into green groups and their international interference in government, my god he could even target left aligned groups tax returns just like obalmy did. Make the green certification extortion illegal in the courts. Prosecute H Clinton over the email server and her destruction of evidence.

          Given enough motive Trump is capable of making the economy boom and watermelons explode without the need for one law.

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            Roy Hogue

            If there’s enough dishonesty against you while you must play by the rules you eventually lose. The whole Democrat party is now shown to be corrupt and if judges are also corrupt, Trump csm have his hands tied up in knots.

            I keep wondering when the next American evolution will start. I don’t like that idea but the violence is already beginning. So the question becomes, why not go for the real solution?

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            • #
              Kinky Keith

              When the other has jumped the fence and keeps talking at you, you know it is only going to escalate.

              They have to understand the boundaries, and if they don’t act in a civil manner there is likely to be an uncivil response.

              KK

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            Kinky Keith

            Can I have All of That.

            No need to wrap it, I’ll use it straight away.

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            • #
              Roy Hogue

              Trump is blocked by some judge at every turn. Every judge appointed by Obama is as corrupt as a cesspool.

              He’ll stick it out but in the meantime only two news sources that I know of are honest and all the rest are dishonest and will publish in print or on the air whatever their masters want them to.

              I hate to be as blunt as I’ve been lately but my country is under attack from within and without and the public will not tolerate what Trump should do with that march of so called refugees trying to get through the border fences — put armed troops in front of them and dare them to cross the border. I don’t like that alternative either but they are about as far from bing refugees as the sun is from the Earth. They are a well fed invading army with money and organizing behind them, including the government of Mexico. Wars have been started over less.

              And that’s what we face — oh the poor babies are having their civil rights denied to them. Humanitarian concerns trump defense of the country (no pun intended). Only trouble is, they have no civil rights in this country and if that’s cruel or anything else undesirable, put that on the heads of those funding and organizing them. Not me.

              We are not the world’s charity ward as I have said several times already.

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    Neville

    Another Green energy policy causes an environmental disaster to our north.

    https://www.thegwpf.com/how-a-green-energy-policy-is-causing-an-environmental-disaster/

    And the demand for coal in Asia is at the centre of a new boom. While here in OZ we feed that export demand but refuse to use this wonderful base-load energy source ourselves. We rely on DUMB, unreliable energy like fra-dulent Solar and wind. Today China and India consume 62% of the world’s coal the USA just 9% and the EU 8%. Unbelievable but true.

    https://www.thegwpf.com/power-hungry-asia-drives-new-coal-boom/

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    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Air pollution from NSW’s five coal-fired power stations carry a “substantial health burden”, including leading to an estimated 279 deaths a year with thousands more to come before they close, a new study has found.

      Ben Ewald, a GP and public health lecturer at the University of Newcastle, said the impact – including 233 low-birth weight babies and 369 people developing Type 2 diabetes annually – was much worse than he expected.

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      • #
        Kinky Keith

        That coming from a Doctor?

        The most likely impact on the issues he mentions is from foetal alcohol syndrome.
        Diabetes 11 is also a problem related to individual consumption in excess.

        How this person can link this stuff to coal fired power generators is nothing short of amazing.

        A little personal responsibility during pregnancy wouldn’t go astray and perhaps then many more babies would arrive at normal expected weight.

        KK

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          Pauly

          KK,
          Reading some of the reports done by the DEA, they identified a key link to low socio-economic demographics around identified pollution “hot spots” – of which they found an entire 5 in Australia.

          You can see the causal chain: large “polluters” who have been there for decades, resulting in land that is “unattractive”. Urban sprawl and price rises in attractive areas force development of unattractive areas. Lower costs attract lower socioeconomic demographic to those areas.

          Which comes back to my previous point and your question: how did the study isolate cultural, economic, lifestyle, educational and other potential confounding factors?

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          • #
            KinkyKeith

            Right on Target Pauly.

            as for the pollution, there is some argument to be made that compared with my childhood in the fifties, pollution from coal fired stations is now almost non existent.

            I don’t know how I and my three siblings survived it.

            Living now would be a breeze if only pregnant mothers would avoid alcohol during pregnancy and if the offspring would avoid gluttony.

            KK

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          OriginalSteve

          Yeah but doctors are found amongst the members of ISIS , so education is no guarantee of not pursuing extremist ( and loopy ) ideologies…..

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        • #
          Ghibli Levante

          KK,

          How on earth would you know?

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          Bobl

          (Expletive deleted)
          I’m so wild given that it’s doctors themselves in demonising fat that has caused the obesity and diabetes epidemic caused by the sugar and salt they they the doctors have encouraged to be put in all our food.

          Fat is not our enemy, sugar is, and the medical profession is guilty, guilty, guilty as charged for creating the mess.

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      • #
        ColA

        Coal causes low-birth weight babies and Type 2 diabetes??

        What a total crock of shitzer!

        Everyone knows it’s CO2, it causes everything bad on earth and nothing good!!

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      • #
        Pauly

        Peter,
        Did that study come with a link?

        It would be interesting to look at how the link was made to such a clearly definable cause. I wonder if the study explains how they eliminated all other potentially confounding factors.

        Dr Ben Ewald writes reports for Doctors for the Environment Australia. His area of interest is air pollution and its effects on population.

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      • #
        Bobl

        Lies, damned lies and statistics, not one mention of the added crop mass and oxygen produced by our plant overlords due to the CO2 – pretty much not one of those things has any relationship with CO2, all being related to particulates, trace impurities and sulphur/nitrates. No mention of the health effects of properly sealed homes, safe cooking, water treatment and underground sewerage that is the reason why we live to 80 instead of 40. All provided by coal, oil and gas.

        I’m so sick of the lies

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        • #
          KinkyKeith

          Yes, yes and yes.

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          PeterS

          Lies, damned lies, statistics and politicians. I’m so sick of politicians. Many would even scare the pants off George Orwell if he were alive today.

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        • #
          Craig Thomas

          It must be awesome being so smart you don’t need to inform yourself from any of the latest scientific research.

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          • #
            AndyG55

            “It must be awesome being so smart”

            You will never know, CT

            You remain IGNORANT of anything resembling actual science

            Got any empirical science that shows atmospheric CO2 causes warming, CT ?

            And if you DON’T KNOW that the latest coal fired power station emits basically NOTHING except H2O and CO2 (plant food) then your ignorance is yet again exposed.

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      • #
        beowulf

        From what I’ve seen of his previous statements, Dr Ewold may be a doctor, but he’s a full time activist too.

        From the SMH link below:
        The study, commissioned by Environmental Justice Australia, examined the effects of fine particle pollution with a diameter of 2.5 microns or smaller emitted by the plants.

        A NSW Health spokeswoman said the agency had conducted similar research but identified lower premature deaths. “The discrepancy in the number of power station-related loss of life appears to be largely due to the assessment of the amount of power station-related PM2.5 that people are exposed to.”

        Dr Ewald’s approach, particularly estimates of the proportion of sulphur-dioxide and nitrous oxides in Sydney from power stations, “requires further scrutiny before firm conclusions can be drawn about its validity”, she said.
        Major energy firms rejected the report, with EnergyAustralia calling it “inaccurate” and yet to be formally peer-reviewed.”

        The SMH report shows pollutants flowing southwards from Bayswater/Liddell, SSW from Eraring/Vales Point and eastwards from Mt Piper all towards Sydney, where they form a killing field, which is where he gets his excessive numbers of victims from I suppose.

        https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/scandal-nsw-coal-power-plants-will-kill-thousands-before-they-close-20181120-p50h66.html

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          David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

          Gee, aren’t they clever pollutants. All mountaineers which can cross several ridge lines, significant forest areas and over a hundred kilometres to concentrate on Sydney. I’m impressed.
          Cheers,
          Dave Beach

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        • #
          Geoff Sherrington

          Beowulf,
          My wife and our two children then aged 3 and 9 spent the year 1975 with me living 150 metres from the smokestack of the smelter at the Mount Morgan copper/gold mine whose SO2 emissions were not scrubbed. Gusts of wind, day and night, would bring full strength wafts that made you catch your breath. Now, 43 years later, all of us have survived to assert that no lasting health effects have been shown.
          Much theory fails when it meets actuality. Geoff.

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          • #
            beowulf

            Likewise Geoff, when I was younger I lived within spitting distance of Liddell Power Station (Bayswater was barely under construction) and surrounded on 3 sides by open cuts. I too survived. I now live about 50km SE of Bayswater/Liddell power stations in the dominant NW to SE air flow of the Hunter Valley where I am subject to their “deadly pollution” and I’m still kikkin’.

            I think it’s a pity the good doctor isn’t as concerned about the proven dire effects of infrasound from his beloved wind turbines as he is about the alleged effects of coal particulates.

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            • #
              Kinky Keith

              The Infrasound.

              Deliberately hidden evil.

              Misrepresented as “noise” and glossed over for the good of the cause.

              KK

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      • #
        AndyG55

        With ABSOLUTELY ZERO PROOF that the coal fired power stations are to blame. !!

        Just like no-one seems to be able to provide any measured empirical proof that atmospheric CO2 causes warming.

        Now why would that be ??

        BECAUSE IT DOESN’T ????

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      • #
        AndyG55

        He is talking about Sydney, with a population of what, 4 million plus.

        His numbers are nothing but meaningless insignificant statistics

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        Mal

        75% of medical research can’t be replicated.
        Most of them aren’t scientifically valid and most come up with a correlation.
        They then immediately infer causation.
        They generally reflect the researchers bias, or some other motive normally continuation of grant money
        Fake news unless the full details of how the research was structured and how it was analysed.
        Also what other causes could have contributed to the outcome.

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          OriginalSteve

          The Lancet said once about 50% of its stuff was poorly researched….doesnt fill you full of hope, does it?

          https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60696-1/fulltext

          The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness. As one participant put it, “poor methods get results”. The Academy of Medical Sciences, Medical

          Mind you, the climate nonsense seems to have taken root as well:

          https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)31667-7/fulltext

          “Christiana Figueres joins The Lancet Countdown—delivering on the promise of Paris
          Anthony Costello
          Peng Gong
          Hugh Montgomery
          Nick Watts
          Nicola Wheeler Published:June 24, 2017DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31667-7
          PlumX Metrics

          The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change marked historic progress for the planet and human health. Signatories agreed to limit global temperature rise to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels”; redouble a global commitment of financial flows to developing countries of US$100 billion annually by 2020; and created a mechanism to increase ambitious action.1 Although inaction threatens to undermine 50 years of progress in public health, meeting the Paris Agreement’s ambitions presents the greatest global health opportunity of this century.2 The challenge now lies in implementation.
          Although the development and signing of the Paris Agreement was an international effort, the charge was led by one woman—Christiana Figueres. She took to the helm of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—the mechanism underpinning international action on climate change—as its Executive Secretary in 2009, and was challenged with securing a safe path forward for the Convention and the world’s climate. Building a cross-sectoral and international coalition, she helped shepherd the Paris Agreement to its signing in Paris in December, 2015.
          The international ratification of the most ambitious climate treaty in history has set the momentum for tackling climate change. Even with the departure of the USA from the Agreement, 196 other countries are united in their commitment to prevent a global climate catastrophe. One country dropping out will not change the course of action.

          The medical community has three crucial parts to play in addressing climate change and acting on the momentum created by the Paris Agreement. First, we need bold leadership and a strong voice, communicating to patients and advocating to governments that climate change is fundamentally a public health issue. Second, the health benefits of responding to climate change must be realised and maximised globally. Third, we must benchmark and monitor efforts to meet and overcome these challenges. Only then can the true impact of climate change on health be understood, and the health benefits of responding to climate change be realised.

          The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change is meeting these needs.3 By providing annual data across a range of indicators, the Lancet Countdown will lead and communicate on health and climate change; demonstrate the health co-benefits of mitigation and adaptation; and monitor global progress in meeting the Paris Agreement.”

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          theRealUniverse

          “Most of them aren’t scientifically valid and most come up with a correlation.” Medical surveys is full of ‘study shows…’ so that is correct.
          Most of them are done with incorrectly applied statistics, if any at all. They are meaningless. William Brigs – numberwatch used to allude to many, and give them a deserved rubbishing.

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          • #
            StephenP

            Numberwatch seems to have fallen off the radar. Does anybody know what has happened to it?

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            • #
              theRealUniverse

              No i noticed too, possible Briggs may have fallen ill? ( or given up the site? I cant find any info as yet.

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              • #
                StephenP

                I have just tried logging on to Numberwatch and there is a message saying ‘Returning soon’, so hopefully it will be back.
                Good news, as it was a great site for blowing the gaffe on dodgy statistics.

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        Yonniestone

        Right on Peter Fitzroy, he also stated the increase of sore throats, runny noses and aching joints known as “Coal Station Flue”

        Don’t even get me started on the nasty disease spreading from the local scrubbers!

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          Ghibli Levante

          What do you mean by scrubbers and which disease are you referring to?

          Cheers

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            Yonniestone

            The wet scrubber systems on the power stations, they remove any Harmful chemicals and particulates from the emissions.

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              Ghibli Levante

              Are you sure?

              There are no Power Stations near you.

              Looks like you were referring to another type of scrubber.

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              • #
                Yonniestone

                Wasn’t referring to my area and it looks like you might have a touch of “Benny Hill” syndrome.

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                Ghibli Levante

                You said “local scrubbers”. Read your post.

                Local means ones neighbourhood, and there ain’t no power stations in your neighbourhood.

                You’ve got form old son, we all know that. You’re just maintaining your woefully low standards.

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              • #
                AndyG55

                Yawn, I’m sure Yonnie didn’t mean to (SNIPPED UNECESSARY WORDS) CTS

                Perhaps you can help me out, I’m looking for some measured evidence that atmospheric CO2 causes warming.

                And as you say, there ain’t no power stations in the neighbourhood, but let’s blame them anyway.

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      • #
        peter

        Ewald has being doing this for years. He is a rabid anti-coal activist and works closely with ‘doctors for the environment’ a very aggressive climate change action group of leftist doctors. They are particularly critical of coal fired power stations, which they want to close down. The studies he does rely on severe extrapolations of hospital admission data or disease incidence rates in the community – yeah epidemiology, to find higher rates of this or that in communities near coal mines or power stations. He then concludes that the pollution from the power stations or coal mines caused the higher disease rates. There is NO real ‘science’ to support his conclusions AT ALL! The pollution levels (PM10 levels mostly) around towns such as Muswellbrook definitely are a bit higher than say, Wentworth, BUT the levels are all within state guidelines and comply with each company’s licencing requirements. This is a beat-up.

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      • #
        Robert Swan

        Statistical idiocy is everywhere, especially in medicine.

        I was listening to last week’s Health Report this morning and was needled more than I should have been when the guest said “… BMI is the biggest driver of diabetes …”. The guest is listed as “Professor of Medical Statistics” at Uni. of NSW and Uni. of Oxford.

        BMI drives diabetes as much as the speedo needle drives the car. This wasn’t a slip of the tongue. His attitude in the whole interview was very much “the numbers have spoken”. I have a deep regard for numbers myself, but there is a saying that used to be popular: “ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer”. I think it’s an even better way of getting “garbage out” than the popular “garbage in” method.

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      It was only 65 years ago here in Australia that my mother would send me around to the coal man for a small bag of coal.

      Many parts of China and India may still be at that level where they throw the fuel on for cooking and heating.

      Cleaner than wood fires but a long way behind modern coal fired generators.

      KK

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  • #

    Not related to climate change (though I’m sure it’s probably been used as an excuse to close the climb). FYI launching A guide to climbing Ayers Rock in Melbourne December 5.

    https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/launch-of-climbing-ayers-rock-with-roger-franklin-and-marc-hendrickx-tickets-52862159141?ref=estw

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  • #
    Hanrahan

    Obama on climate change but no script.

    Obama could temporarily solve climate issues no problem

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhkfa5w5XU8

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    • #
      GreatAuntJanet

      “we are fraught with… stuff” Such eloquence and deep meaning, now you don’t have your speech writers ex President Obama!

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    OriginalSteve

    Is the extreme green movement just a reboot of Nazism?

    The Nazis were National Socialists.

    The Nazis also used thier thugs ( SJWs / violent mobs = Brown Shirts ) to harrass and intimidate oppositon to them.

    The Nazis via the infamous eugenics T4 Program, advocated eithanasia of “life unworthy of life” – the aflicted, the elderly, the infirm ( aka = what the extreme greens call “Useless eaters” ).

    The Nazis held large rallies to push thier agenda ( now marshalling the troops via social media )

    The Nazis advocated killing groups of people “repugnant” to them – the extreme greens advocate getting rid of 90% of the population who they deem as “uesless eaters”.

    The Nazis had a form of paganism and nordic mythology in it. The extreme green have a pagan earth worship in it.

    Is Extreme Greenism is very similar to Nazism…..?

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      JoKaH

      getting rid of 90% of the population who they deem as “uesless eaters”

      Strange that the green party vote is about 10%.

      and BTW the Hitler was a greenie!

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      Just posted a similar one in the last thread Steve 🙂

      My link http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/germany/sp001630/peter.html its a bit of a read but very informative.

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        OriginalSteve

        Yes very interesting reading.

        I think what cones through is a lot of the eco loons are sufficiently unhinged anyway, and when they get power there is a meanness that seems to work its way out. Hitler was clearly unhinged,as I think is old Big Ears his maj.

        My wife commented on how eco zealots have a mean streak through them, as do communists. Coincidence?

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          Yonniestone

          After the last Remembrance Day ceremony I had the chance to chat with some of the elderly attendees with a few echoing exactly those sentiments, one chap said that during war all sides are forced to become aggressors but after peace is declared you try to rebuild and continue life as best you can but not ones that carried those politics with them, they wanted to carry on the war through education or unions and looking at today they’ve done pretty well.

          My heart broke for them after hearing what they endured in youth and again as they now question what was it all for.

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      el gordo

      ‘Is the extreme green movement just a reboot of Nazism?’

      No, its completely different.

      Hitler joined the National Socialists as a paid agent provocateur and became a zealous leader because he had the loudest voice and could be clearly heard in a pub environment.

      You are aware of the bloody street battles between the different political movements, Hitler’s imprisonment and early release by a friendly judge. But most importantly, by 1928 the German economy was on the mend and Hitler’s mob only got 2% of the vote at the election, then came the stock market crash and the Great Depression.

      So I make the argument that the United States of America inadvertently caused WW2.

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  • #
    Ruairi

    Supplying power at too high a cost,
    Means companies must shrink with many lost.

    Less fires, wind and drought and more extremes,
    May be the sun’s effect on Earth’s jet streams.

    More power cuts are here or close at hand,
    As renewables take hold throughout the land.

    Fuel protests would be less intense,
    If politicians showed some ‘carbon’ sense.

    The Green obsession with the use of coal,
    Is not to help mankind but to control.

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    • #

      So nice, Ruari…

      ‘For fools rush in where angels fear to tread,
      Distrustful sense with modest caution speaks
      It still looks home, and short excursion makes;

      But rattling nonsense in full volleys break
      And never shocked, and never turned aside,
      Bursts out, restless, with a thundering tide.’

      Alexander Pope. An Essay on Critiicism.

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      In moderation for quote from Alexander P*pe. Say, what’s in a name?

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    OriginalSteve

    Dr Valentina Zharkova warning of close ice age

    http://www.iceagefarmer.com/2018/11/08/dr-valentina-zharkova-warning-of-global-cooling-food-scarcity-in-grand-solar-minimum-2018/

    Video of her talk ( worth watching ) – here – https://youtu.be/2NI1bQe8I4A

    “Professor Valentina Zharkova gave a presentation of her Climate and the Solar Magnetic Field hypothesis at the Global Warming Policy Foundation in October, 2018.

    Principal component analysis (PCA) of the solar background magnetic field observed from the Earth, revealed four pairs of dynamo waves, the pair with the highest eigen values are called principal components (PCs).

    PCs are shown to be produced by magnetic dipoles in inner and outer layers of the Sun, while the second pair of waves is assumed produced by quadruple magnetic sources and so on. The PC waves produced by a magnetic dipole and their summary curve were described analytically and shown to be closely related to the average sunspot number index used for description of solar activity.

    Based on this correlation, the summary curve was used for the prediction of long-term solar activity on a millennial timescale. This prediction revealed the presence of a grand cycle of 350-400 years, with a remarkable resemblance to the sunspot and terrestrial activity features reported in the past millennia:

    Maunder (grand) Minimum (1645-1715),
    Wolf (grand) minimum (1200),
    Oort (grand) minimum (1010-1050),
    Homer (grand) minimum (800-900 BC);
    the medieval (900-1200) warm period,
    Roman (400-10BC) and other warm periods.

    This approach also predicts the modern grand minimum upcoming in 2020-2055.”

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      RickWill

      This is a link to her paper – clearer charts than the video:
      https://www.nature.com/articles/srep15689#f3

      The SOI is struggling to go negative so the BoM forecast El Nino still seems some time off. Without that the surface temp trend is unlikely to change from the cooling trend since 2016.

      Good prospect for long term cooling if Zharkova forecast is sound. The hind-casting of solar cycles using the Zharkova equations looks compelling given the equations were only based on three solar cycles.

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      Craig Thomas

      Ahh, Global Cooling again.
      Never gets old, this is a classic bit of humour!

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        AndyG55

        Well there’s been NO warming apart from El Ninos is 40+ years

        .. and temperatures are similar to the 1940s

        So you can imagine just how much we all laugh at the slap-stick “global warming” crap the AGW apologists keep coming out with.. talk about “getting old”

        Do you have any empirical evidence that human atmospheric CO2 has caused any warming at all, CT.

        Or are you just another zero-science headless chook.

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  • #

    And never let an opportunity to make some money out of the climate scare mongering go past:

    Insurance premiums to rise as extreme weather conditions become more common

    The Australian Actuaries Climate Index tracks risk factors such as elevated sea levels, drought, bushfires, cyclones, flooding and extreme temperatures as being more frequent as growing evidence of climate change mounts.

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      Kinky Keith

      That one was highly predictable.

      And we thought that Hans Christian Andersen was the only one who made money out of Fairy Tales.

      KK

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      • #

        And note how it’s the CSIRO and the BOM that back up these proposals. They, the chiefs and their advisors, should be held fully accountable for when none of their prediction come true. Put a lien on their future pensions as a surety.

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          Sambar

          Snow predicted in the high country 20th 21st 22sd November. Extreme weather in deed. The cries that the weather is crazy just shows people have short memories.
          Camping on Snow Range near Mount Howitt in the seventies a mate and I got snowed in in February. The grog lasted and a couple of days later not a sign of the white stuff. When I was a kid in the early fifties we were swimming in the pondage weir below Lake Eildon in November, stinking hot summer that one. A couple of years later the finished dam filled in 7 months, it was supposed to take 7 years. Damn wet year that one. Somehow I have managed to survive all the weather can throw at me. Talk to me in 12 months and I’ll let you know how I faired through 2018 – 9.

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            Same here, been going into the High Country since the mid-70s and had snow many a time even in February. This was the on the last weekend of Oct 2016: https://australianimage.com.au/the-high-country-oct-2016/.

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              Sambar

              Thanks for that bemused, so familiar with all this country. If I am entitled to any regrets with growing old ( probably not ) is these trips are becoming a bit more difficult to undertake. Still, the one thing governments can’t take away are memories. They can close roads, ban access, make all sorts of claims for saving the environment but they can’t take memories. Well not yet anyway. Continue to enjoy “my world ” at every opportunity, take the kids and look back and smile. The family often think the old man has finaly lost it when I’m sitting there smiling to myself, but no, I’m just somewhere in the mountains with either family or mates having a good time

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          Mal

          The chief and most senior management have been politically appointed.
          They had to demonstrate the party line, ie be true believers of AGW.

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      OriginalSteve

      Cha-ching!!! $$$$$$

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    pat

    19 Nov: Washington Times: Valerie Richardson: House forester Rep. Bruce Westerman hits Senate Democrats for blocking forest-management bills
    Arkansas Republican seeks to reduce wildfires by cutting regulatory underbrush
    As catastrophic wildfires cut a deadly swath through California, President Trump has demanded more aggressive forest management — and as luck would have it, Rep. Bruce Westerman has a bill to do exactly that.
    What’s more, the Resilient Federal Forest Act of 2017 already has passed the House. The problem: The bill has almost no chance of being approved by the Senate, where it has languished for more than a year, thanks to opposition from Senate Democrats and anti-logging environmental groups.
    “I would give it very low odds of passing,” said Mr. Westerman, Arkansas Republican.

    For him, the bill’s likely failure is particularly disheartening, given what he knows about forests and fire — quite a lot, actually.
    The only certified forester in the House — he worked as a forestry engineer before he was elected in 2014 — Mr. Westerman has made it his mission to clear a path through the legal and regulatory thicket standing in the way of projects to cull the overgrown federally managed woods.
    “We’ve got to do something different,” said Mr. Westerman. “It’s unacceptable, the level of destruction we’re seeing.”

    He said better forest management could have made a difference in Northern California, where dry, beetle-kill federal forests have fueled the Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in the state’s recorded history.
    “Now if you look at Southern California, forest management’s not going to play a big role in preventing fires like the Woolsey Fire. There is some landscape management that could help mitigate those risks,” he said. “But in Northern California, where you’ve got the national forest, we could do a much, much better job of making not only the forests but the communities more resilient.”

    His 2017 legislation comes two years after his previous forestry bill — the Emergency Wildfire Forest Management Act of 2016 — met with the same fate, passing the House before skidding to a halt in the Senate.

    Both bills were regarded with suspicion, if not outright hostility, by liberal environmental groups, which view “forest management” as a synonym for “clear cutting” and “propping up the logging industry.”
    Tracy Coppola, a senior legislative counsel for the environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, blasted Mr. Westerman’s latest legislation a “horrible … triple-whammy” that was “chock-full of gifts to the timber industry.”…
    “We’ll keep working with our allies in Congress to do everything we can to prevent this awful bill from ever becoming law.”

    Even so, Mr. Westerman and his allies on the House Natural Resources Committee and Working Forests Caucus managed to insert some of the legislation’s provisions in the omnibus spending bill approved in March and the 2018 farm bill, which is still pending…

    “A lot of times it’s one or two lawyers that started an NGO [non-governmental organization],” said Mr. Westerman. “If you want to see where it’s really abused, look up in Region 1 of the Forest Service, where every time the Forest Service tries to implement a management plan, it gets tied up in court.”…

    While environmentalists worry about avaricious logging companies leveling the nation’s forests, Mr. Westerman said the problem is actually the opposite: There are now too many trees.
    “We grow a whole lot more trees than we can actually use,” he said. “People will come after me and say, ‘You’re wanting to cut [trees] on federal lands to help the forest products industry,’ but the forest products industry doesn’t need more timber.”
    In Arkansas, “we’re producing 16 million more tons of wood every year than what we’re consuming. And that’s happening all across the South,” he said.

    In the West, California has 129 million dead trees spread across 8.9 million acres, but little economic incentive to harvest them. Even if loggers did cut them down, there are few mills left, thanks to the collapse of the Pacific Northwest timber industry…
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/19/bruce-westerman-faults-forest-management-bill-bloc/

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    pat

    20 Nov: Washington Times: Dave Boyer: Zinke blames lawsuits by ‘radical environmentalists’ for creating more wildfires
    “When lawsuit after lawsuit by, yes, the radical environmental groups that would rather burn down the entire forest than cut a single tree or thin the forest, then it’s easy to find who is suing and who promulgates these destructive policies,” Mr. Zinke said. “Take a look at who’s suing — every time there’s a thinning project. The density of dead and dying trees is higher.”
    He added, “When nature alone takes its course without management, there are consequences. The special-interest groups are really exercising their very tight agenda.”

    Mr. Zinke and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue held a conference call with reporters to urge Congress to give the administration more flexibility to remove dead trees and carry out more “prescribed burns” to prevent devastating wildfires…
    “It was literally like a flame-thrower of embers,” Mr. Zinke said of the wind-driven fire. “The talking’s over, now it is time to act. We need to prioritize getting back to an active [forest] management system. This is the time to act. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is an American issue.”…

    Mr. Perdue said lawmakers could amend the farm bill under negotiation to give federal agencies more leeway to clear away brush and work with local governments to create more buffer zones around populated areas. He said federal agencies have had to borrow money from fire prevention budgets to pay for emergency firefighting, a situation that will change in fiscal 2020.
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/20/zinke-blames-radical-environmentalists-wildfires/?utm_source=Boomtrain&utm_medium=manual&utm_campaign=20180326&utm_term=newsalert&utm_content=newsalert&bt_ee=YQ4dIiTjXcDuq85vVJygUQ0qrAeOjLUw1S8G77h5xr73OmQp

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    pat

    THE PUBLIC RADIO DOGMA:

    19 Nov: WSHU Public Radio: Yale Study: Climate Change ***Altering Direction Of Water Currents
    By Davis Dunavin
    Global warming ***is changing the range of water currents that flow deep under the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. That’s according to new research from Yale examining the effects of melting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.
    There’s a vast undersea current that carries warm water and cold water all around the Atlantic Ocean. Matthew Thomas with Yale said climate change causes ice to melt in the Arctic, and then the water from that melting ice interferes with the current ***and causes hot water from the south to flow north instead.

    ***“The water flows to the high northern latitude, where it becomes very dense, and then the water can sink into the deep ocean. So if you warm the surface of the water and you freshen it, it acts to sort of hinder the ability of the water to sink into the deep ocean.”…

    “Once some ice has been melted, it’s now no longer reflecting the sunlight back to space, ***which means that what was previously ice-covered now absorbs solar radiation, which means it becomes warmer, therefore it can melt more ice.”…
    http://www.wshu.org/post/yale-study-climate-change-altering-direction-water-currents#stream/0

    ***WHAT THE STUDY ACTUALLY PREDICTS!

    8 Nov: YaleDailyNews: Changing ocean currents ***may affect global climate
    by Ann Hui Ching
    Yale researchers have discovered that as a result of global warming, deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean ***may shift, leading to the rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean…

    But the study, published on Oct. 22 in the Nature Climate Change journal, found that due to rising carbon dioxide levels, the water ***will begin to flow northward — which may increase the melting rate of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean…

    “A northwards extension of the heat carried by the overturning circulation ***might be expected to further interact with Arctic ice and thereby precipitate climatic changes in the region — and consequently across the whole planet.”…

    ***Using various climate models, the researchers simulated the AMOC strength under global warming conditions which included carbon dioxide concentrations four times greater than the current concentration…

    Thomas noted that a particularly unexpected finding was that a ***future source of deep water ***can come from within subtropical latitudes…

    According to the study, the conclusion that changing ocean currents ***could lead to the rapid melting of Arctic Ice ***may have large implications for the rate and scale of climate change…
    https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/11/08/changing-ocean-currents-may-affect-global-climate/

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      RickWill

      “Once some ice has been melted, it’s now no longer reflecting the sunlight back to space, ***which means that what was previously ice-covered now absorbs solar radiation, which means it becomes warmer, therefore it can melt more ice.”…

      Easily proven to be a fallacy.

      The temperature above Arctic sea ice averages 250K. The ocean water temperature adjacent to sea ice is 272K. Even neglecting the much lower emissivity of ice compared with water the emissive power of the ocean is (272/250)^4 = 1.4; meaning the emissive power of the water is 40% higher than the ice. Almost twice as high when average surface emissivity is taken into account.

      Any open ocean water at latitudes north and south higher than 37 degrees is a net thermal sink. Less sea ice means greater heat loss. This is well known as the Arctic Iris Effect:
      http://landscapesandcycles.net/arctic-iris-effect-and-dansgaard-oeschger-event.html

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    pat

    20 Nov: Irish Independent: Associated Press: France’s Emmanuel Macron open to dialogue over fuel protests
    France’s President Emmanuel Macron is sticking to the policy of fuel tax hikes that have prompted nationwide protests but calling for “dialogue” to calm tensions…
    The president said he was trying to wean French drivers off fossil fuels.
    He said he was trying to “change habits” by weaning the French off fossil fuels, “which is never simple”…
    He reiterated promises of subsidies for low-income households to buy cleaner cars or switch to cleaner home heating methods.
    Speaking to students during a visit to Belgium, he did not comment on protest violence…
    https://www.independent.ie/world-news/frances-emmanuel-macron-open-to-dialogue-over-fuel-protests-37547699.html

    20 Nov: France24: AFP: French prosecutors open inquiry into Macron campaign financing
    Paris prosecutors have launched an inquiry into the origins of thousands of euros donated to President Emmanuel Macron’s election campaign last year, a legal source told AFP on Tuesday.
    The move follows an alert from France’s campaign finance oversight body this month, after it was unable to determine the sources of a total of 144,000 euros ($164,000) given to Macron’s Republic on the Move (LREM) movement.
    The funds were contributed via checks, bank transfers or electronic payments, the source said, confirming a report on Europe 1 radio.
    Investigators want to verify that none of the donors exceeded the 7,500-euro annual limit on individual donations to political parties.

    The inquiry comes just weeks after leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon was questioned and his home and party’s headquarters raided in connection with two funding probes.
    Melenchon denounced the inquiry as a “political manouevre” piloted by Macron, whose economic policies he has fiercely contested as leader of the France Unbowed party.
    “Will there also be searches at his home? Membership and donor lists seized as well? Or will this openly be a case of double standards?” Melenchon wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
    https://www.france24.com/en/20181120-french-prosecutors-open-inquiry-macron-campaign-financing

    read all:

    20 Nov: NationalReview: The Mad, Mad Meditations of Monsieur Macron
    By Victor Davis Hanson
    https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/emmanuel-macron-pan-european-army-crackpot-idea/

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    Mark M

    The sky is falling, just not like they said it would …

    Flamingo freezes on flight south, crashes onto Siberian road

    “Rossiya television reported that local residents rescued the flamingo, which is now in good condition.”

    https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/flamingo-freezes-on-flight-south-crashes-onto-siberian-road/

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    OriginalSteve

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-21/stephanie-kelton-on-modern-monetary-theory-and-a-job-guarantee/10510758

    A govt job for everyone – that sounds like Communism……

    Suggested by Bernie Sanders advisor ( Note : Bernie Sanders is a US Socialist )

    “The radical idea of offering every person a government-funded job is finding new supporters in Australia as proponents claim it could eliminate unemployment overnight.

    Key points

    US economist touring Australia to promote “jobs guarantee”
    Based on controversial modern monetary theory (MMT) school of thought
    Expert says MMT is gaining traction in Greens, ALP

    “US economist Stephanie Kelton, who served as Bernie Sanders’ economic adviser during the 2016 presidential campaign, is currently touring Australia to promote the concept she says isn’t too good to be true.

    “There is nothing to prevent the Australian government, if it chose to do so, from funding a large-scale government job program that would offer employment to anybody who wanted work and couldn’t find it anywhere else in the Australian economy,” she said.”

    “”And so this program is there as a backstop to just soak up the people who are left behind.”

    The plan — commonly referred to as a “jobs guarantee” — works like this: every one of the 700,000-odd unemployed Australians would be offered a job that would be funded by the government but managed by local communities.

    “We want the local communities being the ones to imagine the kind of work that is going to provide the most value,” Professor Kelton said.

    “So it’s not a top-down government, bureaucratic [model] … they just provide the funding and the community decides what needs to be done.”

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      John F. Hultquist

      I think I can remember hearing a more dumb idea, but can’t recall it right now.

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      • #
        Hanrahan

        It’s the government organised version of taking in each others’ washing, only less efficient.

        But there are hundreds of hard left politicians in the US now and they are getting elected. Gillum, who claims he should have won Florida’s governorship, ran on turning it into a high tax state.

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        • #
          yarpos

          It seems Americans will slowly run out of States to run to. They say a lot of escapees then turn around and try to make their new home more like California (or whatever liberal nirvana they are fleeing). I keep reading that Colorado is going this way.

          Bit like some of our immigrants , allegedly fleeing violence and mayhem for a better life. Then what do they do? violence and mayhem.

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      Hanrahan

      … they just provide the funding and the community decides what needs to be done.”

      The 50% + 1 majority rule to decide everything is a flawed model of democracy. It’s easy to convince the lower socio/economic majority that they should vote themselves a raise by picking the pockets of the “wealthy”. To oppose such high moral causes in the West today opens one to vile abuse.

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        Robert Swan

        Rhodesia had an interesting form of democracy in the late ’50s. You got a vote if you were of age and a permanent resident. If you had completed primary school, you got another vote. High school and tertiary completion got you another one each. You got another if you had paid tax in the previous year. Another if you owned your house. There may have been other things — my father described it to me; I was born there, but our family left very soon after that.

        The idea was to gradually hand over the reins to the black majority. The wealthy whites would maintain their political advantage for about 15 years before education, etc., swung the balance to the blacks. It was doomed to failure. The change was far too fast for the hard-line whites, far too slow for the hard-line blacks. Government changed to a more extreme white government who ditched the scheme and, after a while (coincidentally, about 15 years) Robert Mugabe took power.

        Anyhow, back to the failings of our democracy: can you imagine the howls of indignation if a similar “vote weighted by your stake in the nation” scheme were proposed for Australia?

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    pat

    MSM jumping on this. Unattributed at theirABC.:

    21 Nov: ABC: Barack Obama says racism, hate and ‘mommy issues’ are holding America back
    Speaking at the Obama Foundation summit in Chicago on Monday, the former US president said the country was failing to progress “because we are still confused, blind, shrouded with hate, anger, racism and mommy issues”.
    The crowd laughed following the statement, which came as Mr Obama commented on Government inaction on climate change…

    Ending his speech at the annual summit, Mr Obama said he remained hopeful of a bright future for America.
    “The thing that inspires me … is that this generation behind us is smarter, more sophisticated, more tolerant, more welcoming, more innovative, more creative, certainly than I was,” he said.
    “I’ll go ahead and speak for my whole generation, I think.
    “Y’all are ahead of the curve. And you’re no less idealistic, in some ways, you’re more idealistic.
    “And you feel a greater sense of urgency about wrongs that need to be righted.” …

    Former first lady Michelle Obama has also spoken out against Mr Trump in her new book, Becoming.
    Ms Obama said she was so disappointed by the election of Mr Trump that she “stopped even trying to smile” at his inauguration.

    Mr Obama launched the Obama Foundation after leaving office last year, with a view to using community organising and empowerment to make the world a better place.
    ***This year’s summit hosted more than 650 young people from Chicago and across the globe, with the theme “common hope, uncommon stories”.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-21/barack-obama-says-racism-hate-mommy-issues-stopping-us-progress/10517498

    Updated 21 Nov: Daily Mail: Obama suggests Trump is a confused, angry racist and has ‘mommy issues’ that are making him incapable of fixing the country’s problems
    By Khaleda Rahman
    Obama told the audience at a talk at the Obama Foundation summit, held at the Mariott Marquis hotel in Chicago, on Monday that the world ‘badly needs remaking.’
    And he insisted fixing issues around climate change, education, agriculture and so on are not nearly as complicated as they are made out to be.
    Without mentioning Trump by name, Obama said ‘the reason we don’t do it is because we are still confused, blind, shrouded with hate, anger, racism, mommy issues.’
    Trump has previously credited his mother Mary MacLeod Trump, who died in 2000, for ‘so much of what I’ve done and so much of what I’ve become.’…
    Since leaving office, Obama has pointedly avoided direct criticism of his successor, making a calculated effort not to utter Trump’s name…
    The Obama summit is a two-day conference that brings together civic innovators and community activists from around the world to network, exchange ideas…

    first 7min-plus:

    Youtube: 8min55sec: Gary Franchi: BREAKING: Obama Says ‘Racist’ Trump Has ‘Mommy Issues’ – Learns Big Mistake Too Late
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWaeamYSxlM

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      ROM

      Trump’s really in trouble judging by the Obama’s complaints.

      Trump has had two years to fix the stuff ups and disasters and political and social and economic debacles that eight years of the Obama presidency created but he has been too incompetent apparently to do it within the two year long time frame of his presidency according to the Obama’s .

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        robert rosicka

        Virtually every phone and pen regulation Obama made has been either reversed or watered down so I’m not sure what he is on about .
        Obama has only the legacy of failure.

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    pat

    MSM’s “eloquent”, “Rockstar” President – one of many examples of his I, Me, My obsessions:

    Youtube: 1min34sec: 2012: CNS News: ‘I,’ ‘Me’—Obama Uses First-Person Pronoun 117 Times in 1 Speech
    Speaking in Sandusky, Ohio on July 5, President Barack Obama used the first-person pronouns “I” and “me” a combined 117 times in a speech that lasted about 25 minutes and 32 seconds…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1wsTygyOFw

    the equally eloquent former FLOTUS:

    Youtube: 2min34sec: 17 Nov: MICHELLE OBAMA YOU KNOW video
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WRWzgLhLF4

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      pat

      in the first excerpt from the Franchi video, Obama says we could reduce CO2 emissions by 30 percent with present-day off-the-shelf technology, which would buy us another 20 or 30 years for that big technological breakthrough to arise.

      another arrogant quote, which is in the Franchi video:

      20 Nov: Grabien: OBAMA TRASHES TRUMP: ‘CONFUSED, BLIND, SHROUDED WITH HATE … MOMMY ISSUES’
      by Tom Elliott
      “I’m…I’m…people call me Spock for a reason. I believe in reason and logic and a these enlightenment values, but the thing that really we have to invest in is people. We got to get people to figure out how they work together – in a – you know, how do we get people to work together in a cooperative, thoughtful, constructive way.”…
      https://news.grabien.com/story-obama-trashes-trump-were-still-confused-blind-shrouded-hate

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        OriginalSteve

        Mummy issues?

        Joan Rivers had something to say ….well…..she died very soon afterward….

        Its probably on youtube still if the leftists haven’t taken it down.

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          Hanrahan

          Joan may have been right. I spent some time searching for Obama family photos looking for some of a pregnant or nursing Michelle. Nothing. A mail-order family?

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    pat

    MSM’s new “Rockstar”, “media darling”:

    30 Jul: Daily Caller: George Soros’s Media Network Worked To Help Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Win Primary
    by Kyle Perisec
    New details have emerged revealing that George Soros helped prop-up Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s political career in an attempt to put 400 Bernie Sanders-like politicians in Congress…
    The New York Times writes that she was able to defeat her opponent, who greatly outspent her, due to her online presence. In an interview with progressive digital media outlet “The Young Turks,” a member of a Soros-funded network of far-left publications called The Media Consortium, Ocasio-Cortez also admits that their coverage helped her win…

    Brand New Congress is another organization, just like Justice Democrats, that aims to get socialists elected to Congress in the 2018 mid-terms. It has close ties to Justice Democrats…
    The Media Consortium is a Soros a media empire that, according to Media Research Center (MRC), reaches nearly 300 million people a month…

    The MRC report goes on to detail the progressive echo chamber Soros intentionally created with the Media Consortium with the intention of shaping public opinion.
    https://dailycaller.com/2018/07/30/soros-uygur-ocasio-cortez/

    Media Research Center: Soros-Funded Lefty Media Reach More Than 300 Million Every Month
    Third of Four Parts
    by Dan Gainor
    Books, newspapers, radio stations, TV stations, websites and cutting edge videos. The pieces of the George Soros media empire are as diverse as the nations of the world and just as widespread. From nakedly partisan left-wing media like Think Progress, the blog for the Center for American Progress, and a TV show on MSNBC, to the supposedly impartial National Public Radio, Soros has impact on the flow of information worldwide…

    Every month, reporters, writers and bloggers at the many outlets he funds easily reach more than 330 million people around the globe…

    This information is part of an upcoming report by the Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute which has been looking into George Soros and his influence on the media.
    Just counting 13 prominent operations of the 180 media organizations he has funded equals 332 million people each month. Included in that total are big players like NPR, which received $1.8 million from Soros, as well as the little known Project Syndicate and Public News Service, both of which also claim to reach millions of readers.

    And that’s really just the beginning. That tally takes into account only a few of the bigger Soros-funded media operations…
    https://www.mrc.org/commentary/soros-funded-lefty-media-reach-more-300-million-every-month

    nice, easy way to brainwash people, isn’t it?

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      Graeme No.3

      Any moves in the (Democrat controlled) House of Representatives to investigate attempts to infuence the election?

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    TdeF

    Not the IPCC? Another make believe UN department for make believe Climate Change ..

    “Head of the UN’s environmental body has resigned after an audit found that he had claimed nearly $500,000 in travel expenses in under two years.

    Erik Solheim’s frequent flying prompted accusations that he risked damaging the reputation of the UN Environment Program (UNEP), which calls for reductions in emissions to prevent climate change.”

    Who knew they had yet another UN ‘Environment Program’ which also wants lower Carbon Dioxide created by their executives flying around the world begging people not to fly around the world?

    Former IPCC head Pachauri flew 360,000km a year and no one said anything because the IPCC was better funded. How can they justify this all this expenses paid jet travel in the age of the internet? Why do have fly in conferences at all?

    The reality is that these love ins are feeding frenzies for the carpetbaggers who make their living from Climate Change. Limousines, five star hotels and sightseeing, from Lima to Paris to Durban, Rio and Copenhagen. It also tells the world that they do not believe a word of it. Plots are hatched and deals are done behind closed doors, not on public email systems. It does give them a chance to catch up privately with the windmill/solar manufacturers though. No emailgate for the IPCC or the UNEP or the Greens.

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    pat

    MSM not interested in whether or not this is a popular decision with the public. only those with vested interests get to respond:

    21 Nov: news.com.au: (Australian Prime Minister Scott) Morrison pulls UN migration pact support
    Australia won’t be signing a UN-sponsored document on safe and orderly migration because Scott Morrison says it would compromise the country’s borders.
    by Daniel McCulloch, AAP
    Scott Morrison is following in Donald Trump’s footsteps by refusing to sign a non-binding migration agreement which Australia helped draft…

    But the prime minister says the UN pact would compromise Australia’s border security and immigration settings.
    “It doesn’t distinguish between those who illegally enter Australia and those who come the right way,” he told 2GB radio on Wednesday.
    “I would never allow something to compromise our borders, I worked too hard to ensure that we weren’t in that position.”…

    The Refugee Council of Australia lashed out at the prime minister’s “nonsense” excuses for refusing to sign the agreement.
    “Australia will join a small group of governments which are each trying to appeal to, or appease, minority far-right political movements within their countries,” its chief executive Paul Power said…

    The US, Israel, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria have also refused to sign the agreement…

    (Peter) Dutton said Australia had stopped boat arrivals and drownings at sea through hardline border protection policies.
    “We’re not going to surrender that, we want our sovereignty to remain intact,” he said…

    Save The Children blah blah…
    https://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/morrison-shuns-un-covenant-on-migration/news-story/9d44ce64244455f85c5ad0416d29aaec

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    pat

    10 Nov: UN News: UN chief appoints Luis Alfonso de Alba as Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Summit
    United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on Friday the appointment of Luis Alfonso de Alba of Mexico as his Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Summit…
    PHOTO WIND “FARM”: World Bank/ Ivelina Taushanova: Wind farm near Kavarna, Bulgaria. According to ILO’s 2018 World Employment and Social Outlook report action to combat climate change will create 24 million new jobs globally by 2030.

    Mr. de Alba will work closely with ***Robert Orr, Special Adviser on Climate Change, as well as Peter Thomson, Special Envoy for the Ocean, Michael Bloomberg, Special Envoy for Climate Action and other UN senior officials…
    https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/11/1025441

    ***I posted some stuff on globalist Orr on an earlier thread of Jo’s, but here’s some more:

    Uni of Maryand School of Public Policy: Dr. Robert C. Orr serves as UMD School of Public Policy dean, United Nations under secretary-general, and special advisor to the UN secretary-general on climate change.
    Prior to joining the University of Maryland, Orr served as the assistant secretary-general for strategic planning in the Executive Office of the United Nations secretary-general from 2004 to 2014, and was the principal advisor to the secretary-general on counter-terrorism, peace building, women’s and children’s health, sustainable energy, food and nutrition, institutional innovation, public-private partnership and climate change.
    Orr joined the United Nations from Harvard University where he served as the executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government. Prior to this, he served as director of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C…
    He has served in senior posts in the government of the United States, including deputy to the United States ambassador to the United Nations and director of global affairs at the National Security Council.
    Orr is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

    2 June 2017: Baltimore Sun: If the president won’t move the U.S. forward, we will
    By Robert C. Orr
    (Robert C. Orr is dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland)
    The final scene of the reality show that was President Donald Trump’s deliberations on the Paris climate agreement has aired. He is pulling the United States out. This decision represents a self-inflicted wound to the competitiveness and international standing of the U.S., threatening to move America from first to last. The Paris Agreement will survive, but will the U.S. economy?…

    The 21st century economy is being defined by the response to climate change and the jobs that will follow. Profound shifts in the global economy are already evident, led by burgeoning clean energy markets and technological innovation…

    President Trump is turning his back on this vibrant and growing renewables market to champion coal, whose sum total of 65,000 jobs in the U.S. will continue to shrink regardless of this decision. This will not be at the hand of “excessive regulation” but the very market forces driving investment in clean energy.

    The president is turning away as everyone else aggressively leans in, with renewable energy markets in the developing world flourishing. China has surpassed the U.S. to become the leader in clean energy investment and will spend more than $360 billion over the next four years to cement this position. India invested close to $10 billion in 2016 and is targeting 175 gigawatts of capacity by 2022…

    If the goal was to isolate the U.S. from the global community and the geostrategic center of gravity in the world, the president could find no better issue on which to stake his go-it-alone agenda. And alone he will be. The rest of the world is not waiting for — nor dependent on — the leadership of the U.S. administration…
    In fact, the U.S. won’t be at the tables that matter — not the negotiating table, nor the deal-making tables.

    While some of these actors have been mobilized in support of Paris for some time, the coalition has been supercharged by the precipitous withdrawal of the federal government. In this regard President Trump may have unwittingly done more to advance the scale, scope and speed of the inevitable transition to a cleaner, lower carbon U.S. economy.
    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-paris-trump-climate-20170604-story.html

    The School of Public Policy and the University of Maryland is a ***non-partisan institution!!!

    14 Nov 2016: Uni of Maryland School of Public Policy: Making Democracy Work – An Open Letter from Dean (Robert C.) Orr
    The populist electoral earthquake of 2016 has destabilized much of what we know, or thought we knew, about our country. The aftershocks are just beginning but will rattle us for months and years to come. While those who were excited to vote for the first woman president are perhaps the most shocked, so too are many of the President-elect’s supporters who didn’t expect victory, as are the Republican and Democratic establishments which have many questions to answer as well. People and countries around the world are just waking up to a brave new reality in which the United States could potentially play a significantly different role in the world from any they have seen since the Second World War.

    The School of Public Policy and the University of Maryland is a ***non-partisan institution which takes no side in electoral contests. That said, it is safe to say this election has hit our community hard. We are in “Washington,” educated, diverse, coastal, cosmopolitan, internationalist, and generally think that government has an important role to play in crafting policy solutions to modern day problems and challenges. The President-elect campaigned overtly against all these things – and won. What one journalist prior to the election called a “civics lesson from Hell” has morphed into a potential validation of behaviors and attitudes that run against the grain not only of civil discourse, but also common decency and, in some instances, the law of the land.

    I have heard from many in our community, especially our students, how personally you take this. I understand this. I do too. One of our students has shared that some students have withdrawn applications to work in government positions and others have even “begun questioning why they are getting this degree.” Why indeed?…

    Finally, to the people of color, women, “undocumented,” international students, LGBTQ, and persons with disabilities in our community, please know that we as a united school family stand with you at this time of great angst and uncertainty. We will work with you to make our democracy work. No one will stand alone in this endeavor.

    With greatest respect, solidarity, and commitment
    Bob
    https://www.publicpolicy.umd.edu/newsroom/current-students/making-democracy-work-open-letter-dean-orr

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      President Trump is turning his back on this vibrant and growing renewables market to champion coal, whose sum total of 65,000 jobs in the U.S. will continue to shrink regardless of this decision. This will not be at the hand of “excessive regulation” but the very market forces driving investment in clean energy.

      I doubt many here would object if unsubsidised market forces made coal redundant. If renewables employ more people than thermal plants for the same power they must be, by definition, more expensive.

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      • #
        Bobl

        Yes, and they do, a modern HELE plant can be run with as few as 6 operators, with flying crews for shutdown maintenance. Windmills need more than that just to keep the grass mown and roads clear

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      Graeme No.3

      “The 21st century economy is being defined by the response to climate change and the jobs that will follow. Profound shifts in the global economy are already evident” – since it all depends on subsidies, what happens if they stop coming?
      Also, what happens when the climate turns cold? Very hard to shear the sheep then as they want their fleece to keep warm.

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      • #
        ROM

        Well there won’t be any coal fired or even gas fired power generators if Andrews from Victoria is still around.
        But we will have windmills although a bit of icing on the blades can make them fairly useless if it really gets cold.

        However the research has been done and technology comes to the rescue.
        The wind turbines with a bit of TLC , tax payer funded of course , will continue to provide power which no doubt directed to Adam Bandt and his green eco-mush wherever they might be will ensure they have first call on..

        https://youtu.be/-90g8SrOtgQ;

        And this is what you do and how you do it with a wind turbine when it gets real cold. Tax payer funded of course!. It is an emergency situation you know!

        Come to think of it, I wonder if that helicopter is electrically powered?

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    John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia

    It appears the Maldives are drowning in debt rather than a rising ocean.
    Maldives’ new president warns state coffers ‘looted’ after China-led boom

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    • #
      Peter C

      Indeed John,

      The Maldives now have a real problem, instead of a make believe one.

      The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative seems designed to ensnare many regional neighbours in debt and dependency. Mostly aided by political corruption by the said countries own leaders. I don’t think it was China who “looted the coffers”.
      And I don’t say it is not happening here! Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has apparently signed something with China Belt and Road but the deal is Secret!

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    pat

    AUDIO: 11min15sec: 20 Nov 2GB: Michael McLaren: Interview with Ian Plimer
    Professor Ian Plimer joins Michael McLaren to lob a bit of common sense into the usually alarmist climate and energy debate.
    https://www.2gb.com/podcast/ian-plimer/

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    robert rosicka

    True socialist philosophy, there is no problem you can’t fix by throwing billions of dollars at it of other people’s money .
    Think pink batts on steroids.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-21/labor-energy-policy-ahead-of-election/10519018

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    • #
      PeterS

      Yes but that’s what many people want and that means votes. Stupid is as stupid does. That’s one reason why the West will inevitably collapse under its own massive debt. Same as what happened to most civilisations in the past. Gone are the days when the national debt could be paid off either here or in the US. The US however is getting away with it for now because their dollar is the world’s reserve currency. It won’t be for much longer. Then the real “fun” starts.

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    RAH

    Expect a lot of new record daily and monthly low temps for the states in the NE US from Thursday (our Thanksgiving holiday) through the weekend. They’re worried the bitter cold winds may make it impossible to fly the balloons for the parade in NYC. It’s going to be a real mess because traditionally more Americans hit the road and airways to be with family for the Thanksgiving Holiday than any other and with gas prices low and wages up they’re saying this particular Thanksgiving Holiday will see more travelers than any previous.

    This truck driver noticed heavier than normal traffic already this week even starting Sunday evening when I headed up to the Detroit area to do a run for the terminal there to Whitby, ON east of Toronto and back Monday. The only good thing about going to Canada is Tim Hortons coffee and donuts IMO. Tuesday evening driving home to central Indiana from the Detroit area I ran into back ups not normal for that time of day. So the people are out there in numbers on the road already and so are the big trucks as they service accounts trying to get ahead on stock before the Holiday weekend.

    So chaos will reign and I’m on call to run when needed over this Holiday. Certain so called truck drivers tend to call off the runs they’ve committed to when there is bad weather forecast along their route so there is a good chance this truck driver will get a call to go to cover for a “snow baby” and be mixed up in it. I’m ready. Food and drink stored in the truck that would last me for five days if necessary. Truck fueled and inspected and plugged in to the heater where it’s parked. Under armor and five days of clothes changes in my bug out bag. Let come what may.

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    • #
      Kinky Keith

      My sister in law lives in Virginia, close to Washington D.C.
      She’s reported very cold, snowy weather the last few years.

      Good luck if you drive.

      KK

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      • #
        RAH

        Well I was taken care of. Depart today at 16:00 EST for Smyrna, TN. Deliver at the Nissan receiving facility and then pickup a trailer at another location near by. I’ll take a 10 hour break and then drive home. Have to deal with the Holiday traffic but at least I’m going south and not North or East. Should be back walking in the door at home by 14:00 on Thursday (Thanksgiving day)and since our family dinner is at 16:00 I should be home to help the wife with the 21.7 lb turkey we will take over for the pitch in.

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        • #
          OriginalSteve

          Soome thing Ive always wondered – are US ovens made bigger to accomodate what in essence is one very very large chook?

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          • #
            Chad

            No..
            Dont you know they deep fry the whole bird in a big pot of hot oil !

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            • #
              RAH

              Some do deep fry their birds and it’s very good but one has to know what they’re doing or it can be a real fire hazard. However we do the traditional roast in the oven. I made it back without taking a break. So I’m home after driving all night. Time to get some rest. By 14:00 this afternoon I’ll be awake, cleaned up, and tackling the job of carving the Turkey before we head out the door too meet everyone at my parents house. Usually there are 20 t0 25 adults and 5 or 6 kids. There will be all kinds of food there. Besides the Turkey there will be a ham. Shrimp cocktail and various other hors devours. Traditional stuffing and Oyster dressing that is made to the standards my grandmother. Cheesy mashed potatoes or regular mashed potatoes with turkey gravy my better half will make and we’ll take over. home made egg noodles for those that prefer them over mashed potatoes. Corn pudding, green bean casserole, and probably at least six other side dishes. And I won’t even get into the deserts except to say mince meat pie made from mince meat my aunt makes and cans is my favorite. Of course I will consume a bourbon in egg nog or two before digging in since I’ve already been told they won’t need me before next week.

              If it all sounds excessive; Well I guess it is, but believe me nothing will go to waste. We bring our own containers to take the left overs we want home. Now it’s off to bed for me. We all have a lot to be thankful for and that is what it’s really all about.

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          • #
            yarpos

            everything is bigger in the US, ovens, fridges, people

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    tom0mason

    Interesting forecast for both Australia and New Zealand for the coming month.
    Here a view of the precipitation across the region — that Antarctic air keeps coming back to drench South Australia/Tasmania and New Zealand …

    http://www.wetterzentrale.de/en/topkarten.php?map=14&model=gfs&var=4&time=3&run=6&lid=OP&h=0&mv=0&tr=3

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    • #
      tom0mason

      Forecast from the GFS model.

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        Greg in NZ

        I’ve been annoying my ©©©Believer friends for months saying we’re in for a white (snowy) Christmas this year – only 4 weeks and a few days to go – as the cold blizzards keep rolling through. The link below has the last 28 days’ pics looking towards Mt Aspiring / Tititea from the Whare Kea Chalet – old man snow just keeps on falling…

        https://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Mount-Aspiring/webcams/latest

        Mauna Kea in Hawai’i has just received its first decent snowfall on the summit for their winter, so that’s two-thirds of Polynesia now covered in snow. All we need is a little chilly dusting on Rapanui / Easter Island and it’ll be a consensus!

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    Bob Peel

    Bill Shorten blinks very early … (possibly has to in order to shore up Andrews in Vic) … and hands Scomo a golden opportunity. Now if only Josh and Scomo don’t blow this.

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  • #
    pat

    21 Nov: Macro Business: NSW Labor leader conducts secret Chinese press conference
    (from Daily Telegraph article “Daley’s exclusive press conference for Chinese media”)
    New Labor leader Michael Daley has held a secret press conference exclusively for Chinese media in a deliberate bid to woo the community and seize the crucial Chinese vote…

    In the news conference, Mr Daley bizarrely praised Labor Chinese MP Ernest Wong who has been rolled by ALP headquarters and questioned over his connections to Chinese intelligence operatives.
    Offering extraordinary public support to the MP Labor ditched just months ago, Mr Daley said he was “determined” Mr Wong would have a “prominent” ongoing role in public life.
    The new Labor leader also left the door open to a controversial memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China over trade…
    https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/11/nsw-labor-leader-conducts-secret-chinese-press-conference/

    re MOU with Chinese:

    Mr Daley said he was “open to all discussions”…

    PICS: TWEET: Rose Brennan, Daily Telegraph
    EXCL: Labor leader Michael Daley held a secret press conference exclusively for Chinese media. Daley passed on a message from Bob Carr and left the the door open to an MOU with China. Ernest Wong also addressed the media…
    21 Nov 2018
    https://twitter.com/RoseBrennan12/status/1064987163580715008

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    pat

    more on Solheim:

    20 Nov: BBC: UN environment chief Erik Solheim quits amid expenses row
    It (the audit) said this harmed the reputation of UN Environment – a body that highlights green issues and sustainability…
    Climate change jet-setter
    By Matt McGrath, BBC environment correspondent
    The auditor’s report had also upset some European countries to such an extent that they had threatened to withhold millions of dollars in funding if he continued in post.
    While many in UN circles will be glad to see him go, some will miss the energy and greater visibility he brought to a once-lacklustre branch of the organisation…

    What did the audit say?
    The report was particularly critical of the travel undertaken under Mr Solheim, UN Environment executive director since 2016. A total about $58m was spent in the two years since then.
    While all UN staff are expected to complete “mission reports” within two weeks of travel, the audit found that these were often missing.
    When they requested reports for 596 trips undertaken by 32 managers and staff, 210 mission reports were not provided, while around 200 others were only completed after the request was made…

    On one occasion, it says, “he made an eight-hour trip from Washington DC for a weekend in Paris, before taking another flight to New York city.”
    https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46281051

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    pat

    21 Nov: East African: Tanzanian picked to head Unep as chief Erik Solheim resigns
    By DAILY NATION
    Tanzanian national Joyce Msuya has been appointed as acting head of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) following the resignation of the executive director Erik Solheim…
    https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/ea/Unep-chief-Erik-Solheim-resigns/4552908-4861720-y62e3k/index.html

    not updated as yet. World Bank vet; worked as advisor to Nicholas Stern:

    Wikipedia: Joyce Msuya
    She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Immunology from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland in 1992. She later graduated with a Master of Science degree in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in 1996…
    Before joining the World Bank Group, Msuya worked as an International Health Policy Analyst with the Liu Center for Global Studies (now Liu Institute for Global Issues) at the University of British Columbia in Canada…
    She joined the World Bank in 1998 as a Health Specialist…

    In 2001, she joined the World Bank’s Development Economics Vice Presidency as Advisor to the Senior Vice President & Chief Economist, ***Professor Lord Nicholas Stern…

    In 2011, she was assigned to the Beijing, China office of the World Bank Institute as Regional Coordinator for East Asia & the Pacific, focusing on support to the Bank’s operational work in its efforts to “fight poverty and promote shared prosperity”. In April 2014, Joyce Msuya was selected by senior management to establish and manage the first World Bank Group office in the Republic of Korea, serving for three years as the World Bank Special Representative to the Republic of Korea and Head of the World Bank Group (WBG) Office based in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea.
    At the time of her appointment to her present assignment, she served as an advisor for the World Bank’s Vice President for the East Asia and Pacific region, based in Washington, DC.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Msuya

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    • #
      yarpos

      I wonder at what stage in this illustrious resume she actually completed substantial work/projects/assignments that provided the body of knowledge to support all that analysing, advising and co-ordinating. It appears that she has never really been at risk of doing anything real in the real world. But then who am I to say whats real?

      30

  • #
    pat

    20 Nov: ClimateChangeNews: Extinction Rebellion eyes global climate campaign of non-violence
    Group wants to spark civil disobedience around the world, but US campaigner says it will have to lose white, middle class image
    By Chloé Farand for DeSmog UK
    Extinction Rebellion is working to establish campaign groups beyond the UK, with coordinators already working in the US, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Italy and Spain. But much of the movement’s international expansion is focused on the US…

    (Bernie) Sanders’ presidential campaign, which inspired Extinction Rebellion’s mobilisation strategy, has given rise to a new generation of young leaders including more women and people of colour – a trend reflected in the US’ congressional midterm elections.
    Newly elected liberals, led by the 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are demanding the Democrats back a “Green New Deal” to rapidly transform the economy to 100% renewable energy in a decade – a target largely in line with Extinction Rebellion’s own demand to reach net zero by 2025.

    Henn said that the only way in which the Extinction Rebellion movement would take off in the US would be by “moving away from a climate movement that is predominantly made up of older, middle-class white people”.
    Instead, Henn said Extinction Rebellion had “to build a multi-racial and multi-generational movement which will include young people of colour in its leadership and tackle issues such as equity and environmental justice”…

    Margaret Klein Salamon, founder of the US grassroots group Climate Mobilisation, believes Extinction Rebellion is “a game changer” for the climate movement…READ ON
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/11/20/extinction-rebellion-eyes-global-climate-campaign-non-violence/

    reminder:

    17 Nov: UK Times: White collar eco-warriors to spread chaos
    by Will Humphries, Ben Webster
    Richard Black, director of the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, which supports strong action, said the group’s 2025 target was “an ambition that technically, economically and politically has absolutely no chance of being fulfilled”. It would mean banning flying, scrapping 38 million petrol and diesel vehicles and disconnecting 26 million gas boilers – all within seven years…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/white-collar-eco-warriors-to-spread-chaos-swl273xdh

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Gosh – Community Organizers ( aka Communists )

      “Henn said that the only way in which the Extinction Rebellion movement would take off in the US would be by “moving away from a climate movement that is predominantly made up of older, middle-class white people”.
      Instead, Henn said Extinction Rebellion had “to build a multi-racial and multi-generational movement which will include young people of colour in its leadership and tackle issues such as equity and environmental justice”…

      Yep – recruiting rabble rousers from all walks of life…..

      I wonder how much more of this the US silent conservative majority will put up with?

      Once it gets ugly, I predict the Left will be shredded by the right…..

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  • #
    Bill In Oz

    Cooling Climate News From South Australia:
    Today is November 21st. This afternoon it was hailing. There was hail covering the lawn outside my back window. It has been raining off & on ever since.15-20 mls. so far with more to come…
    Current temperature outside is 6 degrees.

    And from the look of the weather maps you folks in the Eastern states will get your share..Maybe even snow on the Great Divide

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    PeterS

    Almost goes without saying the state Victorian election this weekend will expose the level of awareness by the public on a number of critical issues. If the ALP is returned it would show Victorians haven’t suffered enough and have to go through even more pain to wake up. Their policy on energy alone should be enough for the government to lose at the election by a landslide.

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    AndyG55

    “should be enough for the government to lose at the election by a landslide”

    This is Victoria, remember.

    They are more likely to elect more Adam Bandt type fools BECAUSE of the ludicrous energy policy.. !

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      The once great state of Victoria had a car industry a thriving manufacturing industry ,cheap reliable and abundant electricity but then something strange happened.
      At first no one noticed but the states name changed to Victoriastan under the socialist rule of the far left .
      And now here we are a few days before the election and I find the name of the state is to change yet again but at least this one seems more appropriate —– “Dumfukistan” !

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    • #
      PeterS

      Sad to hear that. More and more I’m thinking Australia is very stupid and needs a huge kick up the proverbial to wake us up. Of course that will happen in due course.

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  • #
    RickWill

    Electricity Bill has announced a $2000 battery rebate. Initially for low income houses with eventual aim of one million homes having batteries by 2025:
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/shorten-targets-one-million-household-batteries-neighbourhood-power-program-11184/

    Labor says its Household Battery Program will offer a rebate of $2,000 from the cost of batteries to 100,000 households from 2020, the start of a plan aiming for a new national target of one million household battery installations by 2025.

    This will light the after burners on grid power prices. Lots of households with sunk costs in solar will have a more compelling

    40

    • #
      PeterS

      Apart from the total waste of money, the loss of life could be much worse than the pink bat fiasco. This time around there will very likely be many dodgy installations with inferior and unapproved cheap solutions. We never learn. I suppose though we shouldn’t be surprised. The left don’t give a damn about people’s lives, local or incoming via the boats.

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      • #
        Ghibli Levante

        Solar installations, batteries etc have to be have done by licensed electricians who must provide a compliance certificate. The regulating authority also carry out random inspections to ensure regulations are met.

        Not much chance of a dodgy job.

        06

        • #
          AndyG55

          “Not much chance of a dodgy job.”

          The whole thing is “dodgy” from its very inception.

          And totally pointless. Achieving absolutely NOTHING.

          All those explosive batteries.. from China..

          All that stored energy….

          What could possibly go wrong 😉

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        • #
          robert rosicka

          Yep and the speed limit signs prevent speeding too !

          20

        • #
          beowulf

          Don’t make us laugh GL.

          My former employer decided to install 200 solar panels on the workshop roof at the urging of a rabid greenie assistant manager. After they were installed Ausgrid refused to allow them to be connected because the system was unsafe. The installers were called back and rectified that problem and Ausgrid allowed connection.

          Two years passed until someone looked at the power bill and noticed that no power was being produced. An independent electrician was called in and declared the system safe but useless. A further $60K was required to reconfigure the system so that it actually delivered power to the grid.

          The original installers were sought to rectify the problem a second time, when it was discovered that they had closed down and flown the coop 18 months earlier. So much for licensed electricians. Solar panel installation is full of dodgy carpet-bagger operators in it for nothing more than to make a fast buck and then disappear.

          The firm cannot afford $60 grand, so the panels sit there as a monument to green stupidity. As an added bonus, the weight of 200 solar panels caused the roof to sag by between 4 and 6 inches between rafters, which in turn caused major leaks directly onto electrical equipment below every time it rains.

          What a wonderful investment.

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      PeterS

      Andrew Bolt called it very eloquently. Shorten’s plan is to spend money we don’t have for a fix that won’t work to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. The irony of it all is it’s 100% correct. Shorten’s plan is unfunded, it will not alter the climate one iota and the climate is no worse or better than it was for thousands of years. Let’s wait and see if enough Australians are stupid enough to fall for it at the next election.

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        That and the idea of having a massive potential incendary device bolted to my house, is beyond dumb…..

        The real issue is that communists are shredding our way of life through destroying our electrical infrastructure, and all sides of politics seem to be happily assisting them…..

        Think about what that means….

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    PeterS

    Our economic news is getting better by the month according to various sources. It is projected to improve even more for the foreseeable future. This is interesting and it will very likely be setting us up for the perfect storm. Shorten wins government and is handed over a healthier economy with increasing budget surpluses. He spends like crazy like any ALP government does. We get the next world financial crisis soon afterwards. We have the recession we missed out a couple of times over the previous financial crises and play catch-up with a major economic decline. Of course don’t take this as investment advice in any shape or form but the way I see it is thanks partly to Trump we will do very well for the near term but when all hell breaks loose we will find ourselves in a crash and burn scenario thanks to the the lack of due diligence by either major party. Both major parties are leading us to the slaughter without them realising it. Enjoy it while the music is playing and try to stay close a chair when it eventually stops.

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      PeterS

      I can understand why some people are moving to the US. Although the US is far from perfect the reasoning makes good sense. Australia has moved too far to the left and it doesn’t appear to be reversing. More and more people are happy to vote in the ALP and Greens to run this nation. To anyone with even an ounce of common sense and given their recent history one would have to wonder if Australia has gone mad. In spite of the many problems with the LNP, voting in ALP+Greens is like asking the dentist for a lethal dose of poison to avoid the possibility of pain as a result of a tooth extraction with pain killers. I will reserve such judgement until after the next federal election, which will be a very significant and critical litmus test.

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      • #
        Ghibli Levante

        Hi Pete!

        Moving to the US you say. Pretty hard to get in there: they really look after their own.

        Last job I had I dealt with up to 800 people a day. The thing that struck me was the number of Americans who now call Australia home. Some worked here and decided to stay, others came on holiday and came back to live.

        All of them said there was no way they were going back.

        Even met another one yesterday: handing out how to vote cards for the ALP would you believe. He said he came here in 1970 so I suppose he’s going to stay.

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        • #
          AndyG55

          “handing out how to vote cards for the ALP”

          California wasn’t socialist/left-wing enough for him ???

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      Another Ian

      For an extreme example of rumuor in a bubble go find yourself a copy of John Steinbeck’s “Once there was a war ” and read the chapter “Mussolini”

      10

      • #
        PeterS

        Reading George Orwell’s book and watching the two movies is enough for me. I’m now just waiting for the crash and burn.

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  • #
    robert rosicka

    Of all the claims about climate change this one they maybe should have left out of the news because I can’t see a problem with it at all , unless of course you don’t like an earlier growing season with better crop and alcohol content wines .

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/climate-change-creeping-up-on-winemakers/10519206

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      Graeme No.3

      robert rosicka:

      Wimps! In the 60’s (& later) Rutherglen winemakers boasted of getting over 16% alcohol. Even in the Barossa alcohol levels were reduced by “a bit of the black snake” (rubber water hose) as Peter Lehrman said.

      As for anecdotal memories I was in Balhannah (n the Adelaide Hills) coming out of the Bakery I passed the time with an old woman. I remarked that it had hailed an hour ago. She quizzed me “where?” and when I said Woodside (a whole 5 km. away) she explained that they often missed out on hail in the town unlike Woodside and Echunga. Before I got to my car about 30 metres away it was hailing.

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    • #
      Hanrahan

      Sounds all right to me. The famous duck muck shiraz was 18%.. Reds, in particular, should be b@llsey.

      10

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    Neville

    Polar bear numbers are booming and the number of fat bears are on the increase as well.
    So much for Gore and the rest of the barking mad religious fanatics who’ve told every porkie in the book to try and fool the MSM donkeys.
    But let’s face it the stupid MSM are very easy to fool.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/11/20/chukchi-sea-polar-bears-number-almost-3000-according-to-new-survey-results/

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      Ghibli Levante

      Not really Nev.

      They don’t go out on sea ice any more, they just hang around the town rubbish dump picking up the scraps. It just looks like there more bears as they’re all in one place.

      Cheers

      02

      • #
        AndyG55

        “they just hang around the town rubbish dump picking up the scraps”

        Ahh… they have become leftist brain-washed too, have they.!

        40

  • #
    pat

    News reader says this is their top story today. about a dozen protesters from Climate Justice League (connected to UO Divest – which calls on Uni of Oregon to divest fossil fuels). Dylan Plummer, Events Planner for Climate Justice League, interviewed. wants congress to stand with Ocasio-Cortez’s green deal dream:

    VIDEO: 1min59sec: 21 Nov: KVAL(CBS affiliate, Oregon): Supporters of proposal to halt climate change call on congress members to join
    EUGENE, Ore. — People across the country Tuesday are calling on members of congress to support a proposal to halt climate change.
    One of those protests is happening in Eugene outside Rep. Peter DeFazio’s office.

    They are asking him to join the proposed New Green Deal, which would be a new policy to move us to 100 percent renewables by 2030 as well as put people in schools and the workplace to talk about climate change.
    Right now, 11 congresspeople support the proposal.
    https://kval.com/news/local/supporters-of-proposal-to-halt-climate-change-call-on-congress-members-to-join

    Our Children’s Trust: Board of Directors
    Megan Gleason – Treasurer
    Megan Gleason is a 2015 graduate of the University of Oregon, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies. Megan interned with Our Children’s Trust during college in our YouCAN program to help pass the successful Eugene Climate Recovery Ordinance. A dedicated environmentalist, Megan has also worked with Food & Water Watch and ***UO Climate Justice League to organize the UO Take Back the Tap campaign, and interned with the Congressional Research Service in Washington, D.C. to research federal green building programs. Additionally, she wrote her undergraduate thesis on our litigation, entitled “Atmospheric Trust Litigation: Prompting Climate Action Through the Courts.” Megan brings an analytical and youth perspective to our governance and programming.
    https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/board-of-directors/

    The Forefront of the Resistance
    Sierra Club – 22 Aug 2017
    Climate Justice League participants will learn more about…

    Sierra Club: Sierra Student Coalition – Climate Justice League
    Climate Justice League Fall 2018
    The Climate Justice League is a 10-week long organizing fellowship for high school and college aged young people who are ready to make a difference. Through this program, students learn key organizing and leadership skills, meet other youth activists from around the country, and take action for climate and social justice. The final deadline to apply is September 25th. ETC…

    Scott Pruitt’s Quiet Idaho Visit Draws Protesters
    Boise State Public Radio – 5 Jun 2018
    …she came to the protest as a member of the Climate Justice league…

    20

  • #
    pat

    hmmm. MSM not at all interested in this 3-day-old news:

    behind paywall:

    20 Nov: IJ Global: Consultant named for Saudi nuclear project
    by James Hebert
    King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE) has selected Australian advisory firm WorleyParsons to provide project management consultancy services for the Saudi National Atomic Energy project
    https://ijglobal.com/articles/136616/consultant-named-for-saudi-nuclear-project

    19 Nov: WorleyParsons: KA-CARE awards PMO agreement for Saudi National Atomic Energy Project
    WorleyParsons has been awarded a project management office consultancy services agreement by the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE). WorleyParsons previously completed the Large Nuclear Power Plant (LNPP) site selection study for KA-CARE.

    Under the new agreement, WorleyParsons will provide consultancy services for the Saudi National Atomic Energy Project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The services include project governance, resource management, project services, training and compliance across the full scope of the LNPP, small modular reactors and nuclear fuel cycle.
    “We look forward to continuing our relationship with KA-CARE and supporting Saudi Arabia’s vision to develop a sustainable energy mix” said Andrew Wood, Chief Executive Officer of WorleyParsons.
    https://www.worleyparsons.com/news/2018/nov-ka-care

    10

  • #
    tom0mason

    It’s old news but worth repeating —
    Joanne,

    As your site links pictures and comments from outside of the EU, this site will fall under Article 13 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market would effectively require Internet platforms – of all sizes – to proactively filter any content posted by their users, with the goal of stamping out materials that allegedly infringe on copyrights…before they are even posted.

    Soon European readers of your site will not be seeing so much of this site as you post pictures and videos that the EU elites don’t want to be seen. WordPress is against this action — see https://transparency.automattic.com/2018/06/12/were-against-bots-filtering-and-the-eus-new-copyright-directive/
    More information is available at https://www.saveyourinternet.eu/

    Your site could be blocked to EU members for it’s radicalizing views and statements.

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  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    21 Nov: UK Times: Emily Gosden: Subsidy cut deals blow to wind farms
    The government has slashed the financial support on offer for new offshore wind farms, forcing developers to find further cost savings if their projects are to proceed.
    Claire Perry, the energy minister, said that the government aimed to “secure more energy from renewables for less” after announcing that it would award subsidy contracts worth up to £60 million a year to new projects through an auction in May.

    The budget is barely a third of the value of subsidies awarded via the last auction in 2017, when wind farms with a capacity of 3.2 gigawatts got the go-ahead. The government said that it expected the reduced budget to be able to deliver more wind farm capacity than last time, of about four gigawatts…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/993a24c4-ed11-11e8-bea1-693d823de728

    20 Nov: Edie.net: ‘Genuinely bewildering’: BEIS to allocate £60m for next CfD auction
    by Matt Mace
    The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is set to finalise a draft allocation of £60m for the next Contract for Difference (CfD) auction, raising questions as to how the remaining £497m set aside for future auctions will be spent…
    Earlier this year it was revealed that offshore wind and, for the first time, remote island wind providers would eligible to bid for contracts at the next CfD auctions, which will take place in May 2019 and then every following two years. The UK Government has set aside £557m for these auctions and, depending on prices, could deliver up to 2GW of additional wind capacity each year in the 2020s.

    However, it appears that BEIS is set to impose a capacity cap of 6GW for the third CfD allocation round, with strike prices set below the record levels set in the previous auction. An administrative strike price for offshore wind has been set at £53-56/MWh, while the newly added remote island onshore wind technologies will have a strike price of £82/MWh for both delivery years…

    Greenpeace UK’s head of energy, Kate Blagojevic, said: “This is a genuinely bewildering move by the government that misses the opportunity to drive down offshore wind costs as fast as possible.
    “They promised over half a billion pounds in investment, that was widely expected to be divvied up and made available in sizeable chunks over the next few years. But this first chunk is a pitiful sum that could end up limiting UK export potential and jeopardising our climate goals.”…

    However, the (Richard Black) Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit’s (ECIU’s) head of analysis, Dr Jonathan Marshall claims that the smaller budget could represent the plummeting costs of offshore wind.
    “While slashing the size of the pot available for new renewable capacity may cause concern at first glance, what it really shows is the extent to which the cost of offshore wind has plummeted,” Marshall said. “We can expect this auction to be highly competitive, with only the most attractive projects bagging contracts.
    “However, limiting funds will likely dissuade some developers who may find that their projects will take longer to come to market than they originally envisaged.”
    https://www.edie.net/news/11/-Genuinely-bewildering—BEIS-to-allocate–60m-for-next-CfD-auction/

    10

  • #
    pat

    21 Nov: Washington Times: Congress must not extend the electric car gravy train
    by Matt Mackowiak
    Retiring Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican and outgoing chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has an expensive idea.
    Bloomberg News reported on November 13 that Mr. Hatch said in an interview that “an extension of a tax credit for consumers who purchase an electric vehicle ‘could be’ in a tax-break package” expected during the lame-duck session of Congress.

    The $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit was established in 2008 and phases out once a manufacturer reaches 200,000 fully or plug-in electric vehicles sold in the U.S.
    Tesla hit the cap in July of this year. In January 2019, Tesla buyers will only be eligible for half the incentive until June, when the subsidy is again cut in half.
    As of October, GM was very close to the 200,000-unit level. Nissan, Ford and Toyota are expected to hit the cap in about two years…

    And more “free money” will not push the automakers to innovate more quickly. Only ending the subsidy will do that.
    There is always a cost to manipulating a free market. This tax credit, like all subsidies, artificially picks winners and losers.
    The data show that three-quarters of the electric vehicle tax credits are claimed by consumers earning more than $100,000 a year. Should wealthy people be given such a tax break?…
    If Mr. Hatch gets his way, electric car buyers will still get their credit and the federal treasury will take the hit. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that removing the cap on the existing credit would cost $7.5 billion through 2022.

    Automakers offer cheap rhetoric to make their case.
    They say, “Consumers won’t pay more for electric vehicles!” Well, then, let the free market work.
    They say, “Batteries are costing more money!” Then the answer is to pass that cost along to consumers or innovate…
    The simple truth is that without these generous tax incentives, electric vehicles would not be as competitive. Their resale value is less. Their range is affected by cold temperatures. They cost more money. Eventually, electric vehicles may be cost-competitive with traditional vehicles. But not today or anytime soon.
    Propping up a non-competitive part of the automobile industry wastes taxpayer money and distorts the market…

    Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said his company does not need tax credits. Indeed, his company made a profit in the most recent financial quarter. Mr. Musk has said that “competitive advantage improves as the incentives go away.”…
    It is important to note that the House-passed version of the tax reform law eliminated the federal electric vehicle tax credit. The Senate bill did not. The compromise that was reached kept the cap at 200,000 vehicles.
    Congress should resist the urge to give more free money to the automakers. Let their electric vehicles stand on their own merit.

    (Matt Mackowiak is president of Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C.-based Potomac Strategy Group. He’s a Republican consultant, a Bush administration and Bush-Cheney re-election campaign veteran and former press secretary to two U.S. senators)
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/nov/21/congress-must-not-extend-the-electric-car-gravy-tr/

    10

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall. one 10-year-old CAGW protester is sufficient to get you UK Times coverage!

    21 Nov: UK Times: Girl, 10, takes fossil fuel protest to the top
    by Ben Webster
    More than 4,000 supporters of Extinction Rebellion, the environmental campaign group, blocked bridges over the Thames on Saturday to highlight a “climate emergency”. They caused traffic chaos but oil companies and the government largely ignored them.

    Elsie Luna tried a different tactic: she went to the London offices of several of the world’s biggest oil companies and politely asked the doormen if she could speak to the boss.

    After being turned away by Chevron, Total and ConocoPhillips, she tried Shell’s offices at Waterloo. Security refused to let her in so she started speaking to Shell employees as they left for lunch, challenging them about the company’s plans for oil and gas extraction despite its commitment to act on climate change.

    A few staff stopped and listened. After two hours Elsie and her mother Heather were invited in to meet Sinead Lynch, UK country chairwoman, and spent 20 minutes discussing the company’s response to climate change…
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/80f9956e-ed1d-11e8-bea1-693d823de728

    Ben Webster could easily have included a link to Elsie’s CAGW activist mum!

    Twitter: Heather Luna, London
    Heather re-tweeted George Monbiot 5h ago ETC

    Heather re-tweeted Haven Coleman Nov 20
    Today I lead the Denver’s #GreenNewDeal Day of Action. I am proud to be so young (12) and to have accomplished so much. I hope I motivated someone to go out there and fight for a better future!…

    Heather re-tweeted Dr. Steinberger 11h ago
    #WednesdayWisdom
    If the car drivers realized what is at stake, they’d leave their cars right there & then, walk to work & get an e-bike on the way home. 24h later, London would be car-free, air quality would improve instantly & asthmatic kids could breathe. #ExtinctionRebelion
    plus Mikey
    The #ExtinctionRebellion swarming Elephant and Castle roundabout. The commuters weren’t happy but honestly, 10 minutes of my day delayed on the bus really is nothing compared to crisis facing our planet. ‘We act on behalf of life’ @ExtinctionR #SWARM…
    https://twitter.com/keduzi

    20

    • #
      pat

      mum heather also re-tweets about Greta Thunberg:

      ***Twitter: Greta Thunberg, 15 year old climate activist with Asperger’s
      Greta re-tweeted Par Holmgren 20 Nov
      Over 15,000 Scientists From 184 Countries Say Going Vegan Will Help Save The Planet…

      Greta re-tweeted Bill McKibben 16 Nov
      Because of climate change, the habitable planet has begun to shrink. That’s going to be the story of the 21st century…
      LINK How extreme weather is shrinking the planet

      Greta re-tweeted Erika Jangen‏ Nov 20
      The #righttoknow #ClimateAction demonstration at Schuman Brussels Now! Kids from European Schools are standing up together inspired by @GretaThunberg –

      Greta re-tweeted DW
      These Australian teens have far better things to do than school.
      Fighting against climate change, for example…
      https://twitter.com/gretathunberg?lang=en

      19 Nov: Ecologise: ‘It is time to rebel’: Meet Greta Thunberg, 15-year-old climate firebrand
      by contributor
      This September, Greta Thunberg went on strike and sat on the steps of Sweden’s parliament building in Stockholm. Her demand? That the government take radical action on climate change. Since then, this autistic 15-year-old has become the face of climate resistance in Europe. Her motto? “We can’t save the world by playing by the rules.”
      NOTE: This is Greta Thunberg’s speech at the Declaration of Rebellion, Parliament Square, London, 31 October 2018. Read our previous story for background…

      ALSO READ
      LINK: This 9-year-old is suing the Indian govt for not acting on climate change

      LINK: Climate Change is ‘young people’s burden’, Paris treaty a fraud
      James Hansen, EcoWatch
      Former NASA scientist James Hansen is widely regarded as ‘the father of climate change awareness’. His new paper, titled ‘Young People’s Burden’, outlines how — if governments don’t take aggressive climate action today—future generations will inherit a climate system so altered it will require prohibitively expensive— and possibly infeasible— extraction of CO2 from the atmosphere.
      https://www.ecologise.in/2018/11/19/meet-greta-thunberg-the-15-year-old-climate-firebrand/

      once again, children are being exploited by their activist parents, allegedly in the name of CAGW, and FakeNewsMSM is on board:

      These kids are going on strike to protest the ‘climate emergency’
      The Canberra Times-19 Nov 2018
      Inspired by 15-year-old Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg…

      Australian students plan school strikes to protest against climate inaction
      The Guardian-6 Nov 2018
      They’ve been inspired by 15-year-old Greta Thunberg…

      Aussie youth strike for climate action
      SBS-9 Nov 2018
      ignited the growing movement in Australia, finding inspiration in Swedish teen Greta Thunberg

      How Young People Are Changing Green Activism
      HuffPost UK-31 Oct 2018
      This September, Greta Thunberg

      Can a Carbon Tax Solve Climate Change? Well, No.
      New York Magazine-24 Oct 2018
      But there is, actually, reason for optimism, as the incredible 15-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg reminds us

      The Fifteen-Year-Old Climate Activist Who Is Demanding a New Kind …
      The New Yorker-2 Oct 2018
      Fifteen-year-old Greta Thunberg…

      10

  • #
    Analitik

    One of the best dissections I have ever read of fiat/paper wealth through “growth” and the ensuing economic bubbles

    Three Delusions: Paper Wealth, a Booming Economy, and Bitcoin

    The short summary is that the world is in deep $hit!

    20

  • #
    pat

    Updated 22 Nov: CNN: The coldest Thanksgiving in over a century for millions plus traffic troubles
    By Judson Jones
    (SCROLL DOWN)
    • NORTHEAST: It’s going to be a brutally cold day in the Northeast. Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington will all likely see their coldest Thanksgiving morning in nearly a century.
    New York may even see its coldest low temperature for the holiday since weather records have been kept in Central Park. In 1901 and 1876, the low got down to 19 degrees Fahrenheit on Thanksgiving. The low in Thursday’s forecast now is hovering at 17 F right before sunrise.

    Boston won’t escape the big chill either. It hasn’t been forecast to be this cold there on Thanksgiving since 1901 and 1872. In both those years, the temperature got down to 19 F.
    The wind chill will make it feel even colder. Boston will struggle to make it to 20 F on Thursday, with 35-mph winds creating a wind chill of minus 5 to 10 degrees.
    Wind chill advisories are already posted for parts of upstate New York and New England, with Thanksgiving shaping up to be the coldest on record for many in the region.
    Don’t expect the temperature to get above freezing — except if you live in Washington, where it might warm up to 34 F…
    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/19/us/thanksgiving-weekend-weather-forecast-wxc/index.html

    Feds are ‘trying to silence’ the kids suing the Trump administration over GLOBAL WARMING
    by John D. Sutter
    CNN – 30 Oct 2018
    The “climate kids” were back on the steps of a federal courthouse in Oregon on Monday. But their case against the United States government, alleging violations of their constitutional rights to a safe and livable atmosphere in the face of RUNAWAY GLOBAL WARMING, has dragged on for so long without a trial that some of them aren’t exactly kids anymore…

    16 Nov: National Post: Rex Murphy: What’s in a name? With ‘Climate Change,’ a lot of reckless misuse
    If a rebrand will help the activist cause, who really cares about rigour in the scientific discipline?
    One of the more distinguishing aspects of the global warming frenzy is the playful manner in which its adherents approach language. Whenever they feel the need to rearrange the terms of debate, counter the emergence of “inconvenient” facts, or simply put a whole new banner on the crusade, neither shame nor consistency offers any brake to their innovations…

    Should the world, the weather, their most central projections “present” in any manner that doesn’t accord with their most pious predispositions, then they simply rename the whole thing…ETC
    https://nationalpost.com/opinion/rex-murphy-whats-in-a-name-with-climate-change-a-lot-of-reckless-misuse

    10

  • #
    el gordo

    Tony has a dry sense of humour.

    ‘Tony Abbott says he hopes Malcolm Turnbull will give him a hand in retaining his Warringah seat at the next election.’ Oz

    30

  • #
    robert rosicka

    So Labor announced their economy wrecking climate change policy just before and when asked about if they have evidence that increasing unreliables reduces the price of electricity they claim the evidence is everywhere.
    They pointed to how great it had worked in Germany and England , god help us all .

    50

    • #
      Ghibli Levante

      Come on robbie, you’re just annoyed you paid full price for a roof full of solar panels.

      Ha!

      03

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Said it before cost was irrelevant,I’m not sure if there is a grown up close by or a friendly nurse maybe that can show you a dictionary and explain what “irrelevant ” means .

        10

  • #
    pat

    31,000 comments, with the usual anti-Trump twitterati at the top of the replies:

    TWEET: Donald J. Trump: Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS – Whatever happened to Global Warming?
    21 Nov 2018
    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1065400254151954432

    20

    • #
      RickWill

      All the comments pointing out that the cold blast is just weather! Trump is such a stirrer. He reminds of a polished Joh B-P and his “feeding the chooks” as he described press conferences.

      It is such a biased perspective. A record high temperature is the fingerprint of Climate Change but a record cold temperature is weather! A level or falling temperature trend is a Climate Change hiatus. A rising temperature trend is a sign of Climate Change.

      The new definition of “weather” is data that does not match the output of a climate model. Data the matches output from a climate model is Climate Change.

      Actually it is sad that the really cold weather is still a few years away. By then the wasted resources will be astronomical. The lack of investment in coal mining is going to guarantee coal prices soar.

      21

  • #
    Bulldust

    Engineering contractor RCR Tomlinson has gone into receivership following disastrous engineering contracts on two solar farm projects:

    https://thewest.com.au/business/energy/engineering-contractor-rcr-tomlinson-collapses-administrators-from-mcgrathnicol-appointed-ng-b881028694z

    60

    • #
      Analitik

      Interesting find. The ramifications are spelt out at RenewEconomy – 5 solar projects delayed now!

      https://reneweconomy.com.au/workers-pulled-from-five-big-solar-projects-as-rcr-collapses-90725/

      Also some interesting commentary about renewable projects being delayed by new connection standards, the requirement for multiple appraisals, and the lack of expertise at consulting firms

      60

      • #
        Hanrahan

        According to this RCR did the Sun Metals job. They had quoted on the assumption that they could get back-packers to tail the million cells, not a technical job, but because of the high open circuit voltages developed during the day WHS insisted on qualified sparkies doing it.

        30

    • #
      Ghibli Levante

      Bad management Bully old son, bad management. Nothing else.

      Pure and simple.

      11

    • #
      RickWill

      The mindset of the proponents of wind and solar projects is that of a leech. They bleed the life from everyone involved to enrich themselves. Cleary their contractors are not free from the blood sucking parasites.

      Governments on both sides of politics have created the environment for these leeches to thrive. Only a sustained period of severe cold weather will kill the parasites.

      30

      • #
        pat

        note Cbus, superannuation fund:

        from the West Australian: RCR’s WA projects include the $60 million Greenough River Solar Farm expansion in the Mid West, targeted for completion by next June.
        The client is Bright Energy Investments, majority owned by the Dutch Infrastructure Fund and industry superannuation fund ***Cbus…

        from AFR: The lawsuit, which is understood to be seeking tens of millions of dollars, will be financed by Burford Capital. The lead plaintiff is the trustee of a ***superannuation fund…

        Wikipedia: Construction and Building Unions Superannuation (Cbus) is one of Australia’s largest public offer industry superannuation funds. Cbus is run for the benefit of its members and does not pay dividends to shareholders…
        Cbus has over 89,000 participating employers and manages $27 billion of members’ funds…
        The current Chair of the board is former Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks AC…

        theirABC has their story out now:

        22 Nov: ABC: Engineering firm RCR Tomlinson goes into administration soon after raising $100m
        By business reporter Stephen Letts
        From bullet-proof to administration in weeks
        Investment management company Allan Gray’s managing director, Simon Mawhinney, said the collapse was astonishing and an absolute disaster for shareholders.
        “We’ve never seen a turnaround like this,” Mr Mawhinney said…
        “It’s very hard to say what’s happened, we have no idea. Something terrible has happened on the watch of the current board.”…
        Shareholders face wipe-out…
        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/engineering-firm-rcr-tomlinson-goes-into-administration/10544980

        10

        • #
          Hanrahan

          Maybe CBUS should reconsider investment in proven technology.

          Coal! Did I hear someone mention dirty coal?

          10

          • #
            RickWill

            This is why it is near impossible to kill the RET. There is so much opportunistic investment based on the myth of Global Warming and government sanctioned theft there would be tremendously powerful backlash if the RET was killed. All major super funds will be tied up with investments riding the RET. They represent a huge proportion of the population.

            It is becoming increasingly difficult to unwind the present situation with grid power supply; the damage is now well embedded.

            30

  • #
    James McCown

    The late Ernst-Georg Beck had a website that collected direct measurements of pre-1958 atmospheric CO2 concentrations at http://www.biomind.de/realCO2/realCO2-1.htm. It was up for several years after he died, but now it has been taken down.

    Has anyone saved this data? Do you know wheere it can be accessed?

    10

  • #
    philthegeek

    So Labor announced their economy wrecking climate change policy

    Lol! Will bring the usual suspects out of the woodwork to be sure to be sure. 🙂

    Good to see the ALP cram such a nice policy wedgie up the Coalition. Their so called conservative wing will go feral and pretty much hold the PM of the moment ot ransom…as they do, if he tries to make any response other than a 3 word slogan they like. 🙂

    The icing on the cake being that its all just before the Vic election. ALP do the vision and stability thing….Lib/Nats chase themselves up their own bottom and the Greens left flatfooted stunned mullets.

    Timing superb by the ALP. 🙂

    AndyG55’s blood pressure to peak in 5,4,3,2……… 🙂

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    • #
      AndyG55

      Poor phloop. I’m in your mind (very little else there, for sure) SO FUNNY ! 🙂

      Do you DREAM of me at night, with your other hallucinations ???

      Aren’t YOU also laughing at the utter and complete IDIOCY of the Labor policies. 🙂

      Do you REALLY think they are RATIONAL ???? REALLY ????

      Or are you too brain-hosed with leftist kool-aide to think for yourself.

      Do you have any empirical evidence that atmospheric CO2 causes warming yet?

      Or do you still just “believe” because someone told you so.

      42

    • #
      robert rosicka

      Careful Andy don’t feed the stand for nothing know nothing troll , the only point it has is the aluminium foil covered one on the tip of its head .

      32

    • #
      philthegeek

      doGs above you two are easy. 🙂

      42

      • #
        el gordo

        Not me comrade, I did my apprenticeship at Deltoid.

        We need to have a serious talk about climate change, the most important issue of our time. Global cooling has begun and by Easter this will be abundantly clear, do you think the MSM will mention it?

        If they don’t, then the ABC will be shredded at a future Royal Commission.

        30

        • #
          philthegeek

          Global cooling has begun

          With respect eg…debateable. And some time before there is any real data to support the proposition. Looks a bit to me like people confusing weather and climate on that one. Yup, some people reckon they have seen the signs and decide their position on that. Fine. Whether they have enough to make or oppose policy on that basis..we will see.

          22

          • #
            Kinky Keith

            It was just a tester, and You took the Bait.

            I think that the writer is adept enough to know that what he wrote was not proof, just pointing to the inevitable, even if it’s a thousand years away.

            🙂

            20

          • #
            el gordo

            It may appear like confusing weather but its actually climate change, as seen through the collapse of the high pressure belt.

            In a political sense Morrison has to be the opposite to Bill who is pulling out all stops for renewables and batteries, so the Coalition has to support new coal fired power stations. If they don’t, its crash and burn for democracy and the beginning of a neo Fascist one party state.

            21

          • #
            AndyG55

            “debateable”

            No, not by you anyway.

            It certainly has stopped the NATURAL warming since the LIA.

            Hasn’t warmed except by El Ninos for 40 years.

            Certainly ZERO evidence that humans caused those El Ninos.

            Any evidence that atmospheric CO2 causes warming yet, phloop ??

            31

      • #
        AndyG55

        Poor attention seeking non-entity.

        Do you have any empirical evidence that atmospheric CO2 causes warming yet?

        You poor EMPTY SACK!!

        21

        • #
          Phillthegeek

          Angry…you aren’t the guy who used to live down the road fro me are you??

          Every now and again he would get set off by something an stand on the corner, in underpants only ,
          yelling pointless babble at passers by about aliens.

          23

          • #
            AndyG55

            Poor phloop .. prancing around like a manic deranged chihuahua trying to avoid answering simple questions

            Do you have any empirical evidence that atmospheric CO2 causes warming yet?

            So FUNNY to watch the antics. Attention seeking, at any price.

            You are being LAUGHED at, poor inept zero-evidence phloop.

            20

      • #
        AndyG55

        phloop takes it .. hook line and sinker.. EVERY time. ! 🙂

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  • #
    Hanrahan

    No Propellers, No Problem: A New Kind of Aircraft Takes Flight

    Interesting technology.

    https://www.insidescience.org/news/no-propellers-no-problem-new-kind-aircraft-takes-flight

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    pat

    22 Nov: ABC: ‘Thundersnow’, dust storms and gale force winds: What is going on with Australia’s weather?
    ABC Weather By Kate Doyle
    Every Australian state and territory has been impacted by wild weather over the past few days.
    In South Australia 40,000 properties were left without power and several homes were damaged as wind gusts of over 100 kilometres per hour hit on Wednesday night.
    Victoria also saw severe thunderstorms with the State Emergency Service reporting it had received over 750 calls for assistance by Tuesday night.
    This morning South East Queensland was hit with a band of gusty storms, storm warnings were issued for the Northern Territory, and parts of Tasmania are currently on flood watch and damaging wind warnings have been issued.
    In New South Wales a dust storm has travelled across the state from west of Broken Hill to Sydney…
    At the time of writing there have been emergency warnings in place for two out-of-control bushfires burning north of Sydney…

    Meanwhile the snowfields have been living up to their name, with a white blanket of snow descending on alpine regions of NSW and Victoria — and we are only a week away from summer…

    To further add to the weather drama, Western Australia had catastrophic fire weather forecast for today in the Gascoyne region…

    What is going on?
    Diana Eadie, a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meterology’s extreme weather desk, said this wild weather in Australia’s south-east was a result of a deep low pressure system that had moved from the Great Australian Bight into Victoria.
    It has whipped up the winds, sent dust across NSW, and been responsible for the cold snap and alpine snow.
    “With that [deep low pressure system] we’ve seen a series of cold fronts move across southern states,” Ms Eadie said.
    “As we’ve experienced today in parts of Victoria and NSW, a really significant cold front coming through with snow in some alpine areas.”
    Snow in November may be unusual, but Ms Eadie said it was not unheard of.
    “We did actually see snow around parts of Victoria and New South Wales in the start of November last year,” she said.
    “Going back even further than that, back in 2006, we actually had snow around the Christmas period.
    “So while it is a little bit unusual, it’s certainly not unprecedented. We have seen things like this before.”…

    Thundersnow and lightning
    However, this week’s snow is not run-of-the-mill snow as there have been reports of ‘thundersnow’.
    Ms Eadie said thundersnow was a rare and little known phenomena where lightning strikes in thunderstorms that are producing snow.
    “It’s essentially the same as a regular thunderstorm, except instead of any rainfall coming out of the thunderstorm you see snow instead,” she said.
    “Because the whole atmosphere and the depth — which the thunderstorm is extending through — is frozen.”
    Ms Eadie said the snow was not expected to hang around…

    Ms Eadie said it looked like the weather was going to get worse, then better, then worse again…

    On top of all this, heatwave conditions are forecast over the weekend and into next week for parts of north Queensland.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/dust-storm-thundersnow-what-is-going-on-with-the-weather/10538450

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    Dennis

    What can we do when SKY NEWS presenter David Speers argues that “gas peaking plant” can boost “renewable energy”?

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    pat

    TonyfromOz and others need to unravel the lengthy mystery spun by ABC in the following – it’s way beyond my comprehension:

    22 Nov: ABC: How China’s push for cleaner air is pushing up Australian power prices
    By business reporter Stephen Letts
    Amid the finger pointing and theorising about Australia’s rising power prices, there’s one culprit often missing from the list: China’s determined drive to improve its air quality.

    Sure, the Chinese are still burning coal to generate power and make steel, but they are using higher quality Australian combustible rock rather than their locally mined, higher-ash and more sulphurous product…

    However, since the closure of the Hazelwood power station in Victoria, NSW has been forced to buy more coal above contracted volumes, a lot of which has been at the higher export-parity price.
    On figures crunched by energy consultants ***ITK, while the export price has risen by around 70 per cent between 2015 and earlier this year, NSW’s coal fuel cost increased 75 per cent.
    Over the same period, Queensland coal generators have enjoyed marginal deflation and now have coal fuel costs around half those of NSW…READ ALL
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/chinese-push-for-cleaner-air-pushes-up-australian-power-prices/10513730

    ***ITK – name which most readily comes up online is the “ITK energy consultancy principal David Leitch”:

    LinkedIn: David Leitch, Consultant, ITK Services Australia
    Summary:
    Research is based on 33 years of stockbroking research experience where I was consistently well rated over several sectors.
    Clients include Government organisations and businesses operating in the Australian electricity and gas industry…
    ITK is joint author of the popular Energy Insiders podcast and contribute many articles to http://www.reneweconomy.com.au.

    Previous:
    Analyst, JP Morgan and predecessor companies
    1988 – 2006 • 18 years
    https://au.linkedin.com/in/david-leitch-b18a7624

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    pat

    another one I can’t imagine anyone reading to the end. who knows what it’s saying.

    22 Nov: ABC: Power bill pressures vs emissions vs reliability: Behind the new election battleground
    By political reporter Jackson Gothe-Snape
    Power bills are too high. You know it and so, now, do the politicians.
    In the past decade, people are paying one third more than they used to in order to keep the lights on.
    But even if bills did get cheaper, paying for energy is useless if the power goes down or climate change makes Australia inhospitable…

    Dylan McConnell, a research fellow at Melbourne University’s Climate and Energy College, highlighted the recent tension in the market by identifying one hot day in January which saw a “trip” at Loy Yang B, a coal plant in Victoria.
    Although the energy market responded by bringing in more energy from interstate, the price of power spiked in little more than an hour as expensive gas generators were brought online to meet demand.
    Mr McConnell also shared charts of energy generation of two extreme days in South Australia.
    The first, from a week in January 2017, saw prices fall below zero due to plentiful wind. The second was from a week earlier this year where the wind almost stopped entirely, prompting a price spike…

    Climate change and its potential consequences have prompted a worldwide effort to reduce carbon emissions…
    Australia’s electricity sector is the single largest contributor to the country’s emissions — around one third of 2017’s total…READ ON
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/australian-energy-market-explained-price-emissions-reliability/10499256

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      Kinky Keith

      Overlaying all of that, derived from the incestuous science reporting drivel, lies the real and indisputable fact that Carbon Dioxide does not “heat the atmosphere”.

      It is actually the other way around, with atmospheric temperature in consort with ocean temperatures determining the resultant atmospheric CO2 levels.

      The principal determinants of CO2 levels are the retained heat in the Earth’s core warming the oceans and solar activity heating the ocean surface.

      Our electricity shambles is based on a theory that is actually the reverse of reality.

      How green is that!

      KK

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    Yonniestone

    I’m currently torn between teaching the Liberals a lesson this Saturday or giving them a chance and actively holding them accountable if they can somehow get in, I’m looking for opinions and insights into the merits or folly of either decision based on experience or evidence contrary.

    The thought of an Andrews Caliphate gives me nightmares and would rather put the effort into lobbying half reasonable people into positive action for the common good.

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      Dennis

      Law and order failure, $1.3 billion compensation for road contract cancelled plus cost of development and tender, unreliable transition SA style, union controllers, and more.

      The lesson would be pointless and self defeating.

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      RickWill

      I couldn’t bring myself to vote Labour but this is a good election to lose. I will be surprised if Australia is not in recession through the period of the next term in Victoria. If immigration is reduced then recession should follow as that has been the significant driver of growth. Energy costs are becoming a serious drag for businesses and households that are not making their own power. There is so much misdirected funds in grid connected intermittents attracted by the massive transfer payments.

      The one upside is the value of coal exports as prices are certain to remain high.

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    George McFly......I'm your density

    Knock ’em dead Jo!

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    pat

    never a mention that taxpayers will be paying for all this! still, it makes a mockery of Coalition voters who are mocking Shorten today:

    22 Nov: ABC: Labor’s plan to introduce battery subsidies could ‘tip the market’ for household batteries
    By Nick Harmsen
    Battery company Sonnen says federal Labor’s plan to introduce battery subsidies could “tip the market” for household batteries and propel it into the same sphere as household solar systems.
    The German company is expected to begin manufacturing household battery systems in the next few weeks at the former Holden factory in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

    Sonnen is one of three battery manufacturers to announce plans to set up shop in Adelaide in the wake of the South Australian Liberal Government’s plans to subsidise household batteries.
    The South Australian scheme, which took effect last month, provides subsidies of between $500 and $6,000 for homes which install battery systems to store power from household photovoltaic solar systems.

    Releasing its energy policy on Thursday, the federal Labor Party adopted a similar policy to South Australia’s Liberal Government, promising subsidies of up to $2,000 for households earning less than $180,000 a year to install battery systems…
    “We think the combination is going to be brilliant and we think it will tip the market over into becoming a commodity market,” (Sonnen) company managing director Marc Sheldon said…

    Home battery systems typically retail at between $8,000 and $15,000 in Australia, depending on the size of the system.
    Mr Sheldon said while batteries were not for everyone, a higher take-up would eventually drive down prices…

    Premier Steven Marshall agreed that household batteries were the way of the future and said the state needed to have household battery storage.

    But he said the policy announced by the federal Labor Party today was only a “watered-down” version of what was already available in South Australia.
    “I think imitation is the greatest form of flattery,” he said.
    “I think it’s a slightly watered-down scheme from what we’re offering here in South Australia … it’s going to taken Bill Shorten several years to implement.
    “We’ve got a household subsidy of up to $6,000 and it’s available right now.”…

    The subsidy program in South Australia has already received praise, with homeowner Susan Packer delighted with the Sonnen battery installed at her home last week…
    “Battery capacity is 100 per cent so even on a day like today — where we’ve had intermittent rain and cloud — we still generated enough power to be stored in the battery.”
    Ms Packer said she believed if people could afford getting the batteries installed, it would definitely be beneficial for households in the long run.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-22/labor-policy-could-tip-the-market-for-household-batteries/10545102

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      robert rosicka

      Just went to the tesla site and using the calculator if I spend over $22k in batteries I should be able to last for one day without the grid , little Bill will give me two grand though but still have to wonder how many low income earners and pensioners have that sort of money lying around .
      The above is assuming I have solar already I should have done it without .

      https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/powerwall

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    pat

    nice timing for Shorten’s announcement:

    AUDIO: 7min29sec: 22 Nov: 3AW: Schoolchildren go on strike over climate change policy
    The movement, sparked by a petition on Change.org, saw students take a day off school to protest outside Bill Shorten’s office in Moonee Ponds.

    One student, Callum Briggsoot, told Tom Elliott he did it to demonstrate that it’s an issue we need to take action on now.
    Callum, 11, said his teachers were supportive of him missing a day of school for it.
    PHOTO: Driver with Tom Elliott Photo: Twitter / @stopadani
    https://www.3aw.com.au/schoolchildren-go-on-strike-over-climate-change-policy/

    Updated 22 Nov: Bloomberg: Australia’s Opposition Bets Big on Renewables to Win Next Election
    By James Thornhill and Jason Scott
    In a speech at a BloombergNEF event in Sydney on Thursday, Shorten announced initiatives to boost the use of alternative energy and help meet the Labor party’s goal for 50 percent of the country’s power to come from renewables by 2030.
    “Climate change is no longer an emergency. It’s a disaster,” Shorten said, while criticizing a lack of coherent action by the government…

    But he has dropped plans to legislate the cuts amid government infighting, which contributed to his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull being ousted by his own party in August…

    The new energy minister, Angus Taylor, who is focused on getting power bills down, on Thursday attacked Labor’s proposals.
    These “reckless targets will be a wrecking ball for the economy,” Taylor said. ‘We won’t stand for it.”…
    “Labor’s policy zooms ahead of the coalition,” said Amanda McKenzie, acting chief executive officer of the independent research body, the Climate Council. “This investment would be a huge boost for renewables and jobs and would cut power prices.”
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-21/australia-opposition-bets-big-on-renewables-to-win-next-election

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    pat

    followup re Greta Thunberg, given the widespread use of children involved in so-called “climate protests”, including the one who was featured on 3AW today, saying his teachers were supportive:

    2 Oct: New Yorker: The Fifteen-Year-Old Climate Activist Who Is Demanding a New Kind of Politics
    by Masha Gessen
    (Greta) Thunberg’s parents are Svante Thunberg, an actor, and Malena Ernman, a very well-known opera singer…
    In part because of her mother’s fame and the publicity that surrounded the publication of her book, Greta’s protest serves a dual purpose. It not only calls attention to climate policy, as she intended, but it also showcases the political potential of neurological difference…

    ***Thunberg developed her special interest in climate change when she was nine years old and in the third grade. “They were always talking about how we should turn off lights, save water, not throw out food,” she told me. “I asked why and they explained about climate change. And I thought this was very strange. If humans could really change the climate, everyone would be talking about it and people wouldn’t be talking about anything else. But this wasn’t happening.”…

    In 2015, she stopped flying on airplanes, and a year later, her mother followed suit, giving up an international performing career. The family has installed solar batteries and has started growing their own vegetables on an allotment outside the city. To meet me in central Stockholm, Thunberg and her father rode their bikes for about half an hour; the family has an electric car that they use only when necessary..

    But there was relatively little discussion of climate policy in the lead-up to the September election, even after Sweden was hit with an unprecedented heat wave and catastrophic fires in July. Karin Bäckstrand, a climate-policy researcher at Stockholm University, told me that climate policy wasn’t an election issue precisely because a broad national consensus exists. “Everyone except the [far right] Swedish Democrats agree that we should become fossil-free,” she said…

    In our conversation, (Greta) pointed out that, despite Sweden’s progressive legislation and the scientific consensus that rich countries must cut their emissions by fifteen per cent a year, in Sweden actual emissions had gone up 3.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year. She has written a piece called “Sweden is not a role model”…

    In the weeks since the election, the Swedish political conversation has centered on topics far from climate change: the main centrist parties finished in a dead heat, making a far-right party, the Swedish Democrats, which came in third, a potential power broker…

    Thunberg is peculiarly uninterested in this, though. “I think the election didn’t matter,” she told me. “The climate is not going to collapse because some party got the most votes. The politics that’s needed to prevent the climate catastrophe—it doesn’t exist today. We need to change the system, as if we were in crisis, as if there were a war going on.”
    https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-fifteen-year-old-climate-activist-who-is-demanding-a-new-kind-of-politics

    Greta’s mother:

    TWEET: Malena Ernman: “Donald Trump is the end of our contemporary path.”
    20 Jan 2017 (Inauguration day)
    LINK TO SWEDISH ARTICLE IN KULTUR: (google translation) A world full of riches is about to collapse under the pressure of human collective greed, stupidity and selfishness.
    Malena Ernman lights a candle for a planet that right now needs an overdose of goodness…
    Donald Trump embodies the worst in our profit-making, selfish macho society. Donald Trump is the end of our age and we have, of course, been living a long way in his world. In the world of the winner. A world where everything must be bigger, stronger and higher. There everyone has to earn and spend more money.
    Who cares for future generations when you can drink ice cold drinks on exotic beaches? Who cares about land that is drowned, extinct animals, collapsed climates or ecosystems that go under whenever you can jump on an airplane or into a car and shop for coma? Who cares about the collective future of humanity when you can become a winner?…
    https://twitter.com/Malena_Ernman/status/822367280344363008

    Greta’s mum is the quintessential climate zealot:

    Melena re-tweets:
    Over 15,000 Scientists From 184 Countries Say Going Vegan Will Help Save The Planet

    Eric Holthaus CA wildfires article (CAGW)

    Aaron 18 Nov: Hi @RHarrabin wouldn’t it have been better to ask the opinion of a climate researcher like @KevinClimate, @AliceClimate or @j_r_barrett whether the UK is cutting emissions enough rather then simply repeating that the government say they’re doing great?
    LINKS TO: BBC: Climate protesters block London bridges

    Michael Mann Nov 18: WE are now causing another planetary mass extinction by taking a large chunk of the carbon that was buried since the early Cretaceous (100 mil years ago) and releasing it back into the atmosphere over ~100 years–roughly a million times faster.

    George Monbiot 17 Nov:
    The BBC today gave far more coverage to French protests for cheaper fuel than to the massive and remarkable #ExtinctionRebellion protests in our own country. This is not an accident. This is an editorial decision. And it is shameful.

    Naomi Klein 16 Nov: We all need a #GreenNewDeal

    THERE’S NOTHING SPONTANEOUS ABOUT THESE CHILDREN’S PROTESTS. PAWNS IN THE GAME.

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    pat

    this person, Claire March, has just been on Paul Murray Live/Sky News going on and on about 84% of Australians want “renewables”;
    they bring down the cost of energy;
    Australia can become an exporter of “renewables”; it’s the new technological revolution;
    the science matters, global warming is real; positive words about some Victorian Labor candidate being a winner, partly because Steve Bracks likes him or something.
    had to laugh hearing Bracks’ name just after posting about him (#56.2.1) being the current chair of Cbus, which may be a loser from the RCR Tomlinson collapse:

    Twitter: Claire March, Government relations strategist & political commentator. Fortunate to have served three Labor Leaders. Director at Hawker Britton.
    https://twitter.com/clairemarch

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      Hanrahan

      Australia can become an exporter of “renewables”; it’s the new technological revolution;

      Wot an absurdity. We can’t export sun, wind, tide or water with a few hundred feet head. We already know how to export coal, we are good at it and our miners earn a good living.

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      robert rosicka

      She is an extreme Lefty but at least Sky gives both sides air time which is not what you’ll find on the ABC , only shocking thing about this brainwashed person is she is advising Labor about something that’s totally false .

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    pat

    21 Nov: BBC: Extra Energy collapse is the sixth this year
    The company had attracted just 108,000 domestic and 21,000 business customers.
    Energy regulator Ofgem said Extra customers’ supplies will continue as normal and any credit balances will be protected.
    A new supplier will be appointed by Ofgem and customers will be transferred directly…

    Extra Energy blamed the government’s recent introduction of a price cap on energy bills for “making the market unviable”.
    “We have tried to restructure, merge and reduce costs in order to ensure the viability of our UK business,” said chief executive Nick Read.
    “However, in light of the substantial UK regulatory change with the introduction of the price cap, we see no longterm investment opportunity in the UK market.”

    The Energy Ombudsman said it had opened investigations into 1,160 complaints about Extra Energy over the past 12 months…
    The other suppliers to cease trading this year are:
    ◾Future Energy (January)
    ◾National Gas and Power (July)
    ◾Iresa (July)
    ◾Gen4U (September)
    ◾Usio Energy (October)

    As of June this year there were 73 suppliers, including 67 smaller operators. Ofgem said 13 new suppliers entered the market in the year to June…
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46294104

    BBC omitted to mention something…more to come.

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      pat

      ahead of the game:

      19 Nov: MailOnSunday: ‘One in 10 small power suppliers may not survive the winter’: An industry insider issues a bleak warning as energy price cap and green taxes bite
      •The CEO of one energy supplier opened up to The Mail on Sunday
      •He said some firms had missed a deadline for paying their environmental taxes
      •Extra Energy is understood to be one of the suppliers which failed to pay its bill
      By Simon Neville, Financial Mail On Sunday

      As many as one in ten small energy suppliers face a battle to survive the winter after struggling to pay their ***green taxes.
      The chief executive of one medium-sized supplier told The Mail on Sunday that he had been approached by seven rivals – out of about 70 which compete with the Big Six – which were looking to offload customers.
      He said some had admitted they missed the final October 31 deadline for paying their ***environmental taxes. ***This is seen in the industry as a sign that a supplier may be on its last legs.

      Regulator Ofgem declined to reveal how many companies missed the final deadline, but said it had appointed an external auditor to address a multi-million pound black hole in the ***environmental taxes collected this year.
      An unprecedented 34 companies missed the first payment deadline in August, leaving a shortfall of £103.9 million. Several industry sources said they believed up to £50 million was still outstanding…

      Historically, suppliers which have missed the final tax deadline have gone into a tailspin. They typically face fines from Ofgem and a ban on signing up new customers. Of the three companies which failed to pay last year, two went bust and one was taken over by a rival.

      ***Extra Energy is understood to be one of the suppliers which failed to pay its full bill in time.

      The Birmingham-based company, which has more than 500,000 customers, is already under investigation by the regulator over potential rule breaches on billing, customer service and complaints handling. It came 29th out of 31 companies for customer satisfaction in a poll by consumer group Which? Extra Energy declined to comment…

      Another small supplier, Spark, admitted last week that it had missed its payment and owed Ofgem £14.4 million. Spark bosses are now in talks with an unnamed rival about a possible merger…
      An Ofgem spokesman confirmed it would be asking other companies to make up the final shortfall. The energy chief contacted by the struggling rivals said: ‘All seven were saying they are worried they won’t make it through the winter…

      He said one firm told him it had paid its ***Renewables Obligation Certificates, which fund green energy projects. He believed three others had secured funding to pay their bills, but still faced an uncertain future…
      Tikendra Dewan, a former Gurkha and founder and chief executive of GnERGY, a small energy supplier which has paid its renewable obligations, said: ‘The Government should give some serious thought to helping small suppliers like us. We only have 10,000 customers but we met our commitment for £831,000…

      A spokesman for Ofgem said: ‘Suppliers that have not met their obligations are in breach of the ***Renewables Obligation Orders and Ofgem stands ready to take action as needed to secure good outcomes for consumers.’
      https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-6401327/One-10-small-power-suppliers-not-survive-winter-warns-industry-insider.html

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    robert rosicka

    ABC are wetting themselves over Labors announcement yesterday , I’ve never seen so many stories about unreliables.
    They’ve piled the manure up high today but this one is my favourite, forget about bird choppers we now have Sushi factory’s.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-23/tidal-power-new-wave-renewable-energy-development-queensland/10544862

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    Hanrahan

    Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends, Don’t freeze your a$$ off. LOL

    Looks like a record cold day you are having. That’s warming for ya.

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