Thursday Unthreaded

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217 comments to Thursday Unthreaded

  • #
    Dennis

    The rise of developing nation China and the fall of developed nations like the United States of America, and Australia …

    “What is The Lima Declaration? And why has Australia has lost 98% of it’s manufacturing?

    Although signed in 1975 by Labor Senator Don Willesee, the Lima Declaration has had far reaching effects, and can clearly be seen as the blueprint for the disastrous policies embracing the bizarre philosophy known as “Globalisation”.

    The Second General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) met in Lima, Peru, during the period 12-26 March, 1975. The resulting declaration had disastrous ramifications for Australian industry. The basic reasoning behind the Declaration was that the drastic plight of the Third World was the result of the rapacious policies of the advanced industrial nations. Australia listed as one of these. The only way to rectify the situation was to transfer industrial resources from advanced countries like Australia to the Third World, then to provide markets for Third World exports by buying products once produced locally.

    Both major parties are equally to blame for betraying the nation. The Fraser Government took over where Whitlam left off, Hawke and Keating increased the tempo of the programme with Mr Hawke, Keating, Button and other senior ministers telling unsuspecting Australians they were working to ‘internationalise’ the Australian economy. The truth is, they were sowing the seeds that has almost decimated Australian manufacturing and industry and has seen Australian jobs disappear overseas.

    More than half of Australia’s manufacturing capacity has been destroyed since 1974 and the economic carnage continues while Australia imports vast quantities of goods once produced locally. While we’re ploughing oranges into the ground, we’re buying concentrate back from Brazil. Our car industry has all but disappeared, steel making is on it’s knees and our petroleum industry is under severe threat of being moved overseas. If a situation arises where there is a serious threat in the region, we will be unable to defend ourselves. The Declaration will leave Austraia short of technology, tools and jobs and we can thank scores of useless and short sighted politicians for that – on all sides of Parliament.

    In 1970 estimates numbered Australian farmers at around 300,000, the number is now below125,000.

    A call for change was made in March 1975 when the Second General Conference of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), meeting in Lima, issued a Declaration and World Plan of Action.

    The Lima Declaration and Plan of Action called for the redistribution of world industry so that developing countries would have 25% of it by the year 2000. Now in Australia we have lost more then 98% of our Industries to third world countries – along with our jobs . To achieve this, radical changes in traditional concepts and practices are recommended. Economic growth in poorer countries could no longer be seen as the “trickle down” benefit of growth in rich countries. To close the gap between rich and poor nations the developing countries would have to grow faster than the developed countries. With this end in mind, the Lima Declaration sets out the “main principles of industrialisation” and defines the “means by which the international community as a whole might take broad action to establish a New International Economic Order”.

    Wonder why we’re importing so much fish and seafood from countries like Thailand and Vietnam – when we are surrounded by vast oceans? Look no further than Resolution 27 “Developed Countries such as Australia should expand it’s imports from developing countries.”
    Are you puzzled why so much industry and jobs have moved overseas? Maybe look at Resolution 35 “Developed Countries (Australia) should transfer technical, financial, and capital goods to developing countries to accomplish resolution 28 above.”

    (35) “That special attention should be given to the least developed countries, which should enjoy a net transfer of resources from the developed countries in the form of technical and financial resources as well as capital goods, to enable the least developed countries in conformity with the policies and plans for development, to accelerate their industrialisation.”

    (41) “That the developed countries should adhere strictly to the principle that the Generalised System of Preferences must not be used as an instrument for economic and political pressure to hamper the activities of those developing countries which produce raw materials”

    (43) “That the developing countries should fully and effectively participate in the international decision making process on international monetary questions in accordance with the existing and evolving rules of the competent bodies and share equitably in the benefits resulting therefrom”

    (52) “That the developing countries should devote particular attention to the development of basic industries such as steel, chemicals, petro chemicals and engineering, thereby consolidating their economic independence while at the same time assuring an effective form of import substitution and a greater share of world trade”.

    The UN is a giant unregulated Non Government Organisation with its sights set on a one world government, where people in power have no loyalties to countries like Australia. The Lima Agreement has the potential to turn developed countries like Australia into non developed countries – no wonder so many Australians are worried for their children’s and grandchildren’s futures.

    Like most Australians, you’ve probably never heard of the Lima Agreement. Some information is available on the buttons below. There is a vast amount of information available on the Internet.

    Australian Conservative Coalition”

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    • #
      PeterW

      Sounds good.
      Problem is that the primary reason we have lost manufacturing is because we have sat back, fat dumb and happy, assuming that we can raise the costs of doing business in Australia, without anything bad happening.

      Centralised wage fixing.
      Excessive power and transport costs.
      Taxing jobs.
      Red tape and compliance costs.

      Every damned time you think that the solution to someone breaking the law is more laws and more controls and more burdens on those who aren’t theproblem then you are aiding and abetting whatever international conspiracy theory you think is operating.

      Every time you think that someone who made a poor decision should be protected by making “business” pay for it, you are part of the problem.

      Every time you support some non-essential government policy or program that requires more taxes and charges to pay for it…. you are part of the problem.

      Every. Damned. Time.

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      • #
        PeterW

        Don’t be fooled.

        Successive Australian State and a Federal Governments have used international treaties as an excuse for doing things that they have found difficulty justifying domestically.
        A Treaty is not a commitment to commit suicide.

        We could leave. There would be a cost, but we are not totally bloody helpless just because some Senatorsigned something back in the 70s.

        Put the blame where it belongs – those who CHOOSE to continue down this path.

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    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      The rise of developing nation China and the fall of developed nations like the United States of America, and Australia. What is The Lima Declaration? And why has Australia has lost 98% of it’s manufacturing?

      I expect you would like to pin the blame on some nefarious globalists somewhere, but the reality is that globalism is totally and utterly the product of Australian corporations. And capitalists worldwide doing exactly the same thing.

      Country Road or Billabong can make a pair of shorts in say Vietnam for $1.00, rather than say $10.00 in Ringwood in Melbourne.

      That’s all you need to know about globalism really – and I’m not certain Lima has much to do with things. Plus we the punters like cheaper TVs and cheaper T-shirts.

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        Ian

        I don’t think Australians like to be made aware that many of Australia’s current woes, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture are due to high Australian wages and a belief that these wages are our God-given right. They are not. How many Australians go fruit picking? How many Australians want cheap milk and veggies and fruit and fish and chicken and clothes and TVs and computers? Why is so much imported from China and Vietnam and India and Thailand? ‘Coz it’s cheap cheap cheap.

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        • #
          Tilba Tilba

          I don’t think Australians like to be made aware that many of Australia’s current woes, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture are due to high Australian wages and a belief that these wages are our God-given right. They are not.

          I believe Australian workers are entitled to a living wage – and better. Australian unionists and others have struggled for 150 years to try and achieve decent wages and conditions. The capitalist deep state would like to reduce Aussie wages to Asian poverty levels if they could.

          How many Australians go fruit picking?

          It’s hard mostly hot work, and most Australians don’t want to do it for the money it pays. That’s why we get either backpackers or seasonal workers on 457 visas to do it.

          How many Australians want cheap milk and veggies and fruit and fish and chicken and clothes and TVs and computers? Why is so much imported from China and Vietnam and India and Thailand? ‘Coz it’s cheap cheap cheap.

          Most food is produced in Australia thank goodness. All other consumer goods come from China and Southeast Asia. But that’s what is so ridiculous about all the conspiracy theorists who rant about the globalist conspiracies – it is all total gibberish. Australian companies have gone overseas to get their stuff much cheaper, and consumers have lapped it up.

          All the Trumpy MAGA, Soros, Illuminati, Davos, Soros nutters have to get a grip … the New World Order and the Great Reset does not come from Zurich or Geneva or wherever … it comes from Mr and Mrs Smith in Liverpool or Dandenong who can get a great TV for $599.

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          • #
            Ian

            “It’s hard mostly hot work, and most Australians don’t want to do it for the money it pays. That’s why we get either backpackers or seasonal workers on 457 visas to do it.”

            When I was in my 20s I worked at any job I could get so I’m not too sympathetic to the hard hot work that most Australians don’t want to do.

            Yes most of Australia’s food is produced in Australia but the prices Australians expect to pay in the supermarkets doesn’t give the producers very much profit margin at all. I guess if Coles and Woolies and IGA jacked up prices the producers still wouldn’t benefit as the extra probably would never get to them.

            As for Australian wages I disagree that Australians deserve a living wage and better. They don’t “deserve” it if doing so causes businesses to close and relocate off shore thus removing all wages whether deserved or not. I think the unions who are pushing for ever increasing wagesare not doing Australian workers any favours

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              Tilba Tilba

              When I was in my 20s I worked at any job I could get so I’m not too sympathetic to the hard hot work that most Australians don’t want to do.

              So did I for quite a while, and I also agree that more young people should get out there and do that work if they are unemployed. They might actually benefit from it – if not exactly enjoy it. But the reality is that they don’t or won’t, and our farmers are suffering badly from a severe lack of willing labour.

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              • #
                PeterW

                You deserve what you are willing to work for

                If you do not create as much value as that “living wage”, then you most definitely do not deserve it. Anything you are given over and above what you contribute, is charity. Not a “right”, not an “entitlement”.

                Bear in mind that what you call a “living wage” supports a lifestyle that my grandparents would have described as luxurious . The majority of the so-called poor, still have heating, air conditioning, television and transport, not just the bare necessities of food, clothing and shelter.

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              • #
                Great Aunt Janet

                and the idiots in charge have just arranged to increase the jobseeker again, so that labour will never become willing.

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          • #
            Gail Combs

            No Tilba Tilba,

            You are showing you know nothing of economics.

            Low Taxes + Low Cost Energy + minimum regulation and RED TAPE is what matters. Wages are less and less important as things become more automated. Tariffs (Excise Tax) can also be used to ‘even the playing field’ and were up until the 1970s in the USA. That is the formula Trump was using BTW, I recognized it and that is why I voted for him in 2016.

            https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/sites/default/files/3.1.1_-_figure_3_0_0.png

            Tariffs were the ONLY source of US federal income up until 1913 when the Federal Reserve Act put into place a Central Bank and wealth had to be confiscated from individuals to pay off the interest on the Fiat Fairy Dust created out of nothing.

            https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/sites/default/files/3.1.1_-_figure_3_0_0.png

            For the socialists — LOOK AT THAT LAST CHART!

            Up until 1913 ONLY tariffs on IMPORTED LUXURY GOODS funded the government. (A tax on the WEALTHY!!!) Then in 1913, they change it. Now the tax was on the middle class and poor in the form of a tax on WAGES while the tax on investments dividends is kept very low. The WEALTHY DO NOT WORK so they do not pay a tax on WAGES. (Why is it that socialists never realize that?)

            Also by going to a fractional reserve(ha ha, it is 3%) currency that can be ‘borrowed’ at the whim of the Cabal who is really running the government, the USA has CONSTANTLY been at war.

            War is very useful when combined with central bank lending. First it makes LOTS of money for the Financiers/corporations and second it kills off the middle class Alpha Males that might challenge their place in society. I have first hand knowledge of how a highly placed democrat’s grandson had his draft papers ‘lost’ until the end of the Vietnam war.

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            • #
              Gail Combs

              Ack – The second graph is:

              https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/Federal_taxes_by_type.pdf/page1-800px-Federal_taxes_by_type.pdf.jpg

              ……….

              Also we can not compare wages from one country to another with out looking at how much goes to taxes and how much the remaining wage will buy.

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            • #
              Tilba Tilba

              Well … all straight out of the far-right Ayn Rand playbook.

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            • #
              Tilba Tilba

              The WEALTHY DO NOT WORK so they do not pay a tax on WAGES. (Why is it that socialists never realize that?)

              They do in fact realise it only too well.

              Which is why most social-democratic-progressive economists argue strongly for a reduction in income tax on the working and middle class, and a significantly higher tax rate on assets (money and property), and especially a significantly higher tax on capital gains (the wealth you make when you don’t have to go out and earn wages for a living).

              Set at the right rates, the total tax take can in fact be a bit higher. Of course the wealthy can hide such wealth offshore and in trusts, but it’s not as easy to hide real assets and capital gains as you can hide income.

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    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      Wonder why we’re importing so much fish and seafood from countries like Thailand and Vietnam – when we are surrounded by vast oceans?

      We do have vast oceans, but in terms of serious fishing, they are mostly deserts. Thailand and Vietnam have a large and complex fish-farming industry, and they can import perfectly good fish into our markets at a competitive price.

      In general, we always try to buy Australian fish at our fishmonger, but a lot of people buy Thai and Vietnamese fish too, obviously.

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      • #
        Murray Shaw

        No Tilba, Australia territorial waters are not deserts, they have been declared Marine National Parks, and the fishing fleets that fished them have been de licensed and the boats spld

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        • #
          Tilba Tilba

          We do have vast oceans, but in terms of serious fishing, they are mostly deserts.

          In terms of being really productive, economic fishing grounds, the oceans around Australia are fairly poverty-stricken. There is not a lot out there, sadly. Some tuna off Port Lincoln, some barra off the Top End, but that’s about it.

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      • #
        Peter C

        Our surrounding ocean waters are fishing deserts?

        I have not heard that before. Perhaps you should inform the Vietnamese and Japanese long line fishing fleets that they are wasting their time.

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        • #
          Sceptical Sam

          He just has.

          And, the 300,000 strong contingent of the PLA cyber intelligence army has taken clear note of Tilba Tilba’s information. His .03 cents will be in the mail.

          The Chinese Distant Water Fishing (DWF) fleets have been redirected, as we speak, to the far more productive fishing grounds off South Africa.

          Throw another prawn on the barbie.

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          • #
            Tilba Tilba

            And, the 300,000 strong contingent of the PLA cyber intelligence army has taken clear note of Tilba Tilba’s information. His .03 cents will be in the mail.

            The dedication of the Loopy Right to the belief that the CCP is controlling everything – including my humble posts – is hilarious and farcical. But keep it up – we all like a good laugh!

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            • #
              Sceptical Sam

              Spoken like a true running dog of the CCP.

              Go tell it to the Guardian Tilba Tilba. Even it publishes the facts on occasions.

              You really do need to broaden your understanding of current world developments.

              “…. With social media, the CCP floods societies with propaganda and disinformation to weaken people’s faith in democracy and create political instability. In pursuit of social media dominance, the PRC has established a PLA cyber force of perhaps 300,000 soldiers as well as a netizen “50 Cent Army” of perhaps 2 million individuals who are paid a nominal fee to make comments on social media sites supporting CCP propaganda and coercion. In conjunction with the PLA Strategic Support Force, many of these so-called “netizens” use social media to intimidate and coerce multinational corporations, celebrities, foreign governments and organizations, and critics of PRC genocide and expansionism.”

              https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/democracies-still-dont-understand-ccps-political-warfare-kerry-gershaneck

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        • #
          Broadie

          Have to support Tilba on this,

          Australia is a desert on land and a desert in the sea. That is precisely why ‘the farm’s run-off is killing the reef’ was bollocks. See the ENCORE study or phone Nauru and ask where their phosphate went.

          Even the Aquaculture Industry imports protein from the rich fisheries like the coast of Chile.

          Our fisheries probably would have been able to continue to produce a quality product for local markets and the high value export market if the family fishermen remained in control of their local fisheries. Unfortunately bureaucracies and career politicians like big players and we have seen the rape of our fisheries and the demise of the local fishermen as the industry was over regulated and under enforced.
          Why wouldn’t they? Great junkets and you don’t have to answer the phone to cranky trawler skippers and fishwives business partners.

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          • #
            Tilba Tilba

            Our fisheries probably would have been able to continue to produce a quality product for local markets and the high value export market if the family fishermen remained in control of their local fisheries.

            Yes – I have watched over my life the demise of the small-boat family fishermen, basically from Mooloolaba to Eden. In particular, Crowdy Head north of Taree – where my family has had a beach-shack for nearly 60 years.

            All the small boats have gone … there are now about 2-3 really large boats that can sail much further off-shore. But sadly – so much of it has been chronically but inexorably over-fished – by both commercial and recreational fishers – and it is not now a fertile field.

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            Sceptical Sam

            This is classic.

            Here we have environmental hypocrites telling us that they are against regulation that ensures sustainable Australian fisheries.

            Flatheads all.

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            • #
              Broadie

              Nice in a theoretical sense SS, not in practice.
              There are fisheries regulated to be managed by Fisherman and these are successful, much the same as the National Parks when they were leased to Graziers. They do no not end up as smoldering wastelands infested with feral animals and weeds. The managers have a vested interest and the incentive to protect the environment.

              The ‘Flatheads’ vote for the magnificent looking enforcement vessels. At anchor waiting for a budget to fill their fuel tanks and a crew able to work 24/7 without becoming eligible after a couple of trips to sit home having accumulated enough leave and further education hours they do not need to work again until retirement age.

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      • #
        Geoffrey Williams

        It is well known that the best fishing waters are the colder oceans. Australian waters are not good fishing grounds. Look at the price of Australian fish . .
        Geoff W

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        • #
          Tilba Tilba

          And what was there when I was a kid has just about been fished out … fishing fleets along the entire east coast have shrunk or disappeared altogether. We still do prawns, oysters and crayfish, but snapper, flathead, bream, and much else … much harder to find now in commercial quantities.

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          • #
            yarpos

            mmmm things change, amazing

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          • #
            Sceptical Sam

            Fishing fleets have shrunk because they ripped the guts out of the fisheries. That’s your family fishing industry for you.

            We now see a managed and sustainable Australian fishing industry responsibly harvesting within fixed (but flexible) quotas.

            The Chinese and Indonesians pay little attention to the sustainability objectives.

            “Estimates of the total size of China’s global fishing fleet vary widely. By some calculations, China has anywhere from 200,000 to 800,000 fishing boats, accounting for nearly half of the world’s fishing activity. The Chinese government says its distant-water fishing fleet, or those vessels that travel far from China’s coast, numbers roughly 2,600, but other research, such as this study by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), puts this number closer to 17,000,…”

            https://e360.yale.edu/features/how-chinas-expanding-fishing-fleet-is-depleting-worlds-oceans

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            • #
              Broadie

              You are on the ball there SS, now here are a few contact details for ‘Sea Shepherd’ & ‘Rainbow Warrior’

              Please report back to this blog when you have alerted our enviro warriors to the presence of Chinese Fishing Fleets.

              An update on the Spratlys and their campaign there would be helpful while you are at it.

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  • #
    OldOzzie

    Is The U.S. Going The Way Of Afghanistan?

    Acrimony and recriminations continue to swirl around the 2020 presidential election. Three out of four Republicans believe that there was “widespread fraud” in the election, while Democrats have sought to turn criticisms of the election into a “Big Lie” heresy against democracy. Senior congressional Democrats are pressuring the nation’s largest cable providers to cease carrying conservative networks such as Fox News that raised too many questions about Biden’s victory.

    What could possibly go wrong with sweeping the 2020 election controversies under the rug? Clues can be found in a recent report, “Elections: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan,” produced by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). That report contains more wisdom than will be found in President Trump’s idiotic tweet in December: “A young military man working in Afghanistan told me that elections in Afghanistan are far more secure and much better run than the USA’s 2020 Election.”

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    • #
      Ian

      “Senior congressional Democrats are pressuring the nation’s largest cable providers to cease carrying conservative networks such as Fox News that raised too many questions about Biden’s victory.’

      I suppose they took their lead from Trump who Twittered:

      “daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was @FoxNews!”

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    • #
      Dave in the States

      All the Dems needed to do to put election integrity questions to rest, was to be transparent and allow forensic inspection-if the election results were legit of course. The fact that they instead sought to cover it all up and shouted down any questions are very telling.

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      • #
        Tilba Tilba

        All the Dems needed to do to put election integrity questions to rest, was to be transparent and allow forensic inspection

        I have quite a bit of sympathy for this view. While it is never required that a defendant prove they did not commit the murder, in politics that rules of law need to be more nuanced.

        It is the case that almost all the contentious close states are in the electoral and administrative hands of the Republican Party (a fact not often mentioned by those who believe the election was stolen).

        But still – politically – the Democrats could have dealt with the whole controversy a lot better – rather than hide behind their lawyers fighting tooth and nail to ensure complainants didn’t “have standing” or whatever.

        Having said that, it’s highly doubtful that Trump and the MAGA faithful would have accepted any sort of genuine evidence that the elections were fair and honest … outside the narrative.

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        • #
          Disco

          Though there are hardliners on both sides that refuse to believe they lost, the overwhelming difference between right and left is that one believes in outcomes and the other in process. That is why one side dreams of ideals and the other freedom to make your own decisions.

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        Gail Combs

        Not only have the Dems (and ReBoobs) refused to allow audits they have DESTROYED EVIDENCE THAT BY LAW MUST BE RETAINED FOR 22 MONTHS! And then they used Lawfare via the ‘Russia,Russia, Russia’ hoaxing law firm Perkins Coie to SUE for a Billion+ anyone who tries to put out the truth about the foreign connections to the US voting machines.

        Update on Georgia ballots: DHS had been trying to move forward this week. Two days ago FBI jumped in claiming jurisdiction. Yesterday 3 PM FBI took control of shredding truck and materials, directed they be returned to shredding operation and the shredding job completed.

        — Patrick Byrne (@PatrickByrne) January 9, 2021

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        • #
          Lucky

          Exactly. TT talks about not having to prove innocence. But here that side destroys evidence, that is itself a crime as ballots must be retained for 22 months (in most States). The FBI took control of shredding claiming jurisdiction, implying they do not have to follow State law.

          An interesting principle is at work- Act regardless of law. There are no repercussions as they control the agencies that would prosecute, and control the courts should a case sneak thru. The mechanisms whereby courts are controlled need further exposure, bribery or threats?

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          Tilba Tilba

          Not only have the Dems (and ReBoobs) refused to allow audits they have DESTROYED EVIDENCE THAT BY LAW MUST BE RETAINED FOR 22 MONTHS! And then they used Lawfare via the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoaxing law firm Perkins Coie to SUE for a Billion+ anyone who tries to put out the truth about the foreign connections to the US voting machines.

          As I have noted at least a dozen times, of the 7-8 closest swing states, the legislatures and most of the political machinery was in the hands of the Republican Party.

          Every single state certified their elections and electors by the safe-harbor date of 8 December (except WI – who were one day late). Donald Trump’s election dispute was almost totally with his own party, not the Democrats.

          Dominion in my view have every right to sue the pants off the lunatics who spoke fast & loose (Giuliani, Lin Wood, Sidney Powell, The Pillow Guy, etc). Free speech is fine, but there can be very serious $$ consequences if you defame someone without evidence.

          We have seen no evidence – just wild-eyed assertions and rumours.

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          • #
            Lucky

            There is a sizable segment of the R Party, M McConnell, Gov, and S of S of Georgia, etc that are de factor members of the D Party. It makes no sense, except perhaps to anyone quite ignorant of US politics, to refer to them as Trump’s Party.

            “We have seen no evidence” Include me out. I have seen the vote allocations (one vote goes two ways at 0.667 to 0.333 with some variations but to three significant figures in decimals), and screen vids showing votes going down.
            I have seen quotes from head of Dominion- machines cannot be connected to internet- and vids showing machine output controlled over the net, etc.

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    I’m shocked. Just shocked. Who would have thought it was CP?

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      Let’s hope he receives the same ‘look the other way’ treatment given to Bill Shorten, eh!

      Huh! Somehow I doubt it.

      This is not Labor, so it’s guilty until proven innocent forever.

      Same time period too.

      Tony.

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        Dennis

        Ray Hadley has accused Kristina Keneally of double standards in calling for a inquiry into a historical rape allegation against a cabinet minister.

        Ray pointed out that Labor have not afforded the unnamed minister the same precedent set by inquiries into a historical claim made against Bill Shorten.

        Speaking to The Australian‘s political editor Dennis Shanahan, Ray called out Ms Keneally’s hypocrisy.

        “This is the same Kristina Keneally that joined with Penny Wong and Tanya Plibersek on the campaign trail with Bill Shorten without comment!

        “This sort of two-faced attitude doesn’t sit well: no wonder she was unelectable in NSW.

        2GB Radio

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          Tilba Tilba

          I rarely agree with the Loopy Right, but in this case, they have a point: I though Christine Keneally (our token Seppo Senator) was ducking and weaving yesterday and today.

          I have no idea whether Bill Shorten has form (and he is my local member here in Maribyrnong) – but there is no doubt that times have changed, and Christian Porter will probably be nailed against a wall, especially as the teenager involved has now committed suicide. It was his fault.

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            Peter C

            I rarely agree with the Loopy Right

            The “Loopy Right”? Who are they?

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            Harves

            “I have no idea whether Bill Shorten has form (and he is my local member here in Maribyrnong)”.
            Perhaps if you broadened your information sources you would have an idea … it’s been pretty common knowledge for years. Or are you still of the belief “If it’s not been reported on the ABC, it never happened”?

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              Tilba Tilba

              it’s been pretty common knowledge for years.

              Sorry, but conspiracy nutfudge titbits on the loopy wordpress sites doesn’t constitute “common knowledge” in my book. It doesn’t literally have to be on the ABC, but it certainly helps its credibility if it is.

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                Frost Giant Rebellion

                Tilba are you saying there is something negative about conspiracy theories? Thats your thesis?

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                Harves

                Your ABC certainly gave lots of time to Tim Flanery’s predictions of dams never filling, no Arctic ice by 2013, snow being a thing of the past, Labor’s certain victory at the last election. Credibility? Too funny.

                By the way, here’s a link to the Herald Sun article where Shorten confessed he was investigated. Is this what you mean by ‘nut fudge titbits’?
                https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/bill-shorten-reveals-he-was-investigated-over-rape-claim/news-story/7aab0f2d14146e1bba5be39f585be259

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                Sorry, but conspiracy nutfudge titbits on the loopy wordpress sites doesn’t constitute “common knowledge” in my book. It doesn’t literally have to be on the ABC, but it certainly helps its credibility if it is.

                See what I mean here about some commentators here and how they never take any links.

                What I linked to above was not someone from the, umm, ‘loopy right’ as you so eloquently denigrated everyone else here, and also not any conspiracy nutfudge titbits on loopy wordpress sites, but a link to multiple pages of news sites actually, all detailing the exact same situation with Bill Shorten.

                What is it with you people from the left who always just mindlessly sneer at and snidley insult everyone else, as if you are the only people who ‘know stuff’?

                Tony.

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            williamx

            Tilba

            You are out of line.
            Way out of line.

            Everyone should know by now that I have assisted in prosecuting cases in the NSW Coronial Court.

            Your quote.

            “Porter will probably be nailed against a wall, especially as the teenager involved has now committed suicide. It was his fault.

            End quote.

            I am calling you out Tilba.

            What you have written is disgusting and reprehensible.

            What you have done is made yourself Judge, Jury, and a opinionated fool.

            “It was his fault”

            Explain to me why?. Tilba.. You must have the evidence and facts that the NSW Police service do not.

            NSW Police are not prosecuting the case. It was dropped as there is not enough evidence.

            Australian law must be upheld, not the law that is decided by you, mob rule or anyone else.

            A person must have the right to defend themselves in a court of law.
            Hearsay is not proof of guilt.

            Is Porter guilty of allegations… I do not know….AND NEITHER DO YOU

            Our rights are lost if the mob decides whom is guilty or not.

            This is not the Salem witch hunt Tilba.

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              williamx

              There has been a change of posts.. Tilbas original post seems to have gone. Ahh well, mine is what it is, from what was stated before.

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              And also what was not mentioned even in passing by the ABC was that the woman concerned actually withdrew the complaint made to the NSW Police, the ABC salivating that they alone are responsible for the scalp of a Government Minister, making every excuse they can find to declare him guilty. They can run with this for weeks now, and all the Oxygen is taken away from the Government on anything at all.

              And doesn’t it make you think a little that a Government riding so high so recently now all of a sudden finds all these little related things aimed directly at them.

              Albo must be laughing like a pig in mud right now, thinking to himself that there’s no chance now that Shorten would take a punt on the Leadership again.

              It’s all worked out pretty well for Albo now hasn’t it? All he has to watch out for is plyberserk.

              Tony.

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              Tilba Tilba

              My Dear William

              Please calm down – you misread my paragraph entirely (and it is still happily there, by the way):

              I have no idea whether Bill Shorten has form (and he is my local member here in Maribyrnong) – but there is no doubt that times have changed, and Christian Porter will probably be nailed against a wall, especially as the teenager involved has now committed suicide. It was his fault.

              If you re-read it carefully, you will see what is meant: times have changed, the attacks on those accused are harsher, and it will be claimed the suicide was ultimately caused by Christian Porter.

              I certainly don’t know whether it was true or is a long bow to pull.

              By the way – many people on here make firm, definite statements of “fact” all the time – they act as judge and jury. Look how many have stated categorically that the Democrats committed widespread sophisticated fraud to steal the presidential election.

              I am actually one of the few voices who says that repeating it over and over doesn’t make it true – the onus was on Trump to take proper evidence to a proper authority and get a judgement that the election was rigged.

              He failed utterly to do so … that is not the Democrat’s problem … and it’s not up to them to prove the election was fair and honest.

              28

          • #
            Chad

            Tilba Tilba
            March 3, 2021 at 4:47 pm · ..
            …. It was his fault…
            .

            TT..your pants are down , and we can now see what you really are..
            A D1k , and an A55h0le . !

            15

            • #
              Annie

              I don’t like that comment Chad. Even if one agrees with the sentiment, the expression of it could be less ugly.

              52

            • #
              Tilba Tilba

              TT .. your pants are down

              Hi Chad … I can recommend good English Comprehensioning classes if you wish – they cover everything, including irony, sarcasm, satire, and literary style. Could be good!

              22

              • #
                Chad

                TT.. either you need a few lessons in grammar and sentence construction,..
                ….or you are as i suggested…
                ..which is it ?

                01

        • #
          Richard Jenkins

          The Shorten allegation was dismissed as his word against hers.
          It is true, BUT whilst witnesses did not see the actual act a number witnessed the lead up to the alleged asault and
          a distraught victim soon after.
          That really becomes a beyond reasonable doubt issue. Shorten said he was proved innocent.
          The jury would have a lot to ponder. The police were irresponsible to not have a trial. There were ‘witnesses’.
          Porter is not comparable. I feel for the grieving family. Blame is typical grief symptom.

          20

    • #
      Tilba Tilba

      Is he the man of “Family Values”?

      312

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      What would you know about a bit of kiss and tickle at age 17?

      61

  • #

    Can I request that Friday unthreaded be put up soon. I have some comments relating to my weekend plans.

    416

    • #
      Peter C

      Thanks,

      A review of the work of Marlene Zuk would be welcome.

      40

      • #
        robert rosicka

        Ouch Peter that hurts , I think I have a copy from his well read blog and no not the crazier one about Cubisim the first one which was a comedy par excellence.

        “ I have had so many requests from my legions of fans to post more blogs. No really, there are a surprising number of people out there that read and re read my pastes… I mean posts … and check in to see if I have added anything new.
        So today’s, and possibly this year’s, new post should satisfy those fans. Basically it is this link about scientific theories.
        Yep, this is another placeholder in case I need to move someone on from their argument by distraction. You know the one where they write, “it is only a theory”. Amazingly, people still try to slip that one into an argument. They are often the same people who distract with, “it is only a model”, without understanding that their lives would soon come to an end without models.”

        Having worked with Marlene Zuk many years ago I was drawn to read her book. This article gives a pretty good indication of the nature of the contents and I share the critique that it is sometimes trying to crack a nut with a sledgehammer. And here is an example of a paleofantasist with a poor grasp of the mechanics of natural selection and the details of human evolution.

        When your hear or read something and you are compelled to say, “Gee. ”

        Must admit this piece of drivel is my favourite!

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    • #
      Frost Giant Rebellion

      Gee. Apparently you came upon the idea that Trump had the vaccine. I know evolutionary biologists are supposed to be mentally lazy. But did you ever review this belief of yours?

      1. Why would he do such a thing? What would be the motive? He already had Covid-19 and knows how to cure it.

      2. What would be the motive of the perpetrators to let celebrities in general have the real vaccine?

      3. For what reason did you imagine that you are in a position to sort out who has and who has not had the real vaccine? Even superman couldn’t verify such a thing through his computer.

      4. Your claim that Trump had the real vaccine …. supposing that was true, as in your fantasy? What would that prove exactly? What point did you think you were making? Did you think that Trump having the vaccine would prove that the vaccine wasn’t damaging?

      See this is the logic deficit you guys bring to your work. I’m not saying evolution is a dumb idea or anything. But the advocates have gotten powerfully lazy. Its a full-blown institutional phenomenon.

      81

      • #

        geez FGR and I get called a troll. Find someone else to answer your theories and so forth. Life is too short.

        23

        • #
          Frost Giant Rebellion

          Life is too short to take your faith based approach to all aspects of life. I mean on an existential level I’ve got to admire your point of view. Its a fools paradise you live in. Its like you are living in a Brady Bunch world. People can steal an election right in front of your nose and its “nothing to see here.” Doesn’t matter what the subject is its always run from the evidence and nothing to see here.

          22

    • #
      TedM

      More trolling GA?

      22

      • #

        It was meant with good humour but call it trolling if you must. Thursday unthreaded was out while Wednesday was still active and even Tonga had not had the sun set on Wednesday afternoon.

        12

  • #
    Peter Fitzroy

    Australia confirms extinction of 13 more species, including first reptile since colonisation
    Christmas Island forest skink and 12 mammals on list, which also includes the desert bettong, broad-cheeked hopping mouse and Nullarbor barred bandicoot

    http://www.environment.gov.au/node/50977

    And yet we want to reduce environment protections – pave the planet! that’s what I say

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    Ian

    About the only extinction that’ll save the planet is extinction of the human race

    015

    • #
      Peter C

      That is a weird, yet popular (with some)idea. eg Paul Ehrlich (still pushing his nonsense)
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_R._Ehrlich

      We are part of Gaia, same as all the other species. I don’t know how Gaia would manage without us.

      Anyway, you first Ian.

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      • #

        No Hammurabi Rules* in the Humanitees Departments. No matter how many times your predictions may fail, jest try,try again and again and launch the next revisionist or prediction book published by yr fellow opinion-makers and purchased by the gross by yr acolytes.

        *Time was when an engineer had to sleep under his own bridge.

        140

      • #
        Ian

        At my age Peter I probably won’t be first but I’ll not be far behind.

        16

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      John R Smith

      “About the only extinction that’ll save the planet is extinction of the human race”

      Ah, the Great Cult manifest.
      Would Kool Aid ala Jonestown be sufficient?
      Probably not enough suffering for true purification.
      I suggest the Rack then Drawing and Quartering.
      Judicial Immolation is always good for sin cleansing.
      Do you include the Indigenous?
      They live in perfect harmony with nature.
      I think you owe the Indigenous an apology.

      40

    • #
      Wet Mountains

      Then who would know if the plant was saved? However, I must agree with Peter C, you first. Show us what you’re really made of.

      50

    • #
      Hanrahan

      And then the pigeons, seagulls and other dump chickens will have a hard time surviving.

      10

    • #
      Gail Combs

      OK Ian,
      You go first! :>)

      00

  • #
    • #
      Hanrahan

      As one of the vanishing cadre of people who saw the GBR in its splendour before the crown of thorns devastation, I can assure you that, while mot dead, it is not healthy either.

      It must have been ten years ago a technical college in Brisbane developed a drone that could recognise and inject the COT. The world is too busy chasing CO2 to concern itself with the GBR so it has never been utilised AFAIK.

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      • #
        Peter C

        It is remarkable that the world has been convinced that one of its most pristine ecosystems is on its last legs. Part of the problem is that, being underwater and a long way from the coast, very few people visit the reef. The truth is hidden. Those of us in North Queensland living adjacent to the reef, and tourists from elsewhere, can report the water is iridescent clear blue and totally unpolluted. The fish and coral are fabulous.

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/12/09/peter-ridd-its-the-science-thats-rotten-not-the-great-barrier-reef/

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        • #
          Hanrahan

          Like CO2, nitrogen fixed in the water is invisible. The EFFECT of nitrogen can be seen however because algae proliferates. At my age it is some time since I have been there but I did not notice algae smothering coral. I doubt water quality or temperature are major problems.

          21

      • #
        RicDre

        James Cook University Walks Back Extreme Global Warming Coral Extinction Claims

        by Eric Worrall

        Peter Ridd is right – the Great Barrier Reef is not in immediate danger of dying. James Cook University, Peter Ridd’s adversary in his unfair dismissal court case, has just slightly walked back some of their more ridiculous Great Barrier Reef extinction claims.

        Coral count rethinks extinction risk

        Fraser Barton

        The global extinction risk of most coral species is lower than previously estimated, scientists in North Queensland claim.

        In a world-first, researchers at James Cook University have assessed the number of coral colonies in the Pacific Ocean and evaluated their risk of extinction.

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/03/02/james-cook-university-walks-back-extreme-global-warming-coral-extinction-claims/

        30

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  • #
    • #
      Hanrahan

      I have lived my three score and ten plus some and that is the first Robin Hood episode I have watched. No green thumb I’m afraid. 🙁

      00

  • #
    Peter C

    Is there any hope for the USA?

    Donald J Trump still thinks so;
    “I will fight on, just as I have, for the last five years (even before I was successfully elected), despite all of the election crimes that were committed against me. We will win!”

    He is endorsing candidates for upcoming elections.
    https://gab.com/realdonaldtrump

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    tonyb

    On a previous Unthreaded I asked if anyone who had a co2 measuring device could post some recent results. As I previously mentioned my new -but inexpensive-machine seems to be way out, regularly recording 550ppm outdoors. There are no signs of growth here yet in England-other than daffodils so I appreciate that we are at the highest point of the cycle and we are in an urban area but with very little traffic, but even so, surely the figure is wrong?

    Anyone out there with a CO2 device?

    30

    • #
      yarpos

      Im puzzled that you think that number is unusual. Its not a order of magnitude away from what you expect and what you expect is a moving global average measures in other ideally placed places and hyped by the media.

      50

    • #
      RickWill

      Take the device to the southern shore when there is a southerly blowing in July. If it is still reading above 500pm then it could be in need of calibration.

      I have seen data that shows the high northern latitudes peak around May. I figure there is a lot of fossil fuel being burnt to keep the place warm. This image is for March last year:
      https://www.severe-weather.eu/wp-content/gallery/andrej-news/co2cl_in_inst1_2d_hwl_Nx.20200322_001.png
      It shows the higher CO2 levels in the northern hemisphere. I expect ground level CO2 would be higher because that is closer to the source. I expect Drax is working hard right now; lots of CO2 going up in smoke from there.

      40

  • #
    David Maddison

    Look at the table at https://www.onsetcomp.com/blog/improve-your-iaq-and-monitor-co2

    Typical city and urban air is 400ppm to 600ppm.

    550ppm is well within that range.

    41

    • #
      tonyb

      Thanks for the various replies. The reason for my concern is that the device also measures traffic pollution etc so I am concerned that if Co2 is wrong then these other readings may also be incorrect, thereby rendering the device worthless.

      Bearing in mind that in the past there has been lots of burning of very dirty materials, plus clearance of forests, plus agriculture, the claimed 280ppm prior to the industrial revolution, if measured in similar urban situations at ground level in the winter, is certainly open to question.
      I will keep recording and report again when summer comes along

      70

      • #
        tonyb

        One other thought came to me. If 550ppm is common in many urban areas yet 415ppm is the ‘average’ that must mean there are significant number of places in the 300’s in order to create this average. Where are they?

        20

        • #
          Jim Ross

          I assume that your reference to 415 ppm is the current value at Mauna Loa, but please let me know if that is not correct.

          As I tried to explain before, but obviously failed to do (my apologies), the CO2 levels seen at the primary observatories are more like a minimum (current) atmospheric value. It may be a daily average, but the sites are chosen to avoid the large diurnal fluctuations seen in many surface locations. The surface values below the atmospheric boundary layer are almost invariably higher if you take a daily average but that is not representative of the values seen in the free atmosphere (i.e. above the ABL). The minimum daily value at such locations, not the average, is likely to be closer to the free atmospheric values.

          In many locations the diurnal changes are significantly greater than the size of the annual cycle (circa 10 ppm at Mauna Loa, 20 ppm at Point Barrow). If you look at fig 3.3 of the PhD thesis I previously referenced, you will see a diurnal variation of up to 60 ppm, yet the daily minimum value clearly stands out as part of the relatively smooth annual cycle. Only very rarely are any values seen below this smooth trend. It also shows a minimum value of about 380 ppm in the summer of 2011 and about 395 ppm for the highest minimum in spring 2012, at a time where Mauna Loa was reporting 386 ppm and 397 ppm respectively. Close enough. Mauna Loa was at 418 ppm yesterday, while Weybourne (coastal England) was showing 424 ppm today (and 431 last night).

          10

          • #

            Jim

            Thanks for your clarification. I am also on the coast but in the south west and part of a more urban area than Weybourne in Norfolk. Yes , I dd read the phd thesis thoroughly it was very good but the method of taking a sample is much more involved than a simple co2 device.

            I can not see how my 550 ppm can be right but until things start to grow I don’t know if it will get much lower. The lowest to date is 512ppm which wasca one off and I take readings at various times of the day.

            However I also read the reports saying up to 600 ppm could be expected in urban areas but that depends on time and season and location. 431ppm is way lower than anything I have recorded to date. Once I get the chance I will take it to the sea level which is more rural and see what it reads

            10

            • #
              Jim Ross

              Tony, I am trying to help but certainly not able to resolve your primary question about the reliability of your gadget. You are pursuing the right strategy by taking regular measurements during the day. I have one such gadget indoors which is currently showing 524 ppm (in the UK), but that is in my study with the windows closed so I would expect it to be higher than yours. I am sure you will have tried this, but surely Exeter Uni has some measurement equipment that you could cross check against your widget. I suspect that you have already investigated this. Have you checked Reading Uni as they also seem to be into this sort of stuff? I would be happy to meet up and compare widgets, but I’m afraid we are are a very long way apart (and not allowed to travel).

              10

            • #

              Jim

              I am not sure the police would accept the need to check my gadget as being a good enough reason to travel to Exeter university who are anyway not really operating .nor are the met. office who would Also have the right equipment

              The police would also no doubt try to claim that our journey was not necessary should we try to compare widgets

              I strongly suspect my device has a large margin of error but sometimes it gives vaguely believable readings.

              So I will keep up the regular readings and see if they come down at all as spring progresses or until I can borrow a piece of equipment from somewhere once we are released from house arrest.

              Thanks for your help

              11

              • #
                Chad

                Tony, do you have a phone ?… or an Email ?
                If so a simple polite enquiry to Exeter or Reading Uni’s would most likely get you some base line data to compare ?
                And maybe some experienced advice on how to check calibration..

                10

              • #
                tonyb

                Chad

                Thanks for your response.

                I am not sure these devices such as I have can be calibrated, and the results from a sophisticated device set up to take measurements in a scientific manner is surely going to echo the results from other similar devices.

                Others here say that urban readings can be up to 600ppm and in that respect my device could be right, so I am really looking for some like for like comparison with a similar rather cheap instrument, which takes a number of different types of readings and is not a dedicated co2 meter..

                00

        • #
          Gail Combs

          Tony B asks “…Where are they?”

          Try crop lands. Someone looked at CO2 levels in wheat fields and the crops sucked CO2 down to ~250 ppm (Sorry can not find that reference)

          Plant photosynthetic activity can reduce the Co2 within the plant canopy to between 200 and 250 ppm… I observed a 50 ppm drop in within a tomato plant canopy just a few minutes after direct sunlight at dawn entered a green house (Harper et al 1979) … photosynthesis can be halted when CO2 concentration aproaches 200 ppm… (Morgan 2003) Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and does not easily mix into the greenhouse atmosphere by diffusion… Source

          00

  • #
    RicDre

    Chuck DeVore: Texas’ blackouts – here’s the truth about why they happened and what we have to do next

    Guest repost from Chuck DeVore

    There are two general reasons for Texas’ prolonged power outages, one proximate to the storm and involving a series of on-the-ground mistakes and cold-related failures, and one the result of long-term policy.

    However, it was the policy failures over 20 years that allowed the storm-related failures to become persistent and deadly.

    It’s important to note that had every Texas generator powered by natural gas, coal, nuclear and hydro operated at full output during the height of the storm’s demand, Texas still would have experienced planned blackouts. That Texas’ grid has become increasingly dependent on unreliable wind and solar is largely to blame for this critical shortfall.

    Because ERCOT, Texas’ grid operator, didn’t have enough reliable safety margin meant that when things started to go wrong on early Monday morning, they got worse fast.

    We know that wind turbines were affected, with half of them freezing up. Over the course of 2019, Texas wind produced about 34% of its capacity – from hour-to-hour and season-to-season, sometimes more than 70%, sometimes close to zero. At one point during the storm, solar was producing no electricity while wind produced about 1% of its potential output. Since electricity must be produced the moment it is needed, that meant that natural gas power plants had to make up the shortfall.

    The emerging data from thermal – gas, coal, and nuclear – power plants suggests that there were some cold-related failures. But, as ERCOT struggled to keep the lights on, the grid became unstable, tripping additional power plants offline to protect their massive generators from destructive interaction with a fluctuating line frequency.

    When these systems lost power, gas production dropped 75%. An Obama-era environmental rule that forced oilfield compressors to switch from natural gas to electric likely made things worse. Eventually, power was restored, and natural gas production ramped back up to meet electricity generation demand.

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/03/02/chuck-devore-texas-blackouts-heres-the-truth-about-why-they-happened-and-what-we-have-to-do-next/

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    • #
      robert rosicka

      Of course the whole world except China .

      80

    • #
      Chad

      U.N. Chief Guterres Orders Cancellation of All Global Coal Projects

      So, an UNELECTED socialist wants to dictate ORDERS to the entire world !

      Since he believes himself to be the default World leader, and that Earth is doomed,..
      … i vote we insist he is the first to step into Musk’s dream machine and f*k off to Mars..ASAP

      50

    • #
      el gordo

      “I also ask all multilateral and public banks — as well as investors in commercial banks or pension funds — to shift their investments now in the new economy of renewable energy”, he added.

      Yeah that is already happening in Australia.

      00

      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        Yeah that is already happening in Australia.

        Like wax it is:

        1. Unisuper, a $85 billion fund that has more than 450,000 members largely from the university and research community, said it had no plans to divest its $170 million investment in 14 thermal coal companies nor the $7.82 billion it had spread across 13 gas, oil and petrol companies, including Santos, Woodside Petroleum and Australian Oil and Gas.

        2. AustralianSuper, a $170 billion behemoth, has investments in at least three coal miners – Whitehaven Coal, BHP spin-off South32 and New Hope, which has two open cut coal mines in South East Queensland. It also has money in eight oil and gas companies including China Gas and China Petroleum and Chemical Corp.

        3. Hostplus, a $54 billion fund with members largely from the hospitality and tourism industries, has investments in 26 oil and gas companies, including offshore stocks such as Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the twelfth largest oil company by production in the world, and eight producers of thermal coal, including local players Whitehaven Coal, New Hope and South32.

        4. HESTA, a $50 billion fund, has money in Coal India, a company that boasts of being the “single largest coal producer in the world” that operates 83 mines and produces 83 per cent of India’s overall coal output. It also has investments in at least 12 oil and gas companies, including Oil Search, Santos and China Gas.

        Where the devil do you get your propaganda from el gordo?

        00

        • #
          el gordo

          The Canberra Times.

          ‘ANZ was the last of Australia’s big four banks to announce it will stop financing thermal coal projects in Australia. The Australian coal industry will now need to head overseas if it wants to borrow funds for new projects, and many government MPs aren’t happy. The Agriculture Minister called for a boycott of ANZ. The Deputy Prime Minister said such “virtue signalling” would hurt farmers. Now the Treasurer has escalated the rhetoric, backing a parliamentary inquiry into the banks’ decisions.’

          10

    • #
      el gordo

      Australia has set up an inquiry into the banks refusal to lend monies to the fossil fuels industry.

      ‘Australia’s regulators have declared climate change is a financially foreseeable risk that must be mitigated. Several lenders have stopped supporting thermal coal mines and power stations while pension funds favor investing in renewable energy over fossil fuels to aid the transition to a low-carbon economy.’ (Financial Post)

      10

      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        That report comes from Bloomberg.

        Say no more. The socialist always seek to “mitigate” when they really mean “ban”.

        Bloomberg is a green-left activist media outlet.

        It publishes green-left propaganda.

        believe it at your financial peril.

        11

        • #
          Sceptical Sam

          The link that shows the Post just picked up the Bloomberg propaganda and published it without so much as a scintilla of scepticism:

          https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/banks-shunning-australian-coal-trigger-parliamentary-inquiry

          Read (Bloomberg).

          Any media organisation that describes the Morrison Liberal government as follows:

          “Australia’s conservative government,…”

          demonstrates that it got its head up its left leaning fundament.

          11

          • #
            Tilba Tilba

            Any media organisation that describes the Morrison Liberal government as follows:

            “Australia’s conservative government,…”

            demonstrates that it got its head up its left leaning fundament.

            I trust you’re not being serious … if you are, you are making the language meaningless. They are indeed a conservative government compared to what a progressive, social-democratic government would be like. I assume you would call them Marxists or Commies.

            20

          • #
            el gordo

            Sam we should read widely to understand the varying viewpoints in a democracy. By all means criticise, that is our function but don’t shoot the messengers, because we’ll need the scribes to debrief the masses.

            The Morrison government is old fashion conservative and with the world in turmoil he’s a godsend.

            01

    • #
      another ian

      Another own goal

      “United Nations Demands an End to Silicon Solar Panels and Wind Turbines”

      https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/03/03/united-nations-demands-an-end-to-solar-panels-and-wind-turbines/

      00

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    Susan Fraser

    https://archive.is/6ygHf

    Epoch News item
    Over 3 dozen still-births and miscarriages after Covid19 vaccine

    WHO recommends these ‘vaccines’ not be given to pregnant women

    41

  • #
    Susan Fraser

    The Epoch Times notes that CDC recommendations ” to people who are pregnant”…

    Its only women who can be pregnant right?
    Let’s call out this crap

    60

  • #
    Eddie

    Is there hope?
    “Daily Mail owner snaps up ‘world-renowned’ New Scientist magazine in £70m deal”

    https://news.sky.com/story/daily-mail-owner-snaps-up-world-renowned-new-scientist-magazine-in-70m-deal-12234449

    00

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    el gordo

    UAH indicates that ENSO is the temperature control knob, CO2 has gone AWOL.

    https://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_February_2021_v6.jpg

    Without a strong El Nino the temps should remain at this level.

    03

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      And there you were, yesterday, asking for the proof that CO2 is not the driver.

      Sheez…

      11

      • #
        el gordo

        I was just teasing, but while you’re there, in the decade 2000-10 we can see the hiatus in world temperatures. The coming decade will be another hiatus, which will irrefutably destroy the AGW hypothesis.

        Would you like to have a crack at what mechanisms are involved?

        01

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  • #
    another ian

    “Flat-Earthers Rejoice!”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/03/03/flat-earthers-rejoice/

    The map shows it!

    00

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    another ian

    Might be of interest

    “Alternatives to Google Products for 2021”

    https://restoreprivacy.com/google-alternatives/

    00

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      yarpos

      Comprehensive list, thanks.

      I have been de Googling over the last few months and have settled on Brave, Duck Duck Go, Protonmail and Calendar and HereWeGO. Cant seem to get off Youtube until a bunch of content creators do. Happy to do what I can without stressing about the stuff on the margins. A bit like avoiding made in China, I do it when I can.

      20

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    Slithers

    Texas Update.
    In the aftermath of the recent freeze the Governor investigated the energy situation.
    Why was the main city state building and businesses had electricity?.
    Entire blocks were ablaze with light yet there were only a handful of people who had managed to get to work.
    Well sir there is a master switch that controls the lights, all on or all off, and the only coffee machines that were working are on that same master switch.
    How about the rapid transit it was up and running with empty cars,
    Same problem sir on or off,
    Where were the snow ploughs?
    Well sir there are just three ancient lorries that can be fitted with snow plough, unfortunately the were the other side of the city from the snow ploughs and snowed in.
    We did manage to get one to the depot where the ploughs are kept, unfortunately the vehicle was out of petrol and the electricity was off so we were unable to re-fuel it, so no snow ploughs
    Argh!

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      Gail Combs

      Around here (North Carolina) if we do get one of our rare snows, the farmers are out with their bucket loaders and chainsaws.

      The state takes care of the interstates and some of the main Hwys but by the time they get to the secondary roads we have them all cleared.

      And yes we do get more snow than Texas. We are on the ‘border’ The mountains and northern 1/2 of the state gets snow every winter, here in the middle it is about every 5 years and in the southern part of the state snow is very rare.

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    ScoMo just urged me ‘live’ on the tv at Tomago news conference that to learn about global warming, I should read David Attenborough’s latest faild doomsday global warming tome.

    We are governed by an idiot.

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    Greg Cavanagh

    I found this on the Gateway Pundit, someone asks a good question, and I would like to post my answer to that question.

    quote “For quite a while the question has been, which side will the military & the cops come down on when the strokes suddenly get shorter. So the thing that is puzzling is Left’s vilifying of our police forces and military.”

    I think what they’ve done is to force out all the honest people from these organizations.
    The ones who now remain would be happy to follow any order.

    Weather they did it on purpose or not, it looks very much like a set up for totalitarian rule later on.

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    another ian

    Hi Jo

    You likely won’t have time to read

    Jack Cross , “Great Central State: the foundation of the Northern Territory”

    But if you do you’ll wonder less about how SA got to that electricity situation.

    It could be seen as traditional (/s)

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      another ian

      And you could have a think about the SA connections to that dud sub deal of ours too I’ve just realised

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      Peter C

      Several website operators have reached out asking us to provide details on the infrastructure being used to stay “anti-fragile”, meaning outside the reach of big tech. There may come a day when that information is possible to share, but it will not be in the near future. CTH is operating with an abundance of caution in the era of deplatforming and targeting.

      I would not like to lose the JoNova site. Looks like CTH has made progress on the problem.

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        another ian

        Peter

        That was posted as “Jo FYI” on the lines of precautions against “malice aforethought”

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        Gail Combs

        Tony Heller did a change years ago and another site I frequent changed last fall. There are a lot of others who have too.

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    Hanrahan

    A question for our Kiwi friends: How does hoki [blue grenadier] rate as an eating fish?

    I avoid supermarket fish, I know too little about its source, but I see hoki packaged in the freezer and wonder if it might be acceptable.

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      another ian

      H

      No knowledge of the fish but I knew a Kiwi who was firmly of the belief that

      “Cheese is for export, not for eating”

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      Frost Giant Rebellion

      Is there not a slow degradation of fish? When the bad guys were distracting us, by trace gas hysteria, did they not make us forget that the good fish was gone and that the bad fish had been re marketed as the best new stuff?

      Its true that we have a country to save.
      But we also have a planet to terraform.

      Malcolm Turnbull could never be part of that vision. And which one of the three stooges is the new fellow?

      There is only so long that intelligent life can survive on any one planet. Our planet needs terraforming. To make it fit for human life.

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        another ian

        FGR

        How about this for a terraforming project then?

        In western Queensland the mitchell grasslands are the bottom of the last inland sea where the silcrete layer has eroded off. The remnants of that layer is the mulga country high in iron and aluminium oxides but didn’t make bauxite, high dulk density, low ph and generally not productive.

        So we speed up the erosion rate to expose the mitchell grass soil and harvest the opal washed out as it is eroding.

        (TIC proposal – just in case)

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          el gordo

          We could funnel Papua water to fill every dam and waterhole on the western plains of NSW and Queensland. Nothing must remain empty, even Lake Mungo should be rehydrated and returned to its appearance 50,000 years ago.

          Water skiing not permitted, but the fishing is grand.

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    Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine takes key step to EU approval

    Europe’s drug regulator launched an in-depth review of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, putting it on course to be the first non-Western jab used across the 27-nation EU.
    https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-russia-sputnik-vaccine-key-eu.html

    Every one looking forward to a compulsory vaccine made in Russia?

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    john

    Even the Boston Globe has banned me commenting on the subject. That’s even better than a Nobel Prize!

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    William Astley

    This is interesting.

    It is fortunate that the magnitude 8.1, ocean plate earthquake, occurred 1000 miles from New Zealand. No serious problem in New Zealand.

    https://ktla.com/news/earthquakes/8-1-earthquake-among-2-powerful-temblors-to-strike-off-new-zealand/

    8.1 earthquake among 3 powerful temblors to strike off New Zealand; Hawaii tsunami watch canceled
    EARTHQUAKES
    by: Associated Press

    Posted: Mar 4, 2021 / 12:56 PM PST / Updated: Mar 4, 2021 / 04:03 PM PST
    Multiple earthquakes struck New Zealand, including one with a magnitude of 8.1. (U.S. Geological Survey)

    A powerful magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck Friday in the ocean off New Zealand, prompting thousands of people to evacuate and triggering tsunami warnings across the South Pacific.

    The quake was the largest in a series of tremors that hit the region over several hours, including two earlier quakes that registered magnitude 7.4 and magnitude 7.3.

    While the quakes triggered warning systems and caused traffic jams and some chaos in New Zealand as people scrambled to get to higher ground, they did not appear to pose a widespread threat to lives or major infrastructure.

    That’s because of the remoteness of where they hit. The largest struck about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off the coast of New Zealand.

    One of the earlier quakes hit much closer to New Zealand and awoke many people during the night as they felt a long, rumbling shaking.

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    another ian

    I need some help and IIRC some of the posters might work for Australia Post.

    For about the last 100 years or so the property name and town has managed to successfully deliver mail. Just so happens that there are two independent properties that turn off the main road in question.

    The new fangled insistence of requiring a street and a number means that both have the same number and road address. Which works definitively if there is space in addressing to put the property name – which there quite often isn’t.

    And I am reliably informed that any local redirection by AP staff is a federal hanging offence.

    Now it is getting worse, as we have had an upsurge in mail to the wrong address, suggesting that shere is retention somewhere on data lists of, in our case, the wrong address – the latest on an official letter.

    I have been in discussion with a representative from AP and they have been advised by someone who had a peer at Qld Globe that our number should be changed –

    TO ONE THAT WOULD PUT US ON A LOT OWNED BY A THIRD NEIGHBOUR!

    Any clues as to where the heart of this problem might be so I can get busy with the stake would be appreciated.

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      another ian

      Some light finally.

      Local councils land records seem to be the arbitrators – but not always consulted by the likes of AP.

      So some progress

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    el gordo

    ‘Sky News Australia’s YouTube channel now has more subscribers than ABC News: 1.31m to Aunty’s 1.129m. When your best prime-time show, Andrew Bolt’s, regularly has about 80,000 viewers that’s impressive. The Murdoch platform may have chief political reporter Kieran Gilbert front and centre of the publicity photos but the channel’s popularity has nothing to do with news.

    ‘The secret to Sky’s success online is provocative rightwing commentary.’ (Guardian)

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    el gordo

    Glacial epochs, the 100,000 years between interglacials, are not universally cold as previously thought. Apart from interstadials there is a lot more going on and CO2 is not responsible.

    https://notrickszone.com/2021/03/04/10-recent-studies-affirm-it-was-regionally-2-6c-warmer-than-today-during-the-last-glacial/

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      Frost Giant Rebellion

      The problem here is that they are not taking into account a probable physical pole shift. Its another taboo idea. Yes they can admit its colder generally and warmer in some locality. But the pole shift is out. So much of what we are told is affected by domain dependent political correctness.

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      Frost Giant Rebellion

      “From 80,000 to 12,000 years ago, when CO2 concentrations lingered near or below 200 ppm, many new or recent studies suggest that when directly comparing region to region, it was as much as 6°C warmer than today even during this ice age period. This has prompted some scientists to “exclude atmospheric pCO2 as a direct driver of SST [sea surface temperature] variations”.

      Right there we have a problem. Because you could bet money that these guys have substituted the ice core proxy for the CO2 record. They are not the same thing. These people have such atrocious habits. More damage coming out of CO2-hysteria.

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    CHRIS

    CO2 has never been responsible for the Earth’s climate, no matter how far we go back in time. Before the Great Oxygenation, CO2 was 40-50 times its current level. As El Gordo states, Glacial Epochs are not always freezing cold. In my opinion, the Epoch’s extremity existed for a brief time in the Cryogenic Period (about 300 million years ago), when the Earth was almost covered with ice, but this was a one-off. At various times in its history, the Earth has had almost no ice at the Poles, and at other times almost covered with ice. The sooner the CAGW God-Complex morons realise this, the better this planet will be.

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    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/johnson-26-johnson-will-run-covid-vaccine-trials-on-infants/ar-BB1e7Lwp

    Johnson & Johnson Will Run COVID Vaccine Trials on Infants
    “From the company who knew asbestos was in their baby powder for decades and tried to cover it up for years”

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    Frost Giant Rebellion

    How is this for a bogus story? The claim is that President Trump and his ridiculously beautiful wife both got “the Covid vaccine” back in January. They did so QUIETLY. This is revealed by a then White House source. We don’t know the day, the source, which vaccine it was, or the possible motive that either of them would have had to get the vaccine. Seeing as both of them are immune to Covid, having suffered Covid already, and come back from their sickness, in what can only be described as triumphant fashion.

    So its a nothing story. No day, no video, no vaccine named, no source. Nothing. Just some idiot typing. More fake news. Gee believed every word of it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzdDuRbX9eg

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    Frost Giant Rebellion

    Here is the Lancet peer-reviewed take on the Sputnik vaccine. So far it looks good but thats not what we know about corona vaccines more generally so we have to find out if people get problems two and three years afterward. No Sputnik victims have shown up on bitchute yet.

    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00234-8/fulltext

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      Frost Giant Rebellion

      Here is Dr Campbell reviewing the Lancet study of the Sputnik vaccine. Be careful since in practice Dr Campbell never sees a vaccine he doesn’t like. But on the other hand the Sputnik does seem to check out nicely so far. Completely contrary to the Pfizer which is a catastrophe all across the world. Once again this is a vaccine against a corona virus. So we expect serious damage as the years go by and more corona viruses are encountered by those who have had the vaccine.

      But so far its checking out. Which is a shame because the vaccine will probably be damaging in the long run. And we don’t need this vaccine. Because we can go for treatment instead. But grudgingly one has to admit that this vaccine looks good so far. Whereas in reality is may be a delayed death blow.

      Conclusion:

      Sputnik MAY be okay. Pfizer is NOT okay. Are you going to trust these bigshots or your lying eyes?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_EQbDHQN88

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