Weekend Unthreaded

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166 comments to Weekend Unthreaded

  • #
    TdeF

    For everyone’s amusement. Donald Trump could not be President. Enjoy on this very cold shortest day in Melbourne, wishing like Donald Trump for a bit of that promised Global Warming. After 31 years, the waiting is getting a bit much.

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    • #
      Peter C

      Thanks TdeF!

      It’s Difficult to Make Predictions, Especially About the Future.

      Niels Bohr? Samuel Goldwyn? K. K. Steincke? Robert Storm Petersen? Yogi Berra? Mark Twain? Nostradamus? Anonymous?

      Well maybe it was not so difficult for all those wiseguys to make a prediction, but clearly it is difficult to make a correct prediction.

      In some way all those wiseguys helped Trump to win, which I think would make them even madder than they would have been otherwise.

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      • #
        Peter C

        I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States and, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

        I think he has done that so far, despite the enormous impediments put in his way by both Democrats and Republicans.

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    • #
      Dave in the States

      Even as it is a very cold shortest day down under, it is a rather cool longest day in North America. I took a road trip the last few days, and it was the same road trip I took a few years ago, the same time of year. A few years ago the car thermometer was registering temps of 104 degrees F. This year it was registering temps of around 64 degrees F the entire 1000 mile trip. Of course this disparity is likely exaggerated by having a repeated low pressure weather pattern over the area for the last six weeks while a high pressure system pattern was likely in place during an El Nino year a few years ago.

      This year it has been kind of interesting to see spectators at baseball games dressed in fall and winter clothing on the longest summer days. It has been kind of assuming seeing the relentless daily news propaganda narratives about the “climate crisis” followed by the local meteorologist start their segment with: “Temperatures continue to be well below normal for this time of year….”, day after day after day.

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      • #
        TdeF

        Yes, 31 years after the longest day on June 22nd 1988 when James Hansen announced to Congress his amazing invention of Man Made Global Warming, it has failed to materialize and any warming has stopped. A generation later, he was obviously wrong. This has not stopped extreme profiteering by the Armageddon rich brigade. And the extreme socialists and communists of the UN, IPCC, EU and the capitalist communists of the Democrats and Labor parties around the world. The usual banter. Jobs for everyone, pay without working, just print the money.

        However a simple observation as you make indicates that after 31 years, it’s not true. What real scientists predict is a rapid drop in temperatures by a few degrees over the next fifteen years. Not an ice age but another little ice age, comparable to the one the world experienced in the middle of the last millenium when there were annual festivals on the frozen Thames in London. The relative warmth of the late 20th century will be a dim memory.

        In many ways the human race has failed to exploit the most peaceful, warmest and richest period of human existence to set us up for the future. All our efforts have gone into covering the fragile landscape in giant windmills, because that is all our science ignorant politicians understand, other than lining their own pockets.

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        • #
          KinkyKeith

          A great summary TdeF.

          From go to whoa, and now ongoing Woe for the subjugated masses. The full picture.

          This scam surpasses all previous wars and conflicts in its scale and in the halt in progress to a better life for all: it’s the reverse of the mantra of caring and inclusiveness that’s sprayed around by politicians.

          We are a nation which ignores the disposable farming community, we are a nation which ignores the pain of our armed services personnel, and we are therefore a nation without a soul.

          The world cannot grow, nor even survive, on the basis of societies which exist on government handouts, government borrowing and financial distortions the hide the fact that we are no longer a nett “Productive Country”.

          Where we are At right now is the result of 48 years of political craftiness.

          As they used to say: Wake Up Australia!!!!

          KK

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        • #
          Greg in NZ

          I tested old Jimmy-jammy Hansen’s theory of boiling seas again this winter solstice – Sat 22 June – by jumping in the ocean in only a pair of boardies during my lunch break… Bracing! Breath-taking! Brief yet enjoyable and spiritually uplifting immersion in the South Pacific. It wasn’t on fire – it wasn’t even hot – a tepid 17˚C or thereabouts. The few tourists on the beach were highly entertained, no doubt thinking ‘crazy local’. Only 6 months till summer now – woohoo!

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  • #
    pat

    22 Jun: TheConversation: To tackle the climate crisis we need more democracy, not less
    Rebecca Willis, Researcher in Environmental Policy and Politics, Lancaster University
    Disclosure statement
    Rebecca Willis receives funding from the ESRC. She is affiliated with Green Alliance and the New Economics Foundation.
    How can governments develop climate strategies which build public support for action? An announcement by six UK parliamentary committees that they will hold a citizens’ assembly on the climate emergency is a crucial step toward answering that question.

    There are no shortage of prescriptions for climate action. From economists calling for an economy-wide carbon tax, to scientists advocating “earth system governance” at the planetary level, there are experts assuring us that they have strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions quickly and effectively. But there’s a dangerous illusion sitting behind these prescriptions – what the social scientist Maarten Hajer called the illusion of “cockpitism”…READ ON
    http://theconversation.com/to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-we-need-more-democracy-not-less-119265

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    • #
      Bill in Oz

      This is the ‘democracy’ of a few extremist activists
      Willing to force policy on governments
      Elected by the people in national elections.
      I suggest this is just a
      “Dictatorship of the Climateriat”
      Taken from the Lenin’s
      Dictatorship of the Proletariat.

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  • #
    Peter

    This is a terrific interview with Mryon Eball on the
    climate change narrative.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRXzfJVcV6s

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    • #
      TdeF

      He accepts first that the increase in carbon dioxide is entirely man made. Most people concede this, even luke warmists like Eball. It is not true. Without this one fact, it is all nonsense science. The rest is the Green Industrial giant and the Green Socialist system. Money and power, as always.

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      • #
        glen Michel

        There has been weak attempts to account for the rise of CO2 and its attribution.Even if I take it that some proportion is due to the activities of Man, I will probably defer to the oceanic mass for the majority.It makes sense after all – if not the mechanisms behind the release insofaras its timing and magnitude regarding the time scale of the past 1million>< years.

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        • #
          TdeF

          Carbon in the form of Carbon Dioxide can be dated by a phenomenon discovered in the 1950s. It is directly measurable by carbon 14 using Radio Carbon dating. So we can absolutely tell old fossil carbon from new carbon (new being the last 100,000 years). There have been furious attempts to muddy the waters with pseudo science, even Wikipedia editing, but real science has not changed. There is almost no new carbon dioxide in the air.

          Where does the fossil fuel CO2 go? All scientists agree that 98% of all free CO2 is dissolved in the oceans. Also that all gases are in rapid exchange which is how fish breath. So fossil fuel CO2 just gets absorbed and lost. This is a water planet with very little atmosphere and 340x as much water as air by weight although about the same by volume.

          Why is there more CO2 in the 20th century than the 19th? The water is warming slightly and so more CO2 comes out. Simple. Like beer. Surely that is more logical than the proposition that CO2 warms the oceans and even that the CO2 goes in (ocean acidification)?

          By all means, go with what you believe to be true but remember, it is the oceans which store all the heat, the oceans which determine the climates and the oceans which provide the rain and the drinking water and the ice and snow and the clouds which control the heat and the sun which alone provides it.

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          • #
            TdeF

            So warming produces increased CO2. CO2 does not produce warming. There is no evidence for that, just a wild conjecture by James Hanson which has proven wrong.

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            • #
              glen Michel

              I concur. ThanksTdeF.

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              • #
                glen Michel

                Further, I have no doubt that Hansen truly believed that scenario.Caught out and left with a failed theory. Still, he has done his credibility no favours with some of his outrageous prognostications.100ft sea rises, planet on fire etc.

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              • #
                TdeF

                Where else can he go? He had to recant or double down. To accept that you have been utterly wrong for a lifetime would be an interesting lifetime achievement. This for a man who has done incalculable damage to the free world. If there was a reverse Nobel prize, he and Gore should get one. Tim Flannery and the IPCC should be included and the EU.

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          • #
            Chad

            Carbon in the form of Carbon Dioxide can be dated by a phenomenon discovered in the 1950s. It is directly measurable by carbon 14 using Radio Carbon dating. So we can absolutely tell old fossil carbon from new carbon (new being the last 100,000 years). There have been furious attempts to muddy the waters with pseudo science, even Wikipedia editing, but real science has not changed. There is almost no new carbon dioxide in the air.

            To be clear…
            There is some isotopic analysis that indicates a slight decrease of C14 in the atmosphere over tha past 100 yrs, but it is much less than IPCC predictions and puts the Anthropogenic CO2 component at oly 16 ppm,.. not the 120+ ppm being reported.

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        • #
          Chad

          Oceans. As the source of the increase in atmospheric CO2 , is a tempting discussion point..
          However, its difficult to promote that totally unless you can explain how it is that CO2 levels in the oceans have also increased in the same period ?
          Its possible that the additional CO2 is coming from the biosphere as any temp increase accelerates decay and insect activity. ?

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    • #
      johnonymous

      Excellent video. Thank you Peter for bring it to my attention.

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    • #
      johnonymous

      Excellent video. Thank you Peter for bring it to my attention.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Nearly all the rise is due to temperature changes in the ocean. See surface temp vs CO2 rise fit the temp curve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=jr3NCCEf58A

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      • #
        OriginalSteve

        Melbourne freeezes…..gimme some of dat globul warming stuff……

        https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/winter-records-broken-as-melbournes-thick-fog-icy-temperatures-going-nowhere/ar-AADis4r?li=AAgfYrC&ocid=mailsignout

        “Melbourne’s Sunday broke more than one winter record, and there’s more icy conditions on the way.

        “Melburnians arose on Sunday morning to find thick fog engulfing much of the city, and Bureau of Metereology senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said some suburbs, such as Viewbank in the north-east, “just saw no sunshine at all”.

        “While increasing temperatures and wind normally help disperse fog by the afternoon, Melbourne CBD reached a maximum of only 9.6 degrees on Sunday – the lowest June temperature since 1985.

        “Regional towns such as Wangaratta, Shepparton and Albury-Wodonga are expected to drop to -3 degrees on Monday and a low of -1 is forecast for near Melbourne airport on Monday.

        “Melbourne plunged as low as 3.6 degrees on Sunday – the lowest since September 4 last year – and Mr Carlyon said it could be even colder on Monday.

        “That means the blanket of fog will remain in or near Melbourne at least into Monday morning.

        “Mr Carlyon said weary commuters should “expect a lot of the state to be in the negative at sunlight on Monday”.

        ““We’re likely to have extensive fog overnight and on Monday morning in the Melbourne area. There will be a bit more wind tomorrow which should help disperse it, so we will end up with a sunny afternoon,” he said.

        ““But it will be a cold start with the temperature in Melbourne two degrees and foggy, and some temperatures close to zero in the suburbs.”

        “Melbourne is then forecast to hit about 15 degrees with some afternoon sun on Monday.

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  • #
    pat

    XR choose another CAGW-infested institution for a “Guardian” event?

    22 Jun: Guardian: Arrests at protest over New York Times’ ‘unacceptable’ climate coverage
    Protesters block avenue between Port Authority and NYT
    Extinction Rebellion calls for better coverage of climate crisis
    PIC: Activists sit on an intersection as others are taken into custody by police officers outside the New York Times building. Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

    The New York police department (NYPD) said 70 people were arrested as they called for more effective media coverage of the dangers of climate change, in a dramatic demonstration that saw people stage a die-in in front of the newspaper building and disrupt traffic in midtown Manhattan.
    Two demonstrators scaled the front of the Port Authority building, which houses a major bus terminal and subway interchange, to hang a protest banner. Protesters also climbed on to the canopy outside the Times headquarters and unfurled a banner that encouraged the use of the phrase “climate emergency” instead of “climate change”…

    One protester, Donna Nicolino, ***told the Guardian she was ready to be arrested, because “we want the New York Times as well as all the other media to treat climate change as the crisis it is”…
    “The lack of coverage of the climate crisis is completely unacceptable,” said Becca Trabin, a member of Extinction Rebellion’s press and fundraising teams. “It’s a public safety crisis on a global scale.”…

    A spokeswoman for the New York Times, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said that in 2018 the newspaper published 795 articles about the climate…
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/22/new-york-times-protest-climate-crisis-coverage

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    • #
      pat

      should be 23 Jun, written by Amanda Holpuch in New York

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      • #
        pat

        “said Becca Trabin, a member of Extinction Rebellion’s press and fundraising teams”

        Becca re-tweets George Monbiot, Greta (naturally), and others who expose her politics:

        Twitter: Becca Traibin @beccathon, @storypirates performer & teacher. @xr_nyc climate activist
        TWEET: Becca Trabin
        At @ClimateReality training and unfortunately @algore is presenting almost entirely NEW climate crises and catastrophes from the last 3 years. #climatechange
        14 March 2019
        https://twitter.com/beccathon

        Becca Trabin
        comedian and writer
        https://beccatrabin.com/

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  • #
    pat

    multipe Getty Images, one AFP:

    23 Jun: BBC: Climate protestors storm Garzweiler coal mine in Germany
    PIC: Hundreds of protesters joined forces to break into the mine and march through it
    The protesters ran through fields and broke through a police cordon to get into the Garzweiler mine.
    Police had warned that the mine was not safe and said some officers were hurt as they tried to hold back protesters.
    Germany has vowed to go carbon neutral by 2050 but activists say this is not soon enough…
    Earlier in the day, protesters temporarily blocked a railway line used to transport coal.

    LINKS
    ◾Stripes strike chord on global warming
    ◾The Greta effect? Meet the schoolgirl climate warriors
    ◾’It’s an existential crisis. Listen to scientists’

    All pictures copyright.
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48734321?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science_and_environment&link_location=live-reporting-story

    23 Jun: BBC: Plastic pollution: Beach cleaner quits ‘losing battle’
    Alan Cookson, 46, from Aberystwyth, estimates he has cleaned more than 120 beaches as a volunteer with Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).
    Mr Cookson said it “breaks his heart” to stop but fears it is too late to save the oceans from plastic pollution.
    He also accused pressure groups of competing, rather than collaborating.
    By his own admission, Mr Cookson “doesn’t stop” picking up plastic when he is out and about, and estimates he has cleared – individually and as part of groups – at least 5,000kg (five tonnes) of plastic from Welsh beaches.
    But after four years as a regional SAS representative for north Ceredigion, he has given a bleak assessment as he steps down to spend more time with his family.
    “The reasons are many: we’re losing, or we’ve lost,” he said…

    “When I started it was estimated that 8,000 tonnes of plastic entered the oceans every year and there was 5.5 trillion pieces of plastic polluting them.
    “Now, as I stop, the numbers are 10,000 tonnes a year and 50 trillion pieces already in there and unrecoverable.”…

    But Mr Cookson also criticised the environmental voluntary sector.
    “In my four years I’ve seen Surfers Against Sewage, The Marine Conservation Society and Keep Wales Tidy compete for the same pools of money, replicate each other’s campaigns and generally carve each other up rather than support each other…
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-48717198?

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    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Easy fix…let the miners deal with the armchair eco activists….

      Miners are a tough bunch…no climate activist would ever try a stunt like that again.

      Dealing with the leftists is like dealing with kids who have never been told “No” or been disciplined in their lives…time for that to change, starting now.

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  • #

    Wind turbines.

    They kill birds.

    They kill bats.

    They have a noise problem.

    They are a blot on the landscape.

    All these things are important, but far and away the most important is surely that they just don’t bl00dy well work.

    I have some statistics for you.

    Here in Australia, they have increased their Nameplate recently and now there is 6558MW of Nameplate for wind power from 54 separate wind plants.

    So then, when would the most power be required ABSOLUTELY on a daily basis?

    At that evening peak time, between 5.45 and 6.45PM. The last three days of the working week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, that evening peak has been above 30000MW. On the Thursday, it was above 30000MW for two and a half hours.

    Wednesday peak – 30500MW. Thursday Peak – 31000MW. Friday peak – 30200MW.

    Wind power at that evening peak was Wednesday – 200MW, so 0.66% of what was required. Thursday – 500MW, so 1.61% of what was required. Friday – 600MW, so 1.99% of what was required.

    Daily lows for wind power – Wednesday – 180MW. (CF – 2.7%) Thursday – 235MW (CF – 3.6%) Friday – 480MW (CF – 7.3%) (Saturday’s low was no better either at 127MW at a CF of 1.9% and only 0.57% of what was required at that time, with the usual lower peaks on the weekends)

    Average CF for the whole day. Wednesday – 7.78%. Thursday – 7.62%. Friday – 12.05%. Saturday – 13.42%

    The total power generation from every source of power generation from power plants for those three working days was 1863.6GWH (1,863,600MWH) Wind power delivered 43.2GWH (43200MWH) and that’s only 2.3% of all generated power.

    Wind power is pretty much useless really, for all the money spent on it. This isn’t cherry picking just one point in time across those three/four days. This is three /four full days.

    Tony.

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    • #
      TdeF

      Tony, it’s not just the absurdity of name plate posturing, the contradiction between what is achieved and what is promised, it is that the power is not commandable. You need the car to work when you want it to work, not when it decides to work.

      Consider electric cars. Any owner of an electric car must suffer distance anxiety for the entire trip. Even when you arrive, it must be overwhelming, working out if you can make it home safely.

      The other is the rocketing cost of electicrity. Our electricity is basically the same as it always was, coal based. Except that now this electricity is perhaps 5x the cost in as many years. Why? It’s the same stuff.

      So having lunch time solar is as much use to industry and society in general as our submarine fleet is a deterrent.

      Worse, as you have pointed out so many times, consumption over the years has been amazingly steady, a result of optimization. So what is needed is steady supply. Somedays there is no solar or no wind, so nameplate becomes zero and you need as much coal as ever, except now you are paying 5x as much as before.

      Why isn’t anyone questioning why electricity prices are rocketing? After all, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews promised electricity prices would not change much when he forced Hazelwood to close. He lied.

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      • #
        Maptram

        And when it’s hot from the weather, not climate change, those EV drivers could have a choice between increased anxiety or being hot, by running the air conditioner or not. Same applies to cold.

        At the same time they should feel good knowing that they are doing their bit to stop climate change even if they can’t stop the weather.

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    • #
      Peter Fitzroy

      Wind turbines vs Oil Plants
      https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/21/us/philadelphia-refinery-fire/index.html
      Wind Turbines vs Coal – there are 480,000 articles about active coal seam and coal waste fires in the world today.
      Gas vs Solar, https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/fracking-air-pollution-IB.pdf

      However, coal is cheap, and you like cheap

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      • #
        Peter Fitzroy

        Of course it is hard to comment when each one takes more than 4 hours to post

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        • #
          Richard Ilfeld

          First – effective.
          Then cheap, er, cost effective.

          Something that simply does not perform cannot be compared to something that does.

          Coal vs. Gas vs. Oil vs. Nuclear provide reasonable comparables.

          …Oh, I used the word reasonable. Never mind.

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          • #
            OriginalSteve

            Wind turboies akso seem to regularly catch fire. How many refinery fires do you see normally?

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      • #
        yarpos

        Its not so much that coal is cheap, thats just you arguing with yourself.

        Coal is a viable power source if you want to have a first world life, wind and solar are not. At best they are effective niche technologies, they cannot support a first world grid as has been amply demonstrated to anyone who cares to see.

        Cheapness of coal is just an endearing side benefit.

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      • #

        Can’t you read, Peter Fitzroy.

        The Country requires 30000MW, and wind power delivers 200MW, 500MW and 600MW.

        Coal fired power delivers 19400MW, 19400MW, and 19900MW.

        At least coal fired power actually works.

        If wind was all we had, the Country would have shut down ….. for three days, well, for every day actually. This isn’t an isolated pocket of a blackout, somewhere. It’s the whole Country blacked out, everything. No power for anybody, anywhere.

        What happens when there are days like this when wind power fails so comprehensively, and it’s not isolated. It’s a regular occurrence.

        For the life of me, I cant figure out why you can’t see that.

        Tony.

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        • #
          OldGreyGuy

          >For the life of me, I cant figure out why you can’t see that.

          It’s not can’t. Peter just won’t see that as it doesn’t fit his political objective. He really doesn’t care if the entire country comes to a stop.

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        • #
          Peter Fitzroy

          Tony – I know that his is hard for you, but…
          I was talking about your first three paragraphs, sigh.

          I’m on the record as saying that we need coal, but we should not be blind to the evident damage and pollution caused by that form of power production.

          But when you are challenged, you retreat into your mantra about how ineffective renewables are, even though they are still only a tiny part of the generation mix. That is dishonest, and really I had thought better of you.

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          • #

            Ah, obfuscation and subject deflection, your stock in trade. I’m surprised you didn’t pick me up for having a comma in the wrong place. You then changed the subject and wrote about oil, coal seam, coal waste, and gas. I never even mentioned the word cheap.

            The whole idea of that original comment was in reference ONLY to wind power. I purposely did that and separated it from coal fired power by leaving that to Comment number 8, down a bit.

            Nothing I wrote in that comment was dishonest in any way, and that’s also another of your traits ….. making up a false accusation, without ever retracting them.

            And seriously, Peter Fitzroy, you don’t challenge me at all.

            All you’ve got is ….. “Hey! Look over there!”

            Tony.

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          • #
            el gordo

            I had a quick look at all the fossil fuel burning and first thing we have to do is ban petrol driven cars, force everyone onto trains.

            Apparently there is a climate emergency in Sydney and we should take this more seriously. Coal fired power stations are a thing of the past, so we only have to sooth the dying pillow.

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          • #
            Bill in Oz

            You know Peter
            I’ve just had 7 days of frosty mornings on the trot.
            Ice in the gutters at 11.30 am today mate !
            I know the ice had blocked the down pipes.

            Do you suppose you could summon up some
            Global Warming, to save us all from freezing here in SA ?
            Or is Gore Bull warming your only branded product ?

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    • #
      toorightmate

      Tony,
      The economics are not worth any comparison – wind is behind by the length of the Flemington Straight.
      How the people and politicians of our once fine country continue to be conned by this hoax amazes me.
      Surely so many people can not be so dumb for so long?

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      • #

        – wind is behind by the length of the Flemington Straight.

        Going by those any numbers, wind power jumps out of the barrier at the start of the first race, and they complete the whole nine race program before wind power gets past the finish Post!

        Tony.

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    • #
      Lionell Griffith

      What works depends upon your goal. If your goal is to destroy your economy by increasing the cost of electricity and reducing its reliability, then wind and solar power is working magnificently. If your goal is to sustain life and increase its quality, then wind and solar power is an utter failure.

      What then is the real goal of the green blob? It isn’t to save the earth. They have not meant well from the get go!

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      • #
        RickWill

        The objective is to make money. With Turnbull it was for his family – notably his brat Alex. With Labor it is for industry super funds heavily invested in weather dependent intermittent. Likewise Vicsuper and other state funds are heavily invested in WDIs.

        The RET has proven to be an effective tool to separate low income earners from their money and pass it over to wealthier people.

        In Victoria, the Solar Homes program has been so heavily subscribed that it has to be capped at 3000 installations a month to limit the budget damage:
        https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/solar-rebates-to-return-on-july-1-with-first-in-best-dressed-system-20190618-p51ysq.html
        The installations will have a payback of 3 to 4 years for the home owner. Electricity consumers and Victorian taxpayers will be helping to pay for that return.

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        • #
          Lionell Griffith

          If what you do is of no or negative value for those from whom you extract payment, it is not “making money”. It is nothing but transfer of already created wealth by force or fraud.

          Making money MEANS to create a value for which someone will pay values they have created. As such, money is merely the means by which the value you have created is registered. Without those values FIRST being created, it has no value.

          This is especially true if “money” is a piece of used paper the government FORCES you to accept as payment. Its value is no more than the heat you would obtain by burning it. Then, only if you could do something productive with that heat.

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    • #
      glen Michel

      Well we’ve had A strong High pressure over northern NSW for a week.

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    • #
      theRealUniverse

      What are the numbers for the coal price vs year for Australia? Compare or prove coal price hasnt affected electricity price? Its all due to idiotic un-renewables.

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      • #
        yarpos

        What closed Hazelwood was not the price of coal but Andrews winding up the wick on State royalties for extracting it.

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  • #
  • #

    Incidentally, and in conjunction with my Comment 6, coal fired power on those same three days had four of its 48 Units in total off line, so the Nameplate which was on line for those three days was 21500MW. (from a 48 Unit total of 23000MW)

    At those same peaks on those same three days coal fired power delivered: Wednesday – 19400MW. (at a CF of 90.2%) Thursday – 19420MW. (at a CF of 90.3%) Friday – 19890MW. (at a CF of 92.5)

    Now, while wind power has increased its Nameplate, so also has the Nameplate increased for solar power plants, now up to a Nameplate of 2982MW. Rooftop solar is also (still) increasing, now well up beyond 8000MW

    So here we now have a Nameplate from those three renewables of current favour of around 18000MW, so only 3500MW lower than for all those 44 coal fired units on line.

    Now, at that evening peak, when the need is so critical for as much power as is possible to be available, the Sun has set, so the total for those THREE renewables of choice for those same three days was.

    Wednesday – 200MW. Thursday – 500MW. Friday – 600MW.

    Now consider the vast fortune spent on those methods of power generation, and if that’s not the definition of a gross waste of money, then I don’t know what is.

    Coal fired power – There just is no substitute.

    Tony.

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    • #
      Dennis

      And therein lies the explanation as to why so many merchant bankers and others invested in wind and solar farms poured so much of their money into the 2019 Federal Election campaign backing “independents” preaching for climate action.

      More wealth creation businesses and government support for them.

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      • #
        Lionell Griffith

        Clearly wind and solar power destroys wealth by vastly increasing cost, by devastatingly reducing reliability, and sinking wealth in almost totally non-productive and short lived assets incapable of being liquidated and used for other purposes. So if wealth creation businesses support wind and solar, they are committing suicide: slowly and very painfully while taking the rest of us with them.

        They to do not mean well but continue to exist on a foundation of human sacrifice. When they run out of willing sacrificial victims, their game is up. They and their victims will become extinct.

        Consider: if a foreign nation did to us what the green blob and their fellow travelers have done, we would rise up and wipe it out of existence. Yet, all that has really been done is complain and compile statistics of why it isn’t working. While, at the same time, it is working magnificently for those who wish to destroy us.

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        • #
          Dennis

          The United Nations is our problem together with the socialist globalists who use the IPCC for political purposes, yet so many governments go along with the agendas despite the growing awareness of their constituents that the master plan is not in our best interests individually and for our nation.

          At the 2019 Federal Election Labor presented a bold new plan of climate action excesses and were rejected, much to Labor’s surprise.

          I believe that we the majority are not yet relaxed and comfortable and are waiting for the Liberal-National Government to provide us with for defence from the economic vandalism of climate change politics in Australia based on socialism masquerading as environmentalism (PM abbott observed).

          60

  • #
    Robber

    The vagaries of AEMO’s wholesale electricity pricing system.
    It’s a cool morning across southern Australia, but it’s a weekend so demand is lower.
    On Wed, SA price was $160/MWhr, Thurs $146, Fri $125, and Sat $110.
    So why are prices in SA and Vic still above $100/MWhr on this calm Sunday morning?
    Looking at SA, at 4am with demand 1273 MW, the price was $90 (30 minute average). Wind 306 MW. Gas 905 MW. (sources AEMO and Anero.id).
    At 8am with demand 1560 MW, price $112. Wind 90 MW. Gas 1495 MW.
    At 9am, demand 1590 MW, price $97. Wind 100 MW. Gas 1670 MW. Exports to Vic?
    At 12 noon, demand 1084 MW, price $113/MWhr. Wind 80 MW. Gas 1100 MW.
    So what were the variables that caused those variations in prices?
    Gas station supplies:
    Ladbroke 40 MW 8-9am
    Osborne a constant 180 MW.
    Pelican constant 500 MW.
    Torrens A varied from 120 at 4am to 295 MW at 8am, 350 at 9am, and 190 MW at 12am.
    Torrens B varied from 145 MW at 4am to 435 MW at 8am, 570 at 9am, and 230 at 12am.
    So it appears that the variable bidders are Ladbroke for the 8am peak, and Torrens A & B at midday.
    Torrens Island gas station has a capacity of 1280 MW and is owned by AGL Energy.
    Does that make AGL Energy the dominant price setter in SA?
    For comparison, in Vic the coal and gas generators delivered a constant 4,300 MW throughout the morning, but Vic has hydro that kicked in 900 MW for the 8-9am peak. Vic prices have been about $10 higher than SA. Meanwhile NSW had a morning peak price of $80, but now cruising at $60/MWhr with Qld at $50/MWhr.
    Time for the ACCC to investigate pricing controls?

    150

    • #
      Robber

      As Tony mentioned above at #6 it has been a quiet week for wind, averaging 985 MW compared to 1800 MW the previous week, with some days averaging just 500 MW, and a minimum at 3pm on Sat of 130 MW, all that from a nameplate capacity of 6,700 MW.
      But what does that do to wholesale prices? For Vic the average weekly price jumped from $80 to $120/MWhr with a similar trend in SA.
      Those reliable gas and coal stations have to be on standby to cover for the unreliability of wind, so when they get to utilise that capacity, prices jump. (To stay viable with lower utilisation, they need higher prices to cover fixed costs).
      In a week when average demand jumped from 22.9 to 25.3 GW due to the cold weather, max coal increased from 17.4 to 19.2 GW, max gas from 4.7 to 5.7 GW, and max hydro from 3.8 to 4.4 GW.
      So if all the wind generators were to shut down permanently, the utilisation of coal and gas generators would increase, leading to lower average prices. But as it stands, they have to reduce utilisation whenever the wind blows, but if they weren’t on standby, turn the lights and heaters off.

      30

  • #
    beowulf

    This Time They Will Do It Right. Venezuela anyone?
    A funny lesson in socialism for AOC, Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn, Tania Plibersek etc.
    https://realclimatescience.com/2019/06/this-time-they-will-do-it-right/

    40

  • #
    Howie from Indiana

    Rainy weather continues to plague farmers in the American Midwest:

    https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/06/19/corn-trouble-and-midwest-rain-its-too-wet-and-farmers-behind/1486263001/

    Looks like the Grand Solar Minimum is doing a number on the farmers. It’s climate change for sure but not the way the warmistas predicted.

    120

  • #
    Zane

    The big energy utilities AGL, Origin and EnergyAustralia have gone along with the whole renewables scam because it has allowed them to earn superprofits on their old coal generated electricity. Apparently the threat of re-regulation is now going forcing them to give consumers some relief. Well done, government. So many rent seekers are trying to keep the green scam going and extract cash from households. They are robbers.

    150

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    We’re gonna need a bigger guitar auction …

    DAVID GILMOUR’S GUITAR AUCTION NETS $21M FOR [GLOBAL WARMING] CHARITY:

    “The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible,” tweeted Gilmour, the singer, guitarist and songwriter for the legendary Brit rock band.”

    Related: Pink Floyd’s last North American tour, in 1994, played in many of America’s largest outdoor stadiums.

    According to the “Pink Floyd North American 1994 Production manual and contract,” the Floyd’s tour involved 28 semis, each with a 48-foot long trailer, plus eight crew buses, five rental cars, runner vans and cars, and five vans for the band itself from the hotel to the stadium, along with up to seven golf carts at the arena.

    The promoter at each venue was required to provide nine forklifts, one cherry picker, one 35-ton mobile crane and one 60-ton mobile crane.

    “A supply of fuel for all of the above machinery must be kept onsite and topped up as required.”

    The production manual noted that “The band party will comprise approximately forty (40) persons who will arrive either on board their private, charter aircraft, or via commercial airlines.

    Either a fifty (50) seat luxury coach or four (4) twelve (12) seat mini-vans will be required to meet the plane and transport the band party to and from their hotel.

    A small truck will also be required with driver to transport the band party’s luggage to and from the hotel and airport.

    Should the size of the band party increase, Pink Floyd reserve the right to increase the quantity of the aforementioned transportation accordingly.”

    The band carried its own generator to power its massive lighting, laser, and amplification rig.

    The tour’s production manual demanded that the promoter have access to a 24-hour emergency 800-KVA generator.”

    via: https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/333956/

    50

  • #
    joseph

    Another 5G video that was released just a couple of days ago . . . .

    https://www.corbettreport.com/5g/

    50

    • #
      OriginalSteve

      Yep, and it appears to be pretty correct about most of what it says. I think learn how to disable or “euthanize” any suspected IoT device that might be transmitting.

      The other issue is detection….stuff that frequency hops in the ghz range without the right gear is harder to find.

      Failing that, just go low tech. The ladt option appeals to me, at least you kniw your home is “sterile”.

      One of our cyber security guys at work swore off smart tvs once he established how much data about his family was potentially being transmitted.

      The more i know about tech, the less i trust it. And I work in IT.

      60

    • #
      Yonniestone

      Good video Joseph thanks, I’ve been aware of RFID tech for years and how its rife throughout consumer products and wondered about 5G technology being able to read the RFID chips/tags.

      10

  • #
    el gordo

    Quote Mining

    ‘The next La Niña cycle starting at the end of next year will very likely be a strong one, which will finally negate the 2015/16 Super El Niño spike. Moreover, the PDO, AMO, NAO and AOO are all approaching their respective 30-year cool cycles, and the the NAO cool cycle seems to have started.

    ‘Since 1850, global temps rise during 30-year ocean warm cycles, and fall during 30-year cool cycles. Period.’

    70

    • #
      AndyG55

      I suspect many of the climate glitterati know this, and that is why the PANIC is setting in to get all their socialist agenda in place before the freeze sets in and temperature drop back to the dip in temperatures of the 1970s, or maybe even LOWER.

      80

      • #
        el gordo

        My forecast is for a return to the 1950s and 60s.

        The North Atlantic Oscillation was negative from 1947 to 1976, natural variables rule.

        40

      • #
        yarpos

        -4C today here a little north of Melbourne. First time I have noticed a sheet of ice covering our little dam/pond. Looked at the age article on yesterday being the coldest day in town for 30+ yeras, and in the comments section the alarministas were there trying to head of anyone noticing the cold with “cue the deniers!” type remarks and screeching about how heating causes cooling and its all due to the days of rain (when its dry AGW causes that as well of course).

        50

        • #
          Yonniestone

          “Cue the deniers”?, call us what you want but there’s no denying if temperatures are bloody cold……

          20

  • #
    Travis T. Jones

    Doomsday Global Warming cult scam promoters tick almost every box of ASIC’s “warning signs of a scam”.

    1. IPCC say they’re scientists
    2. Repeat planet is doomed, give us money
    3. Say we die by 2030
    4. Claims 97% consensus
    5. Say NASA agree.
    6. Gore’s movie …

    … Check MoneySmart’s list of companies you should not deal with, to see whether they are known scammers.

    Warning signs of investment scams
    The investment offer may be a scam if the person:

    – does not have an Australian financial services (AFS) licence or says they don’t need one
    – rings you repeatedly and tries to keep you on the phone, or emails you a lot to keep you engaged
    – says you need to make a quick decision or you’ll miss out on the deal
    – claims to be a professional broker or portfolio manager and sounds professional, but does not have an AFS licence
    – uses a name or claims to be associated with a reputable organisation to gain credibility e.g. NASDAQ, Bloomberg
    – offers you a glossy prospectus or brochures, professional-looking share certificates or receipts, but their prospectus is not registered with ASIC.

    https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/scams/investment-scams

    Did someone say ‘cult’?

    The traits of cults

    “The group alternates an apparently loving or attentive approach with escalating levels of stress or fear.

    This could be implemented through sleep or food deprivation, apocalyptic predictions, or threats of violence or sexual abuse.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-48635278

    50

  • #
    Peter C

    If UAH temps go “below the line” we will really know that cooling is here!
    http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_May_2019_v6.jpg

    40

    • #
      el gordo

      The North Atlantic Oscillation remains negative and apart from the occasional warm ‘Spanish Plume’, conditions in the UK should remain cool and wet.

      UAH temps have to go below the line and stay there for a few years, game over.

      40

      • #
        tom0mason

        el gordo
        I just wish the MSM in so much of Europe would stop playing these events as indicators of ‘climate change’ — IT’S JUST WEATHER.

        Just a couple of little quibbles your observations about the UK’s current over-publicized hot spell of WEATHER.
        That ‘Spanish Plume’ originates from North Africa, and lots of Europe is affected by it, see http://www.wetterzentrale.de/en/topkarten.php?map=1&model=gfs&var=5&run=0&time=90&lid=OP&h=0&mv=0&tr=3#mapref for the details.

        However over the UK (and other European regions) this weather has with it good chances of much localized thundery breakdown. As the pressure is ‘slack’ (neither very high nor low), humidity is quite high, and the winds are very light leading to more chances of rapid localized convection forming. The relatively cool seas/oceans temperature will help with all this, as it’s damp air feeds any convection that forms.

        50

        • #
          el gordo

          ‘IT’S JUST WEATHER.’

          We should be able to see global cooling signals within weather phenomena.

          40

          • #
            tom0mason

            Agreed that we have a cooling signal, just look at how the US and European winters have progressed in the last decade or so.

            20

    • #
  • #
    Dave

    I didn’t know about this until today!

    Qld Govt says it owns rainfall once it hits the ground on your property

    Mareeba-based Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy officer Patrick Huber said:

    “Overland flow had to be protected and the department would soon require land owners with existing dams, large or small, to supply dam measurements and capacities to the department.”

    Within 12 months of receiving the information the DNR would then issue a licence for the water and install meters on all private dams to get an idea of water usage.

    WOW!
    How much can these farmers take?

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    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Dave:

      Same as Labor brought in in S.A. except the farmers had to pay for their own meters.
      O/T and it never happened but a friend/acquaintance/complete stranger told me that the local inspector advised annoyed farmer that inspections wouldn’t happen before 7.30 a.m. so if anyone put a hose into a dam (on their property) connected to a pump and removed same before the inspector arrived…..

      80

    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Farmers will kick this bureaucrat’s political master’s bum
      Next year when state elections happen.
      I suspect that Palachook’s inner circle disciples message saying ‘shut up a while’Is being ignored by the Greensitas in her bureaucracy

      70

    • #
      Another Ian

      IIRC the US EPA tried to pull something like this and got it canned.

      Also IIRC there were inklings of something like this back 10 – 15 years or so from DNR ( or whatever it was that week)

      20

    • #
      AndyG55

      Does this also apply to every rainwater tank and absorption trench in the urban landscape ?

      20

      • #
        Another Ian

        Do you look forward to having a meter on your spring?

        20

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        Didn’t apply to urban water (too many voters would be upset).

        Springs weren’t monitored. Thus farm with spring could be well watered without paying.

        10

  • #
    Bill in Oz

    Here is a topic that needs to be discussed & has not been :
    “Dangerous High Rises”

    In the past few weeks I’ve read stories about high rises in Sydney that are too ‘unstable’ for the people living/owning the apartments too live in them or rent them out.

    And in the past few months i’ve been seeing reports about the inflammable insulation put on the exterior walls…So dangerous that the value of the apartments has dropped drastically. And in the case of one tower in the Docklands of Melbourne, which as already had a tower high rise fire, is uninhabitable…

    All in all it makes me wonder why are people buying these high rise apartments ?

    These high rise tower blocks are the Greenistas preferred type of home close in to the city and their preferred cafe late habitat..
    But frankly I suspect they are being burned big time…

    50

    • #
      Chad

      People buy them becUse they are one of the few ways to get into the sydney property market especially for first time buyers.
      Huge quntities of these 10+ story “Leggo” structure have been thrown up in the last 10-15 years with a lot of money involved.
      No doubt corruption from primary funding sources, planning approvals, design and construction, building standards, inspections, material supplies , etc etc etc.
      The use of non conforming cladding drew attention initially, but the recent structural defects have exposed some horror stories of sub standard concrete mix, re-bar being removed from concrete slab forms after approval inspection , and a host of other cost saving short cuts.
      It will never all be exposed, there is too much money involved and the corruption goes too deep and right up to state gov levels

      60

    • #
      Another Ian

      But, Bill, it is well known in Greenista circles that they are much smarter than us mere mortals

      30

    • #
      AndyG55

      “But frankly I suspect they are being burned big time”

      Green GULLIBILITY goes very, very deep. ! Almost innate/inborn.

      30

    • #
      ivan

      Don’t forget this is what is considered necessary according the UN Church of Climatology sacred books – Agenda 21 and Agenda 30.

      The fact that so many people are taken in by this just shows their gullibility and lack of education in real subjects.

      50

  • #
    tom0mason

    Is it me, or does anyone else see the Kiehl & Trenberth Energy Budget cartoon as utter nonsense?
    For me this diagram says that the totality of life on this planet takes NO solar energy. Does anyone else find that pretty amazing and pretty stupid? Effectively it says life is static, neither growing nor reducing, a null as an energy user.

    However just looking at humans and we see that since about 1800 humans have increased from 1 billion to 8 billion in about 200 years. That’s 3 doublings — from 1 billion to 8 billion, with all the crops and livestock roughly keeping up and maintaining that growth.
    And yet that dumb cartoon says that life, all life, does not require solar energy. It says that life does not sequester solar energy away in both living and dead biological material. Solar energy that has been changed by plants from radiant energy to chemical energy that bind sugars, starches, proteins, fats, cellulose type polymers within those plants. Plants that many other lifeforms will consume so that each type of species will at least hold its population steady and hopefully expand (expand like these little critters in Brazil https://phys.org/news/2018-11-year-old-termite-mounds-brazil-visible.html ).
    Solar energy sequestered away, and not all of it easily released back, for as we know not only have human populations grown but soils build-up (as well as erode away), that peat bogs and wetlands bury thousands of tons of material yearly, that the detritus from dead aquatic life continually rain down to the deep oceans, building-up as an ever deepening mass of sludge, a sludge that only in tiny amounts is recycled back to the surface for reuse.

    Well I find it funny, illogical, unreasonable, and overloaded with reductionists’ oversimplifying hubris.

    What do you think?

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    • #
      joseph

      And thanks for the link.

      20

      • #
        tom0mason

        Might be interesting for researchers to work out how much CO2 & methane these critter put into the atmosphere cause the IPCC has not included it in their latest calculations.
        I also would think that as CO2 goes up and more greening happens these termites would increase in numbers. Maybe careful analysis of the termite mounds a signature of climate variation over the last 4,000 years could be found.

        Now there’s a project for any up and coming Climate Scientist™

        20

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      I’ve thought it nonsense since I first saw it, but you make a point I overlooked, that the system isn’t static.

      30

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      ‘Is it me, or does anyone else see the Kiehl & Trenberth Energy Budget cartoon as utter nonsense?’ It is TOTAL baloney, un-physical and doesnt work, has no validity in physics. In fact it is very bad physics. Many including a ‘flat earth model’ that doesnt exist, no solar , wrong use of the energy flux equations, the planet is stationary and doesnt revolve. Galeleo would have done a better job!

      40

  • #
    Peter C

    Australian Conservatives – End of the Road!

    Cory Bernadi has written to his supporters to say that he is going to deregister the Australian Conservatives as a political party.

    The reason was the very poor result at the election. Kevin Bailey did about the best and he got only 5% of a quota. Single issue parties such as the shooters (Ricky Muir) did better.

    On that basis Cory will be gone at the next election.

    I think that several AC candidates would have been more effective than Cory, if they had only been elected, but it was not to be. Whether the AC party could have done any better, given the resources they had is debateable. Probably we could have done better, but not enough I suspect.

    According to Cory Bernadi, even some AC members voted Liberal first and AC second, in the belief that that would help to keep Bill Shorten and the Labor party out! The sentiment is fine but it seems a clear indication that some (? a lot) of people do not understand how our preferential voting system works.

    It has been suggested that Cory might re-join the Liberal Party. I think that is unlikely. Christopher Pyne will make sure that does not happen. Therefore I think Cory will resign his seat before the next election and he will be replaced by a Liberal Party nominee.

    The best that can be said is that the AC party, during its short life, did influence the Liberal Party, moving it back a little from the lefty progressive to the centre, especially on immigration numbers and hopefully also reliable and affordable energy.

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    • #
      skeptikal

      Cory Bernadi has written to his supporters to say that he is going to deregister the Australian Conservatives as a political party.

      Establishing a new political party is the hard part and he’s done that. Why not just let the party keep going, even if he doesn’t want to be part of it anymore? The members of his party deserve better than this.

      50

      • #
        Another Ian

        “Establishing a new political party is the hard part”

        Puts Nigel Farage’s name in lights doesn’t it

        50

      • #
        Peter C

        Lack of money, would be one reason to shut the party down.

        I suspect that the candidates had had enough. Kevin Bailey was an excellent performer, but he has stood for election twice. That takes a big toll.

        70

      • #
        el gordo

        Cory deserves a front bench seat in the Morrison government.

        40

  • #
    pat

    Queen’s Birthday honours list: (ABC’s) Leigh Sales’ pitch earns royal reward
    The Australian – 10 Jun 2019
    Journalist and author Leigh Sales has marked becoming a Member of the Order of Australia by urging Australians to demand more from their political leaders in the aftermath of Federal Police raids on journalists…

    20 Jun: ABC 7.30 Report: Author Michael Wolff discusses Donald Trump’s re-election bid
    TRANSCRIPT:
    MICHAEL WOLFF, AUTHOR: Well, I’ve primarily seen that the Trump administration doesn’t function, certainly doesn’t function very well. So I’d rate his chances as low, if not nil…
    LEIGH SALES: But for all of Trump’s extensively documented erratic, narcissist and incomprehensible behaviour including in your work and for all of the lying and exaggeration and insults that we can read pretty much daily on his twitter feed, he still has a 42 per cent approval rating in the US according to the aggregate of the opinion polls…
    LEIGH SALES: In your book you write of the Mueller investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia and you reveal that around March 2018, Mueller’s team was contemplating an indictment of the President and that there was a draft indictment.
    Before I ask you in detail about that, Mueller’s office has said that no such draft indictment exists…

    Michael Wolff is even too much for the most TDS-infected program on US TV – Morning Joe:

    1 Feb 2018: RealClearPolitics: (MSNBC’s Mika)Brzezinski Cuts Off Michael Wolff After Nikki Haley Showdown: “You’re Slurring A Woman,” “We’re Done”
    Posted By Ian Schwartz
    Mika Brzezinski dumped guest Michael Wolffe from Morning Joe (MSNBC) in the middle of an interview Thursday morning…

    21 Jun: Australian: The Trump-phobic Wolff at ABC 7.30’s door
    by Gerard Henderson
    MORE TRUMP-PHOBIA ON 7.30
    It was just after pre-dinner drinks time last night when Jackie’s (male) co-owner switched on 7.30 to find Leigh Sales interviewing one of the United States’ leading Trump-haters. A certain Michael Wolff.
    Now Mr Wolff’s previous book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House was an anti-Donald J Trump rant which is littered with errors, unsourced allegations and plenty of hearsay upon hearsay.
    Being the author of such a shoddy hatchet job did not stand between Mr Wolff and 7.30’s Ms Sales interviewing him last night…

    even the prog left, such as Matt Taibbi and Jimmy Dore, know what a joke Wolff is:

    4 Jun: RollingStone: Matt Taibbi: Michael Wolff’s ‘Siege’ Is Like His Last Book — But Worse
    The wannabe-Woodward of the Trump era goes for another quick buck
    Michael Wolff might be the most unreliable historian America has ever encountered, but at least he admits it…

    includes the fiasco of Wolff pretending he can’t hear the questions in 2GB Ben Fordham interview on TV:

    VIDEO: 9min11sec: Liveleak: Michael Wolff gets exposed as a LIAR again and again
    Anti-Trump Author Pretends He’s Deaf & Leaves Interview
    Jimmy Dore (ex Young Turks) Show
    https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3c1_1519782490

    and Leigh Sales wants us to be concerned about a raid that wasn’t even a raid! shut down the ABC.

    50

  • #
    pat

    20 Jun: Washington Examiner: NYT reporter flagged Jared Kushner meetings with Russians to FBI
    by Daniel Chaitin
    (NYT) Journalist Michael Schmidt sent an email on March 24, 2017, to FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs Michael Kortan, stating that his colleagues were reporting on the FBI’s Russia investigation and had stumbled onto some information about President Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser.
    “Wanted to flag you on something. Three of my colleagues are working on a story about the Russia investigation. They’re told that Jared Kushner is among the individuals who the F.B.I. is scrutinizing for their meetings with Russians,” Schmidt said. “My colleagues were told that Ambassador Kislyak, after meeting Kushner and General Flynn in early December at Trump Tower, set up a meeting with Kushner and a Russian banker. Kushner ultimately met with the Russian banker. The banker worked for Alpha Bank. Thanks. Mike.”

    Kortan forwarded (LINK) the email to FBI special agent Peter Strzok, who was leading the bureau’s Russia investigation, and Jonathan Moffa, an FBI counterintelligence officer.
    The Washington Examiner has reached out to Schmidt for comment…

    Mueller’s report, released this year, found no evidence that Kushner received Russian funding to cover a troubled New York City real estate loan, a press scandal that dogged the top presidential adviser despite his denials…
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/nyt-reporter-flagged-jared-kushner-meetings-with-russians-to-fbi

    19 Jun: The Hill: FBI, warned early and often that Manafort file might be fake, used it anyway
    by John Solomon
    When the final chapter of the Russia collusion caper is written, it is likely two seminal documents the FBI used to justify investigating Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign will turn out to be bunk…
    The first, the Christopher Steele dossier, has received enormous attention. And the more scrutiny it receives, the more its truthfulness wanes. Its credibility has declined so much that many now openly question how the FBI used it to support a surveillance warrant against the Trump campaign in October 2016…

    The second document, known as the “black cash ledger,” remarkably has escaped the same scrutiny, even though its emergence in Ukraine in the summer of 2016 forced Paul Manafort to resign as Trump’s campaign chairman and eventually face U.S. indictment…READ ON
    https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/449206-fbi-warned-early-and-often-that-manafort-file-might-be-fake-used-it-anyway

    30

  • #
    pat

    19 Jun: Breitbart: Shock Admission: Feds Drew Conclusions on DNC Hack Without Ever Obtaining Un-Redacted Docs from Security Firm
    by Aaron Klein
    The Obama-era intelligence community relied on three redacted reports marked as drafts from the private firm CrowdStrike to reach its conclusion that Russian agents hacked the servers of the Democratic National Committee, according to a U.S. government filing.
    The U.S. government further admitted that it does not possess the un-redacted CrowdStrike reports about what allegedly happened to the DNC servers and that it relied upon DNC lawyers to generally characterize what was in the redacted sections.

    These stunning admissions were contained in a U.S. government court response to a motion filed by attorneys for former Trump confidante Roger Stone, seeking to compel the government to release un-redacted CrowdStrike reports about the alleged hacks — reports the government says it doesn’t possess…

    The DNC famously refused to allow the FBI to access its server to verify the allegation that Russia carried out a hack during the 2016 presidential campaign. Instead, the DNC reached an arrangement with the FBI in which a third party company, CrowdStrike, conducted forensics on the server and shared details with the FBI.
    As this reporter previously documented, CrowdStrike was financed to the tune of $100 million via a funding drive by Google Capital…

    It was previously reported that Perkins Coie, the law firm that represented the DNC and Clinton’s campaign, helped draft CrowdStrike to aid with the DNC’s allegedly hacked server.
    On behalf of the DNC and Clinton’s campaign, Perkins Coie also paid the controversial Fusion GPS firm to produce the infamous, largely-discredited anti-Trump dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele…
    Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s indictment of Stone specifically references CrowdStrike as providing the data on the Russian hack…READ ALL
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/06/19/shock-admission-feds-drew-conclusions-on-dnc-hack-without-ever-obtaining-un-redacted-docs-from-security-firm/

    19 Jun: Washington Examiner: Byron York: Now, word of a mysterious third ‘scope memo’ for Robert Mueller
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-now-word-of-a-mysterious-third-scope-memo-for-robert-mueller

    19 Jun: Washington Times: Clinton campaign broke election laws with dossier author payment, lawsuit claims
    by Rowan Scarborough
    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/19/hillary-clinton-campaign-payment-dossier-author-ch/

    60

    • #
      Mark Fraser

      PLUS Assange denied getting DNC dump from Russia. I think re-opening the staffer murder investigation would be the honest thing to do.

      40

  • #
    pat

    finally, theirABC – in the latter part, which is all I’ve heard – associate President Donald Trump with Hitler/Nazis/anti-semites.
    ***note one guest is from the anti-Trump, Turnbull-connected US Studies Centre at Sydney Uni!

    20 Jun: ABC Big Ideas: The rise of the far right
    Presenter: Paul Barclay
    What drives extreme right wing groups in Australia?
    Are they part of a global backlash against liberal democracy and diversity?
    Recorded 15 May 2019 Lowy Institute.
    Speakers
    Dr Kristy Campion – Lecturer in Terrorism Studies Charles Sturt University
    Professor Michele Grossman – Research Chair in Diversity and Community Resilience Alfred Deakin Institute
    ***Dr David Smith – Senior Lecturer in American Politics and Foreign Policy United States Studies Centre (University of Sydney)
    Lydia Khalil – Moderator and Research Fellow Lowy Institute.
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/the-rise-of-the-far-right/11207796

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    Richard Ilfeld

    RE: various court proceedings in many countries:
    “Stare decisis” is Latin for “if we ever get what we want out of a court decision you’re not to think about the issue any more”.

    One of the huge idiocies in the US was the EPA ruling that carbon dioxide was a pollutant, therefore the EPA could regulate it.
    A court sort of upheld it, once. (Its complicated obviously).

    Now, several of the liberal justices on the Supreme Court are apoplectic that some of the conservatives want to review prior decisions.

    Of course, their views rotate like a wind vane, depending on the decision being reviewed.

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      David Wojick

      It is complicated, but that is not exactly what happened. The US Supreme Court (not EPA) ruled that CO2 was a “pollutant under the Clean Air Act” because one of the CAA definitions of pollutant includes causing climate change. Under the CAA EPA then has to decide whether a pollutant is dangerous. The Obama EPA quickly made just such an “endangerment finding” which allows (or forces)them to regulate the pollutant. We want to reverse that finding.

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      Howie from Indiana

      Declaring carbon dioxide a pollutant was a blatant perversion of science. Carbon dioxide is a major component of the carbon cycle and is just as necessary as oxygen for life on planet Earth. Burning of fossil fuels is merely returning carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from whence it came. There is no empirical evidence that carbon dioxide is involved in any warming. The IPCC wants the sheeple to believe that all of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from burning fossil fuels while at the same time ignoring water vapor which is the major so-called “greenhouse gas”. Water in all its forms- wtaer vapor, liquid water and water ice- is what keeps planet Earth within the bounds necessary for life. Too bad so many have fallen for the scam.

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        David Wojick

        Please understand that this was just a narrow legal ruling. In my view the U.S. SUpreme Court had no other choice. U.S. Courts work very hard not to make rulings on scientific matters. The question before the Court was simply whether C02 met the definition of pollutant in the Clean Air Act, which definition included causing climate change. While that scientific question is controversial, the Court was not about to rule that the U.S. EPA was wrong. That is not what they do and I think it is good, all things considered.

        I do not want the Courts dictating science.

        EPA can and should reverse the endangerment finding.

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          theRealUniverse

          “The question before the Court was simply whether C02 met the definition of pollutant in the Clean Air Act,”
          Sp how can any science show that CO2 is a polutant, for NAY reason.
          1. It would have to be dangerous to breath and cause health problems.
          2. They (EPA) should have been required to produce irrefutable evidence, before the court, that CO2 causes catastrophic global warming.
          Of course NO irrefutable evidence exists.

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            theRealUniverse

            ARGH typo – So how can any science show that CO2 is a polutant, for ANY reason.

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            Robber

            Every human (and every other animal) breathes in cool O2, and exhales warm CO2. Ergo we are all causing pollution and global warming?

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          Kinky Keith

          So, if I read you correctly David you are saying that the EPA lied to the Supreme Court and because it was the ultimate national authority the Court had to accept the assertion that Human Origin CO2 causes Global Warming?

          Welcome to political democracy 2018.

          The bigger question then becomes, who told the EPA to lie.

          Human Origin CO2 has no, nil, zip effect on Klimate.

          KK

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            Kinky Keith

            They should have just stated the position very clearly and refused to deal with it:
            i.e. We are unable to adjudicate on this matter.

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    David Wojick

    My latest for CFACT. At the risk of vanity I really like this one.
    https://www.cfact.org/2019/06/21/priceless-crisis/

    The beginning:

    Having hitched their wagon to the unicorn of climate catastrophe, the Democrat candidates for president are caught between a rock and a very hard place.

    Each of these twenty contenders has to try to stand out from the crowd and they will not do that by saying “oh wait, climate change is not a problem.” But the shriller they get the less likely they are to defeat President Trump. This panic festival will be fun to watch.

    Presumably Bernie Sanders had the lead going in. He has the big machine that almost upset Clinton. He would be perfect. At the risk of being crass and cruel I am reminded of a famous Gary Larson cartoon. The dog is trying to entice the cat into the dryer with a sign that says “cat fud.” The cat is looking in and the dog is saying “oh please, oh please.” That is how I feel about Sanders opposing Trump. (For the record I have and love both cats and dogs, but I also like Larson.)

    But there are more of course. I have already written about “Beto’s two-headed climate change fallacy. My esteemed colleague and sometime co-author Paul Driessen just did “Reality bites Joe Biden’s “clean energy revolution,”” which is a truly fun read.

    What would really be fun is if we could rush through a Constitutional amendment allowing AOC to run for president. But I digress.

    What is this mob of candidates to do? Presumably they will roll to the left, distancing themselves ever further from the American people. At which point we find the President sitting in an unexpected place — in the center!

    There is a bunch more in the article, including a great quote from Jo. In fact it was her piece that set me off.

    The climate circus cometh to America.

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      Travis T. Jones

      We can only hope they go the global warming apocalypse, but, as noted in comments, with only 120 minutes – 10 candidates, that’s = 12 minutes each without interruptions.

      AOC has grabbed the cat from the bag by the scruff of the neck, belled it and thrown it amongst the pigeons.

      They can’t ignore it for the sake of the children’s children.

      It will be fun to watch that cat run.

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    el gordo

    David Anderson, managing director at the ABC, is giving Foxtel the flick and saving four million dollars.

    The other thing that caught my eye, he has ultimate responsibility for all editorial content. My guesstimate, Anderson will bring the organisation back to the centre.

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    Another Ian

    “Terence Corcoran: Why the global fossil-fuel phase-out is a fantasy akin to time travel”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/06/23/terence-corcoran-why-the-global-fossil-fuel-phase-out-is-a-fantasy-akin-to-time-travel/

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      theRealUniverse

      Effectively abolishing coal and oil as fuel is totally ludicrous, and impossible. True it is similar to wanting time travel.
      They forget OIL isnt just fuel it provides almost every conceivable plastic and other products that are indispensable.
      (Products from oil has been listed here before)
      So I say – go ahead try without it for one week!
      Also due to the impossibility of low to high chemical potentials hence again breaking laws of thermodynamics, oil, and gas, arent of fossil origin only coal is.

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    Graeme#4

    Article in The Australian today about the repaired big boom ship again going to try to clean up “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. But I was under the impression that these patches don’t really exist. Does anybody have links to credible articles on this subject?

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    • #
      Bill in Oz

      Or normal Winter weather !

      I’ve had frosts every morning since last Tuesday.

      Seven mornings in a row

      Can we please order some extra Global warming for all Southern Australia !

      🙂

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        Annie

        It was -5C here at around 0800 with a good hatd frost. There is still frost in the shade but lovely sunshine otherwise (at 1145); 3C on the display now.

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    Travis T. Jones

    You only had one job …

    BoM, Nov, 2018: Climate and Water Outlook, December 2018–February 2019

    3.38: “So, in summary rainfall is likely to be below average in the north.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlonMv1Z_oY

    BoM, March-may autumn 2019 outlook:

    0.57: “However, in tropical Queensland, there was widespread flooding in early February, with extremely heavy rainfall.

    Over 2 metres in 12 days.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXSkMUYIgl8&amp;

    23 June, 2019: Queensland graziers still counting costs of flood devastation

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-23/queensland-graziers-still-count-the-cost-of-flood-devastation/11235470 

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      Bill in Oz

      You’re point being what exactly Travis ?

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        Travis T. Jones

        It’s easy to predict future climate doomsday with half the weather (drought) and get it correct 50% of the time, another to get paid for it:

        2018: “Some farmers battling the drought are so frustrated by weather forecasts they joke they’d be better off studying the behaviour of ants, galahs or even emus to predict when it might rain.

        Graziers and crop farmers alike argue times might be tough but what’s worse is the false hope created by forecast rains that never arrive.

        “It just breaks your spirit,” sheep farmer Chris Blunt from Emu Swamp told AAP.
        “You’ve got to consider the anxiety and stress you’re putting blokes under – bringing their hopes up and then dashing them.

        “I’m almost getting to the point now where whatever the bureau says you think it’s going to be the opposite.”

        https://www.9news.com.au/national/frustrated-farmers-turn-on-bom-forecasting/b2f78fd4-3fd5-4c18-ae47-d33b6f33127e

        2017: Tasmanian farmers call for improved flood warning after 2016 devastation

        A year after devastating floods across Tasmania, farmers are calling on the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to improve its flood warning system.

        Thousands of livestock drowned and the damage bill is running into tens of millions of dollars.
        Two people died and one is still missing.

        https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-04/tasmanian-farmers-call-for-improved-flood-warning-after-2016/8582994

        Just trying to hold them to account.

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    Kinky Keith

    A view on “Renewables” from a province in Vietnam.

    https://www.vir.com.vn/investors-withdraw-from-solar-power-project-in-binh-thuan-64218.html

    The message is constant through the article but the best summary may be in the last paragraphs.

    You can build Renewables but IT COSTS BIGGLY to integrate them into the area network.

    Localised use in sugar refining mills may be another matter, but I doubt it.

    KK

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    pat

    behind paywall:

    24 Jun: The West Australian: Scott Morrison Trump-eting his tax plan
    by Matthew Killoran, The Courier Mail
    SCOTT Morrison will today promise a Trump-like plan of tax cuts and red-tape slashing to rev up the slowing economy.
    In his first major speech since being re-elected Prime Minister, Mr Morrison also revealed a review of industrial relations laws and crackdown on unions.
    Likening his economic plan to that of US President Donald Trump, Mr Morrison will say in Perth today that busting bureaucratic congestion is needed to “provoke the animal spirits” of the economy…
    https://thewest.com.au/news/qld/scott-morrison-trump-eting-his-tax-plan-ng-ebc867b9b33a0b8998e6f4ba8a4aabf5

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    pat

    23 Jun: Breitbart: Three Years Ago We Voted Brexit. Here’s the Real Reason We Haven’t Yet Got It…
    by James Delingpole
    I suspect that that (winning referendum) margin would have been considerably larger if the Establishment had not put so much money and muscle into trying to thwart the popular will by frightening people with Project Fear. The Bank of England, the International Monetary Fund, the Civil Service, the BBC, the universities, the City of London, the Confederation of British Industry, the President of the USA, etc — the Remain Establishment threw everything it possibly could into its battle against democracy. And still it lost…
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/06/23/the-truest-piece-you-will-ever-read-on-brexit/

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    pat

    FakeNewsMSM won’t let this go either:

    23 Jun: ABC: Boris Johnson’s neighbour speaks out about calling the police over domestic row
    by ABC/Wires
    Mr Penn said that he gave the recording to the Guardian as he believed it was “of important public interest.”…
    Voting to remain in the EU “along with a lot of my neighbours across London” was the extent of his involvement in politics, Mr Penn said in his statement.
    Mr Penn claimed he and his wife had been the target of “frankly bizarre and fictitious allegations” and that neighbours had been “harangued by the media”.
    “I would ask that you leave private citizens alone and focus instead on those who have chosen to run for power within the public eye,” he added…

    24 Jun: UK Sun: Boris Johnson’s partner Carrie Symonds says police call out was ‘stitch-up’ by leftie, anti-Brexit neighbour

    23 Jun: UK Sun: REMAINERS NEXT DOOR Boris Johnson’s Leftie neighbours who called cops over row are magician & Cambridge-educated millionaire’s daughter who boasted about giving him the finger
    by Holly Christodoulou
    The couple, who live in the South London flat below Boris, claimed they called cops because they were “frightened and concerned” and denied having a political agenda.
    But they have today been revealed as ardent Remainers, with Eve writing an anti-Brexit play partly funded by the EU.
    New York-born Eve also had a series of anti-Tory tweets on her account dating back to the Occupy London protests in 2012 when Boris was the capital’s mayor…

    A tweet posted on her recently-deleted Twitter account said: “Just gave Boris Johnson the finger.”
    Cambridge graduate Eve is the daughter of late American composer Mitch Leigh and artist mother Abby.
    In January, she wrote a play for pro-European event Brexit Stage Left — a “festival of staged readings of provocative cutting-edge plays from across the EU”.
    The London festival was co-funded by the “Creative Europe Programme” of the EU.
    Her social media has accused Theresa May of having “insanely cruel policies towards immigrants, poor people and people of colour”…

    The previous July, there was a re-tweet of a plea by Guardian columnist Owen Jones urging people to donate to the local Labour candidate. It said: “We can replace Boris Johnson with a Labour MP. Just imagine. Please donate here — and make history.”…
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9356046/boris-johnson-row-neighbours-remainers/

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    pat

    tonite on Four Corners!

    AUDIO: 6min11sec: 24 Jun: ABC Breakfast: Australia’s extinction rate one of the worst on the planet: UN report
    Last month, the United Nations released a disturbing report, saying one million species around the world are at threat of extinction.
    A large number of those threatened species, a staggering 500, are here in Australia.
    ***Tonight Four Corners will be looking at the extinction crisis Australia has found itself in.
    Reporter: Stephanie March
    https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/australias-extinction-rate-among-worst-on-the-planet:-un-report/11239970

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      Annie

      Have they listed them all?

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      Maptram

      The bird pictured in the link is an eastern curlew, a migratory bird that breeds in the Arctic Circle and migrates to eastern Australia for our summer. If the bird becomes extinct whose fault is it, Australia’s or the countries in which it breeds. And what if the migration path the birds take passes across on or near land occupied wind turbines in any of the 23 odd countries the birds pass over during their migration?

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      Graeme#4

      This extinction rubbish appears to be based on a May 6th SPM report by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems (IPBES): https://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment. But the base data for this report was derived from the “Red List”, generated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Red List graph shows the extinction rates DECREASING. For as full discussion of this, see: https://inconvenientfacts.xyz/blog/f/mass-extinction-lie-exposed-life-is-thriving.

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    theRealUniverse

    Us skeptics should watch out for crowds with pitchforks and flaming torches..
    Dr. Sally Baliunas discusses the history of people’s reactions to extreme weather.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=wcAy4sOcS5M
    Excellent video and info.

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    pat

    more BBC CAGW propaganda. Blackrock/Unilever, etc.
    listen from 22min26sec in (which is just the last 4 minutes approx.)

    millennials concerned; ***Claudia Kruse, MD of Global Responsible Investment & Governance/APG Asset Management; Dutch Pension Funds; uses UN’s SDGs as guidance; clean energy; low carbon society.
    ends with 2 alarming assessments –
    FIRST: it’s massively urgent. let’s not muck around here; millions of lives are at stake. billions of animals’lives are at stake. coral reef system, implement reliable sustainable energy, etc.
    SECOND: yesterday was way too late (laughs); this is desperately urgent; this is the biggest single problem we face as a global society.

    AUDIO: 26min29sec: 23 Jun: BBC Global Business: Business making an impact
    Climate-change scientists have warned that the clock is ticking, environmental campaigners are blocking the streets, but until now the world of business has kept itself out of the fray. That is changing. From multi-billion dollar investors, to leaders of international companies, to banking bosses, the call is going out for business to take more responsibility for the way the world runs, and the way businesses run themselves. And it’s not just their environmental impact that’s coming under scrutiny…

    David Baker meets new business champions who want to overturn the old ways of doing things and put commerce at the centre of guaranteeing a future world that is good for everyone. But will it work or is it just a flash in the pan?
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csy81l

    ***Claudia Kruse, Managing Director Global Responsible Investment & Governance
    Before joining APG in 2009, she worked on the buy and sell-side in Responsible Investing in London for almost a decade. She has been appointed to the German Corporate Governance Code Commission in 2016 and is a member of the EU Expert Group on Sustainable Finance since January 2017. She is on the Board of Eumedion, the Dutch Corporate Governance Platform as well as the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN). In 2016 she was voted CIO Europe’s Next Generation CIO Award winner.
    Claudia holds a MA in International Management and Chinese, as well as an MSc Tourism & Development (UCL, London), and has lived and worked in China in the 1990s on environmental education…
    https://www.icgn.org/speakers/claudia-kruse-managing-director-global-responsible-investment-governance-apg-asset

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    David Maddison

    Someone said to me that the claimed retreat of Himalayan glaciers as determined by recently declassified spy plane footage is surely proof that the earth is warming. How would you respond to this?

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      theRealUniverse

      BULLDUST, especially with ‘recently declassified spy plane footage’ says it all, also it ISNT warming.
      Cant let good fake news get in the way of geophysical facts.

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      Graeme No.3

      Dave:
      Glaciers are affected by more than warmth at their end. Yes, there has been some warming since the 1970’s but other factors such as precipitation are also involved. Local weather patterns can be involved. The retreat of snow on Mt. Kilamanjaro is attributed to a change in wind patterns, not higher temperatures.
      Increased precipitation (of snow) at the top of the glacier causes faster glacier movement, which can show up as “glaciers are advancing, the ice age is coming and we are all doomed” type scares. A drought can cause a glacier to retreat, as the amount of ice isn’t being replaced. So strong monsoons may result in glaciers advancing despite temperatures.
      There is also a time lag involved; glaciers didn’t start shrinking immediately when the temperature rose, it took some over 10 years to show signs.
      In the case of the himalayan glaciers so what? Are all of them melting? Not so, according to recent studies. And other places e.g. South America, Colorado have glaciers getting bigger.
      I guess the answer to such claims is to ask why the Mont Blanc glacier started retreating in 1838, supposedly before Global Warming started.

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      Graeme#4

      The current glaciers have only existed for a maximum of 7000 years. For the 10% that are not in Antarctica, I believe many of these have only existed for the last 2000 years, but currently I can’t provide any evidence for this belief.

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    pat

    22 Jun: LasVegasReviewJournal EDITORIAL: Environmentalists oppose building largest solar plant in US
    Opposition to a new Clark County solar plant is coming from what many observers might find an unlikely source — environmentalists. But it’s hardly surprising.
    Once completed, the Gemini Solar Project would produce 690 megawatts of electricity. The solar panels would sit on 7,100 acres around 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas…

    There are many reasons to be skeptical about the constant drone of doomsday prophesy designed to gin up support for a massive state takeover of the American economy under the guise of tackling global warming — not the least of which would be the dozens of inaccurate predictions made by environmental alarmists over the course of decades, if not centuries. But reducing carbon emissions is now a mainstream policy plank…

    With that in mind, it’s not unexpected that Basin and Range Watch, a Western environmental group, has come out against the Gemini Solar Project. Kevin Emmerich, the group’s director, told the Review-Journal’s Henry Brean that he supports green energy, “but it’s not green when you do it like this.”
    Mr. Emmerich worries about the massive project’s “visual impacts” because it would be located near Valley of Fire State Park. He’s also concerned about desert tortoises in the area. The developer estimates that 300 desert tortoises would be moved while the solar plant is being built. Mr. Emmerich argues the tortoises are more likely to die after being relocated. To further stall the project, Basin and Range Watch and another environmental group, Western Watersheds Project, are working to put an area plant — the three-corner milkvetch — on the endangered species list…

    If only there were a reliable, carbon-free power source that didn’t require so much land. Oh wait. There is — nuclear energy. The Arkansas Nuclear One Station sits on 1,100 acres and produces 1,800 megawatts. That’s nearly triple the energy output of the Gemini Solar Project in less than one-sixth of the space. Only a few brave environmentalists, however, are willing to acknowledge the benefits of nuclear power…

    “Environmentalism has become NIMBYism” Michael Shellenberger, co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute, told Ms. Schwartz, who concludes that “this is not the environmentalism of the Rachel Carson era, where a call to movement was hailed as heroic. Nowadays, says Mr. Shellenberger, the movement is in a funk, grappling with fractious infighting while exhausting the public’s patience for its gloom-and-doom scenarios without offering pragmatic solutions.”…

    If activist greens won’t tolerate even solar or wind energy development, perhaps its best not to shutter all those coal-fired power plants just yet.
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-environmentalists-oppose-building-largest-solar-plant-in-us-1693225/

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    pat

    AGL to tweak Bayswater output
    The Australian-12 hours ago
    Power giant AGL Energy will consider tweaking output from its NSW Bayswater coal plant during the day as cheaper solar and wind challenges the long-term role of fossil fuels in the grid. With rival Origin Energy trialling a similar shift at Australia’s biggest coal plant…

    24 Jun: Reuters: Indonesia coal group sees additional 50mln T demand by 2023 to feed power plants
    by Fransiska Nangoy and Melanie Burton
    *Indonesia’s coal miners association (APBI) estimates additional demand of 52.6 million tonnes by 2023 to feed domestic power plants as more come on line, APBI chairman Pandu Sjahrir said on Monday, speaking at an industry conference in Bali.
    * That would add to existing 91.1 million tonnes demand from Indonesia’s power plants, the official told participants at the Coaltrans conference
    * The 124 gigawatts of coal-fired power generation capacity currently in development across Southeast Asia and South Asia are also expected to support Indonesian exports, Sjahrir said
    https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL4N23V0K9

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      pat

      first is the Bali event in the Reuters’ report:

      World Coal: Events
      The latest coal events from around the world including summits, conferences, exhibitions and training events.
      Coaltrans Asia 2019 (Bali)
      23 June 2019 – 25 June 2019
      Take part in the largest coal event in the world!…

      India Coal Conference 2019
      30 July 2019 – 31 July 2019
      Be a part of India’s largest coal event! Elekore Energy is returning with the 2nd edition of India Coal Conference with over 400+ key decision makers from India and abroad for two days of networking and knowledge sharing…

      Asia-Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition (AIMEX)
      27 August 2019 – 29 August 2019
      Asia-Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition (AIMEX) is the largest free to attend exhibition and conference in Asia-Pacific region. AIMEX will showcase over 500 suppliers and feature a targeted multi streamed conference that will address to current and future needs of the industry…

      ETC ETC

      ***2019 Coal Association of Canada Conference
      8 October 2019 – 10 October 2019
      Be a part of the conversation as we explore the benefits that the Canadian coal industry has to offer the world. Canadian coal projects are gaining momentum and with ever-increasing interest in our product, it is important that gather and share our knowledge, opinions and expertise of the sector…

      China Coal & Mining Expo 2019
      30 October 2019 – 02 November 2019
      China’s number one event of the coal and mining industry…

      MetCoke World Summit 2019 (Nashville)
      5 November 2019 – 07 November 2019
      Don’t miss this opportunity to network, educate and discuss key global economic initiatives for increased success and profitability for the coke, coal and steel industry…
      https://www.worldcoal.com/events/

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      Funny isn’t it, that they now make an announcement like this saying that they will, umm, ‘tweak’ output from their Bayswater plant in that time between the post morning and afternoon peaks.

      That is being done on a daily basis, and has been ever since these coal fired power plants came on line way back when.

      From midnight, they roll back output slightly till the early AM Base Load time at 4AM. Then they increase output to cover the morning peak. Then they dial back output a little, but nowhere near as low as that early AM Base Load. Then, mid afternoon, they wind up output to cover the evening peak around 6PM, and at around 9PM, the winding back starts to the following morning’s Base Load minimum.

      Then, repeat that whole process all over again ….. every day of the year, for what is Decades now.

      AGL, how about less waffle. Show some cojones. Don’t just ‘tweak’ them. Turn ’em off. See what happens then.

      Tony.

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    pat

    24 Jun: EconomicTimesIndia: Coal India targets stakes in overseas coke mines
    The company has renewed its effort to acquire foreign coking coal assets as the fuel is getting unpopular in many countries, which can help the Indian company get a good price
    By Debjoy Sengupta
    KOLKATA: Coal IndiaNSE -2.34 % is looking for minority stakes in operational coking coal mines in Russia, Canada and Australia.

    Based on its experience it may gradually increase stakes, following which it may buy them out, and then look for new blocks in these countries, a senior Coal India executive said…
    Coal India wants to grab this opportunity by using internal accruals to finance such acquisitions…
    A delegation of senior executives including Coal India Chairman A K Jha met Russian deputy prime minister Yury Trutnev in Russia last week. This will be followed by a team of Coal India executives examining proposals of acquisition, the executive said…

    For Australia, Coal India has already floated a tender for appointing merchant bankers to scout for assets and advice the company in acquiring stakes…
    Many bankers such as Goldman Sachs and Merill Lynch stayed away from the tender as the asset is considered dirty but ANZ, BNP ParibasNSE 1.05 %, JP Morgan and some others have shown interest…
    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/metals-mining/coal-india-targets-stakes-in-overseas-coke-mines/articleshow/69920787.cms

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    Robber

    Frightening trend in Vic wholesale electricity prices per AEMO:
    2015/16 – $46/MWhr
    2016/17 – $67
    2017/18 – $92
    2018/19 – $110.37/MWhr (now a close rival to SA – $110.54)
    Meanwhile in Qld the 2018/19 average price is $81, and in NSW $89/MWhr.
    In Qld coal still provides 80% of electricity plus 10% from gas, with regular exports to NSW that uses coal for 90% of electricity generation.
    The windy states are the clear losers, with wind supplying 0-20% in Vic, average 10%, and 0-60% in SA, average 30%.
    Vic and SA both have 2,100 MW nameplate wind capacity, 2/3 of the total in the AEMO grid.
    When will this madness stop?

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    pat

    23 Jun: NY Post: Pence dodges saying climate change is threat to the country
    By Nikki Schwab
    On Sunday the vice president sat down with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”…
    Tapper pointed to an assessment made by the Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats in January that said climate change was “likely to fuel competition for resources, economic distress and social discontent through 2019 and beyond.”
    Tapper also noted how the Trump administration this week rolled back Obama-era regulations on coal…

    “Well, what I will tell you is that we’ll always follow the science on that in this administration,” Pence replied.
    “The science says it is,” Tapper shot back.

    Pence said that President Obama’s Clean Power Plan “was hamstringing energy in this country” and “raising the cost of the utility rates for working families.”

    Tapper again asked the vice president if he thought it was a threat.
    Pence just continued with what he had been saying, adding that nations like China and India haven’t pulled their weight…

    Tapper, then again, asked Pence if he thought climate change was a threat.
    “I think the answer to that is going to be based upon the science,” Pence answered.
    When Tapper pointed out that a majority of scientists say climate change is a threat, ***the vice president cast doubt on that assessment.
    ***“Well, there’s many in the science that,” he began.

    Tapper (INTERRUPTED) pointed to Coats and scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration…
    https://nypost.com/2019/06/23/pence-dodges-saying-climate-change-is-threat-to-the-country/

    CAGW-infested FakeNewsMSM is all over this story, of course:

    24 Jun: Guardian: Mike Pence repeatedly refuses to say climate crisis is a threat to US
    by Martin Pengelly
    ***(FINAL LINE) Tapper finally gave up, and asked about Russian election interference instead.
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/23/mike-pence-climate-crisis-threat

    ***Guardian doesn’t realise how funny their final line is. CNN still pushing the Russia conspiracy theory, just as they do with the CAGW hoax.

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    pat

    Ita (Buttrose) claims it’s ‘unconscious’ but entrenched anti-coal bias at the ABC is out in the open for all to see
    The Australian – 13 hours ago
    New ABC board chair Ita Buttrose surprised Radio National host Fran Kelly on Monday, June 10 when she said the ABC really had to think about its unconscious bias. The following Monday, Media Watch made Ita’s point for her…
    He (Paul Barry/ABC Media Watch) jumped on a show on Sky News the previous week, falsely claiming host Peta Credlin had not properly declared Adani’s role in paying for a trip to India…
    Various pieces Credlin wrote for News Corp papers about her trip before Media Watch aired made the same declaration…Peta Credlin’s program in India showed Australians the reality of what coal can…

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    pat

    ***Bruno is not a CAGW sceptic:

    20 Jun: The Hill: Clean energy still lags as the world demands more power
    By ***Bruno Brunetti
    (Bruno Brunetti head of global power planning at S&P Global Platts Analytics)
    S&P Global Platts Analytics (LINK) estimates that global power generation (the sum of the conventional and renewable power generation) grew at a robust 3.5 percent pace in 2018. We have not seen such strong growth in years, and this pace is equivalent to adding the demand of Japan each year…
    As for China, annual power demand growth was about 6.5 percent in spite of lingering concerns about a trade war with the U.S. emerging already last year. In the case of the U.S., electricity needs were up by over 3 percent in 2018, the highest growth since 2011.
    Frigid temperatures earlier in the winter and a hotter summer underpinned U.S. power demand in 2018, with even weather-adjusted, demand was still up by 0.9 percent year over year…

    Power demand is not growing as fast in India as it is in China, but its global influence is still formidable. The latest numbers for 2018 point to 4.5-percent yearly growth, and a recent heatwave — the longest in Indian history — is currently underpinning demand above this level…

    These numbers become more interesting when put in the context of how the electricity is being generated. In this context, coal remains a dominant force in the generation mix…
    At the margin, higher power demand (IN CHINA) inevitably means higher utilization of its vast coal fleet. Similarly, India relies largely on coal to meet growth…
    Reliance on coal is not going away any time soon, especially as recent policy changes have actually hurt renewable investments, notably solar…

    Capacity additions for solar, in particular, slowed in 2018, with things still looking bleak so far in 2019. A number of uncertainties have emerged for the pace of solar additions due to changing supporting policies in China and the passage of duties for the import of PV modules in other major importers such as the U.S. and India…
    https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/449531-clean-energy-still-lags-as-the-world-demands-more-power

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    el gordo

    ‘The University of Wollongong has bypassed its own academic senate and greenlit the controversial Ramsay Centre-funded western civilisation degree in a bid to head off a looming court challenge.’

    Guardian

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    Hanrahan

    Earthquake rattles Darwin. How much more proof of GW do you need?

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    pat

    24 Jun: 7News: Freezing weather sees Melbourne and Sydney residents shiver through Monday morning
    Temperatures have plunged across Victoria overnight, with some areas reaching as low as minus 4C – forcing a severe frost warning to be issued…
    Record-breaking
    Melbourne experienced a record-breaking wet and wintry weekend
    The city recorded its coldest June day in more than 30 years – reaching a maximum of only 9.6 degrees on Sunday…

    The current cold snap is bad news for Victorian farmers.
    Severe frosts, which can cause crop damage, was forecast for the Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, North Central and North East forecast districts on Monday morning.
    Frosts are also expected for parts of the South West, Central, West, South and East Gippsland areas with temperatures to get down to minus 3C…

    ***The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that ground level temperatures could in fact be “many degrees lower” than those recorded at weather stations, especially in calm conditions with clear skies.
    https://7news.com.au/weather/freezing-weather-sees-melbourne-and-sydney-residents-shiver-through-monday-morning-c-180782

    23 Jun: Age: Winter records broken as Melbourne’s thick fog, icy temperatures going nowhere
    By Michael Fowler
    While increasing temperatures and wind normally help disperse fog by the afternoon, Melbourne CBD reached a maximum of only 9.6 degrees on Sunday – the lowest June temperature since 1985…
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/winter-records-broken-as-melbourne-s-thick-fog-icy-temperatures-going-nowhere-20190623-p520jh.html

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    el gordo

    ‘There has been a shift in the weather toward the Little Ice Age pattern, with big storms, late heavy rains, flooding, and even snow into the start of Summer / late Spring at higher elevations. Not just in the USA, but all over. Europe, China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, South America.

    ‘This has resulted in lots of crop losses, very late planting (or even not planting), and price rises.’

    Chiefio

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    David Maddison

    How long before the Leftards blame “global warming” or Donald Trump?

    Massive earthquake hits Darwin – 9news.com.au
    https://apple.news/AwU9cjfjTTuia_k33hjB_8w

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    Robber

    What contribution is solar making to the grid by State? Per Anero.id for the month of May:
    Qld midday peak 1.6-2.0 GW versus total generation average of 7.0 GW.
    NSW midday peak 1.1-1.4 GW versus total generation of 7.0 GW.
    Vic midday peak 0.5-1.0 GW versus total generation of 5.5 GW.
    Tas midday peak 0.1 GW versus total generation of 1.5 GW.
    SA midday peak 0.4-0.7 GW versus total generation of 1.7 GW.
    Across all AEMO States midday peak of 3.5-5.0 GW versus total generation of 23 GW.
    So those midday peaks look significant, but across the 24 hours solar delivered an average of just 1.1 GW.
    Large solar has a nameplate capacity of 3.1 GW, and rooftop over 8.0 GW for an overall capacity factor of just 10%.
    But those midday peaks are why there is now discussion about how to dial down coal generation by larger amounts at midday, yet still ramp up to meet the evening peak, and what that does to prices.

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    el gordo

    Beijing gives up virtue signalling on renewables unless they can compete commercially with coal, no contest.

    https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/international-issues/china-will-build-wind-and-solar-only-if-their-price-is-less-than-coal/

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    el gordo

    A high ranking member of the klimatriat has come out to admit that he is a denier of the extinction hypothesis.

    https://mikehulme.org/am-i-a-denier-a-human-extinction-denier/#

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    Greg Cavanagh

    I’ll just put this up for Jo and David, just in case it’s of interest.
    https://youtu.be/ztninkgZ0ws

    This is PBS Spacetime. It’s normally a fantastic science channel about explaining space and time. This particular episode is talking about the interglacials and what causes them.

    There is a bit of Climate Change is going to kill us all, at the end. But the explanation for the interglacials should be of interest to everyone.

    Anyway, it costs nothing to look see.
    Cheers

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