Peter Ridd versus James Cook Uni — Free Speech on trial in two weeks

Peter Ridd

Peter Ridd in Brisbane getting ready for the trial.

Peter Ridd’s court case is set for 26 to 28th March in Brisbane. He invites  you to watch the proceedings (Jennifer Marohasy says she’ll be there, all three days!). Go on…

If James Cook Uni (JCU) wins, they lose. Whatever happens, the taxpayer lost a long time ago.

On a philosophical note, in my opinion JCU will lose the ethical argument even if they manage to win on some narrow legal definition. If they win, it will mean that a judge has decided that a university has set up legally binding contracts that give them the power to effectively take away the right to intellectual freedom of an academic and silence him/her. That would be something of a pyrrhic victory. The university hierarchy may feel vindicated but the general public, especially those in North Queensland who are most affected by the questionable Great Barrier Reef science, will take a different view. But without getting over-confident, I reckon the chances of us winning are considerably above average, so we will see. — Peter Ridd, March 2019

Ridd’s employment contract says he has the right to speak freely, but the universities “Code of Conduct” pretty much says the opposite. He’s allowed to air unpopular opinions even about JCU, but at the same time he must also uphold the integrity of the university and respect the reputation of colleagues. In other words, the university can ignore you or sack you depending on which tribe you are in (Gravy-making, or Gravy-threatening), and then some lawyers can buy a yacht.

JCU already have a dismal record of isolating, blackbanning, and ousting people who disagree with the consensus (vale, Bob Carter!) When Ridd suggested we can’t trust our scientific institutions, JCU censured him, then ordered him not to mention the censure too. Let’s censor the censure! Then they trawled through his private emails as well, hunting for more ammunition … yeah sure, just what any rigorous institute would do. Since then, a JCU former employee has been caught doing Fake science on fake fish. They’re so “concerned” they’ve taken a whole year just to form an investigative panel. Ridd discovered the fake flipped lionfish photos. He is the kind guy that saves a great institute’s reputation. If only JCU was great.  

Trump would sort this out in a tweet — saving millions

Last week Trump told universities – No free speech means no federal grants OK?  No one needs a court case. You either have free speech or you don’t. It’s safe to assume that institutions that don’t allow criticism are harboring incompetent rent seekers. If their staff were capable, they would defend themselves. Good institutions sack incompetent staff. Weak ones sack the good ones who make the weak ones “look bad”.

Where are our taxpayer representatives?

This could have been fixed so quickly. How much longer will most Australian conservative politicians sit by in silence, allowing academics to squander public funds on poor studies and bad researchers, producing irreproducible results and meaningless press releases that advertise Big Government? It was inevitable that Big Gov funded academia would evolve into a grant generating machine. For a while the troughing academics pretended they cared more about the science. But no one at JCU is pretending any more. (Or if they do care, they can hardly say that can they? )

When will conservatives learn?

— Jo

Dr. Peter Ridd’s  GoFundMe Page

——————————————————————————————-

The Spectator

 

Bad Riddance

On the persecution of Peter Ridd and its implications for free speech

by Gideon Rozner, (reprinted with permission) Director of Policy at the Institute of Public Affairs

The Spectator Australia, 9 March 2019

When the Left talks derisively about ‘climate deniers’, they probably imagine someone very different from Dr Peter Ridd. Bearded, bespectacled and softly-spoken, Ridd is a sandal-wearing one-time Green voter and former president of his local chapter of the Wildlife Protection Society. He is also a marine geophysicist who has been studying the Great Barrier Reef for over 35 years. And like many in his field, Ridd is passionate about his subject.

But Ridd is equally passionate about his profession, and has spent years questioning the orthodoxy that climate change is ‘killing the reef’. In speaking out against this climate alarmism, Ridd put himself on a collision course with his employer, James Cook University. After years of warnings, censures and absurd gag orders, Ridd was finally made to walk the plank. Now, he’s fighting back, in a case with momentous implications for free speech in Australia.

Reading Ridd’s work can be difficult for a layman. It is detached, dispassionate and everything that scientific writing should be: careful consideration of the evidence followed by a sober conclusion.

Take, for example, Ridd’s contribution to the Institute of Public Affairs’ Climate Change: The Facts 2017, in which he dispels the myths about the Great Barrier Reef repeated ad nauseam by climate evangelists. Yes, coral bleaching has occurred, but that is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the white colourisation that creates the ‘bleached’ look is a natural response that enables the coral to adjust to warmer temperatures and, over time, thrive.

So why does ‘conventional wisdom’ suggest that the reef is in mortal, man-made danger? Largely because dissenting voices ‘are typically ignored, drowned out and sidelined by the majority’, Ridd writes. ‘There is now an industry that employs thousands of people whose job it is to “save the Great Barrier Reef”. As a scientist, to question the proposition that the reef is damaged is potentially a career-ending move’.

Ridd’s biggest beef is with the questionable marine science fuelling the save-the-reef hysteria. The ‘peer review’ process feted by ‘the-science-is-settled’ types is not the guarantee of scientific authenticity that its name suggests. Peer review, according to Ridd, ‘usually consists of a cursory read of the scientific paper, often just for a couple of hours, by two scientists. They never have time to check the data property, or to try to repeat the analyses’.

But the minute Ridd blew the whistle on this shoddy science, he was a goner. Given JCU’s extensive interest in reef science, publicly questioning their methodology was arguably always going to make him an irritant.

Ridd had been on JCU’s radar for some time, but the publication of his chapter in Climate Change: The Facts transformed his struggle from the occasional skirmish to all-out war. After a subsequent interview on Sky News, a barrage of letters from the university started, accusing Ridd of ‘serious misconduct’ on several trumped-up grounds.

When Ridd publicly – and understandably – objected to his treatment by the university, JCU accused him of ‘denigrating’ the university, ‘interfering with the disciplinary process’, even of being ‘insubordinate’. And when public statements weren’t enough, the university searched his email account to dig up further breaches of the code.

Worse still, JCU has slapped Ridd with numerous ‘confidentiality’ directions in relation to the disciplinary process. As Ridd has correctly pointed out, gag orders of this nature effectively create a star chamber in which ‘victims are isolated, subjected to a closed disciplinary procedure where highly subjective concepts are applied’.

Ridd’s ordeal culminated in his termination in May last year. He has taken legal action in response, in part with the help of a campaign on crowdfunding website GoFundMe. Thousands of Australians donated, and the campaign amassed over $250,000 in just a few days. Ridd will have his day in court in Brisbane later this month.

Ridd has much in his favour. The enterprise bargaining agreement covering JCU staff – essentially Ridd’s employment contract – has extensive free speech protections. Under the agreement, staff have the express right to air unpopular or controversial views, and participate in wider public debate. Importantly, they are also entitled to express public opinions about the operation of JCU and university decisions.

The problem for Ridd is he is also subject to JCU’s staff code of conduct, which imposes all manner of vague requirements, like behaving ‘in a way that upholds the integrity and good nature of the university’. Under the pretext of this code, JCU has hit Ridd with a barrage of outlandish claims of alleged breaches, such as failure to be ‘collegial’ and ‘respect the reputations of other colleagues’.

JCU would have this dispute reduced to the narrow legal matter of which document trumps the other. Is it the enterprise bargaining agreement, with its protection of academic freedom? Or is it the code of conduct, with its rubbery obligations of ‘collegiality’?

But this case is about more than that. It will decide what academic freedom means, what intellectual inquiry means, what free and open debate means. And it is about whether a binding legal agreement promising these things can be rendered meaningless by a cadre of self-interested university administrators via an Orwellian code of conduct and a Kafkaesque disciplinary process.

And above all, this case is about the simmering free speech crisis at Australian universities, about places of higher learning that place their own reputations above the search for truth. Throughout this sorry saga, JCU has justified their railroading of Ridd on the basis of a requirement to protect the ‘integrity and reputation’ of the university. But all Ridd was doing was belling the cat on scientific standards that were at best sloppy and at worst dishonest.

No doubt exposing such academic quackery probably does compromise JCU’s integrity and reputation, but deservedly so. It would appear, then, that rules against compromising that precious reputation are really just a protection racket. They are a velvet glove with which to stamp out dissent.

We should be grateful that Peter Ridd is one target who will not go quietly.

————————————————————–

9.2 out of 10 based on 103 ratings

175 comments to Peter Ridd versus James Cook Uni — Free Speech on trial in two weeks

  • #
    Latus Dextro

    Research science used to inform public policy decisions, herein defined as “Policy Science,” is rarely subject to rigorous checking, testing and replication. Studies of biomedical and other sciences indicate that a considerable fraction of publishing peer-reviewed scientific literature, perhaps half, has significant flaws.

    The need for a formalised system of quality control for environmental policy science
    Larcombe & Ridd. Marine Pollution Bulletin 126 (2018)

    The genie is out of the bottle. The rest is damage control of the uncontrollable.
    Ideologically fuelled academics and their monstrously dysfunctional, greed driven, money inspired university administrations made a pact in hell.
    Now, in a way, the putrid green tones of Dorian Gray are being revealed.

    A New Conservative Age is Rising: The Global Rightward Shift on Climate Change!
    Australia may be waking up.
    Finally.

    310

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      JCU is a leftist entity. Some who work within it are naïve to that fact. The others, from the top dow,n know exactly what they are doing. The word is authoritarian (fascist) control.

      This interview captures what the left don’t want people to know.

      Tucker Calson and Tammy Bruce. Beautiful. From 3.01.

      https://youtu.be/PKe2_IzNKv0

      Apologies for the advertisement at the beginning. It can be skipped after a few secs. (Somebody has to pay for freedom).

      50

  • #
    Dennis

    “Last week Trump told universities – No free speech means no federal grants OK? No one needs a court case. You either have free speech or you don’t. It’s safe to assume that institutions that don’t allow criticism are harboring incompetent rent seekers. If their staff were capable, they would defend themselves. Good institutions sack incompetent staff. Weak ones sack the good ones who make the weak ones “look bad”.”

    Well done President Trump.

    Meanwhile in Australia politicians ignore the deceptive behaviour funded with taxpayer’s monies, including BoM.

    391

    • #
      PeterS

      A similar event here would be for Morrison to make the same sort of declaration to the ABC. No free speech no money. Of course we won’t see that happen here because he has no backbone.

      290

      • #
        shannon

        PM Morrison should make the same sort of declaration. No free speech no money. Of course we won’t see that happening here……..

        …and the Libs wonder WHY their polls haven’t moved, or their “spurned supporters ” have not returned….!

        One Nation…Australian Conservatives and (heaven help us) The United Australia Party, ALL on the rise at the next Federal Election….

        The Libs have NOTHING to lose now…….for heavens sake “Show Some Trump”…….!!

        201

        • #
          PeterS

          The Liberal Party is sinking because they have so many socialists with the mindset of SJWs. Some of them have left or are about to leave so things might improve after the election but we have to wait and see. A lot more need to go.

          70

      • #
        Ve2

        Bit rough asking a jelly back like Morrison to take that kind of stance.

        30

  • #
    graham dunton

    Yes, I am a supporter of Peters battle with JCU.
    But at the same time please remember other’s, whose opinions have ended careers.
    The one, so many off us miss, is the late great, Professor Bob Carter. Another out cast of JCU
    Then we have Author of the seminal book on climate; “Physics of the Atmosphere & Climate” Professor Murry Salby, formally of Macqua
    rie University, luckily not totally decapitated, but his wisdom was not conforming…this video is still extreamy current ,and to the point.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCya4LilBZ8
    (QT) An Unsettling Climate
    An extract from http://joannenova.com.au/2014/08/its-an-unsettling-climate-for-skeptical-scientists-like-murry-salby/

    Setting the scene:
    In April 2013, concluding a European tour to present his research, Salby arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris for a flight back to Australia, where he was a professor of climate science at Macquarie University. He discovered, to his dismay, that the university had canceled the return leg of his nonrefundable ticket. With Salby stranded, Macquarie then undertook misconduct proceedings against him that swiftly culminated in his dismissal.
    I wrote about this extraordinary incident in July last year and asked Did Macquarie University sabotage, exile, blackban, strand and abandon Murry Salby?(EQ)

    412

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Thanks for the reminder.

      A situation that you might not blink an eye at in Russia or China; but this is happening in Australia.

      Appalling behaviour, absolutely appalling.

      The core of Australia has been ripped out and stomped on.

      KK

      270

      • #
        PeterS

        The core of Australia has been ripped out and stomped on.

        Yes indeed; in the past tense. Not sure if we will ever get back what many soldiers fought and died for in past wars.

        241

    • #
      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Speaking of censorship…

        https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-11/facebook-bans-zero-hedge

        “Over the weekend, we were surprised to learn that some readers were prevented by Facebook when attempting to share Zero Hedge articles. Subsequently it emerged that virtually every attempt to share or merely mention an article, including in private messages, would be actively blocked by the world’s largest social network, with the explanation that “the link you tried to visit goes against our community standards.”

        Has farcebook has entered the paranoid death-spiral…..?

        190

        • #
          PeterS

          I visit a number of similar blogs and YouTubes and they are gradually being banned by their respective social media sites. There is definitely a trend to close down free speech in certain areas, in particular anything that exposes the truth about the evil socialists. It’s just the start. As more and more are banned there will no doubt be an increase in other platforms that would allow greater free speech, at least until governments start controlling internet content, which has already been spoken about.

          120

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      There is a more recent video on Youtube of Professor Salby. It was recorded in October 2018 in Germany. Excellent watching for anyone wanting to know what a real climate scientist thinks of the Global Warming CO2 scam.
      : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtIgMftbUuw&fbclid=IwAR1gHyye6Qf3aYTvdf4lcGhdbfeE0vANUxkGnN1l3oPD6mr7zA6tgndhPns

      71

  • #
    Another Ian

    Speaking of JCU

    “Prof. Bob Carter on Global Warming Science”

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/03/11/prof-bob-carter-on-global-warming-science/

    Interesting discussion in comments but O/T

    130

  • #
    glen Michel

    I suppose that the issue of GBR science is at stake here.Then again I don’t think it will get too much exposure- the ABC and other outlets will contrive to make it a”lies by omission” case. In effect,what we know about the reef insofaras it is beset with NATURAL problems ie. Star of thorns and periodic bleaching etc.the LIE that is propagated by the usual suspects at that institution will continue to be given prominence.

    140

  • #
    Another Ian

    Around this area

    “Consenting scientists”

    ““Consenter” is an excellent riposte to the Left calling legitimate critics of climate change science “deniers” when they’re individuals who follow the evidence. Whereas scientists who massage the evidence to receive government grants for supporting the message that government must control everything in our lives to save people living 100 years from now are….consenting “scientists” or consenters.”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/03/11/things-youre-going-to-see-on-the-cbc-3/#comment-1189806

    80

    • #
      Peter C

      “Consenter” is an excellent and very disturbing term which might be used against people who would say “You are a denier?”

      Both can be linked to nasty holocaust history. A denier may have tried to deny the truth, after the event. But a Consenter knew the truth at the time, turned a blind eye and did nothing.

      20

  • #
    Robber

    I have heard that the great explorer Captain James Cook no longer wishes to have his name be used by this unfair, underhanded university.

    311

  • #
    Binny Pegler

    Ha ha when James Cook said it was basically, Ok for staff to engage in public politic activism. They were thinking of the ‘normal’ type of public politic activism. AKA in line with their watermelon views.

    170

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    Peter Ridd “raises almost all of his research funds from the profits of consultancy work which is usually associated with monitoring of marine dredging operation”. according to his old JCU profile page. I would suggest with that funding and his support of the IPA by writing a chapter in Climate Change: The Facts, alongside the famed author of ‘How Your Cat Chose You’, Ken Ring and edited by senior IPA fellow Jennifer Marohasy, “brings together contributions on the latest climate science from some of the world’s leading experts in the field.”

    Good on him for going against the prevailing view, but he should expect that it will not end well for him, no matter what the outcome of the court case.

    811

    • #
      PeterS

      Yes, much of the academia today are so far removed from reality in their ivory towers they would relish the idea of chastising anyone who dares challenges their beliefs, be they right or wrong.

      201

      • #
        glen Michel

        That is quite so PeterS. Most academics cannot withstand an argument that contains facts or opinions that are counter to their position.Strawman attempts to deflect from their basic lack of knowledge and nous.I am so glad that after graduating that I desisted from any more internalising. I now see too many brain-dead inhabitants at our Tertiary establishments.Don’t forget that they teach the teachers.

        161

        • #
          OriginalSteve

          At my uni, many lecturers came from industry itself, so it created a sense of balance, and the lecturers themselves were quick to tell you some ideas wouldnt fly int the real world.

          Now that we have most academia firmly rooted in la la land, should the courts uphold fairy-land nonsense, well then democracy is a dead duck and we will have become a banana republic….

          131

        • #
          PeterS

          Yes I know. I was one of them but fortunately I saw through them and escaped from their evil claws a long time ago. Never regretted leaving the cesspool of academia. Sad really because I loved doing scientific research, both at Uni and CSIRO. When politics got in the way I left.

          121

        • #
          Another Ian

          As Tom Lehrer put it

          “Ivy covered professors in ivy covered halls”

          60

    • #
      el gordo

      ‘… he should expect that it will not end well for him …’

      Ultimately, Peter Ridd will be vindicated.

      ‘A Pyrrhic victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has also taken a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement.’ wiki

      130

      • #
        TdeF

        I spoke to Peter at the Melbourne function. A very nice quiet researcher unused to the rough and tumble of politics and confrontation, as far as I can tell. However he is determined. So I warned him of the suffering from the usual tactic of delays, as with Mark Steyn and Dr. Peter Ball after 7-8 years. The delays are the punishment. Michael Manne made an offer to the court, obtain a delay and then refused to do what he said. What he did was deceitful, reprehensible but nothing has happened since. The courts are in no hurry. Six months passes like a day.

        However Peter Ball , like Mark Steyn and Peter Ridd are the ones being sued in a civil court and their accuser has all the time and money in the world, so expect this to go on for years. What they also have in common also is that they will not walk away and settle. Personally I would have sued back in a different court and taken the initiative, forced the agenda in a way that the actions could not be joined. However it needs courage and deep pockets and lots of sleepless nights. We will see.

        201

    • #
      RickWill

      It may not be good for his academic career but it could improve his credibility in the business world. The case has already raised his visibility.

      There are no doubt long-term monitoring programs involved in port operations where marine dredging is carried out, as well as impact assessment from contamination. In those programs, the continuity of individuals carrying out the work is valuable so he could get contract work to continue such programs. His perceived integrity might benefit from the exercise.

      Should he win the case, he will get back pay and reinstatement or some payment to go away. I do not know enough about the prevailing law but I know Michelle Guthrie got $1.63M to go away. Any payment should give him time to sort out what next.

      I am aware of a CO2 skeptic vocal about the science in the CSIRO who parted from that institution but found work in academia and continues his denial of the religion:
      https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322719238_The_Greenhouse_Effect_An_Evaluation_of_Arrhenius'_Thesis_and_a_New_Energy_Equilibrium_Model

      Increasing atmospheric emissivity due to increased green-house gas concentrations will have a net cooling effect. It is therefore proposed by the author that any at-tempt to curtail emissions of CO2 will have no effect in curbing global warming.

      140

      • #
        Maptram

        If “increasing atmospheric emissivity due to increased green-house gas concentrations will have a net cooling effect” does it also mean that decreasing greenhouse gas concentrations, which is what the warmists want, could have a net warming effect

        80

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Had a quick skim through the link.

        Even though Arhenius has been gone for a hundred years It’s a sign of the level of thinking on this issue that he still seems to be “the authority”.

        That’s a bit scarey.

        The application of the S-B equation is still there being used as a foil to give the impression of rigour.
        Even in the linked paper, there’s the same single analysis with No apparent attempt to treat the two very different modes of operation of our system separately.

        Day is one mode, night is the other.

        It’s exciting to see an average Temperature figure being used so that only one calculation is needed.

        The sort of ” CO2 is bad ” thinking, adopted by the Political Elites and IPCCCCC, can be likened to kindergarten level science, more funny than real.

        KK

        60

        • #
          RickWill

          Stannard specifically focuses on the Arrhenius model to demonstrate its fundamental weaknesses. Using the Trenberth model to identify a key area is smart.

          In the Addenda he points out the fundamental weaknesses in the Trenberth model; where the assumption of the black body is invalidated by the fact that only the absorbed solar is considered in determining the often stated 255K radiating temperature.

          The value of 255 K is often quoted in the literature but this value arises from some dubious assertions. Instead of using the actual solar irradiance, it is based on the amount of heat absorbed by the Earth, ne-glecting the energy reflected. This treatment immediately assumes that the Earth is NOT a blackbody. To be more rigorous, the Earth can be treated as a grey-body and its temperature found as follows

          Warren Stannard authored an easy to read book on the GW religion. Not sure if it is still available:
          https://www.amazon.com/Controlling-Climate-Science-Global-Warming/dp/0987309366

          50

      • #

        The greenhouse effect is a myth, a political construct. You cannot have a “greenhouse’ effect in a open ended atmosphere.

        80

    • #

      “Good on him for going against the prevailing view, but he should expect that it will not end well for him, no matter what the outcome of the court case.”

      It’s a bit like HELE coal power, isn’t it? One wishes it well while predicting its doom. No doubt Peter Ridd also has too many pesky externalities. Poor HELE. Poor Peter. One wishes them well, but…

      Lacking the tolerant streak, I wish only the worst for Big Green, and for its gangs of cut-purses, mountebanks, pilferers, charlatans, spivs, merkins, louts, touts and carpetbaggers.

      120

  • #
    TdeF

    “The problem for Ridd is he is also subject to JCU’s staff code of conduct”

    This is the nub of it. Under this code, he is probably obliged to take orders and to not impugn his colleagues even if they are totally wrong. However while American profit oriented business people like the Chancellor can write such contracts and others can sign them, it does not make such contracts legal, proper under Australian law. You can sign a contract to be a slave, but slavery is illegal. You can be asked to sign away your common law rights when you enter a property, but you cannot. It is all a bluff to stop you taking action to enforce your common law rights.

    As I have written many times, the Renewable Energy(Electricity) Act 2001 is wrong law. It could be thrown out in the High Court. JCU’s onerous code of conduct as well, as it takes away natural rights. The first contravenes the basic right to not be forced by King or his government to give money to third parties. The JCU code is also wrong in law.

    While I have little respect for the courts and I know one senior lawyer who said in his lifetime he has never seen justice done, this is not a foregone conclusion. There is always the appeal. If he has the intestinal fortitude and determination and funding, Peter can win. It was the funding which surprised the University. He was supposed to vanish. However win or lose he will be unwelcome at the university again simply because he threatens their existence and their incomes and they are really hoping for a big slice of that unexplained $444million which Mrs Turnbull grabbed for her boardroom friends without even an application for the money.

    We all know Man Made Climate change is crap, to quote our former Prime Minister before he was rolled for saying so. JCU is at the same massive trough and the whole man made Global Warming is transparently not true to even the casual observer, even without scientists. If anything, despite the best efforts of the IPCC, the world is getting rapidly colder. In case no one noticed, it was snowing Los Angeles just last week. As predicted by real scientists and as predicted by most scientists before utterly opportunistic soothsayers Al Gore and Tim Flannery. Both with undergraduate degrees in English, not science.

    171

    • #
      Binny Pegler

      Even more than threatening their existence and their incomes. He has threatened their egos,and that, will NEVER be forgiven.

      40

  • #
    Gee aye

    Does anyone know what is the

    Wildlife Protection Society

    43

    • #
      TdeF

      Probably the massive WWF. They sued the World Wrestling Federation for exclusively on the acronymn and won. They now say it stands for World Wildlife Fund with income of $336Million a year.

      150

    • #

      Not sure. I’m told it’s a big hit with the GeeUp Gotcha Society.

      90

    • #
      Gee aye

      sounds made up to me. There is one in India according to google.

      maybe the wildlife preservation society?

      33

      • #

        But shouldn’t “wildlife preservation society” be capitalised? It’s like the C02 vs CO2 controversy. Where will it all end?

        But you know how it goes. As soon as we start to talk about these meaty matters someone will want to bang on about Peter Ridd and free speech. Like that matters.

        90

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        They do have a branch in Townsville.

        24

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      Wildlife Protection Society

      “Professor Ridd has had a long history of association with environmental organizations, including the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland and Sustainable Population Australia. He believes that some environmental campaigns run by environmental organizations, and some decisions made by government lack sound scientific backing, which potentially leads to misplaced priorities for environmental funding and legislation.”

      https://www.australianenvironment.org/our-people/

      Even the Specie gets it wrong occasionally.

      30

  • #
    pat

    not really o/t – free speech and the FakeNewsMSM:

    Youtube: 41min06sec: 10 Mar: Life, Liberty & (Mark) Levin on Fox News 3/10/19[FULL]- Lin Wood (Lawyer for Covington school-boy, Nicholas Sandmann)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1iUtWmHvuI

    30

  • #
    Global Cooling

    University gets more government money if there is a fear that is important to the public and the politicians. No fear means less grant money and there is a consensus of the university staff against reducing established research areas.

    Funding the positive side is possible if there is money to make. In coral reef research tourism that could possibly pay for good news. You could also produce documentary films that sell.

    60

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    We should be grateful that Peter Ridd is one target who will not go quietly.

    Sometimes it falls on the least suspecting person.

    Good luck Professor with the wheels of justice and hope you are ejected asap and can get on with your life.

    110

  • #
    Rosémary Diaz

    There’s no freedom of speech in Australia

    50

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    You have to admire the masterful way Peter Ridd played his victim card. Now the framing is all about how big bad JCU unfairly targeted a speaker to power. This is despite the fact that a lot of his statements about the reef have been rubbished by his fellow academics. However, the case is all around the code of conduct, not the particular views of one academic. Good luck tilting at that particular windmill.

    328

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      I’m sure you would find a comfortable home there Fitz !

      141

      • #
        AndyG55

        Do they need janitors?

        They certainly need someone to take out the trash scientists. !!

        “have been rubbished by his fellow academics”

        Only by the likes of the rabid activists and climate HYSTERICALS like Terry Hughes, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, both heavily into the climate swilling trough, in concert with perennial LIARS like Mickey Mann, none of whom could ever be called real scientists.

        These are the ones that need to be thrown to the gutter.

        61

    • #
      Travis T. Jones

      “This is despite the fact that a lot of his statements about the reef have been rubbished by his fellow academics”

      Feel free to post a link from these “fellow academics”.

      In the meanwhile, thanks for allowing the initiative to post first.

      400 years records of bleaching occurrences of the Great Barrier Reef shows that climate hysteria peddlers like Terry Hughes et al of JCU should be defunded.

      Professor Peter Ridd was right. It’s a load of crap …

      Here is the paper: (open access)

      https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00283/full

      via: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/17/remember-when-they-told-us-coral-bleaching-was-a-sure-result-of-recent-man-made-global-warming-never-mind/

      133

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        you could start with
        https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0041-2

        or

        https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X18301425

        From your citation
        “While acclimatization may have occurred in the past leading to reduced bleaching frequency, this occurred during a period of relative temperature stability compared to present times. The increase in bleaching frequency and prevalence post 1850, where temperatures were on average increasing, may indicate that corals are coming closer to the uppermost limit of their thermal acclimatization and adaptive capacity”

        So they are saying climate change is a factor, which they stress here

        “This suggests that while large-scale climatic patterns may drive bleaching at large spatial scales (GBR wide)”

        your view may differ

        411

        • #
          AndyG55

          “scale climatic patterns”

          You mean the El Nino that caused the shallower waters over the GBR during the last major bleaching event, thus allowing upper corals to be exposed for much longer than usual to surface penetration of sunlight.

          That sort of NATURAL climate event?

          You do know the current ocean heat content is FAR LESS than during the MWP etc, don’t you, ignorant pfutz !!

          The rise in OHC in the last 60 years is barely a ripple in the longer term OHC.
          So any FARCICAL comment re “climate change” is just more scientific NONSENSE, which you, of course, swallow in the utmost GULLIBILITY !.

          152

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Frequency

            410

            • #
              AndyG55

              NATURAL WARMING,

              Grand Solar Maximum through latter half of last century.

              Ocean warming inevitable because ONLY the Sun warms the tropical oceans.

              Do you have ANY empirical evidence that increased atmospheric CO2 causes warming or effects climate in any way whatsoever.

              Or are you just having one of your mantra-based regurgitations of anti-science, yet again!!

              141

              • #
                Sceptical Sam

                Do you have ANY empirical evidence that increased atmospheric CO2 causes warming or effects climate in any way whatsoever.

                No he doesn’t.

                And he refuses to admit it.

                To Fitz, correlation is causation. End of story.

                He probably still believes that the Miasma causes Cholera; night air, Malaria; and, that the Earth is the centre of the Universe.

                51

              • #
                Sceptical Sam

                Cock-up

                🙂

                30

            • #
              Kinky Keith

              Beats per second.

              30

        • #
          AndyG55

          Peak in mid 2016.. ie EL NINO.

          So totally NATURAL climate event, no possible human influence from humans WHAT SO EVER.

          Thanks for pointing that out, pfutz. !

          92

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Then why does each successive event set a new temperature record?

            310

            • #
              TdeF

              Los Angeles just had the coldest February since recordings began. It’s a new temperature record. Except colder.
              18 months ago the government of tropical Bangladesh was handing out hundreds of thousands of blankets to stop people freezing to death.
              2 years ago it snowed in Cairo.
              And each year it has become colder in winter in North America and Europe.
              Still the IPCC manages to push that ‘average’ up by 0.001C.
              Where’s that runaway, tipping point, Armageddon Global Warming?
              It’s hard enough for the masters of the average to stop it going down.

              According to warmist, activist NASA the last few years are

              2002 0.62
              2003 0.61
              2004 0.53
              2005 0.67
              2006 0.61
              2007 0.64
              2008 0.51
              2009 0.63
              2010 0.70
              2011 0.57
              2012 0.61
              2013 0.64
              2014 0.73
              2015 0.86
              2016 0.98
              2017 0.90
              2018 0.82

              Absolutely insignificant. So where’s this CO2 driven rapid warming?

              140

              • #
                TdeF

                You do not need to see the graph showing the steady growth in CO2. Anyone looking at the two graphs would immediately know they were unrelated. This is without any suggestion of man made growth in CO2.

                110

              • #
                Peter Fitzroy

                2002 0.62 El Nino
                2004 0.53
                2005 0.67 El nino
                2006 0.61
                2007 0.64 El nino
                2008 0.51
                2009 0.63
                2010 0.70 El Nino
                2011 0.57
                2012 0.61
                2013 0.64
                2014 0.73
                2015 0.86
                2016 0.98 El Nino
                2017 0.90
                2018 0.82

                So if I strip out the non El Nino years

                2002 0.62
                2005 0.67
                2007 0.64
                2010 0.70
                2016 0.98

                Seems to support my point don’t you think?

                59

              • #
                TdeF

                Why did you leave out 2017 and 2018? Because they prove you wrong.

                80

              • #
                TdeF

                Besides, you are arguing that all warming is man made but cooling is natural and due to something no one can explain?
                Can you see that is patently ridiculous

                110

              • #
                Carbon500

                TdeF: ‘Where’s this CO2 driven rapid warming?’
                I ask myself the same question when I look at Roy Spencer’s UAH temperature data.

                30

            • #
              AndyG55

              OMG, but you are seriously IGNORANT pfutz. !!

              No warming from 1980-1997

              https://i.postimg.cc/fyv8vcRh/RSS_V4_before_El_Nino.png

              No Warming from 2001-2015

              https://i.postimg.cc/SxQy4C6M/RSS_V4_2001_-_2015.png

              1998 El Nino brought a lot of warmer water to the surface, enough to cause a step change of a whole massive 0.3ºC

              2015-2017 all part of the El Nino event.

              Temperature now back to pre 2015-2017 El Nino levels.

              Why can’t you keep up with FACTS, little trollette?

              Why do you CHOOSE to remain wilfully ignorant?

              102

        • #
          MudCrab

          You are amusing, young Peter.

          You say; So they are saying climate change is a factor, which they stress here

          Then refer to:

          “This suggests that…” (my bold)

          So are they suggesting or are they stressing, as they are not actually the same thing. Suggesting allows someone to back down should the situation change. Stressing is a bolder statement. You are drawing attention to it deliberately and backing with your reputation (professional, social or otherwise).

          So, I suggest the above isn’t actually the argument you are trying to make.

          92

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Well, the whole paragraph would give a better context, but I would take your point. It does not really change anything though does it. What is clear, the record shows there is a discernible change, and this is consistent with climate change.

            314

            • #
              AndyG55

              What climate change??????

              The very slight NATURAL warming because of the Solar peaks of last century ???

              There has been no atmospheric warming EXCEPT from EL NINOS in the last 40 years

              The Ocean Heat content in the last 60 years is barely a tiny squiggle at the low end

              When you have a FAKE STORY, which basically anything can be “consistent with”

              …. its a JOKE. !

              And those who keep suggesting it, even though they KNOW they have absolutely ZERO EVIDENCE for it…

              … are also a JOKE

              141

              • #
                Carbon500

                Andy G55: You ask ‘what climate change?’ – exactly.
                Where on this planet has the climate changed in the lifetime of its present inhabitants?
                I’m 70 years old, I’ve lived here in England for all of those years, and to suggest that the climate here has changed is nonsense.
                We have year-on-year variability, the English weather is as changeable as ever, and that’s it – over two 30-year periods, which for convenience are referred to as ‘climate.’

                20

      • #

        Yeah. What a rort. Coral is like lantana. Dies off, comes back. There’s a pure red strain of vegetable coral lantana on my place I reckon I could charge the Japanese for viewing. When frost or drought hit it I’ll blame Fukushima and pass the hat round.

        Coral damage and other storm depositions from Mahina in 1899 indicate that the cyclone may have been 880 hectopascals than rather than the old figure of 914. In fact, the new estimate is now semi-official. By contrast, Yasi in 2011, which was a cat 5 whopper, was 929 hPa.

        What do they think is going to happen to coral in the real world, with cold water, hot water, cyclones and all the rest? If the reef can get clobbered by a 880 hPa cat 5 a hundred and twenty years ago why should it expect a life of peeled grapes and goose down pillows in 2019?

        62

    • #
      wal1957

      Ignorance is bliss.

      70

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      Wirrong, you can only be seen as “playing the victim card” if you are not a real victim and using your action as a means of attack.

      Peter Ridd is rightly pointing out that he has been attacked by a politically inspired organisation that is intent on distorting and misrepresenting the Truth.

      As TdeF points out, he has common law on his side.

      Political appointees to government institutions do not have the right to distort reality and then attack those who try to restore public access to that reality.

      We live in interesting times.

      KK

      110

    • #
      el gordo

      ‘Peter Ridd played his victim card.’

      I find your comment deeply offensive.

      ‘… the record shows there is a discernible change, and this is consistent with climate change.’

      Wrong, a drop in sea level causes coral bleaching in the western Pacific, this phenomenon has nothing to do with increasing CO2 in the atmosphere.

      112

      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        He is a serial offender, now claims that he is a victim, and then started court proceedings.

        Read the https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2018.00283/full paper.

        There was no mention of C02 – why are you bringing that up?

        310

        • #
          Gee aye

          el G said Carbon dioxide not di-cobalt

          23

          • #
            AndyG55

            That is not even di-cobalt, little-geegee.

            That would be Co2, which is always part of a much larger molecule.

            One of which can be useful for counteracting cyanide poisoning, iirc.

            41

            • #
              Gee aye

              my browser does not distinguish the zero from the lower case letter O.

              Also I never said two Cobalts together in an uncharged state was a real thing, I was just reading it as is.

              As if I needed to justify myself to you, but alas, I did.

              24

              • #
                AndyG55

                You need to justify your error to yourself.

                I will just continue to draw them to your attention in the vain hope you will stop making them.

                51

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Well spotted, Di-Cobalt is innocent, please read it as CO2

            23

        • #
          AndyG55

          ROFLMAO..

          So funny that natural bleaching from NATURAL solar increases didn’t happen much during the Little ICE Age, hey, pfutz !!

          And what the **** is C-zero-2, that you keep typing ?????

          its CO2, putz !! Letter after the C stands for Oxygen.

          81

        • #
          el gordo

          ‘There was no mention of C02 – why are you bringing that up?’

          Its relevant, your link clearly shows there are cycles in the bleaching regime, so we would be looking for mechanisms other than CO2.

          70

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Ive read your last sentence, but can not make head nor tail of it. Could you explain?

            38

            • #
              AndyG55

              ” Could you explain?”

              Not in any way you could comprehend

              The sentence make perfect sense.. it is you who has the problem.

              Your comprehensions skills are next to zero, (SNIPPED)

              (Stop calling him names, Peter is his name, use that) CTS

              73

            • #
              el gordo

              It may appear as a random walk but I see cycles.

              ‘Porites spp. corals exhibited variable bleaching patterns with bleaching frequency (number of bleaching years per decade) increasing (1620–1753), decreasing (1754–1820), and increasing (1821–2001) again. Bleaching prevalence (the proportion of cores exhibiting bleaching) fell (1670–1774) before increasing by 10% since the late 1790s concurrent with positive temperature anomalies …’

              ENSO, Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation and solar influence are possible mechanisms involved with bleaching frequency.

              21

              • #
                PeterFitzroy

                Interesting indeed – the positive temperature anomalies are the canary in the coal mine though.

                23

              • #
                AndyG55

                “the positive temperature anomalies are the canary”

                ROFLMAO

                No, they are a sign of SLIGHT NATURAL WARMING

                You have NO EVIDENCE that there is any human cause for that very slight, and highly beneficial warming since the coldest period in 10,000 years.

                You are EMPTY, pfutz.

                62

            • #
              el gordo

              Before too long we’ll be back in the 18th century.

              Bleaching events:
              1700-1750: 17
              1750-1800: 19
              1800-1850: 7
              1850-1900: 12
              1900-1950: 10
              1950-2000: 15

              My main criticism is that the authors didn’t give any credit to UV exposure, in their view only warm water bleaches coral.

              30

          • #
            Peter Fitzroy

            Read the rebuttal posted by Gee Aye, I was interested only in the last 200 years where they talk about climate change.

            36

            • #
              AndyG55

              “talk about climate change”

              You mean the TOTALLY NATURAL warming out of the COLDEST period in 10,000 years,

              Right, little pfutz !

              Do you have ANY empirical evidence that humans have caused any global changes to the climate.. or are you still going on with your nil-science, zero-evidence, vacuous gibberish and fantasies.

              113

            • #
              Gee aye

              the good thing is that you got Aye Gee all angry about a paper, which he obviously didn’t read nor would have understood anyway, that actually supported his position.

              23

              • #
                AndyG55

                Good thing little pony hasn’t realised the little pony didn’t understand what little POC was trying to imply

                Yet another EMPTY post from the little ass. !!

                11

            • #
              Kinky Keith

              Poc XX

              11

      • #
        TdeF

        I find it uncaring, unthinking and deeply offensive too. It’s one thing to talk about chemistry and physics from a position of ignorance.
        I can understand that. I try to educate.

        However it’s quite another to attack someone’s character as a pretend victim. The insults to people’s character are endless, but this is by far the worst.

        Peter Ridd has every right to protest his firing. Being fired is traumatic and in such circumstances unreasonable
        and without the support of an entire community of thousands of people, career terminating.

        Of course he is a victim of a giant self interested business pulling in hundreds of millions from unproven Global Warming and the absurd and unproven
        connections to bleaching of the Great Barrier reef. It is like being hit by a truck driven by the Vice Chancellor. Unfair and totally unjust.

        To state otherwise shows a degree of malice in Peter Fitzroy which has nothing to do with science.

        I will cease responding to someone who clearly has no interest in learning.
        Please totally ignore the appallingly ignorant and malicious troll.

        92

  • #
    Ruairi

    Having free speech at college denied,
    Sounds like some folks have something to hide,
    Who then build up a case,
    With charges to face,
    And at taxpayers cost to be tried.

    120

  • #
    JohnM

    $2.65 million down the drain.

    McGowan Government pulls funds from Carnegie Clean Energy’s Albany wave power trial

    https://thewest.com.au/business/energy/mcgowan-government-pulls-funds-from-carnegie-clean-energys-albany-wave-power-trial-ng-b881132442z

    110

    • #
      RickWill

      They desperately need a Labor government in Canberra to get this one afloat. Maybe Tim Global Warming Flannery can make a case for more funding.

      31

  • #
    JohnM

    Sounds like the government realised Carnegie could not deliver the goods.

    Unexpected proposal to change Federal Government’s Research and Development tax incentive scheme contributed to destabilisation of the company’s financial position

    The State Government has terminated its Financial Assistance Agreement with Carnegie Clean Energy to deliver the Albany wave energy technology development project, following an assessment of the company’s financial capability to deliver the project.

    https://www.miragenews.com/funding-agreement-with-carnegie-clean-energy-terminated/

    70

    • #
      Serp

      You’ve got to wonder whose was the silver tongue which talked government on board without any due diligence at the outset since all over the world this wave/tide scam is failing to deliver and a simple internet search would have revealed that circumstance.

      50

    • #
      toorightmate

      The governments are a bit sharper wrt wave power than they have been with wind and solar.
      The technology for these energy forms will come one day.
      But, as sure as sh*t, it aint there yet.

      10

  • #
    pat

    a political perspective from 43-yr veteran environmental reporter who retired from DAILY reporting last year at Idaho Statesman last year:

    11 Mar: Idaho Statesman: Idaho lawmakers hold 1st climate change hearing — and no one argued about its existence, causes
    By Rocky Barker Special correspondent to the Idaho Statesman
    The House Environment, Energy and Technology committee hearing on Wednesday, carefully scripted through negotiations between the Republican majority and Democrats, represented a new phase in an evolving transformation.
    The impacts of a changing climate on Idaho are not new to residents who now annually suffer through “smoke season” in the summer. Climate change isn’t new to residents who, in early March, flock to earlier spring runoffs that show why Shoshone Falls on the Snake River at Twin Falls is “the Niagara of the West.”
    We have seen our fall nights warm enough to allow winemakers in Idaho to grow grapes for stunning red wines, impossible just 35 years ago. Even Bogus Basin’s average opening has shifted from November to mid-December as warmer temperatures bring rain instead of snow, limiting the ski area’s most profitable days.

    But a 30-year campaign by fossil fuel companies and others to exploit the uncertainty surrounding climate change first politicized the very existence of the rapid warming of the planet, then politicized the greenhouse effect of rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuel.

    Despite Idaho’s leadership reducing carbon for electricity, Republicans have remained on the skeptic side of the debate. But Idaho Gov. Brad Little broke ground in January when he called for action to reverse climate change.
    “Climate is changing; there’s no question about it,” he told the Idaho Environmental Forum.
    “Sometimes what you do from a regulatory standpoint might be counter to what the right thing to do is, but you’ve got to recognize it. It’s here,” Little said, according to an Associated Press report. “We’ve just got to figure out how we’re going to cope with it. And we’ve got to slow it down. Now, reversing it is going to be a big darn job.”
    Idaho lawmakers agreed to take the first step…

    They heard Idaho National Laboratory Director Mark Peters talk about the soon-to-be-expected breakthrough in battery development that will unleash the promise of renewable energy. And he prompted enthusiasm when he talked about INL research into micro grids that can give communities large and small power stability, from rooftop solar options and small modular nuclear reactors…

    On one side, President Donald Trump continues to claim climate change is a hoax perpetrated by China to hurt the U.S. economy. On the other, Democrats are promoting a massive “Green New Deal” to prevent catastrophic climate change over the next decade, a program Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson described as “looney.”
    That has left political space in the middle. That’s where many Republicans are finding more comfort, especially next to businesses like Hewlett Packard.
    “The science is clear, the impacts are serious and the need to act is essential,” David Eichberg, Hewlett Packard chief sustainability and social impact officer, told the committee. “We encourage you to explore policy solutions that help mitigate climate change and transition to a low carbon society.”…
    https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/letters-from-the-west/article227214509.html

    a personal perspective from a 30-year freelancer:

    9 Mar: IdahoStateJournal: Winter weather warnings
    By Chris Huston
    (Chris Huston lives in southern Idaho and has enjoyed a 30-year career in journalism)
    I know, this is Idaho. You’re not allowed to gripe about the absence of spring until April. It’s in the rulebook somewhere. But the fact remains that in other more southerly parts of America spring is already well-sprung. We get Facebook posts from friends and family who can’t help being a little smug about their just-collected spring flower bouquets from their soft, loamy gardens.

    Meanwhile, March in Idaho offends on two fronts: the stubbornly low temperatures, and the ever-growing distance between March and, say, last September, which, in my wife’s view, was the last time it was halfway decent around here…

    Three months of winter works fine for me. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow — as long as the daffodils are doing their thing by March.
    Oh wait. I guess that works in Utah. It sure doesn’t work in Idaho.
    So I understand why for some the winter blues may be worse in March than in January…

    Before we dived into our first winter there I asked a friend how the locals survived the annual onslaught of blizzards and ice. His words have always stuck with me.
    “You have to embrace winter if you’re going to survive here,” he said. “If you try to hide from it, it’ll kill you.”
    Somber words, but true. Winter has its beauty and majesty, but it comes with claws. You can live in it, and even enjoy it, but you have to keep your guard up and your armor on…

    But by March, I think we’re all about done with winter. The only problem is that winter, as usual, isn’t done with us.
    https://www.idahostatejournal.com/opinion/columns/winter-weather-warnings/article_e5e687bd-aaba-5500-b6d2-187426b7eaab.html

    40

    • #
      pat

      from Rocky Barker’s Idaho Statesman article:

      But after two decades of largely ignoring the issue, lawmakers found consensus on one thing: the need for more data.
      “It did highlight the need to get Idaho-specific information rather than global,” said committee chairman Rep. John Vander Woude, R-Nampa…

      14 Feb: Idaho Statesman: Storms continue to dump feet of snow at Idaho ski areas, just in time for 3-day weekend
      By Nicole Blanchard
      Bogus Basin
      ▪ The Boise-are ski spot got 17 inches of new snow in the last 48 hours, bringing the total snowfall since Feb. 9 to 43 inches. Forecasts call for more snow through Saturday, which could drop an additional foot. Temperatures on Sunday and Monday will drop to the teens.
      Brundage Mountain
      ▪ Brundage also has seen a boon of fresh snow this week. Since Saturday, the McCall-area mountain added 40 inches of fresh snow. More snow is in the forecast, and the area could see another foot by Monday.
      ▪ Earlier in the week, drifting snow briefly closed Idaho 55 and U.S. 95, the two routes that lead to Brundage…
      Soldier Mountain Ski Area
      ▪ Forty-one inches of new snow have fallen at Soldier Mountain since Saturday, and an additional inch is in the forecast for Friday. Chilly temperatures over the weekend will stave off any new snowfall, forecasts show…
      Tamarack Resort
      ▪ Is there a prize for receiving the most obscene amount of snowfall in the past week? If so, Tamarack wins it — 61 inches of new snow has hit the resort, 16 inches of which fell in the last 48 hours. The National Weather Service is predicting an additional 3 to 5 inches of snow Thursday, as well as more snowfall on Friday and Saturday…
      https://www.idahostatesman.com/outdoors/recreation/article226275445.html

      11 Mar: SpokesmanReview: Snow to fall in Spokane overnight Monday, threaten another daily record
      by Kip Hill
      The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning Monday afternoon for most of northeastern Washington and northern ***Idaho…
      Meteorologists predict between 4 inches and 6 inches of new snowfall in Spokane through Tuesday, with the higher end of the range threatening a daily snowfall record for March 12 that has stood since 1899. Four inches fell in the Spokane area on that day.
      If Spokane receives more than 4 inches would snow, it would set the third daily snowfall record of this winter. Record 24-hour snowfall was received Feb. 10, besting a record from 1904, and Feb. 12, surpassing a record from 1897…

      This weekend saw a warming trend and sunshine after a historically cold and snowy February. As of Sunday, Spokane had experienced 37 days in a row with colder than normal temperatures, and 28 days in a row with snow deeper than 10 inches on the ground, according to climate data at Spokane International Airport collected by the weather service.
      Temperatures in Spokane last rose above 50 degrees on Nov. 4.
      http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/mar/11/snow-to-fall-in-spokane-overnight-monday-threaten-/

      more on neigbouring Washington State:

      5 Mar: SpokesmanReview: Thermometer’s stuck below normal
      PIC: Roy Lee, 69, clears snow and ice from a stormwater drain on Monday, March 4, 2019, outside his home at Shoshone Place and Stevens Street in Spokane. Lee says this winter is a pain. “Every time I catch up, it snows again.”
      By Jonathan Glover
      If February 2019 will go down in the record books in Spokane as one of the snowiest, then March might just follow as one of the coldest. Four days in, there’s a good case to be made.
      “It looks like we’ve had 29 days in a row below normal,” said Mark Turner, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Spokane office. “And mainly it’s just due to the weather pattern.”

      Since Feb. 2, Spokane has ignored queues for a quick-approaching spring season, with a temperature range wildly diverging from what would typically be expected. While temperatures usually are expected to rise slowly out of the freezing range in early March, Spokane has instead grown colder – the warmest days so far this year were on Jan. 5 and 6…

      Most of these days below normal are well-below normal, too, with temperatures 10 or even 20 degrees from what’s expected.
      As of Monday, Spokane has had 22 days of snow accumulation of at least 10 inches, the longest stretch since 1993 and the 10th longest on record…
      And it’s not just Spokane. In outlying areas, records were broken as temperatures dropped. In Pullman on Sunday, temperatures plunged to minus 5 degrees, breaking a record that had stood for more than 40 years.
      The newest record was short-lived, however, as the National Weather Service reported a new low of 8 degrees below zero.
      Monday morning in Spokane, temperatures took a nosedive to about 6 degrees.
      With wind chill, it was anywhere from 10 to 20 degrees below freezing…
      Turner said forecasts predict about two more weeks of biting morning cold. Then arrives a slow climb toward normal temperatures and spring.
      First, however, is more snow…
      http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/mar/05/thermometer-stuck-below-normal/

      30

      • #
        pat

        28 Feb: Idaho Statesman: ‘Massive amounts’ of snow, rainfall break records across Idaho
        by Nicole Blanchard
        A series of winter storms walloped Idaho through most of February, setting or nearing records for precipitation and snow depth across the state…
        Boise also blew its average February snowfall out of the water. In a normal year, about 2.8 inches of snow falls in February, according to Weather Service records. This month, 11.6 inches of snow fell in Boise — the ninth-most since record-keeping began in 1877…

        This February also marked an all-time record for snowfall in some North Idaho cities. Lewiston reported 29.5 inches of snow for the month, shattering the 1916 record of 27.2 inches…
        East of Boise, Sun Valley also recorded a February record. More than 10 feet — yes, feet — of snow fell by Feb. 26, breaking the 119.5-inch record set during the “Snowpocalypse” of 2017…

        The snow proved to be too much of a good thing for one Idaho ski area. Soldier Mountain, in Fairfield, was closed Thursday so crews could dig out roads and equipment and prepare the mountain for skiing over the weekend…
        https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/weather-news/article226920844.html

        60

  • #
    Analitik

    requirement to protect the ‘integrity and reputation’ of the university

    Hmmm. If he had access to enough legal resources, Ridd would be able to launch a counter-suit to the effect that the JCU’s gag orders themselves constitute a threat to the ‘integrity and reputation’ of the university, given that the right to free speech that SHOULD be at the core of academia in it’s search for truth.

    Then again, JCU are far from alone in terms of Australian Unis that suppress dissent
    https://ipa.org.au/publications-ipa/media-releases/australian-universities-hostile-free-speech-ipa-report

    100

  • #
    pat

    it gets clearer every day that Trump’s campaign promise to withdraw from Paris was more than likely the reason for the attempted coup – now called impeachment (without cause):

    10 Mar: Daily Caller: Dark Money Org Gave $2 Million To Group Working With Fusion GPS, Steele
    by Chuck Ross
    •A dark money group based in California contributed $2 million to The Democracy Integrity Project, the organization that has contracted with Fusion GPS and Christopher Steele to investigate President Donald Trump.
    •The Democracy Integrity Project’s founder, a former staffer for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has acknowledged to the FBI that the group provides information to the press, lawmakers and investigators.
    •Fund for a Better Future is the second Democracy Integrity Project donor to have been identified. George Soros gave $1 million to the group.

    TDIP was founded on Jan. 31, 2017, by Daniel Jones, a consultant who worked for Feinstein, a California Democrat, when she controlled the Senate Intelligence Committee. Jones has disclosed to the FBI that he hired Fusion GPS and Steele, the author of the anti-Trump dossier, to continue an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
    He also told an associate that TDIP operated as a “shadow media organization helping the government.” Jones suggested to the associate, Adam Waldman, that his TDIP team planted several anti-Trump articles…

    Little is known about the donors behind both TDIP and FBF. Both of the organizations are 501(c)(4)s, the type of public advocacy group most closely associated with “dark money” contributions. FBF has contributed to a mix of ***environmental organizations and politically active groups, including Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Priorities USA — the political group that backs Democrats — and the ***League of Conservation Voters, a progressive dark money group…

    An ***environmentalist who served as California’s undersecretary for resources, Michael Mantell, runs FBF. Board members in 2017 included David and Lucille Packard Foundation trustee Jason Burnett and Molly McUsic, the president of the ***Wyss Foundation, a charity founded by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, who funds numerous environmental causes.

    Another FBF board member is Open Space Institute President Christopher Elliman. A trustee of that New York-based nonprofit is Hume Steyer, the older brother of ***Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist financing a campaign to impeach Trump. Tom Steyer hired Fusion GPS in 2012 to work on a California ballot initiative.
    There is no indication from FBF’s filings that Tom Steyer has contributed to the group, but a current FBF board member has also worked closely with the California billionaire.

    Kathleen Welch, of the election strategy firm Corridor Partners, was listed by Politico along with Tom Steyer as two of Hillary Clinton’s top green energy donors during the 2016 presidential campaign. Clinton campaign emails published by WikiLeaks showed that Welch and Tom Steyer took part in conference calls with the Clinton campaign to discuss environmental issues…

    George Soros contributed $1 million to TDIP, a spokesman for the billionaire financier told The New York Times in October. That disclosure came only after TheDCNF reported that Jones told his associate, Waldman, that Soros was one of TDIP’s funders.

    According to a report (LINK) released by the House Intelligence Committee in April 2018, Jones told the FBI in March 2017 that his group would receive $50 million in funding from seven to 10 wealthy donors from New York and California. TDIP’s tax filings in 2017 show that the group received far less: $9,036,836…

    Fusion GPS, which was founded by former Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson, hired Steele in June 2016. Fusion was working at the time for the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee to investigate Trump’s links to Russia.
    Few details are known about the work Fusion and Steele, a former MI6 officer, have done since the 2016 election. Both have been ensnared in legal fights over publication of the dossier, which remains unverified and has been heavily disputed. But there is some evidence they have continued their efforts to bolster the dossier and to plant negative stories in the press about Trump…

    In a March 17, 2017, exchange obtained by TheDCNF, Jones sent Waldman, a lawyer with ties to Steele, a text message with a link to a ***Reuters article about Russian investments in Trump Organization properties in Florida.
    “Our team helped with this,” Jones wrote Waldman…
    https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/10/dark-money-fusion-steele-soros/

    40

    • #
      pat

      featured on Sky News last nite. no “alleged” in the following “tens of thousands of Mr Podesta’s emails were hacked by the Russian government”. Hobart Mercury is NewsCorp:

      VIDEO: 1min16sec: 11 March: Hobart Mercury: Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair warns NZ about election hacking
      The chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign says New Zealand should be ‘very worried’ about the prospect of election hacking. In a television interview with Newshub, John Podesta warned New Zealand’s election next year is at serious risk of a major cyber attack by Russia or China. During Ms Clinton’s presidential campaign, tens of thousands of Mr Podesta’s emails were hacked by the Russian government, with many believing the release of the emails was a major factor in Ms Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump.
      https://www.themercury.com.au/news/world/hillary-clintons-campaign-chair-warns-nz-about-election-hacking/video/5ca5b27846c8b88f6406048b2223b84a

      11 March: New Zealand Herald: Former White House adviser John Podesta praises ‘superstar’ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
      Hillary Clinton’s former presidential campaign manager has labelled Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern a “superstar”.
      John Podesta, who was the White House chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and a counsellor to President Barack Obama, told Newstalk ZB’s Heather Du Plessis-Allan that Ardern had given hope to social democrats all around the world.
      ???”She’s made an impression on the world. She’s somebody that people are paying attention to.

      “I think they look to her as someone who has found a way to directly connect and make people feel like they are bonded to their political leader,” he said.
      “I think she combines an approach that is dealing with building a fair, more inclusive, more sustainable economy with someone who is exciting and young and brings her baby to the United Nations.”
      Podesta said he thought it was “great” that Ardern had taken Neve to the United Nations.
      He said the Democrats would be wise to take a leaf out of Ardern’s book…

      Podesta also gave his views on United States President Donald Trump, saying he is “completely unfit and unqualified to be President of the United States”.
      He said there is a huge amount of division within politics – and Trump was an example of that.
      “You see it with the building of the wall. It’s largely a politics of fear and a politics of racism and add to that his misogyny and it’s a toxic mix.”…

      Podesta said the real question was who could successfully prosecute a case against him.
      However, when asked whether trying to prosecute Trump was the wrong strategy, he said the Democrats were in a tricky position, but they could not ignore criminal acts.
      “The Democrats in the House do have some responsibility to make sure the justice system is functional.
      “I don’t think people can look the other way from criminal acts.
      “His national security adviser, his campaign chairman, his deputy campaign chairman, his senior policy adviser have all pleaded guilty to criminal acts.”…
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12211429

      20

    • #
      pat

      the Reuters’ article referred to in Chuck Ross’s Daily Caller article (final excerpt):

      17 Mar 2017: Reuters Investigates: Moscow on the Beach:
      Russian elite invested nearly $100 million in Trump buildings
      A Reuters review found that at least 63 individuals with Russian passports or addresses have bought at least $98.4 million worth of property in seven Trump-branded luxury towers in southern Florida…
      By Nathan Layne, Ned Parker, Svetlana Reiter, Stephen Grey and Ryan McNeill; Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs in Moscow; John Walcott, Mark Hosenball, Jonathan Landay, Arshad Mohammed and Warren Strobel in Washington; and Astha Rajvanshi in New York.

      (PARAGRAPH SIX)
      The Reuters review of investors from Russia in Trump’s Florida condominium buildings found no suggestion of wrongdoing by President Trump or his real estate organization. And none of the buyers appear to be from Putin’s inner circle…
      “I can say definitively that this is an overblown story that is media-created,” Alan Garten (chief legal officer Trump Org) said in an interview…

      (FOLLOWED BY APPROX 60 PARAGRAPHS OF FURTHER INSINUATIONS)
      https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-trump-property/

      UNBELIEVABLE.

      50

  • #
    Analitik

    Amidst all our local depressing developments, here is some comic relief from the USA, courtesy of the SJW cohorts that are starting to overrun the power structure of the Democrats.

    https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2019/03/11/nervous-nancy-has-lost-control-of-her-crazy-party-n2542883

    71

  • #
    Analitik

    While I’m doing a Pat,

    The Sharing Economy Was Always a Scam – ‘Sharing’ was supposed to save us. Instead, it became a Trojan horse for a precarious economic future.

    https://onezero.medium.com/the-sharing-economy-was-always-a-scam-68a9b36f3e4b?gi=cbb16292226b

    51

  • #
    pat

    all coverage reminds readers Congress probably won’t agree to the cuts:

    The Hill: Trump proposes slashing EPA budget by 31 percent
    By Miranda Green
    Lawmakers have declined to enact most of Trump’s previous funding requests, and it’s unlikely that drastic EPA cuts will be enacted by Congress this year, especially since Democrats are now in the majority in the House…
    The White House budget request also seeks to slash other key science and renewable areas, including a repeal of the tax credit for electric vehicles…

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is responsible for monitoring weather systems and oceanic temperatures, would see its funding cut under Trump’s proposed budget, with the recommended elimination of the Sea Grant, Coastal Zone Management Grants and Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.
    https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/433496-white-house-proposes-dramatic-cuts-to-energy-and-environment

    11 Mar: Washington Examiner: Trump’s energy budget makes coal and nuclear a priority over renewables
    by John Siciliano
    President Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget energy priorities emphasize coal, nuclear and national security over renewable energy and climate change.
    The Energy Department’s renewable energy office’s budget is slashed by 70 percent, from $2.3 billion to just under $700 million, in the new fiscal 2020 budget request to Congress rolled out on Monday.
    Instead, the funds are being diverted toward energy security, with the priorities being nuclear power plants and new, more efficient coal plants

    “We are requesting $2.3 billion to secure energy independence, to fund innovations for more affordable, viable and efficient energy sources, such as new nuclear and fossil energy investments,” said a senior Energy Department official on a call with reporters…
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/trumps-energy-budget-makes-coal-and-nuclear-a-priority-over-renewables

    11 Mar: GreenTechMedia: Trump Administration Cuts Clean Energy Programs Again in 2020 Budget Request
    The proposal zeroes out the DOE loan program and ARPA-E budget. An official said funding will focus on “basic science” and clean energy technologies “that make sense to us.”
    by Emma Foehringer Merchant
    Modular coal plants and emergency response
    In addition to the storage initiative, the budget includes research and development on what the administration calls high-efficiency, low-emissions modular coal plants as well as small, modular nuclear reactors…

    30

  • #
    pat

    ABC headline on “Just In” page:

    How cracking sugar’s DNA could help save the planet

    12 Mar: ABC: Cracking sugar’s DNA to produce new green energy to power the world
    ABC Rural By Charlie McKillop and Kallee Buchanan
    Sugar has long been a source of energy for people, but now scientists believe they are close to unlocking its DNA secrets and harnessing its potential as a green fuel.
    As demand for the sweet stuff in food takes a tumble, its ‘reinvention’ as a source of green energy could protect the $2 billion industry — if the development of biofuels attracts enough investment.
    The University of Queensland is conducting the first gene-editing experiments that could tailor the sugarcane plant to better produce biofuels and bioplastics…

    Working with US company Mercurius Biorefining, the product being developed in Gladstone could produce renewable fuels for use in diesel or jet engines in as little as five years’ time.
    But before the trucking or mining industry can be fuelled by sugarcane, (QUT senior research fellow Darryn Rackemann) said there needed to be a significant increase in investment.
    “Moving from the pilot scale, we’re going to need tens of millions of dollars to start growing this biofuels development — and that’s just around the demonstration scale,” he said.
    “Then there’ll be many, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars that’s required to get it to commercial scale.
    “There’s some great ideas out there, but it’s only when you start getting to the pilot scale that you can go through the economics of these ideas.”…

    While politicians argue the merits of investing in more coal-fired power, sugar industry figures are mystified at the lack of attention biofuels are receiving despite the current crisis in national energy policy…

    The Mercurius project was partially funded by the Queensland Government’s $150 million Jobs and Regional Growth Fund, as part of its bid to develop a $1 billion biofutures industry by 2026…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2019-03-12/cracking-cane-dna-to-make-bio-fuel/10888992

    30

    • #
      robert rosicka

      Yes I seen this and thought wow modern science can actually get bio fuel from sugar , what on earth will they come up with next I wonder ?

      20

  • #
    pat

    ABC acts like they are acting tough:

    12 Mar: ABC: Albany wave energy deal with Carnegie Clean Energy cancelled by WA Government
    By Rebecca Turner and Kathryn Diss
    The WA Government has terminated its $16 million contract with troubled wave energy company Carnegie Clean Energy for a project in the Great Southern, denying it has broken a key election promise.
    Labor unveiled plans for the wave farm project before the 2017 state election, saying it would “power homes” and turn the Great Southern coastal town of Albany into a globally recognised renewable energy hub…

    Setback for wave energy industry
    The $16 million contract was an election promise by the McGowan Government, which said the project would “power homes” and turn the southern coastal town into a globally recognised renewable energy hub.
    But investigations by the ABC have revealed there is no requirement for Carnegie to produce any energy, and there are serious questions over whether the firm’s technology will ever be commercial.

    The Government also said its investment of Royalties for Regions money would create hundreds of jobs in the region.
    But one year after Carnegie won the contract, only 15 people were working on the project, and they were all based either in Perth or overseas.

    The termination of the deal is a massive setback for Australia’s wave energy industry, already struggling to compete against the growth in ***cost-effective renewable sources like solar and wind power…

    When they were finally issued last week, they showed the value of Carnegie’s prized asset — its CETO wave technology — had plummeted to $15 million, after being valued at $83 million in June 2017…

    Speaking on ABC Radio Perth this morning ahead of Ms MacTiernan’s announcement, Premier Mark McGowan defended his Government’s involvement with Carnegie.
    “Wave energy and renewable energy is important for the future of the world and I want Western Australia to be at the forefront,” he said.
    “We’ve got all sorts of solar and wind projects going on and we decided to work with wave energy because, I suspect in 30 years’ time when I’m hopefully an old man, that will be a big part of the world’s energy mix.
    “We were of the view that this was a good thing for us to try and get in and be a part of that.”
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-12/carnegie-albany-wave-farm-contract-cancelled-by-wa-government/10891934

    30

  • #
    pat

    the only one calling it the “new normal” is the writer! huh?

    11 Mar: BrisbaneTimes: South-east Queensland autumn heatwave could be new normal: experts
    by Stuart Layt
    Heat records for March have tumbled in parts of south-east Queensland on Monday, but experts are warning these conditions could soon become the new normal…
    Brisbane didn’t get as hot but it was still unseasonably warm at 34.6 degrees – a two-year high for March…

    The heatwave brought the usual warnings to avoid heatstroke, however some experts are warning this could become redundant as what we now consider a “heatwave” becomes standard.
    Deputy Queensland chair of Doctors for the Environment Australia Dr David King said there needed to be more done to plan for sustained heat conditions due to rising global temperatures.
    “The predictions from the CSIRO are that over the next 50 years we’re going to have two to three times as many extreme heatwaves around Australia,” Dr King said.
    “That will have to be factored into planning, but it is also something that should be taken into account when it comes to mitigation, we should be working harder to take care of our climate.
    “Because heat is not only uncomfortable, at the other extreme it’s a killer, and in between it impacts on people’s productivity.”…

    The extent of the new normal will be felt in the back half of this week, when the temperatures drop and give way to a line of storms expected from around Thursday…
    https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/south-east-queensland-autumn-heatwave-could-be-new-normal-experts-20190311-p5138v.html

    30

    • #
      Another Ian

      Horatius defending the bridge?

      40

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      Because heat is not only uncomfortable, at the other extreme it’s a killer, and in between it impacts on people’s productivity.

      http://joannenova.com.au/2015/05/study-on-74-million-deaths-cold-weather-kills-20-times-more-than-heat-does/

      Isn’t it about time that the incompetent CSIRO started catching up with the research?

      (Yes. I know. I know. They’re so heavily invested in group-think that they wouldn’t know if their collective arse was on fire.)

      10

      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        Because heat is not only uncomfortable, at the other extreme it’s a killer, and in between it impacts on people’s productivity.

        http://joannenova.com.au/2015/05/study-on-74-million-deaths-cold-weather-kills-20-times-more-than-heat-does/

        Isn’t it about time that the incompetent CSIRO started catching up with the research?

        (Yes. I know. I know. They’re so heavily invested in group-think that they wouldn’t know if their collective derriere was on fire.)

        40

        • #
          pat

          Sceptical Sam –

          the “killer” comment is from:

          Deputy Queensland chair of Doctors for the Environment Australia Dr David King

          QUT: Dr David King
          Dr King is the Academic Co-ordinator for the General Practice clinical rotation. He also teaches into the Evidence-based Medicine subject within the Global Health course…
          He does sessional General Practice at the Student Health Service, St. Lucia and the Refugee health clinic at the Mater Hospital.
          David is the Queensland state representative for Doctors for the Environment Australia and has delivered many lectures to professional and lay audiences on the links between the environment and health…
          Publications…ETC
          https://medicine-program.uq.edu.au/profile/931/david-king

          here he is again – the following links to the “new normal” piece, yet also includes all Dr. King’s quotes from the “new normal” article:

          12 Mar: BrisbaneTimes: South-east braces for second scorcher before heatwave relief
          By Toby Crockford; with Stuart Layt
          The region has been in the grip of a three-day heatwave since Sunday, with experts warning these conditions could soon become the new normal (LINK)…
          Deputy Queensland chair of Doctors for the Environment Australia Dr David King said there needed to be more done to plan for sustained heat conditions as a result of rising global temperatures…
          “Because heat is not only uncomfortable, at the other extreme it’s a killer, and in between it impacts on people’s productivity.”
          From Wednesday onwards, cooler conditions were forecast…
          Gatton was expected to drop to 31 by the end of the week, Brisbane was predicted to go down to 29 on Saturday while the Sunshine and Gold coasts were cooling to a top of 28 on the weekend.
          https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/south-east-braces-for-second-scorcher-before-heatwave-relief-20190312-p513g7.html

          King is hardly a “climate” expert or even a “climate scientist”.

          20

          • #
            pat

            ***Doctors for the Environment Australia again, tho the article doesn’t mention Dr. Yin is a member:

            12 Mar: Armidale Express: Our Future: The kids are right – we must act on climate change
            by ***Dr. Richard Yin
            Already, many health organisations around the world including the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian College of Physicians and ***Doctors for the Environment Australia (which is running a separate campaign on children and climate change) have issued statements recognising the threat posed by climate change to human health…

            Climate change is a public health emergency requiring urgent action to reduce our emissions and prepare our health and emergency services to cope with the health impacts of further warming.
            On Friday, I along with other doctors will stand with our school children who are calling for urgent action on climate change. I call on other medical professionals and parents to do the same.
            Will you join us and tell our politicians to take our futures seriously?
            https://www.armidaleexpress.com.au/story/5950069/listen-to-the-kids-we-must-act-on-climate/

            ***7 Sept 2018: Buddhist Society of Western Australia: Impacts of Climate Change: ***Dr. Richard Yin
            We are delighted to have guest speaker Dr. Richard Yin during the rains retreat for 2018. Dr. Yin is a Perth GP and member of ***Doctors for the Environment – Australia’s only organisation of medical professionals who promote good health through care of the environment. We apologise the first part of the talk was accidentally not recorded…
            https://bswa.org/teaching/impacts-climate-change-dr-richard-yin/

            20

            • #
              OriginalSteve

              Kool aid…..git yer kool aid here……

              If ISIS, an extremist group, can recruit and radicalize highly educated people……well…..

              The scary thing is, if enough “professionals” get together to declare sceptics “insane”…..well the lunatics will be running the asylum…..

              Logically, this is the next step…straight out of the Soviet play book…..

              20

            • #
              pat

              10 Mar: Hobart Mercury: Tasmania burns while leaders fiddle
              ***KRISTINE BARNDEN: It is time for our political leaders to listen to the wake-up calls Mother Nature has been sending out to the world…
              Dr Kristine Barnden is an obstetrician based in Hobart and a member of Doctors for the Environment Australia…

              Barnden with “celebrity dietitian”, who is DEA too!

              27 Jan: ABC: Why the Western diet needs to shift to a ‘planetary health diet’ in the age of climate change
              By Rosemary Stanton and ***Kris Barnden
              (Dr Rosemary Stanton is a nutritionist and dietitian and part of the Scientific Advisory Committee for ***Doctors for the Environment Australia; Dr Kris Barnden is an obstetrician and a member of Doctors for the Environment Australia)
              This unhealthy diet is also a big contributor to the ongoing devastation of our planet. Agriculture contributes up to 30 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and uses 70 per cent of fresh water, while land clearing and industrial farming methods involve large amounts of herbicides and pesticides that pollute our rivers, wetlands and coral reefs…
              https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-27/your-healthy-diet-in-the-age-of-climate-change/10750274

              Wikipedia: Stanton has been called “the first ‘celebrity’ dietitian”…
              She writes for The Conversation and is part of their Community Council…

              The Conversation: Bio Rosemary Stanton: Nutritionist & Visiting Fellow, UNSW

              10

          • #
            Sceptical Sam

            Yep.

            Thanks Pat.

            10

  • #
    Antoine D'Arche

    Go, Pete, go!
    And if you need more money dude, just ask!

    71

  • #

    Yep, the top down controls on free speech and free thought are 1984 Big Bro’- end – of – Western – Open – Society, alack! Serfs weep. 🙁

    82

  • #
    • #
      pat

      robert rosicka – nice timing, hey? 2 elections on the horizon:

      12 Mar: SMH: ‘Change now or pay later’: RBA’s stark warning on climate change
      By Eryk Bagshaw and Nick Bonyhady
      The Reserve Bank has warned climate change is likely to cause economic shocks and threaten Australia’s financial stability unless businesses take immediate stock of the risks.

      The central bank became the latest Australian regulator to tell business that they must analyse their investments on Tuesday, as the Coalition grapples with an internal battle over taxpayer-funded coal fired power and energy policy.

      In a speech to the Centre for Policy Development in Sydney, the Reserve’s deputy governor Guy Debelle said challenges for financial stability may arise from both physical and transition risks of climate change.
      “What if droughts are more frequent, or cyclones happen more often?” he asked.
      “The supply shock is no longer temporary but close to permanent. That situation is more challenging to assess and respond to.”

      “All of these consequences could precipitate sharp adjustments in asset prices, which would have consequences for financial stability,” he said.

      Dr Debelle said the increasing number of extreme climate events was also changing public opinion.
      “One of the things that is causing change in public opinion around this is just the straight-up occurrence of extreme events,” he said. “It’s not the way you would actually like this to come about unfortunately … [but] it has changed the general public view.”…
      “Some of these developments are actually happening now,” he said…

      “We need to think in terms of trend rather than cycles in the weather. Droughts have generally been regarded as cyclical events that recur every so often. In contrast, climate change is a trend change.”…

      Dr Debelle said the transition posed challenges and opportunities.
      Industries especially exposed to the consequences of changes in the climate will face lower costs if there is an early and orderly transition, some will bear greater costs from the transition to a lower carbon economy, while others such as the renewables sector, may benefit.
      “There has been a marked pick-up in investment spending on renewable energy in recent years,” he said.
      “It has been big enough to have a noticeable impact at the macro-economic level and affect aggregate output and hence the monetary policy calculus.”…

      In comments that are likely to be used against some pro-coal Nationals MPs urging the Coalition to build a taxpayer-funded power station, the deputy governor said the renewable sector was a good example where price signals have caused significant behavioural change.
      “There has been a rapid decline in the cost of renewable energy sources,” he said.
      Dr Debelle said the cost of generating electricity has declined in the case of wind and solar to the point where they are now cost-effective sources of generation…
      Despite coal being one of Australia’s top exports, Dr Debelle said opportunities remained as China transitioned away from coal…

      Giving the example of data on when different parts of the Gold Coast would stop being viable, Blair Comley, a former secretary of the federal Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, said the lack of data on the impact of climate change made it harder to plan for…

      Dr Debelle said while the Reserve Bank was not responsible for developing climate policy, it had a role to play in ensuring there is adequate data.
      Where there is inadequate data for the bank to make the decisions it needs to, “we can call out that,” Dr Debelle said… https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/change-now-or-pay-later-rba-s-stark-warning-on-climate-change-20190312-p513kn.html

      nice timing #2:

      Adelaide School Strike 4 Climate coincides with National Day of …
      The Advertiser-4 hours ago
      “The physical impact of climate change and the transition are likely to have first-order economic effects,” RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle…

      40

      • #
        Kinky Keith

        Could we please, please, Transition™ back to a world of Reality?

        Governments have imposed hidden charges on the two main essentials of modern society: Water and Electricity.

        Gigantic ripoffs.

        There has to be a Tax on Air just around the corner and as soon as enough of our legislators get high on Unicorn Farts it will be enacted.

        Sadly it seems that they all have the same ambition: to drive Australia into the ground.

        KK

        51

  • #
    robert rosicka

    We trust these people with the country’s money my god , China going out of coal ,renewables giving us cheap electricity.

    20

  • #
    pat

    the vile SPLC is doing fine; makes GetUp look like paupers:

    12 Mar: Washington Free Beacon: Southern Poverty Surpasses Half Billion in Assets; $121 Million Now Offshore
    Reports $518 million in total assets despite $21 million fall in donations
    by Joe Schoffstall
    The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a far-left nonprofit known for its “hate group” designations, has surpassed a half billion dollars in total assets and now has $121 million parked offshore, according to the group’s most recent financial statements…

    The SPLC also had $60 million in private equity funds, or investments in buyouts, venture capital, and distressed companies while another $24 million was in real asset funds, which include investments in real estate and natural resources such as oil, gas, and commodities, according to its forms…

    The SPLC’s Action Fund filed an application for tax exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, or that of a “social welfare” group. The Action Fund allows the group “greater flexibility” to engage in “legislative battles at every level of government” and to support “critical ballot initiatives.”…

    Last year, the Daily Caller reported the SPLC partnered with tech giants such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Twitter to help the companies determine who are “hate groups.” PayPal had also partnered with the SPLC to help determine who should be “blacklisted” from their company.

    The SPLC has come under fire for lumping in mainstream conservative groups, such as the Family Research Council, into categories with actual “hate groups” such as the Ku Klux Klan.
    Dozens of organizations contemplated suing the SPLC over its hate group designations after the SPLC had entered into a $3 million settlement with Maajid Nawaz, a Muslim reformer, after including him in its 2016 “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.”
    Additionally, a lawsuit was later filed against the SPLC alleging that the nonprofit runs an “illegal racket to silence political opponents.”
    https://freebeacon.com/issues/southern-poverty-surpasses-half-billion-in-assets-121-million-now-offshore/

    50

  • #
    pat

    tell them often enough:

    12 Mar: SMH: Climate change top of voters’ minds in NSW election
    by Alexandra Smith
    Climate change is a key election issue for most people in NSW, polling shows, as the environment emerges as a more pressing concern for voters than hospitals, schools and public transport.
    Exclusive Herald polling shows that 57.5 per cent of voters say they will be swayed by climate change and environmental protection when deciding who to vote for on March 23.
    Almost 37 per cent of people said climate change would not be a vote changer, and five per cent were unsure, the UComms/ReachTEL poll reveals…

    Greenpeace Australia Pacific Campaigner, Holly Dawson, said the poll results showed voters did not view climate change as a federal issue.
    “This poll reflects an ongoing trend – NSW across the political spectrum cares about the environment and expect the state government to act on climate change,” Ms Dawson said…
    The poll of 1019 voters across NSW on Thursday night also showed Labor ahead of the Coalition 51:49 on a two-party preferred basis and had Labor leader Michael Daley as preferred premier…
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/climate-change-top-of-voters-minds-in-nsw-election-20190311-p513bb.html

    12 Mar: SMH: ‘Shut up’: NSW Nationals leader unleashes on federal colleagues for wrecking state campaign
    By Michael Koziol
    The NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro has begged his federal counterparts to “shut up” as a sensational outbreak of infighting threatens to damage the party’s prospects in a knife-edge state election campaign.

    The Deputy Premier’s plea came as tensions in the federal Coalition escalated after deputy Nationals leader Bridget McKenzie said Australians were “frustrated” by former leader Barnaby Joyce freelancing on energy policy with his call for a new government-backed coal power station.
    Mr Barilaro is struggling to hold on to key Nationals seats across NSW ahead of the March 23 poll, including Lismore and Tweed in the state’s north, and his own division of Monaro…

    “My message is to my federal colleagues is, you know, shut up. Simple,” Mr Barilaro said.
    “Stop navel-gazing. Stop talking about yourselves. We’ve been through this journey for a long time. People are sick to death of governments that are only focused on their internal ambitions and their own internal issues.’
    Later he told Sky News: “Right now we’re fighting for survival in NSW. We just need to make sure we don’t lose that oxygen … they [federal Nationals MPs] are consuming that space at the moment.”
    Mr Barilaro said coal power did not stack up economically and governments should not be in the business of propping up technologies the market had rejected…READ ON
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/shut-up-nsw-nationals-leader-unleashes-on-federal-colleagues-for-wrecking-state-campaign-20190312-p513hh.html

    so much for those feel-good 2GB interviews with Barilaro.

    30

    • #
      Carbon500

      I have to laugh – ‘Trust us! elect us! We promise action on climate change!’
      This’ll be the first government in history that’s managed to control the world’s climate.
      Do people really believe this sort of garbage? Seemingly some do.

      40

  • #
    pat

    12 Mar: The West: Left-wing activist group GetUp reveals LNP political targets along with $10 million fundraising war chest
    by Staff Reporter
    Left-wing activist group GetUp could be entering the Federal election with a war chest topping $10 million if last year’s fundraising efforts are any guide.
    Financial statements lodged by GetUp with the corporate watchdog in late 2018 show it raised $9.8 million from donors last financial year, and held $2.8 million in cash and equivalents at the end of the period.

    The group has promised to target “hard right” MPs ahead of the May election, with Attorney General Christian Porter on the likely list for WA campaigns, along with Morrison government ministers on the east coast such as Scott Morrison himself and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.
    Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott – under challenge from independent Zali Steggall – wannabee return Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, George Christensen, Kevin Andrews, Craig Kelly, Greg Hunt and Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor round out the list…

    The group’s financial accounts show its biggest expense is paying its campaigning staff, rather than advertising – last financial year GetUp spent $1.9 million on “campaign expenses”, $5.7 million on staff wages, and $1.3 million on administrative costs.
    https://thewest.com.au/politics/federal-politics/left-wing-activist-group-getup-reveals-lnp-political-targets-along-with-10-million-fundraising-war-chest-ng-b881132643z

    behind paywall:

    Green Shirts to counter GetUp! targeting Queensland marginal seats
    Courier Mail-7 Mar 2019
    FIRED-UP farmers are headed from the bush to marginal city seats to fight back against left-wing activist groups they fear are driving them off…

    12 Feb: QldCountryLife: Green Shirts say put Labor and Greens last
    by Mark Phelps
    GREEN Shirts Movement coordinator Martin Bella is adamant. The grassroots organisation that represents both farmers and fishers is not apolitical.
    “We are very political,” Mr Bella told an assembled group of about 50 Green Shirt supporters outside Parliament House today.
    “But are not party aligned. We will support anyone that will undertake to put Labor and the Greens last.
    “Ultimately vote for whoever you like, I’m not telling you who to vote for, but Labor and Greens last. Hopefully we end up with that mob being kicked out…

    Much of protest focused on the treatment of Queensland’s commercial fishing industry by the Palaszczuk government.
    Commercial line fishermen Lukas Lukaszewick, Cannon Hill, and Shane Card, Redcliffe, say the recently introduced Vessel Management System (VMS) had failed the already highly regulated industry.
    VMS is a mandatory GPS tracking system that plots the movement of commercial boats. However, the fishermen said the required equipment was not suitable for use in a marine environment and was prone to breakdowns…

    However, an expected counter protest by vegan extremists failed to materialise. Instead two young people observed the protest from the side.
    Daniel, who identified himself as a independent vegan activist, participated in a robust conversation for about 10 minutes with Green Shirts Movement coordinator Martin Bella.
    https://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/5901686/green-shirts-put-labor-and-greens-last/

    40

  • #
    pat

    followup to comment re –

    12 Mar: Washington Free Beacon: Southern Poverty Surpasses Half Billion in Assets; $121 Million Now Offshore –

    which is in moderation:

    following includes interview with Maajid Nawaz:

    Youtube: 5min55sec: 27 Jul 2018: FBI’s ties to Southern Poverty Law Center uncovered
    The FBI has a long history of collaborating with the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2009, an FBI memo described the SPLC as a “credible” organization.
    The Department of Justice told Tucker Carlson Tonight that the FBI will “reevaluate their relationships with groups like this to ensure the FBI does not partner with any group that discriminates.”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av-zmwzfMUU

    SPLC is much beloved by all FakeNewsMSM:

    20 Feb: Guardian: US hate groups have seen ideas enter mainstream in Trump era, report finds
    Southern Poverty Law Center report shows an all-time high in hate groups since they began counting, beating the previous record in 2011
    by Jason Wilson
    A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) says that hate groups in the US have continued to surge in the Trump era, and that the president himself has helped to mainstream hate by “fueling fears of a white minority country”.

    The Alabama-based SPLC – one of the most long-standing and ***widely-cited anti-hate organizations – counted 1,020 hate groups in the United States in 2018, up 7% from the previous year…
    In a press conference, Heidi Beirich, the director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project blamed in part the “words and imagery coming out of the Trump administration” which have been “heightening the fears” of demographic replacement…
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/20/trump-hate-groups-ideas-spread-report-southern-poverty-law-center

    30

  • #
    thingadonta

    Yeah, I’m really worried that the charge of ‘not being collegiate’ with colleagues under the ‘Code of Conduct’ may mean the university might win this case.

    But then I’m also really worried about how the ‘Code of Conduct’ is so broad and ambiguous that it can be very easily misused and abused in practice.

    In other words, not being ‘collegiate with colleagues’ could mean that theoretically you couldn’t even go on the ABC and criticize another colleague’s ‘view’, or for that matter, even from within a journal (where such an allegation has indeed been tried, and thrown out for lack of common sense). That’s the whole point of science, that people scrutinize and critically analyse what’s been published or said, whether in a journal or elsewhere.

    Science will lose if Peter Ridd loses.

    30