Australia to pay $25b to foreigners so we get better weather

In a nutshell, if the Labor Party wins (and that’s looking likely) Australia will pay $25b, maybe $35b to foreigners for paper certificates that claim to have reduced a tiny amount of beneficial gas. This is hard earned money leaving the country so that our foreign minister and PM can sit at better tables at UN Gala Dinners. The paper certificates have a long history of fraud, are often based on good intentions of Chinese or Russian businessman saying they will put out more CO2 but can stop if we pay up. It’s so stupid sometimes people even create pollution just to get paid to clean it up. They’re unauditable, worthless, and based on scientificy assertions that are also unaudited and worthless. It’s a double layered scam.

Welcome to pagan Australia, obedient fool serf for namecalling rulers of Europe, giant banks, and multinational corporations.

A witchdoctor calls PM “cave-dweller“:

This is mature policy debate in the lucky country.

Richard Ferguson, The Australian

Bill Shorten has angrily dismissed claims his carbon reduction policy could cost business $25 billion as “nonsense” and labelled Scott Morrison a “climate-denying cave dweller.”

 But wait — why’s that number wrong?

“The $25 billion figure is a lie. It’s using… You can make any number work for you if you pump in the assumptions you want to.”

Exactly Mr Shorten. Just like climate models. You can make any number you want. Assume humidity rises 10km up then ignore 28 million weather balloons that say the opposite. Go Bill, Go.

Economic models = climate models = useless.

Mr Scare Campaign tells people not to run scare campaigns

Today’s comic relief: Mr Shorten says we’re all going to die from floods and droughts but warns that Scott Morrison is running a scare campaign:

Sir Mediscare hath spoken.

9.4 out of 10 based on 91 ratings

137 comments to Australia to pay $25b to foreigners so we get better weather

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    Politicians scare me.

    140

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      K.K. me no scared: astounded, bemused, concerned (abc™) yet never scared, unless of course when the Climate Change Minister is also the Statistics Minister, as is our case with James ‘the Green’ Shaw (ex-banker) MP.

      https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/386701/census-numbers-govt-statistician-criticised-for-delay-finally-reveals-details

      Surely, as he really really wants to slave the planet (misspelling intended) by sending us back to pre-industrial Little Ice Age conditions – and as a firm be/LIE/ver in the unCONsensus he’s more than happy to fly off to ccconferences around the globe to mingle with like-minded acolytes on their existential gravy train – he wouldn’t be fudging the numbers would he?

      N.B. Legal team, is the above all kosher or does it push the boundaries of fb & go.gle’s “modern online ethics”? Yo, that spells MOE!

      121

    • #
      John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia

      No wonder the Yanks want to keep their guns.

      302

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      It might be legal, but is it morally OK?

      10

    • #
      Bulldust

      Want to pin this on the first comment because of relevance. Here is Shifty Shorten not answering how much his climate fantasy will cost:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZWy5W6cqAk

      independent Man is a top Aussie political Youtuber. Well worth following if you aren’t already. I met him in Perth a few weeks back – really nice chap and very sharp.

      31

  • #
    el gordo

    ‘You and I know this is a fundamentally dishonest debate … You all recognise a scare campaign when you see one.’

    We haven’t had a debate on climate change, but we have had a global warming scare campaign.

    311

    • #
      Dennis

      No need for debate, the science is settled.

      sarc

      80

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        YES.
        about 14,500 years ago, nearly the entire Northern Hemisphere abruptly warmed up by about 4-5°C within a span of about 20-30 years as sea levels rose at rates between 3 and 6 meters per century (Ivanovic et al., 2017). 

        By 11,700 years ago, when Greenland warmed up by 10°C within about 50 years (Steffensen et al., 2008), the last ice age glacial period ended and the Holocene interglacial warmth began

        Not only that, but as Ellis and Palmer (2016) point out, Dr. James Hansen’s calculations of CO2’s radiative influence during the ~5,000 years of the Pleistocene-to-Holocene 5-6°C deglaciation suggest a 0.006 Wm² per decade CO2 forcing during this period, which is “about a third of the energy required to power a honey bee in flight.”

        40

        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          I’m not sure where (unless it was at NoTricksZone) as the citation (https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GL077623) says something completely different

          33

          • #
            el gordo

            As the world emerged from the depths of the Younger Dryas the world naturally rebounded fairly quickly.

            30

            • #
              Peter Fitzroy

              yep, this all about deglaciation

              33

              • #
                AndyG55

                As opposed to Neoglaciation, which is what happened for the 2000 or so years leading down to the LIA.

                That is when most of the current glaciers formed, before that, there were trees and vegetation, and animals and LIFE, where many glaciers now are.

                Did you know that the LIA was the coldest period in 10,000 years, and we are only a tiny bump above it now ?

                Probably not even as warm as the MWP and certainly cooler than the RWP,

                and even cooler again that the Mayan period and the previous 7000-8000 years.

                Gees they must have been burning so much coal and using so much fossil fuel back then. !! 😉

                62

              • #
                gee aye

                some excellent use of evidence there AG

                32

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Andy,
                I knew that sea levels had fallen 1.2 metres in the last 2000 years, but didn’t realise that there was new glaciation beginning then.

                As GA says, cause and effect.

                I’m currently in Canberra where the moderating effect of the Earth’s ocean is absent and as soon as the Sun goes down it gets cold very fast. I hope that the Sun comes up soon to replace the heat lost overnight.

                Yesterday’s UV ration went straight to heaven last night at the speed of light.
                If only there was a bit more water in the air to engage that degraded UV, now IR, as Bobl described yesterday.

                KK

                20

              • #
                AndyG55

                “some excellent use of evidence there AG”

                As much as you and Fritz have ever been able to produce.

                If you can’t keep up with the actual facts of the matter, don’t blame me.

                30

              • #
                AndyG55

                “but didn’t realise that there was new glaciation beginning then.”

                Trees found under retreating glaciers are dated from some 2000-3000 years ago.

                So its fairly obvious that there was a strong cooling phase, when those glaciers were formed over valleys that once grew trees.

                40

              • #
                Kinky Keith

                Hi Andy, my main point was that the growing ice fields were linked to sea level fall.

                Science is wonderful ain’t it

                20

        • #

          Yep. The non-politicised branches of the physical sciences all point to radical, rapid and constant climate change over the period of…forever! Dawdling along a comfy plateau for the last ten thousand or so years has created an illusion of stability, despite the civilisational shocks from relatively tiny variations, especially coolings.

          The topic of Holocene’s end is the most critical but least polite. Not surprising, because there is not a tax, a white elephant technology, a political contrivance or economic contraption or any intellectual fad which can promise to change a flaming thing about it. Holocene’s end is the Big One.

          It’s neurotic to expect it in the short term, quite insane not to expect it in the medium term. Gobekli Tepe and other sites may contain surprises, but all we know of food-producing starts at the neolithic, not even twelve thousand years ago. In a few hundred or few thousand years it all has to stop. We don’t talk about it, yet some talk about escaping to Mars as a solution to warming, which is like paddling a canoe to Antarctica in the company of an X-ray machine to escape the Melbourne summer.

          To think you can modify the forces which have shaped Quaternary climate for the last few million years – especially when there is nothing in the least unusual or unexpected in any recent warming – is impious. It’s nuts. The climatariat is nuts, or it would be if it truly believed its own piffle.

          60

      • #
        David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

        G’day Dennis,
        I almost find it amusing that they claim that “the science is settled” at the same time as admitting they don’t have a proven, even known, value for their ECS. My suggestion that it’s zero is rarely welcomed.
        Cheers,
        Dave B

        90

  • #
    Dave

    So Bill is saying we’re going to get $550 savings off our electricity bills if he wins?

    YO!

    And people all around Australia will believe him!

    “There will be no CO2 tax under a government I lead” JG

    “What ever the PM said I agree with what she said” BS

    I don’t think anything will improve with this man in Government!

    Hard days ahead folks!

    342

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      We might get 550 in the hand, and lose 2000 by other means…

      Labor = tax and spend …

      My grandmother used to lament Labor in power when she lived in Fitzroy. They would run all the infrastructure down, typical seagull management ( squark loudly and poop on everything while tearing the bag of chips apart…).

      Then the right wing party ( Liberals ) would be elected and fix up the complete mess Labor had created.

      And so it goes…..

      Labor are incompetent money managers, they should never be elected. They should stick to organizing strikes and making peoples lives a misery – its what they are best suited to.

      82

  • #
    a happy little debunker

    Any moves to offshore our supposed obligations should be opposed by anyone who actually cares about climate change™ or our contribution to global emissions.

    What are the odds of say ‘The Greens’ or ‘Getup’ campaigning against Labor on this one?
    Buckley’s or None?

    101

    • #
      Bobl

      One nation (number 3 party – ahead of the greens) is campaigning against this nuttery.

      251

      • #
        David-of-Cooyal-in-Oz

        G’day Bobl,
        I saw the other night that Malcolm Roberts is standing again in Queensland for the Senate, and has the number one spot on the One Nation ticket.
        Go Malcolm!
        Cheers
        Dave B

        151

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          I hope he beats out Clive Palmer for the last spot.

          40

          • #

            Just sayin’ here.

            I’m willing to bet Clive hopes against hope that he doesn’t get elected.

            He needs 16.6% of the vote to get a quota, and he won’t get close to that on first votes.

            However, say he does get 10% of the vote.

            In Queensland there are 3.2 million eligible voters, so he gets 320,000 first votes.

            At $2.75 per vote, that’s a cool take from the taxpayer of $880,000.

            Not bad for not getting elected.

            Just sayin!

            Tony.

            70

            • #
              george1st:)

              Hope he is not elected also , but 880 g’s are petty cash for Clive . He has spent atleast $50 mill so far.

              10

        • #
          glen Michel

          I hope he doesn’t try another stunt like the one with Tony Heller some years ago.

          10

      • #
        a happy little debunker

        Interestingly, ‘Their ABC’ has inadvertently determined that the entire political sphere of influence has shifted markedly to the left.

        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-19/vote-compass-turnbull-morrison-leadership/11028386

        They acknowledge that the overwhelming public majority disagreed with Turnbull’s decision to resign, but were supportive of Abbott being knifed by Turnbull.

        The exceptions are not formerly disaffected coalition voters but rather One Nation voters – who are pleased that Turnbull quit.

        40

  • #
    TdeF

    Very funny point. Bill Shorten is threatening Armageddon, the destruction of Australia unless we pay strangers overseas for worthless paper, but Morrison is running a scare campaign? That’s really beyond parody.

    370

    • #
      Dennis

      When Labor introduced their carbon tax (and renewable energy surcharge, both 10 per cent on electricity bills, plus 10 per cent GST) Minister Combet was interviewed on radio and after being asked a few times he admitted, reluctantly, that 10 per cent of the carbon tax revenue would be sent to the UN.

      The journalist persisted and Combet explained that the carbon tax was a short term measure, that Labor’s plan was to join Australia to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in the not too distant future.

      No change in plans apparently.

      160

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Its consistent with typical Leftist behaviour – they love to hijack words or phrases, and invert them.

      If you think about Communism –

      * It wrongly assumes everyone is the same
      * It also wrongly assumes people like to live in small, squalid state provided boxes.
      * It also wrongly assumes everyone is angry at not doing well in life.
      * It also wrongly assumes everyone wants to stick it to The Man.
      * It also assumes people have no ambition
      * It also assumes people want to be told what to do, what to believe, and how to behave.

      Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

      Fail – 1/10 – must try harder.

      Capitalism builds opportunity, wealth and lifts standards of living.

      Communism drags everyone down to equal misery and crushes the humans spirit.

      71

  • #
    Peter C

    Bill Shorten has set up the election debate.

    The coalition politicians don’t want to take it on!

    The election is there to be won, if the government is brave enough to accept the challenge. But not much time left now.

    191

    • #
      Yonniestone

      What the people have to understand the LNP is more workable than Labor/Greens, they must quickly learn that even a slightly democratic party can be made to work for them compared to a communist based one, Morrison’s LNP with all its flaws can still give the nation a hope of reversing the damage by the black hand, Labor/Greens already have their agendas set ready to go regardless of what the nation thinks.

      Australians should look at the Trump victory as to how the democratic process can save a nation, after eight years of Obama and looking down the barrel of a Clinton Cartel era the clear headed still managed to mobilise enough people to vote for their best option, Australia is not the USA and Morrison’s no Trump but its a hell of a lot better than the Commie stooge waiting to plunder what’s left of this country.

      213

  • #
    Roger

    As àn IPCC spokesperson stated a couple of years ago to the effect that “this is not about climate, we de facto redistribute wealth from the rich nations to the poorest.”

    From memory this was either Edebhofer or Figueres exposing what the IPCC and “Climate Change” was about.

    191

    • #
      David Wojick

      A UNFCCC person actually, not IPCC, but same message. Others green wonks have said this as well. The Green New Deal proves it. The climate scare is just the packaging.

      80

  • #
    Roy Hogue

    Your next plan is apparently for, “…Australia to pay $25b to foreigners so we get better weather,” says Jo. as if weather could be bought and sold.

    I used to think maybe something in the drinking water caused all this hysteria over carbon emissions. Well, no not really but it gave me some comfort in that it might not be us doing it to ourselves but some external force we could find and beat.

    I should have remembered Pogo Possum, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” We’re doing it to ourselves. Does any politician anywhere believe the words he speaks? Probably not because the only requirement is that the other guy believes what you say.

    200

  • #
    Mog

    From my experience in India a lot of these UN authorised carbon credit schemes is capex that would have been spent anyway by Indian industry who can then issue UN backed carbon credits and sell into the international market for extra profit.

    80

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      The Indian govt have also iris scanned every person in India under the guise of “identity management” and give the information to the UN.

      Could it be that the UN is starting to centralize power now?

      Try and convince a 20 something not to use iris scan, FR or thumb print to unlock their smart phone…..

      Most young adults are clueless about how tech is ued. They know *how* to use it, but are mostly cluess about *how* it will be used against them.

      I had a discussion amongst my IT peers about the same age roughly, most of us agreed that data storage in the cloud and biometrics put privacy at huge risk. the only ones who benefit are govts, corporations who can buy the data, and the Intelligence services. Farcebook might as well be a massive social contact surveillance system. And dont get me started on the stupidity of owning smartphones. As one friend who knew someone in the Intelligence circles said – you can have a phone, or have privacy, but not both.

      50

  • #
    Bobl

    Shorten. Somehow seems to think he can impose a cost of 25 bn on business and somehow consumers will be better off. Just like he thinks that forcing people to buy an EV for $70000 and fueling it over 45hours at about 30c per km will be magically better for consumers than a diesel at $25000 and fueling it in 2 minutes at a cost of 6c per km.

    He also seems to think that pensioners earning less than the tax free threshold should pay 30c in the dollar tax on their earnings from dividends when if they were from any other income source the tax would be zero.

    Unfair, uninformed, unelectable.

    In the Senate give ONP the balance of power, in Queensland elect Malcolm Roberts who proved last time he can hold the warmies to account.

    272

  • #
    Crakar24

    Stop the bus I want to get off

    90

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      Crakar,

      I’ve been thinking the same thing. But where would you stop it that you’re not stepping into the middle of the same crazy thinking?

      There’s no place left to go.

      100

      • #
        Latus Dextro

        Not so. There clearly exists a groundswell, a growing emergence of rational national populism sweeping through Europe, South America and Canada courtesy of the ballot box and the multitudes of individuals who crave freedom and prosperity once again. It categorically rejects the ideologically corrupt supranational totalitarian bureaucratic imposition of which climatism is a scantily clad, sordid Trojan horse. Australia and New Zealand once again find themselves inexorably hijacked by ideology to a destination behind the bell curve of political, social and economic development.

        I am uncertain what it is that is unique about the anglosphere in general and Australia and New Zealand in particular that leads them to seemingly readily embrace this ideologically motivated nonsense, to seemingly embrace virtue signalling with unbridled pathological enthusiasm and to seemingly embrace the ignorance required to dumbly wreck their economies in the name of a trace gas vital for life on Earth, through a spasm of Orewellian inverted thinking, scientivism, and policy-based “evidence” fuelled by a morally and intellectually bankrupt media fixated by political correctness.

        Perhaps it is the authoritarian nature of their “democracies” their institutions, their media and their educational institutions, or perhaps more accurately, it is the pervasive meek, resentful compliance, not wishing to be seen as someone of something that sticks out, that tall poppy in New Zealand and whatever that equates to in Australia.

        That characteristic gene of behavioural compliance came from Britain. It is ingrained in institutions and bureaucrats, and evident in people, and may also be one reason why the British appear so slow to anger. It is certainly not because of some celestial gift of patience or absence of anger or frustration. It seems instead to be an unwillingness to do anything singly or individually without the cover of the crowd. Maybe it developed in response to the endless grey cold wet of the unpredictable British weather, maybe it evolved out of centuries of tribal fighting and invasions from Rome, France and the like or of vicious, brutal feudalism and a ruthless institutions. Who knows? It clearly endowed those imbued with it with a potential edge in survival.

        When the grinding ignorance of imposed ideology, impoverishment, hopelessness, powerlessness and nix but a bleak, empty, platitudinous ridden green future is finally upon us, maybe then someone might quietly vote ‘no’?

        120

        • #

          Our media is more monopolistic and so are our schools and I suspect our universities. The march through the institutions has been deceptively complete.

          We live in the lucky bubble-land. We have it so good with resources, food, weather, freedom, and peace that we are more complacent I suspect than anywhere.

          History is more invisible here than anywhere…

          192

          • #
            Roy Hogue

            Jo,

            I’m afraid we joined you in that lucky bubble-land a long time ago. Life became too easy and we stopped paying attention. And every time we shrugged off the evidence the wrong people got a little stronger foothold until now we have CNN and MSNBC plus others you could probably name as easily as I can. All it takes is not paying attention.

            41

            • #
              Serp

              As so often only a paranoiac knows correctly that They’re All Out To Get Us.

              31

              • #
                Roy Hogue

                Sorry to disappoint you but no, not all are out to get me. But clearly some are. And failure to pay attention to what the movers and shakers are really doing has bad consequences.

                I’ve just watched a 2 and 1/2 year long (more like 3 if you go all the way back to its roots) witch hunt play out and at the end of it those who tried so hard to convince me they were the good guys were in fact, the bad guys.

                It’s not paranoia to recognize that some in society are not my friend, that I need to pay attention to what they’re doing and use whatever means I have to prevent them from gaining power over me.

                And it’s just plain stupid to believe everything you’re told by government or anyone else with a big mouth that can command attention. Think AOC and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

                40

          • #
            graham dunton

            Jo,
            I expect you will like this one, a friend forwarded it to me, this morning

            Watch “Honest Government Ad | Julian Assange” on YouTube

            https://youtu.be/1efOs0BsE0g

            10

        • #
          Roy Hogue

          Latus,

          Please do your best to send some of that groundswell populism toward the United States. We seem to be stuck and I mean stucck hard in the mire of trying to shoot down a legitimately elected president against whom not even the rabid dog partisans in the FBI and the Clinton Foundation acting together along with some Russians I have yet to get identified have been able to come up with a crime amounting to as much as a parking ticket.

          It goes to prove what Benjamin Franklin said about our constitution. It would only govern an honest people. And while the constitution is still there, so many have no regard for it that some propose what amounts criminal punishment for erroneous thought. And the first to propose it was non other than James Hansen, then head of NASA’s GISS.

          If we ever could use foreign help again since the help so generously provided by the French during our revolt against King George, it’s now.

          51

  • #
    Mal

    Paying $25billion to foreigners for a non existent problem.
    That’s why it’s called the Parasites Climate agreement.
    How is different to the Mafia’s business model?
    ?

    250

  • #
    GD

    I know that Tony Abbott is fighting to keep his Warringah seat, but if only he could come out swinging against this madness.

    We need Tony Abbott, Craig Kelly, and Andrew Hastie et al to broadcast the danger of Labor’s insane policies and the absurdity of sending money overseas in exchange for worthless pieces of paper.

    Scott Morrison and his AGW crew are still pretending to be Labor-lite.

    202

    • #
      TdeF

      The reason Getup, Labor, the Greens are throwing everything at Tony Abbott is that he is the likely leader if Scott Morrison fails. Now is not the time for Tony to come out swinging. His first job is to keep his seat. He cannot wink or eat an apple without cameras clicking. The only person more hated and feared by the Left of politics is Donald Trump.

      270

      • #
        GD

        I take your point, TdeF, but the risk is that an acquiescent approach by the Libs to the climate change scam will simply support Labor’s policy.

        Thus far, Craig Kelly is the only attack dog the Libs have and he is, as far as I can see, only visible on Sky and nowhere else in the media.

        The Libs are hedging their bets re climate change and that may not be the best strategy.

        90

        • #
          el gordo

          The Libs would prefer to talk about the economy, not climate change, because half the electorate has been brainwashed into thinking coal is dirty.

          As a last resort they could unleash the ginger group to decimate the green left slime, which would make this a very exciting election. My concern is that they are not ready, don’t have enough knowledge to counter the big lie.

          If we could organise a blue scientific team to talk with the ginger group, it could change the course of history. For starters I nominate Peter Ridd and Jennifer Marohasy.

          82

  • #
    pat

    it only ever gets worse!

    17 Apr: BBC: Climate change: Central banks warn of financial risks in open letter
    The heads of two major central banks have written a stark warning about the financial risks of climate change.
    Bank of England governor Mark Carney and France’s François Villeroy de Galhau set out the dangers to the global economy in an open letter.
    “If some companies and industries fail to adjust to this new world, they will fail to exist,” they wrote.

    The letter was co-signed by the chair (***Frank Elderson) of the climate-focused Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).
    The NGFS is a coalition of 34 central banks which was formed in 2017, with the Bank of England as a founding member. It released its first major report into climate-related financial risks on 17 April…

    What does the climate have to do with finance?
    In the letter published by the Bank of England on Wednesday, Mr Carney and Mr Villeroy de Galhau describe “the catastrophic effects of climate change” (LINK) already having an impact on the planet, such as “blistering heatwaves in North America to typhoons in south-east Asia and droughts in Africa and Australia”.
    They say that “these events damage infrastructure and private property, negatively affect health, decrease productivity and destroy wealth”.
    The NGFS elaborates in its “call to action” report, saying that climate change will lead to “disruptive events such as mass migration, political instability and conflict”…

    “But this transition brings its own risks,” they add…READ ALL
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-47965284

    the third man!

    ***Bloomberg: Frank Elderson
    Mr. Frank Elderson has been Member of Governing Board and Supervisory Director at De Nederlandsche Bank since July 1, 2011. He has been Member of Supervisory Board at European Central Bank since July 2018. He is responsible for supervision of banks, supervision of horizontal functions and integrity, and legal affairs. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank. He holds several secondary positions. He has chaired the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) since 2018 and the Sustainable Finance Platform since 2016…etc
    https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=321249481&privcapId=5477563

    30

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      And…this is why America , sensibly has a 2nd Amendment.

      Europe and the UK and committing leftist hari kiri, and have largely disarmed their populations.

      The smart Americans however can put down any internal leftist revolt with required force to keep the peace, as necessary.

      40

  • #
    pat

    the following shows just how completely the FakeNewsMSM is behind the CAGW scam.
    it all sounds so critical and damning of the XR mob, until you get to the crux of the article ***

    17 Apr: CityAM UK: Radical climate protestors are beginning to resemble a cult
    by Christian May, editor of City AM
    Climate change is not a fringe issue, nor is it suffering as a topic from a lack of attention.
    It is taught in schools and debated extensively in the media. It occupies a central position in policy-making and increasingly commands the attention of businesses and the investment community. The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has probably made more speeches on the environment than he has on Brexit.

    So it is odd to hear the leaders of the Extinction Rebellion protest movement declare that their civil disobedience is required in order to bring the issue to public attention. There is an arrogance at the heart of this radical movement. Hundreds of thousands of Londoners have had their journeys and their plans upended by what Sky News anchor Adam Boulton described yesterday as “middle-class, self-indulgent people who want to tell the rest of us how to live our lives.”

    The group responsible for causing so much disruption are not simply trying to raise the profile of the climate change challenge; they have very specific demands. These were articulated on Sky New yesterday by one of their spokespeople, 21 year-old Robin Boardman-Pattison, who called for air travel to be restricted to emergency use only and for the UK economy to decarbonise completely within six years. The group also demands that our parliamentary democracy be swept away and replaced with a “people’s assembly.” Little wonder Boulton went on to tell Boardman-Pattison that he sounded like “a right-wing fascist.”…
    Their activism is taking on cult-like status. One of the most pernicious ideas advocated by radical climate activists is ‘degrowth’ – the idea that developing countries must forgo improvements in living standards as part of this great crusade…

    ***Meanwhile, in the real world, an increasing number of financial institutions are putting climate concerns at the heart of their investment decision making. Consumer (and shareholder) priorities are shifting along similar lines. You can argue the City is late to the party but you can’t deny that it’s starting to take seriously its responsibilities.
    Legal and General manages over £1 trillion in assets and says it wants to use its might to avoid “a climate catastrophe.”
    This is likely to have a far greater impact than dancing on Waterloo bridge.***
    http://www.cityam.com/276450/radical-climate-protestors-beginning-resemble-cult

    40

  • #
    Richard Ilfeld

    There is nothing that makes more clear that Climate Change has become a religion than
    the sale of indulgences.

    150

    • #
      Roy Hogue

      …indulgences.

      But one can have a clear conscience that way. And if you’re going to be guilty because you’ve committed no offence, then why not finish it off by buying your way to innocence again. The two go together like ice cream and a hot day.

      70

    • #
      Greg in NZ

      Did somebody say indulgences?

      https://babylonbee.com/news/pope-francis-mourns-carbon-emissions-given-off-by-notre-dame-fire

      “Pope Francis has encouraged Catholics to purchase indulgences to help rebuild the building and buy carbon credits to offset the damage to the climate the fire caused. ‘Whenever a carbon credit purchase rings, another soul from purgatory springs,’ he said.”

      N.B. Babylon Bee is a satirical website, one which snopes inc. classified as ‘f•ke media’. No sense of humour.

      40

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        OriginalSteve

        More to the point – on the money.

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        Roy Hogue

        I had some hope for this pope when he was elected. But he’s let his ignorance be hanging out for the world to see ever since he took office. And I am not anti Catholic, I’m just honest.

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        • #
          Roy Hogue

          I doubt he’d suggest indulgences but he swallowed climate change hook, line and sinker among other foolish things he’s said and proposed. And he has too much influence to not get called out when I see the chance.

          I find it very hard to tolerate those who remain ignorant in spite of knowledge all around them.

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            OriginalSteve

            I think he was left wing before he got the 2nd top job ( the “black pope” is the real power )

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            • #
              Roy Hogue

              I hate to say it but since I’ve stated my unfavorable opinion the term, country bumkin comes to mind. I think that’s adequate explanation.

              I have zero information about any “black pope” who rules from the shadows. If you do I’d be interested in seeing what it is.

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        Rod Stuart

        Speaking of Babylon Bee, CNN even has its own creed.

        10

        • #
          Roy Hogue

          Rod,

          I can’t imagine adult men and women going that far down the road to delusional thinking. But that story does dovetail nicely with their behavior. Figuratively speaking they’ve had their teeth kicked out and handed to them strung on a chain to wear around their necks as proof of losing their fight. Do they not recognize that they no longer have any clothes on when it comes to Donald Trump? They’ve been exposed big time.

          God help us.

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      Rod Stuart

      There is nothing that makes more clear that Climate Change has become a religion than
      the sale of indulgences.

      It is not too difficult to define it as a cult.

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    pat

    behind paywall:

    17 Apr: UK Telegraph: Bank of England may face climate change target under Labour
    By Anna Isaac
    The shadow chancellor (John McDonnell) made the pledge to explore new responsibilities for the Bank after praising Mark Carney, its Governor, for his stance on climate change.
    Mr Carney wrote an article for the Guardian (LINK) along with his French counterpart François Villeroy de Galhau that called on financial policy makers to help tackle climate change…

    HILARIOUS:

    18 Apr: World Socialist Website: Hundreds of peaceful climate change protesters arrested in UK
    By Paul Mitchell
    On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said a “designated senior police officer” had declared that all protests had to be confined to the traffic island at Marble Arch in west London and all other protests ended, under Section 14 of the 1986 Public Order Act.
    The Public Order Act was introduced by the Margaret Thatcher-led Conservative government in response to the year-long ***miners’ strike (1984-1985). As well as creating many anti-democratic public order offences, it allows the police to restrict or prohibit protests and marches if they think “serious public disorder” will result…

    No one was spared from the arrogant demands of the police. At Oxford Circus, police officers threatened anyone whom they suspected of “participating” in “unauthorised” protests with arrest…
    One shop worker who had stepped out to see the demonstration during his lunch break was warned, “If you stay in this area you risk being arrested.”…
    Other local workers, journalists and tourists were treated in a similar manner…

    ***Labour Party Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, reacting to a speech by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney in which Carney said the banks faced an existential risk from global warming, tweeted, “Mark Carney’s intervention is breakthrough moment. In addition to rewriting government spending criteria, we’ll now consult on changing the Bank of England’s mandate to reflect the climate change emergency highlighted by #ExtinctionRebellion Rebellion demo.”…

    On the day’s events, protester Finbarr told a World Socialist Web Site reporter: “I agree climate change is probably the worst catastrophe facing mankind. People are showing they are fed up with capitalism and want to do something about it.
    “But I am worried about the tactics being used by Extinction Rebellion. They are talking about assemblies, but how are they going to operate? I was involved with the Occupy London movement in 2011 and we had a lot of stuff from self-appointed people who came from nowhere to spout on about grass roots democracy, horizontalism and assemblies. But what happened? People should ask themselves what happened to Occupy.”…

    In regard to XR, the WSWS has stated: “Only the most extraordinary, rationally planned mobilisation of humanity’s immense productive, technical and scientific capacities can hope to overcome the challenges of rapidly rising sea levels, accelerating CO2 emissions, loss of biodiversity, collapse of food chains and desertification. But production under capitalism is directed solely to expand the private wealth of billionaires, regardless of the social or environmental cost.

    “Moreover, climate change by its very nature demands a global response in which production is subordinated to the needs of the world’s working population. But the world is divided into competing nation states, each dominated by the selfish interests of rival groups of super-rich profiteers. Each continually seeks strategic trade and military advantage over its rivals in the struggle to dominate the world’s market and resources, and each continually seeks new means of extracting more from the working class. As it has twice in the 20th century, this ferocious conflict ends ultimately in world war, threatening the nuclear destruction of the planet.

    “Climate change, therefore, confronts humanity with the need for the socialist reorganisation of society on a world scale and the abolition of the nation-state system.”
    https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/18/brit-a18.html

    A MERE 67 COMMENTS AT TIME OF POSTING DESPITE BEING REPORTED IN GUARDIAN, BLOOMBERG, TELE, ETC!

    TWEET: John McDonnell MP:
    Mark Carney’s intervention is breakthrough moment. In addition to rewriting government spending criteria we’ll now consult on changing the Bank of England’s mandate to reflect the climate change emergency highlighted by #ExtinctionRebellion Rebellion demo
    17 Apr 2019
    https://twitter.com/johnmcdonnellMP/status/1118430908896378880

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    pat

    heard this article from The Australian on Vision Radio. READ ALL. carried here by WaveTheFlag.org.au, who describe themselves as “Exposing issues of sovereign risk – a voice for reason”. surrounded by some related material:

    5 Apr: WaveTheFlag.org.au: Clear air to repair NSW parliament’s costly blunders
    by Chris Merritt, Legal Affairs Editor, The Australian
    Gladys Berejiklian’s freshly re-elected government in NSW now has four clear years in which to make amends for two of the most expensive errors ever made by a state parliament.
    It will cost millions of dollars to set things right, but the sooner the NSW Premier addresses this disaster, the greater the likelihood it will fade into history before the next election.

    The government’s first mistake was placing too much faith in a report it received in 2013 from the Independent Commission Against Corruption that focused on the allocation of a coal exploration licence by the previous Labor government.
    The second mistake was acting on that information before any of ICAC’s allegations had been tested in court.
    It is now known that ICAC failed to inform parliament about crucial matters that might have raised doubts about the commission’s conclusions.
    Inconvenient facts, known to the commission, were simply not part of the narrative that was presented to parliament…

    The trouble started in January 2014, when the government, with the support of the Labor opposition, enacted legislation based on what it had been told by ICAC.
    Parliament was gambling, in effect, that ICAC had its facts — and the law — right and there was no need to wait for the justice system to rule conclusively on the commission’s allegation that the allocation of a coal exploration licence had been affected by misconduct in public office…

    O’Farrell’s legislation, explicitly referring to ICAC and Operation Acacia in its title, cancelled a coal exploration lic­ence because parliament believed what it had been told by the commission; and ICAC believed the manner in which the licence had originally been issued had been tainted by corruption that amounted to misconduct in public office.
    This had a direct impact on mining company NuCoal Resources, which acquired its licence when it bought the original licence holder, Doyles Creek Mining, 14 months after the licence had been issued.

    As the law stands today, not one of the people from Doyles Creek Mining who had been accused of corruption in the Acacia report has been found guilty in court of anything associated with the allocation of a coal exploration licence.
    The only Doyles Creek conviction concerns a procedural matter linked to the ICAC inquiry, not the allocation of a licence…

    Because NSW jumped the gun and stripped NuCoal of its licence without the benefit of anything approaching “due process”, international investors are hopping mad.
    Their argument is simple: under the law of NSW, they have done nothing wrong and neither has the company in which they invested. An act of parliament imposed a financial penalty on innocent parties and they want their money back. NuCoal alone estimates that its shareholders are owed more than $100 million.
    But those who were hurt by the expropriation extend far beyond shareholders.
    NuCoal drilling contractors Warwick and Terry Howarth launched legal proceedings last week claiming the expropriation wiped out their business and cost them $28m…READ ALL
    http://wavetheflag.org.au/2019/04/05/clear-air-to-repair-nsw-parliaments-costly-blunders/

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    jack

    There is an irony and injustice that will possibly be played out.
    The irony is that the young, the ones supporting this illusion, will be encumbered with massive debt and a failed infrastructure. Potentially a failed economy.
    The injustice is the young ones that are the noisy mouth pieces (media labeled future leaders) of this illusion will be future politicians and government employees that will be adding to the debt that their generational peers will struggle to repay.
    It is a shame you have to hit the bottom before you see the light.

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    pat

    this has been online for a day…and has attracted a single comment!

    17 Apr: EveningStandardUK: How flygskam (or flight shame) is spreading across Europe
    Fears over climate change have led many to rethink the way they travel and, in Sweden, they’ve even invented a new word for the shame associated with flying
    by Juliana Piskorz
    The Swedes meanwhile have wholeheartedly embraced their rail network. SJ, Sweden’s national rail service, reported a record 32 million customers last year. The company attributes “the big interest in climate-smart travel” to its unprecedented growth…

    Flying, on the other hand, has become almost taboo as a result of its negative impact on the environment. And, in typical Scandinavian style (see hygge, lagom etc), they have created a roster of new words to describe this antipathy: “flygskam” (flying shame), “tagskryt” (train bragging) and “smygflyga” (flying in secret).
    The move away from air travel was spearheaded by teen activist Greta Thunberg

    Swedavia AB, which operates 10 Swedish airports including the ones in Stockholm and Gothenburg, has seen year-on-year passenger numbers drop for seven consecutive months. In 2018 the company reported its weakest overall passenger ***growth in a decade…

    The Finnish have invented the word “lentohapea”, the Dutch say “vliegschaamte” and the Germans “flugscham”, all referring to a feeling of shame around flying.

    In contrast, in the UK, plans continue for a third runway at Heathrow despite the airport already being the biggest single source of CO2 emissions in the UK and claims that a third runway would cause aviation emissions to rise by 4.9 million tonnes by 2030
    https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/flight-shame-europe-sweden-a4120231.html

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      Roy Hogue

      I suspect that flygskam is probably a good thing for safety. If you look at what the current air traffic load is at any major airport the sky is much too crowded. LAX in particular could use a little flygskam. If you drive by on the 405 freeway and have enough time to look east you’ll see a stack of airplanes lined up on each of the 4 runways. Their landing lights show up easily after dark. Each one is depending on the ones ahead of it to be clear of the runway when it gets there. They’re spaced the minimum safe time apart. There’s not much leeway if something happens.

      So let the faint of heart give up their flying. The rest of us can fly with a greater safety expectation because of their absence. The airlines may not like it however.

      Or maybe, just maybe, people should give up being guilty about nothing?

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        OriginalSteve

        People need to grow brains and spines and stop being so easily lead.

        Imagine how the people who fought and died for europes freedom from the nazis, would view the milksops we have now?

        They would give them an telling off they would never forget…and use a lot of yellow paint for the stripe down their backs…..

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        • #
          Roy Hogue

          You got that one right on target. Not many will risk anything for a good cause anymore. All it seems to take to put some politician or some business owner back in line is a threat or two from those who would never risk anything of their own to start a business or do honest public service.

          Only a few fight this political correctness that says you’re stealing because you’ve become successful. They just stay silent and hope to not be noticed.

          I’m out of time here or I would tell you my experience when I stopped one night to help at the scene of a minor traffic mishap. The cop who arrived was angry with me for sticking my neck out to prevent a minor thing from becoming deadly by putting out warning flares.

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  • #
    John F. Hultquist

    I recall 3 of Jo’s postings, one about pink insulation in houses, and one about playground equipment (small building ?), and one about arresting/fining people who cut brush around their houses. Oh, and then there is the small issue of building desalination facilities. Another: tidal wave power.
    These remind me that AU authorities do not have a good record of improving conditions in their own Nation.

    Your leaders can save themselves a lot of grief by not doing more of these things at home. Send the money to the UN and other countries and let those folks screw-up, siphon money off for houses, vacations, and yachts.

    So just send OZ’s unneeded millions elsewhere, and not have to implement improvements in your own great land.
    It is so much simpler.

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      jack

      I sort of like that idea.
      Considering that small Government is a good thing.
      We get rid of our polies, send millions to the UN and EU to leave us alone.
      And we have an Aussie utopia!

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    pat

    XR still getting too much publicity, but a few laughs here. DM, in an editorial I can’t access, has labelled them “prancing hippies”, & state it’s “Time the police stood up to these eco-zealots”, but all MSM is still basically sticking to the line CAGW is real:

    18 Apr: Daily Mail: Eco-warrior who glued herself to a DLR train is a Cambridge-educated yoga teacher and musician who believes in the ‘therapeutic power of gongs’
    •Cathy Eastburn who appeared in court today for climbing on top of DLR train
    •The mother-of-two Cambridge graduate runs a music charity that visits prisons
    •The 51-year-old from south London runs sessions with a group that plays gongs
    •She pleaded not guilty today to obstructing trains or carriages on the railway
    By Ed Riley For Mailonline
    Ms Eastburn is a popular figure on the activist circuit and attended numerous demos by Extinction Rebellion, the group currently causing mayhem across London…
    Her social media feeds show her attending numerous protests, including images from holidays in Paris and Indonesia…

    Revealed: ‘Stroppy’ eco-warrior who stormed off Sky News and is behind graffiti attacks on Tory HQ is a globe-trotting ‘poet’ from £17,500-a-year private boys’ school…
    Former Bristol University student Robin Boardman-Pattison, 21, who went to a £17,500 a year private school, has also been involved in protests against the expansion of Heathrow – despite enjoying numerous holidays abroad.

    The environmentalist was today branded a ‘stroppy teenager’ when he stomped off Sky News as he was being quizzed about the Extinction Rebellion protests…
    According to blogger Guido Fawkes Mr Boardman-Pattison is a leading member of Vote No Heathrow and was part of a group that vandalised the Conservative Party HQ last summer…
    oardman-Pattison, who went to fee paying Trinity School in Croydon, is also seen on his Instagram enjoying holidays to Italy and skiing…
    According to Fawkes, Boardman-Pattison was recently a languages student at Bristol University, and occasionally makes foreign language poetry videos on YouTube…
    In October Mr Boardman-Pattison was one of three men arrested after spray painting the words ‘Make Ecocide Law’ over the entrance to Bristol Magistrates’ Court…

    Speaking about climate change today on Sky News, the 21-year-old said: ‘I care so deeply so deeply about all the people in this world and all the life on it – and I will not see it die…
    ‘Millions of people are going to starve. We face another hot summer and we are going to see the effects right here in the UK.
    ‘People are not going to be able to put food on their plates and I won’t stand for that. I won’t stand for people who won’t stand up for what it means to live on this planet – and I won’t stand for anything else.’…
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6935977/Activist-glued-DLR-train-Cambridge-graduate.html

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      yarpos

      “‘People are not going to be able to put food on their plates and I won’t stand for that. I won’t stand for people who won’t stand up for what it means to live on this planet – and I won’t stand for anything else.’…”

      Isnt there an old Python sketch along the line s of “I’m sick and tired of people saying they are sick and tired, of being sick and tired. I’m just sick and tired of it” and wont stand for it either.

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    pat

    ***because, like you Mr. Blunkett, the law and everyone above the law, is with the CAGW scam! lol:

    18 Apr: Daily Mail: DAVID BLUNKETT: ***Why hasn’t the full force of the law been used against these eco anarchists who fill me with contempt?
    (by David Blunkett)
    Sorry, but I don’t need any lectures from any Johnny-come-lately on the urgent need to tackle climate change.
    Eleven years ago I was one of more than 600 MPs who voted to pass the Climate Change Act, committing Britain to slash carbon emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050. I am committed to much more ambitious action in future.
    But by causing mayhem in London’s transport system over the past three days, the group Extinction Rebellion has not won my sympathy. On the contrary, it has left me feeling outraged…
    The protesters are treating it as some kind of game. What we need is a firm hand and decisive action. Without it, these anarchists will see all the publicity they are enjoying and will engage in this kind of action again and again.

    It is hardly as if the police have had no warning about these protests. Extinction Rebellion has been blocking streets and bridges since November. It has repeated its tactics on a regular basis…
    So why have the Met not provided a stronger response as the great metropolis of London has ground to a halt? And where is the Home Secretary?…

    Extinction Rebellion says it has no option but to cause chaos because we are facing a climate ’emergency’.
    Yet over the past three days, as ever in a large city, there have been dozens of genuine emergencies which have required ambulances, fire engines and police cars.
    The actions of the anarchists have made it much more difficult for emergency vehicles to respond and have diverted valuable police resources.

    Not only that, their actions have resulted in deeply perverse outcomes. They claim to be campaigning to cut pollution, but by choking up a capital city and causing traffic jams, they have achieved exactly the opposite: increasing pollution and damaging the environment.
    You don’t have to be highly intelligent to work out that, by blocking bus routes and disrupting trains, you discourage people from using public transport and force them to take to their cars to find a way round the jams…

    Extinction Rebellion has launched its assault not on the politicians it is trying to address — the Commons and the Lords are both in recess this week — but the poor men and women who are just trying to make a living.

    Many fear their Easter breaks are in jeopardy. Businesses face severe losses. According to West End shops, hundreds of millions of pounds could be lost to the London economy.
    These anarchists seem to think they own the issue of climate change, yet they have blithely ignored the serious efforts that are being made to reduce pollution more generally…

    Unlawful protests in a democracy ultimately achieve nothing. Just look how Occupy the Streets failed in its campaign to bring down capitalism…
    It fills me with contempt to hear the protesters ‘apologising’ to the public for causing disruption. People who make no effort to engage in public debate don’t deserve our support. They claim to care about the public, but frankly they don’t care one bit.

    Extinction Rebellion wants us to think that it is central to the fight against climate change, but it is rapidly turning itself into an utter irrelevance.
    The real work tackling climate change is being done with those who engage in proper political debate, not those who engage in childish acts of sabotage.
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-6933701/DAVID-BLUNKETT-force-law-used-against-eco-anarchists.html

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    Roy Hogue

    Under the heading, if you can’t lick ’em, join ’em…

    I’m a foreigner and it seems too good to pass up. How do I claim my share of that 25 billion? 😉

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    Reasonable Skeptic

    Alarmist: Emission reduction is required to save the world from climate catastrophe!
    Taxpayers: This is going to cost us a lot of money!
    Alarmist: Liar! your economic model is crappy and based on bull**t.

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    Pauly

    Meanwhile, in Canada ….

    Calgary, Alberta (Reuters) – The landslide election win of a right-leaning, pro-energy industry party in Canada’s main oil-producing province of Alberta signals momentum may be building against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau months ahead of a federal election in October.

    The United Conservative Party (UCP) trounced the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) government in Tuesday’s provincial election by tapping into frustration over the economy and a struggling oil and gas industry.

    “Alberta is open for business!” UCP leader Jason Kenney said in a victory speech in Calgary on Tuesday.

    Kenney’s supporters, many wearing cowboy hats, roared when he drove directly into the venue in his blue campaign pickup truck emblazoned with the slogan, “Alberta Strong & Free.”

    Kenney, who had dominated in opinion polls ahead of the vote, promised to defend Albertans against Trudeau and the federal government who, he said, were taking advantage of the province and its oil and gas.

    The vote comes at a challenging time for Trudeau, who has been mired in a scandal over allegations of interference in a corporate corruption case that has led to the resignations of two Cabinet members and his top adviser.

    The scandal has cost the Liberal Party prime minister his lead over Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer, opinion polls show.

    Kenney’s victory also appeared to signal a conservative shift in the country ahead of the national vote. Alberta is the third major province to have picked a right-leaning premier over the past year, following Ontario and Quebec.

    Results of the vote, with the count nearly complete, showed the UCP won 63 out of 87 seats in the provincial legislature. Kenney, 50, a former federal Cabinet minister, will be sworn in as premier on April 30 and the legislature will convene in the third week of May.

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    Travis T. Jones

    Is my bus electric?

    Bill Shorten stands next to his campaign bus-

    “Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten (left) rolled out the “Bill bus” in Queensland well before the election campaign began.”

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-12/bill-shorten-stands-next-to-his-campaign-bus/10975924

    Is Albuquerque’s bus electric?

    Albuquerque’s $133-million electric bus system is going nowhere fast

    “The city has ordered 20 clean-diesel replacements from another company, but they won’t be ready for 18 months.”

    https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-abq-art-albuquerque-electric-buses-20190213-story.html

    All aboard Elite Electricity Bill’s Magical Bus Tour. (except for Bill, he will take the fossil-fuelled bus)

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  • #
    Dennis

    With a few notable exceptions our Coalition politicians appear not to be interested in the facts.

    Like this report, the response I received was “thank you”;

    https://www.manhattan-institute.org/green-energy-revolution-near-impossible

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    Another Ian

    Maybe Bill should have had Tony Heller on his advisory committee

    “Tony Heller – Corruption Of The USA Temperature Record”

    https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2019/04/18/tony-heller-corruption-of-the-usa-temperature-record/

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      David Maddison

      I notice that comment got a Red Thumb.

      Red Thumber, please explain any errors you found in Tony Heller’s video that lead you to give it a thumb’s down.

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      Maptram

      We’ve now seen several reports that adjusted temperatures are being used as scientific evidence that global temperatures are rising, and that the increasing temperatures are caused by increasing levels of CO2. Is there any evidence that CO2 levels are also being adjusted?

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    RobK

    Thanks Jo,good post.

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    graham dunton

    This is worth circulating
    WUWT
    Anthony, has joined the heartland institute, this explains , how he started out as a true believer and then research lead him to become skeptical

    2019-04-19-wuwt-Anthony Watts On Climate, Bad Temperature Stations, And Joining The Heartland Institute
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/04/18/anthony-watts-on-climate-bad-temperature-stations-and-joining-the-heartland-institute/

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      Maptram

      Well worth listening to.

      One thing not mentioned, and not mentioned by the BOM is apparent temperature. The BOM observations page shows the temperature, apparent temperature, wind direction, wind speed and a few other weather observations. While the temperature may stay the same from one reading to the next, the apparent temperature can change depending on the wind speed and direction. It’s apparent temperature that we live and work in.

      If the temperature is more that average or if the wind blows at greater than average speed, the climate change alarmists will blame climate change and call for more action to stop CO2 emissions. However, the apparent temperature won’t get a mention, even if it doesn’t change because of the wind.

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        Greg in NZ

        BoM today: Perth max temp 16˚C, storm warning alert for wind, surf, hail, snow… ho ho ho! I’m trying to remember which climate expert it was who predicted Australia would soon be suffering New Zealand’s climate / weather because of (insert latest bogeyman cash-cow brand-name excuse) . . . crickets.

        It’s Easter weekend and time for the 58th Bells Beach surf comp – great to see some things never change:

        https://www.surfingaustralia.com/states/vic/p/ripcurlpro

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    yarpos

    dishonest debate, check

    scare campaign , check

    Bill Shorten hypocrisy, priceless

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    Tom R. Hammer

    I couldn’t care less whether the Lib/Nat coalition or the Labor Party comes out ahead in the next election. While the coalition continues to embrace climate change doctrine, I’ll be pleased to see Shorten in charge. The Australian climate change advocates need a small demonstration in economics, free market and industry. The Australian politicians need a small lesson in voter wrath and electoral and financial responsibility. While the coalition continues to fluff about with renewable energy, then it deserves a little time in the political wilderness to sort out its priorities. Perhaps it might even be able to figure out a potential leader from amongst its diminishing school of spineless jellyfish.

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      el gordo

      They appear to be a pathetic lot, but with half the electorate convinced by AGW theory its wise to skirt around the issue of climate change. If the Labor/Green alliance want a fight over global warming, then Morrison et al would need to counter or be thrown out of office.

      Tony Abbott has been encouraged to take a lukewarm position on climate change until after the election. He has faith in Taylor and Morrison, which suggests to me that Tony knows something we don’t.

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        wal1957

        They appear to be a pathetic lot, but with half the electorate convinced by AGW theory its wise to skirt around the issue of climate change.

        I think that the 50% quoted would consist mainly of those that only read/watch MSM, their ABC etc, AND those that don’t know anything but are being led along like lemmings.

        Unlike some who post on this site, I am not an engineer, scientist etc. I am just an ordinary bloke who has done a little bit of research and come to my own conclusions based on my research findings. Whilst I don’t understand a lot of technical stuff, I can follow the general ideas being put forward.
        I think it is a pity that the general populace can not be bothered to invest a little time,
        (a fair bit of time actually), and work out for themselves what they see is the truth. I think is is fair to say that MSM etc have lost the faith that the public once had in these organisations. So why do they believe anything that is printed or broadcast regarding the scam of gerbil warming?

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    David Maddison

    Do you think the average voter has any clue how much money is one billion dollars?

    41

    • #
      Dennis

      No.

      The younger they get and they can’t even work out small change. I believe it’s called new maths, no mental arithmetic must use calculator.

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    • #

      A billion used to mean a million million but like everything it has been devalued to a thousand million which is easier to envisage just 500 houses worth 2 million or a street of houses in Toorak or Neutral Bay

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    David Paulson

    Hi folks doubtingdave reporting in, I’ve not Commented for some time due to personal reasons, but would like to comment on the the mueler special council report if there is interest on this blog, can you encourage Jo to do an ARTICAL on it so I am not off topic.

    Dave. Good to see you back! If you have tips re Mueller report. Speak up. I have too many other commitments to search them out. – Jo

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    Another Ian

    Courier Mail has this in on-line news. Behind the Murdoch wall.

    Does mention that the architect of the plan is having his two bob’s worth so might be worth checking

    20

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    Lance

    Well, 25 Billion might be a bit more palatable than tossing some unknown number of virgins into volcanoes so that the spring rains will come.

    A jest, to be sure. Point being that superstitions require sacrifices, be that money or lives. In the case of the GreenScam, it is both.

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    Greg in NZ

    O/T yet all in the same – insane – vein:

    http://fortune.com/worlds-greatest-leaders/jacinda-ardern-29/

    Ex-Mormon, ex-Tony Bliar (UK PM) gofer, ex-President of the International Union of Socialist Youth (2008), now La Presidénté Prime Minister of No Zullun, Jacinda née Ardern has been nominated as a big Number Two (!!) on the list of ‘World’s Greatest Leaders’ by Fortune•com, only beaten out of the #1 place by – who else – Bill & Melinda the gatekeepers.

    Guess the only spot left for the young progressive social democrat who has a Bachelor of Communication Studies (BCS) in politics and public relations to rise to (the elite pond scum always rise to the top, no?) is Leader of the New World Or d’uh un-united un-nations. Disclaimer: she never got my vote, I voted for Nobody because Nobody told the truth 🙂

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    Greg in NZ

    O/T yet all in the same – insane – vein:

    http://fortune.com/worlds-greatest-leaders/jacinda-ardern-29/

    Ex-Mormon, ex-Tony Bliar (UK PM) gofer, ex-President of the International Union of Socialist Youth (2008), now La Presidénté Prime Minister of No Zullun, Jacinda née Ardern has been nominated as a big Number Two (!!) on the list of ‘World’s Greatest Leaders’ by Fortune•com, only beaten out of the #1 place by – who else – Bill & Melinda the gatekeepers.

    Guess the only spot left for the young progressive social democrat who has a Bachelor of Communication Studies (BCS) in politics and public relations to rise to (the elite pond scum always rise to the top, no?) is Leader of the New World Or d’uh un-united un-nations. Disclaimer: she never got my vote, I voted for Nobody because Nobody told the truth 🙂

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    pat

    lucky it’s only weather:

    19 Apr: ABC: Want weather forecasts more than 15 days away? Not possible, say researchers
    ABC News Breakfast By Nate Byrne
    Posted 31 minutes ago
    Photo: Even getting a three-day forecast right is incredibly tricky
    While many sites and apps will happily give you forecasts extending months into the future, it’s rare they will mention how accurate they are.
    Spoiler: they’re not accurate at all…

    In fact, new research suggests that it may be impossible to accurately forecast beyond 15 days.
    And with today’s technology, we’re not even close to that…
    The Bureau of Meteorology provides seven-day forecasts, and even they would admit it gets a bit error-prone towards the end of the week-long outlook…

    That’s because of how forecast models work…
    One of these cycles is called a “model run”, and they can take hours to complete — even for a supercomputer.
    There are many forecast models, each using slightly different equations, and each model is run several times a day.
    The initial conditions are incredibly important and incredibly hard to get right, especially in a place like Australia where observation stations are few and far between…

    The future of forecasting
    Researchers from Penn State University now report that they have found the limit of our forecasts.
    They tested some well-established models with initial conditions that had only tiny differences. Called “initial twin” conditions, they look almost the same until you really get up close — just like real twins.
    They found that even reducing the initial errors by an order of magnitude, the best we can achieve is a forecast about 15 days out.
    And that’s if the weather is fairly settled. Small scale but explosive events like thunderstorms and larger scale extreme weather predictions are harder to nail down…
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-19/weather-forecasts-and-why-long-range-ones-dont-work/11023750

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    Bill Burrows

    I am absolutely appalled at the prospect of Australia under a Labor government paying up to $25 B for “carbon credits” sourced from overseas. What business model would support the payment of funds for a product that will essentially be unaudited (validated, verified) as to the accuracy of its carbon sequestration claims? Well hang on – we already have such a situation in Australia ($2+ B committed + at least the same if re-elected) under the guise of the current government’s Direct Action plan. [Please don’t ask me if I love our present crop of politicians!].

    Carbon withdrawn from the atmosphere (in the form of CO2) is sequestered in plants and soil and thus contributes to Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) on land designated for that purpose. If these units have been successfully tendered in the Australian Government’s ‘Reverse Auction’ process the landholder is entitled to be paid for his accredited ACCUs at the value of his tender price.

    All well and good. But most Direct Action approved sites are in natural woodland systems in NW NSW and SW Qld. This increases the error term in measuring above ground biomass (c. 50% C) flux in these systems, but such errors pale into insignificance when measurements of below ground organic C flux in roots, litter and soil are undertaken.

    Because of these field sampling problems the assessment of soil organic carbon fluxes has been attempted by modelling. However I was reliably informed (by an Emissions Reduction Fund contractor) that for many (all?) vegetation based projects no field measurements have been carried out to verify modelled changes in soil organic carbon pools. This further implies that no estimate of sampling error is available for claimed fluxes of soil organic C pools in the various Projects. Such flux estimates (“measurements’) are therefore essentially useless (not fit for purpose), given the absence of reliable statements of their uncertainties.

    In the aforementioned zones in NSW and Qld soil organic carbon (to 1 m depth) comprises from 60 – 80 % of the combined above and below ground pool. Measuring organic C fluxes in these natural systems and semi-arid environment also requires heroic assumptions, because of the highly variable distribution of the woody plants and the soil organic C associated with differing lateral and vertical layers in the soil. My experience in practical sampling of such semi-arid systems is that the error term will exceed any C flux claimed for these woody communities, particularly for Direct Action projects with large Carbon Estimation Areas (>100 ha i.e. most of them).

    [Interested commenters may find my Submission to the Australian Government’s 2017 Climate Change Policy Review to be also relevant: http://www.environment.gov.au/submissions/climate-change/review-climate-change-policies-2017/bill-burrows.docx . {Note some of the Links may no longer work – one I know that was ‘disappeared’ (by a government agency) was recovered via The Wayback Machine}.]

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    pat

    essential viewing – Full Hannity.
    Mark Levin, Devin Nunes, Sara Carter, Gregg Jarrett, etc.

    Nunes (at 40mins) makes a very important point about the second scope memo for the special counsel, which still hasn’t been seen. on page 11, if read carefully, it is revealed that the Democrat campaign’s fake Steele dossier, was used to direct the special counsel:

    Youtube: 46min59sec: Sean Hannity 4/18/19 – Breaking Fox News
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWSyyMpum-Q

    Youtube: 3min28sec: Tucker Carlson Show: Glenn Greenwald: Media spent years drowning US in conspiracy theories
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJszevux0jU

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      pat

      can’t open this, but posting it simply because it’s the perfect headline from Glenn’s segment on Tucker Carlson today:

      Glenn Greenwald on Fox News: Trump ‘Broke the Brains of a Lot of People’ in Media…
      Mediaite – 5 hours ago
      The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald––who has been highly critical of the Russia media coverage for a while now––went on a tear tonight with Fox…

      19 Apr: The Intercept: Glenn Greenwald: Robert Mueller Did Not Merely Reject the Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theories. He Obliterated Them
      The two-pronged conspiracy theory that has dominated U.S. political discourse for almost three years – that (1) Trump, his family and his campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, and (2) Trump is beholden to Russian President Vladimir Putin — was not merely rejected today by the final report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It was obliterated: in an undeniable and definitive manner…

      These facts are fatal to the conspiracy theorists who have drowned U.S. discourse for almost three years with a dangerous and distracting fixation on a fictitious espionage thriller involved unhinged claims of sexual and financial blackmail, nefarious infiltration of the U.S. Government by familiar foreign villains, and election cheating that empowered an illegitimate President. They got the exact prosecutor and investigation that they wanted, yet he could not establish that any of this happened and, in many cases, established that it did not…

      As Mueller himself concluded, a reasonable debate can be conducted on whether Trump tried to obstruct his investigation with corrupt intent. But even on the case of obstruction, the central point looms large over all of it: there was no underlying crime established for Trump to cover-up…

      The sweeping Mueller investigation ended with zero indictments of zero Americans for conspiring with Russia over the 2016 election…

      But the contempt in which the media and political class is held by so much of the U.S. population – undoubtedly a leading factor that led to Trump’s election in the first place – will only continue to grow as a result, and deservedly so. People know they were scammed, that their politics was drowned for years by a hoax. And none of that will go away no matter how insulated media and political elites in Washington, northern Virginia, Brooklyn, and large West Coast cities keep themselves, and thus hear only in-group affirmation while blocking out all of that well-earned scorn.
      https://theintercept.com/2019/04/18/robert-mueller-did-not-merely-reject-the-trumprussia-conspiracy-theories-he-obliterated-them/

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      pat

      I have a comment in moderation re being unable to open a mediaite page on Greenwald’s appearance on Tucker Carlson.

      now I can’t open a simple Washington Examiner page (not even the cached version) which reports on the Nunes’ scope memo stuff from Hannity today.

      it is as if google is censoring anything that exposes the real story that was not even investigated by the Mueller mob:

      19 Apr: Washington Examiner: Devin Nunes: ‘Hidden’ passage in Mueller report shows scope memo tainted by Trump dossier
      House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, … on page 11 that addresses the scope memo for the yearslong investigation…
      https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-hidden-passage-in-mueller-report-shows-scope-memo-tainted-by-trump-dossier

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        pat

        someone has kindly excerpted the Washington Examiner piece and it is an essential read for anyone who can access it. includes:

        (EXCERPTS) The classified scope memorandum was issued by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in August 2017, months after he appointed Mueller to lead the Russia investigation without citing a crime. A heavily redacted version of the August memo has already been released to the public. Allies of President Trump, including Nunes, have called for full disclosure of that memo, as well as of documents related to investigatory efforts looking into Trump’s inner circle, including FISA warrants that targeted onetime campaign aide Carter Page.

        Nunes said the report showed Mueller’s investigation was prompted to investigate Page as well as former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort due to the unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele.
        “On Carter Page and Paul Manafort, that information came from political opponents, the Clinton campaign fed right into the FBI, directed to the special counsel to go investigate what was in the infamous Steele dossier,” Nunes said.

        “That is the only thing of relevance that was in today’s 450-page report,” he emphasized.

        Page 11 of Mueller’s report provides an overview of how Mueller was appointed special counsel and how Rosenstein directed his activities. It mentions the Aug. 2 memo Rosenstein wrote that “further clarified” what Mueller was allowed to do as special counsel months after his appointment, targeting members of Trump’s team, including Page, Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Michael Flynn.

        “The Acting Attorney General further clarified the scope of the Special Counsel’s investigatory authority in two subsequent memoranda. A memorandum dated August 2, 2017, explained that the Appointment Order had been ‘worded categorically in order to permit its public release without confirming specific investigations involving specific individuals,'” Mueller wrote. “It then confirmed that the Special Counsel had been authorized since his appointment to investigate allegations that three Trump campaign officials-Carter Page, Paul Manafort, and George Papadopoulos- ‘committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials with respect to the Russian government’s efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.'”

        “The memorandum also confirmed the Special Counsel’s authority to investigate certain other matters, including two additional sets of allegations involving Manafort (crimes arising from payments he received from the Ukrainian government and crimes arising from his receipt of loans from a bank whose CEO was then seeking a position in the Trump Administration); allegations that Papadopoulos committed a crime or crimes by acting as an unregistered agent of the Israeli government; and four sets of allegations involving Michael Flynn, the former National Security Advisor to President Trump,” Mueller added…

        Steele’s dossier was filled with unverified claims about Trump’s compromising ties to Russia. His efforts were funded in part through opposition research firm Fusion GPS, by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and the Democratic National Committee. Republicans such as Nunes have alleged the FBI misled the FISA court to obtain warrants to spy on Page by using the dossier without mentioning its Democratic benefactors and Steele’s anti-Trump bias.
        “Rosenstein then directed them to use that dirt, that dossier, which I think makes up the bulk of what is in the scope memo, that we have still yet to be able to see,” Nunes told Hannity…
        https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/devin-nunes-hidden-passage-in-mueller-report-shows-scope-memo-tainted-by-trump-dossier

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      Murray Shaw

      Yes Pat, I see now where the Dems are saying that Trump is guilty of “obstructing Justice” because he failed to commit a crime.
      The Donald has driven the Dems out of their minds, and exploding their brains.

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    pat

    17 Apr: GatewayPundit: HUGE!… John Solomon: Obama Administration Spying on Trump Began in January 2016 — Evidence Is Coming (VIDEO)
    by Jim Hoft
    The Hill’s John Solomon joined Sean Hannity on the eve of the release of the full Mueller Report on Thursday.
    Solomon told Sean Hannity that the spying on the Trump campaign began back in January 2016 and it was all run by the Obama White House.

    Solomon added that more evidence will be released NEXT WEEK!

    John Solomon: One text message has always stuck out in my mind… And that is the text message from Peter Strzok to Lisa Page after coming out of one of the meetings… And the text says, “The White House is running this.” I covered law enforcement for 30 years. The White House does not normally run counter intelligence for Justice Department investigations. That text remained in my head for a long time. And over the last few weeks I’ve been reporting, I think Victoria (Toensing) in the last segment had something really important. She said January 1, 2017, there was at least one White House meeting. I think next week we’ll be talking about a meeting one year earlier where the origins of the Trump collusion case begin. A whole year earlier.

    VIDEO: 2minutes59seconds
    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/04/huge-john-solomon-obama-administration-spying-on-trump-began-in-january-2016-evidence-is-coming-video/

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    Mr Morrison – “We’ll be sending $25 Billion a year off shore, and every so often, one of the recipients will send us a thank you note.”

    Journalist – “Is that all?”

    Mr Morrison – “Yep! Basically!”

    Journalist – What The! $25 Billion Dollars. Are you kidding? Wait till we report this. You’re $tuffed.”

    …..

    Mr Shorten – “We’ll be sending $25 Billion a year off shore, and every so often, one of the recipients will send us a thank you note.”

    Journalist – “Is that all?”

    Mr Shorten – “Well, they’ll attach a Carbon Credit to the thank you note.”

    Journalist – “Sooooo, and let me ballpark a bit here. We’ll still be emitting the same Carbon (sic) into the air then.”

    Mr Shorten – “Yep! Basically! Only now, someone somewhere off shore will be offsetting that on our behalf, hence the thank you note.”

    Journalist – “What a bl00dy good idea.”

    Tony.

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      AndyG55

      “Only now, someone somewhere off shore will be offsetting that on our behalf, hence the thank you note”

      Except, they almost certainly NOT be doing any offsetting at all.

      Carbon offsets are as imaginary as carbon induce global warming.

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        Murray Shaw

        Yes Andy, offshore Carbon offsetting is a mirage.
        You can see it until you arrive and find out it is not there. Perfect.

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      So-o-o free with other peoples’ money,
      sounds like so-o-ocialism ter me.

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      Greebo

      Tony doing politics…. Gotta love it….

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    robert rosicka

    OT just got back from 5 days out bush and just going back to check what’s been happening I see a Judge has said no case to answer for Peter Ridd although the ABC word their reporting to suit the CAGW cause .
    I see an admission from the ABC that the weather can’t be predicted accurately and then I see this piece about more radical lefty protesters disrupting anyone and everyone in their path over an issue non of them understand .
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-19/climate-change-protesters-to-target-heathrow-airport/11031950

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-19/weather-forecasts-and-why-long-range-ones-dont-work/11023750

    I’m now thinking it doesn’t matter if the truth about CO2 comes out or not , it’s a religion we’re up against and the faith in the cause trumps reason and science .

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      PeterPetrum

      True Robert. However the judge did not say that Peter Ridd “had no case to answer”. Peter was not on trial; JCU was. The judge found that all 17 actions taken by JCU against Peter, including sacking him, were illegal. ILLEGAL! Peter won his case convincingly, not just for himself, but for scientist who challenge consensus and orthodoxy everywhere in this queer world we live in.

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    Greebo

    I actually quite like the weather here. Can I be exempt? Oh, darn, I’m a local…

    My mother, who is rapidly approaching her 101st birthday, says ‘stop the world, I want to get off’. I am beginning to agree with her.

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      GD

      I actually quite like the weather here.

      The weather in Geelong in April has been ideal. More like summer than the January weather. I don’t wonder about the reason. Warmer weather is always preferable in this neck of the woods.

      My Mum is approaching 89. She reckons she’s glad she won’t be around to see the fallout of the current sociological upheaval.

      They’re not her words exactly, it’s more like, “why are so many women on the ABC wearing headscarves?”

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    george

    What’s that old saying about a FOOL and their MONEY. Are Australians this stupid? I’m starting to believe they ARE.

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    Murray Shaw

    If Bill wins I am off to Lagos to set up a Carbon Trading office!

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    alistair Pope

    Actually, there is an answer to the ‘Oz Madness’: leave the country to the fools.

    I depart on the 15th May.

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    why this issue can be happen?

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